Search multiple databases from DOE

Science Accelerator is a federated search engine for the U.S. Department of Energy's science and technical information. Using Science Accelerator, users can search Research & Development reports, e-prints, conference proceedings, patents, and Web sites. Using a basic search or an advanced search, users can access primarily full text information. In addition, Science Accelerator has a number of features usually found in subscription databases, such as the ability to download results to bibliographic citation software, automatic spell-checking, and topic clustering to assist in narrowing your search. Basic searches in various topics yielded results in energy, environment, computing, physics, geology, chemistry, and marine science.

Web resources for science topics

A consortium of seven UK universities has put together Intute, which is a collection of vetted, educational Internet resources in many topics. There are many useful resources to be explored for science students. Subject booklets have been created in Science and Technology and Health and Life Sciences. Each booklet contains an annotated bibliography of web resources.

In the Science and Technology section, the following booklets are available:

• Internet resources for environmental science
• Internet resources for materials engineering
• Internet resources for environmental engineering
• Internet resources for physics
• Internet resources for chemistry
• Internet resources for computing

In the Health and Life Sciences section, the following booklets are available:

• Internet resources for biological sciences
• Internet resources for pregnancy and childbirth
• Internet resources for animal health
• Internet resources for physiotherapy and orthopaedics
• Internet resources for agriculture, food and forestry
• Internet resources for healthcare and medicine

Many of the resources are international or British organizations, which may help expand your personal favorite sites list beyond the United States.

Another valuable resource at Intute is the Virtual Training Suite. The VTS offers tutorials on conducting research on the Internet in a number of different scientific, social science and humanities disciplines. First the tutorials give you a "tour" of the best available. As you read about sites, you can add the ones that interest you to your own "basket."Next there is a research section that offers information on finding and evaluating sites. Finally you can read success stories on how others use the Internet effectively. At the end you can add the links you collected in your basket to your favorites, or you can email or print them off.

Halloween Friday Fun: Optics of Jack

Happy Halloween!

For your Halloween physics pleasure, I bring you an article from Lorne A. Whitehead and Michele A. Mossman, two professors from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia.

Jack O'Lanterns and integrating spheres: Halloween physics
American Journal of Physics -- June 2006 -- Volume 74, Issue 6, pp. 537-541

Of course, it would break copyright for me to post the article itself, but Eckerd Library does subscribe to the American Journal of Physics online.

Don't know how to get to it? Follow these steps:

1. Go to www.eckerd.edu/library
2. Click on FIND JOURNAL TITLES
3. Search for: American Journal of Physics
4. Click on the online link: Scitation Publications
5. Click on the link: Volume 74
6. Scroll down to June 2006, and click on the button to VIEW HTML TOC.
7. Scroll down to the article.

If you are on campus, you should be able to click here.

Image from YesWeCarve.com

And don't forget to vote! The only bus from Eckerd is leaving today at 1:15 pm.

Consider a career as a science librarian

During the interview process at Eckerd a year ago, I discussed with one of the interviewers the prospects of science librarianship as a career for students who graduate with a science degree. This is still an avenue I wish to explore with students at Eckerd, and as I look into ways to bring this career path into focus, I thought to start with a blog post. The following resources may be of interest if you are a science student who is considering a different, exciting, flexible career with many opportunites.

Leaving Science for LIS
This article describes a study done with librarians who came from the sciences. It includes advice to scientists considering a career in librarianship

From Engineer to Librarian
Personal story of a fourth year engineering student whose heart wasn't in it, and how becoming an engineering librarian was the perfect solution

Science Majors Needed
A brochure from the Association of College and Research Libraries-Science & Technology Section

Medical Library Association Career Development
Brochures, videos, job lists, and more for medical librarianship

Resources on Careers in Chemical Information
Blog, books, web articles and other resources from the American Chemical Society

So there's just a taste, and hopefully more information will be forthcoming in your classes, in a workshop, or ...

Portal provides access to millions of government documents

Science.gov has improved on their government science documents portal in its newest release. The press announcement follows:

Science.gov—Science.gov 5.0—was launched Sept. 15th, allowing users to search additional collections of valuable science resources; more easily target their searches; and readily find links to information on a variety of science topics. Science.gov is a free, integrated single-search gateway to reliable science and technology information from 17 organizations within 13 federal science agencies.

Science.gov 5.0 improves upon the previous version, Science.gov 4.0, by offering seven new databases and portals which allow researchers access to over 200 million pages of scientific information. New information available includes thousands of patents resulting from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research and development(DOepatents); documents and bibliographic citations of DOE accomplishments (DOE R&D Accomplishments Database); millions of electronic scientific documents from around the world known as e-prints (Eprint Network); and comprehensive and peer-reviewed toxicology data for thousands of chemicals (HSDB Hazardous Substances Databank) as well as more than 3 million references to worldwide literature on the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms (TOXLINE Toxicology Bibliographic Information). New information also includes a digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature (PubMed Central) and cancer-related information of all kinds for all audiences (Cancer.gov), including support and treatment resources for patients, comprehensive descriptions of research programs and clinical trials for healthcare professionals and the general public, and funding opportunities for researchers.

Another key feature of Science.gov 5.0 is a “clustering” tool which helps target searches by grouping results by subtopics or dates. This technology was recently developed through a DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program award.

In addition to quadrupling the amount of searchable content and enhancing the search technology, Science.gov 5.0 now provides links to related EurekAlert! Science News and Wikipedia, and provides the capability to easily download research results into personal files or citation software.

Science.gov is hosted by DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), within DOE’s Office of Science. In addition to DOE, Science.gov is supported by contributing members of the Science.gov Alliance, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, and the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation, with support from the National Archives and Records Administration.

AIP announces new journal

The Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy will publish its first issue online in 2009. AIP is looking for submissions at this time. Access will be free for 2009 and will require a subscription subsequently. Topics will include the following:

• Bioenergy – bioreactions and bioengineering
• Geothermal energy – geysers, heat pumps, and novel devices
• Marine and hydroelectric energy – waves, tides, and dams
• Nuclear energy – fission and fusion
• Solar energy – photovoltaics and solar thermal converters
• Wind energy – turbines and electrical systems and controls
• Energy conversion – solid oxide and proton exchange membrane fuel cells and novel devices
• Energy efficient buildings – photovoltaics, solar thermal converters, and passive solar approaches
• Energy storage – hydrogen and batteries
• Power distribution – conventional and superconducting transmission, fluctuating loads, and controls
• Renewable energy resource assessment
• Transportation – hydrogen, batteries, fuel cells, bioenergy, and vehicles

In addition, a Web site will correspond to the journal and feature news, a blog, and more. For more information, visit the JRSE Web site.

Cleaner interface for arXive

IOP (Institute of Physics) has developed an interface known as eprintweb for accessing e-prints uploaded to arXive. In its beta form, eprintweb offers an easier, better-looking platform for accessing eprints in 17 physical and mathematical disciplines.*

Features available in eprintweb include the following:

• RSS feeds: By subscribing to a particular feed channel, researchers can remain informed of newly submitted papers.
• Personalization: After signing up for a free account, users can create bookmarks and email alerts, as well as customize settings
• DOIs: Linking through DOI number to the published article is available

Search features mimic common database interfaces, providing several search boxes with drop-down menus to identify your search area, whether it be author, title, subject, affiliation, abstract, and more. Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) can be used to further refine search statements. In addition, the archive allows user to browse by date and subject category, and the author tab permits easy browsing by category and author name.

For students unfamiliar with eprints and preprints, it is important to note that some of the material may not have been peer-reviewed. According to Richard Luce(1), the term "preprints" generally describes either material that has been accepted for publication or material submitted but has yet to be accepted (or rejected). In arXiv, the papers often have comments describing their publication status, but not always. Richard Luce(1) identifies eprints as preprints, published works, and unpublished works distributed electronically by an author, often for archiving purposes.

*Categories are as listed:

• Astrophysics (astro-ph)
• Condensed Matter (cond-mat)
• Computer Research Repository (CoRR)
• General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
• High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
• High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
• High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
• High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
• Mathematics (math)
• Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
• Nonlinear Sciences (nlin)
• Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
• Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
• Physics (physics)
• Quantitative Biology (q-bio)
• Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
• Statistics (stat)

1. Luce, R. (2001) E-prints intersect the digital library: inside the Los Alamos arXiv. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 29. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from http://www.istl.org/01-winter/article3.html

Friday Fun: Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics

The weather is gorgeous, my office smells like gardenias (courtesy of another professor), and all in all, it is a day to enjoy life, possibly through some harmless mocking. Enter Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics. This site--and as of December 2007, a book--examine the plausibility of action seen in movies. The authors, self-proclaimed technonerds, have developed a simple rating system:

GP = Good physics in general



PGP = Pretty good physics (just enough flaws to be fun)



PGP-13 = Children under 13 might be tricked into thinking the physics were pretty good; parental guidance is suggested



RP = Retch



XP = Obviously physics from an unknown universe



NR = Unrated. When a movie is obviously a parody, fantasy, cartoon or is clearly based on a comic book it can't be rated but may still have some interesting physics worth discussing.

Newer movies are reviewed individually in addition to treatises on generally bad movies physics, such as explosions, laser beams, flashing bullets, etc.

Not without educational merit, the site also offers information on movie physics in the classroom and recommendations for people interested in studying basic physics on their own (i.e., adults who never took physics or at least don't remember actually taking physics, and now wish they did).

Get together with your physics study group this weekend, choose a good physics movie to watch, and discuss those concepts that are sure to show up on your upcoming final exams.

ScienceWatch tracks research

ScienceWatch.com, from Thomson Reuters, uses citation information to tracks trends in scientific research. The site provides ranking information as well as interviews and analyses of new research. The site is only a few months old, and I expect more topics and articles will become available over time. Worth bookmarking and perusing every couple of weeks, this site classifies institutions, scientists, and disciplines. For example, an article on "The Most-Cited Institutions in Plant & Animal Science, 1997-2007" is featured for this month. Students interested in this topic might use an article such as this as a jumping off point for research into graduate schools or career opportunities. Classification is also done for emerging research, and excellent maps are generated to identify the top articles in the chosen topic. The image below is the map for Haplotype Tag SNPs. Article citation and author contact information is included in conjunction with the map, making these topics easy for students and faculty to explore.



Another great aspect of ScienceWatch is its analysis. Highly cited researchers are interviewed about their ongoing research and its impact on the field and related disciplines. Dr. Eric Herbst, a Distinguished University Professor in Physics, Astronomy, and Chemistry at The Ohio State University in Columbus, is April's interviewee. He discusses his work on the chemistry of interstellar molecules. Furthermore, analysis articles are written on chosen topics and related research articles are highlighted.

Finally, the site offers podcasts of interviews and discussions with numerous top scientists, such as

• Dr. Paula J. Reimer, Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology (GAP)
• Dr. Mark Newman, Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan
• Jacques Banchereau, Director of the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in Dallas
• and many more from private companies and universities in various disciplines

Smithsonian digitizes research series

The Smithsonian Institution's Contributions and Study Series is now freely available in full text. Titles are as listed:

• Smithsonian Annals of Flight (1964 - 1974)
• Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology (1965 - present)
• Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics (1956 - 1974)
• Smithsonian Contributions to Botany (1969 - 2001)
• Smithsonian Contributions to History and Technology (1969 - present ; formerly Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology)
• Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (1969 - present)
• Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences (1969 - 2002)
• Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences (1977 - present)
• Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology (1969 - present)
• Smithsonian Folklife Studies (1980 - 1990)
• Smithsonian Studies in Air and Space (1977 - 1990)

The home page for the series has a full text, abstract, and author search feature. You can also search individual series at their respective sites. Thanks to Prof. Meylan for pointing this out to me.

Blogging on scientific research

Research Blogging collects posts on peer-reviewed research and organizes them by topic. Many scientists are blogging about peer-reviewed research. Using code generated at Research Blogger, their posts are captured in one place for easy perusal. In the past, I have mentioned discussions with faculty and students about serendipitous discovery. Many ask if it is possible without spending time in the library flipping through journals on the shelves. Bear in mind, I do not want to discourage spending time in the library. However, Research Blogging provides another type of discovery. By clicking on a subject, such as computer science, you can read what bloggers in the field have discovered. For a post to be included in Research Blogging, it must discuss peer-reviewed research that has been read carefully by the writer. Furthermore, the review must be written from the writer's perspective, i.e., it should not be a compilation of other people's thoughts on the research. In addition, a posting should contain the full reference, including whenever possible, the DOI number. Therefore, interested students and faculty members can locate the research article being discussed. The community involved with this blog polices the entries, and abuse will lead to removal.

Current categories for Research Blogging:

• Anthropology
• Astronomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Clinical Research
• Computer Science
• Earth / Environmental
• Economics
• Engineering
• Mathematics
• Philosophy
• Physics
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Research / Scholarship
• Other

A note on locating the article: Students that are not familiar with DOI numbers may expect that clicking the link will take you to the full text. The DOI number will take you to full citation information but not necessarily the full text. If you are on campus, and the library owns the full text, you should be able to access it. If you are off campus, you would have to log into the library first. Remember to use Find Journal Titles to see if we own the journal either in print or electronically (or both). Finally, don't forget that by using Interlibrary Loan, you can usually obtain the article from another library.

Make 2009 a Year of Science

Polls indicate that national scientific literacy is low in the United States. In an effort to engage and teach the public about scientific activities and research, the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) was formed between universities and colleges, scientific organizations, businesses, media, and museums and libraries. The group is planning the 2009 Year of Science showcase as part of their effort.

Local participants include the Science Center of Pinellas County and the Pinellas County Environmental Land Division. Some planned activities for the year include the following:

• AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest
• Cafe Scientifique
• Darwin Day
• Launch of the Understanding Science Web site

COPUS is looking for more participants and events to make this a real national occasion. I think it would be excellent if NAS registers any events that they have planned, and perhaps even plan some events in conjunction with other local participants.

Physics Applets

A number of professors at Virginia Tech have developed applet activities for students in physics, engineering, and math. The site comes recommended, especially for freshmen and sophomores, by CHOICE. Evolving from a project funded by the National Science Foundation, the programs demonstrate cases in fluid dynamics, statics, and dynamics. For example, the projectile motion program allows the user to set the speed, angle, and draw. A line of the projectile will be drawn and calculations for range, flight time, and maximum height are displayed. See the image below for a speed of 90 ft/s, an angle of 55 degrees, and a draw of 0.10.


The applications can be awkward to use. In the projectile applet, more curves can be added by redrawing with different values, however it is not easy to clear the application. Some of the applets have instructions whereas others rely on your knowledge to activate. Nevertheless, this programs may prove helpful for students who learn better with visual imagery.

New book profile: Brainteaser Physics

New Book Profile

Title: Brainteaser Physics: Challenging Physics Puzzlers (QC75.G75 2007: New Book shelf)
Author: Goran Grimvall
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Year: 2007
162 pages

A columnist in a Swedish journal for engineers has published 57 puzzles to challenge physicists and students of physics. By the author's own admission, some puzzles are classics and others are new twists on old themes. Puzzles span from novice level to those that "may baffle even a physics professor" (p. 55). According to the preface, some knowledge of mathematics is assumed for many of the brainteasers.

The puzzles incorporate real world examples, as well as other disciplines such as literature. The baffling puzzle mentioned above involves a passage from a novel by Kurt Vonnegut. Solutions are provided for each problem, complete with illustrations and mathematical equations when necessary.

An excellent component of the book is the Further Reading section included at the end. Articles from the American Journal of Physics, European Journal of Physics, Physics Education, and The Physics Teacher correspond to individual problems. These references should help students correlate the puzzles to work of physicists. In this vein, Grimvall states that one purpose of these brainteasers is to provide a view of "how physicists think." (p. vii)

New Book Profile: The Periodic Table

New Book Profile

Title: The Periodic Table: Its Story and Significance QD467.S345 2007 (New Book shelf)
Author: Eric R. Scerri
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2007
249 pages

Dr. Eric Scerri, lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, has written a book that explores the development, both historical and philosophical, of the periodic table of elements. In addition, the book examines the relationship between chemistry and physics. Scerri states in his introduction

One can still consider the more modern question of whether chemistry reduces to its sister science of physics...It is this question that forms the underlying theme for this entire book, and it is a question that is addressed more and more explicitly in later chapters as the story reaches the impact of modern physical theories on our understanding of the periodic system. (p. xviii)

Ten chapters begin with the historical origins of the table, including the concept of an element and its changing meaning throughout early scientific thought, continue through Mendeleev's predictions, to the impact of the nucleus and atomic number, and finally to modern quantum mechanics and astrophysics. Written in a manner accessible to students with some knowledge of chemistry, this book will provide a fascinating basis for students about to embark on more serious study of chemistry and/or physics, whether one agrees or disagrees with Scerri's premise.

A Nature (Q1.N2) magazine review of the book

Bensaude-Vincent, B. (18 January 2007). Display elements. Nature 445, 263-4.

discusses Scerri's argument that chemistry cannot be simply reduced to physics. Although the reviewer finds the introductory historical overview somewhat cliched, she approves of later arguments, especially those surrounding the discovery of isotopes and Niels Bohr's atomic model.

This may be an interesting book to take home for the holidays. Remember the library's holiday hours
Wednesday until 1 am
Thursday until 1 am
Friday until 5 pm

December 15-16	CLOSED	Semester End
December 17-18	8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Semester End

Introducing Nonlinear Biomedical Physics

A new open-access journal titled Nonlinear Biomedical Physics is being published by BioMed Central. The journal, founded by Zbigniew Czernicki, will focus on articles that offer a

• better understanding of the physiological origin of complex nonlinear dynamics of living systems
• calculation of quantitative measures of complex spatial and temporal behaviour and classification of different physiological and pathological states through nonlinear analysis of biosignals (EEG, EMG, HRV)
• studies of the feasibility of applying complexity measures as diagnostic tools in Medicine, to characterize changes induced by pathologies, administered drugs, photo-therapy, anaesthesia, etc. by comparing experimentally observed behaviour with mathematical models' predictions and computer simulations
• collective phenomena, self-organized ordering and synchronisation in biological systems
• bioelectromagnetic phenomena and biomedical devices such as biosensors and pacemakers
• nonlinear, non-Newtonian fluids in the body - respiration, blood circulation, CSF, lymph

Articles will be peer-reviewed by two experts within three weeks, a quick turn-around. After acceptance, the articles will be published online and immediately available through PubMed. This provides excellent exposure for authors, and easy access for students.

For more information, read the editorial from the Editors-in-Chief (one of whom is from our own state!):

Zbigniew Czernicki, Polish Academy of Sciences Medical Research Institute, Department of Neurosurgery, 80 Ceglowska Str., Warsaw, Poland

Wlodzimierz Klonowski, Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, Trojdena 4, 02-109 Warsaw, Poland

Larry Liebovitch, Florida Atlantic University, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA

Open collection of crystal structures

Following the supposition that crystal structures are facts, and therefore not subject to copyright, Nick Day, while a PhD student, developed CrystalEye. CrystalEye collects the Crystallographic Information Framework (CIF) files from published articles. Using a web spider, CrystalEye gathers these files from five publishers: Acta Crystallographica, American Chemical Society, Chemical Society of Japan, Elsevier, and Royal Society of Chemistry. Currently, nearly 100,000 structures reside on CrystalEye. Future plans include aggregation from institutional repositories.

CrystalEye provides several access points to its data. You can search either by using simplified molecular input line entry specification (SMILES) or cell parameters. In addition, you can browse by journal and issue. Results are neatly packaged in a clickable chart form (see image below--click on image to see it larger).


Clicking the summary will yield more information, such as the DOI number of the article containing the structure, data collection parameters, refinement results, as well as a javascript application that allows you to change the number of unit cells along an axis and view the structure.

As a big proponent of using RSS feeds to collect information that personally appeals to you, I was thrilled to see the RSS feed function available. You can subscribe to a feed by journal, compound class, atoms, or bonds. For example, you can subscribe to a feed that will notify you of any CIF files added to CrystalEye that contain a bond between aluminum and silver.

CrystalEye also create histograms for bond lengths involving different atoms. The histograms are clickable so you can be linked to the structures that fit the specific parameters you clicked on.

For people interested in the development, technology, and future plans for the beta site, Day has a wiki page with more information.

Scitopia reaches final version

It has been a crazy week with meetings for me first in Ohio and then in Fort Myers. Therefore, instead of my take on the new Scitopia, I am going to direct you to an excellent article in Information Today. In brief, Scitopia has improved the XML to provide more exact results. The patent search includes Japanese and European patents, as well as those in the United States. In addition, the article claims that in comparison to one expensive database, the coverage is better. No names are used but at Eckerd, I know for our subject guides, I will be directing you to Scitopia over a few smaller search pages such as SIAM or AGU, since Scitopia covers their content.

2007 Nobel Prize in Physics

PETER GRUNBERG (left); ALBERT FERT (right)
(pictures from Nobel Prize.org)
















The Nobel Prize in Physics will be split between a French and a German physicist, Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg, respectively, for

the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance

With this discovery, the ability to read data on hard drives became more refined, and therefore, applicable to smaller storage devices such as your ipod. The Nobel Prize Web site has an excellent article on the science behind Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) available here.