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In my training commentary in our November issue I suggested a basic information kit on worker participation. Since then a new survey, of major importance, has been published and should be added to the list.

To describe how airline operational efficiency may be improved by adopting a socio‐technical systems approach which emphasises and integrates the role of human factors within a wider context.

After describing what is meant by a socio‐technical system, the paper uses four short case studies to illustrate the benefits and dis‐benefits of using (or failing to use) a socio‐technical systems approach.

Readers are encouraged to acknowledge the role of the human being in a wider system context. It is also suggested that improving individual aspects of airline operations in isolation may not actually improve overall efficiency.

The case studies discussed are meant to be illustrative of the socio‐technical systems approach rather than an authoritative review of the area.

The practical implications of adopting a socio‐technical systems view of improvements aimed at improving efficiency are emphasised in that with early consideration of system changes bottlenecks may be identified which will reduce the efficacy of these changes.

Possibly the first attempt at providing a wider socio‐technical systems framework for the assessment of operational efficiency explicitly incorporating the role of the human in the system.

This paper aims to make a case that with the appropriate use of human factors methods it is possible to design and develop a single crew commercial aircraft using largely existing technology.

From a review of the literature it is suggested that some of the functions of the non‐flying pilot would be better assumed by either onboard automation or ground‐based systems.

It is argued that the design of the flight deck and the role of the pilot require re‐conceptualising to accommodate the requirements for flying a highly automated aircraft single‐handed. With such re‐design, considerable efficiency gains will be achieved, but to fully realise these gains a system‐wide approach is required which extends beyond the design of the aircraft per se.

This is only a high‐level thought piece to stimulate debate. Much greater consideration of all the issues raised is required, as is a change in regulatory requirements.

If implemented, the single crew aircraft could result in a revolution in air transport, offering considerable cost savings, especially on shorter routes with relatively small passenger loads.

A first attempt to use human factors as a design driver to produce operational and economic efficiency by the novel use of existing technologies spun‐out from other areas of aircraft development.

Blues music is in the midst of its second revival in popularity in roughly thirty years. The year 1960 can be identified, with some qualification, as a reference point for the first rise in international awareness and appreciation of the blues. This first period of wide‐spread white interest in the blues continued until the early seventies, while the current revival began in the middle 1980s. During both periods a sizeable literature on the blues has appeared. This article provides a thumbnail sketch of the popularity of the blues, followed by a description of scholarly and critical literature devoted to the music. Documentary and instructional materials in audio and video formats are also discussed. Recommendations are made for library collections and a list of selected sources is included at the end of the article.

In the fall of 1987, the first of three volumes of a scholarly research atlas—The Historical Atlas of Canada—was published to great acclaim. Describing the Atlas as “the most innovative, beautiful and successful single volume on the history of Canada, and indeed the most ambitious cartographic venture ever attempted in this country,” the Royal Canadian Geographic Society awarded gold medals to the volume's editor, R.C. Harris, and cartographer/designer, Geoffrey J. Matthews, as well as to the director of the whole Atlas project, W.G. Dean. The volume received many honors, including the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize for the best book of the year on Early Canada from the Canadian Historical Association and the George Perkins Marsh Award in Environmental History from the University of Utah. Reviewers described the volume in superlatives. American reviewers were equally generous in their praise. Petchenik (herself the editor of the Historical Atlas of Early American History) described the volume as “an amazing accomplishment” and commented that “Not only a country but a civilization has been enriched by this publication.” Konrad assessed the volume as “a unique statement unrivaled in its potential impact.” Shuman, a professor of library science, noted that “this atlas, when complete, should stand as a model to be emulated by all other nations, whenever possible.” Pye, writing in the [British] Geographical Journal stated that “it is difficult to imagine that it could be even remotely paralleled in the foreseeable future.” Volume III of the Atlas appeared in 1990 and again won plaudits. Reviewers obviously felt that the high standards set by the first volume had been maintained.

The purpose of this paper is to review the historic evolution of dual rate valuation practice in the UK from the nineteenth century to the present time.

The paper is based on a review of published books, articles and letters dating from 1852.

The study establishes the fact that single rate was the only method in use in the nineteenth century and notes the overlap of two methodologies and beliefs in the first half of the twentieth century. It confirms that by the late 1930s dual rate had replaced single rate and an “establishment opinion” on the essential need to value leaseholds dual rate on the basis of a set of commandments had emerged without any apparent disagreement. This position, with some debated refinements for the effect of tax and treatment of variable profit rents, is shown to continue through the twentieth century and is reaffirmed in standard textbook teaching at the start of the twenty‐first century. The review touches on the criticisms noted by academics in the latter part of twentieth century. It identifies as a key issue the continuing persistent misconception amongst UK valuers that there is a reinvestment assumption in the present value of £1 per annum.

Dual rate principles are shown in the paper to be untenable and the profession is advised to remove the method from future training of valuers and to cease to make any use of the method in the valuation of leasehold investments.