1. Access Excellence: A Place in Cyberspace for
Biology Teaching & Learning
This site, sponsored by
Genentech, Inc. is a national educational program that aids in connecting high
school biology teachers with scientists, other colleagues, and sources of
scientific information. Realizing that educators are often pressed for time,
this excellent, well organized, searchable site has listings of classroom
activities, articles on current science news, and active discussions on many
topics. It also contains a Resource Center that lists other relevant web sites
by subject.
URL:
http://www.gene.com/ae/
2. Aerospace Engineering Virtual Library
This is part of the World Wide Web Virtual Library
(www.w3.org) maintained by the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, U.S.A. It
has been voted in the 'top five percent of all Internet sites' by Point Survey
(www.pointcom.com). Provides links to a large number of Aerospace related sites.
These include : conferences, European Space Agency, digitised aerospace images,
manufacturers and businesses, museums (e.g. National Air and Space), NASA space
centres, publications (e.g. periodicals and online magazines), research sites
(commercial, government and univ.) rocketry resources, software, Aerospace
departments in universities,videos (aerospace film clips), student
organisations, etc.
URL:
http://macwww.db.erau.edu/www_virtual_lib/aerospace.html
3. "All" Engineering Resources on the
Internet--EELS
The well known Engineering Electronic
Library, Sweden (EELS) has recently added a searchable database of several
thousand Internet engineering resource pages. Beginning from "14 important
engineering collections on the Internet, the EELS robot indexes those pages and
the pages they link to in two levels." AE at present contains about 6,000
of the pages gathered. Powerful search features are available, including
Boolean, proximity, phrase, and truncation searching. The site also contains
hotlists of the "most cited individual engineering URLs," and "most
cited engineering file directories." Like Argos and Neuroscience Web Search
this is a subject-specific search engine. EELS contains over 1,200 annotated,
indexed resources in civil, mining, mechanical, electrical, and chemical
engineering.
URL:
http://www.ub2.lu.se/eel/ae/
Engineering
Electronic Library, Sweden
http://www.ub2.lu.se/eel/eelhome.html
4. Alternative Fuels Data Center
Collects
operating information from vehicles (in programmes sponsored by the Alternative
Motor Fules Act) running on alternative fuels, analyses those data and makes
them available to the public. The center also maintains information on research
reports conducted for both the Biofuels Systems Division and the Fuel
Utilization Data and Analysis Division of the DOE office of Alternative fuels.
URL:
http://www.afdc.nrel.gov/
5. Civil Engineering DataBase--Publications of the
ASCE
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) offers
this searchable database of over 80,000 "bibliographic and abstracted
records" from its publications, including twenty-five journals, "conference
proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newsletters," going
back to 1975. The database allows keyword, author, title, and date searching, as
well as Boolean and/or/not and truncation searching. An inverted list of
keywords is available, and each record is cross-indexed to selected key words.
Document retrieval information is available at the site.
URL:
http://www.ascepub.infor.com:8601/chrhome2.html
List
of ASCE Journals:
http://www.ascepub.infor.com:8601/journals/jlist.html
6. EPA Global Warming
The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Home Page on Global Warming is served by
the Waste Policy Institute for the EPA Office of Economy and Environment. This
well organized site contains a great deal of information on global warming,
climate change, and the greenhouse effect. It contains reports, slide
presentations, and a glossary of terms, among other features. It also contains
predictions on the impacts of global warming and discusses governmental policies
and actions. If you would like to make a difference in the study of global
warming, this site can also give you the information you need to get involved.
URL:
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/
Less
graphical entrance:
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/home.htm
7. ExploraNet (Scientific experiments)
ExploraNet
is provided by the Exploratorium, located in San Francisco, California. It
includes hands-on scientific experiments, exhibits, and "Ten Cool Sites"
for the month. Current and past issues of Exploratorium's
What's New in the World can be searched or browsed. The site also
contains a "Digital Library" which has past images, sounds, exhibits,
and Web cams. It also features educational presentations on understanding
shadows, a cow's eye dissection, and more.
URL:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
8. FAA Aviation Safety Data
The
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recently made available three
searchable aviation databases: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)
Accident/Incident Database, FAA Incident Data System, and NTSB Recommendations
to the FAA. The databases are updated monthly and are available back to 1983,
1978, and 1963 respectively. The first two can be searched via a form that
allows a combination of user entries and choices from drop-down menus.
Interested users are strongly encouraged to read the "Learn About the
Databases" section, as well as the information about each variable before
using the databases. The site also contains a brief aviation glossary and FAA
regulations from the US Code of Federal Regulations. Note that the site "supports
Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer only."
URL:
http://nasdac.faa.gov/internet/
9. Free News Clippings on the Net
Last
month, what was claimed to be the first free news clipping service available
over the WWW, was launched by US based search specialist Excite. Within
a week, rival search engine company Infoseek had launched a customised
element to its News Center, which also offers free Web based news. Excite
NewsTracker monitors more than 300 publications that proide articles via
their Web pages - some full text of their print equivalents, others just
selected items. Web users can retrieve articles presented on a personalised Web
page, by browsing through broad news topics, or by using a simple search
facility. Infoseek has added a customised option to its News Center,
which carries daily news from Reuters, BusinessWire and PR NewsWire, together
with listings of stories on news-related Web sites. Now after users enter
personalised interests, Infoseek will issue daily e-mail alerts with news
headlines, categorised by topic, date and time. The service is free of charge.
URL: Excite : http://excite.com
Infoseek
: http://www.infoseek.com
10. Indian Public Affairs Network
Indian
Public Affairs Network (IPAN) has announced the launch of its interactive
website, IPAN online, on the Internet. With the establishment of this site, IPAN
claims to have Indias's first definitive web journal on public affairs and PR.
IPAN online combines daily updates of press releases and photographs from major
Indian and MNCs, with company profiles and monthly reviews of key sectors of the
Indian economy.
URL:
http://www.ipan.com
11. Morninglory Online (Trading CDs)
Morninglory
Music, a Santa Barbara based retailer of new and used compact discs has launched
a Web site that enables consumers to purchase and sell CDs through the World
Wide Web. Called Morninglory Online, this site allows customers to purchase new
music and to sell used CDs. Users can search through Morninglory's new and used
CD collection by artist, title, label or music category. To sell the CD, a user
simply fills out the online order form and receives a quoted price through
e-mail.
URL: http://www.bestusedcds.com
12. Nature Web Special: Cloned Sheep
Nature,
the "international weekly journal of science," has created a web page
to accompany the ground-breaking letter it published in the February 27, 1997
issue: "Viable offspring derived from fetal and adult mammalian cells,"
by I. Wilmut, et al. The letter is available, as well as a Nature
Opinion piece, and short articles of commentary by Axel Kahn of the INSERM
Laboratory of Research on Genetics and Molecular Pathology at the Cochin
Institute of Molecular Genetics, Paris, and Colin Stewart of the NCI-Frederick
Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, Maryland. Note that the site
is free, but registration is required.
URL:
http://www.nature.com/
Click on
Web Special: Cloned Sheep
13. Robbins Algebras Are Boolean [.ps, 13p.]
Perhaps
the question, "Are all Robbins algebras Boolean?" has never kept you
awake at night. But since the 1930s, when Harvard's Herbert Robbins posed it,
pondering this issue has been a favorite pastime for mathematicians. In October
1996, however, speculation came to an end when a proof that solves the Robbins
problem was discovered by Dr. William McCune, a staff member in the Mathematics
and Computer Science Division of the Argonne National Laboratory. What's even
more interesting about his discovery is that the proof itself was found by the
automated reasoning software "EQP." Now a pre-publication version of
McCune's findings is available, which describes how he coaxed 3 UNIX machines
into thinking through a problem whose solution had eluded two generations of
humans. McCune's page provides a link to a New York Times story on the proof, as
well as to other related information about Robbins algebras on the web.
URL:
http://www.mcs.anl.gov/home/mccune/ar/robbins/
14. The Internet: Bringing Order from Chaos--Scientific
American
The March 1997 issue of Scientific
American magazine presents a special report on the Internet, containing
eight articles on topics including multilingualism, trusted systems, searching
and filtering information, an aural interface to the web, digital libraries,
search interfaces, and the possibility of archiving the Internet. Authors
include Clifford Lynch, Paul Resnick, Brewster Kahle, and Michael Lesk, among
others. The articles are concise, well written, and thought provoking, and
provide intelligent commentary on knowledge organization on the Internet.
URL:
http://www.sciam.com/0397issue/0397intro.html
15. Time-lines : Einstein on CD-ROM
The
Economist has presented a very good review of "The Ultimate Einstein"
by Macmillan Interactive, a CD-ROM on Albert Einstein and his work. Excerpt from
the review includes : " THE best way to understand the importance of
something of such scientific- and culture-shattering consequence as Albert
Einstein's theories of relativity is to appreciate the context of the concept
and its creator. It is hard to get a sense of context from biography in
conventional book form. Good compact discs, such as the one under review, make
it easier. It has time-lines to portray the relationship of events,
videos to explain complex science, hundreds of photographs to show the people
and their times, dozens of audio clips to provide the emphasis of inflection or
background period music, and even the odd game to help the user learn the
relationship between time, space and mass. The CD also contains words to read,
print or copy. .."
URL:
http://www.economist.com/review/rev13/rv8/review.html
16. Travelocity (comprehensive air travel source)
Compare
airfares, then book and purchase tickets online. Check the seating diagram of
most popular commercial aircraft. Print customized maps of any American city.
Swap touring tales with other travelers. Order a video about Ireland, a currency
calculator or a dual voltage iron. Its all availble on Travelocity, a Web site
that bills itself as a one-stop site for do-it yourself travelers. Launched in
March 1996, Travelocity is a joint venture of Worldview Systems, a publisher of
online destination information and Sabre Interactive, which provides consumer
access to the Sabre travel reservation system. Visitors can check and compare
airfares for nearly 700 airlines and to reserve and purchase tickets for more
than half of them online. In addition, Travelocity offers more than 200,000
pages of destination information, including listings for thousands of
restaurants, museums, lodgings, golf courses and events. The service also offers
interactive forums, travel merchandise, customized maps and prenegotiated
accomodation packages.
URL: http://www.travelocity.com
17. UNIXNT-L--UNIX & NT server discussion list
This
is an unmoderated list for anyone who uses any flavor of the UNIX operating
system, or Windows NT as their Internet server. List topics are open to anything
that involves the setup, maintenance, administration, or use of UNIX or NT. Of
special interest will be those discussions that compare aspects of each
operating system and extoll the good and/or bad features of each. Subscription
information and list archives can be found at the website.
URL:
Subscription information and list archives:
http://www.switchsoft.com/unixnt
To
subscribe send email to:
LISTSERVER@switchsoft.com
In
the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE UNIXNT-L yourfirstname
yourlastname
18. VRML Cartoons on the Net
Silicon
Graphics has unveiled Flook, a fully animated 3D VRML based cartoon
character series designed specifically for the Web. This will be hosted on
Silicon Graphics re-designed Web site dedicated to the VRML industry. A new
episode will be aired every Tuesday and Thursday morning and can be viewed using
SGI's Cosmo Player, a VRML 2.0 compliant. Using Silicon Graphics' workstations
and motion capture technology, Flook was animated with body movements to
match each episode's prepared script. Localized sound was then added to the
scene and the completed VRML file hosted on Silicon Graphics' Web site. Cosmo
Player is available for free download from the same site.
URL:
http://vrml.sgi.com
19. W3 Consortium 's new reccomendation of Web style
sheets
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has issued a
recommendation for Web style sheets. Called Cascading Style Sheets Level 1
(CSS1), this specification gives Web designers a set of tools to help them
specify Web page presentation properties such as fonts, colors, and margins.
Using links, CSS1 enables a designer to use a single style sheet and apply it to
all Web pages on a site - and dramatically simplify Web style maintenance. The
style sheet cab also be put inside a Web document to specify how the document is
presented. CSS1 offers a powerful and manageable way for authors, artists, and
typographers to specify the visual presentation of an HTML document or
collection of documents. W3C members have reviewd the CSS1 specification and
support its adoption.
URL:
http://www.w3.org/
InfoWatch is a monthly electronic newsletter, brought out by the National Centre for Science Information (NCSI), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012, INDIA. Information in the newsletter is collected and verified by NCSI staff. The newsletter aims to raise awareness of new sources of information on the Internet, particularly those which are relevant for higher education and research. Some items may be of relevance only to the IISc community. Resources reported here have been taken from various discussion lists and other network tools and no special claims are made for accuracy or originality. Most of the sources cited in the newsletter were checked at the time of publication, however it is possible that some of the resources are no longer available. We welcome comments about the newsletter and suggestions for resources to be featured. Please e-mail your comments to Infowatch editors : Dr. T.B. Rajashekar (raja@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in ) and Ms. Aparna Simha (aparna@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in ).