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In this paper we describe a novel human machine interface system aimed primarily at those who have experienced loss of extremity motor function. The system enables the control of a wide range of assistive technologies such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, computers and general electrical goods at the ‘flick of a tongue’. This system could benefit a huge sector of people including those who have suffered a spinal cord injury, stroke or quadriplegia.The technology focuses on a unique hands‐free interface whereby users can issue commands simply by performing subtle tongue movements; these tongue motions are continually monitored by a small microphone positioned comfortably within the ear canal. Due to the physiological connections between these regions and the distinctive nature of the signals, these commands can be detected and distinguished allowing a control signal to be issued.This inexpensive device offers significant advantages over existing technologies by providing unobtrusive, hygienic control through natural tongue motion. New software has been implemented, achieving over 97% correct classification across four different tongue movements for seven test subjects. Feasibility of the system as an interface for a variety of devices is demonstrated through simulation studies including controlling a prosthetic manipulator and power wheelchair.

Because of the special “State of the States” issue of Library Hi Tech and other circumstances beyond my control, the four quarterly “Comp Lit” compilations for 1996 appear here in a single and possibly peculiar chunk. A lot changes in a year of personal computing, but on reflection it seemed useful to include the citations and comments as I originally wrote them.

Rather than organize as traditional firms, many of today’s companies organize as platforms that sit at the nexus of multiple exchange and production relationships. This chapter considers a most basic question of organization in platform contexts: the choice of boundaries. Herein, I investigate how classical economic theories of firm boundaries apply to platform-based organization and empirically study how executives made boundary choices in response to changing market and technical challenges in the early mobile computing industry (the predecessor to today’s smartphones). Rather than a strict or unavoidable tradeoff between “openness-versus-control,” most successful platform owners chose their boundaries in a way to simultaneously open-up to outside developers while maintaining coordination across the entire system.

The Maine State Library has begun to offer public domain and “user‐supported” software to libraries within the state. A subscription to the PC‐SIG software library on CD‐ROM makes it possible to conveniently handle requests for any one of nearly 10,000 program and data files.

Sex ratio theory predicts that the net investment of parents in male and female offspring should be equal in a population. Thus, if the costs and/or benefits of raising one sex to maturity differ from the other sex, then the sex ratio may deviate from 50:50. If body size and/or condition are more important to male reproductive success than it is to female reproductive success, then mothers should bias the sex ratio of their offspring in favour of males when they are in relatively good condition and are likely to produce larger offspring. Here we analyse data from a large, national survey of Ethiopian women and children to see if there is any relationship between maternal nutrition and sex ratio at birth. We find that, in rural areas, malnutrition is associated with a small but significant increase in the odds of a female birth. There is a preponderance of female births in rural areas, which may be a response to nutritional stress. However, rural mothers are more likely to cease reproduction after the birth of a son, indicating son preference. There is no evidence of either of these effects in urban areas.

Hooking into the Electronic Grid. Cyberpunk science fiction postulates a world in the not too distant future where a vast information grid is responsible for most activity of any importance. Future hackers with the requisite skills and mental discipline can hook their brains directly to this grid and travel the ‘data paths’ in search of adventure. Novels such as Neuromancer by William Gibson have invigorated the often dull genre by extrapolating present trends into an all‐too‐believable near future. In some sense, the world postulated by cyberpunk is already here. Anyone connected to a network has already become dependent on the vast information grid that is now responsible for a great deal of activity. Indeed, a computer sitting off by itself may still be a useful tool. But with the addition of a modem it can serve as a window into a vast array of information and services.

In the recent literature in human behavioral ecology, two types of explanations have emerged as important for understanding fertility and parental investment in modern market economies: embodied capital and heritable wealth. Using this perspective, I compare the education, income, and marriage outcomes of daughters and sons among three urban south Indian social class groups that differ in terms of their education, resources, and the types of jobs they typically perform. The three class groups are found to have predictably different parental investment strategies based on their position in competitive labor markets and the investment currencies they rely on most heavily. Furthermore, I find that the currencies of both embodied capital and heritable wealth have important but separate impacts on parental investment behavior. Finally, I find that these different investment currencies may entail different investment structures, which in turn may differ by social class: in some classes, education attracts education in the marriage market and marriage expenditures help ensure a wealthy spouse, but in other classes, these currencies are substitutable.

To consider the recent decision by the Court of Appeal in the case of Hurst Stores v. M L Europe Property Ltd (2004) and the possible important implications for building surveyors and other construction professionals.

A review of literature and case law. Possible developments in this area of law are considered.

A person described as a “project manager” does not necessarily have authority to make legally binding agreements. Where a building surveyor is acting as a project manager, the extent of authority ought to be clarified, preferably in writing. Where a building surveyor is dealing or negotiating with a project manager, he/she cannot take it for granted that any agreement reached will be legally binding. Furthermore, as a consequence of the decision in the Court of Appeal, a document with the heading “Final Account” might not be a final account at all!

Increasingly, building surveyors are involved in adjudication, either as witnesses or as adjudicators. In the latter case, the building surveyor ought to be aware that as a result of this case, the probability of a legal challenge to an adjudicator's decision is greatly increased. Another consequence of cases such as Hurst means that building surveyors are more likely rather than less likely to be involved in adjudication if they are operating in the UK.

Applies recent case law to the work of building surveyors.