Resource Centre
ICT-WEB Alert

April 2008

  1. 3-D Simulations

    Three-dimensional (3-D) rendering and animation technology is not only used for entertainment, but also for research and educational purposes. The technology can be used for purposes of scientific simulation in fields such as physics, biology, or chemistry. For example, Stanford University's Folding@home project uses 3-D simulations and distributed computing to study protein folding, misfolding, aggregation, and related diseases. Three-D simulations can also be used to observe phenomena that would normally be impossible to scrutinize in detail, as is demonstrated on this website on Center for Automation in Nanobiotech: Nanorobotics. This next website describes work by the University of Texas Austin: Robotics Research Group in using 3-D simulations to enhance undergraduate and graduate engineering education. The EdCenter: Interactive 3D Modelling makes available several compressed files of 3-D simulations that model earthquake data, Mars, a San Diego Fly Through, and more. On this website EuclideanSpace: Building a 3D WorldM, Martin Baker provides "all you need to know about 3D theory" and this website The Breve Simulation Environment provides access to a free open-source software package which "makes it easy to build 3-D simulations of decentralized systems and artificial life." This last article from Cyberbotics, Ltd.: Webots (TM) discusses how mobile robotics simulation programs can be used to design robots.


  2. Seville Game Theory Group

    Jesus Mario Bilbao Arrese, a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Seville, heads the Seville Game Theory group (SGT). On this website, visitors will find a selection of publications by members of the group, including papers, preprints and PhD theses. The Blackboard section includes various position papers, mostly in Spanish, which address issues such as the value of using scientific methods to understand, design and analyze complex voting systems. The website also provides links to Economics and Mathematics associations, information on conferences on game theory, and links to related journals and book series. The Download area also provides links to online resources that address topics related to game theory.


  3. MIT Media Lab: Software Agents

    The Software Agents Group of the MIT Media Laboratory "investigates computer systems to which one can delegate tasks." Software agents are different from conventional software because they are "long-lived, semi-autonomous, proactive, and adaptive." Software Agents Group focuses on creating software that "acts as an assistant to the user rather than a tool, learning from interaction and proactively anticipating the user's needs." The website describes the group's various projects that use "common sense reasoning" to Enable the Semantic Web, to improve video came design, or to Find Cultural Differences in Text. Many of the descriptions include screenshots or video footage demonstrating the group's work, along with related publications. Various conference papers and journal article are also posted in the Publications section of the website. The resources section provides links to websites describing the Open Mind and ConceptNet projects, which form the foundation of the group's work.


  4. Field Arithmetic Preprint Archive

    The Field Arithmetic electronic preprint archive "stores electronic preprints on the arithmetic of fields, Galois theory, model theory of fields, and related topics." Hosted by Ben Gurion University in Be'er-Sheva, Israel, the archive included over 50 articles at the time of this report. Each article is accompanied by an abstract and is available in .dvi (TeX) format A mailing list informs members when new preprints are added to the archive.


  5. The Visual Math Institute

    The Visual Math Project was founded in 1975 by Professor Ralph Abraham from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Ralph Abraham, who is now retired, formed a nonprofit organization called the Visual Math Institute (VMI) and continues to maintain its website. In the FAQ section, Abraham explains that Visual Math (VM) "refers to the coordination of multiple modes of intelligence and representation, cognitive styles, for the purpose of communication of mathematics." The FAQ section also includes information on Math Anxiety as well as an overview of mathematics, Euclid, and chaos theory. VMI's research, which is described further in the Research section, "is devoted to visual math research and education, including computation math, computer graphics, and interactive environments." The visual projects on Chaos, Euclid and Kepler provide overviews of related topics, information on useful references, and some visual demonstrations of the topics.


  6. National Internet eXchange of India

    The National Internet eXchange of India is the meeting point of the ISPs in India. Its main purpose is to facilitate handing over of domestic Internet traffic between the peering ISP members. This will enable more efficient use of international bandwidth, save foreign exchange. It will further improve the Quality of Services for the customers of member ISPs, by being able to avoid multiple international hops and thus lowering delays.


  7. CiteULike

    CiteULike is a free service to help academics to build a personal library. It enables the users to share, store and organise the academic papers they are reading. On the click of a button, the paper on the web can be added to the personal library. CiteULike automatically extracts the citation details. It works from within the web browser. There's no need to install any special software. It is stored on the server and can be accessed from any computer, shared library with others and find out who is reading the same papers, discover relevant literature. Only links to the papers are stored, the papers themselves stay in archives like CiteSeer or PubMed.


  8. OAIster

    OAIster is a project of the University of Michigan Digital Library Production Service. Its goal is to create a collection of "freely available, previously difficult-to-access, academically-oriented digital resources". The service also covers the digital resources previously "hidden" from users behind web scripts. The resources are easily searchable. It has option for browsing by institutions/data providers.


  9. Top security software directory

    The Top-Security-Software directory aims to provide an up-to-date list of latest popular security, tested software available on the market. With the latest software in the security sector and articles and updates, Top security software provides "in-depth reference for consumer guidance on what to buy, where to buy, and how to buy the latest security software". The contents includes activex security online, online resource software, parental control software, security software reviews, applications online resources, information security resources, servers security resources, online virus scanner monitor port, desktop spy agent, family keylogger software, spy software review, anti spy software review, surveillance software, free spam filter, application tools resources, etc.


  10. Tutorials Directory

    The website provides a directory of Internet services and tutorials covering operating systems, web design, Macromedia, Microsoft Office, graphics software, web marketing, and programming.


  11. How Games are Reshaping Business and Learning

    This website features presentations made at a conference sponsored by eInnovate and held on January 20, 2008, on "How Games are Reshaping Business and Learning." The conference presenters discussed the "gamer generation" and explored the "profound ways in which 'games' are forever reshaping teaching and learning in the business environment." Other questions addressed through the paper and video footage from the conference include: "Why are video games setting a new standard for learning?"; "How, and why, do modern video games reflect cutting-edge research on learning?"; and "What are the implications for the workplace and learning?" The paper, written by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Laboratory, describes "an approach to the design of learning environments that builds on the educational properties of games, but deeply grounds them within a theory of learning appropriate for an age marked by the power of new technologies."


  12. Animation Magazine

    This online magazine is all about animation and features regular articles, reviews of films and books, and profiles about people in the industry and tutorials. Articles in the current issue address topics such as "the impact of new technology on performance and the future roles of technology, new and old" and international perspectives on Bridging the Cultural Divide in Digital Entertainment. The tutorials cover topics such as how to make 3-D characters come to life and making molds. The Special Features articles report on gaming, production, technology and voice acting. Past issues are also available and can be searched by key word or sorted by category. Numerous other links are listed for more information on animation, resources for education, and listings of upcoming events and contests.


  13. TIFAC: Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council

    TIFAC, an autonomous organisation under Department of Science and Technology chaired by Dr. R. Chidambaram, (Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission & Secretary, Deptt of Atomic Energy) Currently DAE Homi Bhabha Chair Professor, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Trombay, Mumbai, aims to keep a technology watch on global trends and formulating preferred technology options for India. During a decade of its existence, TIFAC has carved out a unique identity of its own; with several achievements in the field of technology development in the Indian context. TIFAC is identified by Industry, Institutions and Administrators as a store house of advanced information on almost all areas of Technology - global and Indian.


  14. UCSD: ROADNet

    The ROADNet project at the University of California at San Diego aims to bring "the information superhighway to the dirt road and the high seas." In other words, ROADNet researchers are working to build wireless networks to stream remote field data and then develop an integrated information management system to deliver the data in real-time to multiple users. The website describes some of ROADNet's field research studies, which provide a heterogeneous test bed for developing the proposed integrated information network. Field studies in California include ecological and hydroclimate studies as well as projects on coastal and ocean monitoring. Information on the project's data management tools and technical advice for those working to develop sensors is posted here. Visitors to the website can also view video footage of real-time data from the project's field projects and get updates on which projects in the network are online. Publications, presentations and photos provide additional background information on the project and its research.


  15. Cornell University: Project Euclid

    Project Euclid, available through the Cornell University Library, is "a user-centered initiative to create an environment for the effective and affordable distribution of serial literature in mathematics and statistics." The project is a collaborative partnership with scholarly publishers, professional societies, and academic libraries. The goal is to provide full-text searching, reference linking, interoperability through the Open Archives Initiative, and long-term retention of data. Visitors can "Tour Euclid" to read more about the functionality of the website, including the different options for access. Some publishers require a paid subscription, while others may offer a pay-per-view option or free downloads. Multiple linking options make this a dynamic database. The website has a simple search function and the option to browse the database by journal title, publisher or discipline. A News section provides updates on the project and newly added journals.


  16. The Web Robots Pages

    Martin Koster, a software engineer working in the United Kingdom, maintains this website about Web robots. Web robots, also known as Web Wanderers, Crawlers, or Spiders, are "programs that traverse the Web automatically." The website provides information on how Web robots operate, how they feed search engines, and ways to steer them away from (or to) your pages. Also available from this website is a database of currently known robots, with descriptions and contact details. For more information on technical aspects of designing, building, and operating Web robots, visitors can read discussions from an archived mailing list, browse some older articles and papers posted, or follow links to related websites.


  17. X-bit labs

    X-bit labs website focuses on PC hardware. It offers updated news wire, detailed reviews of the latest products, in-depth information on topics such as CPU, chipsets, memory, mainboard, video, storage, multimedia, mobile etc. It gives information about PC hardware trends and technologies. The website is maintained by a team of "highly experienced hardware engineers and analysts". In addition, it provides a set of related links and discussion forums.


  18. Web’s Biggest - The world's biggest directory search engine

    The Web’s Biggest search engine claims to search more websites than any other search engine. Web’s Biggest is unique in that the developers have created a virtual replica of the whois database of more than 40 million domains names. This lets the search engine to search almost every website in the English-speaking world. Other search engines rely on hyperlinks and manual submissions to find websites and in the process may miss many of them.Web’s Biggest lets webmasters add or revise the descriptions of their site free of charge.


  19. Webopedia - A free online computer and Internet technology dictionary

    Webopedia is a free online dictionary of words, phrases and abbreviations that are related to computer and Internet technology. Webopedia provides easy-to-understand definitions in plain language, avoiding the use of heavy jargon wherever possible so that the site is accessible to users with a wide range of computer knowledge. The information here is gathered from standard bodies, leading technology companies, universities, professional online technical publications, white papers and professionals working in the field. The definitions on Webopedia evolve and change as technologies change, so the definitions are frequently updated to reflect trends in the field. New terms are added on a daily basis. In addition to a definition of the term or phrase, Webopedia also provides links to sources of further information on the topic where applicable. Webopedia is part of the internet.com network of Web sites. Interesting fearures includes Term of the Day, New Terms, Pronunciation, New Links, Quick Reference, Did You Know?, Search Tool and so on.


  20. AgNIC Portal

    Started in 1995, the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC), is part of a collaborative alliance between various libraries and extension programs at different universities and other institutions. This partnership is designed to bring quality agricultural information to those parties and to the general public as well. Starting at the Center's homepage, visitors can view their featured site, search the entire contents, or look at the portal's features in detail. Visitors can also browse by topic, which include such subjects as entomology, plant science, and rural and agricultural sociology. Within each topic, visitors will find a host of informative resources, such as the proceedings of relevant conferences, plant and insect management guides and notes on how to maintain an optimal environment for dairy cows. Finally, visitors can also browse through a very well-maintained calendar of events and a news center.


  21. World Year of Physics 2008

    Because of the decreasing numbers of physics students and declining general interests in the subject, the World Year of Physics 2008 was created during the World Congress of Physical Societies in 2000 by 40 physical societies from around the world. Educators can learn about international physics activities and projects and get ideas about how they can stimulate their students' interests in physics. The website features presentations of European events, meetings about the World Year of Physics 2008, and contacts for the coordinators throughout the world. This website presents a great example of a worldwide effort to excite visitors about the importance of physics in our lives.


  22. Scientific American: Nanotechnology

    This section of the Scientific American website highlights developments in nanotechnology. Compiled here are Scientific American news articles, feature articles and In Focus articles from as early as 1997 specifically addressing nanotechnology. Visitors to the website can read about nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanochips and how "the smallest technologies are shaping the future of science."


  23. Healthopedia.com

    The mission of Healthopedia.com "is to be the Internet's most trusted and extensive information resource for health and medical content." The site features a Medical Encyclopedia with information about a plethora of health-related topics organized under broad categories like Diseases and Conditions, Diet and Nutrition, Surgeries and Procedures, and Injuries and Wounds. The site also contains a large collection of medical images which are sorted into such categories as Cardiovascular; Bone, Joints, and Muscles; Dental and Oral; Ear, Nose, and Throat; General Anatomy, and more. The site contains a Health News Center with links to recent news stories as well.


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