Scout Report for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/1999/ss-991019.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/1999/be-991021.html
The fourth issues of the third volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences Report annotates eight resources on a recent FBI report that a seven percent drop in homicides was entirely attributable to a decrease in killings committed with guns. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers nine resources on the September 1999 Consumer Price Index (CPI) and reactions on Wall Street. [MD]
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Pyridostigmine Bromide
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/pb_paper/
DOD GulfLink Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/
Released yesterday by the Department of Defense (DOD) Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses and the RAND Corporation, this 385-page report concluded that the drug Pyridostigmine Bromide, or "PB," could not be ruled out as a possible cause for some of the illnesses veterans of the Gulf War have reported. PB was given to approximately 250,000 US troops sent to the Persian Gulf between 1990 and 1991 as a protection against potential Iraqi use of the nerve agent soman. More than 100,000 of the nearly 700,000 US troops serving in the Gulf have reported a wide range of recurring illnesses. No definitive cause has been found for these ailments. Users can read the full text of the report by chapter in HTML format at the DOD GulfLink site, although the figures and tables are not yet available online. The Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses site contains a message from the Special Assistant regarding this report, previous RAND reports on other suspected sources of Gulf War Illness, and a number of other related resources. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Living Standards Measurement Study -- World Bank Group
http://www.worldbank.org/html/prdph/lsms/lsmshome.html
The Living Standards Measurements Study (LSMS) Website, from the World Bank Group, serves as a resource for researchers, worldwide, with data sets and methodological lessons taken from LSMS's household surveys. This site guides users through an introduction to LSMS and includes a five-step process to determine if data will be helpful for users's needs. In addition to the actual data, the site features a huge bibliography of several hundred research reports based on LSMS information and studies and activities that have used this information. [EM]
[Back to Contents]"Where They Were" [.pdf] -- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1999/nd99/nd99norris.html
National Security Archive Companion Page
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/19991020/
In what is being widely regarded as a ground-breaking article, three noted nuclear weapons analysts have revealed that, during the Cold War, the US stored up to 12,000 nuclear weapons and components in at least 23 countries and 5 American territories including Japan, Cuba, Iceland, and Morocco. Appearing in the November/ December 1999 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, this article is the fruit of years of detective work and appears to declassify a formerly top secret study, "History of the Custody and Deployment of Nuclear Weapons: July 1945 through September 1977," which was prepared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1978. Users can read the full text of the article, which contains several charts and photographs, in HTML or .pdf format at the Bulletin site. Also included is an appendix which lists nuclear weapons deployment by country, 1951-77. The National Security Archive companion site offers excerpts from the declassified report, related documents, a press release, and several links. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Historic Pittsburgh
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/mainpage.html
This joint project by the University of Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society provides access to digitized books, maps, and archival collections documenting the history of the city of Pittsburgh, its residents, and the surrounding Allegheny County. The Full-Text Collection contains text and illustrations from more than 60 books, including multi-volume histories of Pittsburgh and special reports, such as urban planner and park designer Frederick Law Olmsted's "Pittsburgh main thoroughfares and the down town district; improvements necessary to meet the city's present and future needs" (1910). Also included are guides or finding aids to 64 archival collections, for example, Guide to the Records of Allegheny County Allied Boards of Trade, 1922-1940, and plat maps. In addition, there is detailed background information on Historic Pittsburgh, such as tools and techniques used for full-text production, and vendors and software used for data creation and processing. This background information should prove extremely useful for archivists and librarians undertaking similar projects, or anyone curious about how the digital presentation of historical materials is accomplished. [DS]
[Back to Contents]"Distribution of Major Herbicides in Ground Water of the United States" [.pdf, 3.4M] -- USGS/ EPA
http://ca.water.usgs.gov/pnsp/rep/wrir984245/
Pesticide National Synthesis Project
http://ca.water.usgs.gov/pnsp/
Recently released by the US Geological Survey USGS in cooperation with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this report summarizes regional and national information collected by the USGS between 1991 and 1995 for seven major-use herbicides. The report is offered in text or .pdf format and includes an abstract, a list of abbreviations and acronyms, and numerous charts and tables. The Pesticide National Synthesis Project homepage offers a number of other publications and reports on pesticides in the Hydrologic System. The site also features data sets, national maps of pesticide use, and some special topic reports, as well as information on the Project and its staff. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Country Profiles
http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/newcountry.htm
This new briefing service from eldis (Electronic Development and Environment Information System) (originally reviewed in the October 9, 1997 Scout Report for Business & Economics) offers access to a large amount of informative material on individual countries. The heart of this material will be multiple documents providing sectoral profiles of Agriculture, Environment, Economics, Gender, Politics, Education, and Health. Please note, however, that the site is still very much under development, and only profiles of the agricultural sector are currently available. Other resources include links to current news, maps, statistics, CIA and IMF country profiles, industrial and trade profiles, and human rights records. At present, the Country Profiles section only contains the nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Until the new profiles are completed, users may still access older eldis resource collections for North America, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa from this site. When completed, this site will be a powerful one-stop tool for researchers and professionals in development studies and political science. [MD]
[Back to Contents]A Concrete Curtain: The Life and Death of the Berlin Wall
http://www.wall-berlin.org/gb/berlin.htm
The central feature of this fine site posted to the Web late last month is a hypertext history of the Berlin Wall and the significant events of the cold war that featured prominently in its life and death. The hypertext offers maps, exhibitions, and sidebars to supplement the main historical narrative. The Annexes section gives a timeline of key events, excerpts from various books and speeches offering first person accounts of events at the Wall (including its demolishment), and a substantial bibliography of fiction and nonfiction texts about the Wall. The site is posted by the Memorial de Caen in France. Note: some of the written text in the exhibitions is in French. [DC]
[Back to Contents]"The Rise and Fall of START II: The Russian View" [.pdf, 205K]
http://www.ceip.org/programs/npp/pikayevindex.htm
The Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project
http://www.ceip.org/programs/npp/
The Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project has recently placed online a working paper which examines "Russian security priorities in the post Cold War Period from 1992 onwards and assesses their implications for international security." Written by Dr. Alexander Pikayev, former chief counselor of the State Duma Committee on Defense (1996-97) and member of the Subcommittee on Arms Control and International Security (1994-95), the paper examines the START II nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament meetings and explains to a non-Russian audience why the treaty has languished in the Duma. The report and its appendixes are available in both HTML and .pdf format. Numerous links to related resources located at the Carnegie project are also provided. The main page of the Non-Proliferation Project offers a number of other publications, links to proliferation-related stories on the Web, selected "critical resources," recent data on nuclear stockpiles, and the Project's Proliferation Briefs, a regular series on current proliferation developments (reviewed in the June 2, 1998 Scout Report for Social Sciences). [MD]
[Back to Contents]Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1998 [.pdf]
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/
The 26th edition of the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics was placed online this month by the US Bureau of Justice Statistics. Compiled from more than 100 sources, the Sourcebook is presented in six sections (system characteristics, public opinion, offenses known, arrests, judicial processing, and corrections), containing over 600 tables. "Nearly all the data presented are nationwide in scope and, where possible, they are displayed by regions, States, and cities to increase their value for local decision-makers and for comparative analyses." Additional resources include a subject index, an annotated bibliography, technical appendixes, and a list of source publishers with contact information. [MD]
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Politics.com [RealPlayer G2]
http://www.politics.com/
The political season is, of course, already fast upon us, and interested users will do well to add this new site to their list of online political news sources. A rare example of a political site created as a business venture, Politics.com is designed to serve as a central source for news and analysis of the US 2000 presidential race. A clean and easily navigated site, Politics.com is composed of four major sections. The first contains smartly-packaged, if concise, profiles of the leading candidates, including recent ratings, fundraising vs. opponents, issue positions on several selected topics, a very brief biographical sketch, last election results, and voting record. A collection of campaign videos in RealPlayer format is also available from the Candidates section. The Money section contains a campaign finance primer, dollars raised by month, soft dollar leader board, and search engines that allow users to search for contributors in geographic areas or by name. The Polls section features recent polling results on individual candidates and other related issues, and the Directory is a collection of annotated political links organized by topic. Additional resources at the site include breaking news, recent opinion pieces, and a free email daily briefing. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Two from Library of Virginia Digital Collections
Tazewell County Public Library - Photograph Collection
http://eagle.vsla.edu/tazewell/
Petersburg Public Library - Newspaper Index
http://image.vtls.com/collectionsV/PN.html
The Library of Virginia (LVA) (last discussed in the June 18, 1999 Scout Report) has recently made two additions to their digital collections. The first is a collection of nearly 3,900 photos from Tazewell County, VA, dating from 1851 to the early 1990s. The photos cover a wide range of subjects and activities. Users may search by keyword, title, subject, type of photo, or photo number. Combination and Boolean searches are also available. Search returns include thumbnailed images with links to larger versions and catalog cards. The second new addition is a digitized card index to newspapers held by the Library (predominantly from Petersburg), covering the years 1797 to 1877. One of the most complete local newspaper indexes in Virginia, the index is comprised of 43,810 typed 3 x 5 cards which cover local events, including the period of reconstruction following the Civil War, in great detail. The subjects of the articles indexed on the cards are listed alphabetically on one long page. Each entry card contains the following information: Main index entry: the subject of the newspaper article indexed; Subheading: additional information about the article; and Reference line: date, city, name of newspaper, page, and column number. A listing of newspapers covered by the index and their respective date ranges and microfilm numbers at the LVA is also available. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Council of the European Union: First Annual Report on Human Rights [MS Word, 65p.]
http://ue.eu.int/pesc/human_rights/main99_en.htm
Adopted by the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on October 11, 1999, this report covers the period June 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999 and "intends to explain how the [European] Union's headway towards integration is paralleled in the field of human rights." The Report is offered as part of a wider effort to promote transparency of the EU's human rights policies. To that end, it explains the major actors of the Union's human rights policies and their goals, methods, and activities. While concentrating on external relations, the Report does explore some human rights issues within the EU area, specifically racism. The report is offered in six sections in HTML or MS Word format. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Voice of Dance: Where Dance Lives
http://www.voiceofdance.org/index.html
Created by dance enthusiasts with support from the Grants for the Arts, the San Francisco Foundation, and Dance Magazine, this wonderful site is a "thriving community for dance on the Internet," providing dance lovers with a broad range of movement- and dance-related materials. The primary sections of the site are insights (including reviews and images), community (chats, etc. and a great list of links to other dance-related sites), calendar (upcoming events and ticket purchasing), the latest (current news and events), and store (books and tickets). By joining "dance partners," a free service available through Voice of Dance, you will get email updates, news, and ticket discounts. The on-site calendar of dance events is often hyperlinked to reviews, tickets, and photos, so you can check out what experts and fellow dance lovers think, purchase your tickets, and even view some images from the performance before you go. Also, after the show, you can get online and write your own review on the Voice of Dance Guest Review BBS. [REB]
[Back to Contents]Matthew Flinders Project
http://www.slnsw.gov.au/flinders/
Created by the State Library of New South Wales, this site celebrates the bicentenary of Matthew Flinders's epic circumnavigation of Australia. Sailing in a leaky vessel, Investigator, between 1801 and 1803, Flinder charted the continent that he named "Australia." When complete in 2001, the site will feature all of Matthew Flinders's personal papers (journals, letters, diary, and memorabilia) held in the State Library of New South Wales as both page images and transcripts. The first item available at the site is the Norfolk journal of July-August 1799. Users may read a description of the 42-page journal as well as imaged pages or a transcript. Also available are a biography of Flinders and images of several portraits and artifacts. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Nutrition Explorations
http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/
This new site is compliments of the National Dairy Council and provides resources to help educators teach children about nutritious foods and a healthy diet. The site is made up of four principle sections. The first, Teacher Central, contains monthly updated ideas and activities for teaching nutrition, as well as annotated links and suggested books. The second section, the School Cafe, is designed for school foodservice professionals and includes promotion ideas, nutrition facts, and links to related resources. The third portion of the site, The Family Table, offers advice, activities, and tips for parents who want to help their children develop healthy eating habits. The final part of the site is aimed at kids themselves and offers games, quizzes, recipes, and more sites to explore. While a bit thin on content and probably dairy-centric, the site as a whole does offer some useful tools for educators and parents who want to instill healthy eating habits in children. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Three Sites for Ghouls and Goblins
Halloween Online
http://www.halloween-online.com/
Jack-o-Lantern.Com
http://www.jack-o-lantern.com/
HorrorFind.com
http://www.horrorfind.com/
The scariest night of the year is almost upon us, and these three sites will help users get into the proper "spirit." The first, Halloween Online, is simply put a massive Halloween resource, with decorating and costume tips; a guide to carving and displaying your pumpkins; a selection of featured articles and interviews; Halloween recipes; downloadable graphics ("Scream Savers") and music files; e-cards; online games; and a large collection of links, among other offerings. The second site covers one subject, and it covers it well: Jack-O-Lanterns. At the site, users can learn the history of Jack-O-Lanterns, pick up carving techniques, download free printable patterns, read a FAQ, and browse a gallery. While not strictly a Halloween site, Horrorfind.com will help any users out for a spooky fix. This searchable metasite indexes a variety of horror-related sites, grouping them by topic, such as Ghosts, Werewolves, Halloween, Vampires, etc. Each link is briefly annotated, and users are invited to rank them. Also included at the site are What's New and Top Rated lists and electronic horror greeting cards to send to your fiends. [MD]
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Two from Tucows
Tukids
http://tukids.tucows.com/
Tucows Kickoff
http://kickoff.tucows.com/
The well-known software repository Tucows (first reviewed in the October 18, 1996 Scout Report) has recently made two new additions. The first is intended as a safe and virus-free source for thousands of educational and fun programs and files that have been downloaded and tested for content by the Tucows staff. Software is initially grouped by platform and age (up to 12), and then by subject (Science, Math, Reading, Games, etc.). As with the main Tucows site, users may choose from multiple mirror sites for faster downloads. Tucows Kickoff is an official product launch site where developers can introduce their new software. All of the newly featured software is briefly reviewed by Tucows staff. [MD]
[Back to Contents]oingo
http://www.oingo.com/
Billing itself "the Internet's first meaning-based search engine," oingo searches by meaning and word relationships rather than by literal text. In this way, it both avoids unrelated sites that contain exact text matches and returns sites with related meanings but no matching text. At present, the site is a demonstration of oingo for potential licensees, and it indexes only sites found in the Open Directory Project (reviewed in the November 20, 1998 Scout Report) with additional hits from AltaVista. Search queries quickly produce initial results, grouped into strong, medium, and weak hits from the directory and Web hits from AltaVista, with a symbol denoting sites that are conceptually related to the search terms. Users can then narrow their searches by selecting from a list of specific meanings. Despite its limited scope, oingo is still a useful and very interesting new search technology that one hopes might be expanded to cover a significant portion of the Web. [MD]
[Back to Contents]WebZip
http://www.spidersoft.com
WebZip is a tool that lets users download partial or entire Websites to their hard drives. Users may then view these pages later, presumably when they do not have access to the Internet. Download tasks are initiated from a single URL and can be configured to follow a specified number of links. Other configuration options include following external links, converting links in the downloaded HTML to relative links, and compression to zip files. WebZip has a 28-day evaluation period and a purchase price of $39.95. It is compatible with Windows 95/98/NT. [JB]
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Russian Attack on Grozny, Chechnya
BBC News Battle for the Caucasus: Special Report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_461000/461041.stm
Voice of Russia [RealPlayer]
http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/russia.html
"Putin Contradicts Russian Army Spokesman" -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/22/russia.chechnya.02/
Chechen Republic Online
http://www.amina.com/
Russia's Chechen Operation -- USIA
http://www.usia.gov/admin/005/wwwh9o20.html
At 6:15pm local time yesterday, the Russian breakaway republic Chechnya's capital of Grozny was attacked by Russian military forces. While Russian government officials denied responsibility, this morning the Russian military admitted to carrying out the missile attack. One reported target of the strike was the main market that military officials claimed was used at night by bandits and terrorists as a place to sell arms and weapons. Witnesses have reported that the market was filled with people shopping for food and sitting in nearby cafes. In addition to the market, a maternity hospital in Grozny was also hit in the missile strike. Chechen officials claim that at least 118 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stated that civilians are not being targeted in the current military effort in Chechnya. Russian forces moved into Chechnya in late September in response to a Chechen-led insurgency in neighboring Dagestan, as well as the terrorist bombings in three Russian cities, including Moscow, that officials blame on Chechen guerrillas.
As is often the case, BBC News offers a good starting point for users interested in in-depth coverage of global news and current developments in the situation in Chechnya. Users can listen to the latest news from Russia in English from the Voice of Russia. CNN's report centers on Russian Prime Minister Putin's speculation that the explosions at the main market in Grozny were the result of clashes between rival groups. CNN also has video coverage of the scene as well as links to related articles. The Chechen Republic Online provides articles, current news, and information on the social life in Chechnya. The United States Information Agency (USIA) has compiled excerpts from 59 reports and editorials on Russia's Chechen Operation from newspapers in 27 countries. Additional resources on Russia and Chechnya can be found in Signpost, the Scout Report's searchable archive. These include Crisis in North Caucasus, the September 17, 1999 Scout Report's In the News: Terrorism in Russia, and Russia Today. [AG]
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