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Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation saved four months on the S‐92 Helibus helicopter project by simulating composite material performance on the computer prior to fabricating tooling. Despite the communications and logistical challenges of working with international manufacturing partners on the project, the flow time required to move the complex canopy structure from basic data to completion of production parts was reduced by 27 percent compared to previous similar projects. This first womb‐to‐tomb use of simulation of Sikorsky also cut engineering, prototyping and tooling costs by reducing the number of revisions required during the tool tryout stage by more than 90 percent of the normal number. The key to the success of this project was the ability of the FiberSIM simulation software from Composite Design Technologies, Wiltham, Massachusetts, to detect wrinkling, bridging and similar problems during the basic design phase, so they could be fixed before they reached the shopfloor.

The development of the Hertfordshire business databank of companies is described with particular attention to the user‐friendly software package for editing and searching. The parallel publication of the databank in print and as a Prestel gateway service is also covered.

Tuesday, 7 September 1993 and I am experiencing the different levels of investment by British Rail on its West Coast and East Coast routes as I travel from the North‐West of England to the University of Hertfordshire at Hatfield for the ninth International Library Technology Fair (renamed from this year as Libtech International). Catching up with the Times Higher Education Supplement of 20 August on the train I am pleasantly surprised to see a note about Libtech '93 and Hans Geleijnse's guest lecture on page 20.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by The Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription for 1983 for VINE is £22 for UK subscribers and £25 for overseas subscribers. The first copy will be charged at normal rate, but all others will be supplied for only £12 per year UK and £14 per year overseas. VINE is available in either paper copy or microfiche and all back issues are available on microfiche.

Watch your language ‐ One of my earliest schoolday memories is of a sweet, angelic little girl who sat behind me in class and at frequent intervals shot her hand in the air to exclaim ‘Please Miss, Allan Bunch swore’. Ever since then I have learnt to mind my language and whenever I felt the need to say ‘bloody’, I made sure it was suffixed by ‘Tower’, which somehow rendered it harmless. I was reminded of this incident by a new pamphlet published by NALGO called Watch your language, which is not about swearing but is a guide to using non‐sexist language for NALGO members. It is a very helpful guide, since it not only points out words to avoid but suggests alternatives or alternative ways of presenting the same information without the male bias. So, ‘manpower’ becomes ‘workforce or staff’ and ‘man‐made’, ‘artificial’. The pamphlet also covers stereotyping of jobs, sex‐typing and patronising married women by such phrases as ‘the better half’,‘the little woman’ and so on. I am less certain of their advice that cartoons should not portray women in the usual stereotyped roles and treat them as objects of ridicule, since the purpose of a cartoon is to ridicule, tosatirizeor poke fun at a person or behaviour and it achieves its effects mainly through exaggeration and stereo‐typing. But the point is taken. I was disappointed not to find the answer to a problem that has bothered me for some time, namely how to address a non‐sexist letter to a corporate body. ‘Messrs’ is out since it's masculine, but ‘Dear Madams/Sirs’ or ‘Dear Mesdames/Messrs’ sound terribly clumsy. Copies of Watch your language are free from NALGO, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1 9HJ.

The position of these Irish agitators is illogical and untenable; the remedy they propose is no remedy at all – nevertheless they are talking about the tenure of land and the right to land; and thus a question of worldwide importance is coming to the front.³

There is an old saying to the effect that every one is destined to eat a peck of dirt before he dies. So much is probably inevitable, but by taking pains in the selection of our milkmen, butchers, bakers, and other purveyors, by refusing to buy jams, preserves, potted meats, and pickles manufactured by other than reputable firms, and above all by giving support to the various movements which have for their object the improvement of the law relating to adulteration of food, we can at least see that we are called upon to swallow no more than the maximum provided by the adage.

Introduction In the last decade the problem of product liability has become one of the major concerns affecting industry, consumers and government. Product liability, which relates to the responsibility of a manufacturer to compensate a user who suffers injury from using his product, is not a new concept. King Hammurabi of Babylon instituted these two laws over 4,000 years ago: