Author: Anna Sackmann
Royal Society of Chemistry journals unavailable via proxy
Due to fraudulent activity by apparent non-UCB users, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) journals will be unavailable by the library proxy server for a limited time. Access to these titles continues to be available on campus and through the campus VPN. We apologize for the inconvenience.
SimplyMap makes analysis and mapping easy
SimplyMap is a browser-based data analysis and mapping tool that allows users without any cartographic or numeric data experience to create custom thematic maps, tables, and reports using data from government and private sources provided by Geographic Research, Inc.
UC Berkeley’s subscription to SimplyMap includes: over 70,000 data variables related to demographics, employment, real estate & housing, crime, businesses, consumer spending, and points of interest data from the US Census, historical US Census data (1980, 1990, 2000), SimmonsLOCAL data from Experian, and Nielsen Claritas PRIZM Data. Data for all geographies include census block-groups, census tracts, ZIP codes, cities, counties, states, and the entire United States.
Melvin Calvin honored on U.S. stamp
On June 16, 2011, the U.S. Postal Service issued Forever® stamps celebrating the achievements of four American scientists: chemist Melvin Calvin, botanist Asa Gray, physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer, and biochemist Severo Ochoa. Calvin’s stamp art includes a photograph of him taken by Yousuf Karsh and the background shows chemical symbols and structures he used to represent the carbon cycle in photosynthesis.
Good-bye SciFinder client; hello web
The client version of SciFinder will be retired by CAS on June 30, 2011. Between now and June 30th, access to the client will be decreased and access to the web will be increased in an effort to encourage users to transition to the web.
After June 30th, you will have to use the web version of SciFinder. To use the web version, you must first register. Instructions are here. Once you have registered, you can go directly to SciFinder.
Encyclopedia of the Eye
The Encyclopedia of the Eye is targeted toward scientists looking for information that is outside of their fields of expertise, and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in eye research. Each article in the Encyclopedia, in addition to text, includes many multimedia and color figures, to help illustrate the points discussed. More in-depth information is available through extensive references and related articles. The Encyclopedia includes many introductory articles appropriate for undergraduate students as well as those in-depth in specialist research areas. The links to related reference works and related articles take the user to articles in the publisher’s other encyclopedias and journal publications, and in many cases, to the full text.
Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, second edition
The second edition of the Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (UCB only) is now available online. This six volume ebook, “includes contributions from leading scientists around the world on the physical processes that drive the oceans and the chemical, biological, and geological disciplines. The Encyclopedia also covers ancillary topics such as ocean technology, law of the oceans, global programs, marine policy, the use of the oceans for food and energy, and the impact of pollution and climate changes.”
This latest edition includes nearly 500 articles covering the breadth and depth of the field with over 30% new and updated content reflecting the latest research in the field of oceanography. Greater coverage of climate, remote sensing, and data modeling, with greater consideration of economic and political aspects provides a broad view of the field.
Physical chemical data online – NIST/TRC WTT
The NIST/TRC Web Thermo Tables (WTT) Professional Edition is an online database of critically evaluated thermochemical properties. There are two versions of the database, the Professional (with all the data) and the Lite (with 150 selected commonly used compounds). We subscribe to the Professional version.
Presently, the Professional version of WTT contains data for 7729 compounds. Data includes critical properties, vapor pressures and boiling temperatures, phase transition properties, volumetric properties, heat capacities and derived properties, transport properties, reaction state-change properties, as well as index of refraction, surface tension, and speed of sound. Various search options and interactive data plotting capabilities are provided via the web interface.
This is a subscription database (not the same as the freely available NIST Chemistry WebBook). The two products are complementary however, and each one has internal links to the other.
Reaxys replacing CrossFire
Reaxys will be replacing the CrossFire Beilstein/Gmelin databases in January 2011. Reaxys is an entirely web-based application that combines the content of Beilstein, Gmelin and the Patent Chemistry databses. You can preview Reaxys now, although our official access does not begin until January 1, 2011. Helpful user guides are at Elsevier’s Reaxys Training Center including Reaxys – Content at a Glance and Reaxys Quick Reference Guide.
Latest JRE may cause SciFinder to freeze
SciFinder web users on either Windows or Macintosh operating systems who have downloaded the latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) versions may encounter symptoms that resemble a “frozen” session when trying to use the structure editor. The problem is speficially associated with these JRE versions:
JRE 1.6.0_u22 (Windows)
JREE 1.5.0_26 (Macintosh)
If you experience this problem, exit the drawing editor window by clicking the X button, sign out of SciFinder (by clicking Sign Out), close and restart the browser, and then sign back in to SciFinder.
CAS is at work on a fix to this problem and it will be available in SciFinder later this year.
The Cochrane Library: Finding the Evidence
The Cochrane Library contains several health-related databases, and is best known for its publication of systematic reviews of evidence of the effectiveness of health care interventions, such as drugs or surgery. The systematic reviews contain high-quality, independent evidence, aimed at informing healthcare decision-making. Reviews are prepared by subject-specific Review Groups that are part of the Cochrane Collaboration. Of special note are the plain language summaries contained in every systematic review, aimed at summarizing the reviews in a straightforward style that can be understood by healthcare consumers. The Cochrane Library may be searched, or browsed by topic and review group. Topics of special interest, for example, metastatic breast cancer, are highlighted on The Cochrane Library home page, and many resources on those topics are gathered together in Special Collections. Podcasts containing audio summaries of selected reviews are also available.