Research and Education
http://or.amatyc.org/geometry.htm
Along with their substantial instructional resources, the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) has worked to place valuable mathematical materials online to aid both teachers and students. This particular site contains links discovered and vetted by George Alexander, who works on behalf of the AMATYC. Here visitors will find links to materials that can be used to teach students about the fundamentals of geometry, including plane motion, polyhedras, symmetry, and tessellations. In total, there are links to 33 resources here, and suggestions for new materials are always welcome. [KMG]
Everyone likes polls, even if they don’t always like the results. There are a number of ways to keep tabs on recent and informative polls, and PollingReport.com is definitely one of the most comprehensive ways to do so online. From the homepage, users can look over the site’s primary thematic areas, which include “Elections”, “National Security”, and “In the News”. Within each thematic area, visitors can look over the results of recent polls, read the questions asked of participants, and learn about each poll’s methodology and sample size. The site doesn’t have a search engine, but it doesn’t take much time to look through the contents of this useful site. The site has a number of subscription services as well, though it should be noted that these are not offered for free. [KMG]
http://www.esc.edu/ESConline/Across_ESC/WritingResourceCenter.nsf/homepageForm?OpenForm
Effective learning strategies for becoming a better writer are much appreciated resources on college campuses, and this site presents a cornucopia of just this type of material. Created by Empire State college faculty specifically for adult learners and faculty use, the site provides access to a very fine annotated resource list. The list contains documents from The Genesee Valley Center Writing Program and is divided into sections such as “Grammar & Punctuation”, “ESL Resources”, and “Documenting Resources”. The site contains over 150 specific resources that range from worksheets for faculty on how to conduct informal writing activities to a primer on when to write out numbers and when to use numerals in different types of documents. [KMG]
http://www.businessjournalism.org/bizjournalism/index.cfm
Seasoned and novice business reporters will enjoy learning about the existence of the BusinessJournalism.org website. Created by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University the site was launched in February 2004, and since then it has grown to include a host of instructional materials, including tutorials on how to cover financial markets and understanding financial markets. Along the left-hand side of the site’s homepage, visitors will find the “Covering Business” area, which contains helpful articles on writing about the stock market, technology, minority business trends, and business ethics. The site also contains a glossary of business terms, information on relevant scholarship opportunities, and “Dick’s Picks”, which contains links to recent business stories of note, as selected by the well-regarded journalist, Dick Weiss. [KMG]
Started in 1996, the SocioSite website is a project created by the social science faculty at the University of Amsterdam. During the past eleven years, the site has grown extensively, and it serves as a clearinghouse of important and relevant links to various disciplines within the social sciences. Contained within a simple template, visitors can look through sections dedicated to journals, libraries, news groups, search tools, institutions, associations, and weblogs. For each link, visitors can read a brief summary of its contents, and they may also wish to suggest links via the webform on the site. Visitors who have visited the site before may wish to go directly to the “What’s New” section for the most recent updates. The site is rounded out by a “Funny Stuff’ section, which features sociological-related humor and wordplay. [KMG]
http://www.philosophersimprint.org/
A number of disciplines in the humanities have embarked on ambitious and lively forays into the world of online publishing, and philosophy is no exception to this trend. One rather noteworthy online journal is Philosophers’ Imprint, which was started in 2001. The journal is actually a refereed series of original papers edited by the philosophy faculty at the University of Michigan, and published by the University of Michigan Digital Library. First-time visitors should begin by looking over their mission statement, and then they should feel free to browse around the current volume, or those from the past few years. Recent works have included Benj Hellie’s “The Phenomenological Status of Sense-Data”, Stephen Finlay’s “Value and Implicature”, and Richard Holton’s “The Act of Choice”. [KMG]
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_major-war-criminals.html
From November 14th 1945 to October 1st 1946, many of the major civilian and military leaders of Nazi Germany stood on trial in what was formally known as the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal. This trial took place in the town of Nuremberg, and the proceedings of those trials can be found on this website. These 42-volumes were digitized by the Library of Congress as part of their Military Legal Resources initiative, and visitors to the site can browse through any of these volumes at their leisure. While many of these volumes are in English, they also include transcripts in French and German. For students of international law or world history, this site and its contents will prove invaluable. [KMG]
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw_whatis.html
Figuring out how the heart functions in a metaphorical sense can be an unending and highly metaphysical process (just ask John Donne), so it’s nice to find a place online where visitors can learn how the heart functions in a literal sense. This website was created by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and begins by answering the basic question: “What is the Heart?” After reading this short and informative piece of writing, visitors can meander through sections titled “Anatomy”, “Contraction”, “Circulation”, “Electrical System”, and “Heart Disease”. Each section provides a brief summary of each topic, complete with graphic illustrations and several digital animations. It’s a well-constructed and user-friendly introduction to this important topic, and one that will be of use to those entering one of the health care professions, or those who are intrigued with various body systems. [KMG]
