Search results

American choral music of the present day reflects the variety of styles found in vocal and instrumental music throughout the Western world during the twentieth century. However, the majority of choral music is more conservative in form and tonality than is instrumental music, due probably to the heritage of American choral music. Approximately the first two hundred years of choral singing in America were based on religious texts and simple tunes. Choral music in America did not “flower” until the nineteenth century, when composers began to write in a variety of styles, using secular as well as sacred texts.

THE traditional division of information services into science and technology on the one hand and the humanities on the other, does nothing to improve the provision of information in a multi‐disciplinary subject such as planning. The proposal to make separate provision, within the national framework, for the social sciences, which was put forward by J. E. Pemberton in the November issue of this journal, would only serve to further fragment the sources of information in planning.

This article describes selected findings from a research study examining the travel experiences (including walking, using public transport, cars, bikes, or taxis) of people experiencing mental health difficulties, specifically in relation to travelling to learning or work. The research sits within the Mental Health Partnership Programme run by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, the Learning and Skills Council and the Inclusion Institute, which works to improve access to and success in learning for adults experiencing mental health difficulties.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an electronic solution to effectively lock swivelling wheel steering positions to driver‐control. Simple and affordable systems are described to assist forklift users in steering their walkie type forklifts or pallet jacks across sloping ground.

A rolling road was created as an assessment tool and trials with both the test bed and in real situations were conducted to evaluate the new systems. The small swivel detector that was created could be successfully attached to swivelling wheel swivel bearings.

The new system was successful, robust and was not affected by changeable parameters. The simple systems assisted hand truck operators in steering their forklifts across sloping ground without veering off course. The systems overcame the problems associated with forklifts that steer using two swivelling wheels and meant that less work was required from hand truck operators as their forklifts tended to travel in the desired direction

Experiments demonstrated that calibrating forklift controllers for straight‐line balance and optimizing motor‐compensation did not solve this problem. Instead, swivelling wheel angle was selected to provide feedback. At the point when veer is first detected, a forklift has already begun to alter course and the job of the correction system is to minimize this drift from the desired course.

The forklifts and pallet jacks often steer by having swivelling wheels but problems with this configuration occur when a forklift is driven along sloping ground because they can swivel in the direction of the slope. Gravity then causes the forklift or pallet jack to start an unwanted turn or “veer” and the vehicle goes in an unintended direction. This situation is exacerbated for vehicles with switch controls, as switches cannot provide fine control to trim and compensate.

Each year in the United States, over 100 employees are killed and 36,000 are seriously injured in accidents involving forklift trucks and pallet carriers. This is the second leading cause of occupational fatalities in “industrial” type workplaces. The research aims to make the use of this type of equipment safer and the systems can be attached to many standard forklifts and pallet jacks.

The stand‐out works this year are a number of comprehensive general discographies. Before reviewing them in detail in Part Two, I would like to single out three of them here for special attention.

Although none of the new music reference books of the past year totally replaces the old stand‐bys, some significant works did appear, especially in the areas of contemporary music, opera, and classical music discography.

What was the older daughter's name on Father Knows Best? Who hit the ball that Willy Mays miraculously caught in the 1954 World Series? Who was Goldwater's running mate in 1964? These questions are less than earth‐shattering; in fact they are labeled as ‘trivia.’ But that does not mean that they are unimportant. Ask any librarian who has ever spent a half‐hour cross‐checking lists to find the one performer who won the Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy.

Some reference books are not only useful but a pleasure to read. For anyone interested in literature, the outstanding example is the Wilson Authors Series, which, for over fifty years, has provided excellent summaries of the lives and works of critically acclaimed or popular writers known to English‐speaking readers. Through their coverage of minor writers and inclusion of the autobiographical statements of many twentieth‐century writers, these volumes have constituted a valuable record of the literary scene. Despite the proliferation of literary reference works in recent years, some covering more authors, others providing lengthier articles, the Wilson series has remained a cornerstone of the reference collections of libraries of all sizes and a model of concise biographical writing.

The first edition of the Academic American Encyclopedia (AAE) appeared in July, 1980. The vigorous advertising campaign preceding its initial appearance has been maintained, both in the library press and elsewhere. All reviews of the set to date have been laudatory, although most reviewers have found a few minor points to criticize.