Twenty-five home maintenance and improvement ideas to reduce utility bills are given. These practical ideas range from hot water heater cleaning and insulation to planting wind breaks. (MDR)

This article investigates the assignment of unit costs to community service activities. The author's position is that although preventive services typically are difficult to assess in cost analysis terms, their importance must not be minimized. (Author/DOW)

An automated question bank maintained by the Department of Research and Services in Education at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School provides a printed copy of each of 25,000 multiple choice questions (95 percent relating to the whole spectrum of the medical curriculum). Problems with this procedure led to experimental work storing the data on…

Schools in Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida, demonstrate that decentralizing the utility budget to the local school level provides an incentive for the school principal to conserve energy. (Author/MLF)

The author discusses motivation and decision factors involved in participation in University of Wisconsin-Extension programs, the cost-benefit margins to individuals, and the teacher's task to provide sufficient information so that people can make informed decisions. (MF)

A summary of the NASPA cost study and an analysis of the data collection instrument is provided. (Author)

Media is used as a supplement in a science education program based on the inquiry method. Students work in small groups and rotate from station to station. (STS)

Reports cost and academic achievement differences between a traditional course and a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) fluid mechanics course taught at San Jose State University. The PSI course cost 7.3 percent more than the lecture course; grades were 48 percent higher on a 4 point maximum scale. (SL)

Performance assessment involves comparing the level and quality of an institution's outcomes with its objectives and examining input-output (cost-benefit) relationships. (Author/IRT)

Board members should look at the demands from employee groups and make sure that they understand what the actual costs are on a short-term basis and on a long-term basis. (Author/MLF)

A synthesis of empirical research on the effects of scale (enrollment size) on average cost per student in higher education using a meta-analytic approach is presented. Results are reported for two-year colleges, four-year colleges, and universities, and for expenditures in several areas including instruction and administration. (Author/MLW)

Discusses the advantages of parallel processor computers in terms of expandibility, cost, performance and reliability, and suggests that such computers be used in library automation systems as a cost effective approach to planning for the growth of information services and computer applications. (CLB)

Predictions for the future of optical disk technology are based on three phases of development: feasibility testing; use as a replacement technology for older technologies; and the introduction of new applications not possible in older technologies. (Author/CLB)

A program that provides a cash alternative to actual commodity food items to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's Child Nutrition Program has greatly reduced processing charges and virtually eliminated warehousing expenses. By only purchasing the food wanted, and in the form preferred, the children are provided with the full commodity benefits to…

The trend in Australian university research policy is toward cost effectiveness and centralization, but this is likely to compromise established standards of excellence and diversity in basic research and lead to an overall reduction in the scale of research. Further study is needed before policy changes are implemented. (Author/MSE)