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The purpose of this paper is to explore how the continued interest in the concept of “miniaturism” has seen the micropub develop into the new format of the microbar and examines the drivers of this trend. It then reflects on the possible implications of the rise of the microbar concept on the future of the urban tourism destination landscape.

This is a conceptual paper that is built on the natural curiosity of future studies to use an understanding of the present to predict what will happen next and what the implications of those developments will be.

The paper provides a clear definition of the microbar and identifies four distinctive drivers behind its conception, linked to changes in consumer behaviour. These cover the rise of the micro-break, the need for responsible urban regeneration, consumers desire for immediate and unique experiences and increasingly diverse populations. The paper predicts that these trends will drive an increase in microbars leading to greater tourist mobility in the urban tourism destination, more fragmentation and heterogeneity of products and services as well as an intensification in the need for authentic experiences and opportunity driven development giving rise to a hybrid form of guerrilla hospitality. Ultimately the authors predict that the venue will become more important than the specific location when consumers view the landscape of the urban tourism destination.

The focus of previous academic research has been on the historic development of the micropub and its impact on regeneration and communities, but very little literature has examined the rise of the microbar and the potential implications for the urban tourism destination.

IT is generally conceded that the noise level of our acoustical environment has increased with our social and industrial growth. The increase has been gradual and has generally gone unnoticed or has been accepted. In the main, it can be attributed to the greater use of power, a percentage of which escapes in the form of sound energy. Not only is the number of noise‐producing mechanisms multiplying daily, but the surrounding and supporting structures are becoming lighter in construction and less able to absorb the sound vibrations.

IT WAS a typical mid‐December afternoon for that part of the world; that part of the world being the countryside north of Manlidale. The overcast sky pressed low over the foothills, it was the colour of a dirty dishcloth and gave every promise of fouler weather to follow. But the weather could not damp Albert's spirits; he was feeling very pleased with himself. (older readers will wearily recognise that this was no new thing for our hero; he usually was. But let's be fair, he generally had as much reason for it as most of us. He was a good lad on the whole; served the Oilier Oil Co. devotedly and, despite the occasional boob, was well thought of by his numerous customers. He was a devoted husband and seldom deserted Bessie for the many delectable boozers with which Manlidale abounded).

Optoacoustic spectroscopy is a completely new technique for the examination of solid and liquid samples and a system for this is now commercially available in the UK in the form of EDT's Model OAS 400 Opto‐Acoustic Spectrometer. This attrac‐tive instrument has been developed at EDT Research, 14 Trading Estate Road, London NW10 7LU, with the backing of the National Research Development Corporation from the pioneering work in the field by Dr G. F. Kirkbright of Imperial College, London. The principles of OAS rest on the fact that light absorbed by a solid sample is converted to heat with the sample. If the sample is sealed in a small cell containing a gas e.g. air or nitrogen the heat will be transferred to the gas and cause it to expand. If the incident light beam is now chopped at a steady rate, the gas in the cell will be alternately heated and cooled leading to a series of pressure pulses which can be detected by microphone. Scanning the wave‐length of the light and recording the associated sound amplitude leads to an absorption spectrum analogous to that of more conventional methods of spectrometry. The advantages of OAS lie in the fact that spectra of opaque substances, powders, polymers, suspensions and slurries can be made without difficulties arising from lack of transmission, scattering or reflection.

Sensors engineered on silicon chips have tremendous development potential and are attracting considerable attention in the USA and Japan. By contrast British research and development activities in this area have been weak, even compared with the work at other centres in Europe. BNF‐Fulmer has already completed construction of a clean room with a range of processing equipment and, in expanding its Microengineering Centre for contract and joint R&D projects with other companies, the organization is hoping to put the UK in the lead of European work, filling a vital gap between university research and the large microelectronics silicon foundries.

Lindane, a powerful and widely used insecticide is manufactured from hexachlorocyclohexane. One of the many by‐products in the process is X‐factor, a highly potent insecticide, but equally corrosive causing damage to the plant wares. The commonly used metal wares were screened for their resistance to X‐factor attack by scanning electron microscopy. A new technique of quantitative determination of corrosion intensity has been described. The study also revealed the most resistant metal for X‐factor action.

A shift is underway in the licensed trade from drink-led to food-led establishments. The current literature emphasises two underpinning reasons: (i) the need for pubs, bars and craft venues to diversify their income streams in an increasingly competitive sector, and (ii) changes in consumer demand and preferences for the availability of food, especially in ‘craft’ establishments. This chapter argues that a third reason has been neglected: the long-standing regulatory pressure for establishments to provide food alongside alcohol. Drawing on archival research and local authority licensing data, this chapter argues that the shift to food-led provision in licensed establishments must be understood as part of an enduring regulatory concern to foster a more ‘civilised’ drinking culture – namely, a seated, café-style, ‘more European’ approach to consumption – in which patrons drink alcohol alongside food.

Rotary high‐vacuum pumps are oil‐lubricated. The lubricating oil acts as a seal against atmospheric pressure, and to enable it to do this the pump is normally submerged, or virtually submerged, in the oil. In the course of operation of the pump, the oil inevitably becomes contaminated with substances extracted from the system under evacuation. This complicates the questions involved in selection of the oil and has given rise to a number of remarkable devices to limit the accretion of contaminants.

Solid propellents can be useful for certain astronautical operations. The characteristics of these propellents are that they have a high total impulse to total rocket weight ratio, higher reliability, a tendency towards lower costs. The specific impulses are lower than for liquid propellents, about 180 to 200 seconds compared with 240 seconds.