In this original analysis, the author examines why tuition for both private and public education has risen so much faster than inflation or family incomes. As one indication if the extent of the problem, students loans have doubled in recent years. One reason is reduced public subsidies for...

An optimization approach based on greedy algorithm for optimization of wind farm micro-siting is presented. The key of optimizing wind farm micro-siting is the fast and accurate evaluation of the wake flow interactions of wind turbines. The virtual particle model is employed for wake flow...

This paper gives a concise review of new designs and developments of illumination, heating and air-conditioning systems and technologies for energy-efficient buildings. Important breakthroughs in these areas include high-efficiency and/or reduced cost solar system components, LED lamps, smart...

An evacuated tubular solar collector was fabricated from acrylics for improved resistance to shattering. A plasmatron was employed to apply a thin gas-barrier coating to the surfaces of the plastic tube to prevent/alleviate gas infiltration. Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect...

Wind farm micro-siting is to determine the optimal positions of wind turbines within the wind farm, with the target of maximizing total power output or profit. This paper studies the performance of the lazy greedy algorithm on optimization of wind turbine positions above complex terrain. Instead...