Infowatch August 1996

*********************************************************************

                            InfoWatch
----------------------------------------------------------------
 Tracking Networked Scientific Information Sources and Services
      (An electronic update service brought to you by NCSI)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
                          August, 1996
In this issue :

 1. American Computer Scientists Association (ACSA)
 2. Aqualink - Largest Aquaria Web resource 
 3. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) extends free database 
     access to IISc
 4. Christian Science Monitor
 5. Cornell Theory Center Explorations (Online Science Book)  
 6. C-EDRES--Mailing list for educators
 7. Global Entomology Agricultural Research Server
 8. Healthgate - Source of health & biomedical info
 9. Hiten (High temperature electronics) Web site
10. inquiry.com (service for software developers)
11. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
12. Mathematics - Free E-journals from AMS
13. MediaFinder - Dir. of E-journals, newsletters & catalogs
14. Nerd's Heaven--Software directory directory
15. Proceedings of Sixth Annual Internet Society Conference 
    (INET'96)
16. Termite Pages
----------------------------------------------------------------

1. American Computer Scientists Association (ACSA)

Cutting-edge computer science is the theme of this interactive site, run by the American Computer Scientists Association. Virtu- al visitors can engage in online discussions with scientists on a staggering array of subjects - from semiotics to sentient machin- ery. Net managers may be more interested in something a little more real world, like downloadable data on advances in 3-D imag- ing, remote access, and virtual libraries.

URL : http://www.acsa2000.net/

2. Aqualink

Aqualink is a public service to the aquaria hobbyist interested in freshwater and marine fish, reef coral, invertebrates and aquatic plants. Services include mailing lists, software, docu- ments, articles and a help service with over 100 volunteers.

URL : http://www.aqualink.com

3. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) extends free database access to IISc

CSA (http://www.csa.com) had given free trial access to their databases for IISc users for the period 13th June to 15th July, 1996. We are informed by CSA that over 300 accesses were made by IISc users during this period. We are glad to inform you that they have extended this trial period for the time being. You can use the same user ID and password that we had broadcast earlier. Alternately, you can send a mail to help@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in to get the details.

4. Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor has moved to http://www.csmonitor.com/

5. Cornell Theory Center Explorations

Explorations "is intended to be an interactive journey into the world of computational research for a wide range of viewers." The sections include "Above and Beyond," which focuses on the forma- tion of the universe, "Down to Earth," with topics related to biodiversity, "Living Things," which explores life on both the species level and the molecular scale, and "Practicle Particles," with sections on hydrogen fusion, methane fuels, and superstring theory. Throughout the site, the use of graphics and frames is consistent and intuitive, leaving the user to grapple solely with the (fascinating but challenging) concepts contained within the pages of this online book.

URL : http://www.tc.cornell.edu/er96/science96/Explorations

6. C-EDRES--Mailing list for educators

C-EDRES is a moderated educational resource mailing list for educators. It provides announcements and reviews three times a week on a variety of sites of interest to educators. All levels of sites from all subject areas are reviewed. The reviews are written by list subscribers and site owners and provide a brief but accurate description of the site, as well as an evaluation of the navigation, graphics, grammar, and usefulness of the site for educators in particular. A web site describing the list and offering searches and FTP instructions is also available.

URL : http://cnet.unb.ca/c-edres

To subscribe, send email to: c-edres-server@unb.ca
In the body of the message type: subscribe C-EDRES yourfirstname yourlastname

7. Global Entomology Agricultural Research Server (GEARS)

GEARS is a public access government site with bee and pollination facts for adults, childern (K-12) and teachers. Read travel stories about insects worldwide, see photographs and bug movies, and listen to insect sounds. You can also download free software.

URL : http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/

8. Healthgate

Free access to 'Medline' is on offer here, providing over eight million references to journal articles in all fields of medicine and related dicsiplines. You can opt to pay a subscription fee to access several other databases including: AIDSLINE, AIDSDRUGS, AIDSTRIALS, CANCERLIT, EMBASE, etc. A consumer Health area provides information on medical tests, prescription and non- prescription drugs, symptoms, illness and surgery. Sixty reports on common health conditions and problems are also provided.

URL : http://www.healthgate.com

9. Hiten (High temperature electronics) Web site

The High Temperature Electronics Network (HITEN) is sponsored by the Commission of the European Communities under the EC Networks of Excellence Program. The aim of HITEN is to provide a compre- hensive range of information-based services to the high tempera- ture electronics industry covering technologies, markets, and products. Many of these services will be available through the HITEN Web site. Access to this site is currently free due to sponsorship by the EC Networks of Excellence Program. From Octob- er 1st 1996, access to certain areas of the site will be by subscription only. The HITEN site aims to cover all aspects of High Temperature Electronics and related areas, including semi- conductor technologies, applications and users and other areas.

URL : http://www.hiten.com/

10. inquiry.com

inquiry.com is a free service for software developers, providing search tools, discussion forums, and expert advice on products, development, and emerging technologies. The product directory allows users to search for software products and vendors by application category, vendor, and product. Other databases pro- vided include publications, vendor literature, tech tips, and a DBMS buyer's guide. New in this version of the site is automatic linking between articles found in publications searches and relevant vendors.

URL : http://www.inquiry.com/

11. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

Provided by the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, MacTutor is a comprehensive archive that contains biographies of over 1100 mathematicians, from Niels Abel to Antoni Zygmund. Mathematicians can be accessed alphabetically or chronologically. Biographies contain birth and death information, along with a synopsis of the mathematician's work and references. The site also contains a history topics section, with short articles on over twenty topics ranging from Babylonian and Egyptian mathematics to the quantum age, as well as an overall chronology of mathematicians, a birth- place map (for those born in Western Europe), and a selection of short articles on over 60 famous curves. The site is searchable, and is one of the most exhaustive mathematics history sites on the Internet.

URL : http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/

12. Mathematics - Free e-journals from AMS

Three professional publications are available via electronic delivery - Free of cost, from American Mathematical Society Web Site :

a) Notices of the American Mathematical Society
URL : http://www.ams.org/notices/

b) Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society
URL : http://www.ams.org/bull/

c) Electronic Research Announcements
(electronic-only journal) URL : http://www.ams.org/era

13. MediaFinder

Request free information from a searchable database of newslet- ters, magazines, journals and catlogues. More than 5000 listings in 265 subject categories.

URL : http://www.mediafinder.com

14. Nerd's Heaven--Software directory directory

Nerd's Heaven is the directory of software directories. Dozens of Internet software repositories are organized under subject head- ings: general software, Internet, operating systems, mathematics, Windows- and Macintosh-specific, user groups, commercial vendors, and religious software. Each directory is annotated, so that the user knows what to expect before deciding whether to visit.

URL : http://boole.stanford.edu/nerdsheaven.html

15. Proceedings of Sixth Annual Internet Society Conference (INET'96)

The proceedings of the recently completed sixth annual conference of the Internet Society (INET'96), including over 150 papers, are available at the ISOC web site. Main topics of the conference, held in Montreal, Quebec, consist of "Internet Applications and Services," "Transforming Internet Commerce and Reshaping the Marketplace," "Internet Learning and Teaching," "Networking Technology Frontiers," "Internet and Social Transformations," "Growing and Regulating the Internet: Economic and Policy Issues," "Expanding and Enhancing Internet Access," and "Internet Case Studies."

URL : http://www.isoc.org/ (follow link from home page)

16. Termite Pages

Dr Don's Termite Pages provide basic information about termites, aimed at the student and consumer. These are largely the collect- ed works of the author's e-mail responses to various people over the last couple of years. There's a lot about termites as pests, and a little about ecology and taxonomy. It is a growing site, open to suggestion, with the aim of providing accessible informa- tion about these creatures.

URL : http://www.wark.csiro.au/ewart/doncsiro.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------

About InfoWatch

InfoWatch is a monthly electronic newsletter, brought out by the National Centre for Science Information (NCSI), Indian Insti- tute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012, INDIA. Information in the newsletter is collected and verified by NCSI staff. The newslet- ter 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 news- letter 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 T.B. Rajasehkar, editor, InfoWatch (raja@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in).

______________________________________________________________

BACK TO *********************************************************************