Heriot-Watt University Library

_INTERNET RESOURCES_ Newsletter

Issue 6 - March 1995

Edited by:

Roddy MacLeod (libram@bonaly.hw.ac.uk) and Gordon Andrew (libgra@bonaly.hw.ac.uk)

Table of Contents:

COMMENT: UnCover Shock

On 5th March the following e-mail message was sent by UnCover to users of the Reveal Service (the Reveal service is a very useful e-mail Table of Contents (TOC) service).

"The UnCover Company will begin charging for the Reveal service, which has been free to individuals for the past year. The charge is $20 per year for each individual profile. This fee will permit users to select up to 50 titles from which to receive tables of contents, and to store up to 25 search strategies. Note: Companies or institutions who wish to route tables of contents internally to employees should contact UnCover about setting up this service."

Perhaps it was too much to expect this service to remain free for all time, however the announcement of charges does mean that the Library will have to consider various options. Another message from UnCover contained the following information: "In response to popular demand, we at the UnCover Company have decided to offer site licensing for libraries and other institutions which wish to pay the annual charge for their users"

Yet another message concerned the unhancement of the new service: "The New UnCover Reveal that will be released on April 3rd is a significantly enhanced service. It's not the old Reveal you've been using for free for the past year. In addition to Table of Contents delivery, new Reveal will alert the subscriber to newly published materials on topics of his choice or by authors whose work is of interest. This new feature makes Reveal a true alert service and takes it a step beyond table of contents of delivery."

In order for the Library to consider the way forward, it would help us to know what users of the Reveal service at Heriot-Watt University think. Please send any comments to libhelp (for non vax users the e-mail address is libhelp@bonaly.hw). YOUR INPUT WILL BE VALUABLE!

Michael Breaks,
University Librarian
(libmlb@bonaly.hw.ac.uk)

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NEW/RECENT INTERNET RESOURCES

E-MAIL/FTP:

NEW MAILBASE LISTS:

ai-sges
This is the mailing list of the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems (SGES). The SGES was founded in 1980 to provide information and support to developers and users of expert systems both in industry and academia.
automated-dna-sequencing
Automated DNA sequencing is a major growth area in molecular biology . This list will be used to discuss the various template preperation and sequencing techniques as well as problems that people encounter and any possible solutions.
continuing-education
This list is for the exchange and dissemination of information regarding the provision of continuing education in the HE sector. It is anticipated that all areas of ce will be covered, including credit-bearing and non-credit-bearing LAE, CVET, CPD and administration.
engineering-masonry
Masonry, such as bricks, blocks and natural stone are traditional building materials which are widely used in building and construction industry. Masonry is a complex, hetrogenous material and this has led engineers to use empirical relationships based on experimental research and past experience. In recent years, rapid development in numerical methods and computer technology have taken place and these enable engineers to analyse masonry structures with complex geometries and arbitrary loadings.

The main objective of this list is to provide an interdesciplinary forum for discussion and exchange of views between numerical and experimental researchers and practising engineers. The following are the suggested list of topics for discussion amongst the list members. This list is not exhaustive and members are welcome to raise any issues which they may deem relevant.

geo-tectonics
forum for the discussion of all aspects of tectonics, structural geology and related disciplines. The list operates under the auspices of the Tectonic Studies Group of the Geological Society of London but is open to all. It carries regular postings advertising the Group's activities.
midas
This list has been set up as a forum to exchange information on facilities that MIDAS provides or could provide. MIDAS (Manchester Information Data sets and Associated Services) gives the UK academic community on-line access to, and support for, many large and complex datasets.
oxnetbiol
For scientists interested in response of plants, & other living organisms, to oxygen deficiency and other aspects of poor aeration. Botanists, non-botanists, biochemists, cell biologists, physiologists and ecologists are equally welcome. Initial discussion will concern EU funding under framework 4.
quality-management
A forum for the exchange of ideas and information by researchers and practitioners involved in the field of quality management and continuous improvement practices.
semiconductors-2-6
The research groups studying all aspects of II-VI semiconductors are often separated by large distances. This list will attempt to increase communication and encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas between the groups, for the mutual benefit of all.
study-skills-sw-user
This list is for people using our software and materials to help university students develop study skills: Questionnaire diagnoses problems; StudyAdvisor offers individualised advice; StudentView analyses and displays Questionnaire results for a group of students.

For information on how to subscribe to Mailbase lists, please see Issue 1 of _INTERNET RESOURCES_

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NEW LISTSERV LISTS & OTHER E-MAIL & FTP RESOURCES

Scholarly E-Conferences

For a directory of scholarly e-conferences, try clicking here.

ELECTRONIC TAG 

The Technical Activities Guide (TAG) produced by the IEEE 
Conference Services Department, is now available by e-mail. 

To receive news of ALL IEEE sponsored/co-sponsored conferences, 
send a blank e-mail message to: 
  tag@ieee.org 

To receive news of IEEE sponsored/co-sponsored conferences, 
send a message to 
  fileserver@ieee.org 
with the following message: 
  info.tag.[acronym] 
where [acronym] is the IEEE society acronym.  e.g.  
  info.tag.pe 
(for Power Engineering) 

To receive news of IEEE sponsored/co-sponsored and topical 
interest conferences by region 
send a message to 
  fileserver@ieee.org 
with the following message 
  info.tag.[regionx] 
where [regionx] is the name and number of the IEEE region.  e.g. 
  info.tag.region8 
(for Europe )

materials-l 

The list materials-l is a world-wide discussion forum for those
involved in both teaching and research in materials science and
engineering.  Interested participants might be in Materials
Departments in Universities, or other Engineering or Science
departments, or in industry or government research laboratories.

To subscribe to materials-l, send the following command in the BODY
of the email to listproc@liverpool.ac.uk on the Internet:

      SUBSCRIBE MATERIALS-L yourfirstname yourlastname

   For example: SUBSCRIBE MATERIALS-L Joe Bloggs

PWEN (Physics World Electronic News)

PWEN is available on subscription only.  For information send
instruction HELP PWEN in the main body of an e-mail message to
listproc@listserver.ioppublishing.com

Subscribers may access the PWEN archive by sending "GET PWEN index" (no
quotes) for an index, or "GET PWEN filename" (no quotes) when the file
name is known, as the only words in the body of an e-mail message to
listproc@listserver.ioppublishing.com.  Files prefixed by 2 are from the
prototype edition.

VIRTED - Uses of Virtual Reality in Education

An unmoderated discussion list for teachers, students and anyone else
interested in the uses of virtual reality in education and learning

send mail to:  LISTSERV@SJUVM
          or   LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU
  in the body of the message type:
      SUB VIRTED Your-First-Name Your-Last-Name

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NEW WORLD WIDE WEB, GOPHER & TELNET RESOURCES

BABEL
A glossary of computer oriented abbreviations and acronyms
THE BIG BYTE
The Big Byte is a radio programme which I try not to miss. It is broadcast 1215-1300 Sunday Radio 5 Live 909 & 696 MW

It discusses various topics, only a few of which relate to the world of higher education, however it is still an interesting programme. The WWW site has notes about forthcoming programmes, with links to sites under discussion, and there is also a .DOT DIRECTORY with links to hundreds of sites.

BIOSIS
BIOSIS, established in 1926, is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to foster the growth, communication and use of biological knowledge for the common good. By accumulating the world's largest collection of abstracts and bibliographic references to worldwide biological and medical literature and organizing this information for easy access, BIOSIS provides vital sources of information for life scientists.
CIC-EJC
The CIC Electronic Journals Collection (CIC-EJC) is a new collaborative initiative between CICNet and the librarians of the CIC member institutions to create a professionally managed collection of electronic journals of scholarly importance.
COMPUTER LITERACY BOOKSHOPS HOME PAGE
An Online bookstore
DERWeb (Dental Education Resources on the Web)
The purpose of DERWeb is to set up a library of dental images for use in teaching and research, along with a variety of teaching materials and other information on educational technology in dentistry.
ELECTRONIC JOURNALS
This is a new site which provides links to e-journals of all kinds, some academically orientated, and some not.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN: Hydrogeology Group
The Hydrogeology Group is one of the Specialist Groups of the Geological Society. The Geological Society is the principal academic and professional body that represents and co-ordinates activities for UK geologists.
HeSCA/NLM Virtual Workshop
Creating Multimedia Materials for Internet. Spring 1995
HTML CYBERCLASS
Starting March, 1995, and every other month (except July- August), Clear Nets is offering a two-month-long class in beginning HTML. This class covers everything you need to use HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to start developing homepages. While this particular class is targeted at people who are new to writing HTML (but are already familiar with browsing the World Wide Web), we are considering offering other classes in more advanced topics (including forms, image maps, searches, PERL and Bourne Shell scripting etc.) for more experienced developers.
H.W.WILSON (Publishers)
IBM CANADA HIGHER EDUCATION HOME PAGE
This site has been set up to provide information to Universities and Colleges in Canada regarding solutions delivered by the IBM RISC System/6000 product family. Contains, for example, information about:
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Now has a WWW site. Information includes sections:
THE INSTITUTE
This is a new e-journal from the IEEE. It is a supplement to IEEE Spectrum.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HYDROGEOLOGISTS (UK Chapter)
IAH is a worldwide scientific and educational organisation with more than 3000 members in over 120 countries. The UK membership stands at 185. IAH is affiliated to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and participates in the International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF HETEROCYCLIC CHEMISTRY/ ROYAL SOCIETY PERKIN HETEROCYCLIC GROUP
JOBSERVE - THE JOB SERVER
For information about UK vacancies
LASER FOCUS WORLD
This site includes Contents pages of the journal Laser Focus World, plus links to the full text of some sections, such as Laser Industry Reports, Optics Industry Reports, Fiberoptics Industry Reports, etc.
LEEDS UNIVERSITY: Earth Sciences Department
MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS ELECTRONIC JOURNAL
Journal Announcement and Call for Papers, for a Refereed Electronic Journal in Mathematical Physics:

The intention of the journal is to publish papers in Mathematical Physics and related areas that are of the highest possible quality. Research papers and review articles are selected through a normal refereeing process, overseen by an editorial board. The research subjects will be primarily on Mathematical Physics; but this should not be interpreted as a limitation, as the editors feel that essentially allsubjects of Mathematics and Physics are in principle relevant to Mathematical Physics.

Access to the journal is provided through a variety of electronic means, including:

  1. e-mail to mpej@math.utexas.edu
  2. anonymous ftp to math.utexas.edu (directory pub/mpej
  3. gopher henri.ma.utexas.edu 70 (Mathematical Physics Elecronic Journal)
  4. www to http://henri.ma.utexas.edu/mpej/MPEJ.html

In addition, anybody with access to the internet can subscribe to the journal or just the abstracts. Subscriptions are free of charge.

The articles are presented in the form of a single postscript file, carrying a header with MPEJ logo, volume and paper number, and time stamps. The files maintained by a group of people at UTexas in Austin (H. Koch, R. de la Llave, C. Radin) with official support from the Department of Mathematics at UT. A printed copy of each volume will be sent to the Library of Congress.

Further information, concerning submission procedure, copyright policy, etc., can be obtained by e-mail, anonymous ftp, gopher, and www. An empty (or otherwise unrecognized) e-mail message to mpej@math.utexas.edu will return a list of subjects on which further information is available, and instructions on how to download this information.

Most of the organization of the journal is fully automatized, except for the refereeing process, which is quite traditional. The subscriptions are free, the access is free, and publication is fast (apart from the normal delay due to the refereeing).

We hope that you, as an active member of the Mathematical Physics community, will consider it interesting to publish your work in this form.

The Mathematical Physics Electronic Journal will start officially accepting papers on the Ides of March 1995 (ie March 15, 1995).

J.-P. Eckmann, G. Gallavotti, H. Koch (editors in chief)

MCGILL PHYSICS
This site mirrors the McGill Physics site which has very good links into Physics resources throughout the world. Listed under Physics departments arranged geographically; Physics departments arranged topically; Preprints archives & Publisher & Books and Journals; Computing and computers, General Physics resources, etc.
NACSIS (National Center for Science Information Systems, Japan)
NATIONAL METACENTER FOR COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS METACENTER
This multimedia collection contains descriptions of some of the 10,000 scientific research projects that have used the resources of National Science Foundation supercomputing centers. The reports range from astronomy to zoology, and include scientific breakthroughs on black holes, how the heart works, pollution control, and modelling the oceans. All reports have images, and many also are accompanied by animations and sound. Browsers will also find information on both Pacific and Atlantic Ocean systems, including a high-resolution animation of the general circulation of the North Atlantic.
NETCITY WORKSTATIONS
"...a complete solution for companies creating and maintaining information on the World Wide Web. We have combined the leading Web Authoring applications into one complete system and back this hardware and software up with telephone and email support services."
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Network Information Center)
RUNNING A WWW SERVICE
Written by Brian Kelly, from the University Computing Service, University of Leeds. The handbook was funded by the Advisory Group On Computer Graphics (AGOCG) through the Suppport Initiative For Multimedia Applications (SIMA). A print version has also been published.
SSDC (Social Science Data Collection) Part of InfoPath - the University of California, San Diego Information System
The SSDC is a collection of large numeric datafiles as well as a set of computer programs that provide access to those datafiles through a menu interface. Although this version is still in development and data retrieval is not yet implemented, you are welcome to browse the catalog of study descriptions.

Access to data will be available to UCSD users soon. Access to users outside of UCSD will only be available for those datafiles the USCD are contractually allowed to redistribute; currently, most of the data we have comes to us under contracts that limit availability to UCSD.

Datasets include: Euro-Barometers, International Financial databases, International Financial Studies, World Tables of Economic & Social Indicators, World Debt Tables, British Parliamentary Constituencies, ABS Polls, etc etc.

TABLES OF CONTENTS, Inc
The Latest Covers and TABLES-OF-CONTENTS for the 146 TOP Magazines for Computers, Sports, Science, Electronic & Computer Games, and Music & Entertainment.

The following is the list of Computer Magazines indexed:

   1.AI Expert 
   2.Amiga World 
   3.Byte 
   4.C/C++ Users Journal 
   5.CD ROM Power 
   6.Circuit Cellar Ink 
   7.Computer Artist 
   8.Computer Life 
   9.Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbook 
  10.Computer Shopper 
  11.Data Based Advisor 
  12.Dr.Dobb's Journal 
  13.DV 
  14.Family PC 
  15.Home PC 
  16.Home-Office Computing 
  17.Internet World
  18.Lan Magazine
  19.MAC User 
  20.MAC Home Journal 
  21.MAC World 
  22.MACTech Magazine 
  23.Mobile World 
  24.Multimedia World
  25.Online Access 
  26.Open Computing
  27.OS/2 Developer 
  28.PC Today 
  29.PC Novice 
  30.PC Catalog 
  31.PC Magazine 
  32.PC AI 
  33.PC World 
  34.PC/Computing 
  35.Publish 
  36.SCO World 
  37.Software Development 
  38.Stacks 
  39.UNIX Review 
  40.Windows

The following is the list of Science Magazines indexed:


   1.Air & Space 
   2.American Scientist 
   3.Astronomy 
   4.Discover 
   5.Final Frontier 
   6.Invention & Technology 
   7.Issues In Science and Technology 
   8.Leonardo 
   9.Nature 
  10.New Scientist 
  11.Observer's Guide 
  12.Omni 
  13.Pacific Discovery 
  14.Popular Science 
  15.Popular Mechanics 
  16.Scientific American Science & Medicine 
  17.Sky & Telescope 
  18.Technology Review 
  19.The Sciences 
  20.Using Neural Networks
TimesFax
Eight page digest of the New York Times.
TRADEWINDS
Tradewinds is a monthly review of articles about the Internet drawn from several hundred trade and industry periodicals. It is compiled by Kenneth Liss of the Kirstein Business Branch, Boston Public Library.
UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), under the direction of its Center of Academic Computing Services has created a WWW site in spanish :
UnCover Guide
There is a very good guide to UnCover on the World Wide Web. It is produced by Monash University Library, CARL.

It includes sections on.

UnCover is a large multidisciplinary database containing details of more than 4,000,000 articles taken from more than 15,000 different periodicals. It can be searched at no cost to find articles on a particular subject, by a particular author, or in a particular periodical.

As well as a the database, the UnCover Reveal service is also available. This is an electronic Table of Contents service.

UnCover can also be used for document delivery. This service incurs charges.

UnCover also has its own home page.

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD: Department of Earth Sciences
WWW '95
The Third International World Wide Web Conference to be held: April 10-14, 1995, Darmstadt, Germany.
WWW ONLINE
A new monthly magazine dedicated to the Web.
ZOOLOGICAL RECORD
The Zoological Record is an index to worldwide zoological literature, produced by BIOSIS UK, a company limited by guarantee and based in York, England. It is a subsidiary of BIOSIS, a not-for-profit organisation based in Philadelphia, USA, which produces a range of information products and services for the life sciences, including Biological Abstracts.

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BIDS News (Bath Information and Data Services)

Members of Heriot-Watt University can register to use the BIDS Services at the Service Desk of the Library, or at Computing Services. Full details of how to access the services will be given on registration.

News from BIDS is that the latest database to become available, the IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences) is proving very popular.

IBSS covers the following subject areas: Anthropology; Political Science; Sociology; and Economics. The database contians about 600,000 records, and is growing at the rate of 100,000 each year. 2,600 periodicals are indexed. Unlike many databases, there is a strong emphasis on European sources: 27.8% coverage Western Europe; 23.9% North American; 18.8% UK. 70% of the items covered are in English, and most of the non-English entries have parallel titles in English.

The IBSS database will obviously be of interest to many people at Heriot-Watt, and...it is FREE!

BIDS have reported that they are working on the problems some people have had getting access to the service. There are now 3 gateways into the service, and things should soon improve.

The COMPENDEX*Plus database should be transferred to the new interface (which is now available to BIDS ISI users) during April 1995.

The next set of databases which may become available through the service are concentrated in the Life Sciences.

For more information, e-mail libhelp (the libhelp service is available only to members of Heriot-Watt University).

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ONLINE SEARCHING AND THE INTERNET

Issue 4 (January 1995) of _INTERNET RESOURCES_ contained some notes about the Library's Online Search Service, and links to several Online Hosts such as Dialog, STN International, and ESA-IRS.

CLICK HERE for more information about the Library's Online Search Service.

If you want to make an online search contact your Faculty Librarian.

The Library also has access to the DATA STAR (Knight Ridder Information) online system. This has over 400 databases from a broad scope of disciplines. In addition to a comprehensive global coverage of automotive industry data, detailed import/export trade statistics, and specialized pharmaceutical, biomedical, and healthcare information, DataStar has a unique collection of European information, newspapers and newswires.

CLICK HERE for more information about Data Star.

Some of the more popular databases include.

In addition, the Library has access to databases available on the Questel/Orbit host.

CLICK HERE for information about the Questel/Orlbit host.

Databases include:

API Energy Business News Index (APIBIZ)
Twenty-two major news and economics publications are the primary sources for worldwide coverage of commercial, financial, marketing and regulatory information affecting the petroleum and energy industries.
APILIT
Covers worldwide petroleum literature back to 1964, including petroleum processes, fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, pipelines, tankers, storage, health, safety and environmental matters, synthetic fuels, etc.
Aqualine
Covers the world's literature on water and wastewater technology and environmental protection.
Chemical Economics Handbook
Provides more than 13,000 records containing international supply/demand data for the chemical industry through the full text database of the world's leading chemical market research service.
Chemical Industry Notes
Contains citations to worldwide chemical business news related to production, pricing, sales, facilities, products and processes, corporate activities, government activities, and people.
CORROSION
Contains more than 2,400 records on the effects of over 600 agents on the most widely used metals, plastics nonmetallics, and rubbers over a temperature range of 40-560 degrees Fahrenheit.
Derwent World Patents Index
Comprehensive and authoritative file of data relating to patent specifications issued by the patent offices of 34 major issuing authorities.
TULSA
This is the online version of Petroleum Abstracts

Questel/Orbit specialise in technical and patent databases. CLICK HERE for more information about patent databases.

One information provider which has information available on the WWW is Derwent. Amongst the databases on offer from Derwent are:

CLICK HERE for information from the Derwent World Wide Web server.

Another information provider is Biosis.

The Biosis Previews database contains over 8 million citations to the worldwide literature on life sciences.

CLICK HERE for more information about Biosis.

Another information provider is CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) Cambridge Scientific Abstracts offers over 25 databases covering environmental sciences, biomedical sciences, aquatic sciences, engineering, materials and computer sciences, and market research. The online databases can be accessed on the Internet via several third parties such as Dialog Information Services. Those of interest include:

CLICK HERE for more information about CSA databases.

Some European databases are freely available over the Internet, through ECHO, the European Commission Host Organisation. As a non-commercial host, ECHO demonstrates the benefits of using electronic information services in business, by offering free of charge access to more than 20 online databases in all Community languages.

CLICK HERE for further details about ECHO.

The available databases include:

IMPACT
The IMPACT (Information Market Policy ACTions) programme of DG XIII/E aims to establish an internal market for electronic information services and to improve the competitiveness of European firms by promoting the use of advanced information services.
DARE
DARE is an international referral database in the social sciences.
CORDIS
CORDIS is an acronym for the COmmunity Research and Development Information Service providing information on all Research and Technological Development RTD) activities of the EU. A central source of quality information is important to all organisations who wish to participate in EU research programmes or to exploit their results. It is also important for all researchers in academic and industrial establishments to have knowledge of research trends and details of projects. Finally it is an important tool for research policy makers in Member States. At present, CORDIS offers over 118,000 documents in nine databases.
INDEX TRANSLATIONUM
Index Translationum is a Worldwide bibliographic database of translated books published in all field since 1979. The database is updated quaterly.
EURODICAUTUM
EURODICAUTOM is an efficient and user-friendly tool used by the translators and others staff working in the European institutions in their search for terms in the official and working languages of the European Communities.
EMIRE
The EMIRE Database is the online version of the EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS GLOSSARIES, a set of 12 volumes published in English in co-operation with Sweet and Maxwell (UK) and the EUR-OP (Luxembourg). It gives an introduction to the national employment law and industrial relations systems through clear explanations of specialized terms and their contexts. It is still at the experimental stage.

N.B.

The costs involved in searching Data Star, Questel/Orbit, and Derwent databases are normally paid by readers or departments.

For help or information about these databases, please contact the Faculty Librarians (this help service is available only to members of Heriot-Watt University)

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MORE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTERS AND JOURNALS OF INTEREST

The following are not necessarily new, they are not listed in any particular order, however they look like they could be of interest to researchers at Heriot-Watt University. (RM)

interNEWS
In conjunction with Newsbytes, a navigable IT news service on the net, covering the entire gamut of news from the computing and computer communications industries.
EM: Electronic Markets Newsletter
Covers developments in electronic commerce. Free subscriptions are available upon request.
COMMUNIQUE.COM
There are several e-magazines at this site, including:

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RECENT INTERNET BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY

001.6441 SMI
Accessing the Internet: a guide for the UK and Ireland
by John Smith.
- All about connecting, with lists of service providers, plus an
 introduction to the Internet as a whole -RM

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