Modern physics can be a curious beast indeed, and it is "full of ideas that are weird, counterintuitive and wondrous." So goes the introduction to this most engaging online course site provided by the Tufts University OpenCourseWare initiative. The materials come from the course "Physics forHumanists", which was taught by Professor Gary R. Goldstein. As the course notes remark, "Physics for Humanists is intended for those who are intellectually and emotionally curious but do not intend to specialize in the natural sciences." The course site includes a syllabus, calendar,lectures, exams and quizzes, assignments, and lecture handouts. It's a real treat for anyone with a passion for the subject, and even those who might be intimidated by the subject matter may leave with a newfound interest. To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and ScienceEducational Repository at http://amser.org/.
http://ocw.tufts.edu/Course/30
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Images: The Best NASA Satellite Photos from the Last 50 Years
The best NASA satellite photos from the last 50 years include solar storms, choking cities, and glories in the sky, captured on film.
Direct to Compilation
Source: Discover Magazine
Direct to Compilation
Source: Discover Magazine
Environmental History Resources
Professor Jan Oosthoek at the University of Edinburgh has maintained a webpresence since 1999, and his most recent website was relaunched in March2008. The purpose of the site is to provide a range of resources andinformation on environmental history for the general public and scholars.Some of these resources include topical bibliographies, essays, annotatedguides to other web resources, and a news feed. Visitors who click on the"Bibliography" area will find links to detailed thematic bibliographies thatcover El Nino, climate history, Scottish forest history, and other topics.Moving on, the "Essays" area contains twelve different essays, including"The role of wood in world history", "What is environmental history?", and"Dutch river defences in historical perspective". The "Podcast" area is a real treat, and features interviews and discussions about topics such asurban air pollution in historical perspective and the environmental legacyof apartheid in South Africa.
http://www.eh-resources.org/index.html
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/
http://www.eh-resources.org/index.html
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/
Comparison of Pub Med, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses
The evolution of the electronic age has led to the development of numerous medical databases on the World Wide Web, offering search facilities on a particular subject and the ability to perform citation analysis. We compared the content coverage and practical utility of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The official Web pages of the databases were used to extract information on the range of journals covered, search facilities and restrictions, and update frequency. We used the example of a keyword search to evaluate the usefulness of these databases in biomedical information retrieval and a specific published article to evaluate their utility in performing citation analysis. All databases were practical in use and offered numerous search facilities. PubMed and Google Scholar are accessed for free. The keyword search with PubMed offers optimal update frequency and includes online early articles; other databases can rate articles by number of citations, as an index of importance. For citation analysis, Scopus offers about 20% more coverage than Web of Science, whereas Google Scholar offers results of inconsistent accuracy. PubMed remains an optimal tool in biomedical electronic research. Scopus covers a wider journal range, of help both in keyword searching and citation analysis, but it is currently limited to recent articles (published after 1995) compared with Web of Science. Google Scholar, as for the Web in general, can help in the retrieval of even the most obscure information but its use is marred by inadequate, less often updated, citation information.—Falagas, M. E., Pitsouni, E I., Malietzis, G. A., and Pappas, G. Comparison of Pub Med, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses.
Full Paper (PDF; 71 KB)
Full Paper (PDF; 71 KB)
Friday, May 8, 2009
Research Front Maps from Thomson Reuters
Research fronts are clusters of highly cited papers and research front maps are diagrammatic representations of the co-citation links among the highly cited papers that comprise the cluster. Fronts are selected from the Research Fronts section of Essential Science Indicators from Thomson Reuters which is updated every two months. Some maps also link to author commentaries for specific papers.
Each circle represents a highly cited paper whose bibliographic information is displayed when the user clicks on the circle. The solid lines between circles represent the strongest co-citation links for each paper (that is, indicating that the papers are frequently cited together); weaker links are indicated by dashed lines. Papers close to each other on the map are generally more highly co-cited. The most recent paper(s) are indicated in pink.
http://sciencewatch.com/dr/rfm/
Scientific Societies
The Scientific Societies Page provides access to websites of scientific societies and professional associations whose focus is in the natural sciences as well as other related disciplines of interest to the Department of Energy research and development programs, projects, and initiatives.
http://www.osti.gov/eprints/societies/
http://www.osti.gov/eprints/societies/
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