The Scout Report - May 25, 2001

The End of the Subject-specific Scout Reports
The Internet Scout Project is sad to announce that we will be discontinuing publication of our subject-specific reports as we have been unable to secure funding for them. The last issue of the Scout Report for Social Sciences & Humanities will be May 29, the last Scout Report for Business & Economics will be May 31, and the last issue of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering will be June 20. We have, however, no immediate plans to cease publishing our flagship report, the Scout Report. Many thanks to our loyal readers.

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Scout Report for Science & Engineering_
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sci-eng/2001/se-010523.html
Volume 4, Number 19 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates nine resources on the recent announcement by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that it will form a special project for protection of apes.
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Report of the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact Finding Committee [.pdf]
http://www.meridian.org/sheikh.htm
On May 21, the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact Finding Committee, chaired by former Senator George Mitchell, issued its report on the recent outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Among other things, the report calls for an immediate halt to the violence, to be followed by confidence-building measures and the resumption of security cooperation and peace negotiations. It also calls for a halt in the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The full text of the report and Senator Mitchell's statement from the May 21 news conference may be downloaded from the Meridian International Center Website. [MD]
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A Guide to the Clinical Care of Women With HIV: 2001 [.pdf]
http://hab.hrsa.gov/womencare.htm
Recently announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, this manual is believed to be the first "specifically written for the medical treatment of women with HIV." Published by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the manual offers "experience-based advice and authoritative treatment guidelines for clinicians treating women with HIV." The manual may be downloaded by chapter in .pdf format at the HRSA HIV/AIDS site. [MD]
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UNESCO Publications - Books Online [.pdf]
http://upo.unesco.org/booksonline.asp
For a limited time, users may download a considerable number of recent titles from UNESCO publishing for free. Most of the titles are available free until the end of this month, but a few may be accessed until the end of August. The titles are listed by topic (e.g., social and ethical issues, human rights) and may be downloaded after registration (an email address is the only required information). A number of titles are only available in French or Spanish. According to the site, "upon expiration of the free status, access to the same digital version is proposed in this section on a paying basis." [MD]
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TOXNET (Toxicology Data Network)
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/
The National Library of Medicine (National Institutes of Health) sponsors TOXNET, a collection of databases covering toxicology, hazardous chemicals, and related topics. At the site, users may access a range of information -- from toxicology data, to toxicology literature, toxic release information, and basic chemical information. The suite of searchable databases are as follows: CCRIS (Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System), ChemID_plus_, DART/ETIC (Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology), EMIC (Environmental Mutagen Information Center), GENE-TOX (Genetic Toxicology), HSDB (Hazardous Substances Data Bank) and HSDB Structures, IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System), NCI-3D Database, TOXLINE (Toxicology Literature Online), and TRI (Toxics Release Inventory). For toxicology professionals and students, alike, this Data Network will be a valuable research resource. [LXP]
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Nature Transformed: The Environment in American History -- TeacherServe
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nattrans/nattrans.htm
The National Humanities Center has recently added a second guide to its TeacherServe site (originally reviewed in the November 7, 1997 Scout Report). Nature Transformed: The Environment in American History contains a number of essays specifically tailored to classroom use. These are organized in three thematic sections: Native Americans and the Land, Wilderness and American Identity, and The Use of the Land. Each essay also features a section on guiding student discussion, a brief overview of the relevant historiographical debates, and links to related online resources. [MD]
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USGS Water Resources Data of USA
http://water.usgs.gov/nwis/
Announced this week by the US Geological Survey (USGS), this site provides access to water-resources data collected at approximately 1.5 million sites in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The data is accessed via several categories, including real-time, surface water, ground water, and water quality. Within each section, users have multiple options to narrow their searches. Descriptive information on each site in the USGS database is also available. [MD]
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Free Online Scholarship (FOS) Newsletter
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/index.htm
Maintained by Professor Peter Suber, Editor of Hippias (reviewed in the September 26, 1997 Scout Report) and co-Editor of Noesis (reviewed in the September 11, 1998 Scout Report), this free email newsletter offers "news and discussion on the migration of print scholarship to the Internet and efforts to make it available to readers free of charge." The newsletter covers all academic fields and all FOS initiatives. Subscription information, an editorial statement, and access to previous issues are all provided on the homepage. [MD]
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"Health Information on the Internet: Accessibility, Quality, and Readability in English and Spanish" -- JAMA
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v285n20/rfull/joc02274.html
Published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), this detailed study conducted by the Rand Corporation and California HealthCare Foundation finds that the quality of health-care information available online is decidedly uneven. For the report, researchers consulted ten English-language and four Spanish-language search engines for information on four common health conditions: breast cancer, childhood asthma, depression, and obesity. Physicians also evaluated the quality of information provided by 25 major health Websites. Among the problems noted in the report are irrelevant search returns, incomplete or contradictory information, and blurring of the line between information and advertising. The full text of the article is available at the JAMA site. [MD]
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Piet Mondrian: The Transatlantic Paintings [Shockwave]
http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/mondrian/index.html
Harvard Art Museum uses the abilities of the Web to present this collection of seventeen rarely seen paintings by Piet Mondrian, known as the "transatlantic paintings," begun between 1935 and 1940 in Europe and completed or altered after Mondrian arrived in New York City in 1940. The nine pages of introduction explain the techniques that curators at Harvard used to study the revisions that Mondrian made to the paintings, including studying archival photographs and examining the transatlantic paintings with stereomicroscopy, X-rays, ultraviolet, and infrared light. The Studies and Details sections provide in-depth examinations of eight paintings, and all seventeen can be viewed in the Gallery section. Selecting a particular image from the interactive "gallery guide" requires a plug-in, but users can view all of the paintings without it. The lengthy background section entitled Career covers Mondrian's life and work, illustrated with more of his paintings and photographs. There is also a specialized glossary for the site, complete with definitions of technical art terms (impasto, raking light, inpainting) and biographical information on Mondrian's contemporaries who are mentioned in the background essay. [DS]
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Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/blackloyalists/
This new online exhibit from Canada's Digital Collections Program documents an often overlooked group who fought for the British in the Revolutionary War: freed and escaped slaves. After the British government offered freedom to any slaves who fought on Britain's behalf, as many as 30,000 people of African descent escaped to aid the British war effort. When the war ended in an American victory, these free blacks were evacuated to Nova Scotia with the other Loyalists who left the former colonies. Although they had been promised land and a new life in Canada, black emigrants found harsh living and working conditions, prompting many to leave for Sierra Leone. This site tells the story of the black Loyalists with numerous illustrated vignettes, short biographies, a timeline, and descriptions and maps of black Loyalist communities. Also included at the site is a rich collection of documents, including personal accounts, letters, and official papers and proclamations. [MD]
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The Third UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries [.pdf]
http://www.un.org/events/ldc3/conference/
The Third UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries was held last week in Brussels. At the official site, visitors can access the full text of the declarations, programme of action, documents, and related publications. Also available are official statements, press releases, the conference program, and other information. [MD]
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William Blake Online [RealPlayer, MP3, Flash]
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/blakeinteractive/
This is a companion resource to the Tate Britain's comprehensive exhibition of the work by the poet, printmaker, and visionary William Blake (1757-1827). William Blake Online introduces some of Blake's artistic and poetical works, his life story, and the London that he knew. Interactive features include specially commissioned recorded extracts from The Divine Comedy (Blake illustrated an edition), Jerusalem, and Songs of Innocence and of Experience; original engravings with pop-up notes; an e-dictionary of the major figures in his personal mythology; maps of Blake's London; and a summary and analysis of each poem. This is a fun introduction to the work and life of a truly original thinker. [DLS]
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The New Jersey Churchscape
http://www.njchurchscape.com/
Spotted by ResearchBuzz, this site should appeal to both Garden State natives (such as myself) and those interested in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American churches. Upon first inspection, the site appears to be an online magazine, with monthly features and book reviews. It is quite a bit more than this, however, as the site hosts a "database and photographic inventory on more than half the 18th & 19th century churches in the state." This database is accessed via the "List of churches, by county" link on the lower-left-hand side of the page. The photos are browsed by county and church name, with municipality, sect, founding and building dates, and building style listed on the initial results page. This page links to a photo and very brief description. The site is an ongoing project and has potential for both scholars and interested general users. [MD]
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HomeNetHelp.com
http://www.HomeNetHelp.com
Edited by Chris Kaminski, this very useful site teaches ordinary users about home networking and Internet connection sharing. Here visitors will find tutorials on home networking and sharing Internet connections, how-to's, feature articles, product reviews, networking news, and forums, in addition to other content. Simply put, this is an outstanding starting point for any home or small business user interested in networking. [MD]
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Universal Explorer [Windows 9x/2000/NT/ME]
http://www.spadixbd.com/universal/
Universal Explorer, a powerful replacement for the standard Windows Explorer, provides an easy-to-use interface for managing files (move/ copy/ paste/ delete) quickly and effectively. It includes utilities such as Archive Manager, Calendar, Calculator, Directory Compare, Split File, and many more. The advanced interface allows users to search and replace text across files and directories. Users can also view and edit almost any file -- text documents, HTML, a wide range of graphic files, programming source code, and more -- directly in UE without launching the file's native application. The Split Screen feature allows easy management of files when working with different drives or directories. A Free Adware version and a standard fifteen-day trial version are available for download at the site. Registration of the full version is $49.95. [MA]
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Tiny Fossil Sheds Light on Mammalian Evolution
"Digging Up Fresh Clues About the Origin of Mammals" -- Science
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/292/5521/1496
"Ancestor of All Mammals Discovered?" -- Discovery News
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/reu/20010521/mammal.html
"Fossil hints at mammal evolution" -- BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1349000/1349763.stm
"Tiny Fossil From Early Jurassic Fills New Niche in Mammal Evolution" -- National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0524_paperclipmammal.html
"Tiny Mammal Paper Clip-Sized Creature May Be an Ancestor" -- ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/tinymammal010524.html
"Tiny creature may be ancestor of all mammals" -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/05/24/tiny.ancestor/index.html
In the most recent issue of Science, a team of American and Chinese scientists announced the discovery of the fossil of a tiny shrew-like creature that lived 195 million years ago, 45 million years before previously discovered mammals. Found in 1985 in Yunnan province, China, the fossil was originally believed to be merely a bone fragment because of its small size. It has now been named Hadrocodium wui, ("Fullhead"), and could possibly be the direct ancestor of all living mammals. Hadrocodium was an insectivore, eating worms and small insects. Though it weighed only two grams (the weight of a paper clip), Hadrocodium had a considerably larger brain than most known mammals from the early Jurassic period. The tiny skull also possesses three other key traits that are characteristic of the transition from mammal-like animals to true mammals: a three-bone middle ear separated from the jaw, matching upper and lower teeth, and a powerful jaw hinge. Readers can begin learning more about this discovery with the Science article. Additional coverage is provided by Discovery news, the BBC, National Geographic, ABC News, and CNN. [MD]
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From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2001. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

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Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-2001. 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, are preserved on all copies.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, or the National Science Foundation.

Michael de Nie Susan Calcari Rachael Bower Travis Koplow David Charbonneau Emily Missner Laura X. Payne Debra Shapiro Scott Watkins Ed Almasy Hilary C. Sanders Andy Yaco-Mink Manoj Ananthapadmanabhan Pat Coulthard Andy Yaco-Mink

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