The Scout Report for Science & Engineering - March 29, 2000

March 29, 2000

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The target audience of the new Scout Report for Science & Engineering is faculty, students, staff, and librarians in the life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. Each biweekly issue offers a selective collection of Internet resources covering topics in the sciences, and related fields such as math and engineering, that have been chosen by librarians and content specialists in the given field of study.

The Scout Report for Science & Engineering is also provided via email once every two weeks. Subscription information is included at the bottom of each issue.


In This Issue

Research

Learning Resources

General Interest

Current Awareness

New Data

In The News


Research

Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry Free Sample Articles [.pdf]
http://www.wiley.co.uk/wileychi/eac/sampleform.html
From publishers John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., the Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, considered the "most comprehensive analytical chemistry reference available," is due for publication in October 2000. In anticipation of the release of this fifteen-volume set, the publisher has posted a teaser: seventeen articles are freely available on the encyclopedia's Website. By completing a simple form, users may access representative articles (in .pdf format) from encyclopedia sections such as Peptides and Proteins; Electroanalytic Methods; Infrared, X-ray, and Mass Spectroscopy; Remote Sensing; and more. Libraries or wealthy individuals interested in ordering the Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry ($4,800) may do so at the site. [KR]
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Terra: The EOS Flagship -- NASA
http://terra.nasa.gov/
EOS Direct Broadcast
http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/eosdb/
In 1991, NASA launched the Earth Science Enterprise (ESE), a comprehensive program to study Earth System Science: how the Earth's systems of air, land, water, and life interact with each other. The ESE program uses a series of polar-orbiting and low inclination satellites to study long-term global observations of the Earth's land surface, oceans, biosphere, atmosphere, and solid earth. Launched into orbit on February 24, 2000 and formerly called EOS AM-1, the Terra spacecraft is "the flagship of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS)," a critical component of ESE. The Terra Website offers background information on NASA's Earth Science Enterprise program, descriptions of the technology used to measure Earth System variables, and a host of resources including data and publications. For access to the latest data, see the EOS Direct Broadcast site, where Terra data have been broadcast directly since March 17, 2000. [LXP]
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US Geological Survey World Energy Report [.zip, .pdf, Excel]
http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/energy/WorldEnergy/weptotal.htm
US Geological Survey World Energy Project
http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/energy/WorldEnergy/WEnergy.html
Released on March 24, 2000, the US Geological Survey's World Energy Project Preliminary Report "estimates the volume of oil and gas, exclusive of the U.S., that may be added to the world's reserve in the next 30 years." The preliminary report contains a world assessment showing there is more oil and gas in the Middle East and in offshore areas of western Africa and eastern South America than figured in previous assessments, and less oil and gas in Canada and Mexico, and significantly less natural gas in the Former Soviet Union. "The USGS World Petroleum Assessment 2000 is the first of its kind to provide a rigorous geologic foundation for estimating undiscovered energy resources for the world." Also, the World Energy Project's Website holds a wide collection of data including province assessment reports and maps showing geology, oil and gas fields, and geologic provinces (Africa, Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, South America, Former Soviet Union, Asia Pacific Region, and Iran). Finally, an additional report ranks the world's oil and gas provinces by known petroleum volumes. [KR]
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Phytoplankton Ecology -- MML
http://www.mote.org/~pederson/phyto_ecol.phtml
This site describes phytoplankton ecology research by marine ecologists at Mote Marine Laboratory (MML), an independent, nonprofit research organization based in Sarasota, Florida. The emphasis of MML's phytoplankton ecology research is the photophysiology of marine algae -- with recent emphasis on the ability to predict and possibly mitigate blooms of the toxic marine dinoflagellate, Gymnodinium breve. The no-frills phytoplankton ecology homepage describes research and offers data (maps, figures, tables) from 1998 and 1999 projects on Red Tide transects, Nutrient and chlorophyll concentrations, and Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) transect data, among several others. The site also offers general information on Red Tides, Red Tide conditions in Southwest Florida, a chronology of historic Red Tide events, and links to related resources. [LXP]
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Building and Fire Research Laboratory: Fire on the Web [.pdf]
http://www.fire.nist.gov/
A subsidiary of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) Website contains stellar information for building engineers and fire researchers. Highlights include a searchable and downloadable collection of BFRL publications (in .pdf format); FIREDOC, a searchable 50,000-item bibliographic database for fire research related documents; and a set of DOS-based fire simulation programs which will predict air flow movement and downwind smoke distributions, analyze smoke control systems, and much more. Additional features include a list of Web resources, fire test data and reports, a fire safety engineering section, and a list of conferences. This site contains a germane collection of resources for fire researchers. [KR]
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Newly online journals from Highwire Press
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
http://www.ebmonline.org/
Journal of Investigative Dermatology [.pdf]
http://www.jidonline.org/
HighWire Press
http://highwire.stanford.edu/
Stanford University's HighWire Press has announced temporary free access to two newly online journals. The Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (PSEBM) is provided by the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine and covers "research and review articles as well as meeting symposia and rapid communications on topics of general interest in endocrinology, molecular biology, nutrition, experimental medicine, physiology, genetics, immunology, biochemistry, microbiology and other biomedical specialties." PSEBM's online content includes full text and figures from October 1999 (Vol 222, No 1) to the present; abstracts begin January 1983 (Vol 172, No 1). The free trial period for PSEBM Online ends November 1, 2000. Also newly online, the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (JID), provided by the Society for Investigative Dermatology and the European Society for Dermatological Research, publishes "original research relevant to all aspects of cutaneous biology and skin disease." Online content includes full text and figures beginning July 1999 (Vol 113, No 1); abstracts are online from January 1975 (Vol 64, No 1), and .pdf files are available from January 1996 (Vol 106, No 1). The free trial period for JID Online ends September 30, 2000. Both journals are provided in conjunction with Highwire Press. [LXP]
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Learning Resources

Visual Quantum Mechanics: Online Interactive Programs [Shockwave, Java]
http://phys.educ.ksu.edu/vqm/index.html
The Visual Quantum Mechanics project, from the Physics Education Group of Kansas State University's Department of Physics, develops innovative ways to "introduce quantum physics to high school and college students who do not have a background in modern physics or higher level math." Funded by the National Science Foundation, this resource for educators provides interactive computer visualizations and animations that introduce quantum mechanics. The interactive programs (which require Shockwave) include a spectroscopy lab suite, a probability illustrator, an energy band creator, quantum tunneling, a color creator (a Java version is also available), a wave function sketcher, a wave packet explorer, an energy diagram explorer, a diffraction suite, and a hydrogen spectroscopy program. These online demonstrations should prove to be excellent visual, hands-on teaching aids when introducing concepts involving quantum mechanics. Users can download Shockwave at the site. [KR]
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Living Links [RealPlayer]
http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/
Hosted by the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University, the Living Links site specializes in "comparisons of the social life, ecology, cognition, neurology, and molecular genetics of apes and humans." With an emphasis on the four extant great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans), this educational site attempts "1) to reconstruct human evolution, 2) pinpoint the differences and similarities between humans and apes, and 3) educate the public about apes, and promote their well-being and conservation." The Info section provides a long (hyperlinked) list of general information on apes, from Allogrooming to Wooly spider monkeys. The Research section gives a brief overview of the Yerkes Center's research questions (and their evolutionary context), and Animals describes the Center's study animals -- three main social groups of chimpanzees -- with a special vocalizations feature. For those interested in learning more about apes and how our ancestry is intertwined with theirs, this site will be of interest. [LXP]
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Internet Resources Physics
http://www.ala.org/acrl/resmar00.html
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, puts out monthly lists of key resources on the Internet. The latest list for March 2000 amounts to a solid, annotated metapage of physics links. Categories for sites include general physics metasites, professional societies, laboratories, preprint sites, reference sources, electronic journals, educational resources, people in physics, and discussion groups. While many of the sites noted here have been covered over the years by the Internet Scout Project (see Signpost), this metapage may save users some of the hassles of searching. [KR]
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Wetlands Library -- NWF
http://nwf.org/nwf/wetlands/librarw.html
Wetlands
http://nwf.org/wetlands/index.html
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) offers this collection of online resources on wetlands and their protection. The site is organized into six main sections, including Types of Wetlands (featuring four major wetland types), Benefits of Wetlands (to humans and to wildlife), Threats to Wetlands (and to streams, rivers, and coasts), Wetlands Media Archives (current and past press releases and feature stories related to wetlands), Wetland Protections (coming soon), and Wetlands Policy Archives (coming soon). In each section, text and photographs offer a concise overview of the topic. For further information, including actions to preserve specific wetlands, floodplain restoration, or educational materials, see NWF's main Wetlands page. [LXP]
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PaleoQuest
http://paleoquest.cet.edu/
This ambitious, newly launched site from NASA's Center for Educational Technologies at Wheeling Jesuit University is being developed according to a five-year plan "which will result in a renowned web-based paleontology resource for use by educators, students, scientists, and dinosaur enthusiasts." At present, PaleoQuest offers little more than a useful (albeit pitched at a young audience) rundown of the main theories for Dinosaur extinction. But, over the next five years, Paleoquest hopes to serve as an authority for dinosaur information to be used by teachers. For teachers interested in incorporating paleontology into their curriculum, PaleoQuest may be one to watch. [KR]
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General Interest

Arctic Science and Technology Information System
http://www.aina.ucalgary.ca/astis/
From the University of Calgary's Arctic Institute of North America, the Arctic Science and Technology Information System (ASTIS) database "contains over 46,000 records describing publications and research projects about northern Canada." This service, which has recently been made free with help from the Canadian Polar Commission, covers all of the major branches of science. The simple and advanced search features lead to citations of Canadian government and industry reports, journal articles, conference papers, theses, and books, from 1978 to present. Citations contain bibliographic information, an abstract, detailed subject and geographic terms, and a library symbol to aid in locating a publication. The database also holds close to 11,000 descriptions of research projects conducted in Canada's three northern territories (Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) since 1974. Information about obtaining publications is provided at the search page. [KR]
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INASP: International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications
http://www.inasp.org.uk/index.html
Established in 1992 by the International Council for Science (ICSU), INASP is a cooperative network of partners that aims to increase international access to scientific and scholarly information. In particular, INASP seeks to improve the flow of scientific and scholarly information within and between countries with less sophisticated systems of publication and dissemination. INASP's no-frills homepage provides background and introductory information on INASP, a biannual Newsletter published in May and November (the current issue features efforts in several African countries), the current Health Information Forum Report (an annual report addressing access to reliable information for healthcare workers in developing and transitional countries), and a series of links, among other features. While the content of the site emphasizes the process of (and need for) international dissemination of information, rather than providing online scientific information per se, this is an interesting and important initiative, and should interest academics (and certainly librarians) at several levels. [LXP]
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The Environmental Fate Data Bases (EFDB)
http://esc.syrres.com/efdb.htm
Provided with support from the Environmental Protection Agency, Procter & Gamble, and DuPont, Syracuse Research Corporation's Environmental Fate Data Bases (EFDB) have recently been made available to the public free of charge. Through the EFDB system, users may "identify all of the information necessary for assessing human or environmental exposure to chemicals from occupational and consumer use, environmental contamination, and food consumption." Information may be acquired via DATALOG (a bibliographic file containing eighteen types of environmental fate data), BIOLOG (contains sources of microbial toxicity and biodegradation data), CHEMFATE (holds comprehensive physical/ chemical property information on commercial chemical compounds), and BIODEG (houses experimental values relating to biodegradation). Information is searchable by CAS#, formula, or chemical name. [KR]
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National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC)
http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/
The School of Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln hosts this site on drought mitigation. Designed to help "reduce society's vulnerability to drought," NDMC offers a wide range of information on drought and how to prepare for and deal with it. Newcomers should start at the Drought Science and Impacts sections for background information. The Drought Watch and Climatology sections offer access to a huge variety of online data summaries, tables, and maps -- including several indices of current drought condition in the US -- in addition to links to related research sites. (NDMC is also one of the several agencies responsible for the Drought Monitor, discussed in the February 2, 2000 Scout Report for Science and Engineering). For information on mitigation, see the Mitigation, Drought Links, and Network sections. Given the large proportion of the country currently classified as being on drought watch or experiencing drought, this site will serve as a timely information resource for students, educators, or the general public. [LXP]
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Organic Chemistry Forum [.pdf]
http://organic.chemweb.com/home
ChemWeb's new Organic Chemistry Forum bills itself as a "free online club for the organic chemistry community." Users will need to complete a simple online form to obtain membership and access the site. One highlight of this site is free (until June, 30, 2000) full-text access to Tetrahedron Letters. This rapid publication journal appears weekly. Along with free access to Beilstein Abstracts, the site includes jobs, a conference diary, news, discussion groups, and more. [KR]
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Current Awareness
(For links to additional current awareness on tables of contents, abstracts, preprints, new books, data, conferences, etc., visit the The Scout Report for Science & Engineering Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sci-eng/metapage/).

Living on Earth [RealAudio]
http://www.loe.org/
Close to two million people worldwide tune in to National Public Radio's "one hour, weekly, award-winning, environmental news program" Living on Earth. The program's Website features weekly shows with RealAudio recordings as well as transcripts. Numerous other stories are also offered in the same formats. The site contains a clickable map with a list of local stations and times for finding shows in a user's area. A searchable archive is also provided. [KR]
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HighWire Press free online articles now exceed 142,493
http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl
In our most recent report, we announced the availability of 130,000 free, online journal articles through a new service of Stanford University's HighWire Press. Because this service is of such substantial value to researchers in the life and physical sciences, we pass along to our readers the latest update: as of March 25, 2000, the number of free, full-text, online articles has increased to 142,493. [LXP]
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New Publications

Two on Grassland Birds -- NPWRC [.zip]
"Density and Fledging Success of Grassland Birds in Conservation Reserve Program Fields in North Dakota and West-central Minnesota" -- NPWRC
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/denfled/denfled.htm
"Evaluation of the Bird Conservation Area Concept in the Northern Tallgrass Prairie Annual Report: 1999" -- NPWRC
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/bcact/bcact.htm
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) has recently posted two resources on grassland birds. The first compares breeding densities and fledging success of grassland birds in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields with "an alternative habitat of similar structure." The second resource presents results from the second year of a study on the degree to which Bird Conservation Areas can maintain populations of breeding grassland birds. Both resources may be downloaded as .zip files. [LXP]

Applied Superconductivity Center Publications [.pdf]
http://www.engr.wisc.edu/centers/asc/publications.html
The University of Wisconsin's Applied Superconductivity Center (ASC) has a publications page with a good selection of online papers on superconductivity. The page contains a searchable publications database, a list of all ASC papers online, and a list of papers supported by the National Science Foundation. [KR]

Five on wolves -- NPWRC [.zip]
"A New Era for Carnivore Conservation"
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/carncon/carncon.htm
"Wolf Management In The 21st Century: From Public Input to Sterilization"
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/wolfman/wolfman.htm
"Do Wolves Affect White-Tailed Buck Harvest In Northeastern Minnesota?"
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/buckharv/buckharv.htm
"Is Incest Common In Gray Wolf Packs?"
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/wfincst/wfincst.htm
"An Example of Endurance in an Old Wolf, Canis lupus"
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/enduex/enduex.htm
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center has recently posted five resources on wolves at their Website. The first, "A New Era for Carnivore Conservation," considers changes in public attitude to carnivores in the context of future carnivore conservation. The second, "Wolf Management In The 21st Century: From Public Input to Sterilization," considers possible solutions to maintaining wolf populations in areas where wolf-human conflicts may occur. The third resource, "Do Wolves Affect White-Tailed Buck Harvest In Northeastern Minnesota?" summarizes wolf impacts on deer hunting in northeastern Minnesota from 1975 to 1977. The fourth, "Is Incest Common In Gray Wolf Packs?" suggests that incest is rare in wolf packs. Finally, "An Example of Endurance in an Old Wolf, Canis lupus" describes an eleven- to thirteen-year-old male Arctic wolf chasing hares. All five resources may be downloaded as .zip files. [LXP]

"Exclusion Limits on the WIMP-Nucleon Cross-section from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search" [.pdf]
http://cfpa.berkeley.edu/group/directdet/results_feb2000/0002471.pdf
From University of California-Berkeley's Center for Particle Astrophysics, this paper entitled "Exclusion Limits on the WIMP-Nucleon Cross-section from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search" is a collaboration of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS). The CDMS consists of "looking for dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs. One attempt to solve the dark matter problem hypothesizes the existence of an undiscovered particle that was in thermal equilibrium with the very early universe." This paper delves into aspects of solving the dark matter problem. [KR]

"Birds and Mammals Observed by Lewis & Clark in North Dakota" -- NPWRC [.zip]
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/bmam/bmam.htm
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) provides this interesting resource detailing the birds and mammals observed by Lewis and Clark in North Dakota. Originally printed in 1927 in North Dakota Historical Quarterly, this information has been resummarized by Russell Reid and Clell G. Gannon, and includes an annotated list of "all birds and mammals observed by Lewis and Clark during their trek through what is now North Dakota." This resource may be downloaded as a .zip file. [LXP]

"Safeguarding American Plant Resources" [.pdf]
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/safeguarding/
In 1998, the National Plant Board (NPB) reviewed the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) efforts to safeguard American agriculture and plant resources. The NPB review is presented here in full (in .pdf format). [LXP]


Two from the Pacific Institute
"Resilience, Sustainability, and Environmentalism" [.pdf]
http://www.pacinst.org/resilience.pdf
"The Human Right to Water" [.pdf]
http://www.pacinst.org/gleickrw.pdf
Several new resources are now available (in .pdf format) at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security Website. The first resource, a six-page paper by Sharachchandra Lele, addresses resiliency in ecological and socioeconomic systems, and the relationship between resilience and sustainability. The second resource is a reprint of Peter Gleick's fifteen-page article, "The Human Right to Water." Originally published in 1999 in Water Policy, the paper argues that "a human right to adequate supplies of fresh water can be derived from principles of customary international law and international treaty regimes." [LXP]

Fishing in Europe [.pdf, 1260K]
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg14/magazine/mag1_en.pdf
This interesting magazine from the European Commission covers diverse topics related to (but not exclusive of) the fishing industry (in .pdf format). The current issue of the magazine includes a piece from the Trade Union of Fish Merchants; the story of an expanding fishing village; the discovery of the Patagonian toothfish, a potentially threatened species; and a discussion of Total Allowable Catches for the year 2000. [LXP]
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Jobs

Job Openings in Science and Technology from The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://jobs.chronicle.com/free/jobs/faculty/scitech/links.htm

US Geological Survey Employment Page
http://www.usgs.gov/ohr/

NASA Jobs Homepage
http://www.nasajobs.nasa.gov/
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Funding

Teaching With Technology Grants for K-12
http://www.compaq.com/education/k12/success/devgrant_2000.html
Application Deadline: April 15, 2000

NSF Grants for Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE)
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf0040/nsf0040.html
Deadline:
Letter of Intent: June 16, 2000
Proposal Deadline: July 17, 2000

CEC Grants for Environmental Cooperation
http://www.cec.org/grants/apply_for_grant/call_preposals/index.cfm?varlan=english#enwhat
Application Deadline: March 31, 2000.

NATO Science Fellowships
http://www.nato.int/science/fellows.htm
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Conferences

Fourth Biennial Workshop on the Global Positioning System in Forestry
http://www.feric.ca/wd/gps/gps2000.htm
November 20-22, 2000
Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Abstract deadline: May 5, 2000

Interactions on the Microbial World: Ninth International Symposium on Microbial Ecology
http://www.eurocongres.com/isme9/
August 26-31, 2001
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Pre-registration: available on-site
Abstract deadline: not yet determined

Roots: The Dynamic Interface Between Plants and the Earth
http://www.imicom.or.jp/~jsrr/isrr/
November 11-15, 2001
Nagoya, Japan
Pre-registration: now through May 2000
Registration: begins June 2000
Abstract deadline: not yet determined

The American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Aquatic Sciences Meeting
http://www.aslo.org/albuquerque2001/
February 12-16, 2001
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Abstract deadline: October 1, 2000

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm00call.html
December 15-19, 2000
San Francisco, CA
Abstract deadline: September 1, 2000
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New Data

HarborTides.com
http://www.harbortides.com/
HarborTides.com is a neat, user-friendly facility for tide information for over 2,500 harbors in the US (and Bermuda). Users may browse by state or search by zip code for information on high and low tides, sunrise and sunset, and longitude and latitude for every harbor. After filling out a form for free membership, users can also print out monthly tide tables. [KR]
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Three genome databases from TIGR
The SIFV (Sulfolobus islandicus filamentous virus) Genome Database
http://www.tigr.org/tdb/CMR/gav/htmls/SplashPage.html
The Neisseria meningitidis Genome Database
http://www.tigr.org/tdb/CMR/gnm/htmls/SplashPage.html
The Chlamydia pneumoniae Genome Database
http://www.tigr.org/tdb/CMR/bcp/htmls/SplashPage.html
TIGR, The Institute for Genomic Research, has released several new online genome databases this month, representing recent publications of the complete genome sequences of several organisms/ viruses. The sequence of "a novel lipothrixvirus, SIFV, of the extremely thermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobushas" was published by Arnold et al. in the journal Virology (267:252-266, 2000). The SIFV page offers the latest versions of the sequence data and related annotation. The Neisseria meningitidis Genome Database, published by Tettelin et al. in Science (287:1809-1815, 2000), is provided at the Neisseria meningitidis Webpage, and offers the latest versions of sequence data and related annotation. Third, recently published in Nuc. Acids Res. (28:1397-1406, 2000) by Read et al., the Chlamydia pneumoniae Genome Database page also offers the latest versions of sequence data and related annotation. [LXP]
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Alaska Organic Geochemistry Data Base [ASCII, MS Access 97, MS Word, Rich Text, ANS]
http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/alaska/akdownload.htm
The US Geological Survey Energy Resources Team's Organic Geochemistry Laboratory has made available its Alaska Organic Geochemistry Data Base. The data represent efforts to investigate "the origin and occurrence of organic fossil fuels." Available in multiple file formats, tables may be accessed individually, or the entire database may be downloaded (24 MB). A few table titles include Stable Carbon Isotopes of Whole Oils, Standard Chemical Analyses of Gas, and Specific Gravity of Oils. [KR]
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Biotech Database -- OECD
http://www.olis.oecd.org/bioprod.nsf
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has launched this prototype database of products derived from biotechnology "to allow regulatory officials in the OECD Member Countries to share information regarding certain products or regulated articles that have been [or will be] approved for commercialization." The database, which is searchable, contains brief information about each (mostly agricultural) "product" (e.g., bacteria, resistant crop strain) and each product's approval process. Database entries are listed by organism (bacteria to oilseed rape) or developing company (AgrEvo to Monsanto). [LXP]
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In The News

The Genome Sequence of Drosophila melanogaster
1) "Mapping of Fruit Fly a Genetic 'Milestone'"
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4272-2000Mar23.html
2) Fruit Fly Genome Sequenced
http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000324/biotech_fruitfly.html
3) CeleraScience
http://www.celera.com/celerascience/index.cfm
4) Drosophila melanogaster Genome
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PMGifs/Genomes/7227.html
5) FlyBase
http://flybase.harvard.edu:7081/
6) Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project
http://www.fruitfly.org/
7) Human Genome Project
http://www.nhgri.nih.gov:80/HGP/
8) Science Magazine -- Genome Landmarks (requires subscription)
http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/genomes/landmark.shl
On Thursday March 23, 2000, a historic milestone was marked as researchers announced they have completed mapping the genome of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The achievement, which was announced in a special issue of the journal Science, culminates close to 100 years of research. Drosophila melanogaster is the most complex animal thus far to have its genetic sequence deciphered. The findings have important implications for human medical research and for completing a map of the human genome. Mapping the fruit fly genome has been a broad collaborative effort between academia and industry in several countries. While a foundation was laid by US (Berkeley), European, and Canadian Drosophila Genome Projects, Celera Genomic finished the job over the last year by employing super-computers and state-of-the-art gene-sequencing machines. The techniques learned and used in this last phase of mapping may now be applied to more rapidly decode genes of other organisms, including humans. This week's In The News takes a closer look at this important landmark.

The Washington Post (1) offers comprehensive coverage of the findings in its March 24, 2000 article, "Mapping of Fruit Fly a Genetic 'Milestone.'" Discovery.com (2) follows up with additional news. Next, Celera Corporation, responsible for the final high-tech stage of completing the sequencing, provides this CeleraScience page (3). This page contains three related articles as well as links to other sections of the CeleraScience site, including a Discover System link with access to the Celera Drisophila Sequence. Fourth, the National Center for Biotechnology Information offers a Drosophila melanogaster Genome Page (4) with access to the actual genome sequence data. Flybase (5) is an outstanding resource and includes a database for information on the Drosophila Genome. The sixth resource, the homepage for the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (6), represents fundamental research for this project with BLAST, a search feature for the Drosophila genome; a Berkeley Fly Database; Map Viewers; Analysis Tools; and online publications and laboratory methods. Next, for those users interested in the National Institute of Health's Human Genome Project (7) for which this research has important implications, this page offers links and background. Finally, users with institutional access or personal subscriptions can access the original research as it appeared in a special genome research issue of Science Magazine on March 24. 2000 (8). This page offers a section referring back to Genome Landmarks and past special Science issues devoted to genomics. [KR]
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Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-2000. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, are preserved on all copies.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin - Madison or the National Science Foundation.


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