Research and Education
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/envsci/index.html
Phrases like "biodiversity climate" and "ecosystems" are becoming ubiquitous on evening television broadcasts, yet some may still be unfamiliar with these terms and concepts. Fortunately, there is "The Habitable Planet" website, which was designed by Annenberg Media for teachers and adult learners who wish to learn more about current events in environmental science. The content on the site is divided into thirteen areas, which include oceans, water resources, energy challenges, and agriculture. Within each section, visitors can make their way through separate sections within the online textbook, and also view content that includes interactive labs, graphics, video clips, and specialized glossaries. Returning to the site's homepage, visitors will also note that they can view the content by type, which makes it a bit easier if they are looking for a specific video clip or visual feature. [KMG]
http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/47/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=2651
Once again, the Mathematical Association of America has struck instructional gold with this latest gem from their online collection of resources for mathematics educators. Created by Barbara Margolius, this derivative matching game presents users with a game board showing graphs of functions on cards. Essentially, the goal of the game is to match the functions with their derivatives. Visitors can begin by reading an overview of the game, along with some brief instructions, and then they should dive right in. The game can also be customized to match functions with just first derivatives or both first and second derivatives. Mathematics educators will have a lot of fun with this one, and even the mathematically uncertain can be drawn into the fold with this easy to use resource. [KMG]
http://www.no-trafficking.org/
Headquartered in Bangkok, the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (UNIAP) was established in June 2000 in order to formulate a more coordinated response to human trafficking in this region of Southeast Asia. UNIAP has over 30 staff members and they work closely with a number of donor organizations that work in the region and in other areas, including South Asia and Europe. Policy wonks, scholars, and activists will find plenty of information here on the site, including a "Project Search" feature which allows them to refine their search in a geographic fashion. Those persons who might be wholly unacquainted with this phenomenon may wish to click on "About Human Trafficking" to read through a brief overview and also check out some basic statistics about trafficking in the region. Further along, visitors should definitely look through the "Publications and Resources" area. Here they can read full text versions of international conventions and protocols regarding human trafficking and training manuals for combating trafficking. [KMG]
http://www.climate-of-the-past.net/
Climatologists, geologists, and others will be delighted to learn about the existence of the open access journal "Climate of the Past". Started in 2005, the journal is published under the auspices of the European Geosciences Union and it is "dedicated to the publication and discussion of research articles, short communications and review papers on the climate history of the Earth." It is certainly not a small order of business, and the journal succeeds admirably. First-time visitors will want to look over the "Aims and Scope" area for a bit of an introduction to their work. Afterwards, they can look at the "Recent Papers" area on the right-hand side of the homepage to get a better sense of their latest accepted submissions. Moving on, visitors can click on the "Online Library CP" area to search for articles of interest and also sign up for paper alerts and RSS feeds. Finally, those persons who wish to test their research mettle can click on the "Submission" area to learn about how to submit their own scholarly findings for potential inclusion in the journal. [KMG]
http://msp.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/shs/index.php/missions
The role of missionaries in the process of colonization has intrigued historians and others for decades, and this compilation of scholarly works on this subject is quite a find. This set of papers was published by the eScholarship Research Centre at The University of Melbourne in July 2008, and it contains fifteen works that look at "current concepts of gender, race and colonial governance." Drawing on a range of methodological and theoretical approaches, the works are divided into thematic sections such as "Consolidating the Missionary Project" and "A Global Mission". Within these sections, visitors will find papers that include "Imperial Critics: Moravian Missionaries in the British Colonial World" and "Missions, Colonialism and the Politics of Agency". For persons with an interest in these types of historical explorations, this site will prove quite indispensable. [KMG]
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,cid%253D208669,00.html?WT.mc_id=USRSS
Many units of government have their own websites, though their quality varies widely. With that state of affairs in mind, the Deloitte Consulting Group and the National Academy of Public Administration teamed up in June 2008 as part of a group conference in order to take a critical look at developing a "road map to help the next administration navigate the work force and organization changes that need to occur to move to a more collaborative model of government." During their group meeting, the participants (which included the global director of public sector at Deloitte Research and the assistant director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence) engaged in a discussion about this timely topic, and some of their thoughts and ideas can be found on this site. Visitors can read profiles of those invited to the meeting and then scroll down the homepage to view webcasts from the event and also take a look at several documents which chart the potential future of collaborative government and how this plan might be implemented. [KMG]
http://www.haguejusticeportal.net/
Initiated by The Hague Academic Coalition and launched by Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands in 2006, The Hague Justice Portal serves as the online presence of the Hague organizations and their work on issues related to international peace, justice, and security. On the homepage, visitors can get acquainted with their work by perusing the "News" area and also looking over the list of legal events which appears along the right-hand side of the page. The "International Justice Forum" section contains a series of interactive forums designed to facilitate discussion on topics related to international law, and it will be particularly helpful to legal scholars and journalists. Additionally, legal scholars will want to take a look at the current issues of the Hague Justice Journal, which contains articles on sovereignty, victim participation in the legal process, and other related matters. Visitors should also note that many of the materials on the site are available in French and Dutch. [KMG]
The "folding" in the title of this site refers to the process by which proteins fold themselves before performing various important functions. This process is critical to just about every aspect of biology, yet scientists still don't understand exactly how protein folding works. Additionally, when proteins don't fold correctly, it can lead to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and any number of cancers. The Folding project at Stanford University is a distributed computing project which was established in order to help better understanding protein folding by drawing on the collective power of thousands of computers across the world. First-time visitors may wish to read through the "FAQ" section and then move on over to the "Results" area to see what their work has reaped thus far. After that, visitors can download the software to their computer and become part of this compelling and worthy project. [KMG]
