Search results

The search for an easily installed, practicable and inexpensive information retrieval system continues unabated. This is reflected in the Aslib Library almost daily by requests for advice on the feasibility of installing this or that system, or for information on what systems are available in Great Britain. Study of the following bibliography, which covers only a narrow selection of information retrieval systems, will reveal that much original thought has been producing concrete results in this country. In fact, one of the earliest references is to a paper given at the twenty‐second Aslib Conference in 1947 by W. E. Batten, in which he describes his development of an ‘aspect’ card system—more often referred to today as ‘Peek‐a‐boo’ or ‘feature’ cards. Mr C. W. Cleverdon's Cranfield project is also adding considerable knowledge on the use of various indexing methods, including Uniterm.

OurAutomatic Data Processing System (ADPS) first became operational in February 1960. Since then we have been showered with requests for information on various aspects of our application. It is my purpose here to present the information retrieval part of the story.

The purpose of this paper is to test the influence of collaborative and consultative decision rules on groups’ sensitivity to framing effect (FE) and escalation of commitment (EOC).

In an experimental study (using a sample of 233 professionals with project management experience), the authors test the effects of collaborative and consultative decision rules on groups’ sensitivity to EOC and FE. The authors use four group decision-making tasks to evaluate decision consistency across gain/loss framed decision situations and six decision tasks to evaluate EOC for money as well as time as resources previously invested in the initial decisions.

The results show that the collaborative decision rule increases sensitivity to EOC when financial resources are involved and decreases sensitivity to EOC when time is of essence. Moreover, the authors show that the collaborative decision rule decreases sensitivity to FE in group decision making.

The results have important implications for group rationality as an emergent group level competence by extending the insights concerning the impact of decision rules on emergent group level cognitive competencies. Due to the experimental nature of the design, the authors can probe the causal relations between the investigated variables, yet the authors cannot generalize the results to other settings.

Managers can use the insights of this study in order to optimize the functioning of decision-making groups and to reduce their sensitivity to FEs and EOC.

The study extends the research on group rationality and it is one of the few experimental attempts used to understand the role of decision rules on emergent group level rationality.

The exponential growth of the World Wide Web in terms of sites and of users has created an environment in which the basic mechanisms of how information should be best represented and transmitted to end‐users must be re‐examined.

Other concentrated milk products are evaporated or condensed milks. These do serve as direct substitutes for the original, simply by the restoration of the original amount of water content. Large shipments of these products are going forward regularly from Canada and the United States to Great Britain. The next logical step in the process is the complete dehydration into powdered form. This has been an expanding industry in recent years. Milk in powdered form occupies only about one‐quarter of the space taken by evaporated milk and approximately one‐eleventh of the volume of the original fluid milk. Experiments are now under way in Canada to make further economies. Dried milk is usually packed in tins or small containers, in loose powder form. Half a ton of milk was recently sent from Ontario to Great Britain in the form of solid blocks, packed in large cartons. If these experiments are successful further important economies in shipping space will result. The drying of eggs has until last year only been incidentally carried on in this continent, and industries using dried eggs have depended upon China for their supply. The cutting off of this source and spectacular demand for military use and overseas shipment have resulted in a tremendous increase in output. In 1939 the United States egg‐drying industry prepared only 10 million pounds of dried egg products. By 1941 this had been increased to 45 million pounds, and it has been estimated that output in 1942 will reach 150 million pounds. Some fear has been expressed that the present expansion in the industry will have severe repercussions, when conditions of normal supply and demand are restored after the war. It should be noted, however, that production of this year's quota will involve operation of the plants twenty‐four hours a day throughout the year and that the industry can go back to a peacetime operation with an eight‐hour day and a four‐month season. On this basis output would be only 17 million pounds per annum, or slightly larger than pre‐war consumption in the United States. Egg drying in Canada has also begun to expand. During 1941 we delivered 15 million dozen eggs to Great Britain. These eggs were shipped in the shell, and owing to shipping delays their condition upon arrival was not always satisfactory. Egg deliveries to Great Britain in 1942 are expected to reach 45 million dozen eggs, and since February 7th all of these have been shipped in the dried form. Although the drying capacity in Canada has been sharply increased it is not yet capable of handling all the eggs available at the period of peak production and the surplus eggs are being packed for future processing. While there has been a substantial growth in the processing of milk and eggs by dehydration, the industry which has received the greatest publicity and aroused most public interest is the dehydration of vegetables. During the World War of 1914–18 a substantial quantity of dehydrated vegetables was prepared and shipped to Europe, primarily for the use of United States armed forces. These were not popular; in general they tasted like anything but vegetables, and the kindest description of their flavour was that it resembled hay. The industry died away at the end of the war almost as rapidly as it had risen. The last few years, however, have seen a revival of interest and of operation in the dehydrated vegetable industry. This revival has, curiously enough, been based upon discoveries made in research for a rival, the quick‐frozen food industry. In the earlier days of the latter industry the same problem of hay‐like flavour arose. Research indicated that this was due to activity of enzymes—those curious biological catalysts present in all living matter without which the chemical changes necessary for its existence could not take place. It was discovered by pioneers in the frozen food industry that a pre‐heating or “blanching” process immediately prior to freezing prevented activity of the enzymes during the period when the food remained frozen. As a result of the lack of chemical change the flavour remained unaffected. It is thus against the background of this research rather than as a result of immediate war demands that the dehydrated vegetable industry has so far had its development. For a number of years the industry in the United States has been slowly growing, and a survey conducted last year by the United States Department of Commerce indicated that fifteen commercial plants produced slightly less than 5 million pounds of dehydrated vegetables in 1940. Nearly two‐thirds of the output was in the form of powders to be used for seasoning, including such highly flavoured vegetables as onions, celery and red peppers. The remainder of the output was either in the form of mixed vegetables which, combined with animal protein and flavourings, make up the now familiar packaged soups. There has also been, however, a relatively substantial volume of production for dehydration and use in the form of the original vegetable. One company in fact has specialised in the production of potato shreds which permit the preparation of mashed potatoes in five minutes. The greater part of the output was purchased by hotels, restaurants and other large organisations where convenience in use was a major factor. The direct sale to individual consumers was only in the preliminary stages. The increased demand for food products in the United States, both for the armed forces and for shipment abroad under “lease‐lend,” has aroused an intense interest in the industry. The United States Department of Agriculture announced at the beginning of June a programme of technical assistance and priorities on materials for food processors desirous of converting their plants. Compared with the fifteen plants producing 5,000,000 pounds in 1940, there are now reported to be 113 companies operating dehydration plants, with an aggregate annual production of 125,000,000 pounds. Potential demand may be measured by the fact that if dehydrated potatoes were served to the men in the United States army only once a week it would require 7 million pounds of finished product per annum of this vegetable alone. The types of dehydrated vegetables most in demand are potatoes, onions, cabbages, carrots, beets and tomatoes. The important factor in all these products is quality. Dehydration is not a process for getting rid of second‐grade products. One successful operator has found that green peas for dehydration should be of approximately the same quality as those used for quick‐freezing, and must be better than the average quality of peas canned. If the product is to be restored to anything like palatable flavour and texture the flavour must be there to begin with. During recent months the Canadian Government has been actively encouraging experimental work in the dehydration of vegetables.

THE Deutsche Luftfahrtschau, or as it is more generally known, the Hanover Air Show, held every two years by the Bundesverband der Deutschen Luft‐ und Raumfahrtindustrie e.V. (Federal Association of the German Air and Spacecraft Industries). This year's Show will be held from April 26 to May 5 at the Hanover Langenhagen Airport and will be held at the same time as the famous Hanover Fair.

Benchmark surveys regarding talent management assessment practices and interventions of choice for organization development (OD) practitioners have shown 360-degree feedback to be a popular tool for both development and decision-making in the field today. Although much has been written about implementing 360-degree feedback since its inception in the 1990s, few longitudinal case examples exist where interventions have been applied and their impact measured successfully. This chapter closes the gap by providing research findings and key learnings from five different implementation strategies for enhancing 360-degree feedback in a large multi-national organization. Recommendations and implications for future research are discussed.

The requirements for transmission methods are accuracy, speed, ease of use, ability to switch requests, ability to respond to requests, and cost. Postal services are still most commonly used. Telephone and Telex are faster, but can be expensive. New alternatives include automatic document request services, direct requesting by computer, automated request switching systems, and telefacsimile. These new methods will become more popular as costs of equipment decrease.

Dear Madam, After having read Mr Negus's highly entertaining and informative paper on the juggling of edge‐punched cards, I cannot help wondering if, in changing to multiple‐entry subject card index, he still has not backed the right horse. Could not the ASM Metallurgical classification be put straight on to Peek‐a‐boo cards and used as a co‐ordinate index? This would be a less sophisticated form of ASTIA's automated retrieval system where document numbers are put on to magnetic tape instead of being punched on cards. Bill Barden, in conversation at the Aslib Aeronautics Group Conference in July [1961], expressed the view that a Peek‐a‐boo co‐ordinate index was extremely efficient for document collections of 100,000 or less, and that computer scanning was only a logical extension of a highly selective retrieval technique.