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A new sensor has been developed which will enable engine pressure data to be available at a cost suitable for the average production vehicle. Unlike many previous devices this sensor will be suitable for the harsh environmental conditions of production vehicles themselves and not just the test environment. The sensor is small, extremely rugged and has a sufficiently wide bandwidth to be easily able to detect engine problems such as pre‐ignition, miss‐fire and malfunctioning engine components. Furthermore, the patented sensor technology does not require expensive electronic interfaces, but can use simple low‐cost off the shelf components. The sensor's performance and limitations are discussed, based on real data from a single cylinder petrol engine. An analysis of the sensor output signals, showing both time and frequency domain data under varying load conditions, is also included.

A study of the effect of poling conditions on screen‐printed piezoceramics was undertaken. Printable pastes were produced, using a commercially available lead zirconate titanate (PZT) powder, mixed with two types of binder, lead (II) oxide and a lead borosilicate glass. Sample devices were fabricated using the two paste types and processed, using standard thick film techniques, before being poled under varying conditions. Samples were compared by measurement of piezoelectric charge constant, d₃₃ and using scanning electron microscopy techniques. Temperature and time are shown to increase poling efficiency, while poling field reaches an optimum at 2‐3 MV m^‐1. The PZT layers start to fail through a process of dielectric breakdown at fields of 3.5 MV m^‐1 and above.

This paper describes a study into the development of an optimum fabrication process for the batch production of thick film titanium oxide‐PVC pH electrodes. Multi‐factorial experimental plans are used to explore the effect of fabrication parameters on the average sensitivity of sensors and their batch variability. Analysis of the results indicates that a number of the factors have a small effect on the sensitivity. Factors of particular importance are identified and TiO₂ in a PVC binder is examined in detail. The optimal values for these fabrication values are identified and examined. Mechanisms for the experimentally observed sub‐Nernstian responses and immersion‐time variations in sensor behaviour are discussed.

The University of Southampton has been active in the area of thick‐film sensors since their initial conception through to the present. Recent research at the university has concerned the use of thick‐film sensor arrays for the discrimination of chemical species in both gaseous and dissolved form. In addition, the detection of many physical parameters is now being addressed through the use of arrays of sensing elements with a view to improving on factors such as noise immunity, environmental cross‐sensitivity and long‐term accuracy. In the area of chemical sensing, extensive use has been made of thick‐film technology to allow low‐cost arrays of chemical sensors to be fabricated. The lack of specificity exhibited by the individual sensing elements has been demonstrably overcome through the use of signal processing techniques applied to the outputs of the array of sensors. Thick‐film chemical sensor research currently under way at Southampton includes a UK DTI/SERC funded LINK project concerning dissolved species monitoring for water quality assessment. Additionally, gas sensor arrays for the detection of toxic and flammable gases are being explored as part of a well established ongoing research programme. The use of thick‐film technology for the fabrication of physical sensors has been extensively documented. Current research at the University of Southampton includes an industrially sponsored project involving the use of thick‐film strain sensing resistors in the design of an accelerometer. The use of Z‐axis piezoresistivity and an array approach to solving noise and drift problems is seen as a significant novelty in this work.

The members of the chapter at the annual meeting held on 27 November 1992 in Brno decided not to split after the separation of Czechoslovakia. It was suggested to organise a larger chapter from the Central European States to provide greater co‐operation and better functioning of the smaller chapters. A new name for the chapter was proposed — Central European Chapter (CEC) — to express neutrality and to point out that the chapter is open to other neighbouring chapters and to new members from the states where no national chapter yet exists.

During 1982–84, BLR&DD supported a study of medical information and its use by practitioners. The problem of low usage of information services was investigated by looking at the characteristics of information itself and the consequences of not knowing — the penalties for ignorance. Experts were invited to contribute papers on information and communication problems in specialist areas, such as addiction, drugs, alcoholism and exotic diseases. In June 1984, a conference was organised to enable a larger group to discuss the issues raised and consider implications for information transfer. A recently‐published volume now brings together the ten specialist contributions, an overview of the project and a report of the conference. Consensus and penalties for ignorance in the medical sciences, edited by J Michael Brittain (BL R&D Report 5842) is published by Taylor Graham, at £15 (isbn 0—947568 03 4).

We find ourselves today in two sorts of doldrums. First of all we are in the local government doldrums. Just at this time the whole of local government is in the throes of the most drastic reorganisation that has ever been undertaken in this field, with the consequence that local government officials tend to fall into two categories — those who are secure in their jobs but have two jobs to do; and those who are insecure and are too busy applying for their own or other people's jobs to be much concerned about the future. In the second place we are in the post‐Russell doldrums. We have spent four years waiting for Russell and another eight months (so far) waiting for Mrs. Thatcher to pronounce on Russell and to give the lead we all so ardently desire.

While efforts at understanding how the entrepreneurial spirit is awakened (e.g., unwrapping the cognitive “black box”) have been productive in the new venture context, it remains largely unexplored in a corporate setting.This study extends previous research by investigating the relationship between organizational antecedents and perceptions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and desirability of entrepreneurial activity. In a field study of organizations consistent with a corporate entrepreneurial archetype typology, we found that (1) individual work discretion and time availability impacted entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and (2) individual interest in work innovation influenced perceived desirability of innovative behaviors.

The first Principia Mathematica (1686) by Sir Isaac Newton with reference to natural philosophy and his system of the world has largely contributed to the first revolution in scientific thinking in modern times. It has created the conceptual basis of modern science in the classical tradition by providing the tools of analysis and the technique of reasoning in terms of stability—from—within or, as we would say today, the model of stable equilibrium conditions.