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A structurally constrained discrete state space model is employed as the basis in the development of an identification and control procedure. System excitation is conditioned in accordance with a restricted minimization of a composite cost functional embodying a compromise legitimizing simultaneous identification and control. Alternative scalar measures of the system identified parametric transition matrices are combined with a state quadratic control measure in the composite cost, and an investigation of the effect of a scalar weighting in the functional (offsetting identification with control) considered. Tabular and graphical results are presented covering the likely range of the proposed systems applicability.

An adaptive technique is described which relies upon identifying the transition and driving matrices of a linear dynamic system. By identifying these matrices a sub‐optimal controller is updated so that effective control is maintained. The method may be extended to non‐linear and time varying systems by employing quasi‐linearization. The simplicity of the algorithm allows real‐time control of systems for which there is no a priori knowledge concerning system dynamics. The scheme is illustrated using a hybrid computing system specifically designed for this purpose. Application of this technique to plant is referred to. This paper gives a history of the development of this particular deterministic approach to the adaptive control problem.

A linear‐model‐based adaptive control system is developed. Alternative identification techniques are combined with a suboptimal controller. Iterative and recursive algorithms are applied to produce minimum norm estimates of multivariable models, adequate over a range of plant operation. Parameter estimates are used to update the stage‐by‐stage suboptimal control algorithm. The techniques are applied to control a non‐linear chemical reactor model.

Quality in the service sector is of increasing concern to both academics and practitioners. Previously published material is reviewed and attention is focused on the importance of people and internal marketing in the changing environment of service industries, definitions and measurement of service quality, and the service quality/customer care programmes presently being developed and implemented.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

Abbasi, Sherie Ann. CURRENT LEGAL LITERATURE ON THREE ASPECTS OF ECOLOGY: AIR, NOISE, AND WATER POLLUTION.

We've been living in a homogenous world, you know a world centered on and seen through the language perceptions of men. The consequences of this for everything that we take for granted, for all our assumptions are very deep. Feminism, in the sense I use it, is a radical complexity thought in the process of transforming itself. It is a kind of breaking open of not only the oversimplification but of the lies and the silence in which so much of human experience has been cloaked. Too much has been left out, too much has been unmentioned, too much has been made taboo. Too many connections have been disguised or denied. (Interview with Adrienne Rich, Christopher Street, Jan. 1977, pp. 9–16.)

Mystery shopper programmes are defined as a tool for evaluating and improving customer service. The development and implementation of a mystery shopper programme is discussed as a sequence of related steps closely linked to human resource management and employee involvement. The process begins with setting the objectives of the programme and ends with rewarding behaviour and implementing change. Employee participation is seen as paramount to the success of the programme in all stages of its development. This involvement avoids shoppers being seen as spies by employees. Employees need to know what points they will be evaluated on and the expected company standards of performance. The results of shopping programmes should be used to provide diagnostic information on service delivery rather than as performance appraisals of individual employees.