Re-Engineering Libraries

Physics Nobel: Free Journal Articles and Resources from AIP

2011-10-05T09:26:00.001-07:00

The American Institute of Physics congratulates this year's Nobel Laureates in Physics “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae.” Sharing half the prize is Saul Perlmutter from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley. Sharing the other half jointly are Brian P. Schmidt from the Australian National University, and Adam G. Riess from Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute.

AIP is pleased to make available free of charge a selection of research papers these Nobel Laureates have published in our journals, Conference Proceedings, and Physics Today magazine. To view any of these materials go to http://journals.aip.org/Nobel2011.html.

We will build on this material throughout the day to bring you a host of additional resources, including an overview of the work done by these three scientists, plus related links, photos and interviews.

Physics Nobel: Free Journal Articles and Resources from AIP

Iowa State, Ames Laboratory, Technion scientist wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry | www.news.iastate.edu

2011-10-05T09:24:00.001-07:00

Iowa State, Ames Laboratory, Technion scientist wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

AMES, Iowa - The Nobel Foundation today announced Dan Shechtman of Iowa State University, the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Israel's Technion has won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The foundation announced The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences picked Shechtman "for the discovery of quasicrystals".

That 1982 discovery of crystalline materials whose atoms didn't line up periodically like every crystal studied during 70 years of modern crystallography is regarded as a revolutionary find that changed ideas about matter and its atomic arrangement.

Shechtman, who goes by "Danny," compared winning the Nobel Prize to carrying a country's flag at the Olympics. In this case, he's carrying the banner for an international team of quasicrystal scientists.

"I am the spearhead of the science of quasicrystals, but without the thousands of enthusiastic scientists around the globe, quasicrystals would not be what they are today," he said. "Quasicrystals are still an enigma in many ways, waiting to unfold, and I admire the researchers who over the years became friends and who for a quarter of a century have elucidated this science."

Pat Thiel -- an Iowa State Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, a professor in materials science and engineering and a faculty scientist for the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory -- also studies quasicrystals. She said Shechtman's discovery meant scientific definitions had to be changed and textbooks rewritten.

"What Danny did was fantastic science," she said. "He instigated a scientific revolution."

That's not what he set out to do during a sabbatical from the Technion and a two-year stint in the United States at what's now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Shechtman was studying rapidly solidified aluminum alloys with a toolbox that included transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction. The transmission electron microscopy revealed a structure that science said was impossible: a pattern that when rotated a full circle repeats itself 10 times.

In his notebook that day, Shechtman wrote "(10 Fold ???)." Later, he found the pattern was really a five-fold rotation, but that didn't show up in the first experiments.

"For 70 years until 1982, all crystals studied, hundreds of thousands of them, were found to be periodic," he said. "Only certain rotational symmetries are allowed in this periodic array and these are 1,2,3,4,6 and nothing else. This is why, when I saw the ten-fold rotational symmetry, I was so surprised."

Shechtman did follow-up experiments to confirm his findings and published his discovery in 1984. His work was widely questioned.

"For a long time it was me against the world," he said. "I was a subject of ridicule and lectures about the basics of crystallography. The leader of the opposition to my findings was the two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, the idol of the American Chemical Society and one of the most famous scientists in the world. For years, till his last day, he fought against quasi-periodicity in crystals. He was wrong, and after a while, I enjoyed every moment of this scientific battle, knowing that he was wrong."

Shechtman is an Iowa State professor of materials science and engineering, a research scientist for the Ames Laboratory and the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. He is currently at the Technion in Haifa, Israel. The 70-year-old scientist joined Iowa State and the Ames Lab in 2004 and spends about four months a year in Iowa. He will return to Ames in mid-February.

He continues to study magnesium alloys and other materials that are strong but can also be stretched or shaped without breaking.

And although the applications of quasicrystals are limited, Shechtman said they are important for changing a long-held scientific paradigm.

"People should be interested in scientific advances because the body of knowledge generated by the scientific community improves our lives." he said. "Go back 100 years and see the difference, including life expectancy and life quality."

Iowa State, Ames Laboratory, Technion scientist wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry | www.news.iastate.edu

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in World | JSTOR

2011-09-07T10:58:00.001-07:00

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in World

On September 6, 2011, we announced that we are making journal content in JSTOR published prior to 1923 in the United States and prior to 1870 elsewhere freely available to anyone, anywhere in the world. This “Early Journal Content” includes discourse and scholarship in the arts and humanities, economics and politics, and in mathematics and other sciences. It includes nearly 500,000 articles from more than 200 journals. This represents 6% of the content on JSTOR.

While JSTOR currently provides access to scholarly content to people through a growing network of more than 7,000 institutions in 153 countries, we also know there are independent scholars and other people that we are still not reaching in this way. Making the Early Journal Content freely available is a first step in a larger effort to provide more access options to the content on JSTOR for these individuals.

The Early Journal Content will be released on a rolling basis beginning today. A quick tutorial about how to access this content is also available.

We encourage broad use of the Early Journal Content, including the ability to reuse it for non-commercial purposes. We ask that you acknowledge JSTOR as the source of the content and provide a link back to our site. Please also be considerate of other users and do not use robots or other devices to systematically download these works as this may be disruptive to our systems. For more information, you can read a new section about Early Journal Content in our Terms & Conditions of Use.

If you would like to be notified of the first and subsequent releases of the Early Journal Content, you may follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions if you have additional questions about the Early Journal Content or contact us at support@jstor.org.

Download a brief program description that lists some Early Journal Content highlights.

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in World | JSTOR

National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

2011-08-30T11:37:00.001-07:00

National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

In a nutshell

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) supports research into our world's frozen realms: the snow, ice, glaciers, frozen ground, and climate interactions that make up Earth's cryosphere.

NSIDC manages and distributes scientific data, creates tools for data access, supports data users, performs scientific research, and educates the public about the cryosphere.

NSIDC distributes more than 500 cryospheric data sets for researchers, from both satellite and ground observations. See Data at NSIDC to browse our holdings, get information, and download or order data sets.

Also a cool photo gallery -- http://nsidc.org/gallery/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=80

APPS from USA.gov

2011-08-30T11:32:00.001-07:00

APPS

Government apps provide information when you're on the go. Find instant notification of recalls to the status of veterans benefits. USA.gov is working hard to make government easy, convenient, and accessible.

What is an app?

An app, short for "application," is a tool that helps you accomplish a task or find information. The apps in the USA.gov app store are designed to work on your mobile phone. Some need to be downloaded to your phone while others can be accessed using your phone's web browser.

How much do apps cost?

All the apps featured currently are free. Charges from your cell phone carrier may apply.

Can apps access my personal information?

Review the terms of services page or privacy policy for each app to learn if and how it uses personal information. Most apps cannot access your personal information.

Are your apps available for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia, etc.?

The apps featured in our gallery were developed by government agencies on a variety of platforms. Currently, we have apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. A lot of our apps are mobile-friendly websites, which means they can be accessed by any device. Each agency works one-on-one with the separate platform and signs a terms of service agreement with them, so it is up to the individual agency to decide which platform to use. At this time, there is no coordinated plan to offer each and every app on every platform.

Whom do I contact if I have problems with an app?

If you have problems with an app from the U.S. government, please send us an e-mail.

Whom do I contact if I have an idea for an app or would like to submit an app to this site?

If you have a suggestion, please send us an email. We review suggestions according to our Apps Policy.

eXtension - Objective. Research-based. Credible.

2011-08-30T11:13:00.001-07:00

eXtension - Objective. Research-based. Credible.

eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America. eXtension connects knowledge consumers with knowledge providers - experts who know their subject matter inside out.

eXtension offers:

Credible expertise
Reliable answers based upon sound research
Connections to the best minds in American universities
Creative solutions to today's complex challenges
Customized answers to your specific needs
Trustworthy, field-tested data
Dynamic, relevant and timely answers

eXtension is unlike any other search engine or information-based website. It's a space where university content providers can gather and produce new educational and information resources on wide-ranging topics. Because it's available to students, researchers, clinicians, professors, as well as the general public, at any time from any Internet connection, eXtension helps solve real-life problems in real time.

eXtension Foundation: The eXtension Foundation is a non-profit entity that exists to support the work of eXtension. Learn more about how you can support or sponsor this work at our eXtension Foundation.

Measure of America: American Human Development Project

2011-08-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

Measure of America: American Human Development Project

The American Human Development Project provides easy-to-use yet methodologically sound tools for understanding the distribution of well-being and opportunity in America and stimulating fact-based dialogue about issues we all care about: health, education, and living standards.

The hallmark of this work is the American Human Development Index, an alternative to GDP and other money metrics that tells the story of how ordinary Americans are faring and empowers communities with a tool to track progress over time. The Index is comprised of health, education, and income indicators and allows for well-being rankings of the 50 states, 435 congressional districts, county groups within states, women and men, and racial and ethnic groups.

Through national and state reports, thematic briefs, and the project’s interactive website, the American Human Development Project aims to breathe life into numbers, using data to create compelling narratives that foster greater understanding of our shared challenges and greater support for people-centered policies. The Project was founded in 2006, and became an initiative of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in 2008.

The Project is made possible through the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation‘s matching grant, which will match every dollar you donate–effectively doubling your contribution. Click on this secure link to donate today (please note this will direct you to the SSRC website).

The maps are the great interactive part….

http://www.measureofamerica.org/maps/

The Measure of America

How is opportunity distributed in America? Are we falling behind other affluent democracies? Which groups are surging ahead and which face the greatest risks? Which congressional districts enjoy the highest—and lowest—levels of well-being?

CDC - Injury - WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System)

2011-08-29T09:01:00.001-07:00

Welcome to WISQARS^TM

WISQARS^TM (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) is an interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data. Learn more about WISQARS^TM >>

CDC - Injury - WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System)

CDC’s WISQARS™ (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) is an interactive, online database that provides fatal and nonfatal injury, violent death, and cost of injury data from a variety of trusted sources. Researchers, the media, public health professionals, and the public can use WISQARS™ data to learn more about the public health and economic burden associated with unintentional and violence-related injury in the United States.

Users can search, sort, and view the injury data and create reports, charts, and maps based on the following:

Intent of injury (unintentional injury, violence-related, homicide/assault, legal intervention, suicide/intentional self-harm)
Mechanism (cause) of injury (e.g., fall, fire, firearm, motor vehicle crash, poisoning, suffocation)
Body region (e.g., traumatic brain injury, spinal cord, torso, upper and lower extremities)
Nature (type) of injury (e.g., fracture, dislocation, internal injury, open wound, amputation, and burn)
Geographic location (national, regional, state) where the injury occurred
Sex, race/ethnicity, and age of the injured person

A List Apart

2011-08-29T08:59:00.001-07:00

A List Apart

“For people who make websites”

A List Apart Magazine (ISSN: 1534-0295) explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.

Steal our code? Copy our content?

ALA’s content is protected by copyright shared jointly by the magazine and its writers, but our source code is freely available to all. We also welcome translation. See Permissions & Copyright for details.

Maybe you can be one of us...

...the few, the proud, the ALA contributing authors. A List Apart is written by the community it serves: designers, developers, architects, producers, project managers, and assorted specialists. Publishing in ALA confers prestige and has helped some of our authors gain book deals or find favor with the editors of print magazines. Interested in writing for us? See the Contribute page for guidelines

Esri Training | Library

2011-08-29T08:57:00.001-07:00

Esri Training | Library

GIS Bibliography

This bibliography covers the literature of geographic information systems, science, and technology. It indexes journals, conference proceedings, books, and reports from the origins of GIS to the present. There are currently 111,052 entries in the Esri GIS Bibliography.

Search
All words Phrase Title Only Use boolean operators (AND/NOT) Search Tips
Advanced Search

Browse (by materials)

Books | Journals | Conference Proceedings | Magazines | Reports | Other Materials

Need the definition of a GIS term? Find it in the GIS Dictionary

Look for workbooks, industry-specific, and case study books from ESRI Press.

Esri Training | Library

Racial bias revealed in NIH funding grants from Daily Kos :: State of the Nation

2011-08-26T06:49:00.001-07:00

Racial bias revealed in NIH funding grants

by Laurence Lewis

Reposted from Laurence Lewis by Laurence Lewis

NIH Logo (Wikimedia Commons)

If any aspect of our society had evolved beyond racial bias one would have expected it to be the world of science, particularly government-funded science. Not so. A new study published in Science Magazine begins with this extract:

We investigated the association between a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 applicant’s self-identified race or ethnicity and the probability of receiving an award by using data from the NIH IMPAC II grant database, the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, and other sources. Although proposals with strong priority scores were equally likely to be funded regardless of race, we find that Asians are 4 percentage points and black or African-American applicants are 13 percentage points less likely to receive NIH investigator-initiated research funding compared with whites. After controlling for the applicant’s educational background, country of origin, training, previous research awards, publication record, and employer characteristics, we find that black applicants remain 10 percentage points less likely than whites to be awarded NIH research funding. Our results suggest some leverage points for policy intervention.

The study was conducted by Donna K. Ginther of the Department of Economics and Center for Science, Technology & Economic Policy, Institute for Policy & Social Research, at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Her team included Raynard Kington, who was deputy director of the NIH and is currently president of Grinnell College, and Walter Schaffer, who is senior scientific adviser for extramural research at the NIH. They reviewed 83,188 applications for funding from 40,069 unique investigators during the 2000-2006 Fiscal Years, and controlled for several possible explanatory factors.

Throughout the education pipeline, blacks are less likely to graduate from high school, attend college and major in biomedical science, and obtain a Ph.D. in biomedical science. Nevertheless, upon entering the biomedical academic career track, black and white faculty members are equally likely to be tenured at institutions that grant doctorates and at Research I institutions. (3). Given our previous results, we expected to find that black scientists who made it to the stage of principal investigator would have similar chances of obtaining NIH funding, all other things being equal. We find it troubling that the typical measures of scientific achievement—NIH training, previous grants, publications, and citations—do not translate to the same level of application success across race and ethnic groups. Our models controlled for demographics, education and training, employer characteristics, NIH experience, and research productivity, yet they did not explain why blacks are 10 percentage points less likely to receive R01 funding compared with whites.
Although our models do not fully explain the funding gap, the greatest differences between blacks and whites that we observed were in the effect of previous training and the probability of receiving a priority score. Although more research is needed to discern the basis for the award differences, it is possible that cumulative advantage may be involved (15). Small differences in access to research resources and mentoring during training or at the beginning of a career may accumulate to become large between-group differences. This suggests that more analysis on the impact of NIH training may be warranted. In addition, further research into the review process could help to understand why variables that increased the likelihood of an application receiving a priority score for the full sample did not have the same impact for applications from black investigators.

More bluntly, as reported by Mará Rose Williams of the Kansas City Star:

“It wasn’t just a gap, it was a huge unexplained gap despite the best efforts of me and my research team trying to pound it into submission,” Ginther said.

The only good news also comes from Williams:

NIH Director Francis Collins told Science magazine he was “deeply dismayed” by the study findings. “This is simply unacceptable,” he said.
“As uncomfortable as it makes us, we must acknowledge that the differences observed may reflect biases that are insidiously interwoven into the basic fabric of the merit/reward system of science,” Collins said.

Institutional racism in the heart of academic science. And while Collins no doubt will conduct his own investigations, this also demands attention from the White House and Congress.

Daily Kos :: State of the Nation

AIP Creates New App for Authors and Reviewers

2011-08-04T06:14:00.001-07:00

AIP Creates New App for Authors and Reviewers

iPeerReview provides mobile access to submitted papers

Melville, NY, August 03, 2011 - AIP Publishing, a division of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) (www.aip.org), announces the release of its new app, iPeerReview. The new app allows authors and reviewers to use their iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices to access a broad range of information on papers submitted to any of AIP's journals in Peer X-Press, AIP's manuscript submission and review system.

"iPeerReview is an integral part of our comprehensive strategy to make all AIP content - both live and in production - more accessible to our users," said Evan Owens, AIP's chief information officer, publishing. "We recognize that our authors and reviewers need fast, convenient access to their papers during the review process, and now we've created an app with a clean, streamlined design, which can deliver these papers - anytime and anywhere they need them."

Once logged in, users can perform a number of activities related to their papers. They can access a list of all active and completed papers, view the status history of a paper, view and save a paper in PDF format, email a paper, and link to a paper on AIP's Scitation platform if it is in production or to Peer X-Press if it is under review.

When users access iPeerReview, they can either log in or access papers that they have previously saved to their device. The app will determine if they are an author, a reviewer, or both. In the event that they are both an author and a reviewer, iPeerReview will allow them to access both sets of papers under separate tabs.

To download the app, search for iPeerReview in the iTunes App Store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ipeerreview/id385565904?mt=8# or visit AIP Labs http://labs.aip.org/.

About AIP

The American Institute of Physics is an organization of 10 physical science societies, representing more than 135,000 scientists, engineers, and educators and is one of the world's largest publishers of scientific information in physics. AIP pursues innovation in electronic publishing of scholarly journals and offers full-solution publishing services for its Member Societies. AIP publishes 13 journals; two magazines, including its flagship publication Physics Today; and the AIP Conference Proceedings series. AIP also delivers valuable resources and expertise in education and student services, science communication, government relations, career services for science and engineering professionals, statistical research, industrial outreach, and the history of physics and other sciences.

AIP Creates New App for Authors and Reviewers

National Academies Press - free downloads

2011-06-09T10:42:00.001-07:00

As of June 2, 2011, all PDF versions of books published by the National Academies Press (NAP) will be downloadable free of charge to anyone. This includes our current catalog of more than 4,000 books plus future reports published by NAP.*

Free access to our online content supports the mission of NAP--publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council--to improve government decision making and public policy, increase public education and understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in matters involving science, engineering, technology, and health. In 1994, we began offering free content online. Before today's announcement, all PDFs were free to download in developing countries, and 65 percent of them were available for free to any user.

Like no other organization, the National Academies can enlist the nation's foremost scientists, engineers, health professionals, and other experts to address the scientific and technical aspects of society's most pressing problems through the authoritative and independent reports published by NAP. We invite you to sign up for MyNAP --a new way for us to deliver free downloads of this content to loyal subscribers like you, to offer you customized communications, and to reward you with exclusive offers and discounts on our printed books.

Sign up now. It's quick, easy, and free.
Sincerely,
Barbara Kline Pope
Executive Director for Communications and The National Academies Press
*There are a small number of reports that never had PDF files and, therefore, are not available for download. In addition, part of the "Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals" series is not available in PDF. Future titles in this series will also not have PDFs associated with them.

100,000th Paper Marks Significant Milestone for AIP Conference Proceedings Series

2011-06-09T10:40:00.001-07:00

AIP Publishing, a division of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) (www.aip.org), announces the publication of the 100,000th paper in its AIP Conference Proceedings series, a watershed event in the program's rich history. The proceedings volume that contains the 100,000th article is The IX International Conference on Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum - QCHS-IX. The conference was held in Madrid, Spain on 30 August - 3 September 2010. Along with this milestone comes the appointment of a new leadership team to oversee the program's future activities.

"AIP's Conference Proceedings series has experienced enormous growth in the past decade–more than doubling the number of volumes it publishes yearly," said Darrell Gunter, chief commercial officer at AIP. "The result of this fantastic growth is the publication now of our 100,000th paper, which we consider a testament to the enduring value of this prestigious series, as well as to its continued relevance for today's researchers."

Headed by Dr. Alison Waldron, the new acquisitions editor for AIP Conference Proceedings, the program will focus on strategic development and continuing to serve the research community as we begin publication of the next 100,000 papers. Waldron, who earned a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from King's College, University of London, previously held the position of product manager at AIP, where she oversaw the development of six of AIP's journals, covering a broad range of topics in the physical sciences. In her new role, she will be responsible for development of the AIP Conference Proceedings program and enhancing its service to the research community.

"Today's scientific research is increasingly interdisciplinary, making conferences an important venue for collaboration and networking," said Waldron. "With more and more researchers from different fields using conferences as a forum to cross pollinate their ideas, the resulting proceedings volumes will play a critical role in disseminating their work to the broader scientific community."

AIP Conference Proceedings publishes papers from meetings of the world's most prestigious scholarly societies, delivering in-depth coverage of leading-edge research that is often unavailable anywhere else. Published online rapidly after contributors present their findings, volumes offer the scientific community its first access to breakthrough results. The full backfile of proceedings volumes is available online through AIP's Scitation platform (scitation.aip.org)—more than 1,330 proceedings volumes in all, starting with Volume 1 (1970).

About American Institute of Physics
The American Institute of Physics is an organization of 10 physical sciences societies representing more than 135,000 scientists, engineers, and educators and is one of the largest publishers of scientific information in physics. AIP also delivers valuable resources and expertise in education and student services, science communication, government relations, career services for science and engineering professionals, statistical research, industrial outreach, and the history of physics and other sciences. Offering publishing solutions for scientific societies and organizations in science and engineering, AIP pursues innovation in electronic publishing of scholarly journals. AIP publishes 13 journals (journals.aip.org), two magazines—including its flagship publication, Physics Today—and the AIP Conference Proceedings series (proceedings.aip.org). Scitation, AIP's online publishing platform, hosts 1.6 million articles from 190 scholarly journals, proceedings, and eBooks of learned society publishers. AIP also provides the international physical science community with UniPHY, the first literature-based social and professional networking site; it features pre-populated profiles of more than 300,000 scientists and enables collaboration among researchers worldwide.

AIP and NIST Make Semiconductor Research Freely Available Online

2011-06-09T10:27:00.001-07:00

AIP Publishing, a division of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) (www.aip.org), announces that through an agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), proceedings papers from the entire International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics (formerly Characterization and Metrology for ULSI Technology) series are now freely available from both organizations' websites.

"Publishing papers from these NIST conferences is the most effective way to disseminate the breakthroughs in semiconductor research presented at these meetings. To maximize the reach of these papers, we are now offering them to the public free of charge," said John Haynes, AIP vice president, publishing. "We hope that our decision will help to bring this vital information to the desktops of researchers worldwide and speed the rate of innovation in semiconductor technology."

David Seiler, chief of NIST's Semiconductor Electronics Division, characterizes this agreement to make the proceedings freely available as a major breakthrough, as it will help professionals in the fast-paced semiconductor industry get up to speed on unfamiliar measurement and characterization issues. In addition, they can learn about new techniques and equipment being introduced to characterize semiconductors.

"These collected proceedings represent research and overviews of critical topics collected from worldwide experts in the field of semiconductor characterization and metrology," says Seiler. "As there is frequent turnover in the industry, there is constant need for training and retraining of employees. Improved access to this background will ease that process dramatically."

Proceedings volumes are available in PDF format, up to and including the 2009 conference, on AIP's website at http://proceedings.aip.org/semiconductor_metrology, and on NIST's website at http://www.nist.gov/pml/semiconductor/conference/archives.cfm.

About AIP
The American Institute of Physics is an organization of 10 physical sciences societies representing more than 135,000 scientists, engineers, and educators and is one of the largest publishers of scientific information in physics. AIP also delivers valuable resources and expertise in education and student services, science communication, government relations, career services for science and engineering professionals, statistical research, industrial outreach, and the history of physics and other sciences. Offering publishing solutions for scientific societies and organizations in science and engineering, AIP pursues innovation in electronic publishing of scholarly journals. AIP publishes 13 journals, two magazines—including its flagship publication, Physics Today—and the AIP Conference Proceedings series. Scitation, AIP's online publishing platform, hosts 1.6 million articles from 190 scholarly journals, proceedings, and eBooks of learned society publishers. AIP also provides the international physical science community with UniPHY, the first literature-based social and professional networking site; it features pre-populated profiles of more than 300,000 scientists and enables collaboration among researchers worldwide.

About NIST
Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST's (www.nist.gov) mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

North American Transportation Statistics

2011-06-02T14:37:00.001-07:00

North American Transportation Statistics

The need for North American Transportation Statistics reflects the increase in global economic growth and greater integration of trade, finance and manufacturing in recent decades. Transportation is vital in the changing global economy, linking people and places, businesses and consumers, facilitating trade and tourism, and contributing to economic development. The North American experience mirrors these worldwide trends. Reduced trade barriers and increased personal mobility have created a heightened need for information on transportation infrastructure and services among Canada, the United States, and Mexico. While the positive contributions of transportation to the national economies and to the daily life of people everywhere are important, transportation also has adverse impacts. Transportation accidents are a major cause of death and injury every year in North America. Transportation consumes significant amounts of energy, mainly derived from petroleum and also contributes to environmental problems.

The On-Line Database provides for the first time a central web based source for North American transportation statistics for all three countries on common subjects. The working group members evaluate each table for data comparability and note all definitional differences among the three countries. Accurate data, comparable across modes and countries, is important to understand changes in dynamic transportation markets; to evaluate transportation benefits and impacts; and to support critical decision-making in the public and private sectors.

Scientists on Twitter - Astronomers, Biologists, and Chemists, and more - Science Pond

2011-05-25T09:54:00.001-07:00

Scientists on Twitter - Astronomers, Biologists, and Chemists, and more - Science Pond

About Science Pond

Welcome to the pond! For this Twitter experiment we'll need science nerds of all stripes, including scientists, bloggers, journalists, educators, and students. The criteria for inclusion: on-topic feeds in English that are interesting and useful--to your peers at the very least. If you're still not sure, this seems like the perfect time to quote Albert Einstein: "Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character."

Science Blogging Aggregated

2011-05-25T09:52:00.001-07:00

Science Blogging Aggregated

Scienceblogging.org (also Scienceblogging.com) is a new central clearinghouse for all your science needs. Built by Anton Zuiker, Bora Zivkovic and Dave Munger, the page will aggregate RSS feeds from all the major (and some minor) science blogging networks, group blogs, aggregators and services. As the site develops further, it will also encompass other online (and offline) science communication efforts, including Twitter feeds, links to major scientific journals and magazines, ScienceOnline annual conference, and the Open Laboratory annual anthology of the best writing on science, nature and medical blogs.

We are asking the community to help. Let us know when we make an error, when a new network arises or a new RSS feed goes live.

Scientopia

2011-05-25T09:47:00.001-07:00

Scientopia

Scientopia is a collective of people who write about science because they love to do so. It is a community, held together by mutual respect and operated by consensus, in which people can write, educate, discuss, and learn about science and the process of doing science. In this we explore the interplay between scientific issues and other parts of our lives with the shared goal of making science more accessible.

As a community, we strive to be welcoming of anyone with an interest in science and its place in our world, regardless of any feature, whether extrinsic or intrinsic, which may act or have historically acted as a barrier to full participation in science or discourses about science.

ScienceBlogs

2011-05-25T09:45:00.001-07:00

ScienceBlogs

About ScienceBlogs

Science is driving our conversation unlike ever before.

From climate change to intelligent design, HIV/AIDS to stem cells, science education to space exploration, science is figuring prominently in our discussions of politics, religion, philosophy, business and the arts. New insights and discoveries in neuroscience, theoretical physics and genetics are revolutionizing our understanding of who are are, where we come from and where we're heading. Launched in January 2006, ScienceBlogs is a portal to this global dialogue, a digital science salon featuring the leading bloggers from a wide array of scientific disciplines. Today, ScienceBlogs is the largest online community dedicated to science.

We believe in providing our bloggers with the freedom to exercise their own editorial and creative instincts. We do not edit their work and we do not tell them what to write about.

We have selected our 80+ bloggers based on their originality, insight, talent, and dedication and how we think they would contribute to the discussion at ScienceBlogs. Our role, as we see it, is to create and continue to improve this forum for discussion, and to ensure that the rich dialogue that takes place at ScienceBlogs resonates outside the blogosphere.

ScienceBlogs is very much an experiment in science communication, and being first also means being first to encounter unforeseen obstacles. We are learning as we go (and as goes the blogosphere) and appreciate your understanding and patience.

ScienceBlogs was created by Seed Media Group. We believe that science literacy is a pre-condition for progress in the 21st century. At a time when public interest in science is high but public understanding of science remains weak, we have set out to create innovative media ventures to improve science literacy and to advance global science culture. To learn more about what we do and why we do it, please visit seedmediagroup.com.

PLoS Blogs Network

2011-05-25T09:41:00.001-07:00

PLoS Blogs Network

About PLoS Blogs

PLoS has always engaged in debate about science and medicine. Starting with the launch of our main blog, plos.org, back in 2006, PLoS quickly realized how informal communication can catch readers’ attention. PLoS ONE then launched their journal blog, everyONE in March 2009. Two months later, the editors of PLoS Medicine started Speaking of Medicine to interact with those interested in global health.

PLoS Blogs has been set up to bring a select group of independent science and medicine bloggers together with the editors and staff who run our blogs. Our independent network is made up of writers who love science and medicine, and scientists and physicians that love to write. Here, you’ll find an equal mix of blogs from journalists and researchers tackling diverse issues in science and medicine.

Here are the details of our network:

Our Blog network is 100% ad-free
All material is posted to the blog under the Creative Commons Open Access License (CCAL 3.0 Commercial)

“With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit.”
There are three very distinct types of blogs on the PLoS Blogs network: the official PLoS blog, the PLoS journal blogs (collectively known as The PLoS Blogs), and blogs from the independent network (a.k.a. The PLoS Blogosphere)
1. The official PLoS blog: This content is produced, edited, and/or maintained by PLoS staff.
2. The journal blogs: This content is produced, edited, and/or maintained by PLoS journal staff: The current journal blogs are Speaking of Medicine (PLoS Medicine’s blog) and everyONE (PLoS ONE’s blog).
3. Our independent network of bloggers (The PLoS Blogosphere): This content is produced, edited, and/or maintained by the authors.
All of the content in The PLoS Blogosphere came from the minds of the authors. PLoS does not screen, edit, or otherwise meddle with content on the these blogs in any way. Our bloggers and our users are held to exactly the same standards, and the community guidelines apply to everyone that uses our site. If a blogger has posted content that you believe violates our site abuse policy, please contact PLoS here.
Bloggers monitor their own comment threads: All comments will be reviewed by the author of the blog where you leave your thoughts. Just follow our simple community guidelines and we’ll all get along just fine.

Genome.gov | Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms

2011-05-06T09:49:00.001-07:00

Genome.gov | Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) created the Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms to help everyone understand the terms and concepts used in genetic research. In addition to definitions, specialists in the field of genetics share their descriptions of terms, and many terms include images, animation and links to related terms.

Getting Started:

Enter a search term or explore the list of terms by selecting a letter from the alphabet on the left and then select from the terms revealed. (A text-only version is available from here.)

The Talking Glossary

At the bottom of most pages in the Talking Glossary are links to help you get the most out of this glossary.

Linked information explains how to cite a term from the Glossary in a reference paper. Another link allows you to suggest a term currently not in the glossary that you feel would be a valuable addition. And there is a link to email any of the 200+ terms to a friend.

Genome.gov | Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms

05.06.11 - Science360 News Service | National Science Foundation

2011-05-06T09:25:00.001-07:00

Science360 News Service | National Science Foundation

We gather news from wherever science is happening, including directly from scientists, college and university press offices, popular and peer-reviewed journals, dozens of National Science Foundation science and engineering centers, and funding sources that include government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and private industry.

You can:

Access the Science360 Web site for breaking news and in-depth reports.
Use Science360 RSS feeds to view news in your RSS reader or display news on your Web site or blog.
Subscribe to a daily email blast for a one-stop shop source of science news.

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Science360 is an up-to-date view of breaking science news from around the world.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How can I submit content to Science360 News?
We love to hear from you about the latest research news. Please send a link to the press release online along with the text of the story and contact information to editor@science360.gov. If your release is embargoed, then please send a link to where the release will be posted when the embargo lifts. In addition, if your story has good images, please send those along with the proper credit and caption information.

What type of content does Science360 use?
Science360 News focuses on the latest developments in scientific research. We do not publish stories about grant awards or meeting announcements. We try to provide a variety of science research areas on a daily basis.

Who selects content for the site?
Science360 News has an editor that selects content daily. The selections are then reviewed by other public affairs professionals within the National Science Foundation.

How can I subscribe to receive daily emails about the latest science news?
Signing up is easy! On this page in the left navigation box you can enter in your email address and click "subscribe." You will find another subscription section about half way down the home page of the Web site. If you prefer, you can send your email address to editor@science360.gov and we will add you to the subscription list.

Where can I find the Science of Speed videos?
This popular video series as well as all of the videos we feature on Science360 News can be found under the "All Studio 8 Videos" tab on the top menu of the website. There you will find a list of all videos we have featured. To search for a specific video, such as Science of Speed, use the "Search" box in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Largest Fossil Spider Ever Found Gives Peek Into Arachnid Evolution | 80beats | Discover Magazine

2011-04-23T11:16:00.001-07:00

Largest Fossil Spider Ever Found Gives Peek Into Arachnid Evolution

. .

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Nephila jurassica, with a 5mm scale bar

What’s the News: Researchers have unearthed the largest fossilized spider yet, announced in a study online today in Biology Letters. The fossil, a Jurassic Period ancestor of the modern orb-weaver spider, gives scientists a glimpse not only into the evolutionary history of orb-weaver spiders, but how these ancient arachnids might have impacted the evolution of insect species that could be snared in the webs.

How the Heck:

The fossil, found preserved in volcanic ash in the Daohugou fossil beds in northeastern China, dates back 165 million years. The researchers dubbed the species Nephila jurassica.

At about an inch long, the spider’s body isn’t unusually large, but its leg span, at nearly six inches, is the largest seen in a fossil spider.

This spider was female, suggesting the size disparity seen in modern orb-weaver spiders—with females dwarfing the males—may have begun at least 165 million years ago.

Silk spinning organs, called spinnerets, preserved on the fossilized spider’s legs suggest that, like its modern counterparts, Nephila jurassica spun big, durable webs.

The spider’s formidable prey-catching ability likely drove the evolution of the medium-to-large insects it fed on, as those species scrambled to survive, the researchers wrote.

What’s the Context:

Until now, the earliest known fossil from the Nephila genus was 34 million years old; this find pushes back the origin of the genus 130 million years from what researchers previously thought.

Modern orb-weaver spiders live in tropical climes, so this fossil suggests that the region where it was found may have had a much muggier climate during the Jurassic than it does today.

The oldest fossil spiders ever found are nearly twice as old as this specimen, dating back 310 million years.

While its size is remarkable for a fossilized spider, Nephila jurassica‘s legspan is only half as big as that of the world’s largest living spiders, the evocatively named goliath bird-eater and giant huntsman.

Reference: Paul A. Selden, ChungKun Shih and Dong Ren. “A golden orb-weaver spider (Araneae: Nephilidae: Nephila) from the Middle Jurassic of China.” Biology Letters online before print, April 20, 2011. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0228

Image: Selden et al. paper

Largest Fossil Spider Ever Found Gives Peek Into Arachnid Evolution | 80beats | Discover Magazine

NASA - NASA Featured Images and Galleries

2011-04-22T09:40:00.001-07:00

NASA - NASA Featured Images and Galleries

Image of the Day

The Water Planet

Viewed from space, the most striking feature of our planet is the water. In both liquid and frozen form, it covers 75% of the Earth’s surface. It fills the sky with clouds. Water is practically ...

› View Image

Alaska’s Susitna Glacier

Like rivers of liquid water, glaciers flow downhill, with tributaries joining to form larger rivers. But where water rushes, ice crawls. As a result, glaciers gather dust and dirt, and bear ...

› View Image

Nile River Delta at Night

One of the fascinating aspects of viewing Earth at night is how well the lights show the distribution of people. In this view of Egypt, the population is shown to be almost completely concentrated ...

› View Image

View Image Gallery

Browse and Search NASA Image Galleries

NASA Image Exchange →

Not a collection in itself, the NASA Image Exchange is a search engine that pulls images from across NASA's Web space.

Dryden Image Gallery

A collection of images and multimedia on NASA aircraft, aeronautics facilities and research.

Kennedy Multimedia Gallery →

Images and video from the Kennedy Space Center, including shuttle launches and landing, crew training and satellite launches.

NASA - NASA Featured Images and Galleries

nasaimages.org

Search the Compilation of NASA Images →

Earth Image of the Day

Drought and Heat Create Hazardous Fire Conditions in Texas →

This temperature map shows the extremely warm temperatures that helped create hazardous fire conditions in Texas in April.

Mission Images

American Community Survey

2011-04-12T12:51:00.001-07:00

American Community Survey

The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides data every year -- giving communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.

To help communities, state governments, and federal programs, we ask about:

age
sex
race
family and relationships

income and benefits
health insurance
education
veteran status

disabilities
where you work and how you get there
where you live and how much you pay for some essentials

All this detail is combined into statistics that are used to help decide everything from school lunch programs to new hospitals.

Neuroscience Information Framework

2011-04-12T12:49:00.001-07:00

Neuroscience Information Framework

The Neuroscience Information Framework is excited to announce the release of NIF 3.1. With improved search and many added products, NIF 3.1 also boasts a new look and feel on the web. To introduce you to the new website, we have created a YouTube video and a Tutorial on the new search interface. You may also wish to view our release notes. As always, we look forward to your comments.

What is NIF?
A dynamic inventory of Web-based neuroscience resources: data, materials, and tools accessible via any computer connected to the Internet. An initiative of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, the Neuroscience Information Framework advances neuroscience research by enabling discovery and access to public research data and tools worldwide through an open source, networked environment.

Neuroscience Information Framework

Food Environment Atlas

2011-03-11T08:04:00.001-08:00

Food Environment Atlas

Food environment factors—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. Research is beginning to document the complexity of these interactions, but more is needed to identify causal relationships and effective policy interventions.

The objectives of the Atlas are:

To assemble statistics on food environment indicators to stimulate research on the determinants of food choices and diet quality
To provide a spatial overview of a community’s ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so

What information is included in the Atlas?

The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors:

Food Choices—Indicators of the community's access to and acquisition of healthy, affordable food, such as: access and proximity to a grocery store; number of foodstores and restaurants; expenditures on fast foods; food and nutrition assistance program participation; quantities of foods eaten; food prices; food taxes; and availability of local foods
Health and Well-Being—Indicators of the community’s success in maintaining healthy diets, such as: food insecurity; diabetes and obesity rates; and physical activity levels
Community Characteristics—Indicators of community characteristics that might influence the food environment, such as: demographic composition; income and poverty; population loss; metro-nonmetro status; natural amenities; and recreation and fitness centers

The Atlas currently includes 168 indicators of the food environment. The year and geographic level of the indicators vary to better accommodate data from a variety of sources. Some data are from the last Census of Population in 2000 while others are as recent as 2009. Some are at the county level while others are at the State or regional level. The most recent county-level data are used whenever possible.

See Documentation for complete list of indicators, definitions and data sources.

Medical Dictionary, Medical Abbreviations and Other Search Engines - MediLexicon

2011-03-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.medilexicon.com/

MediLexicon contains searches, information, news and resources for the medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare professional. The following medical searches, medical dictionary listings, and resources are available for free use within this website...

Medical Abbreviations. A dictionary containing over 200,000 medical, biotech, pharmaceutical and healthcare acronyms and abbreviations. The most comprehensive medical abbreviations dictionary on the Internet.
Use Medical Abbreviations Search

Medical Dictionary. Contains definitions and explanations of thousands of medical terms from Stedmans comprehensive medical dictionary.
Use Medical Dictionary Search

Medical News. Hourly reports of all of the latest breaking health news and medical news stories to hit the headlines from around the world.
View Latest Medical News Headlines

ICD-9 Search. Contains definitions of ICD9/ICD9CM codes used to code and classify mortality data from death certificates, morbidity data from the inpatient and outpatient records, physician offices, and most NCHS surveys.
Use ICD9 Search

Drug Search. Search the drug databases for drug information including prescription drug information. Multiple drug searches available.
Use Drugs Search

Medical Equipment & Surgical Instruments. Contains definitions of over 3,500 medical and surgical devices and instruments.
Use Medical Equipment Search

Other Searches. Other searches include hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, associations, skin conditions and more.
View Other Searches

Medical Dictionary, Medical Abbreviations and Other Search Engines - MediLexicon

C-SPAN Video Library

2011-03-08T12:53:00.001-08:00

C-SPAN Video Library

The C-SPAN Archives records, indexes, and archives all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational, research, and archival uses. Every C-SPAN program aired since 1987, now totaling over 170,000 hours, is contained in the C-SPAN Archives and immediately accessible through the database and electronic archival systems developed and maintained by the C-SPAN Archives.

The Archives records all three C-SPAN networks seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Programs are extensively indexed making the database of C-SPAN programming an unparalleled chronological resource. Programs are indexed by subject, speaker names, titles, affiliations, sponsors, committees, categories, formats, policy groups, keywords, and location. The congressional sessions and committee hearings are indexed by person with full-text. The video collection can be searched through the online Video Library.

All C-SPAN programs since 1987 are digital and can be viewed online for free. Duplicate copies of programs that have aired since 1987 can be obtained and used for education, research, review or home viewing purposes. Proceeds from the sale of these programs help support the operation of the Archives. Some programs are not copyright cleared for sale.

The Archives began within the Purdue University School of Liberal Arts in 1987. In July 1998, C-SPAN assumed responsibility for the archival operations and the facilities were moved from the Purdue University campus to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Indiana. The indexing, abstracting, and cataloging of C-SPAN programs is the responsibility of the C-SPAN Archives staff.

The Worlds of David Darling

2011-03-08T12:50:00.001-08:00

The Worlds of David Darling

The Worlds of David Darling is a large on-line collection of information on all aspects of science, technology, mathematics, philosophy, history, and science fiction. It has been developed, and is updated daily, by author and astronomer David Darling. It contains two major encyclopedias – the award-winning Encyclopedia of Science and the Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living. Material for these encyclopedia derives from the author's numerous books, submitted contributions from third parties, and public domain sources.
Other components of the site include a home page with regularly updated news, a number of separate news sections on topics such as health, the living world, paleontology, archeology, robotics, and technology, and an extensive collection of news archives.
The site first went online in 1999 and has now grown to more than 16,000 pages and approximately three million words.
See the site map for further details.

Includes --

THE INTERNET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE and ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING

The Worlds of David Darling

CAS has officially decided to discontinue the client version of SciFinder in 2011

2010-08-26T08:17:00.001-07:00

CAS has officially decided to discontinue the client version of SciFinder altogether.

The new e-Library redesign has eliminated the banner page for SciFinder – so the registration information is hard to find right now, please follow the links below.

Please plan to switch to the web version, if you have not already done so.

SciFinder Web version - access from either on- or off-campus through a web browser
Access Login page here
Registration page (1^st time users only)

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

2010-08-20T09:51:00.001-07:00

http://proxy.lib.iastate.edu:2048/login?url=http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/emrw/9780471238966/home/

The ISU Libraries now have electronic access to the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.

A brief description of this standard reference work is as follows:

The Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology presents a wide scope of articles on chemical substances—including their properties, manufacturing, and uses. It also focuses on industrial processes and unit operations in chemical engineering, as well as covering fundamentals and scientific subjects related to the field. Additionally, environmental and health issues concerning chemical technology are also addressed.

Key features of the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology Online include:

Over 1,000 articles, with more than 600 new or updated -- over 10% of the content is updated annually
Monthly updates that keep the online version on the cutting edge of chemical technology
Previous versions of revised articles archived for posterity
An easy to use interface that allows one to Search or Browse through the articles for quick reference and convenience

To connect --

http://proxy.lib.iastate.edu:2048/login?url=http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/emrw/9780471238966/home/

Thanks -- Stephen

New Standards Toolbar and Searching Options

2010-08-20T08:44:00.001-07:00

Standards & Specifications: A How-To Guide

The new e-Library redesign and Primo upgrades have had a nice side-benefit as we are now able to do some things we have been tinkering with for ages such as the New Standards Toolbar and Searching Options.

Researchers can now:

1) Download a toolbar tailored to the needs of ISU researchers looking for industry standards!

Standards Center Toolbar

We have added a new box to the Standards LibGuide alerting researchers to the new toolbar and giving instructions for downloading it. See the following LibGuide page for the specifics:

http://instr.iastate.libguides.com/content.php?pid=83014&sid=616037

2) Search in one location for industry standards at ISU – the SEARCH BOX ON THE LIBRARY HOME PAGE – regardless of whether the standards are in the Library Catalog (with LC call numbers and shelved in the General Collection) – OR – are part of the “uncataloged” Standards Collection in Room 161. If you want to test out the search – look for “tanks and standards” – the results will include standards in the General Collection, Microforms, and the Standards Center.

3) View a Quick Tutorial on finding standards at ISU that includes content on this new way of searching and the new Primo screens – it’s available here: http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=ansistandards-primo-fall2010-100819112746-phpapp02&rel=0&stripped_title=ansi-standards-primofall2010

4) Bookmark a page that will allow them to search JUST the ANSI ISU Holdings. Researchers who do this should relabel their bookmark after they save it…otherwise it will be called something generic like Primo by ExLibris.

let me know if you have any questions/comments.

Thanks -- Stephen

News - Twenty new electronic journals recently activated

2010-08-20T08:37:00.001-07:00

News

Twenty new electronic journals recently activated!

12-May-2010

Listed below are some of the new electronic journal titles (i.e. e-Journals) activated by the ISU Library over the last few months. In general, new subscriptions are added when subscriptions to an equal amount of money are dropped. This is otherwise known as "cancel to add".

ACS Chemical Neuroscience
Annals of Applied Probability
Annals of Applied Statistics
Annals of Statistics
Annals of Probability
Bernoulli
Games and Culture
HortScience
Institute of Mathematical Statistics Collections
International Organization
Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering
Journal of Green Building
Journal of Medical Devices
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice
Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering
Language Teaching Research
Race/Ethnicity
Statistical Science
Tree Physiology

The best way to locate e-Journals held by the ISU Library is to search "Find e-Journal" on the e-Library web site.

This page can be found under "Collections" and then "e-Journals & e-Books" from the Library's home page.

News

E-Library Redesign

2010-08-20T08:35:00.001-07:00

E-Library

The ISU Libraries have a new e-Library page...

There are still a few bugs as they are transitioning from the old version but ....It is a great improvement. If you notice anything not working, just let us know. The additional functionality should be a great help in getting users to the information resources they need.

The official new release is here! http://www.lib.iastate.edu/cfora/news.cfm?cat=gen_news&navid=100512&parent=2025&pagemode=article

Thanks -- Stephen

ScienceResearch.com - One Search. Superior Science.

2010-06-10T09:38:00.001-07:00

ScienceResearch.com - One Search. Superior Science.

ScienceResearch.com

ScienceResearch.com is a free, publicly available deep web search engine that uses advanced "federated search technology" to return high quality results by submitting your search query - in real-time - to other well respected search engines then collating, ranking and dropping duplicates of the results. Please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

Would ScienceResearch.com be more useful, if you could integrate subscription-based collections or your own internal databases? Learn more...

ScienceResearch.com - One Search. Superior Science.

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa - The University of Iowa Libraries

2010-06-10T09:28:00.001-07:00

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa - The University of Iowa Libraries

Online version of The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, edited by David Hudson, Marvin Bergman, and Loren Horton. Written by an impressive team of more than 150 scholars and writers, The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa was created to spotlight prominent Iowans throughout the history of the region.

Iowa has been blessed with citizens of strong character who have made invaluable contributions to the state and to the nation. In the 1930s alone, such towering figures as John L. Lewis, Henry A. Wallace, and Herbert Hoover hugely influenced the nation’s affairs. Iowa’s Native Americans, early explorers, inventors, farmers, scholars, baseball players, musicians, artists, writers, politicians, scientists, conservationists, preachers, educators, and activists continue to enrich our lives and inspire our imaginations.

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa includes each subject’s name, birth and death dates, place of birth, education, and career and contributions. Many of the names will be instantly recognizable to most Iowans; others are largely forgotten but deserve to be remembered. Beyond the distinctive lives and times captured in the individual biographies, readers of the dictionary will gain an appreciation for how the character of the state has been shaped by the character of the individuals who have inhabited it.

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa - The University of Iowa Libraries

New Electronic Resource -- ALLOY PHASE DIAGRAMS CENTER

2010-01-29T06:59:00.001-08:00

We now have access to a new electronic resource:

ALLOY PHASE DIAGRAMS CENTER (from ASM International)

This title currently has a brief bibliographic record containing title and url:

http://www.asminternational.org/asmenterprise/apd/

The publisher does not allow proxification so this resource will only be available on the ISU campus.

If you have any questions let me know.... Stephen

Polymers - MDPI

2010-01-08T09:47:00.001-08:00

New open access journal -- HSM

Polymers - MDPI

Polymers Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360), an Open Access journal of polymer science, is published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) online quarterly. The first issue will be released in 2010.

Polymers - MDPI

New Blog - Citation Help for ISU and Beyond

2009-11-03T12:25:00.001-08:00

http://citehelp.blogspot.com/

I have started a new Blog to keep primarily ISU faculty, staff, and students up-to-date with the latest tools related to bibliographic management applications, primarily EndNote, EndNote Web, and Zotero. Anyone using these tools may benefit from the information shared. I will try to tag those items that exclusivly related to Iowa State University such as upcoming workshops.

The address is http://citehelp.blogspot.com/

Thanks -- Stephen

News

2009-10-28T19:02:00.001-07:00

Physical Sciences Reading Room to close

News

Physical Sciences Reading Room to close

27-Oct-2009

As part of a campus planning initiative to make more effective use of limited university resources, including space on central campus, the ISU Library will close the Physical Sciences Reading Room (PSRR) at the end of fall semester. The PSRR is located in 208 Office and Laboratory (O&L) Building. The unit's last day of operation will be Friday, December 18, 2009. After that date, PSRR collections will be integrated with the collections of Parks Library, and all associated services will be provided by Parks Library staff.

The most heavily-used PSRR collections, including currently received journals and popular journal backfiles, will be integrated as quickly as possible into corresponding collections in the Parks Library. Less heavily used items will need to be stored indefinitely in a closed stack until space can be made available in the Parks Library. At all times, the Library's online catalog will accurately reflect a title's current location/availability. Items in temporary storage will be retrieved by library staff.

Heather Lewin (hslewin@iastate.edu; 294-1004) and Steve McMinn (hsmcminn@iastate.edu, 294-4789), from the Library's Science & Technology Department, will continue to serve as the subject librarians for chemistry (Lewin), physics, and Materials Science & Engineering (McMinn). Questions or comments regarding collections in these areas, as well as requests for consultation or instructional services, should continue to be directed to these two subject librarians. Questions of a more general nature regarding library public services or the closing of PSRR can be directed to David Gregory, Associate Dean for Research & Access (dgregory@iastate.edu; 294-0447).

News

2009-10-28T19:00:00.001-07:00

News

Update on Library's Journal Cancellation Review

12-Oct-2009

On August 17, 2009 the Library began a Journal Cancellation Review. The project had three purposes:

Fund the purchase of new journals that will support new interdisciplinary initiatives or major research/teaching programs that have been re-focused

Offset the cost of "unfunded" inflation

Identify resources for potential mid-year or FY11 budget reductions

The period for public comments on the Journal Cancellation Review project ended on October 9, 2009. Thank you for your input. We are reviewing and considering the feedback that was submitted. The University Library will post the final list of cancelled titles after November 15, 2009.

Once we are informed about potential mid-year budget reversions we will make decisions about reallocation of funds for the purchase of new titles that have been requested.

If you have any questions, please contact Karen Lawson, Associate Dean for Collections & Technical Services.

News

SPIE Digital Library - Subscription Information and Support for Librarians

2009-10-23T11:41:00.001-07:00

SPIE Digital Library - Subscription Information and Support for Librarians

Open-access SPIE Reviews journal to launch in mid-2009 with focus on emerging topics in optics and photonics

December 12, 2008 -- SPIE announced today the launch in mid-2009 of the new open-access journal SPIE Reviews under the editorship of William T. Rhodes. The new journal will publish original, in-depth review articles on emerging and evolving fields in applied optics and photonics of use to researchers as well as industry innovators.

"Articles will serve both as valuable overviews of significant new technologies and as portals to the primary literature in those areas for practitioners, researchers, and students." Dr. Rhodes said. "The optics community has long needed a good journal of review articles. I am extremely pleased that SPIE is launching this new publication, and doubly pleased because it comes at no cost to readers or authors." Rhodes is a professor of electrical engineering and Associate Director of the Imaging Technology Center at Florida Atlantic University, and Emeritus Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology.

As editor, Rhodes will be assisted by a broadly interdisciplinary editorial board that will provide the expertise needed to ensure that SPIE Reviews covers the full range of topics important to SPIE constituents.

SPIE Reviews will be available as an open-access publication in the SPIE Digital Library, the world's largest collection of optics literature. Articles in the SPIE Digital Library incorporate features such as extensive CrossRef-linked bibliographies, multimedia, bookmarking tools, and RSS feeds. In addition to these features, SPIE Reviews will feature links to related resources such as book chapters. SPIE Reviews joins the open-access SPIE Letters virtual journal as an additional open-access offering in the SPIE Digital Library, which also includes articles available by subscription or pay-per-view from SPIE's other six journals and the Proceedings of SPIE.

"SPIE Reviews will offer timely insights on emerging technologies of benefit to researchers and students, while also providing industry managers with overviews of developing fields and a front-view perspective on technology trends," said CEO Eugene Arthurs.

SPIE Reviews' open-access status will ensure its availability to researchers in developing countries and in schools with limited access to primary research journals, Arthurs noted. "This supports SPIE's mission to advance devierse new technologies throughout the world."

Articles will be invited by members of the editorial board and the editor. Proposals from prospective authors also will be considered by the editor. Proposals and inquiries may be sent to journals@spie.org. Additional information on SPIE Reviews is available at www.spie.org/reviews.

SPIE Digital Library - Subscription Information and Support for Librarians

SciTech Library Question

2009-10-23T11:37:00.001-07:00

SciTech Library Question

Perhaps The Final Word on Availability of Bulk Chemical Prices

.: As many of you know, I've been waging a campaign for the past three years with ICIS Chemical Business in hopes that it would maintain and update the bulk chemical prices from 28 August 2006, which was the last time these prices were published in what was then known as Chemical Market Reporter. Selected prices had been updated for 2007 and 2008, and I recently wrote to Simon Robinson, Online Editor for ICIS.com, and asked if updates were forthcoming for 2009. Simon wrote back to confirm that this will not be happening, unfortunately. He wrote:

As you say it is that time of year again that your students start putting their design projects together. I am glad that you find the August 2006 numbers useful. We did up date them last year, but as I am sure that you realise 2009 promises to be a very tough year in the chemical sector and also for information providers to that sector. As such we can’t really promise to update the numbers this year, or fill in the holes that you have found in the database on our site. This is because our resources are going to be fully committed elsewhere.
Regarding my ongoing concern that chemical engineering students are and remain ICIS' future customers, and that consideration must be given to them accordingly, he wrote:
I appreciate that Chemical Engineering students are the seed corn that will ensure the chemical industry’s success in the future and are potential long term customers for ICIS products. However, they are not existing customers, and if 2009 is going to be about anything for companies operating in the chemicals sector it will be about servicing the information needs of our existing subscribers.
I thank Simon and Penny Wilson, his predecessor, for keeping the lines of communication open with me for the past three years as we worked to try to solve this very serious concern.

I hope that you will understand the hard commercial reality in which we operate, as part of a multinational company.

I wrote back to Simon, and expressed my disappointment in his response. I noted that these bulk chemical prices are the only resource for access to such data for chemical engineering students. I did thank him for keeping the dialogue between us open and honest, and asked if the ICIS Students site would be maintained, along with the 28 August 2006 price list, for the time being. He wrote:
Thanks for you kind and understanding reply. It is tough in the world of business at the moment and like other companies we’re looking at our cost base. That said, since the indicative prices are up on the website now, there is little danger of them coming down in the foreseeable future. I am not certain, though, that there will be enough resource here to update them this year or in the future. I realise that these numbers give your students the feel of a real life project, but this year some chemical prices have gyrated wildly and almost no price indications would have given them the certainty that a project would be profitable by completion. .
We are unlikely to significantly extend the students site beyond its current scope. But we are upgrading our ICIS connect site which might be a good place for your students to interact and ask questions of the industry directly.

So while I'm disheartened with ICIS' decision to no longer update the August 2006 prices, I am grateful to Simon for confirming that the Indicative Prices page will remain on the ICIS site for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, we as engineering librarians will need to find other bulk chemical pricing resources for our chemical engineering students, which could prove to be very difficult indeed.

SciTech Library Question

WebPath: The Internet Pathology Laboratory

2009-07-20T08:58:00.001-07:00

WebPath: The Internet Pathology Laboratory

The Internet Pathology Laboratory
for Medical Education

The University of Utah
Eccles Health Sciences Library

This popular web resource includes over 1900 images along with text, tutorials, laboratory exercises, and examination items for self-assessment that demonstrate gross and microscopic pathologic findings associated with human disease conditions.

WebPath: The Internet Pathology Laboratory

Home - SciTopics

2009-07-20T08:56:00.001-07:00

Home - SciTopics

About SciTopics

SciTopics is a free expert-generated knowledge-sharing service for the scientific community. It serves as an information and collaboration service for researchers.

SciTopics offers authors a dynamic, quick, informal yet authoritative online publication platform

Home - SciTopics

Pubget: the search engine for life-science PDFs

2009-06-12T07:28:00.001-07:00

Pubget: the search engine for life-science PDFs

Pubget solves the problem of full-text document access in life science research. Instead of search results linking to papers, with Pubget's proprietary technology, the search results ARE the papers. Once you find the papers you want, you can save, manage and share them — all online.

Each year, scientists spend at least a quarter billion minutes searching for biomedical literature online. This is time they could better spend curing disease and building the future. Pubget's mission is to give them (you!) that time back.

Pubget: the search engine for life-science PDFs

OdonataCentral

2009-06-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

OdonataCentral

Welcome to OdonataCentral

This site is designed to make available what we know about the distribution, biogeography, biodiversity, and identification of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) world-wide. Use the navigation bars at the top of the page to move around in the site.

OdonataCentral

BioEd Online: Biology Teacher Resources

2009-06-08T09:50:00.001-07:00

BioEd Online: Biology Teacher Resources

Welcome to BioEd Online, the online educational resource for educators, students, and parents. BioEd Online utilizes state-of-the-art technology to give you instant access to reliable, cutting-edge information and educational tools for biology and related subjects. Our goal is to provide useful, accurate, and current information and materials that build upon and enhance the skills and knowledge of science educators. Developed under the guidance of our expert Editorial Board, BioEd Online offers the following high-quality resources.

Streaming Video Presentations - View timely presentations given by thought leaders on education in biology and related subjects, classroom management, science standards, and other issues in education. Presentation topics include content reviews for prospective biology teachers, content updates for experienced teachers, research lab technique demonstrations, inquiry science, and assessment. In addition, BioEd Online offers helpful presentations for teachers in training as they prepare for the classroom experience.
Slide Library - Customize exciting and relevant lesson plans and activities from hundreds of searchable slides developed by our Editorial Board and contributors. The slide library is updated regularly. Each slide is complete with talking points and references and can be downloaded into your own PowerPoint program for personal educational use.
as they prepare for the classroom experience.
Editors' News Picks - Stay current with science news selected by our Editorial Board. Check back each week for new science stories and related discussion questions to complement your ongoing science activities, and to stimulate an exchange of ideas in your classroom. All Editors' Picks are maintained in our archive for easy access whenever you need them.

BioEd Online is regularly updated with pertinent new slides in the slide library, presentations on breakthrough research, reviews, and virtual workshops on educational approaches and materials. Stay current with the latest research from top educators in the country by bookmarking BioEd Online for later use!

Would you like to be notified regarding updates to BioEd Online? Please complete the BioEd Online registration form.

BioEd Online: Biology Teacher Resources

Library Intelligencer » This blog is to provide information to University of Melbourne Library staff

2009-05-27T13:43:00.001-07:00

Library Intelligencer » This blog is to provide information to University of Melbourne Library staff

"Used to know someone who did birds....HSM"

eBird

May 27, 2009 – 3:34 pm

http://ebird.org/content/ebird

What is eBird?
A real-time, online checklist program, eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales.

eBird’s goal is to maximize the utility and accessibility of the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional bird watchers. It is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence. For example, in 2006, participants reported more than 4.3 million bird observations across North America.

The observations of each participant join those of others in an international network of eBird users. eBird then shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time these data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond.

Library Intelligencer » This blog is to provide information to University of Melbourne Library staff

MDPI.com: peer-reviewed, fully open access scholarly journals since 1996 « Life Sciences Info @ Imperial College London Library

2009-05-27T13:40:00.001-07:00

MDPI.com: peer-reviewed, fully open access scholarly journals since 1996 « Life Sciences Info @ Imperial College London Library

MDPI.com: peer-reviewed, fully open access scholarly journals since 1996

MDPI.com is a platform providing open access to peer-reviewed journals published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI). Access is available to material published from 1996 onwards and includes:

International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Marine Drugs

Molecules

Nutrients

Remote Sensing (New as of March 2009)

Sustainability (New as of March 2009)

Toxins

Viruses

Visit www.mdpi.com to access these journals and more, and hook up to an RSS feed from the site too.

MDPI.com: peer-reviewed, fully open access scholarly journals since 1996 « Life Sciences Info @ Imperial College London Library

Major research institute moves publications to open-access system | News | Breaking News | Feedstuffs

2009-05-27T13:39:00.001-07:00

Major research institute moves publications to open-access system | News | Breaking News | Feedstuffs

Major research institute moves publications to open-access system

(5/27/2009)

The spiraling cost of subscriptions to scientific journals is fueling a movement toward web-based open access for papers detailing new scientific findings. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) formally launched an open-access (OA) system for its scientific publications on May 27.

"ICRISAT has declared the Green OA Mandate in the Institute, thereby making available a digital, web-accessible repository of pre-prints of the scientific and scholarly publications emerging from ICRISAT's research," according to a statement from the institute.

"According to the registry on global OA initiatives maintained by the University of Southampton in the U.K., ICRISAT is among the earliest agricultural research institutes to declare the green mandate," the statement noted. The University of Southampton maintains the database, which is called Roarmap.

ICRISAT noted that critical research information to researchers across the globe has been affected by the costs of the journals, and "even institutions in developed countries find it difficult to meet increasing journal subscription costs."

In recent years, the OA movement has sprung up in many developed countries, ICRISAT reported. "Champions of the OA movement believe that in spite of publisher-mandated copyright restrictions, authors of scientific and scholarly papers have the fullest freedom to share their findings with their peer community," the statement said.

ICRISAT, based in India, has research stations throughout the world in semi-arid tropical regions. It is one of the institutions of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.

The OA repository of ICRISAT can be accessed at http://openaccess.icrisat.org. Most of the institute's print publications can be accessed at http://books.icrisat.org.

Major research institute moves publications to open-access system | News | Breaking News | Feedstuffs

Herbert York dies at 87; scientist and arms-control leader - Los Angeles Times

2009-05-22T08:21:00.001-07:00

Herbert York dies at 87; scientist and arms-control leader - Los Angeles Times

Herbert York dies at 87; scientist and arms-control leader

UC San Diego

Herbert York, who was a delegate to the anti-satellite arms control talks in 1978 and chief negotiator in the U.S.-Soviet talks on a ban on nuclear weapons testing, also was UC San Diego’s founding chancellor.

The founding chancellor of UC San Diego had served on the Manhattan Project but later worked to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

By Tony Perry
May 21, 2009

Herbert York, a leading physicist in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II who later became an arms-control advocate and founding chancellor of UC San Diego, has died. He was 87.
York died Tuesday at Thornton Hospital in San Diego, the university announced, after a long illness.

"Herb York made this campus and this world a better place," UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said in a statement.
Beginning with his work on the Manhattan Project, York held a series of high-level scientific, academic and governmental posts over the next six decades and served as an advisor to six presidents on matters of science research and arms control. He wrote and lectured extensively about the threat of nuclear war.
"There is no such thing as a good nuclear weapons system," York said in a 1983 interview with The Times. "There is no way to achieve, in the sound sense, national security through nuclear weapons."

In 1958, President Eisenhower appointed York as the first director of Defense Research and Engineering, overseeing missile and space research.
In 1961, UC President Clark Kerr persuaded him to become the founding chancellor of UC San Diego. York recruited students and faculty and supervised construction on the La Jolla campus.
But as the Cold War intensified and the threat of a nuclear exchange loomed, York returned repeatedly to the pursuit he had begun after World War II: stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
York served as a delegate to the anti-satellite arms control talks in 1978 and then as chief negotiator in the U.S.-Soviet talks on a ban of nuclear weapons testing.
In private, York was known as a raconteur who loved telling jokes, even to the stone-faced negotiators for the Soviets during the long sessions in Geneva.
One of York's longtime colleagues at UC San Diego, physics professor Sheldon Schultz, told a Times reporter in 1983 that in the field of nuclear weapons research, "there are the Strangeloves, there are the dour, existential thinkers, there are the efficient, white-shirted Rand Corp. automatons, and then there are the human beings. Herb is a human being."
Herbert Frank York was born in Rochester, N.Y., on Nov. 24, 1921.
The son of a railroad baggage handler, York was a brilliant student of physics at the University of Rochester, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees in 1943.
He then joined the University of California Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley and was soon recruited to join the Manhattan Project. To York, like many of the other scientists, the project was the most intellectually challenging work imaginable, with a noble purpose.
"Not only did we complete the project, but we ended the war," York said.
After the war, York returned to Berkeley, earned a doctorate in 1949 and was appointed director of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory at age 28.
He served as UC San Diego chancellor from 1961 to 1964 and then from 1970 to 1972, although he was famously restive with academic bureaucracy and endless committee meetings.
He preferred teaching and, unlike many senior academics, retained a fondness for working with undergraduates.
He taught physics, served as chairman of the physics department and in 1983 founded the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, which conducts research on conflict resolution and promotes efforts to avoid war.
The failure of the Geneva negotiations remained a profound disappointment.
"The world situation just wouldn't support it," he said.
In his 1970 book, "The Race to Oblivion," York worried that nuclear technology seemed to have a momentum that made confrontation between the superpowers inevitable.
"We seem to be heading for a state of affairs," he wrote, "in which the determination of whether or not Doomsday has arrived will be made either by an automatic device . . . or by a pre-programmed president who, whether he knows it or not, will be carrying out orders written years before by some operations analyst."
York is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sybil; three children, Rachel York, Dr. Cynthia York and David Winters; and four grandchildren.
Arrangements for a memorial service at UC San Diego are pending.

Herbert York dies at 87; scientist and arms-control leader - Los Angeles Times

UpToDate Inc.

2009-05-14T09:59:00.001-07:00

UpToDate Inc.

UpToDate is an evidence based, peer reviewed information resource - available via the Web, desktop computer, and PDA.

With UpToDate, you can answer questions quickly, increase your clinical knowledge, and improve patient care. Independent studies confirm these benefits.

The UpToDate community includes our faculty of more than 4,000 leading physicians, peer reviewers, and editors and over 360,000 users. Our faculty writes topic reviews that include a synthesis of the literature, the latest evidence, and specific recommendations for patient care. Our users provide feedback to the editorial group. This community's combined efforts result in the most trusted, unbiased medical information available.

UpToDate Inc.

ScienceBlogs

2009-05-14T09:57:00.001-07:00

ScienceBlogs

scienceblogs.com

Science is driving our conversation unlike ever before.

We believe in providing our bloggers with the freedom to exercise their own editorial and creative instincts. We do not edit their work and we do not tell them what to write about.

We have selected our 60+ bloggers based on their originality, insight, talent, and dedication and how we think they would contribute to the discussion at ScienceBlogs. Our role, as we see it, is to create and continue to improve this forum for discussion, and to ensure that the rich dialogue that takes place at ScienceBlogs resonates outside the blogosphere.

ScienceBlogs

Not Enough Time in the Library - Chronicle.com

2009-05-14T06:42:00.001-07:00

"Research Literate -- so much better than information literacy -- IMHO -- HSM"

FIRST PERSON

Not Enough Time in the Library

Just because your students are computer-literate doesn't mean they are research-literate

By TODD GILMAN

As an academic librarian, I hear an awful lot of hype about using technology to enhance instruction in colleges and universities. While the very word "technology" — not to mention the jargon that crops up around it, like "interactive whiteboards" and "smart classrooms" — sounds exciting and impressive, what it boils down to is really just a set of tools. They're useful tools, but they don't offer content beyond what the users put into them.

Today we have hardware and software that facilitate communication, resource-sharing, and organization. We have computers attached to projection systems for lectures and demonstrations; social-networking and messaging sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter; virtual spaces like blogs and wikis in which to collaborate; course-management software like Blackboard/WebCT, Sakai, and Angel to supplement or even take the place of the physical classroom; and programs such as RefWorks, Endnote, and Zotero to keep track of and format bibliographies.

Oldsters tend to associate those tools with youngsters. Many faculty members, especially senior ones, believe they are less adept at using those tools than their students are. While that much may be true, the assumption that follows — that when it comes to technology, today's students need no faculty guidance — most certainly is not.

While college students may be computer-literate, they are not, as a rule, research-literate. And there's a huge difference between the two.

The fact that some professors do not recognize the distinction means they effectively assume that their students find themselves as much at home in the complex and daunting world of information as when they upload 25 photos from their iPhone to Facebook and text their friends to announce the latest "pics."

Academic librarians are eager to offer sessions for students on what we call "research education." But the mistaken assumption that students don't need it means that many professors don't ask us to meet with their students, or even respond to our enthusiastic offers to lead such sessions. Students don't need to be taught anything about working online, because they were practically born digital, right?

Research education is not tools education. Research education involves getting students to understand how information is organized physically in libraries, as well as electronically in library catalogs and in powerful, sometimes highly specialized commercial databases. It means teaching students to search effectively online to identify the most relevant and highest-quality books, articles, microform sets, databases, even free Web resources.

Students do not come to college armed with those skills, nor are they likely to be acquired without guidance. Yet students desperately need such skills if they hope to function effectively in our information-driven economy. As Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams opine in The Craft of Research: The "vast majority of students will have careers in which, if they do not do their own research, they will have to evaluate and depend on the research of others. We know of no way to prepare for that responsibility better than to do research of one's own."

Professors may need to be reminded that online searching requires a set of skills that are the strong suit of academic librarians — and that we are eager to impart those skills to students. Faculty members may also need to be reminded that developing those skills takes practice. Would professors assume that students possess the critical-thinking skills necessary to make sense of an early-17th-century document related to the Plymouth Bay Colony just because they grew up in Massachusetts?

Here, then, are some tips for faculty members on how to augment students' research skills.

Spend a class period on search strategies. Show students how to find their way around the library's electronic catalog (for books) and a few general databases such as Academic Search Premier, those in the WilsonWeb platform, and LexisNexis Academic (for articles). A librarian can conduct a session with your students on those sources and, more important, demonstrate effective search strategies to avoid frustration and wasted time. Make the session mandatory, hold it during class, and be sure to attend it, to show you mean business. Even better, teach the session with the librarian, or at least chime in to stress key points.

Take a tour. Introduce students to the physical spaces of the library, especially the reference desk, the reference collection and its contents, the periodical reading room, and the stacks — including how to read a call number. Believe it or not, many students' familiarity with their college or university library stops at the study spaces.

Reinforce the lesson with an assignment. Devise a for-credit assignment that echoes what you and the librarian have shown the students. It should emphasize key distinctions that they often forget, such as the need to search the online catalog for books but library databases for articles. You might also incorporate a component that challenges students to evaluate the quality of information they find, such as comparing the top results returned by a keyword search in Google with those returned in Academic Search Premier with the peer-reviewed box checked. Which results are more authoritative, and how can students tell?

Take it a step further. Perhaps you want to do more than require a single assignment, such as encouraging students to use library materials in support of arguments in their term papers. It would be good to assign them Chapter 3 (pp. 40 to 55) of the second edition of The Craft of Research (available for library purchase as an e-book, so students don't have to shell out extra). The chapter covers how to turn interest in a topic into a research question that's worth trying to answer. It should reduce the likelihood that students will set out to write a paper on "the history of rowing on U.S. college campuses" and move them instead toward an argument supported by convincing data about, say, "the role that athletics plays in U.S. college admissions."

In an ideal world, students should have multiple encounters with librarians, not just the standard 60-to-90-minute session that is most common now.

Faculty members in Yale's English department clearly recognize the growing importance of research education: They have just agreed to increase fivefold the number of undergraduates who will attend library sessions as an integral part of their introductory writing and literature courses (from 350 to roughly 1,900). Add to that our new "personal librarian" program, which pairs every Yale freshman with a Yale librarian, and you see the students themselves begin to be repositioned to value learning the craft of research. Let's hope this example encourages others to follow suit.

The more time students spend with us, the further they can go beyond the basics into larger conceptual issues. Once they have determined what makes a good research question in the first place, they can move on to ask themselves (and the librarian) what is needed to answer specific questions they want to explore, developing the confidence that comes from knowing they are looking in all the right places for answers, and actually finding what they seek.

Todd Gilman is the librarian for literature in English at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library.

Not Enough Time in the Library - Chronicle.com

The Paleontology Portal: Home

2009-05-06T12:36:00.001-07:00

The Paleontology Portal: Home

This site is a resource for anyone interested in paleontology, from the professional in the lab to the interested amateur scouting for fossils to the student in any classroom. We have gathered many different resources into this single entry "portal" to paleontological information on the Internet. Take our site tour to find out more about what you will find here.

Images and links that you see as you browse through the site have been reviewed and selected for quality by one or more members of the Editorial Board, following the guidelines of the established editorial policy. Please use the "add to site" link at the top of the page to contribute images or links for consideration.

This site was produced by the University of California Museum of Paleontology, the Paleontological Society, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and the United States Geological Survey. The site was funded by the National Science Foundation under award no. 0234594. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

The Paleontology Portal: Home

Technology in (Medical) Education: Chemistry of Facebook

2009-04-13T11:20:00.001-07:00

Technology in (Medical) Education: Chemistry of Facebook

Chemistry of Facebook

Innovate has an interesting article (Have to go through free registration to read the full article) on use of Facebook to create an online community for students enrolled in an Organic Chemistry Lab at Iowa State University. The authors (Jacob Schroeder and Thomas Greenbowe)compared the use of WebCT and Facebook for discussions regarding the course material. While all 128 students were required to use WebCT (e.g. to get their grades), the use of Facebook was optional.
The main finding in this exploratory study was that while only about 40% of students used the Facebook discussion board, they used it in richer ways (posting photos of molecule structures, links etc) and for a longer period. The discussion group on WebCT was not used much and quickly petered out.
We don't know from the available data whether students who used Facebook were already using it socially? The authors were also not able to survey the students regarding the reasons why they used or did not use a specific tool. Thus we are left to wonder...
One guess is that if you are already using Facebook, clicking over to your Organic Chemistry Group to check something out or put in a comment would be quick and easy. Problem is getting the other 60% of students to also use this tool. Would love to know if it was their learning style, attitude towards technology, use of other social networking sites, or some other reason that prevented them from joining this discussion board. Is it even important to get them to join? What if only 10% of students had joined? What is the critical mass for something like this to be meaningful? The activity required instructor time to moderate the group. If a number of students were using another site like MySpace, would it be possible to moderate 2 groups? What about 3?
What if WebCT had a facebook widget or the other way around so both the WebCT and Facebook users could participate without having to log in some where else?

Technology in (Medical) Education: Chemistry of Facebook

News

2009-02-23T08:13:00.001-08:00

News

Survey on Library Service Quality

23-Feb-2009

From February 23 through March 6, the University Library will conduct a major survey of ISU students and faculty, focusing on issues of library service quality. The survey, known as LibQUAL⁺, is a standardized survey used across the country and around the world, sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Over 80 institutions, including some of the largest research libraries in North America and the United Kingdom, will participate in the spring 2009 LibQUAL⁺ survey.

This is the fifth time the ISU Library will have conducted the LibQUAL⁺ survey, having done so previously in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. This year, a random sample of 2,000 undergraduate students, 800 graduate and professional students, and 800 faculty will be surveyed. They will receive the web-based survey by email, and can complete it from the convenience of their homes or offices.

If you happen to be one of the randomly selected students or faculty to receive an invitation to complete the LibQUAL⁺ survey, please do take a few minutes to provide us with your feedback. Your comments will be greatly appreciated!

For more information about the LibQUAL⁺ survey:

See the detailed FAQ on this topic

Contact Sarah Passonneau, the ISU Library's Assistant to the Dean, at 515-294-2117, or at spassonn@iastate.edu

Consult the LibQUAL⁺ information page maintained by the Association of Research Libraries

News

The Top Ten Physics News Stories of 2008

2009-02-17T10:04:00.001-08:00

The Top Ten Physics News Stories of 2008

The Top Ten Physics News Stories of 2008

The following ten stories were selected by science writers and editors of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) and of APS as the top ten physics news stories of 2008. They are in no particular order. In many cases, more information about these topics can be found in the new APS online publication, Physics.

The Top Ten Physics News Stories of 2008

Where to find MSDS on the Internet

2009-02-14T13:42:00.001-08:00

Where to find MSDS on the Internet

ILPI

Where to Find MSDS's on the Internet

Each section is a fairly broad category, so there is bound to be some overlap between the sections. If you still can't find an answer to your question after reading through the various sections, see the last question under Miscellaneous.

Where to find MSDS on the Internet

MedlinePlus: Medical Encyclopedia

2009-02-14T13:18:00.001-08:00

MedlinePlus: Medical Encyclopedia

Medical Encyclopedia

The A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia includes over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations. For more information about A.D.A.M., see its content review board.

Browse by first letter of topic:

MedlinePlus: Medical Encyclopedia

E-print Network home page -- Energy, science, and technology for the research community -- hosted by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy

2009-02-14T13:16:00.001-08:00

E-print Network home page -- Energy, science, and technology for the research community -- hosted by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy

Energy, science, and technology for the research community!

The E-print Network is . . .

. . . a vast, integrated network of electronic scientific and technical information created by scientists and research engineers active in their respective fields, all full-text searchable. E-print Network is intended for use by other scientists, engineers, and students at advanced levels.

. . . a gateway to over 30,380 websites and databases worldwide, containing over 5 million e-prints in basic and applied sciences, primarily in physics but also including subject areas such as chemistry, biology and life sciences, materials science, nuclear sciences and engineering, energy research, computer and information technologies, and other disciplines of interest to DOE. We hope the E-print Network proves valuable to you in supporting your research initiatives.

E-prints are scholarly and professional works electronically produced and shared by researchers with the intent of communicating research findings to colleagues. They may include preprints, reprints, technical reports, conference publications or other means of electronic communication. Preprints, those selectively shared pre-published documents or articles going through the publication process, have long been recognized and utilized by peer groups throughout the scientific community. Recent technological advances, however, have incorporated preprints with other forms of peer communications to establish an information genre in its own right. Therefore, the more inclusive term e-prints is more appropriate to use currently in describing this rich and valuable source of scientific and technical information that now reaches beyond the scope of pre-published information.

E-print Network home page -- Energy, science, and technology for the research community -- hosted by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy

State Agency Databases - GODORT

2009-02-14T11:27:00.001-08:00

State Agency Databases - GODORT

"Iowa is included -- but not the budget book.

The Salary book is in a searchable database online through the Legislative Fiscal Bureau at the following URL:
http://staffweb.legis.state.ia.us/lfb/salbook/
The Des Moines Register also has the same salary book at http://data.desmoinesregister.com/results/index.php?info=State_Salaries -- HSM"

Every US State and the District of Columbia, agencies are creating databases of useful information - information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking. Some of this content is available on search engines, but much of it is part of the invisible web.

In any event, no resource we're aware of has tried to pull together all publicly accessible state agency databases until now. Eventually each state page below will have a page listing state government databases by agency. If this project gets a wily programmer, we can talk subject access or even federated search.

Click on a state name below to find a list of databases by agency. This is a wiki, so if you don't see something on a list that should be, feel free to add it as long as the resource is meant to be available to the public and is produced by a government entity in the listed state.

State Agency Databases - GODORT

News

2009-02-11T06:16:00.001-08:00

News

Welcome to Your Library - Newsletter, information about what's been happening at the ISU Library. We welcome your suggestions and feedback on how to improve this newsletter, so if you have a comment, please drop us an email.

Did You Ever Wonder Who Manages the Electronic Library?
The e-Library@Iowa State University, with its vast collection of electronic resources and online services, in many ways functions like a large "virtual" branch facility.

Survey on Library Service Quality
From February 23 through March 6, the University Library will conduct a major survey of ISU students and faculty, focusing on issues of library service quality.

Art & Poetry in the Library, Part II
Stephen DeStaebler's The Left-sided Angel greets visitors beside the south entrance to the Parks Library.

Government Publications at the ISU Library
Over the past 100 years, the Library has developed a historical collection which is diversified in subject matter, including items covering social science and public policy issues as well as scientific and technical topics.

Library Recognizes Darwin's Contributions to Science and Culture
Celebration on Feb 12th, 2009 for Darwin's 200th Birthday and the 150th Anniversary of the publication of his book "On the Origin of Species".

CAB Abstracts, NTIS Documents, and Searching Google for Older Scientific Magazine Articles
More access available to research material.

February is National Bird Feeding Month
Bring a little color to your back yard!

The "Search for" Box and the Library Catalog, Part II
Searching in the Library Catalog works differently than using the "Search for" box. Results also display differently.

Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Relocated
The Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery (ILL/DD) office moved to a new location over the winter break.

Papers of Naturalist C. C. Parry Available in Special Collections
The Special Collections Department houses the papers of C. C. Parry, a botanist and physician.

New Electronic Journal Subscriptions
Titles newly activated by the ISU Library over the last few months.

ISU Remembrance Day Event: Internment of Japanese Americans During World War II
February 19th, 1:30-3:00 p.m., Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

First Spring 09 Library Seminar on February 25
"Not Just Facebook: Niche Social Network Sites" presented by Associate Professor Gerry McKiernan.

News

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

2009-02-09T18:17:00.001-08:00

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

The National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis is an independent
research consortium dedicated to basic research and education in geographic
information science and its related technologies,
including geographic information systems (GIS).

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

Plant Information Online

2009-02-09T18:09:00.001-08:00

Plant Information Online

Welcome to Plant Information Online! Use Plant Information Online to discover sources in 1063 North American nurseries for 107916 plants, find 378901 citations to 140596 plants in science and garden literature, link to selected websites for images and regional information about 14157 plants, and access information on 2463 North American seed and nursery firms. Plant Information Online is a free service of the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Plant Information Online

Regulations.gov

2009-02-09T17:24:00.001-08:00

Regulations.gov

Regulations.gov is your source for all regulations (or rulemakings) issued by U.S. government agencies. On this site, you can find:

All Federal regulations that are open for public comment (i.e., proposed rules) and closed for comment (i.e., final rules) as published in the Federal Register.

Many Federal agency notices published in the Federal Register.

Additional supporting materials, public comments, and Federal agency guidance and adjudications.

When you find a document, you can also submit comments through the web site on those documents that are open for public comment.

After Congressional bills become laws, Federal Departments and Agencies are responsible for enforcing those laws through regulations. Departments and Agencies develop regulations through the Federal rulemaking process, most commonly through a notice-and-comment process. In general, Departments and Agencies publish proposed rules that are open for public comment, and after a specified timeframe, the Department or Agency publishes a final rule based on public comments and other information. Regulations.gov users can find Federal proposed and final rules published every business day by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the U.S. government's Federal Register, and submit comments through the web site to the Agencies on proposed rules that are open for public comment.

The Regulations.gov web site also houses other types of federal information. In addition to Federal regulations, many Departments and Agencies use Regulations.gov to post other types of documents open for public comment, such as Agency significant guidance. Certain Federal agencies also allow the public to initiate an action by filing a submission via Regulations.gov.

Each Department or Agency determines what information is made available on the site. Therefore, the information displayed on Regulations.gov docket and document details screens and comment forms is unique for each Department and Agency and conforms to each Department or Agency's internal policy. For additional information on a specific Department or Agency, visit www.usa.gov.

If you're looking for government information not on this site, you can try the following web sites:

USA.gov the official portal to the U.S. Government.

Business.gov the official business link to the U.S. Government. It provides information on regulatory compliance and other information for small business owners.

e-CFR provides access to the electronic Code of Federal Regulations for a compilation of all final Federal regulations.

Regulations.gov

Library recognizes Darwin's contributions Feb 12

2009-02-09T15:22:00.001-08:00

News

Library recognizes Darwin's contributions Feb 12

February 12, 2009, 2:00 & 3:00 pm
Parks Library, Room 192

The library is recognizing Darwin's contributions to science and culture by hosting a celebration on Feb 12^th, 2009 for Darwin's 200^th Birthday and the 150^th Anniversary of the publication of his book "On the Origin of Species". There will be 2 presentations: "Darwin and Culture" and "Darwin's Citation Impact" at 2:00 and 3:00 respectively.

Darwin and Culture - Heather Lewin
Asst. Professor & Subject Librarian
Science & Technology

A survey of literature to examine the culture in which Darwin's work was presented and the impact of his work on culture up to this day. Includes impact on sociology, psychology, archeology, literature, and many other facets of culture.

Darwin's Citation Impact - Lorrie Pellack
Assoc. Professor & Department Head
Science & Technology

This session will cover basic definitions of impact factors, citation impact and h index. Then, will look at Charles Darwin's publication record, the process involved in determining his citation impact, and compare Darwin's citation impact to that of modern day researchers in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Special Collections

Additionally there will be a display in Special Collections of some of Darwin's publications.

News

The world’s first free, open access astronomical observatory officially opened

2009-01-28T12:08:00.001-08:00

The world’s first free, open access astronomical observatory officially opened

The world’s first free, open access astronomical observatory officially opened

nächste Meldung

27.01.2009

The Montegancedo Astronomical Observatory, based at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s School of Computing and part of the Madrid Region’s ASTROCAM network, was officially opened on 23 January 2009, coinciding with the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

Anzeige

Present at the opening ceremony were the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s Vice Rector of Research, Gonzalo León, the Dean of the School of Computing, Javier Segovia, the principal investigator of the ASTROCAM project and Spanish National Research Council professor, José Cernicharo, and the head of the observatory and School of Computing professor, Francisco Sánchez Moreno. At the end of the ceremony a commemorative plaque was unveiled.

In his brief talk, Francisco Sánchez explained the project history and development, highlighting the fact that this is the first free, open access astronomical observatory in the world. The observatory is remote controlled using software called Ciclope Astro, maintained by the UPM School of Computing’s research group.
This software provides a number of tools for running astronomical experiments, building scenarios and remotely controlling telescopes, cameras and domes. Also it enables internauts to access the observatory from their own homes and experience different astronomical events. Last December, Ciclope Astro was awarded second prize in the 8th New Applications for Internet contest, organized by the New Generation Internet Chair.
Other experiences
Last December the observatory started up an experiment to observe the Sun in the H-alpha band and distinguish sunspots and protuberances. Another aim of the experiment is to learn how to adjust camera parameters to get good astronomical images. Although advance booking is required to control the observatory, four webcams beam whatever is happening real time into your own home. Webcam images are updated every 20 seconds for unregistered users and every second for registered users.
The observatory is located in Building 6 at the School of Computing, based at the Montegancedo Campus in Boadilla del Monte. The dome is equipped with a computer-automated, robotized 10” telescope, and several computers operating as a web applications server. They also link and broadcast the images and videos captured by the webcams arranged around the dome. They all run on GNU/Linux systems.
The key goal of the robotized observatory is to control an astronomical project right down to the very last detail, automating all the tasks and making them accessible and controllable over the Internet.
Even before its official opening, the Montegancedo astronomical observatory participated in several successful events. Last July, for example, it took part in a popular observation of the Moon’s craters. The event was projected on a giant screen at the Cosmo Caixa museum in Madrid and was retransmitted live over the Internet.
The observatory was set up and developed by a team of researchers at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s School of Computing led by professor Francisco Manuel Sánchez Moreno.

Eduardo Martínez | Quelle: alphagalileo
Weitere Informationen: www.fi.upm.es/?pagina=827&idioma=english

The world’s first free, open access astronomical observatory officially opened

IEC Fusion Technology

2009-01-27T10:19:00.001-08:00

IEC Fusion Technology

IEC Fusion Technology Blog

IEC Fusion Technology

IPR LiBlog: A CAS for Plasma Physicists: Open Access e-prints in Physics

2009-01-27T10:16:00.001-08:00

IPR LiBlog: A CAS for Plasma Physicists: Open Access e-prints in Physics

IPR LiBlog: A CAS for Plasma Physicists

The amount of information being generated in any area of research is growing tremendously and it is really difficult to keep track of all the information. Stay updated with current contents of some CORE JOURNALS and News on Plasma Physics

Welcome to Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) Library Current Awareness Service (CAS)

Stay Updated with Latest News and Publications in Plasma Physics

IPR LiBlog: A CAS for Plasma Physicists: Open Access e-prints in Physics

Journal Quality List - Anne-Wil Harzing

2009-01-22T11:41:00.001-08:00

Journal Quality List - Anne-Wil Harzing

Journal Quality List

Compiled and edited by Prof. Anne-Wil Harzing

32nd Edition, 26 September 2008

Introduction

The Journal Quality List is a collation of journal rankings from a variety of sources. It is published primarily to assist academics to target papers at journals of an appropriate standard. We would be concerned if the list were used for staff evaluation purposes in a mechanistic way.

The list was originally collated while the editor was associated with the Bradford University School of Management (1997-2001). Since then, the list has been updated and extended periodically to keep it current. It is now in its 32nd edition.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the Journal Quality List, we recommend that it be checked before used extensively for evaluation purposes. The editor will not be held responsible for omissions or errors. The current version of the JQL contains 20 different rankings of 906 journals.

Copyright © 2000-2008 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved.
Permission to use or copy this list in its entirety is hereby granted, provided that all copies include the title page, copyright notice, and all explanatory notes. All other uses, copying, or other forms of reproduction are prohibited.

Journal Quality List - Anne-Wil Harzing

UNEP: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

2009-01-06T10:37:00.001-08:00

UNEP: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

Atlas of Our Changing Environment on Google Maps
Through illustrations, satellite images, ground photographs and powered by Google Maps, this interactive media depicts and describes humanity's past and present impact on the environment. The primary focus is on environmental status and trends over the last 30 years, in terms of both physical and human geography.

UNEP: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

Grants.gov

2009-01-06T10:17:00.001-08:00

Grants.gov

Grants.gov is your source to FIND and APPLY for federal government grants. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is proud to be the managing partner for Grants.gov, an initiative that is having an unparalleled impact on the grant community. Learn more about Grants.gov and determine if you are eligible for grant opportunities offered on this site.

Grants.gov does not provide personal financial assistance. To learn where you may find personal help, check Government Benefits, Student Loans and Small Business Start-up Loans .

Grants.gov

ISU Student Featured in the NY Times: Charge It: Solar Panels on a Purse

2009-01-05T06:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/education/edlife/ideas-chargeablepurse-t.html

Bright Ideas | Design

Charge It: Solar Panels on a Purse

By RACHEL AVIV

Joe Hynek may be the only student at Iowa State University who carries a handbag for “scientific purposes.” On cloudless days, he wanders his neighborhood to test whether the purse, which is plated in thin solar panels and contains a lightweight battery, is absorbing energy from the sun. After three hours of direct exposure, the purse generates enough electricity to charge an iPod, camera or cellphone. (The bag will also charge — more slowly — if placed next to a window.) Mr. Hynek is currently working on the final touch: a small display screen that will indicate when the purse is best angled for absorbing the day’s light.

A doctoral student in Iowa State’s department of mechanical engineering, Mr. Hynek designed the Power Purse as his final project in an experimental garment design class. He was the only male student. The course required that each student design five dresses, but Mr. Hynek negotiated with the professor to focus on handbags instead. He spent the term searching fashion magazines for a purse design that would appeal to women “interested in projecting power.”

The final product is black and boxlike, with a clear plastic handle. He hopes the purse will be for sale in the next year, priced at roughly $350. Depending on how sales go, Mr. Hynek will expand the line, to solar-powered bracelets and ties.

[ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/education/edlife/ideas-chargeablepurse-t.html ]

Green Files

2009-01-02T07:23:00.001-08:00

http://www.greenfiles.info/

Marcus Zillman, has compiled a Great MegaList of Green-related Net resources in his _Green Files_ compendium

Green Files (GreenFiles.info/) is a Subject Tracer™ Information Blog developed and created by the Virtual Private Library™. It is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on an ongoing basis from the Internet for green environment …

[ http://www.greenfiles.info/ ]

Tech Therapy - Episode 28: How Green Is Your IT? - Chronicle.com

2009-01-02T07:21:00.001-08:00

Tech Therapy - Episode 28: How Green Is Your IT? - Chronicle.com

Episode 28: How Green Is Your IT?

There's a good chance your college already boasts a couple of green buildings, but does it have a green technology department? Scott Carlson and Warren Arbogast explain what campus CIOs can do to save energy and resources on IT. (18:11)
Photograph by Ron Aira

Listen to more episodes of Tech Therapy here.

Tech Therapy - Episode 28: How Green Is Your IT? - Chronicle.com

AASHE: Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

2009-01-02T06:53:00.001-08:00

AASHE is an association of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada working to create a sustainable future. It was founded in 2006 with a mission to promote sustainability in all sectors of higher education - from governance and operations to curriculum and outreach - through education, communication, research and professional development. Businesses, NGO's, and government agencies can participate as AASHE partner members.

AASHE aims to advance the efforts of the entire campus sustainability community by uniting diverse initiatives and connecting practitioners to resources and professional development opportunities. The association also provides a professional home for campus sustainability coordinators and directors.

AASHE defines sustainability in an inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations.

[ http://www.aashe.org/ ]

For Advice on Publishing in the Digital World, Scholars Turn to Campus Libraries

2008-12-31T08:35:00.001-08:00

For Advice on Publishing in the Digital World, Scholars Turn to Campus Libraries

Jennifer Howard

The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 21, 2008

"Rapidly changing" is the term most often used these days to describe the landscape of scholarly communication. Scholars have to clear new and higher hurdles as they bump up against copyright and fair-use issues, open-access mandates, and a baffling array of publication and dissemination models. More institutions are creating or beefing up offices and programs in scholarly communication or hiring librarians with expertise in copyright and intellectual property.

[ http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i13/13a00801.htm ]

Iowa State's Global Resource Systems (GRS) Major First in the Nation

2008-12-31T08:03:00.001-08:00

Iowa State's Global Resource Systems (GRS) Major First in the Nation

The GRS major was approved by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa in July 2008. Acker said the new major offers an interdisciplinary and systemic approach to understanding complex global resource systems. Those systems include natural resources, agricultural resources (including crops, livestock and aquaculture), human resources, institutional resources, physical and biological resources, food and energy resources, knowledge resources and financial resources.

[ http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/news_detail.php?var1=705 ]

Iowa State University's new Biobased Industry Center is sponsoring four research projects designed to answer questions important to the biofuels industry

2008-12-31T08:01:00.001-08:00

Iowa State University's new Biobased Industry Center is sponsoring four research projects designed to answer questions important to the biofuels industry.

"The purpose of the center is to study parts of the biofuels industry that have received less attention," said Ron Cox, an interim co-director of the center and the director of Iowa State's Center for Industrial Research and Service "That's the business and economic side of the industry as opposed to the technical side of biofuel production."

[snip]

The center's first grants range from $40,000 to $50,000 and will support researchers as they:

Develop an economic model to evaluate costs for reducing carbon emissions and analyzing different biofuel processing technologies. The study will be led by John Miranowski, an Iowa State professor who's director of the university's Institute of Science and Society and an interim co-director of the Biobased Industry Center; Douglas Karlen, a professor of soil and crop management; and Stuart Birrell, an associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.
Build a carbon model to estimate the greenhouse gas emission of biofuels and estimate changes under different policy scenarios. The study will be led by Dermot Hayes, professor and Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness; and Bruce Babcock, director of Iowa State's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development and professor of economics.
Develop an economic framework for assessing how land-use changes impact biofuels' greenhouse gas emissions. The study will be led by Babcock.
Do a techno-economic analysis of corn stover production, harvest, storage and transport. The study will be led by Robert Anex, associate director for research programs of the Bioeconomy Institute and associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering; Birrell; and Matthew Darr, an assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

[ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2008/dec/BIC.shtml ]

Energy Efficiency: Iowa State University

2008-11-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

Energy Efficiency: Iowa State University

"FYI -- Energy Info for ISU " -- Stephen

Energy Savings at Iowa State

The goal is an ambitious one -- to save $1.5 million in energy costs every year as compared to the average usage FY98-FY01. Here's the plan, with information on how the university community can help.

Energy-savings plan. ISU's energy-saving plan includes thermostat adjustments, turning off unused equipment and appliances, and utility system efficiencies.

Energy Efficiency Task Force. Here are members of the task force guiding energy-conservation efforts.

Energy Heroes (PDF file). We would like to recognize a few of our energy "heroes" on campus.

Tips for saving energy in the office
Turn it off. Find out how much you can save by turning off your computer, printer, copier and other equipment and appliances.
Energy FAQ (PDF file). When should you turn your fluorescent lights? Can you run a small fan? Keep your refrigerator? Facilities staff answer your questions about energy conservation.

Energy savings in ISU buildings
Building plans. Here are the building-specific energy saving plans.
Implementation Process (PDF file). Here is the process we used to develop the building specific energy plans.

Goals and progress
Energy dollars. (PDF file). See our progress on a monthly basis.

Energy goal (PDF file). See our dollar savings on a cumulative basis.

Historical energy use (PDF file). Monthly details of the university's use of electricity, steam and chilled water.

Degree Days (Excel file). Look at heating and cooling degree-day data for Ames, Iowa.

Building Benchmarks
Fully Metered Benchmark Buildings (Excel file). See how our fully-metered buildings used electricity, steam and chilled water.

Electrical Benchmark Buildings (Excel file). Electrical usage for buildings with electric meters only.

BTU's per Gross Square Foot (Excel file). See how some of our fully-metered buildings compare with EPA's Energy Star Program.

Environmental Exemptions

Exemption Request (PDF form). If you would like to request environmental conditions other than the 68/78 degree standard, please complete this form, get your Dean or VP to approve the request and forward to FP&M.

About utility services
Utility System Overview. ISU owns and operates a cogeneration power plant to provide cost-effective, reliable utility services to most university buildings.
Utility Plant Diagram (PDF file). Find out how the power plant works to deliver energy.
Utility Rates (PDF file). Here are our rates.

Contact us

energy@iastate.edu We welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions.

Energy Efficiency: Iowa State University

Reference LibGuides: Preprints - Home

2008-11-12T08:35:00.001-08:00

Reference LibGuides: Preprints - Home

"New Preprints Guide from Iowa State Univ. Libraries" -- Stephen

What are preprints?

"The term “preprint” most often refers to a manuscript that has gone through a peer-review process and now awaits publication in a traditional journal. A preprint accessible over the Web may also be referred to as an “e-print.” Preprints also cover papers that authors have submitted for journal publication, but for which no publication decision has been reached, or even papers electronically posted for peer consideration and comment before submission for publication. In fact, preprints can also be documents that have not been submitted to any journal."
(From Preprint Servers: Pushing the Envelope of Electronic Scholarly Publishing by Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo, Instruction Librarian and Joan G. Packer, Head of Reference. Elihu Burritt Library, Central Connecticut State University. Searcher v. 8, #9, Oct 2000)

Reference LibGuides: Preprints - Home

Mechanical Engineering - Elsevier

2008-11-12T07:34:00.001-08:00

Mechanical Engineering - Elsevier

"Aero Information from the Journal of Sound and Vibration" -- Stephen

Selected articles from the Journal of Sound and Vibration

Compiled by Dr. David Kennedy, Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff UK

The design of aircraft and spacecraft is a complex multi-disciplinary activity. Aerodynamic, propulsion, structural and systems design requirements lead to multiple, and often competing, objectives and constraints. Following an initial specification of the design requirements, an iterative conceptual design procedure explores numerous alternative design concepts. The preliminary design stage next involves more rigorous analysis and testing of a number of the most promising concepts. The chosen configuration is finally submitted to a detailed design process which provides the engineering data required for tooling, manufacture and certification.

Read the full editorial

2008

Noise radiation of aircraft panels subjected to boundary layer pressure fluctuations
Bilong Liu
Volume 314, Issues 3-5, July 2008

Vibration-based damage detection in an aircraft wing scaled model using principal component analysis and pattern recognition
I. Trendafilova, M.P. Cartmell, W. Ostachowicz
Volume 313, Issues 3-5, June 2008

Free vibration of advanced anisotropic multilayered composites with arbitrary boundary conditions
Roland L. Woodcock
Volume 312, Issues 4-5, May 2008

A component-based model for aircraft landing gear noise prediction
Yueping Guo
Volume 312, Issues 4-5, May 2008

2007

Vibration control of pre-twisted rotating composite thin-walled beams with piezoelectric fiber composites
Seung-Chan Choi, Jae-Sang Park, Ji-Hwan Kim
Volume 300, Issues 1-2, February 2007

Impact detection in an aircraft composite panel-A neural-network approach
J.R. LeClerc, K. Worden, W.J. Staszewski, J. Haywood
Volume 299, Issue 3, January 2007

2006

Investigation of acoustical shielding by a wedge-shaped airframe
Carl H. Gerhold, Lorenzo R. Clark, Mark H. Dunn, John Tweed
Volume 294, Issues 1-2, June 2006

Active smart material control system for buffet alleviation
Essam F. Sheta, Robert W. Moses, Lawrence J. Huttsell
Volume 292, Issues 3-5, May 2006

2005

Modeling and analysis of a cracked composite cantilever beam vibrating in coupled bending and torsion
Kaihong Wang, Daniel J. Inman, Charles R. Farrar
Volume 284, Issues 1-2, June 2005

Nonlinear modal models for sonic fatigue response prediction: a comparison of methods
Joseph J. Hollkamp, Robert W. Gordon, S. Michael Spottswood
Volume 284, Issues 3-5, June 2005

Mechanical Engineering - Elsevier

Your Library Newsletter -- Iowa State University

2008-11-12T06:08:00.001-08:00

News

Welcome to Your Library - Newsletter, information about what's been happening at the ISU Library. We welcome your suggestions and feedback on how to improve this newsletter, so if you have a comment, please drop us an email.

13,100 Print Serials Still Available at Your Iowa State University Library
Despite converting many serial subscriptions to electronic format, hard copies have actually increased in number

AccessScience and Conference Proceedings Citation Index Now Available at the ISU Library
An electronic encyclopedia and dictionary for science and technology topics

How Do I Get Research Assistance in the Library?
From "Help & Information" to "Live Chat 24/7," your Library has a number of ways to help on-site, online, and remote users.

Encourage Your Grad Students to Subscribe to Our RSS Feed
Check the latest headlines and news on the library website.

Mark Vasquez
First Flack Learning Connections Center Student Assistant award recipient works hard to help staff and students.

Papers of Naturalist Sylvan Runkel Available in Special Collections Department
The Special Collections Department houses the papers of Sylvan Runkel, a naturalist, educator, and author.

ISU Library awarded $200,000 Grant from Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust for New Classroom
Multimedia workstations and a flexible learning environment will benefit the instruction program.

Library Seminars are Now Available Online
Video recordings of the spring 2008 seminars, including Zotero, EndNote Web, and more.

News

Business.gov - Official Business Link to the U.S. Government

2008-11-11T09:59:00.001-08:00

Business.gov - Official Business Link to the U.S. Government

The Business Gateway to the U.S. Government

Business.gov, the official business link to the U.S. Government, is managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in a partnership with 21 other federal agencies. This partnership, known as Business Gateway, is a Presidential E-government initiative that provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation's businesses with their operations.

Helping Businesses Comply with Regulations

In fiscal year 2003, businesses and citizens spent approximately 8.2 billion hours and $320 billion filling out paperwork and complying with government regulations, according to a report by the Small Business Paperwork Relief Task Force. Users spent much of this time navigating complex government hierarchies and wading through millions of documents meant to help their businesses become compliant with laws and regulations.

Business.gov helps businesses save time and money spent on regulatory compliance by providing quick and easy access to business laws, government regulations, forms and agency contacts.

Business.gov - Official Business Link to the U.S. Government

The Sant Ocean Hall

2008-11-11T07:51:00.001-08:00

The Sant Ocean Hall

The Sant Ocean Hall

What do you get when the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) team up to create an exhibit about the ocean? Our breathtaking new Sant Ocean Hall!

Highlight:

Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our World is the companion volume to the Sant Ocean Hall. Gifted science writer Deborah Cramer reveals the myriad ways the sea is essential to all of us, wherever we live.

Fun Fact
Giant Clams (Tridacna gigas) are the world's largest bivalve species. Native to the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, giant clams reach 136-227kg (300-500 lbs).
More Fun Facts

Subscribe to the Sant Ocean Hall's RSS Feed
and keep up with the latest developments!

The Sant Ocean Hall

Encyclopedia of Life

2008-10-13T15:10:00.001-07:00

Encyclopedia of Life

Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is an ambitious project to organize and make available via the Internet virtually all information about life present on Earth. At its heart lies a series of Web sites—one for each of the approximately 1.8 million known species. Each site is constantly evolving and features dynamically synthesized content ranging from historical literature and biological descriptions to stunning images, videos and distribution maps. Join us as we explore the richness of Earth’s biodiversity!

Encyclopedia of Life

Encyclopedia of Earth

2008-09-11T13:22:00.001-07:00

Encyclopedia of Earth

Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Earth, a new electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other's work. The articles are written in non-technical language and will be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.

Encyclopedia of Earth

PlanetMath

2008-09-11T13:02:00.001-07:00

PlanetMath

PlanetMath is a virtual community which aims to help make mathematical knowledge more accessible. PlanetMath's content is created collaboratively: the main feature is the mathematics encyclopedia with entries written and reviewed by members. The entries are contributed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL) in order to preserve the rights of both the authors and readers in a sensible way.

PlanetMath entries are written in LaTeX, the lingua franca of the worldwide mathematics community. All of the entries are automatically cross-referenced with each other, and the entire corpus is kept updated in real-time.

In addition to the mathematics encyclopedia, there are books, expositions, papers, and forums. You also might want to check out encyclopedia requests if you'd like to see something we don't have. We also have the encyclopedia available in offline-browsable snapshot form, and in book form. Also see PlanetMath-exclusive feature articles and topics.

PlanetMath

iCrank.com - The Mechanical Engineering Portal

2008-09-11T13:01:00.001-07:00

iCrank.com - The Mechanical Engineering Portal

iCrank.com has been designed to be the perfect starting page for a mechanical engineer. The other portals (my yahoo, my netscape, etc.) are great for checking your stock portfolio, the weather, and last nights game scores, but are not very good for obtaining technical information.

iCrank has been assembled BY Mechanical Engineers FOR Mechanical Engineers and will be continually enhanced by you, the users. The purpose of this site is to provide a starting point that can quickly point you in the right direction.

iCrank.com - The Mechanical Engineering Portal

Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology

2008-09-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology

Welcome to the Science, Engineering and Technology pages of Intute. Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology is a free online service providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research, evaluated and selected by a network of subject specialists. It covers the physical sciences, engineering, computing, geography, mathematics and environmental science. The database currently contains 34449 records

Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology

Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database

2008-09-11T11:36:00.003-07:00

Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database

Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group.

Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn't require companies to test their own products for safety.

Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database

REDUCE.ORG

2008-09-11T11:36:00.001-07:00

REDUCE.ORG

Developed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to help eliminate waste, includes videos, PDF's, and animations.

REDUCE.ORG

NRDC: Natural Resources Defense Council - The Earth's Best Defense

2008-09-11T11:33:00.001-07:00

NRDC: Natural Resources Defense Council - The Earth's Best Defense

The Natural Resources Defense Council works to protect wildlife and wild places and to ensure a healthy environment for all life on earth.

NRDC: Natural Resources Defense Council - The Earth's Best Defense

Green Your Home Through Low Impact Living – www.lowimpactliving.com

2008-09-11T11:32:00.001-07:00

Green Your Home Through Low Impact Living – www.lowimpactliving.com

Low Impact Living, we want to help you lower the environmental impact of your home and your daily life. To do that, we help you find the best green products, practices and service providers to help you achieve your environmental goals. And we will also help you understand the environmental benefits and economic trade-offs of your choices. In short, we want to be your One Stop Green Shop™.

Green Your Home Through Low Impact Living – www.lowimpactliving.com

Scholarpedia

2008-09-11T11:22:00.001-07:00

Scholarpedia

"Includes Encyclopedia of astrophysics and Encyclopedia of physics" -- HSM

Welcome to Scholarpedia, the peer-reviewed open-access encyclopedia written by scholars from all around the world.

Scholarpedia feels and looks like Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Indeed, both are powered by the same program - MediaWiki. Both allow visitors to review and modify articles simply by clicking on the edit this article link.

However, Scholarpedia differs from Wikipedia in some very important ways:

Each article is written by an expert (invited or elected by the public).

Each article is anonymously peer reviewed to ensure accurate and reliable information.

Each article has a curator - typically its author -- who is responsible for its content.

Any modification of the article needs to be approved by the curator before it appears in the final, approved version.

Herein also lies the greatest difference between Scholarpedia and traditional print media: while the initial authorship and review processes are similar to a print journal so that Scholarpedia articles could be cited, they are not frozen and outdated, but dynamic, subject to an ongoing process of improvement moderated by their curators. This allows Scholarpedia to be up-to-date, yet maintain the highest quality of content.

Main Page - Scholarpedia

ResearchChannel

2008-09-11T11:12:00.001-07:00

Link to ResearchChannel

ResearchChannel was founded by a consortium of leading research and academic institutions to share the valuable work of their researchers with the public. ResearchChannel is now available to more than 30 million U.S. satellite and cable television subscribers and our Web site is visited by more than 1.6 million visitors each year. The channel is also available on 70 university and school-based cable systems in the United States and in other countries.

Remarkable speakers, researchers and scholars present revolutionary thoughts and discoveries on ResearchChannel. The University of Michigan, the University of Washington and the National Science Foundation are just a few of the world-renowned institutions that participate and whose programs are featured.

These distinguished research universities and institutes also actively participate in testing and developing next generation technologies to distribute video and interactive media content worldwide. ResearchChannel uses advanced streaming and broadband technologies and is working with partners from around the world to test new methods of global video distribution and interaction. New technologies are essential for enhancing collaboration, reaching a wider audience and providing alternative, high-speed exchanges of video resources.

Programs on ResearchChannel appeal to a wide variety of general and niche audiences. Many medical and technology professionals regard ResearchChannel as a critical source of new information in their fields. Other viewers are excited by the opportunity to delve deeply into topics that have captured their interest. Online visitors from 210 countries around the world tell us that their lives are enriched by direct access to content from the best and brightest thought-leaders from our world-renowned member institutions.

Viewers access programs online via a live webstream and an extensive video-on-demand library. The library houses more than 3,500 full-length programs that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

ResearchChannel

Re-Engineering Libraries

Physics Nobel: Free Journal Articles and Resources from AIP

Iowa State, Ames Laboratory, Technion scientist wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry | www.news.iastate.edu

Iowa State, Ames Laboratory, Technion scientist wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in World | JSTOR

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in World

National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

In a nutshell

APPS from USA.gov

What is an app?

How much do apps cost?

Can apps access my personal information?

Are your apps available for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia, etc.?

Whom do I contact if I have problems with an app?

Whom do I contact if I have an idea for an app or would like to submit an app to this site?

eXtension - Objective. Research-based. Credible.

Measure of America: American Human Development Project

The Measure of America

CDC - Injury - WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System)

Welcome to WISQARSTM

A List Apart

“For people who make websites”

Steal our code? Copy our content?

Maybe you can be one of us...

Esri Training | Library

GIS Bibliography

Search

Browse (by materials)

Racial bias revealed in NIH funding grants from Daily Kos :: State of the Nation

AIP Creates New App for Authors and Reviewers

National Academies Press - free downloads

100,000th Paper Marks Significant Milestone for AIP Conference Proceedings Series

AIP and NIST Make Semiconductor Research Freely Available Online

North American Transportation Statistics

Scientists on Twitter - Astronomers, Biologists, and Chemists, and more - Science Pond

About Science Pond

Science Blogging Aggregated

Scientopia

ScienceBlogs

About ScienceBlogs

PLoS Blogs Network

About PLoS Blogs

Genome.gov | Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms

Getting Started:

05.06.11 - Science360 News Service | National Science Foundation

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Largest Fossil Spider Ever Found Gives Peek Into Arachnid Evolution | 80beats | Discover Magazine

NASA - NASA Featured Images and Galleries

Image of the Day

Browse and Search NASA Image Galleries

nasaimages.org

Earth Image of the Day

Mission Images

American Community Survey

Neuroscience Information Framework

What is NIF?

Food Environment Atlas

What information is included in the Atlas?

Medical Dictionary, Medical Abbreviations and Other Search Engines - MediLexicon

C-SPAN Video Library

The Worlds of David Darling

CAS has officially decided to discontinue the client version of SciFinder in 2011

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

New Standards Toolbar and Searching Options

News - Twenty new electronic journals recently activated

Twenty new electronic journals recently activated!

E-Library Redesign

ScienceResearch.com - One Search. Superior Science.

ScienceResearch.com

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa - The University of Iowa Libraries

New Electronic Resource -- ALLOY PHASE DIAGRAMS CENTER

Polymers - MDPI

New Blog - Citation Help for ISU and Beyond

News

Physical Sciences Reading Room to close

News

Update on Library's Journal Cancellation Review

SPIE Digital Library - Subscription Information and Support for Librarians

SciTech Library Question

Perhaps The Final Word on Availability of Bulk Chemical Prices

Welcome to WISQARS^TM