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Problem 1 of the International Workshops for Eddy Current Code Comparison is a hollow cylinder with axis perpendicular to a uniform field. A total of 17 solutions are described and compared with experimental results. Many kinds of codes, both two‐ and three‐dimensional, were found to give satisfactory solutions.

There are a number of ways to maintain stable levitation and guidance in Maglev through induction. If the secondary currents are unconstrained, the lift to drag ratio is much less than that realizable with constrained currents in a null flux configuration, regardless of whether the source field is superconducting. This paper investigates 2D and 3D boundary element formulations capable of computing forces on such systems. Such systems pose a special challenge because they involve cross‐connected coils having complete flux cancellation when the system is centered. Both 2D and 3D examples are compared to data on a circular test rig.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Monte Carlo methods can be applied to the solution of field theory problems.

This objective is achieved by building insight from Laplacian field problems. The point solution of a Laplacian field problem can be viewed as the solid angle average of the Dirichlet potentials from that point. Alternatively it can be viewed as the average of the termination potential of a number of random walks. Poisson and Helmholtz equations add the complexity of collecting a number of packets along this walk, and noting the termination of a random walk at a Dirichlet boundary.

When approached as a Monte Carlo problem, Poisson type problems can be interpreted as collecting and summing source packets representative of current or charge. Helmholtz problems involve the multiplication of packets of information modified by a multiplier reflecting the conductivity of the medium.

This method naturally lends itself to parallel processing computers.

This is the first paper to explore random walk solutions for all classes of eddy current problems, including those involving velocity. In problems involving velocity, the random walk direction enters depending on the walk direction with respect to the local velocity.

A series of six workshops was held to compare eddy current codes, using the six benchmark problems described in the following six papers. The problems include transient and steady‐state ac magnetic fields, close and far boundary conditions, magnetic and non‐magnetic materials. All the problems are based either on experiments or on geometries that can be solved analytically. The workshops and solutions to the problems are described. Results show that many different methods and formulations give satisfactory solutions, and that in many cases reduced dimensionality or coarse discretization can give acceptable results while reducing the computer time required.

Corporatisation of the New Zealand electricity industry during the 1990s increased the need for improved accountability. The publication of annual reports is one of the prime ways in which organisations meet their accountability obligations. This paper describes the development of a disclosure index from a public accountability perspective and reports the results of its application to the 1999 annual reports of the 33 electricity retail and distribution companies. The index was developed with the support of a panel representing 15 stakeholder groups. It is designed to assess the comprehensiveness (both in extent and quality) of annual report disclosures and incorporates a best‐practice model of annual reporting. Key areas of inadequate disclosure relate to performance measures (financial and non‐financial), segmental information, asset valuation details, and the cost of electricity purchased / generated. Improved disclosure to meet best‐practice guidelines would contribute to improved communication between companies and stakeholders.

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

The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of staff/employee (i.e. learning and teaching, curriculum support and administrative staff) perceptions, anxieties and worries about early merger change in the UK further education (FE) sector.

Survey data were collected from 128 out of 562 employees to examine perceptions of psychological contract (post-merger announcement) on an FE college in England. Paired t-tests were used to analyse quantitative data. Additionally, a content analysis of open-ended questions was incorporated as part of a combined methods survey evaluation approach for discussion and triangulation purposes.

Quantitative results from t-tests showed there had been a decrease in the perception of fulfilled obligations in nine of the ten areas of the psychological contract. Qualitative results indicated that communications, job security and uncertainty were common negative outcomes post-merger announcement. Implications for education managers from the case study include: a need for improved organizational communication; developing trust and mentorship for greater employee support, as well as; promoting further employee training and new opportunities for teamwork.

Psychological contract theories for evaluating organizational change are useful given the recent interest in sharing public services and institutional mergers in the UK. This research demonstrates the benefits of using psychological contract, as well as how to apply such an evaluation for understanding staff concerns.

The paper demonstrates a usable (psychological contract) survey evaluation approach for studying the impact of early merger change on staff in the FE, or higher education sectors in the UK (or elsewhere).

There have been few economic evaluations of joint working between social and health care. This paper focuses on collaboration between professionals providing care for people aged 75 and over, and examines the economic costs of contacts made by social workers with community nurses, GPs and older people or their carers. Two areas were studied, one where social care and primary care services were co‐located, and the other with social work teams located separately from local health services. The two forms of social care location had an impact on contacts and costs but overall it was fairly small. Contact costs made up only a small amount of the overall costs of care These findings suggest that altering the organisational arrangements for care delivery may improve the process of care delivery, but result in only minor changes to the proportion of overall resources directed to older service users.

OUR pages continue the discussion on book‐display, about which all has not been said by any means. The ingenious librarian will always sharpen his wits upon the attracting of readers, and the main problem in the matter is merely: what sort of reader is it most desirable to attract? We do not apologise for this reiteration, because it is the fundamental subject now facing librarians. We are not in the least moved by a comment in a contemporary that we are decrying libraries when we assert, and in spite of him we do assert, that fiction issues nearly all over London show a decline. That decline, we repeat, is due to the slight increase in the employment of readers, and to cheap fiction libraries. What the public librarian has to decide is if he shall compete with such libraries or more definitely diverge from them. If a middle course is preferred—as it usually is by Britons—what is that course? Ultimately, is the educated reader to be the standard for whom the library works, or the uneducated? Or, to put it another way, is the librarian in any way responsible for the quality of the books his community reads? Our readers, young and not so young, are invited to help us to answers to these live questions.