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PHONIX is a phonetic retrieval technique developed for use with the URICA library system. It has been successfully installed at a number of URICA sites in Southern Africa. PHONIX has been found to be particularly useful when applied to personal names, specifically author surnames in the context of a library system. Certain names such as Anton Chekov have been variously transliterated as TSJECHOF, TSJECHOW, TJEKHOW, CHEKHOV, CHEKHOW etc., in the multi‐lingual environment of libraries in Southern Africa. PHONIX complements the more conventional information retrieval techniques used by URICA, and the algorithm used is explained as a simple, easy to apply, set of rules. This contribution follows on from a previous paper.

The article discusses phonetic retrieval of written names or words in computer systems. It deals briefly with the two established coding techniques of Davidson and Soundex, and an improved method called Phonix. Phonetic coding is performed on full words, with the ending sounds of words having special significance during the search process which results in likely, less likely, least likely categories of matches. Phonix has been tested, within the URICA library package, on bibliographic databases where it has been used as a secondary method of retrieval after failure of an initial search.

An increasing volume of historical text is being converted into machine‐readable form so as to allow database searches to be carried out. The age of the material in these databases means that they contain many spellings that are different from those used today. This characteristic means that, once the databases become available for general online access, users will need to be familiar with all of the possible historical spellings for their topic of interest if a search is to be carried out successfully. This paper investigates the use of computational techniques that have been developed for the correction of spelling errors to identify historical spellings of a user's search terms. Two classes of spelling correction method are tested, these being the reverse error and phonetic coding methods. Experiments with words from the Hartlib Papers Collection show that these methods can correctly identify a large number of historical forms of modern‐day word spellings.

The question of the best commercial method of retailing milk requires to be dealt with from the various standpoints of the different classes of milk vendors.

In recent years, two new approaches have bloomed in criminological thinking, narrative criminology and psychosocial criminology. Both have argued for a new consideration of offenders' narratives, which are investigated as a description of life events and choices, and of the decision to offend. An interview regarding the life and deviant career of an Italian football hooligan (‘ultras’) – a Bangladeshi–Italian boy trying to find his place in Italian society – will show how the two approaches can be combined in an analysis of the subject's often ambiguous narratives, in which both neutralisation techniques and defence mechanisms can be discerned. We will first describe the complex narrative strategies used. We will then try to explain how, through the use of complex defences and neutralisations, the subject can feel simultaneously integrated into both the deviant group and general society. In this case, despite antinomies and ambiguity, integration is achieved by keeping at bay the sense of guilt related to aggression towards parental figures.

ONE of the primary considerations in the design of high performance aircraft is the attainment of a high power/weight ratio for the unloaded machine, while at the same time ensuring complete reliability under the most exacting service conditions.

Why did peasants in old-regime Europe scatter their land in small strips within open fields? According to an influential theory advocated by Deirdre McCloskey, the system’s main aim was risk reduction. By spreading out land, peasants were less exposed to the caprices of nature: heavy rains, droughts, frost, or hailstorms. In a time when other insurance institutions were lacking, this approach could be a rational solution, even if, as McCloskey suggests, it could be achieved only at the expense of overall agricultural productivity.

Over the years, McCloskey’s theory has repeatedly been debated. Still, it has never been empirically established to what extent the open fields actually reduced risk. McCloskey offered only indirect evidence, based on hypothetical calculations from short series demesne level yields. Risks on enclosed and open-field land farms were thus never compared.

This chapter presents farm-level harvest variation series, including observations from both types of land. It is based on tithe records of 1,700 farms in Southern Sweden from 1715–1860. Results show that scattering had a limited effect on agricultural risk. The system did protect against small-scale local crop failures. It was less efficient, however, when it came to the large-scale regional harvest disasters that constituted a much more serious threat to peasants of the time. From this perspective, the inner logic of the open-field system is taken up for renewed consideration.

This research examines the association of physical development density, prevalence and types of microbes in colonized façade finishes of buildings in Enugu metropolis, Nigeria.

Survey and experimental research designs were adopted. A total of 383 buildings were investigated with samples collected from those with colonized façade finishes. The microbes were identified using the standard procedure for genomic sequencing with descriptive statistics, and the chi-square test used to analyse the data.

The results revealed a 64% prevalence of microbial colonization and a significant association between this and physical development density with 71.0% of the colonized buildings located in high-density neighbourhoods of the metropolis. The sequencing also showed 24 different microbes with Trichophyton tonsurans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Trichoderma harzianum species being the most common in the colonized façade finishes.

The research informs building professionals and owners of the specific microbes involved in the colonization of façade finishes of buildings in high-density urban areas. It also provides a clue about the nature of damages and defects associated with microbial colonization of building façades and the type of biocide additives required for the production of microbial-resistant façade finishes in the hot-humid tropical environment of Nigeria and beyond.

The study has shown that there is a significant relationship between the intensity of urban land use and microbial colonization of façade finishes of buildings. It also identified some new or less known microbes responsible for the biodeterioration of façade finishes and the effects this has on the buildings and public health in the hot-humid tropics of Enugu, Southeast Nigeria.