Russian archives and archivists in a time of troubles

This presentation addressed the author's observations of various archival institutions, meetings with archival administrators, and conversations with host archivists during a visit to Russian and Polish archives in October and November 1995

Adding Electronic Records to the Archival Menagerie: Appraisal Concerns and Cautions

Electronic records are significantly different from most of the records held in institutional archives and, thus, they must be appraised and evaluated for accessioning with different and additional factors in mind. The archival predilection for discussing electronic records only within the context of preservation issues fosters the misconception that--given optimum environmental conditions--electronic media may be considered an archival or long-term storage format. This is not a realistic assessment. Electronic media should be approached as a transitory information format in the archives. The mistaken beliefs that electronic recording formats are long-term storage media and that the readily apparent and sometimes superficial advantages of the volume-to-data ratio of electronic records when compared to other formats have led to the excessive accessioning of machine-readable records into some institutional archives with inadequate reasons to justify the transfer

Records recovery and terrorism

A recent disaster at Oregon State University did not occur the day after Christmas, on a Sunday, or even on campus. It was not the result ofa water pipe accidentally breaking, an earthquake, or a fire. Instead, it was caused by an act ofterrorism. Early in the morning of Monday, June 10, members ofthe Animal liberation Front (ALF), a radical animal- rights group, vandalized the University's mink research farm. A storage barn was completely destroyed by fire, graffiti was spray-painted on the farm's office and laboratory walls, research records in the office were dumped on the floor, and color slides were stolen. An unidentified chemical agent was poured on a small amount of record material, and a nearby bathroom fixture was broken, flooding the office and the strewn records. What faced the disaster recovery team at the mink research facility was not the usual disaster situation, as we have come to think of it in the archival and library community

Digital libraries and special collections : Print for the People: a Mizzou Advantage project

Investigating ways for the University of Missouri to widen access to rare or special collections owned by the University is a primary goal of the Print for the People Mizzou Advantage project. An additional goal is to develop communities of scholars, curators, and other interested members of the university community to define and articulate the need for digital collections in research and teaching. This report describes and analyzes a variety of digital collections and libraries created by other universities and government entities. Analyzing these collections can help create a stronger project model for the University and one that would suit the needs and resources of the University of Missouri

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 21: Technological innovation and technical communications: Their place in aerospace engineering curricula. A survey of European, Japanese, and US Aerospace Engineers and Scientists

Aerospace engineers and scientists from Western Europe, Japan, and the United States were surveyed as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Questionnaires were used to solicit their opinions regarding the following: (1) the importance of technical communications to their profession; (2) the use and production of technical communications; and (3) their views about the appropriate content of an undergraduate course in technical communications. The ability to communicate technical information effectively was very important to the aerospace engineers and scientists who participated in the study. A considerable portion of their working week is devoted to using and producing technical information. The types of technical communications used and produced varied within and among the three groups. The type of technical communication product used and produced appears to be related to respondents' professional duties. Respondents from the three groups made similar recommendations regarding the principles, mechanics, and on-the-job communications to be included in an undergraduate technical communications course for aerospace majors

Thermomechanical and bithermal fatigue behavior of cast B1900 + Hf and wrought Haynes 188

High temperature thermomechanical and bithermal fatigue behavior was investigated for two superalloys: cast nickel-base B1900+Hf and wrought cobalt-base Haynes 188. Experimental results were generated to support development of an advanced thermal fatigue life prediction method. Strain controlled thermomechanical and load-controlled, strain-limited, bithermal fatigue tests were used to determine the fatigue crack initiation and cyclic stress-strain response characteristics of superalloys. Bithermal temperatures of 483 and 871 C were used for B1900+Hf, and 316 and 760 C for Haynes 188. Thermomechanical fatigue tests were conducted by using maximum and minimum temperatures corresponding to those for the bithermal experiments. Lives cover the range from about 10 to 3000 cycles to failure. Isothermal fatigue results obtained previously are also discussed

Locating air leaks in manned spacecraft using structure-borne noise

All manned spacecraft are vulnerable to leaks generated by micrometeorite or debris impacts. Methods for locating such leaks using leak-generated, structure-borne ultrasonic noise are discussed and demonstrated. Cross-correlations of ultrasonic noise waveforms from a leak into vacuum are used to find the location of the leak. Four methods for sensing and processing leak noise have been developed and tested and each of these can be used to reveal the leak location. The methods, based on phased-array, distributed sensor, and dual sensor approaches, utilize the propagation patterns of guided ultrasonic Lamb waves in the spacecraft skin structure to find the source or direction of the leak noise. It is shown that each method can be used to successfully locate the leak to within a few millimeters on a 0.6-m2 aluminum plate. The relative merits of the four methods are discussed