NSDL Scout Reports for the Life Sciences and Physical Sciences
The seventh 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 emerging viruses. The Physical Sciences Report's Topic in Depth section offers Web sites and comments about asteroids.
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Implementation of the Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act and the Japanese War Crimes Provisions of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act: An Interim Report to Congress
http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/iwgreport02.html
The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG) recently submitted this report to Congress in response to the statutory requirements of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998 and the Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act of 2000. The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998 established the Nazi War Criminal Records IWG to oversee the declassification and release of US Government records containing information on Nazi crimes during World War II, and the Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act of 2000 established the declassification and release of American records specifically relating to Japanese crimes during World War II. The initial report, which was submitted to Congress on October 27, 1999 (last mentioned in the November 19, 1999 Scout Report), dealt with the Government's involvement in the identification and declassification of records regarding the Nazi war crimes in the European Theater in World War II. This recent report, however, includes the Government's efforts in identifying and declassifying records relating to crimes committed by Japan. [MG]
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Left Behind in the Labor Market: Recent Employment Trends Among Young Black Men [.pdf]
http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/offnerexsum.htm
Written by Paul Offner and Harry Holzer, Professors at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, "Left Behind in the Labor Market: Recent Employment Trends Among Young Black Men" is a nine page report that compares the employment trends of young black men with no more than a high school education to other groups of the same educational background over the past two decades. According to the report, as the employment rate for young black women has steadily increased over the last 20 years, the rate of employment for their male counterparts has declined. Only 52% of young black men are currently employed compared to 62% twenty years ago. Furthermore, the study finds that the employment rate for young black men is much lower in cities compared to the suburbs. On the whole, the findings provide a cautionary note for welfare reform public policies aimed towards "family formation." Hence, the high percentage of unemployed young black men makes the economics of marriage less favorable for many low-income black couples. The report concludes with the authors' recommendations for how welfare policy can contribute to the formation of two parent families by helping young black men and fathers succeed in the labor market. [MG]
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Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy
http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/briefing.html
According to recent census statistics, the poverty level for families headed by single moms is 33%, while the poverty level for two parent families with children is only 6%. For this reason, many people feel the solution to poverty reduction is merely to marry off single moms. However, according to the report "Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy," the solution to lessening this percentage gap is not one-dimensional. Written by Stephanie Coontz, Professor of History and Family Studies at Evergreen State College, and Nancy Folbre, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the report finds that "lack of marriage is sometimes a symptom rather than a root cause of poverty, and that encouraging people to marry without giving them long term support systems may actually do more harm than good." Prepared for the fifth annual conference of the Council on Contemporary Families (which will be held at Fordham University in New York from April 26-28), the report offers several governmental solutions ranging from the elimination of disincentives or penalties for marriage, to investigating ways to help couples form and sustain relationships. The authors make clear that such policies, however, should not be confused with antipoverty programs, and should not be a cause to divert money from welfare programs. [MG]
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Investment in Tobacco Control: Stage Highlights 2002 [.pdf]
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statehi/statehi_2002.htm
Recently released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), this report summarizes statistical information regarding the health and economic burden of tobacco use for all fifty North American states. An augmented version of last year's report (last mentioned in the February 16, 2001 Scout Report), this 2002 report offers users the opportunity to download the full text or look up individual state information via an interactive map. In addition, users can view summary maps and tables with information ranging from youth projected to die from smoking, to smoking attributable medicaid and direct medical expenditures, to the number of packs sold and taxed per capita, to current cigarette smoking and tobacco use among youth from grades 6-12. [MG]
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Poles and Italians then, Mexicans Now? Immigrant-to-Native Wage Ratios, 1910 and 1940
http://www.levy.org/docs/wrkpap/papers/343.html
In this working paper, Joel Perlmann, Levy Institute Research Professor of History at Bard College, examines whether today's Mexican immigrants will be as successful as past immigrants in "catching up" with the native American population. According to the report, Mexicans comprise the largest immigrant group in this country and are the prime example of a migrant group entering American society at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder due to lack of high educational credentials and other economic advantages. As a result, Perlmann finds that, based upon the wage ratios revealed in a previous research paper by Christopher Jencks of Harvard University, it would be difficult for today's Mexican immigrants to advance to the socioeconomic status of the native American population. [MG]
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Annual Capital Expenditures, 2000 [.pdf]
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/cb02-47.html
Presented by the US Census Bureau, the Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES) provides detailed information on industry capital investments in building and other structures, machinery and equipment, furniture, computers, and vehicles by nonfarm businesses. The survey contains 130 separate industry sectors including manufacturing, information, finance and insurance, real estate, utilities, mining, and many more. According to the report, the data is used "to improve the quality of current economic indicators of business investments, as well as the quarterly estimates of gross domestic product." Ultimately, however, the data is used to identify business opportunities, product development, and business planning for those in the nonfarm market. [MG]
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The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934 [Flash]
http://www.moma.org/russian/
A companion site to an exhibit now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (last mentioned in the November 6, 2001 Scout Report), The Russian Avant-Garde Book: 1910-1934 affords visitors an opportunity to explore a lost world of artists and intellectuals who wanted to help change the world by making it see the sense in communism and socialism. Broken into three parts, provocatively titled A Slap in the Face of Public Taste, Transform the World, and Building Socialism, the exhibit awakens viewers to the passion from which it sprang. A lively interactive tour, the online exhibit shuttles visitors past more than three hundred examples of Russian avant-garde text, graphic art, and photography. Following each multi-panel tour, users are free to return to the main page of any of the three exhibits and consider at leisure the items that most grabbed their interest. Perhaps most compelling is the site's perspective of the life cycle of the Russian Avant-Garde movement itself, which only meant to help but was ultimately suppressed by a dictator who came to fear internal artistic expression as much as he did political challenge or resistance. [WH]
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm
Currently presenting world art from Metropolitan Museum dating 20,000 BC to 1400 AD, the Timeline of Art History can be navigated from a timeline, maps, or the thematic index. To orient by date or geography, proceed from the timeline itself to the World Map, and select a region such as North America 1000 - 1400 AD. An overview page lists characteristic developments of the time period (e.g., pueblos in New Mexico in 1000). Small images of contemporary art, in this case a black and white Mimbres bowl, link to larger images with full descriptions. To approach by art historical topics, start at the thematic index, and proceed to definition pages such as The Cult of the Virgin, which includes a 10th century Greek ivory icon depicting the Virgin, a French wooden sculpture of the Virgin and child (1200 AD), and a leaf from an Italian 14th century manuscript that shows the birth of the Virgin in an initial G. There are also links back to related spots on the timeline from definition pages. Viewers should check back frequently, though, because the timeline will eventually reach to the present day. [DS]
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Taxday Reports, 2002 [.pdf]
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/taxday2002/taxday02.html
Ever wonder how the federal government is spending your tax dollars? Well, the National Priorities Project has provided the answer with the recently released Taxday Reports, 2002. This document breaks down by category how the government spends income tax dollars in each state and selected cities and counties. According to the report, most of the money from federal income taxes goes to military spending and interest on the debt, leaving little money left for education, the environment, and other local needs. This report also includes a tax day action and media package that contains information on how to conduct a tax day penny poll, a sample tax day press release, a sample tax day ballot for polling action, and a tax day checklist for action. In short, this is a noteworthy site that should be of interest to every tax payer in America. [MG]
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American Experience: A Brilliant Madness
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/
A Brilliant Madness is a PBS special that offers insight into the life of MIT mathematical genius, John Nash. At the age of 30, Nash was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after he suddenly began claiming he was a special messenger for aliens. For the next three decades, Nash found himself in and out of mental hospitals. In the mean time, a proof he had written at the age of 20 became a foundation for modern economic theory, and in 1994, Nash was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. The PBS program, which is not to be confused with the movie "A Beautiful Mind," airs Sunday, April 28 (check local listings) and features interviews with John Nash, his wife Alicia, his friends and colleagues, and experts in game theory and mental illness. The Web site, a companion to the film, offers users the opportunity to hear an interview with Nash, get a crash course in game theory, trace an historical timeline of the treatment of mental illness through the ages, enter a Q & A forum with a panel of experts on mental illness and recovery, tour a gallery of American Nobel Economists, and much more. [MG]
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Drafting a Faculty Copyright Ownership Policy
http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=982
Great perspective on a topic of critical interest to everyone engaged in academic writing and research, but especially to those laboring ex officio. In an era when copyright is being rewritten and reconsidered in almost every field of endeavor, this article explores the ramifications of changing copyright agreements and expectations from the viewpoint of those writing on campus, as part of their work. While many in the academy are still engaged in the same kind of writing traditionally expected of faculty, many are now working in much different venues, in particular in the creation of online resources in the form of courses or stand-alone informational Web pages. Who owns what is created? The university, the department in which the instructor works, or the author alone? Or all of the above? Governing boards of academic institutions across America are rapidly coming to the conclusion that the university should enjoy the privileges of authorship, regardless of who does the work. A clear wake-up call, this article insists that authors, whoever they might be, get involved now. At the very least, the article insists that authors as employees must establish at the outset who is going to own what gets created under the aegis of the academy. [WH]
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Copyright Data Dissemination Search
http://strategis.gc.ca/cipo/copyrights/jsp/search.jsp
An impressive, multi-functional interface for the Canadian Intellectual Property Office's online services, this Web site is user friendly for anyone in search of existing Canadian patents or copyrights, as well as for those interested in submitting an application for either. Offering extensive how-to information on the application and product development processes, the site will interest those conducting business or research on intellectual property in Canada. Patents, copyrights, and trademarks are all searchable via the main page through either single or multiple terms, however specific or imprecise. For example, users can search for patents via a known patent number or by product type, manufacturer name, or year. Searches can also be conducted on authors, agents, and country of origin. Additionally, all databases can be searched simultaneously and with multiple terms and/or delimiters. As a primary resource, the site also links to other agencies and associations (Canadian and international) that support intellectual property rights and trade. [WH]
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2001 Internet Fraud Report [.pdf]
http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/strategy/IFCC_2001_AnnualReport.pdf
The Internet Fraud Complaint Center's (IFCC) 2001 Internet Fraud Report is the first annual compilation of data on complaints received and referred by the IFCC to law enforcement or regulatory agencies for appropriate action. From January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2001, the IFCC Web site received 49,711 complaints ranging from computer intrusions, to SPAM/unsolicited email, to child pornography. The total dollar loss from all referred cases of fraud totaled $17.8 million, with a median dollar loss of $435 per complaint. This 27-page report has recently been made accessible for online users in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. [MG]
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Soil Texture Triangle: Hydraulic Properties Calculator
http://www.bsyse.wsu.edu/saxton/soilwater/
Dr. Keith E. Saxton from Washington State Universities Department of Biological Systems Engineering offers the Soil Texture Triangle-Hydraulic Properties Calculator Web site. By simply entering its percent sand and clay, this online calculator allows users to find the wilting point, field capacity, bulk density, saturation, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and available water of particular soils. A great resource for researchers and professionals, the utility can even be downloaded free of charge to use on your own computer as a MS-DOS program. This site is also reviewed in the April 19, 2002 NSDL Physical Sciences Report. [JAB]
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Freshwater and Marine Image Bank
http://content.lib.washington.edu/fish/
This image bank is part of the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections. The site makes available more than 2600 images, all from 18th and 19th century publications, many of which "lay buried in aging volumes on fragile paper in obscure corners of library stacks." Users can search or browse for images; each has been scanned for the digital collection and includes a description and bibliographic citation. This is a unique resource that uses modern technology to preserve substantial historical data. This site is also reviewed in the April 19, 2002 NSDL Life Sciences Report. [AL]
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The Internet Language Dictionary
http://www.netlingo.com/inframes.cfm
Offered by NetLingo.com, this site is an online dictionary containing thousands of popular Internet words and definitions that describe the technology and community of the World Wide Web. This site is easily navigable, and users can access definitions by clicking on the terms of their choice. All Internet users, from the novice to the advanced, may find this site worth exploring. [MG]
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Colorfield Xproof
http://www.colorfield.com/xproof/
A product of Colorfield Digital Media, Inc., Xproof is a color previewing and information tool that enables Web designers to quickly and easily visualize color appearance across different types of electronic media. This software allows designers to preview image color on alternate operating systems and display devices, view color value information for common color spaces, access HTML color value names, and much more. Xproof is currently available only for the Macintosh and requires either Mac OS 9 with CarbonLib version 1.5, or Mac OS X version 10.1 or later. Users are required to register before downloading this product. [MG]
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Milan Crash Elicits Horrors from September 11
Plane Crashes Into Skyscraper in Milan
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/367375p-2965744c.html
Small Plane Crashes into Milan Skyscraper; At Least Five Dead
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=153403
Terror Fears Abate after Milan Plane Crash
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&set_id=1&art_id=qw1019153340582B234
Family Blames Drug for Teen Suicide
http://www.msnbc.com/news/739424.asp
Architecture of Milan, Italy
http://www.greatbuildings.com/places/milan.html
Profile of Gio Ponti
http://www.dolcevita.com/design/designers/ponti0.htm
Pier Luigi Nervi: Great Buildings Online
http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Pier_Luigi_Nervi.html
In Milan, Italy, a small propeller plane crashed into a skyscraper Thursday afternoon, leaving at least five people dead and dozens injured. The pilot, Luigi Fasulo, was on a 20-minute flight from Locarno, Switzerland when he was alerted by air traffic controllers that he was not lined up with the runway. According to the Italian air traffic controller's association, the pilot reported "a little problem with the landing gear," and the control tower instructed him to move to the west of the airport until it was fixed. After seeing the pilot drift to the north, the control tower contacted the pilot again, stating that he was moving in the wrong direction. The pilot then claimed he was repairing the problem with his landing gear, and soon after, lost contact with the control tower. The Pirelli -- the damaged skyscraper -- was Italy's first skyscraper and one of the world's tallest concrete buildings. Built in 1958 and designed by architects Gio Ponti and Pier Luigi Nervi, it is one of the main symbols of Milan, along with the city's cathedral. The skyscraper is built of concrete and glass with a diamond-shaped floor plan and has inspired design around the world. Approximately 1,300 people work in the building, which houses local government offices. It is not known how many people were still in the building when the crash occurred.
Fasulo's son, Marco - a pilot for the airline Swiss - told the Rome newspaper La Repubblica that his father's crash may have been a suicide induced by despair over financial problems. However, the pilot's nephew, also named Luigi Fasulo, told Italian state television that the crash was an accident. "Surely there was no intention on the part of my uncle to crash into the building...he was a person who loved life." Milan Chief Prosecutor Gerardo D'Ambrosio said suicide was the least credible of three possible explanations police were examining -- including a technical problem or pilot illness. Italian Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi, in a Friday briefing in the Senate, said the pilot could have fallen ill at the controls because, after making initial radio contact, "there was silence" and "he was not operating any of the plane's controls in the last two minutes." This crash is the second such incident since September 11. On January 5, a 15-year-old boy flying alone crashed a stolen plane into a building in Tampa, Florida. The boy, Charles Bishop, left behind a suicide note praising Bin Laden and saying that al-Qaeda terrorists had tried to recruit him. Relatives of the boy have filed a lawsuit, claiming the acne drug Accutane was behind his suicide. For more information on the Milan crash, users may access the first three links above. The fourth link provides information regarding the Charles Bishop crash. To view the beautiful architecture of the city of Milan, users may access the fifth link. Links six and seven provide profile information and architectural works by the Italian designers of the Milan skyscraper. [MG]
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From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2002. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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