9/13/01
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This newsletter is available to the public at the following locations:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/nsflibnews/
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/scitechnews/
http://avel.edu.au/scitech.html
Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with all those who lost loved ones in the recent tragedy.
SciTechResources.gov
http://www.scitechresources.gov/
A creation of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), this site provides scientists,
researchers, engineers, and others with easy access to government resources related to science
and technology. Users can limit searches by keyword, subject, agency, and type of resource
(such as maps and charts or data). For the “science aware citizen,” who may not be
a researcher, SciTechResources allows visitors to search just within general interest science
and technology resources. A categorized list of portals and gateways is also available off the
front page. The site's browsing function is a bit misleading,as clicking on a broad subject
takes users to a search page rather than a list of sub-categories. Nonetheless, there are many
ways to access information here, including the ability to list resources by agency and to search
for government laboratories by state and agency. This is a useful portal for the science
community that promises to grow. [TK] (From the Scout Report)
EEVL: the Guide to Engineering, Mathematics and Computing information on the Internet
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/
My heartiest congratulations on the launch of the new and expanded EEVL site!
The EEVL has long been an absolute standard for the highest quality in web portals, and you will now be pleased to learn that the EEVL will now be extending its terrific service to include mathematics and computing as well as engineering.
The new site will launch September 12.
Internet guides don't get better than this, folks!
Public Library of Science
http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/
PubMed Central
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/index.html#journals
Highwire Press Free Archives
http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl
NASA Astrophysics Database
http://adswww.harvard.edu/
As you know, *everything* is not free and available on the WWW – at least not yet. But
there is increasing momentum toward moving scientific literature in that direction. There are
several players in this field, and some progress has already been made. One of the players is
the Public Library of Science. The Public Library of Science is a non-profit organization of
scientists committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature freely accessible
to scientists and to the public around the world, for the benefit of scientific progress,
education and the public good. This is a grassroots effort. The latest wrinkle is a decision
for the PLoS to begin to launch online journals that will publish original research papers,
timely reviews, essays and commentary online.
PubMed Central already offers archives of a number of journals through agreements with their publishers. Some of these publishers require a “time delay” which can vary between 2 to 6 months after publication, and others provide immediate access to articles in the current issue.
Highwire Press has also entered into agreements with many publishers to provide free access to archives. In fact, they advertise that they are one of the “2 largest FREE full-text science archives on Earth!” Additional Highwire Press publishers join this effort almost weekly. Although the required time delay varies among these publishers, most require a one year. Several offer immediate free access, however.
The largest repository to date is the NASA Astrophysics Data Service. Although the database itself is composed of abstracts, full text archives are available for a huge number of the articles whose abstracts appear in the database. Again, the time delay is variable depending on the publisher but in general is far greater than the above-mentioned sources. It is also a bit tricky to determine the range of journals that are available in full text. (Note: this source can be very slow-loading, so have patience).
4 databases FREE until 1 October
http://www.chemweb.com/databases
ChemWeb.com has teamed up with some of their content providers to offer all ChemWeb.com members
FREE access to the following databases until 1 October 2001. (Membership in ChemWeb requires a
free registration)
FREE – 11 Elsevier Science journals until 1 October
http://www.chemweb.com/journals
11 journals are FREE to all ChemWeb.com members. (Membership to ChemWeb is free with registration.)
You can access any of these titles' latest and back issues until 1 October 2001.
The Journal of Earth System Science Education (JESSE)
http://jesse.usra.edu/
Now Accepting Submissions!
The Journal of Earth System Science Education (JESSE) is a new interdisciplinary electronic
journal aiming to foster the study of the Earth as a system while experimenting with the peer
review process. JESSE is creating, implementing, testing, and evaluating a peer review process
embracing anonymous and open review of educational resources. JESSE aims to optimize the
efficiency of the review process and the quality of offerings in advancing the educational
agenda of the NSDL while providing professional recognition for authors and creators of
interdisciplinary education resources through publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
JESSE is seeking electronic submissions which address understanding the Earth as a system. Authors are encouraged to submit learning resources and modules, courses, texts, articles, research results on Earth system learning and best pedagogical practices, lesson plans, visualization tools, image collections, etc. Authors retain copyright, and JESSE maintains an electronic archival copy of all resources published. Guidelines for authors are available on the web site listed. The first issue of JESSE is expected to be published in late 2001.
Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications
http://www.joma.org/
The Mathematical Association of America, a SMETE.ORG Alliance Partner, recently launched the
premier issue of the Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications (JOMA). JOMA takes
advantage of the Web to make modern tools, curricula, and active learning environments more
accessible to students and teachers everywhere. Visit JOMA and find out more about the MathDL
project, too.
The Biological Bulletin
http://www.biolbull.org/
The Biological Bulletin publishes outstanding experimental research on the full range of
biological topics and organisms, from the fields of Neurobiology, Behavior, Physiology, Ecology,
Evolution, Development and Reproduction, Cell Biology, Biomechanics, Symbiosis, and Systematics.
Published since 1897 by the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, The
Biological Bulletin is one of America's oldest, peer-reviewed scientific journals. The journal is
aimed at a general readership, and especially invites articles about those novel phenomena and
contexts characteristic of intersecting fields.
There is currently a free trial period for access to The Biological Bulletin. Once the free trial period ends January 31, 2002, individuals who are subscribers to the journal in print or are members of the Marine Biological Laboratory Corporation, and institutional subscribers will be able to activate an online subscription. All other access (e.g., to Abstracts, eTOCs, searching, Instructions to Authors) will remain freely available. Online access will be included in the print subscription price.
Observations on the President's Fiscal Year 2002 Federal Science and Technology Budget.
National Academy of Sciences, 2001.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10163.html?onpi_newsdoc07112001a
The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update.
Congressional Budget Office, August 2001.
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=3019&sequence=0&from=7
U.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics: Managing an Integrated Program.
NAP, 2001.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10190.html?onpi_topnews090501
Australia. Chief Scientist.
The Chance to Change: Final Report.
2000.
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/sci/innovation.htm
Cultivating Innovation.
Parlimentary Library, Parliament of Australia. August 2001.
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/sci/innovation.htm
Global Climate Change: Market-Based Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases.
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
http://www.cnie.org/nle/clim-5.pdf
Global Climate Change.
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
http://www.cnie.org/nle/clim-2.pdf
Environmental Protection Issues in the 107th Congress.
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
http://www.cnie.org/nle/leg-39.pdf
Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
http://www.cnie.org/nle/econ-136.pdf
Strengthening the Public Information Infrastructure for Science: Report of the workshop held April 18-19, 2001 at the national Institute of Standards and Technology.
http://www.science.gov/workshop/finalworkshopreport.pdf
Time Magazine's ‘America's Best’ Scientists and Doctors
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/index.science.html
“Science and medicine have changed radically in the past 100 years, with many fundamental
breakthroughs achieved. But brialliant individuals, combining passion and obsession, are still
pushing the boundaries, often by questioning or ignoring the conventional wisdom … find
out which scientists and doctors are ‘America's Best’.” This introduces you
to the Time magazine website with biographies of 18 men and women.
Internet addresses of institutions in science and innovation
http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/s_t/inte/news/sites.htm
The OECD puts together this list of links to the science & technology organizations and
government departments in its member countries.
Genomic Revolution
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/genomics/0_home/
This interesting and clever exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History briefly
summarizes the benefits to society of human genome research. Exhibits tantalize the viewer with
potential implications for our health, curing diseases, food production, solving crimes, and
eugenics now that the 3.2 billion units of our DNA are deciphered. The site has a brief list of
annotated links and a short glossary. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
The Top American Research Universities 2001
http://thecenter.ufl.edu/
An updated version of The Top American Research Universities has been released from Florida-based
research organization, The Center, which creates this report annually. (The first edition of the
Top American Research Universities was included in the July 28, 2000 _Scout Report_.) Institutions
considered “top” are those that have federal research expenditures as reported to NSF
of at least $20 million and that fall within the top 25 on at least one of The Center's nine
measures (total research expenditures, federal research expenditures, endowment assets, annual
giving, faculty members in the National Academies, faculty awards, doctoral degrees, postdoctoral
appointees, and entering freshmen SAT scores). This year, the study has been expanded to include
national rankings and to include institutions ranked in the top 26-50 (in addition to those ranked
in top 25). The data are available in .pdf or spreadsheet (.xls) format. Interestingly, the top
ten are all private universities. [HCS](From the Scout Report)
Human Cloning
http://www.nationalacademies.org/humancloning
Listen to sound files (requires RealPlayer 8 Basic) from the Aug. 7 meeting on human cloning
and learn more about the study by the National Academies' Panel on Scientific and Medical
Aspects of Human Cloning.
PubCrawler
http://www.gen.tcd.ie/pubcrawler/
“PubCrawler is a free ‘alerting’ service that scans daily updates to the
NCBI Medline (PubMed) and GenBank databases. PubCrawler can keep scientists informed of the
current contents of Medline and GenBank, by listing new database entries that match their
research interests.”
Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture – FAO
http://www.fao.org/biotech/index.asp
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations provides this Website about
the role and impact of biotechnology in food and agriculture in developing countries. Features
of the site include FAO's Statement on Biotechnology (including a discussion of genetically
modified organisms), an overview of FAO's activities (such as providing advice and assistance
to member countries, disseminating information, and monitoring new developments concerning
biotechnology in food and agriculture), as well as an introduction to biotechnology in the
agro-industry, crop, fisheries, forestry, and livestock sectors with links to FAO publications
(most may be read online). Other highlights of the site include meeting news, a glossary of
terms and acronyms currently used in the field of biotechnology, a member list for the FAO
Inter-Departmental Working Group on Biotechnology, and links. The FAO Electronic Forum on
Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture (reviewed in the May 26, 2000 _Scout Report_) is a
series of moderated email conferences concerning agricultural biotechnology and developing
countries. The Website is available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish.
[HCS] (From the Scout Report)
The International Shark Attack File
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm
This website from the Florida Museum of Natural History presents a host of information on
this timely subject, including maps of unprovoked shark attack locations, historical numbers
over the past several centuries, advice, relative risk and more.
Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com/
Light is the information carrier of the future. We're not just talking fibre optics, which
we already have, but the nuts and bolts, as it were, of computers will be based on optical
devices analogous to the electronic devices we have today. This site provides a link into
the world of optical networking the cutting edge of the connections between present-day
devices but touches on the news that is emerging from R&D into their successors. Light
Reading provides an entry point for information about the future of information transport
that will ‘propel the Internet into a new era and lead to the convergence of
telecommunications and TV’. DB (From New Scientist Planet Science). The section on
Research contains glossaries, tutorials, and more.
Alicebot.Net AI Project
http://www.alicebot.net/
A.L.I.C.E. won the coveted Loebner prize for 2000, voted ‘the most human-like
computer’ by a group of judges that included linguists, psychologists, and philosophers.
You can get acquainted with Alicebot after downloading some files, and pc users seem to be
able to access more bells and whistles, including speech recognition, than mac users. But more
is coming soon, and from the looks of companies incorporating Alicebot into their offerings,
we may see much more of this. There is a look into the A.L.I.C.E. brain, and because it is
open source, an invitation to program using the Artificial Intelligence Markup Language, or
AIML. This promises to be simple for nonprogrammers who know HTML, and will allow individuals
to create their own robots, which will contribute to the whole. For those who find these
waters a bit deep, it is still fun, especially for kids, to engage in a conversation with
Alicebot, and find out just what it was that captivated all those judges.
(4 September 2001) AD (From New Scientist Planet Science)
Boehlert Education Bill, Press Release & Details
http://www.house.gov/boehlert/mathscibillhouse.htm
A bill introduced by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-New Hartford) to establish mathematics and
science education partnerships, create new scholarships to attract top college math and science
majors into teaching, and establish four new university centers for teaching research was passed
by the House of Representatives.
Around the World in the 1890s: Photographs from the World's Transportation Commission, 1894-1896
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wtc/wtchome.html
“Nearly nine hundred images by American photographer William Henry Jackson,”
exploring various types of transportation throughout North Africa, Asia, Australia, and Oceania.
Also includes images of local inhabitants, streets, cities, landscapes, and members of the
World's Transportation Commission. Searchable by keyword and browsable by subject and country.
From the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress.
Manhattan Timeformations
http://www.skyscraper.org/timeformations/intro.html
Using interactive computer animations, this site provides a unique perspective of the history of
Manhattan's skyscrapers. Animated Manhattan lets you “correlate the cartographic history
of 370 years of urban development of the island with the peaks and valleys of office building
speculation.” Transparent New York presents a truly original look at the relationship
between the skyscrapers and other urban realities like bridges, monuments, and landfills.
Finally, the thoroughly amazing Perspectival Fly-Through offers a view of the city unlike any
you've ever seen. (From Yahoo's Picks of the Week)
DOT Special Digital Collections
http://specialcollections.tasc.dot.gov/
Online Digital Special Collections (Department of Transportation) provides a digital repository
of Civil Aeronautic Manuals (full text version), Civil Aeronautics Manuals (image only version),
Civil Air Regulations, Superseded Advisory Circulars, I.C.C. Historical Railroad Investigation
Reports (1911-1966), National Conferences on Street and Highway Safety, Historical Aircraft
Accident Reports (1934-1965), FAA and CAA Research Reports, Current DOT Orders, and Historic
CAB/DOT Orders. (From University of Colorado Library)
Construction Engineering in Antiquity
http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/classes/cla506.W99.mlm/construction/const_eng.html
Construction Engineering in Antiquity – In ancient times there can be no doubt that the
locals looked up with disgust at the latest aqueduct or pyramid and muttered “modern
rubbish!”. Now, however, the building techniques of past aeons have become lost arts
that must be painfully reconstructed though archaeology on what remains of an elder
civilisation's artefacts. This site explores both the history of architecture and the
technology of building through the ages. With straightforward introductions to a series of
topic areas – “Columns, Arches, Vaults & Domes” or “Building
Techniques” for example – the sight links to an extensive bibliography where
further detailed information can be obtained. With so much Greco-Roman pastiche in
architecture today, its interesting to see how they really did it. (12 August 2001) ARB
(From New Scientist Planet Science)
Kozac Collection of Historical Earthquake Images
http://nisee.berkeley.edu/kozak/
“Under sponsorship of the Czech-American Science and Technology Cooperation Program,
Dr. Jan Kozak, a geoscientist of the Institute of Rock Structures and Mechanics in Prague,
Czech Republic, and Katherine Frohmberg of the University of California, Berkeley, Earth
Sciences Library presented 875 slides of illustrations of historical earthquakes to the
Earthquake Engineering Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor
Bruce Bolt of Berkeley provided a preface suggesting historical, macro-seismological and
artistic qualities of this Collection. A bibliography of historical sources accompanies the
collection. The images are accessible from an alphabetical table of countries or regions or
by specific geographic name of each earthquake arranged chronologically. Individual slide
numbers can also be searched from this page. Questions about the collection and use of these
images can be addressed to the Earthquake Engineering Library.” Images include
engravings and journalism sources as well as photographs.
Operational Significant Event Imagery
http://www.osei.noaa.gov/index.html
Remote sensing of planet earth provides us with some of the most dramatic images of our
home. Here, you can watch dust storms, forest fires, icebergs, severe weather, snow cover,
tropical cyclones, and volcanoes. If you want to find out what's happening in your neck of
the woods, prairie, or ocean, there are countless categorised images just waiting for
viewing, each showing the latest and greatest of the geographical and geological traumas
to which this blue-green planet of ours is so susceptible. DB (From New Scientist Planet
Science)
The Genesis Mission
http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/
“UC Berkeley Astronomers Find Jupiter-sized Planet Around Nearby Star in Big Dipper”
http://exoplanets.org/esp/47uma/47uma_announce.html
Space scientists postulate that the planets of our solar system arose from solar nebulae
approximately 4.6 million years ago. This July, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab launched a new
mission, Genesis, to investigate the transition from solar nebulae to planets by collecting
and analyzing the isotopic composition of solar particles. You can learn more about the
Genesis mission at its official Website. Theoretical background, mission description, and
scientific objectives are laid out in the text, while the site's imagery includes photographs
of the mission hardware, diagrams of the spacecraft's orbit trajectory, mission timeline, and
the instrumentation. Press releases, .pdf-formatted fact sheets, including one entitled
“How does Studying Solar Wind Tell us About the Origin of Planets?” and a glossary
are also available. People wishing to “catch a piece of the sun” should check out
this site. In other space and planetary news, researchers have found signs of a Jupiter-sized
planet near one of the Big Dipper's stars. To learn more, check out the University of
California Planet Search program's press release that contains astronomical data, a sky chart,
and links. [HCS] (From the Scout Report)
Acoustics and Vibration Animations
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/demos.html
At first glance this site doesn't look like much – just a bunch of linked technical
terms like “Fourier Decomposition” and “Damped Harmonic Oscillator.”
But once you dig down, the animations that help you visualize concepts concerning acoustics
and vibration are really quite amazing. Check out the animated GIFs and MPEGs that show the
behavior of sound waves. Don't be scared off by the equations – the site's a perfect
place for the non-technical person to learn some basics about the world of acoustics.
(From Yahoo's Picks of the Week)
The Accretion Disk: An Astronomy Internet Directory
http://www.accretiondisk.org/
“The Accretion Disk is one of the Largest Expert-Reviewed Astronomy Directories Lists
On the Internet With Over 3000 Links To Astronomy Web Sites” A nicely arranged,
attractive portal to astronomy.
Exhibition of High Speed Photography
http://www.pacsci.org/public/education/gallery/high_speed_photos/student_photos.html
Loren Winters of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics presents this instantly
gratifying collection of super-duper fast shutter snaps. If you're familiar with the classic
shot of a bullet ripping through an apple, you'll appreciate these variations on a theme: the
contents of a water balloon hanging momentarily in the air, a bisected tennis ball squashed
across a racket, or a daisy frozen in nitrogen oxide shattered by a BB. This stuff is just
plain cool. If you're interested in the technical wizardry behind the photos (piezoelectric
triggers and such), peruse Ms. Winter's explanatory paper. (From Yahoo's Picks of the Week)
Ethnomathematics on the Web
http://www.rpi.edu/~eglash/isgem.dir/links.htm
A small but very interesting portal to any mathematics site that has an ethnic focus.
Everything from Afro-American mathematician biographies to geometry of Vedic altars.
Fear of Physics
http://www.fearofphysics.com/
This site attempts to explain the unexplainable, simplify the complex, and generally make
sense of a field of science “mired with images of weird old men electrocuting themselves,
strange equations, esoteric concepts, indecipherable books, etc.” Interactive experiments
let you explore physics in action by dropping virtual tennis balls off the Empire State building
or the Golden Gate Bridge, practicing your dunk shot, and riding a roller coaster. Areas of the
site attempt to demystify the Doppler Effect, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, friction, and
other strange and wonderful forces at work in the world. Does the site succeed? You be the judge.
If nothing else, it sure offers some good, clean fun. (From Yahoo's Picks of the Week)
Live from the Tundra
http://www.nunatinnit.net/
“With the aid of the latest satellite telephone and mobile computing technologies, Arnait
Video Productions has created a dynamic website which will permit a small team of Inuit and
Quebecois participants at a remote outpost camp on Baffin Island to create a daily journal of
their experiences, tell oral histories, host special events, and interact with the outside world
via the Internet in August 2001.
During summer 2000, an Arnait Video Productions crew filmed the daily life and the stories of the Kunuk family for a documentary video entitled Anana (Mother). This program is being produced with the support of APTN, Telefilm Canada, and the Canada Council for the Arts, and will be released in August 2001.
Live from the Tundra jumps off where Anana left off, and allows internauts around the world to visit the Kunuk family at their outpost camp and learn about a culture and a lifestyle that is known to very few people on the planet. Not many people in Canada, or in the world for that matter, posses the knowledge, skills and experiences that Vivi and Enuki Kunuk have cultivated in the unique environment of Canada's Eastern Arctic.”
Mapping Census 2000: The Geography of U.S. Diversity
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/atlas.html
This Census 2000 Special Report, prepared by Cynthia A. Brewer (Pennsylvania State University)
and Trudy A. Suchan (Census Bureau, Population Division), synthesizes the basic patterns and
changes in the US racial population distribution in the last decade. Distribution maps depict
White; Black or African American; American Indian and Alaska Native; Asian; Native Hawaiian
and Other Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino Origin; White, Not Hispanic or Latino Origin as
well as those people claiming two or more races. The Census 2000 data in this report are based
on the US Census Bureau Redistricting Summary File, the data that are used in redrawing federal,
state, and local legislative districts. This fact makes these maps noteworthy to anyone
interested in American government and the population it is elected to represent.
[DJS] (From the Scout Report)
Revealing Pictures and Reflexive Frames
http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/reflexive-frames/
An interesting exhibition of photographic works from anthropologists and sociologists in all
sub-disciplines. The navigation is a bit tricky, and images may be slow to load, but the images
are lovely and evocative.
The Rosetta Project
http://www.rosettaproject.org/
Building a near permanent archive of 1,000 languages. “Fifty to ninety percent of the
world's languages are predicted to disappear in the next century, many with little or no
significant documentation.” This site archives over 1,200 language samples for
preservation across millennia (search by language, language family, or country). Each
language is archived according to seven components deemed useful for future linguistic
archaeologists. Visitors familiar with uncataloged languages may submit text contributions
for inclusion. Eventually, the language archive will be micro-etched on a nickel disk
capable of holding over 300,000 pages per three inch disk. The disks will be widely
distributed for future scholarship. (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Researching WTO and Gatt
http://www.llrx.com/features/wto2.htm
This new pathfinder from LLRX should help anyone doing research on the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and the preceding system under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT). The guide, which is focused on sources from the United States, gives pointers for
research, covering a variety of materials in electronic, print, and microfiche formats.
Resources are divided into eight sections including Official Documents, GATT/WTO Legal
Instruments, Dispute Settlement, Schedules on Tariffs and Services, and more.
[TK] (From the Scout Report)
Facts from EBRI
http://www.ebri.org/facts/
“Established in 1978, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) is the only
nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed exclusively to data dissemination, policy
research, and education on economic security and employee benefits.” This page
presents links to various EBRI documents, presenting data on such topics as Employer
Spending on Benefits, U.S. Budget, Taxes, and Employee Benefits, History of 401(k) Plans,
Income of the Elderly and more.
Tolerance.org
http://www.tolerance.org/index.jsp
This searchable site's goal is “to awaken people of all ages to the problem of hate
and intolerance [and] to equip them with the best tolerance ideas.” Tolerance Watch
provides current news articles about hate and tolerance. There is a U.S. map of hate and
human rights groups which includes information for those in each state. Do Something
contains advice and materials for fighting hate crimes as well as educating others. There
are sections for teachers, parents, and kids and a section of How Tolerant are You tests.
There are discussion forums (free registration). From the Southern Poverty Law Center.
- dl (From the Librarian's Index to the Internet)
The following items are from Edupage. To subscribe to Edupage: send mail to: listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: subscribe edupage Anonymous (if your name is Anonymous; otherwise, substitute your own name). To unsubscribe send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: unsubscribe edupage. (If you have subscription problems, send mail to: manager@educom.unc.edu.)
FEEL THE POWER OF THE COMPUTER GRID
The advent of computing grids for research purposes is paving the way for commercial grids.
Three weeks ago, IBM disclosed that it would help construct the United Kingdom National Grid;
the National Science Foundation has also teamed up with IBM, Intel, and Qwest Communications
to build a grid that can store over 450 trillion bytes of data by 2003. In light of such
progress, the next logical step is a commercial grid, said Sun Microsystems' Peter Jeffcock.
Corporations would simply tap into a grid and pay for the amount of power they use. Some
large companies already use internal grids to run simulations, and Sun said it could boost
grid use even further with last month's release of its Grid Engine software. Gartner Group
analyst Andy Butler said, “Computer grids are a very good testbed for leveraging
architecture designs that will probably then feed back into more modestly scaling commercial
applications.”
(eWeek, 20 August 2001 via Edupage)
INTEL PRESENTS VISION OF PROACTIVE COMPUTING
Speakers at the Intel Developer Forum disclosed collaborative ventures between company
researchers and universities to create computer networks that focus on health care and
public safety, as well as endeavors into outer space. The medical applications of such
networks include at-home health care monitoring. A four-node Martian network is also being
planned, as well as a network that can help locate lost people, according to Intel director
of research David Tennenhouse. He said that these networks will be deployed through
wireless networking, software agents, and embedded machines, and that Intel has pledged $4
billion for research and development efforts in 2001. The Internet will act as a portable
database containing data collected by sensors, Tennenhouse explained.
(InfoWorld.com, 27 August 2001 via Edupage)
COLLEGE STUDENTS ADMIT THEY ARE CAUGHT UP IN WEB
One in 10 college students claims to have a dependence on the Internet, according to a
survey report authored by Richard J. DioGuardi of St. John's University. Fifteen percent
of the 134 freshmen and sophomores polled exhibit classic manifestations of addiction,
DioGuardi said; these include social isolation, encroachment on daily life, an urgent
need for the Internet, and withdrawal symptoms. In addition, these students would
probably use the Internet as a social outlet and consider it essential to their
well-being. These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American
Psychological Association in San Francisco.
(Reuters, 27 August 2001 via Edupage)
DISTANCE EDUCATION IS HARDER ON WOMEN THAN ON MEN, STUDY FINDS
Women who take distance-education classes face greater levels of difficulty than men,
according to a report to be released this week from the American Association of
University Women. The report, based on interviews with 500 students, most of them
female, notes the presence of a “third shift,” a period of online study
that women take between their regular job and their homemaking or child-care duties.
Adding to this burden is the fact that many distance-education courses can cost as
much as traditional college classes, while additional expenses may be incurred from
online subscriptions and equipment requirements. Almost a third of the interviewees
are pursuing degrees, breaking the misconception by many that women generally choose
a few courses for occasional enrichment or career advancement.
(Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 5 September 2001 via Edupage)
HOW TO HAVE YOUR ABSTRACT REJECTED
ftp://parcftp.xerox.com/pub/popl96/vanLeunenLipton
This advice column from Mary-Claire van Leunen and Richard Lipton begins “If your ideas are
bad enough all on their own, you needn't worry about this advice, Banality, irrelevance, plagiarism,
and plain old madness will get any abstract rejected, no matter how good it is. Similarly, if your
ideas are brilliant, pointed, original, and sane, you have a hard road ahead of you. Even the worst
abstract may not suffice for rejection … ”
Sticker Shock
http://www.englib.cornell.edu/displays/stickershock/default.html
The Cornell University Engineering and Computer Science Library put together this very striking
webpage to put perspective on the cost of scientific journals. A graphic answer to the question
of why your library does not subscribe to some of your most highly desired journal titles.
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