http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13049

“The trends in the continued use of fossil fuels and likely use of alternative combustion fuels call for more rapid development of improved combustion systems. In January 2009, the Multi-Agency Coordinating Committee on Combustion Research (MACCCR) requested that the National Research Council (NRC) conduct a study of the structure and use of a cyberinfrastructure (CI) for combustion research. The charge to the authoring committee of Transforming Combustion Research through Cyberinfrastructure was to: identify opportunities to improve combustion research through computational infrastructure (CI) and the potential benefits to applications; identify necessary CI elements and evaluate the accessibility, sustainability, and economic models for various approaches; identify CI that is needed for education in combustion science and engineering; identify human, cultural, institutional, and policy challenges and how other fields are addressing them.” [Source: New from NAP, 14-03-11]

Journal of Biological Education

New to the Informaworld electronic journals platform in 2011, the “Journal of Biological Education is firmly established as the authoritative voice in the world of biological education. The journal aims to bridge the gap between research and practice, providing information, ideas and opinion, in addition to critical examinations of advances in biology research and teaching”. MMU’s access starts with the first volume of 1967 and is available both on-campus and off-campus.

Liz Jones and colleagues from the Sir Kenneth Green Library, All Saints Campus will be running a number of Introduction to EndNote workshops starting on the 11th of April 2011. For details of the location and additional dates, please see the library website. Advance registration is required: email Liz Jones [S.E.Jones@mmu.ac.uk ] to book a place.

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1xv148c8#page-1

This 117-page report “summarizes the state of affairs on the role of peer-review within the academy, provides a set of recommendations for moving forward, and suggests topics for future research. Appended to the report are the proceedings of a small workshop on peer-review and several background papers with an extensive literature review … If there is a general theme in this report, it is that academic publishing has yoked a system of distribution (journal and scholarly book publishing) to a system of evaluation (promoting and rewarding faculty), and that this coupling has resulted in a dysfunctional system.” [Source: The Scholarly Kitchen, 16-03-11]

http://www.leprosyhistory.org/english/englishhome.htm

“The intent of the Global Project on the History of Leprosy is to create a database of leprosy archives around the world for those interested in the history of the disease, as well as to give voice to those who are affected by leprosy. Visitors to the website will come across many of the myths about leprosy, like fingers and toes falling off, but the current and past segregation of lepers in many countries is not a myth. A link to the 150-page summary of the Verification Committee Concerning Hansen’s Disease [Leprosy] Problem by the Japan Law Foundation provides visitors with the heartbreaking details of the Japanese segregation policy. Visitors will find the ‘Oral History Project’ to be both heartbreaking and uplifting.” [Source: The Scout Report, 25-02-11]

http://labs.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wordpress/index.php/2011/01/datasets/

The National Archives now offers “a variety of datasets, based on records and information held by The National Archives, to encourage web developers to experiment with new applications, online tools and ways of visualising data”. Among the datasets currently available are:
–Victorian Photographs (Copy 1) is based on data held by Copy 1, “a copyright register which contains examples of Victorian art and design sent to Stationer’s Hall in London by their creators, as proof of their ownership of the work”
–Domesday Places “lists places mentioned in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book. Other data shown includes current place names, latitude/longitude, and an ID number which is keyed against …[a] placename gazetteer (The National Archives Places)”
–Serious Crimes 1962-76 (DPP 2) “contains records from the Director of Public Prosecutions. This dataset is extracted from the most fully catalogued portion of the series and gives details of defendants, offences committed and some geographical information” [Source: The National Archives Blog, 11-01-11]:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?sn=6710

“The project investigated changes in the human and natural environments of the marshlands bordering the tidal river Thames and the Thames Estuary between 1250 and 1550. At the beginning of this period the marshlands had largely been drained and protected by banks or walls, so that they could be used for arable and pastoral farming. During the three centuries studied, however, many of these reclaimed marshes were flooded by the sea or by freshwater inundation … Quantitative data was collected from manuscript sources, principally manorial accounts, bearing on the maintenance of coastal and river-side defences, and expenditure on repairs following storm surges. These take the form of time-series of annual expenditure for various locations around the Thames.” [Source: Economic and Social Data Service, New Datasets, 08-03-11]

http://crl.acrl.org/

The Association of College & Research Libraries has announced that it will “make its research journal, College & Research Libraries freely available to all readers. The change will be effective April 1st (no joke!). The move replaces a prior policy of providing free access after a six-month delay”. [Source: The Scholarly Kitchen, 22-03-11]

http://www.sipri.org/

“A fully searchable online database containing information on all international transfers of seven categories of major conventional weapons from 1950 to the most recent full calendar year. It can be used to generate detailed written reports and statistical data. To access the database select which output format you wish to generate and follow the instructions provided. The database can be used to tackle the following questions:
Who are the main suppliers and recipients of major conventional weapons?
How have the relationships between different suppliers and recipients changed over time?
Where do countries in conflict get their weapons from?
How do states implement their export control regulations?
Where are destabilizing build ups of weapons occurring today?
What is the relationship between access to natural resources and arms transfers?” [Source: DocuTicker, 18-03-11]

Journal of Children and Media (Routledge)

MMU now subscribes to this “interdisciplinary and multi-method peer-reviewed publication that provides a space for discussion by scholars and professionals from around the world and across theoretical and empirical traditions who are engaged in the study of media in the lives of children and adolescents. It is a unique intellectual forum for the exchange of information about all forms and contents of media in regards to all aspects of children’s lives, and especially in three complementary realms: Children as consumers of media, representations of children in the media, and media organizations and productions for children as well as by them”. Access begins with the first issue of 2007 and is available both on-campus and off-campus.