Next year, employers will be focused on maintaining the status quo ahead of the implementation of broader health care coverage and new benefits provided when thebulk of the Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014.
To make things fair, we chose regularly replenished items that all three retailers sell, and we didn't include sale items. (While there are back-to-school sales galore right now, January is prime time for office-supply sales.) To bake in theeffect of bulk purchasing, we chose 10 of the largest package of each item.
Other projects included a method for detecting toxins in water using glowing bacteria and studying theeffect of nano particles on other bulk particles.