the more economics becomes the science of allocating attention.”
— George Gilder
Today we break down the literature for building, maintaining and supporting the computing infrastructure of education communities. We use the term “infotech” gingerly to explain action for a broad span of technologies that encompass enterprise servers and software, wireless and wired networks, campus phone networks, and desktop computers that provide administrative services and career tech video production. The private sector has moved at light speed to respond to the circumstances of the pandemic; so have vertical incumbents evolving their business models to seek conformance revenue in this plasma-hot domain.
Starting 2023 we break down the topic accordingly:
Infotech 100: Survey of the principal standards developing organizations whose catalogs are incorporated by reference into federal and state legislation. Revision cycles.
Infotech 200: Campus computing facilities for research and education
Infotech 300: Communication networks, wired and unwired at the demarcation point; crucial for defining the responsibilities and boundaries between the service provider and the customer.
Infotech 400: System, middleware and application for education and research
We have begun to track case studies of satellite-based internet services to rural and remote schools and community colleges.
Throughout 2025 we will expand our inquiry in this time slot. There are obvious global security issues to enlighten approaches to assuring communication security if, for example, undersea cables are maliciously destroyed.
The literature radiates continually by consortia, open-source, or ad hoc standards-setting domains rather than the private standards system administered by global and standards setting bodies; to wit:
The ICT domain is huge, replacing physical libraries. The foregoing is a highly curated sample.
We continue to include teaching and learning media standards on our colloquia however it is likely that will break up this topic into at least two related colloquia as 2023 proceeds; with primary focus on the design, construction and maintenance of the physical ICT infrastructure. Much depends upon the interest of our clients, colleagues and other stakeholders. We collaborate closely with the IEEE Education and Healthcare Electrotechnology Committee.
Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
The real-life sport of Quidditch was inspired by the Harry Potter franchise but has since changed its name to Quadball. Organizers hope the name change distances the sport from the social positions of author J,K. Rowling, perhaps growing the sport.
Quadball refers to the number of balls and positions in the sport; its playfield governed largely by field sport codes and standards.
Today we take a cross cutting review of all the literature (codes, standards, guidelines, laws) that informs safe and sustainability occupancy load, means of egress, illumination, ambient air, plumbing, electric, communication and acoustics in classrooms.
EPA Lead and Asbestos Regulations: Governs the handling of lead and asbestos in school buildings.
EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Provides guidelines to manage air quality.
5. Structural Standards
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE):
ASCE 7: Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures.
American Concrete Institute (ACI):
ACI 318: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete.
6. Plumbing and Mechanical Codes
International Plumbing Code (IPC): Provides guidelines for plumbing system design and installation.
International Mechanical Code (IMC): Sets standards for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
7. Electrical Standards
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standards: Includes various electrical safety and installation standards relevant to school facilities.
8. Educational Specifications and Guidelines
Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) Guidelines: Provides best practices for school design that promote effective learning environments.
State-Specific Educational Specifications: Many states have their own guidelines for the design of educational facilities to meet state-specific educational needs.
9. Safety and Security Standards
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Guidelines: Suggests design strategies to enhance security in school environments.
School Safety and Security Standards (state-specific): Some states have additional requirements for school security measures.
10. Sustainable Design Standards
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Schools: Provides a framework for building green and energy-efficient schools.
Green Building Initiative (GBI) Standards: Focuses on sustainable and energy-efficient building practices.
11. Maintenance Standards
International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC): Provides guidelines for the maintenance of buildings, ensuring they remain safe and functional over time.
12. Other Relevant Standards
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Guidelines: Provides standards for building schools in disaster-prone areas (e.g., tornadoes, earthquakes).
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standards: Ensures workplace safety, including in schools, covering areas like chemical safety, electrical safety, and more.
Local Considerations
Local Zoning Laws and Ordinances: Schools must also comply with local land use regulations, which may affect building placement, size, and use.
The pomegranate is a significant symbol in Jewish tradition, particularly during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Its symbolism is rooted in both its physical characteristics and its cultural and spiritual associations.
Abundance and Fertility: Pomegranates are filled with numerous seeds, which symbolize abundance, fertility, and prosperity. During Rosh Hashanah, a time of renewal and hope for a sweet and bountiful year, eating pomegranates reflects the wish for a year filled with blessings and plenty.
Mitzvot and Righteousness: Jewish tradition often associates the pomegranate’s many seeds—traditionally said to number 613—with the 613 commandments (mitzvot) in the Torah. Consuming pomegranates during Rosh Hashanah expresses the hope that one’s life will be filled with good deeds and adherence to these commandments in the coming year.
Renewal and New Beginnings: Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the Jewish year, a time for introspection, repentance, and setting intentions for personal growth. The pomegranate, as a fruit that ripens around this season in the Mediterranean region, symbolizes renewal and the potential for a fresh start.
Connection to the Land of Israel: Pomegranates are one of the seven species (Shivat Haminim) mentioned in the Torah as special products of the Land of Israel (Deuteronomy 8:8). Their inclusion in Rosh Hashanah celebrations reinforces the connection to the land and its blessings, evoking gratitude and a sense of rootedness in Jewish heritage.
Hope and Sweetness: On Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to eat sweet foods to symbolize the hope for a sweet year. While pomegranates have a tart-sweet flavor, they are often included in the festive meal or ritual foods, accompanied by a blessing such as: “May it be Your will, O Lord our God, that our merits be as numerous as the seeds of a pomegranate.”
During Rosh Hashanah, pomegranates may be eaten fresh, incorporated into dishes, or displayed as part of the festive table. Some communities recite a specific blessing or prayer when eating the pomegranate, emphasizing its symbolic meaning. The fruit’s vibrant red color and seed-filled interior make it a powerful visual and spiritual emblem for the holiday’s themes of hope, abundance, and spiritual growth. This symbolism aligns with the broader themes of Rosh Hashanah: reflection, renewal, and the aspiration for a year filled with goodness and divine favor.
Today we amble through the literature providing policy templates informing school district, college and university-affiliated transportation and parking facilities and systems. Starting 2024 we will break up our coverage thus:
Mobility 100 (Survey of both ground and air transportation instructional and research facilities)
Mobility 400 (Reserved for zoning, parking space allocation and enforcement, and issues related to one of the most troublesome conditions in educational settlements)
Today’s session will be the last when we cover both land and air transportation codes, standards, guidelines and the regulations that depend upon all them. We will break out space and aerospace mobility into a separate session — largely because many universities are tooling up square footage and facilities in anticipation of research grants.
Like many SDO’s the SAE makes it very easy to purchase a standard but makes it very difficulty to find a draft standard open for public review. It is not an open process; one must apply to comment on a draft standard. Moreover, its programmers persist in playing “keep away” with landing pages.
The public school bus system in the United States is the largest public transit system in the United States. According to the American School Bus Council, approximately 25 million students in the United States ride school buses to and from school each day, which is more than twice the number of passengers that use all other forms of public transportation combined.
The school bus system is considered a public transit system because it is operated by public schools and school districts, and provides a form of transportation that is funded by taxpayers and available to the general public. The school bus system also plays a critical role in ensuring that students have access to education, particularly in rural and low-income areas where transportation options may be limited.
National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services
National School Transportation Association
School Bus Manufacturers Association
…and 50-state spinoffs of the foregoing. (See our ABOUT for further discussion of education industry non-profit associations)
There are several ad hoc consortia in this domain also; which include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Charging specifications are at least temporarily “stable”; though who should pay for the charging infrastructure in the long run is a debate we have tracked for several revision cycles in building and fire codes.
Because incumbents are leading the electromobility transformation, and incumbents have deep pockets for market-making despite the “jankiness” of the US power grid, we can track some (not all) legislation action, and prospective public comment opportunities. For example:
Keep in mind that even though proposed legislation is sun-setted in a previous (116th) Congress, the concepts may be carried forward into the following Congress (117th).
Public consultations on mobility technologies relevant to the education facility industry are also covered by the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets 4 times monthly in European and American time zones.
This topic is growing rapidly and it may well be that we will have to break it up into more manageable pieces. For the moment, today’s colloquium is open to everyone. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
The WVU Extension is a primary outreach division of West Virginia University. With offices in each of the state’s 55 counties, Extension faculty and staff develop and deliver programs in leadership development, rural and community-based economic development, youth development, workforce development, and health education.
Ingredients
3 cups frozen strawberries or other frozen fruit
1 banana
1 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1 handful spinach or kale
2 cups of milk
Directions
Wash fresh produce.
Collect and measure all ingredients before starting recipe.
Add the fruit, yogurt and greens to the blender.
Pour the milk into the blender.
Blend 30 to 45 second until smooth.
Refrigerate leftovers within two hours, and finish within two days.
Nutrition information per serving (recipe makes six one-cup servings):
Calories — 120; fat — 2g; carbohydrates — 21g; fiber — 2g; protein — 5g
Geoffrey Hinton & Joel Hellermark
This conversation was recorded in April 2024 at the Royal Institute of Great Britain in London. An edited version was premiered at Sana AI Summit on May 15 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Geoffrey Hinton has been called “the godfather of AI” and is considered one of the most prominent thought leaders on the emergence of artificial intelligence. He has served as a faculty member at Carnegie-Mellon and a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He is now Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto. In 2023, Geoffrey left his position at Google so that he could speak freely about AI’s impact on humankind.
Students living off campus can purchase Go plans, or any of our Prime and Dining Dollars-only plans that are available to be used at all of our retail or residential dining locations on campus.
We break down our coverage of laboratory safety and sustainability standards thus:
Laboratories 100 covers a broad overview of the safety and sustainability standards setting catalogs; emphasis on titles incorporated by reference into public safety laws.
Laboratories 200 covers laboratory occupancies primarily for teaching
Laboratories 300 covers laboratories in healthcare clinical delivery.
Laboratories 400 covers laboratories for scientific research; long since creating the field of environmental health and safety in higher education and a language (and acronyms of its own: CSHEMA)
In the most recent fiscal year, the National Institutes of Health had a budget of approximately $47.7 billion. A substantial portion of this budget is allocated to research at colleges and universities. Specifically, about 83% of NIH’s funding, which translates to roughly $39.6 billion, is awarded for extramural research. This funding is distributed through nearly 50,000 competitive grants to more than 2,500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions across the United States
The cost to build a “standard” classroom runs about $150 to $400 per square foot; a scientific research laboratory about $400 to $1200 per square foot.
Laboratories 500 is broken out as a separate but related topic and will cover conformity and case studies that resulted in litigation. Both Laboratories 200 and 400 will refer to the cases but not given a separate colloquium unless needed.
At the usual time. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
“Evaluating the Efficacy of Laboratory Hazard Assessment Tools for Risk Management in Academic Research Laboratories” – This study from 2021 evaluated the effectiveness of various laboratory hazard assessment tools in academic research laboratories, and found that a combination of tools and approaches may be most effective for managing risks.
“A Framework for Assessing Laboratory Safety Culture in Academic Research Institutions” – This 2020 study developed a framework for assessing laboratory safety culture in academic research institutions, which can help identify areas for improvement and promote a culture of safety.
“Enhancing Laboratory Safety Culture Through Peer-to-Peer Feedback and Coaching” – This 2020 study found that peer-to-peer feedback and coaching can be an effective way to enhance laboratory safety culture, as it encourages open communication and feedback among colleagues.
“Assessing the Effectiveness of Laboratory Safety Training Programs for Graduate Students” – This 2019 study evaluated the effectiveness of laboratory safety training programs for graduate students, and found that interactive and hands-on training was more effective than traditional lecture-based training.
“Improving Laboratory Safety Through the Use of Safety Climate Surveys” – This 2018 study found that safety climate surveys can be an effective way to improve laboratory safety, as they provide insight into employee perceptions of safety culture and identify areas for improvement.
These recent research findings suggest that laboratory safety culture can be improved through a variety of approaches, including hazard assessment tools, peer-to-peer feedback and coaching, interactive training, and safety climate surveys. Some of these findings will likely set the standard of care we will see in safety standards incorporated by reference into public safety regulations.
Related:
November 29, 2021
Today we break down the literature setting the standard of care for the safety and sustainability of instruction and research laboratories in the United States specifically; and with sensitivity to similar enterprises in research universities elsewhere in the world. We will drill into the International Code Council Group A titles which are receiving public input until January 10, 2022.
Join us by clicking the Daily Colloquia link at the upper right of our home page.
The original University of Michigan Workspace for [Issue 13-28] in which we advocate for risk-informed eyewash and emergency shower testing intervals has been upgraded to the new Google Sites platform: CLICK HERE
Related:
September 20, 2021
Today we break down the literature setting the standard of care for the safety and sustainability of instruction and research laboratories in the United States specifically; and with sensitivity to similar enterprises in research universities elsewhere in the world.
Join us by clicking the Daily Colloquia link at the upper right of our home page.
May 10, 2021
Today we will poke through a few proposals for the 2021/222 revision of the International Code Council’s Group A Codes. For example:
IFC § 202 et. al | F175-21| Healthcare Laboratory Definition
IBC § 202 et. al | E7-21| Collaboration Room
IBC § 1110.3 et. al | E143-21| Medical scrub sinks, art sinks, laboratory sinks
. . .
IFGC § 403, etl al| G1-21| Accessibility of fuel gas shut off valves
IBC § 307 Tables | G36-21| For hazardous materials in Group B higher education laboratory occupancies
IBC § 302.1 et. al | G121-21| Separation from other nonlaboratory areas for higher education laboratories
And about 20 others we discussed during the Group A Hearings ended last week. We will have until July 2nd to respond. The electrotechnology proposals will be referred to the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which is now preparing responses to this compilation by Kimberly Paarlberg.
March 15, 2021
Today we break down action in the literature governing the safety and sustainability of instruction and research laboratories in the United States specifically; but also with sensitivity to similar enterprises in research universities elsewhere in the world. “Everyone” has an iron in this fire:
…and ISEA, AWWA, AIHA, BIFMA, CLSI, LIA, IAPMO, NSF, UL etc. among ANSI accredited standards developing organizations…
..and addition to NIST, Federal code of Regulations Title 29, NIH, CDC, FEMA, OSHA etc
…and state level public health regulations; some of them adapted from OSHA safety plans
Classroom and offices are far simpler. Laboratories are technically complicated and sensitive area of concern for education communities not only responsible for the safety of instructional laboratories but also global communities with faculty and staff that must simultaneously collaborate and compete. We have been tip-toeing through the technical and political minefields for nearly 20 years now and have had some modest success that contributes to higher safety and lower costs for the US education community.
Colloquium open to everyone. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
