Wednesday 30 July 2008

Dublin's City of Science bid for 2012

Dublin’s bid for the 2012 European City of Science was unveiled today The capital city’s aim is to attract 8,000 Irish and international delegates to the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) in four years’ time. Barcelona held the most recent event, which took place earlier this month and attracted around 5,000 participants.

Full details at http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0730/breaking5.htm

Tuesday 29 July 2008

New search engine launches


The new Cuil search engine launched yesterday and aims to topple Google by indexing more webpages than the web giant. Cuil says it has indexed 120 billion Web pages and can provide results organized by ideas with complete privacy for users. Results are displayed in columns as opposed to lists with site photos and icons included.

It's early days, but is it any good? How does it compare to other new search engine launches such as Wikia Search and Google itself? Have a look at the links below to get some initial thoughts and opinions....



Monday 28 July 2008

Chromatography - a ChemGuide


This website, part of the Chemguide Understanding of Chemistry site by Jim Clark, aimed at A-level or similar advanced chemistry courses, provides a background to chromatography.

Topics covered include thin layer chromatography, column chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas-liquid chromatography, and paper chromatography.
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/analysis/chromatogrmenu.html

Friday 18 July 2008

New computing resources online


BURKS 6 online is a non-profit collection of useful resources for students of computing. The resources include compilers, tutorials and reference manuals for dozens of different programming languages, a dictionary of computing with over 13,000 entries, a copy of the Mandrake 8.0 Linux distribution and software. The whole BURKS collection is available online and each section includes a brief introduction at http://burks.bton.ac.uk/burks/

Thursday 17 July 2008

Summer Science Quiz


It may be raining, so brighten up your summer with a selection of science jokes, puzzles, brain teasers and quotations compiled by William Reville at the following link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/science/2008/0717/1216073184305.html.

Have a look too at www.scientificpsychic.com/mind

Wednesday 16 July 2008

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)

THE NIBIB site includes descriptions of research in a wide range of areas of biomedical imaging and bioengineering as well as information on staff and a list of publications. Full text reports are science education publications are available. A calendar of events, press releases and workshop reports can be accessed on the site along with picture and video galleries.
http://www.nibib.nih.gov/&handle=20080624-11145184

Tuesday 15 July 2008

Spotlight on science resources


Spotlight is a science articles and news features resource by the award-winning science writer David Bradley. http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/spotlight/ Articles can be searched by subject and a snapshot of the latest articles include:

Cheerio! [Jul 2008 - materials] Anyone who enjoys a delicious bowl of mixed grain Cheerios in the morning, rather than being force-fed lumpy porridge, will know all about the "Cheerios Effect". This phenomenon is usually manifest at a particular point during breakfast when just a few torus-shaped ...
Inconvenient ice sheets [Jul 2008 - earth] The present environmental crisis over climate change hinges on the validity of global temperature measurements, observations of local conditions, such as changes in the ice caps, ...
Turning up the heat on quantum mechanics [Jun 2008 - physics] Scientists have made a startling prediction about the quantum world that seems to show that simply "taking the temperature" of certain types ...
Pathological proteins produce polymers [Jun 2008 - chemistry] Deposits of distorted or otherwise errant proteins are key to understanding various brain diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and the prion disease variant-CJD, they are also implicated in the pathology of type II diabetes. However, while such "amyloids" are a medical nightmare, researchers ...

Spotlight was selected as a recommended web link by New Scientist, July 2002 and is a 2002-03 and 2003-04 Golden Web Awards winner.

Monday 14 July 2008

ChemPod


Every other month the Nature journals are publishing a free audio show, 'ChemPod', specifically for the chemistry community, from interviews with Nobel Prize winners, to discussions on nanotechnology research and much, much more...

The shows will feature important research from the Nature journals as well as interviews with the people behind the science, in-depth commentary, location reports and analysis from journalists covering chemistry around the world. http://www.nature.com/chemistry/podcast.html

Endocrinology open access journal


BMC Endocrine Disorders is an electronic journal published by Biomed Central (BMC). Research articles, case reports and reviews covering the latest research on all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of endocrine disorders, as well as related molecular genetics, pathophysiology, and epidemiology are available from 2001 onwards which are freely accessible online permanently. Articles are archived in internationally recognised free access repositories such as PubMed Central. Information is provided on the instructions for authors, and the peer-review process. http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcendocrdisord/

Thursday 10 July 2008

Forensic Science Resources


New forensic science resources links, including associations, criminalistics and trace evidence, forensic anthropology, forensic medicine and pathology, forensic experts, arson investigation, forensic science education, forensic chemistry and toxicology, forensic entomology, forensic odontology, questioned document examination, crime scene investigation, ethics and forensic science, forensic DNA analysis, and forensic psychiatry and psychology.

The site is provided and maintained by R. Scott Carpenter. http://www.tncrimlaw.com/forensic/&handle=20080627-10041678

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Intute Respository Search for Researchers


The new Intute Repository Search makes it easy to access academic and research content. There is a wealth of academic, educational and research information stored in a wide range of systems throughout the UK. Intute's aim is to increase the visibility of this information and make it readily accessible to academics, researchers, developers and associated organisations.



Looking for new resources on a topic?


Check out http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/latest.html for new academic information resources for Science, Engineering and Technology.

Subjects include Astronomy Chemistry Computing Earth sciences Engineering Environment General Geography Mathematics Physics.

An RSS newsfeed of the latest resources is also available.
http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/rss/latest_sciences.xml

Raman spectroscopy: animated resource


This links to an introduction to the concept of Raman scattering and the principles and uses of Raman spectroscopy. Topics covered include: Raman scattering, Raman active modes, the operation of a Raman spectrometer, Raman microspectroscopy, other types of Raman spectroscopy, advantages and disadvantages of its use, and applications. Animations are provided using Macromedia Flash Player version 8. http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/redir.pl?url=http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/raman/index.php&handle=20080430-1433585750

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Brewing Java


This tutorial covers Java 1.0 and has grown into a book called The Java Developer's Resource, which is now out of print, but the examples and exercises from that book are online here. The tutorial provides an introduction to Java and covers the basic syntax of the language, the basics of writing applets in Java and introduces objects, classes, methods, and interfaces.
Go to the link at http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/redir.pl?url=http://www.cafeaulait.org/javatutorial.html&handle=p.curran.1043236503

Wednesday 2 July 2008

SCONUL Access via DIT Library


From July 1st DIT staff and postgraduate research students can avail of the Sconul Access scheme which is a co-operative arrangement between over 170 Higher Education libraries in Ireland and the UK. Please note the scheme does not include TCD Library.

Visiting rights are restricted to other libraries in the scheme who also limit access to staff and postgraduate research students i.e. Band A libraries. The scheme represents a substantial widening of the range of resources available to our research population and includes borrowing rights. The protocols of the scheme restrict eligibility to those in good standing with the library (i.e. those having no outstanding debts etc).
Application forms are now available from your local DIT site library where you can obtain a Sconul Access membership card. This gives you access and borrowing rights in Band A libraries . Please ensure that you identify the opening hours and any local arrangements that apply to the library you wish to visit via their website or the Sconul site.


Tuesday 1 July 2008

E-Books for Computer Science


The new e-books collection for computing is now available on the DIT Library WebOpac. Input 'Netlibrary' into the author search field and the full listing will be made available. There will shortly be a link to the e-books on the library website and on the A-Z listing.

Remote access will require your DIT student or staff number and Library PIN number.