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As the interest in renewable energy increases and the number of federal and state incentives to support renewable energy has also grown in recent years, it seems worthwhile to explore the economics of using small wind energy systems to offset electricity costs on farms. The purpose of this paper is to explore the economics of small wind turbine installations on a dairy in Michigan through case study analysis.

An Excel‐based capital budgeting model is developed that contains two sub‐modules: one that estimates the value of the wind energy based on the measured wind resource, and an investment module that includes factors such as investment cost, financing parameters, sales of electricity; grants and tax credits and tax information. Cases using 20 and 50 kW turbine systems are analyzed.

The results of the case studies show that in a favorable wind resource, the federal tax and United States Department of Agriculture incentives as well as state policies such as net metering can make wind turbines a good investment with an internal rate of return of 12.5 percent in this example. However, if the wind resource is not sufficient, even favorable renewable energy policies will not offset the lost value of the power generation, and thus a wind turbine will be a poor investment decision. Farm businesses should carefully consider all factors before investing in a wind turbine.

This paper is the first in recent years to combine capital budgeting analysis, wind resource data and the implications of federal and state policies to determine if small wind turbines are a sound investment decision for farm businesses.

This article summarises recent work, commissioned by the Department of Health, which estimated the future need for health and social care services for adults with profound multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) in England. This estimation process involved four stages: identifying children with SEN associated with PMLD; adjusting for the effects of child mortality; estimating the number of adults with PMLD in England; and estimating net changes in the number of adults with PMLD in England. The overall findings suggest sustained and accelerating growth in the number of adults with PMLD in England over the time period 2009‐2026 and hence the need and demand for health and social care services for adults with PMLD.

LIBRARIANS do not desire tribute because, in the clenched antagonisms of to‐day, they carry on their normal work, so far as that is possible. Happy are those who have been allowed to continue their whole‐time devotion to library service, because there has seldom if ever been so much opportunity for good work. In some areas it must be limited, because the dark hours are hours of perpetual air raids or warnings of them, and our people in the more exposed towns cannot be expected to attend evening lectures, talks or recitals. A certain amount of afternoon work is possible, if there is adequate shelter in or adjacent to libraries. The confinement to their homes of our readers affords opportunities to persuade them to read, if persuasion is necessary. First we can instil into folk the desirability of always carrying a book, so that when they are caught by a warning they have something with which to wile away the time in the shelter. Then, there appears a chance of drawing attention to the books which we ought to have read but have not, and our readers may be urged to make black‐out hours profitable by special Studies. Few recent publications are better designed for this than the twenty‐one “Suggestions” which have just come from Leeds. Each consists of a four‐page leaflet, three pages bearing carefully selected and annotated titles, and they are on the subjects that matter—Modern Poetry, Voyages, Modern Thought, Without Passport (travel in Continental Europe), Humour, Amateur Drama, Popular Science, Kitchen Ranging, and so on—the range is great; and we believe these are worthy of national circulation. Reverting to lectures, Bristol has arranged its usual excellent programmes for adults and children respectively.

Gives a brief description of nanotechnology and outlines various on‐going nanotechnology projects in the UK and USA.

The number of animals raised and slaughtered for food in the U.S. has increased dramatically since 1945. We examine how two factors have been fundamental in this expansion of “meat” consumption: the market and the state. U.S. agricultural policies that emerged form the New Deal centered on price supports and production controls. While these policies were aimed at controlling supply, they instead spurred intensive and industrial techniques that resulted in continuous overproduction, especially in corn, wheat and soybeans. As a result, farm organizations and the state promoted “meat” production and consumption as a way to alleviate the surplus. To handle this expansion, intensive and industrial methods reshaped “meat” production, resulting in more oppressive living conditions for animals raised as “meat”. We explore this connection between the market, state policy and animal oppression. We also briefly analyze how this relationship has likewise affected workers and peripheral nations in the world economy.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

This paper aims to examine changes occurring in the organization and delivery of learning at the level of higher education, and argues that it is now possible to envision the shape and structures of the future digital university.

Beginning with a history of the basic organizational paradigm underlying the traditional university, this paper systematically explores the impact on this paradigm of new technological and pedagogical innovations: learning management systems (LMSs), learning objects, iPods, blogs, student e‐mail, wireless connectivity, Google's search capacity, distance (web‐based) education, and blended learning on the pedagogy of tertiary education.

The physical structure of the university is a consequence of the hierarchically organization of knowledge, the predominant model from the late middle ages through the industrial era. As knowledge becomes more extensive and complex, the old organization is proving inadequate. The organization of knowledge in several dimensions will bring a massive restructuring of institutions of higher education. The new digital university will have the web rather than disciplines and the library at its virtual center with (nearly) infinite access to the larger peripheral world. No longer holding a monopoly on information, the postmodern café university competes with commercial, for‐profit institutions of learning, thus offering traditional and new adult learners immediate access and enormous learning flexibility. This enables students of all ages to take advantage of learning experiences from any connected institution, commercial or traditional, in the world.

As a comprehensive and systematic examination of the impact of digital tools in the contemporary university, this paper can offer guidance to university administrators, faculty members, and others involved in the educational process.

A £50 million bid to give every UK citizen free access to the Internet through public libraries, using money from the Millennium Fund, has been rejected by the Millennium Commission.

This bibliographic essay, which reviews the collection development literature published during 1996, is organized into sections covering: bibliographic work; general and miscellaneous works; access and document delivery; collection development policies; materials budgets and budgeting; collection evaluation; collection development for specific subjects, audiences, or formats; electronic resources; use studies; collection development administration, organization, and staffing; and serials collection management. More than 150 items are included in the review.