bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Accidents in the Energy Sector and Energy Infrastructure Attacks in the Context of Energy Security
Authors: Burgherr Peter , Giroux Jennifer , Spada Matteo
Published: February 2017

The risks of technological accidents in the energy sector and their potentially disastrous effects have been analyzed over the past decades, and are nowadays generally recognized to constitute a key factor in an encompassing assessment of energy security. In contrast, the issue of intentional attacks on energy infrastructures has received increased attentionmore recently, particularly due to growing dependence of energy imports fromand transit routes through regions considered less reliable and politically stable. Both types of risks, however, illuminate different vulnerabilities. Therefore, the focus of the present analysis was on these two risk categories: accidents and intentional attacks in the energy sector. Risk assessment resultswere based on quantitative data from the databases ENSAD (Energy-related Severe Accident Database) and EIAD (Energy Infrastructure Attack Database). Evaluations examined similarities and differences between technological accidents and intentional attacks in terms of frequencies and consequences, considering time-series trends and regional patterns. A key difference is that accidents are typically rare and independent events, whereas intentional attacks are often multiple events and concentrated both in time and space, resulting in distinct hotspots. Concerning consequences, the severity distribution for accidents generally stretches over a broad range, with low-probability high-consequence events being an important factor of both energy chain performance and as a measure of risk aversion. On the other hand, these types of consequences are usually less important for intentional attacks because targeted energy infrastructures are often of “linear” nature (e.g. pipelines and transmission lines) that are difficult to protect and usually lead through remote areas with low population density. However, when frequently attacked substantial business and supply disruptions can occur. In summary, the joint analysis of accidents and intentional attacks provides a comprehensive and complementary approach on two types of risks that have rather different properties, but are essential in an energy security perspective.
Better Regulation – An Ongoing Journey
Authors: Chase Peter , Schlosser Adam
Published: February 2017

The Commission's new Better Regulation package represents a step forward in the European Union’s decade–long journey to bringing coherence and rationality to its legislative and regulatory process. But as the Communication on the package itself suggests, the journey is far from over.

The Communication consistently emphasizes the key aspects of good regulation: quality over quantity; taking time to get proposals right; evidence–based decision making; open and continuous consultation to gather evidence from all stakeholders; rigorous impact assessments and cost–benefit analysis; applying these tools to regulatory measures as well as legislation; and implementing a robust ex–post evaluation program. It is important as well that the Secretariat General published unified and detailed guidance for Commission officials on how each step of the regulatory process should work, with a “tool–box” to elaborate further on these steps.

All of this is good. Yet in some areas, the Commission misses opportunities to go farther down the good governance road, and in others the guidance needs to be made much more explicit.
Regulation of Seal Animal Welfare Risk, Public Morals and Inuit Culture under WTO Law: Between Techne, Oikos and Praxis
Authors: Herwig Alexia
Published: February 2017

The EC-Seal Products case raises a number of interesting issues for scholars researching in the broad area of risk regulation. This symposium addresses a selection of them through innovative, analytical contributions whose goals are to test central assumptions and question the logic of the findings and to bring fresh solutions to problems faced by the Appellate Body and the panel. In keeping with this analytical focus, this introduction to the symposium will not just present a summary of the key legal findings. Instead, it attempts to draw some further conclusions from the different contributions, to place the contributions in their broader legal context and to make connections between aspects (not) decided in Seals and scholarship on risk regulation, more generally.
There is a Conflict at the Heart of EU Water Pollution Policy
Authors: Taylor David
Published: February 2017

The current application of the hazardous substances provisions of Article 16 of the EU Water Framework Directive are in fundamental conflict with a number of other Directives and Regulations controlling the use of those hazardous substances that are currently essential to the wellbeing of the Community and its citizens. There is a simple solution to this conflict although reaching political agreement in such a polarised area may prove to be impossible.
How Confidential Negotiations of the TTIP Affect Public Trust
Authors: Abazi Vigjilenca
Published: February 2017

“When EU Heads of States and Governments unanimously gave the European Commission a mandate to negotiate the EU–US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on 17 June 2013, they understood that these talks would become the leitmotiv of a new era in EU trade policy. However, few people would have guessed that it would primarily be because of transparency.”

The public demands for more transparent EU negotiations have significantly increased, especially with regard to the EU–US negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. For many pundits transparency in negotiations comes as a surprise, as the candid statement by the Commissioner's Malmström cabinet member illustrates, since traditionally EU negotiations almost exclusively take place behind closed doors and with almost no public disclosure of documents. Scholars have also noted how ‘remarkable’ the TTIP negotiations are for the fact that the negotiating directives were publically released, which was not a common practice before, leading someMembers of European Parliament to initiate adjudication for public disclosure of documents.
TTIP Leaks: A Welcome Opportunity for More Homework
Authors: Häberli Christian
Published: February 2017

So the damage is done: both emperors go naked, and this at a particularly sensitive stage of the negotiations. Worse, the hegemons sit on an applecart already so full that only a “TTIP light” seems to save it from toppling, albeit at a price of losing its most precious apple: regulatory coherence, no wand forever!

But wait! We may already have given up hope for transatlantic agreements on financial cooperation and data protection. Hormone beef and biotech seeds, if not feed, also look rather far away from good and risk–free regulatory solutions. And carmakers in Asia and South America may have chuckled with relief when the efforts of US and EU manufacturers of automobiles failed to define a fully harmonised, standardised and mutually recognised “TTIP Car” – after which they would have had little if any leeway for their own motors, emission limits, windscreens and safety standards.

This is where the leaks may have opened a welcome window of opportunity for third countries, blinded as they apparently all are by the prospects of trade liberalisation racing ahead with megaregional steps too big for them to buy in with any hope for negotiating power.
The European Ombudsman Urges the European Commission to Abandon its Unlawful Pesticide Approval Practice
Authors: Vries–Stotijn Anne de
Published: February 2017

On 18 February 2016, the European Ombudsman delivered a decision (case 12/2013/MDC) that has the potential to thoroughly shake up the manner in which the European Commission authorises plant protection products (PPPs).Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN-Europe) brought the case before the Ombudsman. It alleged that the Commission approves potentially unsafe PPPs and disregards data gaps in the risk assessment, thereby ignoring concerns raised by the European Food and Safety Authority. PAN-Europe also argued that the Commission fails to set appropriate risk mitigation measures and to check Member States’ compliance with those measures. The Ombudsman largely agreed with PAN-Europe. She found that the Commission indeed authorised substances, even when it was unclear whether a substance met the legal health and environmental safety requirements. The Ombudsman made several recommendations to the Commission for bringing its approval practice, which constitutes maladministration, in conformity with EU pesticide law.
Reinterpreting the Fair and Equitable Treatment Provision in International Investment Agreements as a New and More Legitimate Way to Manage Risks
Authors: Bazrafkan Azernoosh , Herwig Alexia
Published: February 2017

International investment agreements (IIAs) emerged in the 1960's as an instrument to lower political risk for foreign investors and to facilitate political risk insurance when investing in developing countries with weak governance structures. Political risk is constituted by interferences to the investment by host states once the investor has entered the market and which would render the execution of the investment unduly burdensome, deprive the investor of the control or enjoyment of the investment or discriminate or treat the foreign investor arbitrarily. The legal provisions in IIAs include non–discrimination provisions, fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, rights to compensation in case of expropriations, including indirect regulatory ones with the effect of depriving the investor of the control and benefits of the investment, provisions on free transfer of capital and, occasionally, non–precluded measures clauses as well as stabilization clauses in which the host state promises not to change the regulatory environment affecting the investment.
In the Aftermath ofD’Arcy v. Myriad Genetics Inc: Patenting Isolated Nucleic Acids in Australia
Authors: Gambini Emanuela
Published: February 2017

On 7 October 2015 the High Court of Australia unanimously allowed the appeal on D’Arcy v. Myriad Genetics Inc and ordered that claims 1, 2 and 3 of Australian Patent No 686004, entitled “In vivo mutations and polymorphisms in the 17q-linked breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene”, be revoked.

The High Court's judgment overturned the decisions of Justice Nicholas of the Federal Court, at first instance, and the Full Federal Court. This case note provides an overview of the High Court's decision and discusses its meaning and implications for patenting isolated nucleic acids in Australia.
Autonomous Intelligent Cars on the European Intersection of Liability and Privacy: Regulatory Challenges and the Road Ahead
Authors: Bruin Roeland de
Published: February 2017

Cars will become more autonomous and intelligent in the near future. Eventually, Autonomous Intelligent Cars (AICs) will contribute to road safety, will enable the mobilisation of disabled citizens and a will lead to a decrease of CO2 emissions. The European Union aims to stimulate responsible innovation in the field of AICs, in a way that (ethical) acceptability, sustainability and societal desirability are taken into account. The current legal frameworks are not observed to optimally facilitate innovation or successful societal deployment of AICs. This article explores challenges for both innovation and acceptance that follow from the current legal regimes on product liability, liability for motor vehicles and information privacy of consumers of AICs, and discusses these challenges in view of a regulatory balance that is to be reached between stimulation of innovation and consumer protection in the European Union.
Expert Evidence, “Naked Statistics” and Standards of Proof
Authors: Ward Tony
Published: February 2017

In the context of the UK Supreme Court decision in Sienkiewicz v Greif (2011) this article discusses the question whether so-called “naked statistical evidence” can satisfy the civil standard of proof in English law, the “balance of probabilities”. It argues that what is required to satisfy the standard is a judicial belief that causation is more likely than not, rather than a categorical belief that causation occurred. Whether such a belief is justified depends on the weight of the evidence as well as the degree of probability it purports to establish, but there is no reason of principle why epidemiological evidence alone should not satisfy this standard.
Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Wars: the Saga Continues: The Court Found the Commission in Failure to Act (and May Need to Strike Back Later)
Authors: Roger Apolline J.C.
Published: February 2017

Case T-521/14, Kingdom of Sweden v European Commission, Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 16 December 2015, ECLI:EU:T:2015:976

Case T-521/14 is a new stop on the perilous journey towards the appropriate regulation of endocrine disrupting chemicals. The Biocidal Product Regulation required the Commission to adopt criteria defining endocrine disrupting properties by 13 December 2013; the deadline was not respected. Even though the failure to act was obvious, the Court's reasoning in T-521/14 matters greatly. It exposes a structural weakness in the EU's risk governance system by reminding the Commission that strong private opposition to regulatory action does not justify tampering with the level of environmental or health protection set by the legislator. The now adopted criteria indicate that this lesson was not taken to heart.
Critical Approach of the Use of Economic Models in Precautionary Risk Management
Authors: Gonçalves Vasco
Published: February 2017

In this article a synthesis of formal models for the economic interpretation of the precautionary principle is presented, with their virtualities, limitations and measures to overcome them.

The concept of precaution has great relevance in environmental regulation in the European Union. On the one hand, and despite the somewhat vague nature of legislation, the interpretation of the precautionary principle has seen recent progress with the development of some economic models and their application. There is, however, a need for a regulatory framework for the implementation of this principle in environmental decision-making, i.e., to clarify concepts and management procedures that are appropriate to the nature of environmental risks.

It is therefore important to know the most relevant economic approaches and models with the aim of identifying their contribution to the debate on precaution in the context of environmental risk management and discuss their practical relevance in public decision-making.
The Shape of Things to Come
Authors: Rahman K. Sabeel
Published: February 2017

The “sharing economy” represents a growing challenge to regulatory policy. In this article, I argue that these debates about the sharing economy are better understood as a broader normative and policy problem of updating our regulatory tools for the new dynamics of 21stcentury capitalism. The new “on-demand” economy reflects more widespread trends in the structure of business organization, driven by new developments in finance and technology. I argue that we should analyze these changes through the normative lens of the balance of economic power: what is especially troubling about the on-demand economy is the way in which it outstrips the modes of accountability and countervailing power enabled by 20thcentury labor, safety net, and economic regulations. The article then suggests key frontiers for regulatory innovation, in particular: (1) expanding regulatory oversight of concentrated market and economic power among on-demand platforms; (2) expanding the relative power of workers to counteract the concentrated power of platforms in the on-demand economy (for example by expanding safety net protections and the ability to organize collectively); and (3) by reinventing systems of collective urban planning processes in the face of the on-demand economy. All three of these focus areas for regulation would entail a variety of specific interventions, but share a common premise of rebalancing economic power in this new economy. The payoffs of these shifts would be more than an expansion of welfare or efficiency, but rather the creation of a policy regime that enables a richer form of economic freedom that achieves more genuine economic independence from domination of various kinds.
Sharing Economy and Regulatory Strategies towards Legal Change
Authors: Doménech-Pascual Gabriel
Published: February 2017

The rise of the sharing economy is transforming the way we produce and consume goods and services. This transformation requires a revision of current legal rules concerning sectors where the sharing economy is emerging. Taking the regulation of the taxi industry as a main example, this article analyses why those rules ought to be reviewed, the obstacles law makers have to face in order to perform such a task, and the regulatory strategies they could use for that purpose. The paper considers a variety of regulatory approaches including regulatory impact assessment, legal variation, the coexistence of different legal regimes, experimental legislation and compensation.
Regulations under International Human Rights Law and under EU Law - Two Different Regimes that Could be Better Harmonized?
Authors: Eide Wenche Barth , Eide Asbjørn
Published: February 2017

The global obesity epidemic was in focus at the 7th Summer Academy on Global Food Law and Policy in Gexco/Bilbao in July 2015. It approached this accelerating public health concern from the angle of risk regulations as linked to processing, trade, marketing and choice/consumption of foodstuffs, addressing also risks of negative impacts on public health at the consumer end. A wealth of expertise enlightened participants about current developments regarding EU and US legislation on risk assessments and risk management.
Towards EU Sexual Risk Regulation: Restrictions on Blood Donation as Infringement of Active Citizenship
Authors: Belavusau Uladzislau
Published: February 2017

Case C-528/13, Léger v. Ministre des Affaires sociales, de la Santé et des Droits des femmes; Établissement français du sang [2015] ECLI: EU:C:2015:288 (Fourth Chamber).

In the case of Léger commented on, the Court of Justice of the European Union dealt with a blanket ban on blood donation for men who had sexual relations with other men (MSM) in France. The Court found that such restrictions can be justified in light of specific epidemiological context and scientific knowledge available in Member States. The judgment, therefore, sheds lights on the boundaries of public health justifications, discrimination of gay and bisexual individuals, as well as the rising scope of EU sexual risk regulation. The present annotation argues that the Court has undermined the principle of non-discrimination and shows how the matter of blood donations should have been treated instead as a prerequisite of active sexual citizenship.

“[T]he sanguine substance is intimately tied to both identity and public culture. Blood is a metaphor of life and of death; it fosters insider and outsider relations; it has economic clout and emblematic significance; these primal fluids are far from natural, organic, or self-evident, being imbued with cultural connotations reflecting imagined connectedness, tentative securities and demonstrable anxieties.”

Jefrey A. Bennet
The Experiences of Civil Lawyers When Studying the Common Law
Authors: Fordham Margaret
Published: February 2017

This article examines the issues experienced by civil lawyers when studying the common law. It considers the extent of the differences between common law and civil law legal systems, examines the challenges which students from civil law jurisdictions face when first exposed to the common law, analyses the various ways in which these challenges may be met, and summarises civilians’ overall impressions of the common law.
Alliances and Contestations in the Legal Production of Space: The Case of Bali
Authors: Wardana Agung
Published: February 2017

The controversy over the provincial spatial planning regulation for Bali Province reflects the dynamic of Balinese society in the era of regional autonomy. The dynamic is polarised between expanding the tourism and real estate industry for economic reasons and constraining such expansion for the sake of protecting Bali’s environment and culture. Thus, the law governing space becomes an essential means to intervene in crafting the relations between competing interests over space. The application of the law itself is also complicated by the condition of legal pluralism which provides different and sometimes conflicting sources of legality to be used to justify the interests of legal actors. This article aims at highlighting how space is produced in a pluralistic legal setting and examining whose interests are served by the condition of legal pluralism in contemporary Bali. Employing socio-legal methods with Lefebvre’s conception of space and legal pluralism as an integrating analytical framework, the article contributes to the literature on spatial planning law in Indonesia that is dominated by “legal centralism” and a given notion of space.
Historicising “Law” as a Language of Progress and Its Anomalies: The Case of Penal Law Reforms in Colonial India
Authors: Shahabuddin Mohammad
Published: February 2017

This paper dispels the myth of liberal Enlightenment in relation to penal law reforms in colonial India by advancing two sets of argument. First, the liberal project of codification on the basis of universalist notion of utilitarianism never broke with cultural hierarchy inbuilt in the very act of colonisation. In this paper, I specifically look into the emerging phenomenon of evolutionary science in the nineteenth century – social Darwinism – to explain the dominant normative, as opposed to realist, justification of such racial hierarchy in colonial discourses since the nineteenth century. Second, using Dipesh Chakrabarty’s theoretical framework, I provincialise the penal law reform project in colonial India through the examination of literature in the field, and substantiate how the notion of utilitarian universality remained vague and unpromising in face of instrumental needs on ground – both in the colony and in the metropolis. Taken together, these propositions dispel the myth of the liberal project of penal law reforms in colonial India based on this universalist position and underscore the fallacies of the transition narrative of modernity itself.
Is Japan Ready for Enduring Powers? A Comparative Analysis of Enduring Powers Reform
Authors: Ryan Trevor
Published: February 2017

This article seeks to understand why the uptake of “third generation” enduring powers in Japan has been disappointing from the perspective of reformers who introduced the powers in 2000. In addition to questions about optimum design of this particular legal instrument, it is an opportunity to explore deeper questions about regulation and the role of law and the market in ageing, post-industrial societies such as Japan. First, the article explains the form that enduring powers take in Japan. Second, it presents statistics on the uptake of enduring powers. Third, the article presents possible reasons for this low uptake, including unsuitable social norms, a lack of awareness, excessive regulation, unresponsive doctrine, and entrenched judicial values. Finally, the article concludes that while these reasons all have explanatory value and are not easily disaggregated, comparative analysis presents some promising developments in Japan such as the growth in candidates to take on enduring powers who are regulated and organised through legal professions, civil society, local government, and the court system. At a deeper level, the article concludes that the fate of enduring powers turns not only on regulatory and doctrinal levers but also on the relative strengths within Japan’s continuing legal development of divergent views on the imposition of formal legal norms and market mechanisms upon relationships previously regulated by informal social norms or administrative decree.
Dishonest Assistance in Singapore and Malaysia sinceBarlow Clowes
Authors: Manley Stewart
Published: February 2017

Determining civil liability for dishonest assistance in breach of fiduciary duty requires courts to consider a combination of subjective and objective factors. Taking into account the person’s experience, intelligence and reasons for acting (subjective factors), did the person have sufficient knowledge of the transaction (subjective factor) so as to render participation in the transaction contrary to ordinary standards of honest behaviour (objective factor)? The piecemeal development of this test, as well as its complexity, led to inconsistency and confusion in application. In 2006, the Privy Council inBarlow Clowes International Ltd (in liq) v. Eurotrust International Ltdclarified that the person accused of dishonest assistance need not actually realise that involvement in the transaction would breach ordinary standards of honesty.

This article assesses how the dishonest assistance test has been applied sinceBarlow Clowesin two Commonwealth countries: Singapore and Malaysia. The article submits that recent Singaporean and Malaysian judgments have not satisfactorily articulated the various elements of the dishonest assistance test, and thus an attempt is made to provide a clear and concise formulation of the test. The article further posits that whileBarlow Clowesindeed added badly needed clarity, it did so only with respect to the particular issue addressed by the Privy Council’s judgment. In other areas no less important – whether there is an active–passive dichotomy between dishonest assistance and knowing receipt, and the nature of wilful blindness in the non-criminal law context – fundamental questions about the contours of the test remain. The article proposes that there should not be an active–passive distinction, and that the test for wilful blindness – a type of dishonest assistance involving suspicion and turning a blind eye – should be revised to contain both subjective and objective elements.
Aircraft v. Submarines
Authors: Strain L. H.
Published: February 2017

The Air Ministry, in granting me permission to deliver this lecture, have asked me to make it clear that “ the statements made are based entirely on my own knowledge and the opinions expressed in no way reflect the official views.” I should like to acknowledge the courtesy of the Air Ministry in giving me permission, and to say that I should be surprised if some of my opinions were in accord with the official view.

Towards the end of the war, although submarines were still doing a considerable amount of damage to shipping, the Navy was rapidly getting their measure.

Submarines were being sunk faster than the enemy could build ; their submarine service had been made so hazardous that it was increasingly difficult for the enemy to man their submarines and maintain the morals of the crews during attempted operations.

This result was not achieved by any one arm of the Navy, nor by any particular invention, but was effected by the intensive use and close co-ordination of praqtically all the resources which the Navy could command.
Formula for Ascertaining Resistance and Effective Horse-Power (Or Tow-Rope Horse-Power) of Skimming Boats, or Hydro-Aeroplane Floats
Authors: Hope Linton
Published: February 2017

The following formulae have been devised for ascertaining the resistance and power of skimming boats, but they are equally applicable to the floats of hydroaeroplanes, although all the examples given are of skimming boats varying from 15 to 40ft. in length, the speeds varying from just under 28 knots up to 51 knots.

It will, of course, be readily understood that the power required to overcome the resistance caused by the floats on hydro-aeroplanes is the Effective Horse-Power (E.H.P.), which is the same as the H.P. required to tow a float at any given speed; while the formula for resistance only, does not take speed into account except in the ratio of

In the examples given it will be seen that the variation between R, as ascertained from actual trials by the ordinary ship formula of and r, ascertained by the formula of is very small; while, in the case of E.H.P. from trials, and e.h.p. by the formula the maximum error—if we except example No. 5 (which is a known bad boat)— is only 0.39%, and the average for the other nine examples is 0.2% for the A type, .04% for B, and 0% for C type.
The Vibration of Airscrew Blades
Authors: Morris J.
Published: February 2017

Airscrews are generally made of wood and owing to the relatively low Young's modulus of timber the blades of an airscrew have a large measure of flexibility. This flexibility is reflected in the comparatively low frequency of vibration of the blades with consequent undesirable effects. Firstly, there is a tendency for the blades to heat resulting in the laminations becoming unstuck, and secondly, there is considerable danger from resonance between the frequency of the blades and the firing impulses of the engine driving the airscrew. The result of this is heating and burning of the boss and ultimately failure of the airscrew. It may even result in failure of the airscrew shaft by shearing.
The Technique of Flight
Authors: Hill R. M.
Published: February 2017

Flying is an art. A pilot may actually fly a small manoeuvrable aeroplane of the present day without knowing much about aerodynamics, just as a musician may draw exquisite music from an instrument without a knowledge of the laws of sound. There is a flying instinct just as there is a musical instinct; an unerring perception of the modes and measures of the art ; a subconscious obedience to laws which are at most but dimly realised. I do not say that a pilot can design a successful aeroplane without a certain knowledge of the fundamental truths of aerodynamics, of the distribution of stresses in a structure, any more than a musician can compose a sonata without a knowledge of the laws of sound, the laws of harmony and counterpoint, the practice of great masters in the traditions of sonata writing ; but I do maintain that he can fly the aeroplane.
The Horizontal Wind Tunnel at East London College
Authors: Thurston A. P. , Tonnstein N.
Published: February 2017

The horizontal wind tunnel at East London College consists of a wooden tube, .2 feet square in section by lift. 6in. long, through which air may be drawn at velocities up to 50 m.p.h. by means of a 6½ h.p. motor.

It was designed and constructed by Messrs. Cedric Lee and G. Tilghman Richards from sketches supplied by one of the authors and was modified later by the addition of a wind disperser as the result of information kindly supplied by Dr. Stanton, of the National Physical Laboratory. This disperser was added principally with the object of reducing the draught in the room and of preventing pulsations of the air current.

The tunnel is provided with a bell mouth to ease the air into it, and at the other end it is connected to the disperser by a metal duct, 3ft. 6in. long, expanding from 2ft. square to 3ft. 6in. diameter. The propeller is mounted in the enlarged end, which is cylindrical for some 7 inches, so as to draw the air through the tunnel.
Atmospheric Rotary Movements of Small Extent
Authors: Hankin E. H.
Published: February 2017

A short summary of our knowledge of this subject may be of interest to
readers of the Aeronautical Journal.

Dust devils, that is to say, columns of dust in rapid rotation, are occasionally seen in Agra. They only occur in hot, dry weather. Those of the largest size, having a diameter of two or three metres and a height of several hundred metres, only occur when the air is nearly calm. They travel to leeward at a speed of about four to six miles per hour. The dust, having reached the upper end of the column, spreads out into a diffuse, irregular mass, which may persist for some time after the dust devil that produced it has vanished.

Fig. i is copied from a book treating of dust devils and dust storms observed at and near Lahore (India) by P. F. H. Baddeley.

He states that they are never shaped like an inverted funnel, as is the case with whirlwinds in America, as described by Redfield.
Staggered Spar Sections
Authors: Hudson H. P.
Published: February 2017

It has been suggested that strut fittings could be made neater, on a staggered aeroplane, if the spar web were given the same stagger. Then the principal axes of the section are not in the direction of either the loading or the supports. The result may be an increase of both bending and shear stress; not more than it is possible to provide for, but involving an increase of weight likely to be more than the gain in the fitting.
Notes on the Storage of Aircraft
Authors: Hoare P. V.
Published: February 2017

The storage of aircraft is sometimes regarded as a matter of secondary importance, but to maintain good efficiency and reliability considerable attention must be devoted to the aircraft during the time when it is not actually in flying condition. Storage in an indiscriminate manner leads to a rapid deterioration, with a consequent financial loss and the introduction of other elements which may be exceedingly dangerous when the aircraft is afterwards flown.

A complete aeroplane or seaplane, or any of its components, calls for separate and distinct methods of treatment and these methods have now been formulated, being based chiefly on experience gained by operations of trial and error.

Not only the aircraft, but also the buildings in which it is proposed to store aircraft, must carefully comply with certain conditions, as however much care is taken with the aircraft, a badly constructed or unsuitable building may counteract all efforts to maintain the aircraft in a serviceable condition and be the cause of scrapping valuable machines.
On the Flight of Sea Gulls
Authors: Hankin E. H.
Published: February 2017

In my description of soaring flight I have used the term “soarable air,” implying thereby that in air in which birds can soar some factor is present whose nature is not yet understood. That the use of this term is advisable and necessary will, I think, be admitted by anyone who will read the following account of some remarkable phenomena observed at the stern of a steamer during a dust storm in the Red Sea.

In the first place it must be premised that gulls frequently find conditions suitable for soaring flight anywhere at a height of a few hundred metres above sea level, not only in tropical seas but also off the south coast of England. On the other hand, with rare exceptions, gulls are only able to soar near sea level in a curiously restricted area on the leeward side of the stern of a steamer. The passage of the steamer has caused some change in the air in virtue of which air otherwise appearing as “unsoarable” now behaves as “soarable air.”
The Small Oscillations of a Kite
Authors: Bryan G. H.
Published: February 2017

A mathematical investigation of the small oscillations of a kite was proposed in “Stability in Aviation” in the form of a problem (p. 180, problem 16). A solution of this problem has been given by Prof. J. M. Bose in the Bulletin of the Calcutta Mathematical Society, Vol. II., No. I. Unfortunately his investigation contains many serious errors of a fundamental character, the effect of which is to render the solution inapplicable to a system in any way resembling an ordinary kite. As examples, the variations in the components of the tension of the kite string are assumed to depend on the velocity components instead of on the displacements of the kite, although Prof. Bose's previous equations show the contrary to be the case. Again, while in his introduction he considers the case of a kite attached by a forked string he contradicts himself by neglecting the displacements of the point of intersection of the string with the plane of the kite.
An Investigation into Various Types of Timber Splices for Aeroplane Construction
Authors: Kaye G. W. C. , Hudson Davies J.
Published: February 2017

During the war a heavy demand was made on the supplies of aeronautical timber, and in order to allow of the use of smaller sized timber, it became necessary to permit the introduction of splices into aeronautical construction. We knew of no means to obtain accurate comparative data, and the purpose of the present inquiry (with which Captain K. Robertson was also associated) was that of finding a method of splicing timber beams which should prove to be the most effective for withstanding bending moment (as in aeroplane main plane spars) and which should at the same time be simple to produce and easy to inspect.

As a preliminary step we invited suggestions from aircraft constructors and others as to the forms of splices which, in their opinion, were likely to give the most useful results.
The Wright Brothers’ Aeroplane
Authors: Orville  , Wright Wilbur
Published: February 2017

Though the subject of aerial navigation is generally considered new, it has occupied the minds of men more or less from the earliest ages. Our personal interest in it dates from our childhood days. Late in the autumn of 1878 our father came into the house one evening with some object partly concealed in his hands, and before we could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, as we expected, it flew across the room till it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor. It was a little toy, known to scientists as a “hélicoptère,” but which we, with sublime disregard for science, at once dubbed a “bat.” It was a light frame of cork and bamboo, covered with paper, which formed two screws, driven in opposite directions by Tubber bands under torsion. A toy so delicate lasted only a short time in the Tiands of small boys, but its memory was abiding.
The Resistance of Inclined Struts in a Uniform Air Current
Authors: Thurston A. P. , Tonnstein N.
Published: February 2017

These experiments were carried out in the aerodynamical laboratory at East London College, with a view to investigating the variation of air resistance of certain bars as the inclination of their longitudinal axes to the direction of the wind was varied, the current of air being kept at a constant velocity. Four bars were used, having the cross sections shown in Fig. I, that is, a square, a 2:1

rectangle, a circle, and a 3:1 streamline form. The bars were carefully made in wood to an equal length of 34m. and approximately a maximum width of lin. in each case. It was thought that interference due to the ends of the bars would be minimised by having some sort of entering edge fitted to the flats. Accordingly, wedge-shaped ends were tried in the case of a fifth bar, but various difficulties seemed to lead to erroneous results and they were abandoned in favour of squared-off ends.
Scientific Balloon Ascents
Authors: Harding Chas.
Published: February 2017

I should like to preface what I am about to say with a word of explanation for the title of the present paper. The title was chosen for me by your much respected Secretary, and I merely acquiesce. The title has a charm for me, realizing how important it is for the elucidation of the many problems held in keeping for us by our atmosphere, that full advantage should be taken of balloon ascents, wherever and whenever opportunity offers, for enhancing our knowledge of the ocean of air at the base of which we live and move. Considering how popular ballooning has been now for more than a century, it is surprising how few of the ascents have been made for really scientific purposes and how few have yielded scientific results.
Some American Experiments
Authors: Chanute O.
Published: February 2017

Probably few readers realize the advance which has been made towards a practical solution of the problem of aviation within the last eight years. It is greater than all that was accomplished during the preceding two centuries. Not only has the subject been rescued from the contempt brought upon it by past failures and eccentric proposals, but very able men—Langley, Maxim, Pilcher, Hargrave, and Lilienthal—have shown by their experiments and writings that man may fairly hope eventually to fly through the air.

Hundreds of failures during the last 300 or 400 years have well shown what arrangements will not answer, but the labours of these latter experimenters now enable us to forecast that success is most probably to be won with aerocurves, driven by screws or flapping propellers, actuated by a steam or a petroleum engine.

What is the best course to be now followed to make still further advance? Most of the above experimenters seem to have proceeded upon the assumption that it is practicable to evolve a complete flying machine at one operation, and to apply propellers and motors from the first, before we are quite certain as to the stability in a wind.
The Kite Equipment of the Arlington Observatory
Authors: Lyon Albert B.
Published: February 2017

Just outside of the city, about a mile from the old Lee home, at Arlington, Va., the Weather Bureau has established a kite farm, and is making experiments in the use of kites for weather observations. This aerial observation station is one of sixteen under the direction of the Bureau. Others are located at Cincinnati, Omaha, Topeka, Knoxville, Pierre S. D., Duluth, Cleveland, Cairo Ill., Sault de St. Marie, and Little Rock. Professor C. F. Marvin, who is in charge of this work, believes that valuable results can be obtained by the kite observation system, and Has invented a number of devices for handling and managing the immense kites used at the Arlington station. One drawback to the use of kites has been the difficulty of controlling the big seven-foot affairs employed to carry the observing and recording instruments used in meteorological work. To cope with this difficulty Professor Marvin has built a new kite controlling machine, which makes it possible for one person standing before the reel to have within reach all the controlling handles, and to read the dials showing the amount of line run out, the pulling power of the kite, its elevation, distance, and electric connections.
The Acoustical Experiments Carried out in Balloons by the late Rev. J. M. Bacon
Authors: Bacon Gertrude
Published: February 2017

The following is a statement of the results of certain acoustical investigations, in conducting which the late author was favoured by somewhat exceptional facilities. He writes: “ In a long series of endeavours, during balloon travel, to aid in the investigation of the physical constitution of the upper air, I have constantly sought to determine variations, however trivial or transient, in the currents through which the balloon has had to climb. Results have been alike curious and instructive. Thus, a globe of thistle down will not sport in the air as it does above the hedge rows, but will take an independent course, often at variance with that of the balloon, striking off widely in an apparently chance direction, or, more curiously, mounting upwards past the balloon, even though this may be also ascending from discharge of ballast.
The Chief Scientific Uses of Kites
Authors: Lawrence Rotch A.
Published: February 2017

If we neglect the ancient legends regarding the employment of kites in China to communicate with the garrison of a besieged town and the carrying off of a golden ornament from a tower in Japan, the earliest use of kites seems to have been in 1749, when Dr. Alex. Wilson of the University of Glasgow in this way lifted thermometers into the summer clouds. Curiously enough, this first application of kites to meteorological purposes has proved to be the most important use to which they have been put since. Two years later Dr. Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia, by means of a kite, proved the identity of electricity and lightning, these experiments being afterwards repeated by De Romas in France, by Beccaria in Italy, and by Cavallo in England. Early in the last century, interest in the kite for scientific purposes was revived, and Admiral Back obtained with it temperatures above Hudson's Straits, while in 1847 Mr. W. R. Birt proposed to obtain in the free air above Kew Observatory, observations of the various meteorological elements.
The Secretary Bird and his Flight
Authors: Baden–Powell B.
Published: February 2017

I know of no bird from which lessons in practical flight can be better obtained than from the Secretary bird. As one sees him stalking along with stately gait across the veld in South Africa, he reminds one rather of a very large pied pheasant, but with longer legs and an eagle–like head. But now let us gallop straight towards him and note carefully his successive actions. At first, he raises his head in a proud and offended manner, but then recognising the undoubted physical superiority of the mounted man, he hurries his steps and runs in an ungainly fashion, almost as if afraid. Then he slowly opens and extends his great wings till they are widely stretched outwards. His appearance then irresistably recalls to mind with grim sadness the scene, so impressed on my memory, of poor Pitcher's last attempts to solve the mysteries of flight.
On Forms of Surfaces Impelled through Air and their Effects in Sustaining Weights
Authors: Wenham F. H.
Published: February 2017

At the first meeting of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain in June, 1866, the author read a paper “On Aerial Locomotion and the Laws by which Heavy Bodies impelled through Air are Sustained.” Since that date, the writer has only occasionally reverted to the subject, but has never been convinced that flight is impossible for man, considering the apparent ease with which large birds traverse the air.

The power required to maintain the flight of the screw vanes mentioned in the paper (now extensively used for flying-shot practice), was estimated at the rate of three-horse power for each hundred pounds raised. This is widely in excess of the reality, because when the first force that causes ascension is exhausted, the instrument in its subsequent descent, acts as a mere dirigible parachute. This is a most extravagant means of absorbing power. For example, a man weighing 150 lbs. attached to a parachute having this number of square feet, descending 1,300 feet per minute, will be expending six-horse power on the yielding air.
Portable Electric Balloon Signalling in War
Authors: Bruce Eric Stuart
Published: February 2017

Thirteen years ago, shortly after I had been privileged to supply the British Government with my Electric Signalling Balloon Apparatus, I showed upon the screen of the London Institution the same picture that is now before you. It represents the signallers of two friendly military forces shut in by high mountains. It shows how limited is the usefulness of the ordinary methods of visual signalling, which depend upon some vantage point for altitude; it shows how valuable in such a casa is the electric signalling balloon. In the picture, the signallers on this side of the mountain are filling the balloon with gas for the ascent. On the other side, the balloon has already ascended. In the next picture both balloons have ascended to a considerable elevation, and the signallers are independent of the configuration of the country. I will now ask whether this picture does not partly represent the conditions realised so often during the South African Campaign, when our brave soldiers have been imprisoned so long amidst the rugged mountains of Natal, and where failure of communication has been the cause of disaster.
3.—The Britannia
Authors: Rolls Charles S.
Published: February 2017

The following are the principal details concerning my balloon, the “ Britannia,” which I used in the Gordon-Bennett Race: The balloon was constructed for me by Messrs. Short Brothers. It has a capacity of 78,500 cubic feet, and is made of a special material, and varnished with a new kind of varnish, which has got over the difficulty of heat generation when the balloon is packed up new. It is a very great advantage, having this new kind of varnish, as on the trial trip of the balloon from Messrs. Short's balloon ground last- month, the balloon was left packed up for a considerable time, yet, when opened out, it was found perfectly cold. The valve is of the French type, made by Messrs. Short. The suspension hoop is a new kind of their design.