NSDL Scout Reports for the Life Sciences and Physical Sciences
The fifteenth issues of the first volumes of the Life Sciences Report and Physical Sciences Report are available. The Topic in Depth section of Life Sciences Report annotates sites on human evolution. The Physical Sciences Report's Topic in Depth section offers Web sites and comments about quarks.
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Two on Racial Segregation
Statistics Neighborhood Segregation in Single-Race and Multirace America: A Census 2000 Study of Cities and Metropolitan Areas [.pdf]
http://www.censusscope.org/FreyWPFinal.pdf
CensusScope: Racial Segregation Statistics for Cities and Metropolitan Areas
http://www.censusscope.org/segregation.html
For the first time, the Census 2000 questionnaire allowed persons to identify with more than one racial group. As a result, demographers had the opportunity to examine segregation indices between mixed raced groups and persons who identify with a single race. Written by William H. Frey of the University of Michigan and Dowell Myers of the University of Southern California, "Neighborhood Segregation in Single-Race and Multirace America: A Census 2000 Study of Cities and Metropolitan Areas" analyzes and compares residential segregation of persons who identify with two or more racial groups versus persons identifying with a single racial group. Available in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format, this 45-page report includes all individual cities with Census 2000 populations exceeding 25,000, as well as all US metropolitan areas. One of the findings of the report reveals that persons of mixed race are more likely to live in integrated neighborhoods rather than persons identifying with one race alone. This report, provided by the FannieMae Foundation, is accompanied by racial segregation indices designed by CensusScope (last mentioned in the May 24, 2002 Scout Report). Equipped with charts, data, and rankings, CensusScope's Racial Segregation Statistics for Cities and Metropolitan Areas covers dissimilarity and exposure indices for 1,246 individual US cities with populations above 25,000 and 318 US metropolitan areas. [MG]
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OCLC White Paper on the Information Habits of College Students: How Academic Librarians Can Influence Students' Web-Based Information Choices [.pdf]
http://www2.oclc.org/oclc/pdf/printondemand/informationhabits.pdf
Since the establishment of the Internet, the usage of college library Web sites have been continuously growing. For this reason, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) commissioned a Web survey on the information habits of college students in order to learn more about their preferences and needs. Revealing students' awareness of shortcomings of information available from library Web sites as well as presenting their views of successful information delivery, this report offers recommendations for librarians on how they can better influence students' Web-based information choices. [MG]
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Bringing a Nation Online: The Importance of Federal Leadership
http://www.civilrights.org/publications/bringinganationonline/
Earlier this year, the US Department of Commerce released the report, "A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet," which revealed a dramatic increase in American's use of computer and Internet technologies. During the same time this report was released, the Bush Administration announced plans to cancel funding for the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Community Technology Centers Program (CTC), concluding that the private sector rather than the government should be responsible for supporting programs responsible for closing the technological divide between high and low income households. Written by Leslie Harris & Associates under the direction of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and the Benton Foundation, "Bringing a Nation Online" examines the data presented in the Commerce's report and highlights substantial gaps between those who are using communication and technology tools versus those who are not. In addition, the report also takes a closer look at the two federal programs targeted for elimination and provides a state-by-state analysis of how their grants "enable partnerships and leverage additional investment in states and local communities." [MG]
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New York New Visions: A Coalition for the Rebuilding of Lower Manhattan [.pdf]
http://nynv.aiga.org/
The New York New Visions's Web site represents the collective response of 20 architecture, planning, and design organizations who set forth some of their proposals and suggestions for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan in the wake of September 11th. The cornerstone of the site is a 55-page report released in February 2002 that details their initial planning proposal for the economic, physical, and social rebuilding of the area. Different sections of the report deal with the importance of design standards, the interconnectivity of the area with the rest of New York, and a section dealing with the difficult question of the public planning process involved with building a meaningful and lasting memorial on the World Trade Center site. The site also contains feedback forms soliciting input on their redevelopment proposals, along with a complete listing of participating organizations, extensive supporting information on the planning process in New York, and a bibliography of materials related to the events and aftermath of September 11th. This site will be of great interest to those in the fields of public policy, urban planning, and architecture. Persons wanting to read the full report will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. [KM]
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EBONI: Electronic Textbook Design Guidelines [.pdf, MS Word]
http://ebooks.strath.ac.uk/eboni/guidelines/
A project of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), EBONI's Electronic Textbook Design Guidelines is a list of baseline standards for the design of hypertext books. Created by Ruth Wilson and Monica Landoni of the Computer and Information Science Department at the University of Strathclyde, UK, the guidelines were established to encourage the use of styles and techniques that have been most successful in terms of usability. Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format, or MS Word, the document covers two distinct areas -- on-screen and hardware design guidelines -- and could be of value to online writers and publishers, information professionals, e-book hardware and software developers, and anyone else interested in the creation of scholarly digital resources. [MG]
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Nineteenth Century Exploration of Australia
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/australia/
Created by Dr. Charles H. Smith and Jennifer Rakestraw, this well-crafted site is built around an Australian map that details the routes taken by nineteenth century Australian explorers. The map has been reproduced into three online sections -- western, central, and eastern -- and each section contains a list of explorers who navigated that region of the continent. Also included are Internet links to all of the explorers, which can be accessed from the left-side panel on the home page or at the bottom of each map section. [MG]
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Australian War Memorial
http://www.awm.gov.au/index_noflash.asp
The online presence of the Australian War Memorial, located in Canberra, Australia, this site contains dozens of valuable resources for those with a penchant either for Australian military history or merely for finding the military unit in which a relative may have served during the past 100 years. With numerous sectional headings, the Web site has an effective long-form essay that serves as a good introduction to the subject, detailing the highlights of Australian military involvement from the Boer War to the Vietnam Conflict. There are numerous databases that can be searched on this site, including Australian military unit rosters and the Memorial's vast collection of papers and recorded ephemera relating to Australian military history. There is also an exhaustive section about the actual War Memorial building and grounds, detailing the inspiration for the Memorial building (completed in 1941) and a few notes by the director of the Memorial, Steve Gower, on some of his favorite selections in their holdings. All in all, the site is a wonderful resource for those with an interest in Australian military history and, more broadly, is a way of reminding the public that the contributions of Australians to world military conflicts is quite significant. [KM]
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Building Bridges: A Peace Corps Classroom Guide to Cross-Cultural Understanding
http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/bridges/index.html
Established by the Coverdell World Wise Schools program of the Peace Corps, Building Bridges is a 48-page workbook containing 13 lessons plans created to introduce school children to cultural studies in order to increase their awareness of other cultures around the world, as well as their own. Designed primarily for grades 6-12, the workbook is free for downloading and could be of value to social studies, geography, and language arts teachers. Also available on the site are four other publications produced by the Peace Corps: Insights from the Field: Understanding Geography, Culture, and Service;Culture Matters: The Peace Corps Cross-Cultural Workbook;Voices from the Field: Reading and Writing About the World, Ourselves, and Others; and Looking at Ourselves and Others. All publications are available to the Internet community for free downloading. [MG]
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Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the UK [MS Word, .pdf]
http://www.hero.ac.uk/rae/index.htm
The 2001 United Kingdom's university system Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is now freely available to the Internet public. Provided by Higher Education and Research Opportunities (HERO), RAE 2001 was a UK-wide endeavor that allowed publicly funded universities and colleges to submit data regarding their research activities. A panel of judges then assessed the data, and ratings were assigned for all subjects in which research information was submitted. Viewable by institution or unit of assessment (subject area), the ratings range from one to five (five being the highest), and the outcomes have been published to provide information to the public on the quality of academic research throughout the UK. Also available for viewing are the RAE 2001 panel subject reports, which are available in Word/RTF, Word/RTF zipped, PDF, and zipped PDF. [MG]
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Global Human Traits Survey 2002
http://www.edquest.ca/Projects/GHTS/ghts.html
One of the latest online projects from EDUQUEST.CA Middle School Science Resources is the Global Human Traits Survey. The survey allows students to collect data on inherited traits from a local population and then share it online with other participants. Once data is collected, Phase Two will allow students to use the data collected by themselves and others for hypothesis testing. This is an interesting forum for students to learn about genetics and the scientific method by sharing real world data with their peers across the globe. This site is also reviewed in the August 9, 2002 NSDL Life Sciences Report. [AL]
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The Louisiana State Museum Photograph Collection
http://www.lsu.edu/diglib/
The Louisiana State Museum Photograph Collection consists of approximately 1500 photographs detailing the people, folkways, traditions, and landscape of Louisiana. The pictures date from the mid-1850s to the early 1920s and document the work of several well-known photographers of the period, including Covert, who was commissioned by the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce in 1917 to create a visual record of the civic, commercial, and industrial conditions in the warehouse district of the city. Along with his images, there are numerous stereographic views of New Orleans, plantations throughout the state, rural life, and the French Quarter. The photograph database is searchable in a variety of ways, including photograph title, photographer, subject, and keywords. Overall, persons with an interest in material culture and urban history will find this site quite compelling, and a valuable place for getting the feel and look of late 19th century Louisiana. [KM]
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Earth and Sky [RealPlayer]
http://www.earthsky.com/
This companion web site to the Earth and Sky Radio Series offers recordings of the award winning daily radio show, plus oodles of supplementary science material. Visitors can search for specific science topics and retrieve relevant articles and past shows (and transcripts) on the topic. There is a great kids earth and sky section directed at younger children, plus a teacher's lounge with virtual text book, resources, and tips for using Earth and Sky in the classroom. This well organized, attractive, and content rich site is a pleasure to use. This site is also reviewed in the August 9, 2002 NSDL Physical Science Report. [REB]
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Women's Law Initiative
http://www.womenslaw.org/index.htm
This information Web site, established and maintained by the Women's Law Initiative (WLI), is an online resource that provides legal information to women and girls living with or escaping domestic violence. Seeking to "empower women and girls to lead independent and productive lives, free from abuse," this site offers step-by-step instructions on filing for and obtaining restraining orders in all 50 US states and Washington, DC. Also, the site contains "plain language translations" of domestic violence statutes, as well as online links to counseling services, shelters, legal assistance, downloadable court documents, locations of courthouses and sheriffs' offices for filing forms and serving court papers, and legislation news regarding domestic violence. The site is not only a valuable resource for women who experience domestic abuse, but also a handy guide for the people who help them. [MG]
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CCD Build a Table Tool
http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/bat/index.asp
The National Center for Education Statistics has launched a new and innovative tool that allows users to create customized tables using data from the Common Core of Data (CCD). As the Department of Education's primary database on elementary and secondary US public schools, the CCD provides national statistical data in three main categories: general descriptive information on schools and school districts; data on students and staff; and fiscal data, which covers revenues and current expenditures. With the Build a Table application, users can now design their own tables of CCD public school data for states, counties, and districts, using data from multiple years. There is a comprehensive tutorial available for first time users needing step-by-step instructions on the "build a table" process. [MG]
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IBM HotMedia v3.5
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/ad/hotmedia/
HotMedia 3.5, a component of IBM Studio Homepage Builder and IBM WebSphere Studio, is a free e-software that creates Java-based images for Web applications. Without the requirement of plug-ins or specialized servers, this product can create animations of images, as well as display VRML objects, cylindrical panoramas, and spherical iPIX movies. Users should note that HotMedia does not support non-iPIX spherical panoramic images. To utilize this product, interested users will need Windows 95/98/2000/NT and a Java platform. [MG]
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A Nationwide Recall on Possibly Diseased Body Parts
Body Parts Recalled by Texas Medical Institution
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2002/08/08/eline/links/20020808elin030.html
Body Parts for Research Recalled
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/080702dntexbodyparts.5962c.html
Medical Center Orders Recall of Possibly Infectious Body Parts
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/news/news_1n7parts.html
Body Parts Recalled on AIDS Warning
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-body-parts-recall0807aug07.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines
The University of Texas Medical Branch Home Page
http://www.utmb.edu/
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has issued a nationwide recall of an unknown number of body parts shipped to approximately 60 academic institutions, teaching hospitals, and clinics between November 2000 and May 2002. Due to poor record keeping, officials at the Texas medical school have been unable to determine if the body parts had been tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV. The university has fired Allen Tyler Jr., the person who was in charge of the medical school's Willed Bodies Program, and has temporarily halted the transfer of cadavers to other programs. The Galveston center's program is the only one in Texas that accepts bodies from the state prison, and according to Melinda Mora, manager of the Willed Body Program at Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, the risk of disease is greater in Galveston because HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C occur at a higher rate in prisons than in the general population. This recall has been the latest mix that has shaken Galveston's medical center since it was revealed last month that Mr. Tyler may have sold donated body parts willed to the institution for personal profit. Ashes of cremated bodies were allegedly commingled so that grieving families received ashes from various bodies, not just their loved ones. The FBI is currently investigating the allegations against Mr. Tyler, and a number of civil lawsuits have been filed. For more information regarding this story, users may access the first four news links above. Users interested in Galveston's medical program may access the fifth link, which leads to the University of Texas Medical Center's home page. [MG]
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From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2002. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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