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Describes the course `Drugs in the Nervous System' aimed at getting college students to think critically and creatively about science. Course at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; Project-based, student-centered approach; Focus on students exploring primary literature; Development of variety of skills for scientific work.

This paper presents the results of nondestructive integrity tests (NDTs) and axial static load tests on drilled shafts constructed in varved clay at the National Geotechnical Experimentation Site in Amherst, Mass. The shafts were constructed with built-in defects to study: (1) the effectiveness of conventional NDT methods in detecting construction defects and (2) the effect of defects on the capacity of drilled shafts. Defects included voids and soil inclusions occupying 5–45% of the cross section as well as a soft bottom. Nine organizations participated in a blind defect prediction symposium, using a variety of NDT techniques. Most participants located defects that were larger than 10% of the cross sectional area. However, false positives and inability to locate smaller defects and multiple defects in the same shaft were encountered. Static load tests indicated that (1) minor defects had little or no effect on skin friction; (2) a soft bottom resulted in a 33% reduction in end bearing relative to a sound bottom; and (3) reloading resulted in a 20–30% reduction in the geotechnical capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst offers a unique graduate program. The program is demanding but collegial, with faculty and students working together to produce mutually authored articles, monographs, and books. Many students concentrate their doctoral dissertations on applied topics, that is, social policy and evaluation research. These students are trained in theory and methods of sociology; their graduate training is the same as all other students in the program. Graduates have been well placed in the academy and in other occupational sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing transformations of the university - from changing working conditions to issues of affordability and access, increasing 'accountability' measures and commodification of academic production - are increasingly referred to as university corporatisation and are unfolding within and concomitant to neoliberal globalisation. In this paper we outline some of these processes as they are occurring at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and explore the limitations and possibilities of a critical response mounted by a number of students and faculty in the Department of Anthropology. Drawing on ethnographic data and interviews with group participants, as well as our own experiences with the group, we describe and assess this project as a means to investigate and respond to neoliberal governance. Through this analysis we problematise conventional discourses and imaginings of university corporatisation and neoliberalism and explore the sometimes contradictory subject positions that complicate our efforts to respond critically to university corporatisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human sexuality has been recognized as an important developmental, emotional, and medical concern on the college campus. The Peer Sex Education Program at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst has been developed as a model for the use of trained students in an educational, referral and counseling role. This paper describes the program and outlines the methodology used in the documentation and evaluation of various program aspects. Aspects described include the program's rationale and background, the recruiting process, roles and responsibilities, training and supervision models, community development, and delivery of service. Categories of documentation and evaluation considered include effort, performance, adequacy of performance, efficiency, and process. These are related to consumer acceptance and satisfaction, outcome measures of knowledge, attitude, and behavior, effectiveness of referral and other functions, and effect of program on the peer educators' growth and development. The allocation of energy and resources between program development, service delivery and evaluation needs is highlighted. INSET: Registration of Hogs and Babies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers the author's thoughts on teaching at two different colleges--Amherst College and Greenfield Community College. Differences in supplies and how they reflect the fundamental differences between a school with the sons and daughters of millionaires and one where many students qualify for public assistance; Other differences.

The article presents information on a study that discussed how current advances in atomic spectroscopy and other instrumentation can be incorporated into an undergraduate environmental chemistry laboratory using a project-based approach. An apple orchard in Amherst, Massachusetts served as the study site for the project. Information is presented on the fieldwork and project findings. The pedagogical achievements of the project are discussed, as well as limitations of the study.

The article presents information about the program called "Professors as Writers" at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts. The objective of the program is to provide a quiet and comfortable working place for faculty to write. This program was started 15 year back to help the faculty members to write more productively. The organizers of the program invite all college teachers to sign up for the dates and times that suit them at the beginning of the semester. The program sets aside structured time and space for the faculty to write.

This article reports on research programs conducted by the University of Massachusetts' Labor Relations and Research Center (LRRC). The extension component of LRRC moved to Boston and was set up as the Institute for Labor Affairs, while the Amherst campus retains some of the expanded academic and research programs. Tim Bornstein and Frank McCullough are working on a book about the National Labor Relations Board. Milton Brooke, research coordinator of the Center, has focused on new methods of facilitating payments in industrial-accident litigation cases and is examining state laws relating to occupational health and safety, as well as how these laws complement the federal statute. Harvey L. Friedman studied the role and effectiveness of central labor bodies in preretirement training.

This article offers news brief related to mammalogy as of April 2006. The American Society of Mammalogists will meet from June 17 to 21, 2006 for its annual meeting at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts. Both Journal of Mammalogy and Mammalian Species will be available online to all American Society of Mammalogists members in 2006.