The Scout Report - December 11, 1998

The Scout Report

December 11, 1998

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators. However, everyone is welcome to subscribe to one of the mailing lists (plain text or HTML). Subscription instructions are included at the end of each report.

An Acrobat .pdf version of this report is available for printing and distributing locally. For information on Adobe Acrobat Reader, visit the Adobe site.

In This Issue:

Subject Specific Reports

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

Where Are They Now

Subject Specific Reports

Scout Report for Science & Engineering and KIDS Report
Scout Report for Science & Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/sci-engr/
KIDS Report
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/KIDS/current/index.html
Volume 2, Number 7 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates six resources related to a recent report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)-World Conservation Union which illuminates an alarming decline in penguin populations worldwide. The December 8 issue of the KIDS Report, written by and for K-12 students, comes to us from the students of Nederland Elementary in the Boulder Valley School District, Nederland, Colorado. This issue explores Internet resources on flight. [MD]
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Research and Education

Gateway Service Center of Chinese Academic Journal Publications
http://www.library.pitt.edu/gateway/
With the help of a National Leadership Grant Award from the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, the East Asian Library of the University of Pittsburgh has begun to provide a wonderful new service to researchers in the US. This demonstration gateway "is the first global resource sharing and document delivery program between American libraries and Chinese libraries." The library will electronically retrieve, print, and mail full-text copies of articles selected by researchers from over 10,000 Chinese-language academic journal articles. Articles can be printed and mailed free of charge. Users may browse brief descriptions of the six participating libraries, search the catalogs of (currently) four of them, and request up to three articles per visit to the site. Chinese language software is necessary to read portions of the catalogs and to fill out the article request form. The library will aim to deliver documents within one week of the initial request. [MD]
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Issues in Science and Technology Online
http://www.nap.edu/issues/
The National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society at the University of Texas at Dallas have recently made their journal, Issues in Science and Technology available online. The journal is published quarterly and features articles that analyze "current topics in science, technology, and health policy and recommend actions by government, industry, academia, and individuals to solve pressing problems." The electronic version will feature a forum and hyperlinks to related topics. Users can choose to subscribe or to browse or search current and back issues (from Fall 1996) online. [SN]
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World Chemistry [Java, VRML]
http://www.intschool-leipzig.com/bailey/home/index.htm
Hosted by the Leipzig International School, this site is a major resource for budding chemists and chemistry educators. Designed for advanced and "able" students, primarily those between sixteen and nineteen, the site offers tutorials and interactive checks (quizzes) to teach a number of chemistry topics, such as acids and bases, covalent bonding, kinetics, and collision theory. In addition, the site offers interactive experiments, animations, well-crafted interactive Java Applet Molecular Models, and virtual reality models of trends in the periodic table. Other resources include a quick reference guide to chemical terms, and a Website manager that allows registered users to create and update a log file of the tutorials and learning checks they have completed. On subsequent visits, the Website manager will offer a review of the user's progress and suggest the next appropriate tutorial or quiz. Future planned additions include a 3D virtual reality molecular model collection and an interactive acid/base titration explorer. [MD]
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American Religion Data Archive (ARDA)
http://www.arda.tm/
Located at Purdue University and supported by the Lilly Endowment, the ARDA collects quantitative data sets (mostly from surveys) for the study of American religion. The ARDA concentrates on data sets currently not stored in a public archive and makes them available for free use at this site. Users may browse the data file directory and download data sets in a variety of formats, including ASCII, SPSS, and Microcase 4.0. Users may also conduct a Custom Analysis of selected files and view the related Codebook online, although this is primarily recommended for faster connections and more powerful computers. In addition, the search page allows multiple term searching of single files or comparisons of file groups. Survey questions are also available for download and use in researchers' own surveys. A What's New section lists recent additions, and users can register for email updates. [MD]
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Center for Educational Resources (CERES) Project
http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/
This collection of K-12 science education materials for teaching astronomy was developed by faculty at Montana State University, with help from teachers across the country and financial support from NASA. The site features four collections of educational resources. The most useful of these is the Educational Activities section, which contains lesson plans and activities "closely aligned with the NRC National Science Education Standards." Each lesson identifies the recommended grade level and estimated time requirements, and includes links to the appropriate NASA resources, data, and images. The NASA Themes section offers links to the NASA sites devoted to four major research themes investigated in the lessons: Sun-Earth Connections, The Search for Origins, Structure and Evolution of the Universe, and Exploration of the Solar System. Finally, Classroom Resources features several NASA data search engines developed for CERES, while Internet Courses provides information on two graduate level distance learning courses for K-12 teachers. [MD]
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The United States Security Strategy for the East Asia-Pacific Region 1998 -- DOD [.pdf, 69p]
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/easr98/
The Department of Defense recently released a review of security arrangements in East Asia and the Pacific, where close to 100,000 military personnel are currently stationed. Despite criticisms that the permanent stationing of these troops and another 100,000 in Europe is costly and unnecessary, the report argues, "our military presence in Asia serves as an important deterrent to aggression, often lessening the need for a more substantial and costly US response later." The report, which is available online and in .pdf format, outlines the key concepts behind the US presence in the region and discusses security and strategy issues for the next century. [MD]
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New Additions to ERIC Digests Database
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/edo98c.html
ERIC Digests Index Page
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/
The latest update to the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Digest database (discussed in the September 11, 1998 Scout Report) features nineteen full-text, short reports aimed at education professionals and the broader education community. Each report includes an overview of an education topic of current interest and offers references for further information. Sample titles include Effective Policies for Remedial Education; Faculty Workload Studies: Perspectives, Needs, and Future Directions; Recent Changes in School Desegregation; and Parent Engagement as a School Reform Strategy. Users can search the entire ERIC Digests database from the index page. ERIC, part of the National Library of Education (NLE), is a nationwide education information system sponsored by the US Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). [MD]
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MathPro Online
http://problems.math.umr.edu/
Compiled by MathPro Press and provided by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Missouri - Rolla, this site contains a searchable database of over 20,000 math problems. Math teachers and arithmetic enthusiasts have many search options: searchable fields include Problem Statement, Subject, Year, Proposer, Solver, and Author. The database is also browseable by subject, each of which is further divided into a large number of sub-subjects. Search returns include a brief description of the problem and its source, with links when available. Users are also invited to comment on the problems, and past comments may be searched by keyword or author from the main page. [MD]
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Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation
http://www.msue.msu.edu/aee/dissthes/guide.htm
Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal
http://www.canr.msu.edu/aee/dissthes/propint.htm
S. Joseph Levine, a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education at Michigan State University, originally created these guides to assist his graduate students. Both guides, but especially the first, are very practical and focus on what Levine terms the "quasi-political" aspects of gaining approval for your dissertation, rather than the research process. The Dissertation Guide is divided into the four stages of the project, from the original idea to the defense and post-degree publication. Rather than an extended essay, the guide is a collection of succinct points which offers hints on what to do and what not to do to see the project through in a timely and stress-free (if possible) manner. The Proposal Guide offers a collection of thoughtful writing hints paired with relevant examples, as well as links to a number of related resources. [MD]
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General Interest

Articles of Impeachment -- Working Draft [.pdf]
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/draft.pdf
Committee on the Judiciary US House of Representatives Impeachment Inquiry
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/icreport.htm
Democratic Censure Resolution -- Working Draft -- Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/censuretext120998.htm
Democratic Censure Resolution -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/09/censure.resolution/
On December 9, the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Republicans released a draft resolution containing four articles of impeachment. The Committee Democrats responded with a proposed censure resolution as an alternative to impeachment. The articles will now be debated by Committee members, amended, and voted on individually. Most analysts agree that at least one article will be sent to the full House. A majority vote there would send it to the Senate for trial, where a two-thirds majority is necessary for impeachment. Users can read the full text of the draft resolution in .pdf format from the Judiciary Committee Impeachment Inquiry site, which also offers the full testimony of the witnesses who have come before the Committee, as well as related briefings and correspondence. The text of the Democratic censure resolution is available from both the Washington Post and CNN Websites, which also offer analysis and commentary. [MD]
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The State of the World's Children 1999 -- UNICEF [.pdf, 134p, Quicktime]
http://www.unicef.org/sowc99/
About one billion people, two-thirds of them women, will enter the next century unable to read or write according to this year's UNICEF State of the World's Children report (described in the December 19, 1997 Scout Report). The report focuses on education and predicts that illiteracy levels will continue to rise, primarily because only one in four children in impoverished countries are in school. Users can download the full text of the report in sections or in its entirety in .pdf format. A summary, a special feature on educating girls, fact sheets, and several Quicktime videos are also available. [MD]
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10K Wizard
http://www.tenkwizard.com/
10K Wizard is a new site offering "access and analysis" of company reports filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (described in the February 9, 1996 Scout Report). Visitors to the site are first greeted with links to breaking stories from business news providers such as Bloomberg, The Motley Fool, CNBC Business, and CBS Market Watch. However, the core of the site is its collection of all SEC filings for public companies from 1994 to 1998. These may be searched by ticker symbol, company name, or via a powerful search engine that supports boolean operators. Search returns display complete company files, specified sections, or keywords in context for easier reading. [MW], [MD]
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US Patent Full Text Database
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/
The US Patent and Trademark Office has recently added a new full-text database of all US patents issued from January 1, 1976 to the most recent weekly issue date to its Web Patent Databases page (described in the January 10, 1997 Scout Report). Users may conduct fielded and boolean searches or search by patent number. The full-text returns include the Summary, Claims, Description, and References. Drawings and images are not available online. Search tips and help are provided at the site. [MD]
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1918 - 1998: The Art of the First World War
http://www.art-ww1.com/
Sponsored by UNESCO, eight European museums present The Art of the First World War, a Web exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of the First World War. The exhibition features over 100 paintings by 54 artists from museums all over the world. Clicking on the icon of any of the eight collaborating museums takes you to the beginning of the exhibition, from which you can take a guided tour through the seven sections of the exhibition: War Declared, The Fighting Men, The Age of Artillery, The Battlefield, Total War, Suffering, and Death. You can also start from an alphabetic list of the artists to view their works. Most of the images have extensive captions. Many of the prints and paintings not only document the war itself but also represent each individual artist's experience of the war. For example, the exhibition includes a self-portrait of Max Beckmann in uniform and Beckmann's engravings of an exploding shell and an operation in the field hospital where he was stationed. [DS]
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Frank Sinatra FBI Files [.pdf, .gif]
http://www.apbnews.com/media/gfiles/frank/downloadcenter.html
On December 8, the FBI released its 1,275-page file on Frank Sinatra, long rumored to be involved with organized crime. Sinatra first came to the Bureau's attention during World War II, when he bowled over bobby-soxers across the nation. The real focus of FBI investigations into Sinatra, however, was his frequent association with known mobsters. The released files contain no hard evidence of criminal activity on Sinatra's part and portray him as more of a groupie than a wiseguy. At present, the FBI does not plan to place the files on its Freedom of Information Act Reading Room site (described in the June 30, 1998 Scout Report for Social Sciences), but APB Online, a site specializing in police and crime news, has scanned the entire file and placed it online. Users can view the entire document or selected highlights in .gif image format or download the report as one file or in fourteen sections in .pdf format. [MD]
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Nutrition News Focus
http://www.nutritionnewsfocus.com/
Written by David M. Klurfeld, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Wayne State University in Detroit, this free, daily newsletter offers concise nutrition tips and analyses of breaking nutrition news. Nutrition News Focus aims at delivering information that ordinary people can use and understand, with a minimum of jargon and no tolerance for "mumbo-jumbo." Users can subscribe to the newsletter at the site. Subscribers receive one short mailing per day, with the topic briefly described and followed by analysis. Old newsletters are added to the archive two weeks after publication, and users can browse the archive by issue date or topic. [MD]
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Network Tools

Sun Introduces Java 2.0
http://www.sun.com/
Announcing the Java 2 Platform
http://www.java.sun.com/jdk/
On December 8, Sun Microsystems officially launched the Java 2 platform. Sun promises that this "Next-Generation Java Technology" will be more stable, secure, and faster, and will be interoperable and backwards compatible. The first site gives an overview of Java 2's new features, while the second offers a number of press releases, brochures, demos, and download information. [MD]
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RealPlayer G2 Final Release
http://proforma.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html
RealNetworks, Inc. has announced the final release of its latest free RealPlayer, the G2. In addition to improved audio and video quality, the G2 player also features a new search capability. Users can now search for RealPlayer audio and video clips directly from the player. At this time, the RealPlayer G2 is only available for Windows, but a Macintosh release is expected by the end of the year. [MD]
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BBEdit 5.0
http://www.barebones.com
BBedit, the full-fledged sibling of BBEdit Lite (described in the February 27, 1998 Scout Report), has long been considered one of the premier text/ source code/ HTML editors on the MacOS platform. While previous versions of BBEdit have had strong HTML editing tools, version 5 contains a slew of improvements including a context-sensitive HTML tag completion, syntax-coloring for JavaScript, an improved Web-safe color palette, and syntax checking for HTML 3.2 and 4.0 (Transitional, Frameset, and Strict). As always, the program supports multiple undos, spell checking, sophisticated search-and-replace tools, and a host of other text manipulation tools. BBEdit Lite 4.1 is still available for free. BBEdit 5 costs $119 ($79 for educational users); a free demonstration version is available at the Bare Bones Website. [PMS]
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Where Are They Now

Volume 2, Number 31, December 8, 1995
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/.html
The Online Medieval and Classical Library
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/
Still provided by the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE, this site has expanded its collection of full-text, public domain works from Classical and Medieval Europe. Over 30 texts are currently available, listed by title or grouped by author. Titles include The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,The Parliament of Fowles,The Song of Roland, and The Lay of the Cid.[MD]
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From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998.
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Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-1998. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, is preserved on all copies.

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