Faculty of 1000 Biology

UCSD Libraries now subscribe to Faculty of 1000 Biology.

What makes this resource different from PubMed? The short answer: the recommendations. About 1,600 researchers and scientists worldwide read, evaluate, select, and rate articles to include in this database.
For access to the articles, use the UCeLinks features integrated into the UCSD version of Faculty of 1000 Biology.
Continue reading Faculty of 1000 Biology…

Pluto’s Planetary “Demotion”

From news @ nature.com, Planet loses planet status.

In the end it was decided that to qualify as a planet in orbit around our Sun, a chunk of rock must have been made round by its own gravity; have cleared its neighbourhood of other debris; and not be a satellite of another planetary body.

‘Dwarf’ planets in Pluto’s neighbourhood, including the object nicknamed Xena (UB313), will be given a category of their own.

The author’s conference blog at the IAU General Assembly gives a far more detailed account of what transpired at the various meetings.

MORE RESOURCES AND INFORMATION:

• Press releases from the International Astronomical Union (IAU)

  This means that the Solar System consists of eight “planets” Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A new distinct class of objects called “dwarf planets” was also decided. It was agreed that “planets” and “dwarf planets” are two distinct classes of objects. The first members of the “dwarf planet” category are Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313 (temporary name). More “dwarf planets” are expected to be announced by the IAU in the coming months and years. Currently a dozen candidate “dwarf planets” are listed on IAU’s “dwarf planet” watchlist, which keeps changing as new objects are found and the physics of the existing candidates becomes better known.

  Also, excerpts from a 1999 IAU press release: Recent news reports have given much attention to what was believed to be an initiative by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to change the status of Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system. …. No proposal to change the status of Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system has been made by any Division, Commission or Working Group of the IAU responsible for solar system science. Accordingly, no such initiative has been considered by the Officers or Executive Committee, who set the policy of the IAU itself.

• From the IAU General Assembly’s newspaper: August 16 (pg. 4-5 on the IAU Planet Definition Committee), August 21 (pg. 3 has comments/responses on the Planet Defenition Proposal), an accompanying electronic supplement to the discussion, August 24 (pg. 8), and August 25 (pg. 1 has the final votes on the resolutions).
• Michael Brown, the Caltech astronomer whose discovery of UB313 (”Xena”) contributed to the “What’s a Planet?” debate, writes about UB313 on his website.
• News Articles: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times
• Pluto is a planet, but one of 12?, Astronomy Magazine
• From Sky & Telescope: “The Day We Lost Pluto,” Planet Debate Heats Up, and What’s a Planet?

Chemistry Central (open access site)

BioMed Central has just launched a new Open Access site for chemists, Chemistry Central.

From the press release:
It brings together peer-reviewed research in chemistry from a range of open access journals. All the original research articles on Chemistry Central are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication.

As well as viewing the latest research highlights and content from featured journals, users of Chemistry Central can discuss articles, submit manuscripts, sign up for email alerts and find out more about starting a new open access chemistry journal or transferring an existing title to the Chemistry Central open access model.

Color Printing from Geisel Infostations

Color printing is now available from the Infostations in the S&E Library.

What you need to know:
• In the browser, use File >> Print to bring up the print dialog menu. Select the color printer from the options. Enter a name and password for the print job like you would for something you’d send to the S&E infostation printer.
• The actual printer is located in the Social Sciences and Humanities Library in the west wing of Geisel Library. There’s a networked printing station that you can use to release the print job you’ve sent from any of the building’s Infostations.
• You still need a white Imprints printing card to release the print jobs, and the cost for color printing is $.50/page (vs. $.05/page with black/white printing).

Students using the ACS computers in the S&E Library will still use the color printer in 2095 (aka “Lab A”). The printer name is “color21.”

SIAM Journals now with RSS feeds

SIAM [Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics] journals are now hosted on a new platform with better searching and RSS feeds for new content. Go to the SIAM Digital Library on AIP’s Scitation platform.

The RSS alerting feed is the XML button under the picture of the journal cover on a particular journal’s home page. Try out theSIAM Journal on Computing.

National Inventors Month Exhibit

Exhibit for the National inventors Month is up on display.

The exhibit features some of the the greatest inventions and inventors in Science and Technology with historic photos and drawings of the original inventions on a collage.

Featured books on display include everything you need to know about patenting your invention/s.

Play fun games or test your knowledge by taking a quiz.

IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine (New)

The first issue of IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine is now available.

The new magazine will publish tutorial and application papers across all areas of the Society’s activities. The charter of the magazine lists this as: the theoretical, experimental, application and operational aspects of electrical and electronic engineering relevant to motor vehicles and associated land transportation infrastructure: