Happy New Year
This will be the final Scout Report for 2000. See you on January 12, 2001. Happy Holidays to all!
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Scout Report for Science & Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sci-eng/2000/se-001220.html
Volume 4, Number 9 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates nine resources on the recent announcement that the exact source of the Amazon has been located in the Peruvian Andes. [MD]
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Five Free Online Databases from Syracuse Research Corporation:
1. Compilation of Ozone Depletion Potentials and Global Warming Potentials
http://esc.syrres.com/ozone.asp
2. Toxic Substances Control Act Test Submissions (TSCATS) Search
http://esc.syrres.com/efdb/TSCATS.htm
3. Logkow Program
http://esc.syrres.com/interkow/logkow.htm
4. The Environmental Fate Database
http://esc.syrres.com/efdb.htm
5. The Physical Properties Database (Physprop)
http://esc.syrres.com/interkow/PhysProp.htm
Five databases are available for free online from the Syracuse Research Corporation (SRC) a not-for-profit research and development firm. The ozone depletion potentials database (1) contains experimental Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) and Ozone Depletion Potentials (ODPs) compiled from the open literature. It is searchable by CAS Registry number, and a lookup table for CAS numbers is provided. The Toxic Substances Control Act Test Submissions (TSCATS) database (2) is a collection of unpublished technical reports submitted by industries to the Environmental Protection Agency since 1985. Both environmental effect and health effect studies on over 8,000 chemicals are included. It's searchable by CAS number, chemical formula, or study type. Results give the experimental abstract, if available. The Logkow Program (3), an interactive demo, will calculate log P (octanol-water partition coefficient) and retrieve experimental log P data from an experimental database of 13,000 compounds. Because the database uses SRC's LogKow/KowWin program, inquiries should be submitted in SRC's SMILES notation (an example page is linked) but can also be submitted as CAS numbers. The Environmental Fate Database (which was reviewed previously in the March 29, 2000 Scout Report for Science and Engineering) contains five subcategories of data on the environmental fate of toxic substances. Finally, The Physical Properties Database (5) contains chemical structures, names, and properties for over 25,000 chemicals. Entries are arranged by CAS number. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]Digital South Asia Library
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/
A project of the Center for Research Libraries with financial and other support from multiple sources, the Digital South Asia Library will likely become a major online resource for South Asia scholars. The site is very much still under development, but there are some resources available. These include pedagogical tools, photos and images, statistics, some bibliographies, electronic books, and some related links. Anyone who studies South Asia will want to bookmark this site and monitor its development. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access [.pdf]
http://www.nedcc.org/digital/dighome.htm
The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) has recently placed online the full text of its thorough and authoritative 183-page handbook for those in museums, libraries, and archives preparing to digitize collections. The handbook is available in both HTML and .pdf formats and covers topics such as considerations for project management, technical and copyright issues, vendor relations, selecting materials for scanning, and guidelines from case studies. A keyword search engine is also provided. [MD]
[Back to Contents]National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Grant Programs, 2000-2001 [.pdf]
http://www.neh.gov/grants/onebook.html
This online counterpart to the new publication by the NEH replaces seventeen sets of guidelines, offering one-stop shopping for NEH grant information and forms. At the site, visitors will find the forms and guidelines organized in five categories: challenge grants, education, preservation and access, public programs, and research. Each entry links to important information on the grant, an application cover sheet, and in many cases, budget information and a fact sheet. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Economic and Political Weekly
http://www.epw.org.in/
Published by the Sameeksha Trust since 1966, Economic and Political Weekly is a social science journal that features research articles in economics, sociology, political science, and other disciplines; book reviews; commentary; columns by social scientists; statistical updates; and other content. The full text of the journal is available online dating back to January 1999, and article summaries are available for 1998. Issues appear to be placed online one month after print publication, as the November 11-17 issue was featured at the time of review. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Annual Bibliography of Significant Advances in Dietary Supplement Research -- NIH [.pdf]
http://ods.od.nih.gov/publications/publications.html
Recently published by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements, the first Annual Bibliography of Significant Advances in Dietary Supplement Research offers an annotated review of current research in the field. The bibliography was compiled from 200 "flagship" original research papers nominated by editors of peer-reviewed journals. These were then forwarded to leading scientists, who selected 25 for inclusion in the bibliography. It may be downloaded in .pdf format from the Office of Dietary Supplements site. [MD]
[Back to Contents]H-LEVANT
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~levant/
This new H-NET list "is dedicated to the history and culture of the predominantly Arabic-speaking lands of the Eastern Mediterranean from the Ottoman conquests (ca. 1500) to the present." As with most H-NET lists, H-LEVANT will feature scholarly discussion, book reviews, conference announcements, calls for papers, and other academic information. Users may subscribe to the list and read discussion logs at the site. [MD]
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Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns [RealPlayer]
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
Launched this week, the Website for documentary-maker Ken Burns's latest series Jazz offers an in-depth "exploration of Jazz, America's greatest cultural achievement." This impressive site features biographies of nearly 100 musicians, culled from The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Each entry includes a short biographical sketch and a description of the musician's style; many also provide audio samples. The Jazz Lounge offers definitions of Jazz basics including improvisation, rhythm, and notation; samples of several styles of Jazz; and a virtual piano, which lets aspiring Jazz musicians learn about basic Jazz technics and use them to play along with "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The Jazz Exchange and Places, Spaces, and Changing Faces sections both provide information on the history of the music form. And, of course, the site offers information on the documentary, including a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the series, episode descriptions, interviews with Burns, and video clips of the show. [EM]
[Back to Contents]Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts
http://www.cia.gov/publications/globaltrends2015/index.html
Recently released, this report was prepared under the direction of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and is the product of numerous workshops and conferences which included specialists from academia and the private sector. The report is an effort to "identify major drivers and trends that will shape the world of 2015." Among those identified are demographics, natural resources, science and technology, globalization, and the role of the United States, among others. The report begins with an overview and summary of the key points, then each of the trends are examined in turn. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Photographs of the Conflict -- CAIN
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/melaugh/index.html
Photographs of Northern Ireland and the Conflict
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/photographs/
CAIN Web Service (see the September 23, 1997 Scout Report for Social Sciences) has recently added a collection of 348 photos by Eamon Melaugh to its photo archive of Northern Ireland and the conflict. Taken mainly in Derry between 1968 and 1974, the images are divided into eight portfolios of thumbnail images: images of derry, the british army, the ira, protest, parade, riots, bloody sunday, and children. [MD]
[Back to Contents]The Museum of United States Essays & Proofs
http://www.essayproof.net
This site was created to serve as a central resource for information, research, and images of essay and proof material for the philatelic community. The site argues, convincingly, that engraved 19th- and early 20th-century stamps represent more than the history of postage and postal communication; they are also "miniature masterpieces of engraving." At the site, visitors will find over 300 pages of high-resolution images of "essays (preliminary drafts and unadopted designs) and proofs (carefully made printings of the adopted designs, akin to proof coins)." These are organized in various wings, galleries, and exhibits, accessed through the site Directory. The site also includes a FAQ, a What's New section, and an interactive research exhibit (What Is It?) that invites users to submit comments and information on unidentified essays and proofs. Stamp collectors will certainly enjoy this site, but there is plenty of neat stuff here that any user might find interesting. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Superfund: 20 Years of Protecting Human Health and the Environment [.pdf]
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/action/20years/index.htm
Recently posted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this report explores the events leading to the creation of the Superfund program and its evolution since 1980. These are covered in five chapters, with a preface, timeline, and a list of federal partners to the Superfund program. The report may be read by chapter in HTML or .pdf format. [MD]
[Back to Contents]The Skyscraper Page
http://www.skyscraperpage.com/
Put together by a group of tall building enthusiasts, the Skyscraper Page features the World's Tallest Diagram, a beta-version database that generates graphical results. While some requests only yielded error messages, a building search on Chicago produced a nifty color diagram of Chicago's 24 tallest buildings, arranged by height from the Sears Tower to the Stone Container Building, with basic information provided for each building: Address, Architect, Height, number of floors, etc. Other parts of the site include the Skyscraper Forum, an email discussion list, Skyline Photos, links to sources of views of cities and tall buildings, and the Amateur High-Rise Photography Page, where visitors can view and submit skyscraper photos. In the News & Updates section, see Lego skyscrapers, Istanbul skyscrapers, and an interactive aerial view of Manhattan (called Clickable NYC Skyscraper Map). [DS]
[Back to Contents]I to Eye: Portraits of Female Empowerment in Bangladesh by Fariba Alam
http://www.asiasource.org/arts/alam/intro.html
This exhibit, recently posted by AsiaSource (first reviewed in the September 3, 1999 Scout Report), features portraits and interviews of ten Bangladeshi women. The front page of I to Eye explains, "Mainstream media images of women in Bangladesh generally fall into two categories: the oppressed and the starving. The photographs in this online exhibition challenge these stereotypes by documenting the lives of active, independent, economically self-sufficient Bangladeshi women." A brief page is devoted to each woman (images are thumbnails that expand with a click), including a reporter, a weaver, a lawyer, a grandmother, and a counselor for the Acid Burn Survivors Foundation (an organization that helps women attacked with acid for, among other things, refusing marriage proposals or sexual advances). Alam explains some of her thoughts on the project in the Interview section, and the site offers a nice selection of links to other online photographic essays of Bangladesh along with women's organizations and information about development, among other resources. Note: We found the Interview link faulty at the top of some pages; readers may want to access this page from the front page of the site. [TK]
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Apps.com
http://www.apps.com/
This portal indexes thousands of Web apps, application programs that run in browsers. Users may search by keyword, browse by category, and view listings of the most recent and most popular apps. Typical entries include a brief description, a link, instructions on starting the app (when appropriate), average user rating, and icons indicating requirements to run the app. Registered users can also create an account that stores links to their favorite apps, rates apps, and stores personal notes. [MD]
[Back to Contents]W3Schools
http://www.w3schools.com/
W3Schools is a great resource for experienced Internet developers as well as those who are just getting started. This e-learning portal offers more than a dozen tutorials relating to Internet development. The HTML section features tutorials for many of the current buzz-acronyms including HTML, XHTML, DHTML, and CSS. The XML section has tutorials in XML, DTDs, XSL, and DOM as well as other developing XML technologies. For the more advanced developer, the site presents tutorials on JavaScript, ASP, and SQL. All of the tutorials start with information for beginners, but many also have complete reference sections for the experienced developer. These reference sections make the site a great tool for developers trying to remember the exact syntax for a pesky command or tag. [PC]
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Electricity Shortage in California
1) "Power plant blues: Silicon Valley is high on tech, low on watts" -- Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/voices/news/voices03_20001221.html
2) "Calif faces second power crisis this year" -- Excite News
http://news.excite.com:80/news/r/001219/17/energy-california-chronology
3) "Electricity Deregulation Was Doomed From Start" -- Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20001221/t000121540.html
4) "Energy crunch hits poor, middle class" -- MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/news/506251.asp?cp1=1
5) "Electroshock in California" -- Money.com
http://www.money.com/money/depts/investing/sivy/archive/001208.html
6) Federal Energy Regulation Commission
http://www.ferc.gov/
7) California Energy Commission
http://www.energy.ca.gov/
8) Electricity Deregulation -- Public Citizen
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/restructuring/utilityderegulation1.html
9) California Independent System Operator [.pdf]
http://www.caiso.com/
Much to the dismay of Californians, two large utility companies, Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison Company, have been granted consumer rate increases for the price of electricity. This rate hike will affect over ten million California residents who have already endured more than 30 power alerts since June including threats of state-wide rolling blackouts. The deregulation of power prices in California has led to soaring wholesale costs for electricity and frozen customer prices, creating $8 million in combined losses for these two companies. The price for power in the West skyrocketed to $1,400 per megawatt hour, as compared to $35 per megawatt hour at this time last year. Meanwhile, US Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson extended an emergency order which forces marketers and generators with access power to provide electricity to California. Richardson blamed the power shortage on the booming technology industry which has caused electricity use in California to rise thirteen percent and energy use throughout the US to increase by fourteen percent in the past year. Although the consumer price increases have not been determined, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has suggested a seventeen percent increase, which would raise the average monthly electricity bill in California from $54 to $63.
The Sacramento Bee blames Silicon Valley for California's current power shortage, while Excite News offers a four-year timeline chronicling the state's troubled electricity situation. An editorial from the Los Angeles Times considers the failures of California's power deregulation, which was signed into law in 1996. MSNBC looks at the effects of the rising costs of energy on middle and lower class Americans during the holiday season, while an article published earlier this month by Money.com gives an excellent overview of the ways in which deregulation has hindered power companies and consumers. The Federal Energy Regulation Commission regulates transmission and prices for many of the major power resources in the US, and the California Energy Commission is California's main energy policy and planning agency. Public Citizen, a program that investigates mass energy and the environment, gives frequently updated information about electricity deregulation. The California Independent System Operator (CA-ISO) provides daily market updates on the price of power. [EM]
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