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Copyright of Journal of Advanced Nursing (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

THE YEAR 2000 MARKED THE TWENTY-FIFTH MEETING of the Boston University Conference on Language Development, now one of the largest and most important annual events in the various sub-fields of linguistics and psychology concerned with language learning. For three days during early November, researchers and educators who study how children and adults acquire language converged on the campus of Boston University, as they have every year since 1976, as guests of the BU Program in Applied Linguistics. Several hundred strong, they argued, compared data, swapped ideas, and provoked each other to keep on probing into the many intriguing mysteries of how humans learn to talk. In recognition of the conference's birthday, Margaret Thomas presented this overview of the first quarter-century of the BUCLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights recent results obtained with the Turbulent Eddy Profiler (TEP), which was developed by the University of Massachusetts. This unique 915-MHz radar has up to 64 spatially separated receiving elements, each with an independent receiver. The calibrated raw data provided by this array could be processed using sophisticated imaging algorithms to resolve the horizontal structures within each range gate. After collecting all of the closely spaced horizontal slices, the TEP radar can produce three-dimensional images of echo power, radial velocity, and spectral width. From the radial velocity measurements, it is possible to estimate the three-dimensional wind with high horizontal and vertical resolution. Given the flexibility of the TEP system, various array configurations are possible. In the present work exploitation of the flexibility of TEP is attempted to enhance the rejection of clutter from unwanted biological targets. From statistical studies, most biological clutter results from targets outside the main imaging field of view, that is, the sidelobes and grating lobes (if they exist) of the receiving beam. Because the TEP array's minimum receiver separation exceeds the spatial Nyquist sampling requirement, substantial possibilities for grating-lobe clutter exist and are observed in actual array data. When imaging over the transmit beam volume, the receiving array main lobe is scanned over a ±12.5° region. This scanning also sweeps the grating lobes over a wide angular region, virtually guaranteeing that a biological scatterer outside of the main beam will appear somewhere in the imaged volume. This paper focuses on suppressing pointlike targets in the grating-lobe regions. With a subtle change to the standard TEP array hardware configuration, it is shown via simulations and actual experimental observations (collected in June 2003) that adaptive beamforming methods can subsequently be used to significantly suppress the effects of point targets on the wind field estimates. These pointlike targets can be birds or planes with strong reflectivity. By pointlike the authors mean its appearance is a distinct point (up to the imaging resolution) in the images. The pointlike strong reflectivity signature exploits the capability of adaptive beamforming to suppress the interference using the new array configuration. It should be noted that this same array configuration does not exhibit this beneficial effect when standard Fourier beamforming is employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Profiles professor John D. C. Little of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Educational attainment; Current affiliations; Contributions made for the development of the journal "International Transactions in operational Research."

Focuses on the efforts of Lesley University to develop library instructional supports to assist adult distance students in library research in Massachusetts. Review of learning styles literature; Models of library instruction; Examination of the Ludcke Library Home Page.

Describes the development of the UMass Digital Library of the University of Massachusetts. Efforts of the university to develop a shared digital library for distance learning; Purpose and members of the Collection Development task Force; Target spending of shared resources; Strategic principles formed during the conceptual planning of the project.

Allis Rosenberg Wolfe's publication of five "Letters of a Lowell Mill Girl and Friends: 1845-1846," represents an important contribution to the study of the New England factory women. These letters, sent to the 22 year-old Harriet Hanson by her friends Maria and Lura Currier and H.E. Back and now in the Harriet Hanson Robinson papers in the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, are among the only surviving manuscript materials that document the perceptions of the Yankee mill women of the 1840's. The following remarks are designed to clarify and extend our understanding of the letters' contents, now that they have at last been made more accessible. Wolfe publishes perhaps two-thirds of the letters, an unfortunate if possibly necessary, for reasons of space editing of such rare documents. The portions retained are well chosen, but the general character of the letters is inevitably blurred. In short, all five letters in the Robinson papers must be seen as representing the complex experience of those mill women who went back and forth between factory town and rural community.

The article presents information on the selection of social activist Clement G. Morgan and academic W. E. B. Du Bois as the first African Americans to deliver speeches at graduation exercises of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in June 1890. The school administration's decision broke a racial barrier in higher education in the U.S., but new evidence provides insight on the amount of controversy that the decision raised within the University. The author explores these documents and discusses the racial tensions and discrimination that existed at Harvard despite their seemingly colorblind decision.

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.

Presents information on financial management of Harvard College between 1776-90. Expenses incurred by Ebenezer Storer as treasurer of the college in 1777; Amount invested in the college in 1777; Reason why the college was obliged to protect itself against rise in prices caused by inflation of the currency.

The article highlights the College Art Association Annual Conference held in Boston, Massachusetts. The breadth of its mission has made it one of the major American academic conferences in the arts, with nearly two hundred sessions, a forum for practicing artists, a Career Fair with a centralized interview facility and professional development functions, a Book and Trade Fair, a social event with receptions, and a launching pad for local exhibitions.

Reports that a specific rule of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard University prohibits researchers from being involved in other research projects with the university once their research findings are commercialized for financial gains. Revelation that from 2004 the American Society of Clinical Oncology will not accept research papers or abstracts on clinical trial results; Discussion of the debate on ways to handle conflicts of interest; Percentage increase in the number of university-linked start-up companies between 1994 and 1999.

The article discusses the efforts of the Massachusetts and the Multi-State Collaborative (MSC) to Advance Learning Outcomes Assessment to create a system to assess U.S. college student learning. Topics discussed include the use of the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes and VALUE rubrics created by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), U.S. higher education accountability, and the use of a pilot project in Massachusetts to study its assessment.

Discusses controversies that envelope the establishment of Chinese studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and explores how the University acquired its first Chinese teacher and how a Confucian scholar from Ningbo, China found himself embarked on a journey into Cantabrigian oblivion. Influence of retired missionary Samuel Wells Williams on the establishment and integration of Chinese studies in American education; Contradiction of Williams regarding the discrimination against Chinese traditions in the U.S.; Significance of learning the Chinese language for opportunities in the government and in any aspect of both trade and industry; Opposition to the decision of the University to hire native Chinese scholar Ko Kun-Hua to teach Chinese studies.

Presents updates on colleges and universities in the U.S. as of June 2003. Review of the book 'The Gold and the Blue,' by Clark Kerr; Comparison of the stress being felt by the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of Cambridge with business executives; Dour reflections offered by executive Robert Follett on school textbooks.

Focuses on heat measurement laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts which has made significant contributions towards research and innovation in heat transfer technology. Origin and early history of the heat measurements laboratory between 1870 to 1895; Changes made to the curriculum in 1934; Contribution made by faculty who taught between 1956 to 1992.

Over the last decade, universities have increasingly begun to recognize their responsibility to address the issues and problems confronting society. Many universities are responding to this challenge by developing formal partnerships with communities. This article describes a specific partnership between Boston College and its local contiguous community. It outlines the development of the partnership from a simple school-university engagement between a school principal and a school of education faculty member to a complex set of relationships involving (a) multiple disciplines and professions; (b) a set of complicated projects; (c) multiple funders; (d) a large number of faculty, students, practitioners, and community members; (e) multiple institutions interacting at multiple levels; and (f) many kinds and levels of outcomes. The centrality of the processes of colearning and interprofessional collaboration is highlighted. The factors contributing to the success of the partnership, as well as the ongoing challenges it faces, are examined. The partnership has led to a deepened understanding on the part of both the university and community regarding the research-practice relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the conference conducted by the North East Modern Language Association at the Southeast Massachusetts University on March 20-23, 2004. The Milton section was one of the highlights. One member of the larger than average audience complimented Jim Freeman, chairperson of the 2004 meeting, for the choice of papers, saying that the Milton section had made the whole conference worthwhile.

Discusses the moralistic shortcomings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Plagiarism; Sexual activities; Comments about how John and Robert Kennedy's sexual behavior was admirable while King's was deplorable; Loss of national innocence; Behavior of King as a student of theology at Boston University.

In June 1997, the Massachusetts legislature mandated the development of a performance measurement system to certify achievement of nine accountability goals by state colleges. These goals focus on issues of affordability of and access to higher education; student achievement; effective use of resources; and service to the residents of the commonwealth. The staff of the Board of Higher Education (BHE)-the system office that governs public higher education in Massachusetts-was asked to work with a task force of campus representatives to develop the system and to prepare an accountability report for the legislature called The Condition of Higher Education. This article describes the development of the performance measurement system for the Massachusetts state colleges and share lessons learned from the perspectives of three task force members: a college president, a campus institutional researcher, and a system office staff person. There are nine state colleges in Massachusetts: six comprehensive colleges, which

Discusses the topics that evolved out of the conference in the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Massachusetts in September 1999, involving the transformation of knowledge and organization in contemporary society. Modes of existence of knowledge-production in universities within countries; Views about institutional transformations within universities; Idea of a university in the present age.

Reports on the launch by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of a program to publish all its course literature on the Internet for free public use. Ten-year plan; Availability of complete course literature from 500 courses; Web site address.