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The article reports that immunologist Luk van Parijs was fired from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school alleged that he had confessed to faking data in one published paper, several unpublished manuscripts and grant applications. Van Parijs's academic future may be shot to pieces. But his scientific past, so far is intact. He has contributed to roughly 40 papers stretching back to 1994, many of them in the blossoming field of RNA interference. None has been publicly labeled fraudulent or retracted. MIT has not said which paper it found to be problematic. Other investigations are continuing. One of the biggest problems in these fraud things says Kathleen Case, publisher at the American Association for Cancer Research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is that the investigations get finished. And the last thing people think of is the journals. Large-scale fraud cases are rare. But scientists whose work is challenged have often co-authored dozens or even hundreds of papers.

The article presents titles and abstracts of papers submitted at a meeting held in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1938. The paper "The Sequent Occupance of a Boston Suburban Community," presented by Edward A. Ackerman focuses on areas surrounding the Boston metropolitan district. The proximity of a large city market, plots of level land and fertile soil determine the existence of these suburban fanning communities. The article "The Recession of Victoria Falls," by Wallace W. Atwood. The world famous falls on the Zainbesi have had a strange and remarkable history in recession. The gorge is serpentine with many curious off-shoots, and located on the floor of a broad and much older flat-bottomed valley. Today the water tumbles over a ledge, fully a mile in length, and into a very narrow chasm 350 ft. deep.

Focuses on the Harvard University School of Law's compulsory retirement policy for its faculty members. Retirement age; Conflicts in approaches to the problem of aging; Issues related to the school's retirement policy raised in the student paper 'Harvard Law Record.'

The article focuses on metastasis of cancer cells from tumors. The author, Antoine Karnoub, is a postdoctoral fellow in Robert Weinberg's laboratory at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to Robert Weinberg, owner of the laboratory, for cancer research, one has to understand how a tumor invades other tissues and metastasizes. Weinberg says that in 30% of patients with breast cancer, there are many micrometastases in their bone marrow at the time of diagnosis, but half of them never develop metastatic disease. In his study, Karnoub noticed that mesenchymal stem cells facilitated metastasis of cancer cells from tumors.

Reports on the revival of the cold fusion debate on the `Technology Review' publication of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Indignation of MIT researchers who had previously refuted the technique; Claim of reports of energy-releasing nuclear reactions at room temperature.

This paper introduces three current major university ranking systems. The Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities by Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT Ranking) emphasizes both the quality and quantity of research and current research performance. The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tung University (ARWU) focuses on outstanding performance of universities with indicators such as Nobel Prize winners. The QS World University Ranking (2004-2009) by Times Higher Education (THE-QS) emphasizes on peer review with high weighting in evaluation. This paper compares the 2009 ranking results from the three ranking systems. Differences exist in the top 20 universities in three ranking systems except the Harvard University, which scored top one in all of the three rankings. Comparisons also revealed that the THE-QS favored UK universities. Further, obvious differences can be observed between THE-QS and the other two rankings when ranking results of some European countries (Germany, UK, Netherlands, & Switzerland) and Chinese speaking regions were compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A data-informed building energy management (DiBEM) framework was proposed. • It was demonstrated in an office/laboratory building with two-years' experimental data. • The impacts of energy efficient interventions were quantified through data-driven models. • The energy use intensity was reduced from 54.1 kWh/m2 to 42.8 kWh/m2. To support building operations in reaching ultra-low energy targets, this paper proposes a data-informed building energy management (DiBEM) framework to improve energy efficiency systematically and continuously at the operation stage. Specifically, it has two key features including data-informed energy-saving potential identification and data-driven model-based energy savings evaluation. The paper demonstrates the proposed DiBEM with a detailed case study of an office and living laboratory building located in Cambridge, Massachusetts called HouseZero. It focuses on revealing the performance of the energy-efficient interventions from two-years' building performance monitoring data, as well as evaluating energy savings from the interventions based on the data-driven approach. With Year 1 as baseline, several interventions are proposed for Year 2 including improvements to controls and operation settings, encouragement of occupants' behavior for energy savings, and hardware retrofitting. These were deployed to heating/cooling, domestic hot water, lighting, plug and other loads, and photovoltaic (PV) systems. To quantify the impacts of different interventions on energy end uses, several data-driven models are developed. These models utilize linear regression, condition model, and machine learning techniques. Consequently, the heating/cooling energy consumption that was already ultra-low in Year 1 (12.8 kWh/m2) is further reduced to 9.7 kWh/m2 in Year 2, while the indoor thermal environment is well maintained. The domestic hot water energy is reduced from 2.3 kWh/m2 to 1.2 kWh/m2. The lighting energy is only increased from 0.3 kWh/m2 in pandemic operations without occupancy in Year 1 to 0.8 kWh/m2 in partial normal operations in Year 2, while the indoor illuminance level meets occupants' requirements. Combined with other relatively constant loads and the reduction of plug and other loads due to COVID building operation restrictions, the total energy use intensity is thereby reduced from 54.1 kWh/m2 to 42.8 kWh/m2, where 5.4 kWh/m2 of energy reduction for Year 2 is estimated to be contributed by the energy-efficient interventions. PV generation is 36.1 kWh/m2, with an increase of 1.4 kWh/m2 from a new inverter. In summary, this paper demonstrates the use of DiBEM through a detailed case study and long-term monitoring data as evidence to achieve ultra-low energy operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Ensemble baseline development to simulate a range of future building energy scenarios. • Framework for rapid-response assessment of energy drivers for hundreds of buildings. • Procedures for campuses to track their energy policy effectiveness on an ongoing basis. • Proof-of-concept implementation for campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Abstract Physics-based building energy models, once calibrated to historic energy data, are increasingly used to explore energy efficiency retrofits. When utilized for large building portfolios, such as university campuses, these calibrated models require substantial initial effort to develop, but are then typically only used once for analyzing potential building upgrades and estimating carbon reduction opportunities. This paper presents a continuous energy performance planning and tracking system for a university campus that automatically updates and compares measured against simulated building energy use for a hundred campus buildings. The system archives historic data, enables exploration of potential upgrade scenarios, and allows for the documentation of energy retrofits to individual buildings. The objectives of this tracking system are to support facility managers to ensure that their buildings are performing as intended, financial administrators to quantify potential energy savings and payback times of building upgrades and the overall university community to track campus-wide carbon emissions from buildings vis-à-vis previously defined reduction targets. A proof-of-concept implementation is presented for the authors' campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the genesis of the MIT OpenCourseWare project from its initial strategic precursors in 1999 and 2000, through its launch in 2001 and its subsequent evolution. The story told here illuminates the interplay among institutional leadership, and strategic planning, and with university culture in launching major educational technology enterprises. It also shows how initiatives can evolve in unexpected ways, and can even surpass their initial goals. The paper concludes with an overview of challenges facing OpenCourseWare in moving from the end of its production ramp-up and towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time emotions have been kept out of the deliberate tools of science; scientists have expressed emotion, but no tools could sense and respond to their affective information. This paper highlights research at the MIT Media Laboratory aimed at giving computers the ability to comfortably sense, recognize, and respond to the human communication of emotion, especially affective states such as frustration, confusion, interest, distress, anger, and joy. Two main themes of sensing--self-report and concurrent expression--are described, together with examples of systems that give users new ways to communicate emotion to computers and, through computers, to other people. In addition to building systems that try to elicit and detect frustration, our research group has built a system that responds to user frustration in a way that appears to help alleviate it. This paper highlights applications of this research to interface design, wearable computing, entertainment, and education, and briefly presents some potential ethical concerns and how they might be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most interactive stories, such as hypertext narratives and interactive movies achieve an interactive "feel" by allowing the user to choose among multiple story paths. In this paper we discuss physically interactive environments with narrative structure in which the ability to choose among multiple story lines is replaced with having users, first, interact with the story characters in small, local "windows" of the narrative and, second, actively engage their bodies in movement. In particular, we found that compelling interactive narrative story systems can be perceived as highly responsive, engaging, and interactive even when the overall story has a single-path structure, in what we call a "less-choice, more-responsiveness" approach to the design of story-based interactive environments. We have also observed that unencumbering, rich sensor technology can facilitate user immersion in the experience as the story progresses--users can act as they typically would without worrying about manipulating a computer interface. To support these arguments, the paper describes the physical setup, the interactive story, the technology, and the user experience of four projects developed at the MIT Media Laboratory: KidsRoom, It/I, Personal Aerobics Trainer, and Swamped! [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Control design for coupled natural ventilation and thermally active building system. • Assessment of operational performance using one-year high-fidelity measured data. • The annual heating and cooling energy consumption is 12.8 kWh/m2. • Issues identified and lessons learned for further improving the design and operation. The thermally active building system (TABS) has emerged as an energy-efficient measure for cooling and heating buildings since it facilitates the use of low-energy technologies, such as free cooling with geothermal sources and heating with low-temperature heat pumps. However, the control of TABS is challenging due to its high thermal inertia. Though a considerable amount of research has been done using simulations or small-scale experiments, few studies have published detailed long-term measured data of TABS operation. In addition, there has been little discussion on the control integration of slow-acting TABS with other fast-acting systems, such as natural ventilation. To fill these gaps, this paper presents a comprehensive assessment of the operational performance of the coupled NV and TABS using one-year high-fidelity measured data of an experimental small office building with an extensive sensor network located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. First, the coupled system and control design are described. Then, the thermal, energy and detailed control performance are assessed by comparing with design intents and simulated predictions. It is found that the coupled system demonstrates its effectiveness to control indoor thermal environment while achieving high energy efficiency. The annual energy consumptions are 11.5 kWh/m2 for heating and 1.3 kWh/m2 for cooling. The heating COP, including heat pump and two water pumps, is 3.5, and the cooling COP is 18.3 by utilizing free cooling from geothermal resources. The issues in operation are identified, including system/equipment faults, implementation of controls, and settings by building operators. Finally, lessons learned from this project are discussed and the strategies for improvement are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of papers presented during the annual meeting of American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) Northeast Region in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 4-7, 2010 which include the use of chlorination systems to prevent Escherichia Coli in irrigation water, the use of organic growing practices in a heirloom tomato variety trial and leaf gas exchange in several cranberry varieties.

A microelectromechanical system (MEMS) turbocharger has been designed, fabricated, and tested as part of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology program aimed at producing a microfabricated gas turbine engine for portable power applications. A gas turbine engine requires high-speed high-efficiency turbomachinery operating at tip speeds of several hundred meters per second. This MEMS turbocharger serves to demonstrate these requirements. The turbocharger's silicon rotor, which is supported on hydrostatic gas thrust and journal bearings in a silicon stator housing, was spun to 480 000 rpm, corresponding to a tip speed of 200 m/s. This paper discusses critical fabrication processes that enabled the capabilities of this device. Operational issues and test results are also presented. The turbocharger's compressor demonstrated a pressure ratio of 1.21 at a mass flow rate of 0.13 g/s, with a combined compressor-turbine spool efficiency of 0.24. Under these conditions, the turbine produced about S W of power. Results from the simultaneous operation of a spinning rotor and burning combustor within the microscale turbocharger are also presented. Experimental results compare well with analytical models and computations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The d’Arbeloff Interactive Mathematics Project or d’AIMP is an initiative that seeks to enhance and ultimately transform the teaching and learning of introductory mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A result of this project is a suite of “mathlets,” a carefully developed set of dynamic computer applets for use in the university’s ordinary differential equations course. In this paper, we present the rationale for such computer innovations, the philosophy behind their design, as well as a discussion of their careful development and implementation. Survey results are reported which yielded positive student feedback and suggestions for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will outline answers to the two central questions regarding improving engineering education: (1) What is the full set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that engineering students should possess as they leave the university, and at what level of proficiency? (2) How can we do better at ensuring that students learn these skills? The suggested answers lie within an innovative educational framework, the CDIO (conceive–design–implement–operate) Initiative. This initiative will be described along with the needs it meets, its goals, context, vision and pedagogical foundation. The first question is answered by the CDIO Syllabus and the process for reaching stakeholder consensus on the level of proficiency that students should attain in a given program. The second question is addressed through a best practice framework, which discusses curriculum design, design-implement experiences, teaching and learning, student assessment, program evaluation and faculty competence. Examples are provided of the implementation of best practices within the CDIO program in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a descriptive case study of Terrascope, an innovative, year-long, project-based learning community at MIT. Each year, Terrascope students study a particular environmental or Earth-system problem from a multidisciplinary perspective. Terrascope includes both academic and non-academic components; this paper focuses on the academic components. The objectives of the academic subjects, and of the program as a whole, involve helping students develop their team-building, communication, problem-solving, and self-regulatory learning skills. This study focuses on cohorts of students from the first and second years of the program (2002–2003 and 2003–2004); it is based on end-of-semester surveys and focus groups, and on additional focus groups conducted when these students were upperclassmen. Students felt Terrascope helped them make significant improvements in their ability to work in teams and to take on complex, multidisciplinary problems. They felt that the program’s two-semester structure gave them an opportunity to develop and nurture these skills, and that the program prepared them well for their later work at MIT. They also felt that being engaged, as freshmen, in a distinct learning community, significantly eased their transition into MIT. We describe lessons learned in the development of Terrascope and offer suggestions for other institutions planning to develop similar programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the 20th International Conference on the History of Cartography held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in June 2003. Co-hosts of the conference; Paper and poster sessions; Tours; Receptions; Exhibitions; Pre-conference meetings of the International Society of Curators of Early maps and the International Cartographic Association Committee on Teaching the History of Cartography.

This paper describes four different systems that we have developed for capturing various manners of gesture near interactive surfaces. The first is a low-cost scanning laser rangefinder adapted to accurately track the position of bare hands in a plane just above a large projection display. The second is an acoustic system that detects the position of taps on a large, continuous surface (such as a table, wall, or window) by measuring the differential time-of-arrival of the acoustic shock impulse at several discrete locations. The third is a sensate carpet that uses a grid of piezoelectric wire to measure the dynamic location and pressure of footfalls. The fourth is a swept radio frequency (RF) tag reader that measures the height, approximate location, and other properties (orientation or a control variable like pressure) of objects containing passive, magnetically coupled resonant tags, and updates the continuous parameters of all tagged objects at 30 Hz. In addition to discussing the technologies and surveying different approaches, sample applications are given for each system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes recent progress toward a framework and toolset for Very Distributed Storytelling. It focuses on three independent but interconnected axes of development: continuous story playout environments, story authoring systems, and scenarios for interaction, particularly those that operate in casual or formal architectural spaces. Aspects of these are explored in several systems currently under development at the Interactive Cinema Group of the MIT Media Laboratory. Agent Stories invites authors to develop story segments that know about their role in the story and agents that can use these role designations to orchestrate the playout of story parts. Happenstance, an ecologically based, context-sensitive "stage" for the performance of interactive narratives, provides an information landscape that is continuous in space and time, supports multiple viewpoints, and acts as a semi-porous membrane to information and messages from the outside world. The CINEMAT and other large-scale interactive media pieces--situated in sensor-rich architectural spaces--explore the relationships among immersion, interaction, narrative guidance, and public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an outgrowth of our interest in dense wireless sensing and expressive applications of wearable computing, the Responsive Environments Group at the MIT Media Laboratory has developed a very versatile human-computer interface for the foot. By dense wireless sensing, we mean the remote acquisition of many different parameters with a compact, autonomous sensor cluster. We have developed such a low-power sensor card to measure over 16 continuous quantities and transmit them wirelessly to a remote base station, updating all variables at 50 Hz. We have integrated a pair of these devices onto the shoes of dancers and athletes, measuring continuous pressure at three points near the toe, dynamic pressure at the heel, bidirectional bend of the sole, height of each foot off conducting strips in the stage, angular rate of each foot about the vertical, angular position of each foot about the Earth's local magnetic field, as well as foot tilt and acceleration, 3-axis shock acceleration (from kicks and jumps), and position (via an integrated sonar). This paper describes the sensor and electronics systems, then outlines several projects in which we have applied these shoes for interactive dance and the capture of high-level podiatric gesture. We conclude by outlining several applications of our sensor system that are unrelated to footwear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hyperlinked video, objects are selectable-resulting in an associated action--akin to linked words or graphics on Web pages. Possible venues for hyperlinked video include broadcast television, streaming video (e.g., video on the Internet or other forms of video-on-demand systems), and published media such as DVD (digital versatile disc). Hyperlinked video offers new interaction possibilities with streaming media and the opportunity to move electronic commerce from the personal computer to the television receiver while making it more dynamic and engaging. In this paper we examine some opportunities and challenges of hyperlinked video, describe an object tracking and identification algorithm and an authoring tool we have developed, and discuss two prototype hyperlinked television programs--one an augmented broadcast and one a video-on-demand application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the efforts of the authors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory toward realizing an electronic book with hundreds of electronically addressable display pages printed on real paper. Features of the electronic book; Information on the electronic ink (e-ink) that will be used in the book; Development from illuminated manuscript to animated manuscript.

SDD-1, A System for Distributed Databases, is a distributed database system being developed by Computer Corporation of America (CCA), Cambridge, MA. SDD-1 permits data to be stored redundantly at several database sites in order to enhance the reliability and responsiveness of the system and to facilitate upward scaling of system capacity. This paper describes the method used by SDD-1 for updating data that are stored redundantly. Redundant updating can be costly because it may potentially involve extensive intercomputer communication overhead in order to lock all copies of data being updated. The method described here avoids this overhead by identifying cases in which it is not necessary to perform this global database locking. The identification of transactions that do not require global locking is based on a predefinition of transaction classes performed by the database administrator using an analysis technique described herein. The classes defined are used at run time to decide what level of synchronization is needed for a given transaction. It is important to note that this predefinition activity in no way limits the transactions that the system can accept; it merely permits more efficient execution of those types of transactions that were anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about awards distribution. The Young Investigators' Prizes recognize outstanding and promising work by investigators who received their doctorates in the three years preceding the application deadline or who are in their final year of graduate school. The prizes include presentation of a research paper at the annual meeting of the American Society of Naturalists, reimbursement for travel to the annual meeting, and a $500 honorarium. The prize committee requests applications for the 2006 prizes from anyone supporting the objectives of the Society. Suggested names and addresses of people who should be encouraged to apply are also welcome. In recognition of the lifetime of outstanding contributions of professor E.O. Wilson in the areas of ecology and evolutionary biology, this award was established in the year of Professor Wilson's retirement from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Individuals whose research and writing illuminate principles of evolutionary biology and an enhanced aesthetic appreciation of natural history will merit special consideration.

The article reports that a rising star at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the hot field of RNA interference (RNAi) was dismissed last week after admitting that he had fabricated and falsified data in grant applications, submitted manuscripts, and one published paper, the university reported in a statement. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena has now begun reviewing two papers published by the researcher, Luk van Parijs, when he was a postdoc there. Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, where Van Parijs was a graduate student, is also scrutinizing his early work. Graduate students and postdocs in Van Parijs's lab first approached MIT administrators in August 2004 with allegations of research misconduct, says Alice Gast, MIT's associate provost and vice president for research.he university launched an investigation, put Van Parijs on paid leave, pulled his lab Web site off the MIT server, and reassigned his lab members to other faculty.

The article reports that Ann Wolpert, the director of libraries at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, has launched an initiative that she claimed will assign rights to the author in a way that would satisfy funding agencies. However, publishers argue that most journals already allow authors to post the accepted version of their paper online.

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.

Introduces the projects and programs on computer systems at the Media Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, featured in the June 2000 issue of the`IBM Systems Journal.' Description of the papers on perspective of arts and media; Discussion on the perspective of learning and expressing; Conclusions.

Focuses on Robert Langer's chemical engineering laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. Postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, undergraduates, and visiting professors who work in the laboratory; Role of postdocs; Chance to publish papers in science journals; Comments from researchers.