Search

Profiles chemist Robert S. Langer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Production of research papers and books; Focus on polymer preparations for biomedical application; Awarding of the Draper Prize given by the National Academy of Engineering.

Changes in charter school regulations and funding formulas could make it more feasible for "brand name" networks of the independent public schools to expand, according to a paper commissioned by the Brookings Institution and discussed at an annual conference here last week. Such systems of schools, overseen by organizations such as the for-profit, Edison Schools Inc., and guided by nonprofit models like the KIPP Academies, show promise in raising student achievement, said Steven F. Wilson, a senior fellow at the Center for Business and Government at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, who wrote the paper.

In a paper presented at the 1961 American Psychological Association convention, researcher Martin T. Orne of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts discussed how demand characteristics influence subjects' behavior in psychology experiments. Demand characteristics are all the cues that subjects receive about the hypotheses to be tested. It is important to control for such cues because subjects often try to perform in ways that validate researchers' hypotheses. Ornealso attributed some people's reactions to hypnosis and sensorydeprivation to demand characteristics.Orne's paper has been reprinted in the October 18, 2002 issue of the online journal 'Prevention & Treatment.' Demand characteristics may help to elicit enthusiastic testimonials by patients and providers for a variety of nostrums and irrational health services.

The author ponders on the demise of journalism and the significance of the newsroom of the newspaper "The Republican" in Springfield, Massachusetts. He asserts that the market for clear and sharp writing about current events is unlikely to disappear. He claims that editorial leaders at majority of daily papers in the U.S. failed to keep up with the pace of technological change. He adds that solid reporting and realistic storytelling are thriving despite varied methods used to deliver journalistic work.

The article presents individuals who have taken technology-related courses in the U.S. Cynthia Barnhart, codirector of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Operations Research Center, has become associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Engineering in September 2007. Joel Goodman is scheduled to present a paper on architectural active solar-energy reflector collector studies. Muhammad Farid has spent a year volunteering and managing ground operations on the recovery and reconstruction efforts after the earthquake in Pakistan.

The article covers a debate about a possible wind farm siting in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. The Nantucket Sound wind farm story is one that has been picked up also by virtually every major paper in the country. There are strong environmental arguments swirling around on all sides of the wind farm debate. As the debate intensified resides of Cape Cod had a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction. Denmark has been discussed mainly by wind farm supporters, but opponents used the country as an example of a place that had zoned its oceans before putting the wind farms up. For three weeks in March 2003, eight articles were published in The Cape Codder newspaper. They had an instant impact on the debate. Participants in the Cape Cod wind farm debate could no longer throw salvos at each other without respecting the scientific evidence of and real-life experience with these European wind farms. almost immediately the debate became more focused: People began to demand more facts, rather than relying on the propaganda they were hearing from each side. Doing this reporting also led to covering other related energy issues, such as the paucity of natural gas and its effect on electric rates and the energy picture, and the ongoing discussions in Washington D.C.

Reports that Boston University of Boston, Massachusetts, is taking a legal cation against several companies offering term papers to students over the Internet. Charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and violation of state law on the sale of term papers.

Reports that the Hancock Family Papers, the business papers of Thomas Hancock and his nephew John, have been acquired by the Baker Library at Harvard University.

Reports that the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Radcliffe College received a donation of the papers of Ruth M. Batson, community and civil rights activist. Background information on Batson; What the papers contain.

Reveals that the North Andover, Massachusetts-based Northeast Document Conservation Center has received financing from the J. Paul Getty Trust to support three internships in paper conservation.

Notes that Boston College's (BC) John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections has purchased the personal library and papers of author Graham Greene. Number of volumes and documents included; BC's already extensive collection of Greene materials.

States that a $64,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will permit Harvard University's College Library for Public Services to open two individual collections of African American materials for scholarly research. The Roscoe Conkling Simmons Papers; The Caroline Bond Day Collection; When the collections will open to the public; Details.

Provides information on the projects submitted by the United States National Endowment for the Humanities that will share in a White House initiative to `Save America's Treasures.' Antislavery Pamphlet Collection at Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York; Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Papers at Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Dutch Colonial Manuscripts at New York State Archives, Albany.

This article reports on Media Nation, a daily newspaper about the news media covering the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts in August 2004. The newspaper resulted from a partnership between the Nieman Foundation, the University of Massachusetts-Boston (UMass Boston) Center on Media and Society, and The Boston Globe. Media Nation, was published on four sequential days as a part of the Globe's special convention coverage. The paper broke news on the plight of many international reporters who found themselves without expected workspace when U.S. President George W. Bush's administration failed to fund an international press center for the first time in 20 years. It examined how Arab-language news organizations were covering the convention and the growing influence on political reporting of Hispanic and African-American media organizations. The Kovach Library and computer room at Lippmann House were transformed into a newsroom for those doing research, producing graphics, and editing the content. Seasoned news professionals directed and oversaw a staff of 20 college students from Harvard and UMass Boston. Other news professionals working on the project included broadcast veteran and founding editor of Stateline.org Ed Fouhy, Nieman Foundation senior web editor, Melinda Grenier, and former Wall Street Journal graphics editor, Karl Hartig. Nieman Fellow Doug Marlette provided a daily political cartoon.

According to David M. Steiner, an associate teacher of education at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, education is something that is not being taught in many teacher-education programs. Steiner reviewed more than 200 course outlines from 16 education schools. Steiner's findings were part of a recent draft paper, which concluded that education teachers are too often trying to teach teachers an ideology.

Sculptor Bill Thompson's wall-mounted works probe the seductive possibilities of shape, finish and color. Each of his small, intensely fussed-over sculptures-formed of polyurethane panels with polished surfaces of acrylic urethane, are elegant but with an edge of self-reflexive irony. One suspects that Thompson is playing on the idea of the artwork as fetish. This latest show held at the Barbara Krakow gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, displayed some new geometric tricks and more delectable, candy-colored paint jobs in his wall sculptures, which can be rectilinear or free-form, low or high relief. A few works on paper were also on view.

Focuses on fabric and wallpaper shop Peter Fasano using silk-screening and hand-painting processes in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

The article focuses on media attention given to players. If you can't handle the media, Boston, Massachusetts and New York are the toughest places to play. The reporters are the only real contact players have with the fans, and they should realize that these fans hang on every word in the papers. All of this creates even more interest, which is great, but the tilt in the media here in Boston is vicious.

Profiles Mike Fuss, who fixes the Flying Horses, the 1876 carousel in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts and the oldest merry-go-round in continuous use in the United States. Link with the Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust; Rewinding of the paper music rolls inside the Wurlitzer organ.

Focuses on the rules of organic reactions developed by professors Robert Burns Woodward and Roald Hoffmann from the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Basis of the rules on orbital symmetry; Overview of the research papers of Woodward and Hoffmann; Impact of the papers of Woodward and Hoffmann on the study of organic reactions.

Mentions the location of special library collections. Donation of papers of Gore Vidal to Harvard University's Houghton Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Relocation of the archives of psychiatrist Karl Menninger to the Kansas State Historical Society as a result of a lawsuit; Donation of personal papers of Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar to the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library in Ontario.

Reports the launch of the Metro transit tabloid in Boston, Massachusetts. Nature of the paper; Description of distribution process; Problems encountered by the paper in Philadelphia.

Reports on the findings of the National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper on workings hours in Massachusetts. Income inequality between 1973 and 1991.

Reports that the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers recommends requiring teacher-candidates to complete a graduate program in education after earning a bachelor's degree in another major. State initiatives called for in the policy paper submitted by the union; Need to teach about religion; Move of the California Teachers Association to drop its opposition to peer review.

Reports that the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) will present its `School for Scanning: Issues of Preservation and Access for Paper-Based Collections,' at the Chicago Historical Society. Conference on the applications of digital technology and the management of digital projects; Topics in the conference; Contact information.

Reports on the concern of corporate executives in Massachusetts over the ability of not-for-profit healthcare providers to make debt-service payments and deal with overcapacity issues. Meeting of members of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable to discuss the issues; Draft policy paper.

Features the exhibition `Out There: Images of the Cosmos' in Boston, Massachusetts. Ann Sperry's five sculptures; Rob Reeps' `Moti Mo,' a large colored acrylic painting that appeals to both mind and the eye; Randal Thurston's `Untitled,' a star cluster that was made of cut and painted paper; Vija Celmins' `Concentric Bearings,' a two-color aquatint/photogravure.

Features ballet dancer Alicia Markova. Comments on plans to deposit papers in the Special Collections department of Boston University's library; Markova's recollection with her first meeting with George Balanchine; Impact of Markova's gift to Boston University.

Reports that the preparation of photographer Harold Edgerton's papers for access has been completed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archives.

Describes the combination of video, audio and computer technology used in the new displays at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, operated by the National Archives. The museum-library building was designed by I.M. Pei and holds almost 8.5 million pages of John F. Kennedy's papers, 180,000 photographs and six million feet of film and videotape. Contact point for more information.

Reports that Raymond Chagnon, a carpenter serving an 18-month term in the Franklin County, Massachusetts' House of Corrections, has built elaborate model houses using rolled-up pages of older editions of the periodical 'National Geographic.' Facilities provided to him for his work; Opinion of Chagnon about the quality of paper of the journal.

Provides information on a paper about sexual harassment at the University of Massachusetts.