ICT-WEB Alert February 2009

1. AbbreviationZ.com

"Launched on 2001, AbbreviationZ.com is the largest human-edited acronyms and abbreviations directory on the internet with more than 350,000 entries classified by over 120 different categories and sub-categories.

The new innovative meta-search feature allows users, who are searching for acronyms and abbreviations definitions on the local AbbreviationZ.com directory, to locate additional meanings on the internet by using a meta-search engine, which is based on proprietary natural-language-processing algorithms, that lookup and parse multiple search-engines simultaneously."

2. Electronic courseware in higher education

An article by Maureen C. Minielli and S. Pixy Ferris which appeared in FirstMonday, September 2005.

In this paper we consider electronic course management systems from a pedagogical perspective, with the goal of aiding educators to effectively utilize electronic courseware in the classroom. By discussing the basics (such as terminology, functions, and uses of the most popular types of electronic courseware) and examining pedagogically based research we hope, at the broader level, to help educators at various levels of technological expertise learn and adapt their teaching styles to maximize student learning.

3. ICTP Open Access Archive

The ICTP Open Access Archive of the Science Dissemination Unit allows scientists from anywhere to post on-line, at no cost, their scientific work and scientific CV in electronic format.

4. TechRepublic's White Paper Directory

"TechRepublic's White Paper Directory is the Web's largest library of technical IT white papers, webcasts, and case studies. Covering IT categories including Data Management, IT Management, Networking, Communications, Enterprise Applications, Storage, Security and much more, TechRepublic's White Paper Directory is the best source for technical white papers and IT information."

5. Virtual Technical Reports Center

"EPrints, Preprints, & Technical Reports on the Web Welcome to the Virtual Technical Reports Center ! The Institutions listed here provide either full-text reports, or searchable extended abstracts of their technical reports on the World Wide Web. This site contains links to technical reports, preprints, reprints, dissertations, theses, and research reports of all kinds."

6. VirtualE Library

"VirtualE Library is your one-stop resource for Elsevier science, technology, and health science book products. You'll find books from Academic Press, Architectural Press, Butterworth-Heinemann, Churchill-Livingstone, Digital Press, Focal Press, Gulf Professional Publishing, Hanley & Belfus, JAI Press, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Mosby, Newnes, North-Holland, and Saunders.

7. AISWorld Net - Association for Information Systems

The website is a portal of resources for information management scholars and practitioners. It intends to be a knowledge repository by providing access to information related to research, teaching and professional activities at a single point. The resources provided here cater to the information needs of the information systems researchers and educators working in colleges and universities throughout the world. It offers information about several topics such as theories in information system research, design, qualitative and quantitative research, instruments in information systems, professional ethics, research task repository, Decision Support Systems (DSS), global IT, net based customer service, u-Commerce and so on. Membership information and other details about the organisation are available at the website.

8. DigChip.com - Resources database on electronic components

DigChip.com is a leading provider of electronic components documentation. It offers an interface to find semiconductors components technical information, parts, datasheets, cross reference, obsolete and new circuits. The database contains about 1 million entries of part numbers, from 700 manufacturers, datasheets are stored locally. A record consists of set of information consisting of part number, category, description, manufacture and the datasheet. The new circuits contain additional information like package and parametric search feature.Circuits are grouped into categories or by function for easy browsing. Keyword search feature is also available. The cross reference search engine gives information about the alternative or equivalent part of a specific component. Database is updated every day and the new circuits are listed separately.

9. Encyclopedia of the nations

The Encyclopedia of the Nations is a complete source for detailed information about 193 countries in the world, the United Nations and world leaders. The nations are categorized by continent and alphabetically arranged within each continent. The information provided about each country includes items such as the population, history, ethnic groups, culture, language, transportation, government structure, technology, museums, media, libraries and much more. It has a seperate section which focuses on the United Nations (UN) and the associated agencies. These sections provide information about the history and the development of the United Nations, its structure and purpose, and its achievements in the fields such as security and peace between nations.

10. File transit [A software distribution site]

File Transit is a software distribution site with thousands of high quality applications. It covers about 25 operating systems and the applications are grouped under relevant categories such as Windows, Linux, Macintosh, OS/2, MSDOS, BeOS, PDA; perl, PHP, ASP scripts. Separate lists of latest 50 reviews, popular and new softwares are provided. The website is updated regularly.

11. FreeFullText.com [Links to free and fulltext scholarly periodicals on Internet]

FreeFullText.com provides direct links to over 7000 scholarly periodicals, providing free access to some or all of their online content. Access to some periodicals requires free registration. The issue(s) which are available for free are indicated for each title on the alphabetical periodical lists. The design of this site is optimized for users seeking specific articles for which they already have the citation. The website is updated regularly. A more detailed description of this site is available in the FAQ list.

12. FSF/UNESCO - Free Software Directory

The Free Software Directory is a project of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It provides a catalog of useful free software that runs under free operating systems, particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants.The FSF provides this directory as a service to the free software community. The coverage includes wide range of categories such as audio, education, graphics, network applications, mathematics, science, sofware development and web authoring.

13. Special online collection- Breakthrough of the year 2005 [ A review by Science magazine]

"Each year, the editors and news staff of Science look back at the big science stories of the past 12 months, and dub one of them the Breakthrough of the Year. This year's top Breakthrough, and nine runners-up, are showcased in a series of articles in the 23 December 2005 issue of the journal -- as well as in online extras including a streaming video presentation on this year's main breakthrough, a podcast on the runners-up, and links to additional references and resources embedded in each article. Meanwhile, a series of stories on ScienceCareers.org looks at how researchers today are building careers at the forefront of evolutionary science. The entire package of articles and online extras is free to all site visitors".

14. Stardust@Home - An interactive internet search for interstellar dust in the stardust aerogel collector

Stardust@home is a space science project for locating interstellar dust grains. These are particles from distant stars that are now floating freely in space. They are extremely small, the largest being only a few microns in diameter, and are therefore very difficult to detect. In the past decade, spacecraft traveling beyond the orbit of Mars discovered that a steady stream of such particles is continually moving through our solar system as the solar system itself travels through the Milky Way galaxy.

15. Techdata - Engineering technical data reference tables

This page provides a compilation of engineering reference data from many engineering reference books. The data is provided in tabular form along with additional links to web pages of interest to engineers preceeding the data table links. Tables are available for physical properties of materials, unit conversion factors, analysis of sections and shapes, dimensions and data for fasteners, shear, moment and deflections of beams, properties of structural member shapes

16. Tech-Recipes.com [Tutorials on programming and operating systems]

Originally developed as a computer cookbook, tech-recipes offers over thousand step-by-step tutorials on programming and operating systems. The website has a discussion forum and a tech-recipes blog where the editors post information regarding the site and other helpful tutorial sites across the internet. Registered users have access to additional features.

17. WorldNewspapers.com - World newspapers and magazines [A portal to news sites in English]

The website provides links to several newspapers, magazines and news sites in English, sorted by country and region. Within each country, links to local newpapers, news channels and sites are provided. The website also provides links to online magazines in many subjects like architecture, design, computers, environment, literature, science, sports and technology.

18. Eric Weisstein's World of Science :A Wolfram Web Resource

Eric Weisstein's World of Science contains budding encyclopedias of astronomy, scientific biography, chemistry, and physics.

This resource has been assembled over more than a decade by internet encyclopedist Eric W. Weisstein with assistance from the internet community

Eric Weisstein's World of Science is written and maintained by the author as a public service for scientific knowledge and education. Although it is often difficult to find explanations for technical subjects that are both clear and accessible, this web site bridges the gap by placing an interlinked framework of mathematical exposition and illustrative examples at the fingertips of every internet user.

19. MIT World

MIT World is a free, open streaming media web site of the most significant public events at MIT. It features the most recent speakers and guests from across the campus and around the world. It is a project of the Professional Education Programs at MIT's School of Engineering .

MIT World adds approximately 75 new videos per year. They come from all 5 Schools at MIT, and a wide range of labs, programs, centers and departments. All videos are permanently archived in the MIT World database, and are available on demand 24/7.

To view MIT World videos you need an Internet browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape versions 4 or higher with Java script enabled. You also need the free media player, RealPlayer to be installed on your computer. (For more information go to MIT World's Help page.)