Despite the worst economic environment in generations, spending by K-12 institutions on maintenance and operations (M&O) held its own--defying historical trends that have shown M&O spending among the most affected in times of budget tightening. This article presents data from the 38th annual Maintenance & Operations Cost Study for…

The concept of today's cloud computing may date back to 1961, when John McCarthy, retired Stanford professor and Turing Award winner, delivered a speech at MIT's Centennial. In that speech, he predicted that in the future, computing would become a "public utility." Yet for colleges and universities, the recent growth of pervasive, very high speed…

In the "participation age", emerging cross-border, transnational communities driven by innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives--in short, international entrepreneurial communities--give impetus to the rise of international public goods. With varying intensity, a non-voting international mobile public--still a small but an increasing fraction…

Teachers do not have to go very far to teach their students about technology education. There are examples right there in the home to keep them and their students quite busy. Many everyday products contain wonderfully fascinating stories and histories of development and invention to keep students totally intrigued. In this article, the author…

A utility rate consulting firm explains its services and claims that, armed with complete and up-to-date rate information, it can effect savings in utilities costs. (MLF)

Two articles reprinted from "Public Power" discuss the present state of cable television (TV), its future prospects, and the opportunities offered municipal utilities by cable TV. The proposal is that local publicly-owned electric utilities meet the requirements of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for cable TV ownership and have the…

The energy losses and output of a modern power plant using coal and fuel oil are quantitatively presented. (CP)

Describes the efforts of one public utility to simplify its bills and make them more informative. Benefits included (1) significant savings on customer complaints, (2) improved employee morale, and (3) upgraded public image. (CH)

Explains how one high school district in San Jose, California, reduced its electricity bill through an energy conservation program. (IRT)

Provides background on the development of the AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, second edition) APPM (Archives, Personal Papers and Manuscripts). The requirements of archival description and the shortcomings of AACR2 in dealing with these needs are discussed with emphasis on the distinctions between published and unpublished materials. (4…

For electric energy to get from the generating station to a home, it must pass through a transformer, a device that can change voltage levels easily. This article describes how transformers work, covering the following topics: (1) the magnetism-electricity link; (2) transformer basics; (3) the energy seesaw; (4) the turns ratio rule; and (5)…

Describes a year long test of successful sulfur dioxide removal from stack gas with a calcium oxide slurry. Sludge disposal problems are discussed. Cost is estimated at 0.6 mill per kwh not including sludge removal. A flow diagram and equations are included. (GH)

The Public Service Commission in New York is studying methods of repricing utility services. The study will try to determine who pays how much of the revenues required to operate a utility efficiently. (Author/MLF)

Compares the newspaper coverage of three Florida Power & Light Company rate increase proposals with the size of the proposed increase. Finds that the variation in news coverage of electric utility rate increase is directly proportional to the variation in price increase. (MM)