(Oak Ridger) Ellen Baldwin is an Oak Ridge mother of four children, all graduates of Oak Ridge High School. Below, she remembers back to her arrival, 16 years ago, in Oak Ridge. She describes how and why she and her husband chose Oak Ridge in which to raise their family ... The No. 1 reason we moved to Oak Ridge was because of the school system's standard of excellence. ...12/21 [Registration Required]
(Metro Pulse) Along with its educational benefits, UT's expansion plan would bring huge economic benefits to Knoxville. These start with a construction boom followed by a lot more students spending money here before ever getting to the many high-tech enterprises that may be induced to locate on the research campus. ...12/21
(Knoxville News-Sentinel) Tennessee has a U.S. senator and member of Congress on the committees that control federal spending, but the timing of that tag team arrangement is not so good. ...12/22 [Registration Required]
(Washington Post) Four U.S. Marines were charged with multiple counts of murder yesterday for their alleged roles in the deaths of two dozen civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year. ...12/22 [Registration Required]
(USA Today) The first talks on North Korea's nuclear program since the communist nation tested an atomic device ended Friday without an agreement to move ahead on disarmament or schedule further negotiations. ...12/22
(New York Times) The study predicts that inducements for coastal drilling would cause only a tiny increase in production of oil that could cost as much as $80 a barrel. ...12/22
(AIP Bulletin) Based on the most recent research on learning and cognitive development, the report proposes a new framework for proficiency in science, based on four interwoven strands. ...12/21
(Physics News) Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and four universities have made the first experimental observation of rare particles of light emitted during the radioactive decay of the neutron, a key building block of matter. This work confirms theoretical predictions of this type of decay of the neutron and sets the stage for a new class of tests of basic theories in particle physics. ...12/21
(Sci-Tech Today) Until now, to achieve very high data speeds over long network distances, signals had to be split into multiple lower data rate signals and later reconverted. Siemens' new system rearranges that process so that the signal does not have to be split into multiple streams, and, according to Rainer H. Derksen, project coordinator at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich, increases performance enormously. ...12/21
(Christian Science Monitor) The update to its ubiquitous Windows operating system could be the end of an era, some experts say. ...12/21
(Reliable Plant Magazine) U.S. scientists say they've developed a hybrid process involving the use of a laser in friction-stir welding to extend the application to more materials... Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory say adding a laser to the FSW process to preheat and soften the metal parts reduces wear on the tool. ...12/22
(Oak Ridger) The Oak Ridge Metrology Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex recently received a two-year renewal of its accreditation under the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program. The ORMC first earned accreditation in 1999. ...12/21 [Registration Required]
OSTI recently posted a Science Showcase Web site featuring research documents by George F. Smoot and Roger D. Kornberg. In 2006, both Smoot and Kornberg joined the growing list of Nobel Laureates associated with DOE. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in blackbody and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation. He is an astrophysicist at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and a UC Berkeley physics professor. Smoot shared the award with John C. Mather of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Kornberg of Stanford University won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. A significant portion of Kornberg's research leading to this prize was performed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), a Department of Energy (DOE)-supported research facility located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).
What if electricity had been discovered 20 years earlier? While we don't know
how large the economic or scientific impact might have been of turning the lights on for an additional generation, OSTI operates as if the benefits would have been significant. Everything that OSTI does is geared to speeding up the diffusion of scientific knowledge and to accelerate scientific progress. Toward this end, OSTI is doing applied research to measure and model knowledge diffusion and to develop new ways to speed it up. The intention is to save years and even decades in discovery time for our nation's researchers. Read more on OSTI's diffusion research Web pages.
Representatives from Belgium, Fiji, France, Italy, Japan, Romania, the United States and more are exploring the benefits of grey literature as a global platform for R&D, during a conference this week in New Orleans. The Eighth International Conference on Grey Literature, held at the Lindy C. Boggs
International Conference Center, December 4–5, focuses on the state-of-the-art in grey literature with applications and innovative uses for science and technology. Debbie Cutler, OSTI's International Program Manager, is participating in the conference as a member of the GL8 Program Committee.
Thomson Scientific recently selected several OSTI search tools and Science.gov for inclusion in Current Web Contents™, a growing collection of scholarly Web sites. Thomson cited the government search tools for “publishing important, high-quality material on the Web.” Thomson Scientific specializes in making premium science content available to the public. The following OSTI-hosted products were included in Current Web Contents™ with a link from ISI Web of Knowledge: DOE R&D Accomplishments, Energy Citations Database, Federal R&D Project Summaries, and Science.gov. Thomson Scientific is part of the Scientific & Healthcare market segment of The Thomson Corporation.
George Smoot made an announcement in 1992 that “essentially silenced all the scientific critics of the Big Bang theory.” (See the October 3, 2006 edition of Today at Berkeley Lab.) For research leading up to that announcement, Smoot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2006. Smoot, an astrophysicist at Berkeley Lab since 1974 and a UC Berkeley physics professor since 1994, shared the award with John C. Mather of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Together they discovered the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Read more on this discovery at the DOE R&D Accomplishments Featured Scientists page.
OSTI recently provided 28 “Food for Kids” kits and 3 Backpacks to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Knoxville, as part of a food drive sponsored by the Oak Ridge Chapter of the Federally Employed Women (FEW). The “Food for Kids” program provides backpacks filled with nutritious, non-perishable food. The local “Food for Kids” drive provides food for over 1,600 children in 41 schools in 11 surrounding counties. According to a Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations press release, the drive resulted in 5,000 pounds of food and cash contributions totaling approximately $1,200.
Can the Sun Replace Uranium? During his esteemed career as pioneering nuclear scientist and Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Alvin Weinberg penned words on this topic and a wide range of scientific challenges to mankind's future. These words, codified in research literature, represent Weinberg's science legacy. A selection of Weinberg papers has been made available in full text at the OSTI Web site. Additional papers, including lecture notes, technical reports and speculations, can be found by searching the technical information collections in the Energy Citations Database and Information Bridge, two of the science information resources which reside at OSTI and are available on the Web.
OSTI participated in the 33rd Consultative Meeting of the International Nuclear Information System (INIS) Liaison Officers, October 30–November 1, 2006, in Vienna, Austria. OSTI represented the U.S. position in the International Atomic Energy Agency INIS meeting, thus ensuring that the direction and information exchange benefits the U.S. nuclear community by providing key scientific and technical information to DOE and to academia, industry, and the public. Brian Hitson, associate director of OSTI, attended and chaired a special session on INIS promotion and outreach. Debbie Cutler, operating agent representative for the IEA's Energy Technology Data Exchange and OSTI's international program manager also attended, providing an ETDE program overview and highlights of recent activities.
OSTI Director Walter Warnick is a member of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer, which met October 21–25 in Washington, D.C. The Depository Library Council is an advisory body formed to provide advice to the Government Printing Office (GPO) on topics related to the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). GPO has been working to transition to electronic media. OSTI is a leader in this arena and has a track record of success for the Department of Energy, as noted in the OSTI Milestones.
Imagine batteries that can be recharged thousands of times; come in any size and shape; and are thin enough to be embedded in skin to assist in heart regulation. The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed just such a high-performance thin-film lithium battery for a variety of technological applications. Teledyne licensed this technology from ORNL to make batteries for medical devices including electrocardiographs. Read more on ORNL's research and other sources of information on thin-film lithium batteries at DOE R&D Accomplishments, a Web portal developed by OSTI.
You can search more than 900,000 scientific documents at OSTI's E-print Network. This vast, integrated network of scientific and technical information contains e-prints in basic and applied sciences, primarily in physics but also including subject areas such as chemistry, biology and life sciences, materials science, nuclear sciences and engineering, energy research, computer and information technologies, and other disciplines of interest to the U.S. Department of Energy. Enjoy the capability to search across approximately 22,000 scientific Web sites and 56 science databases worldwide, and access more than 2,900 relevant scientific societies. The E-print Alerts feature will automatically notify you when new e-print information is available in your specific areas of interest. In addition, E-print Network is a means for researchers (as well as program managers, educators, and others) to rapidly identify and establish connections with scientists they may not know exist.
The desire to share science across international boundaries brought representatives from 11 countries to the Knoxville area October 3–5. The 20th Technical Working Group meeting of the International Energy Agency agreement, known as the Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDE), reviewed enhancements to the ETDE database, ETDEWEB; and held discussions pertinent to international research exchange. Representatives hailed from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the International Atomic Energy Agency's International Nuclear Information System. ETDE is a group of 16 counties under agreement to make available the widest range of energy-related research, and, secondarily, to disseminate that information to developing countries. ETDE World Energy Base or ETDEWEB is the Internet tool for disseminating the energy research and technology information that ETDE collects and exchanges. ETDEWEB holds over 3.7 million records.
As Nobel Prize winners are announced this week, discover the rich history of Department of Energy Nobel Laureates at the DOE R&D Accomplishments Web site. This Web site is a central forum for remarkable advances in science that were the outcomes of past DOE research and development. Included is the complete roster of 84 Nobel Laureates since 1934 that are associated with DOE and its predecessor agencies. Read more about George F. Smoot, the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, announced today. Also, recently added to the roster was Steven Chu, a 1997 winner and now director of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Check DOE R&D Accomplishments regularly for additional updates and features.
On behalf of the Department's Office of Science, OSTI will support the IAEA's 50th anniversary celebration at the 50th General Conference held at Vienna's Austria Center, September 18 to 22, 2006. Several key country delegations are providing special historical exhibits. The U.S. delegation will host a display focusing primarily on the key role President Eisenhower played in establishing the IAEA. Many of the U.S. memorabilia items are provided from the OSTI, including documents from the U.S. delegation to four of the Atoms for Peace Conferences (1955, 1958, 1964, and 1971), Eisenhower photographs, publications by Glenn T. Seaborg about the IAEA, samples from Understanding the Atom series, and several key Enrico Fermi documents. In addition to the OSTI collection, the U.S. display will include a bust of Eisenhower created for the IAEA in 2003 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the "Atoms for Peace" speech from 1953, a CD of the 2003 presentation ceremony, and the text of the speech itself (from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library). The exhibit will be on display in Vienna for most of the year-long celebration, with potential exhibits in other countries where special events will be hosted.
Read about three physicists whose investigations from 1967 to 1973 at the then-new Department of Energy two-mile electron linear accelerator at Stanford, were of "essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics." This work led to the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize in Physics. Jerome Friedman and Henry Kendall of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Richard Taylor of SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) are featured this month at OSTI's DOE R&D Accomplishments Web site. The physicists were cited for their "pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons."
The Geothermal Technologies Subject Portal, providing first-time availability of searchable, downloadable historical reports as well as a new look, was highlighted at the Geothermal Resources Council 2006 Annual Meeting in San Diego, September, 10–13. Among the 15,000-plus available documents, you can now uncover another 3,000 citations and reports added this year. Dating from the 1970s to present day, these technical and programmatic "legacy" reports are among the most valuable sources of DOE-sponsored information in the geothermal field. Other citations and reports from DOE, other government agencies, international sources, and organizations are included. Both Basic and Advanced search are now available, enabling scientific researchers and the interested public alike to more quickly and easily find geothermal documents. OSTI developed and maintains the site for the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Geothermal Technologies Program.
OSTI is hosting two graduate students this fall as part of the Science Links scholarship program. Gary Robinson, a graduate of Miles College (computer science), and Erin Dominick, a graduate of Oklahoma State University (psychology) will spend 20 hours per week as interns at OSTI while earning a Master's degree in information science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). Science Links is a two-year scholarship funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services and UT. The scholarship is awarded to students from underrepresented groups interested in a career in science librarianship. OSTI will provide mentors for each student.
Science Conferences, the Web portal where you can find select science conference papers and proceedings, now queries up to 26 sites with its basic search feature. Recently added to the original 16-site distributed search are: American Nuclear Society; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society; Materials Research Society; ASM International; National Institute of Standards and Technology; National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements; Society of Petroleum Engineers; American Solar Energy Society; and American Oil Chemists' Society. Science Conferences taps resources such as national labs and professional societies whose areas of interest in the physical sciences and technology intersect those of the Department of Energy.
Read about this second son of Russian-Jewish parents who, along with his research partners, won the 1988 Nobel Prize in physics for "transforming the ghostly neutrino into an active tool of research." The OSTI-developed and -managed Web site, DOE R&D Accomplishments, has posted a feature highlighting Leon Lederman, who proposed the idea that eventually became the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. In addition to the Lederman feature, explore two additions to the Snapshots page: Argonne Licenses Anti-Jet-Lag-Diet Software to Online Company and Discoveries at Fermilab. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about the outcomes of past DOE research and development.
More than 9,000 ongoing or recently completed research projects from the past year have been added and/or updated at the publicly accessible database DOE R&D Project Summaries. These Energy Department projects pertain to a range of disciplines in energy, science, and technology, including fossil energy, environmental management, and renewable energy. This application was developed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information as a means for the DOE to educate and inform the general public of its R&D activities. The database currently includes approximately 30,000 DOE research projects that are online and searchable.
OSTI's E-print Network: Research Communications for Scientists and Engineers now provides access to over 900,000 documents on more than 22,000 scientific e-print Web sites. In addition, the E-print Network provides links to more than 2,900 relevant scientific societies. This Web portal, established as the PrePRINT Network in 2000, is a vast, integrated network of electronic scientific and technical information created by scientists and research engineers active in their respective fields, intended for use by other scientists, engineers, and students at advanced levels. It is a set of specialized tools and features designed to facilitate the exchange and use of scientific information. A deep Web distributed search across E-prints on Web sites and/or databases is available. This deep Web search allows for compilation and assimilation of data to facilitate information discovery and reuse.
OpenNet is now easier to navigate and includes more full-text content that can be searched electronically. The Web portal, developed by OSTI in support of the Department of Energy's commitment to openness, provides timely access to recently declassified documents, including information declassified in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. This database will include references to all DOE documents declassified and made publicly available after October 1, 1994. New references will be added periodically as they are available. OpenNet was developed and redesigned for the Office of Classification within the Office of Security and Safety Performance Assurance.
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs), called "space batteries" or "nuclear batteries", have provided spacecraft power for many years. Most recently, an RTG provides power for the New Horizons spacecraft which was launched January 19, 2006, from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft is expected to take a 9-1/2 year journey to explore Pluto and its moons. During exploration, a long-lasting plutonium-238 powered generator developed by researchers at DOE national labs in Idaho, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos will provide heat and electricity for the spacecraft. OSTI's DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central Web forum for information about the outcomes of past DOE R&D that have had significant economic impact, have improved people's lives, or have been widely recognized as a remarkable advance in science.
Valerie Allen, senior technical information specialist at U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information, was recently named director-elect of the newly formed Government Information Division of the Special Libraries Association. The Government Information Division is a forum for the exchange of ideas and information on the value and use of government information and government libraries. It provides an opportunity to integrate and strengthen the dissemination of government information while enhancing the network of those for which this type of information plays an important role. As director of the Government Information Division, Allen will serve a one-year term, January 2007–December 2007, focusing on planning future directions, reviewing aspects of the division's operation, and other endeavors affecting the overall philosophy of the division. She will serve as a member of the Division Executive Board. Allen was named director-elect during the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference held June 10–15 in Baltimore.
A basic search now returns more relevant results than ever at OSTI's Information Bridge and Energy Citations Database. Recently implemented technology sorts through DOE's research results and rapidly returns information in an order more likely to meet the user's needs. Future plans include relevancy ranking enhancements on the advanced search options as well. Information Bridge provides free public access to full-text documents and bibliographic citations of DOE research report literature. Energy Citations Database provides free access to DOE publicly available citations from 1948 through the present. Both databases are continually growing through regular updates.
One of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) News Releases for the week ending August 5, 1970 was about a successful worldwide information retrieval experiment. The AEC experiment demonstrated that a terminal in Paris could search a computer in California and display the resulting bibliographic citations on a screen in Paris. OSTI has featured the AEC experiment at its DOE R&D Accomplishments Web site. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about the outcomes of past DOE R&D that have had significant economic impact, have improved people's lives, or have been widely recognized as a remarkable advance in science.
Dr. Walter Warnick, director of OSTI, has been invited to speak at the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information Public Conference. The conference will be held at the Lister Hill Center Auditorium at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland June 7–8, and will be followed by the General Assembly June 9–10. Dr. Warnick's presentation is entitled "Global Search and Distributed Repositories: Science.world."
OSTI highlighted Science.gov and the Geothermal Energy Technology subject portal at the 16thTennessee Valley Corridor Summit, held at the Chattanooga Convention Center May 31 to June 1. Science.gov, the nation's "go to" Web portal for government science information, is a collaborative effort of 12 federal science agencies. The Geothermal subject portal, providing distributed searching of full-text technical reports and other resources, is sponsored by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). This was the 16th in a series of regular economic development summits organized to help strategically link the technology-rich Tennessee Valley Corridor — from North Alabama through East Tennessee into Southwest Virginia and Southern and Eastern Kentucky.
Librarians from around the world have a new avenue of access to research results from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
This one-stop search is free of charge, free of ads, and returns only reliable science information.
More than 120,000 records for DOE scientific and technical information are now available in WorldCat, a database merging catalogues of more than 50,000 libraries in 96 countries and territories.
"The library community will have access to DOE report literature as never before," said Dr. Walter Warnick, director of the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). "This is one more way that OSTI makes R&D electronically accessible." DOE research and development (R&D) records recently made available in WorldCat reflect those of the Information Bridge, developed by OSTI.
OSTI has opened access to the Energy Technology Data Exchange World Energy Base (ETDEWEB) and to Science.gov for Iraqi scientists and educators. The products were added to the Iraqi Virtual Science Library (https://www.ivsl.org/international_resources.html), a free resource made possible by a partnership with publishers, computer firms, universities, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Government.
The nation's "go to" Web portal for government science information recently added the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) to its collection. This means that users can search all the science databases and more than 1,800 science Web sites at Science.gov, plus the 1.1 million records of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education resources at NSDL, with just one click.
This one-stop search is free of charge, free of ads, and returns only reliable science information.
"I think teachers and students are going to be especially pleased," said Eleanor Frierson, Science.gov Alliance co-chair and deputy director of the National Agricultural Library. "Science.gov already is widely used by the education sector; the NSDL addition expands and enhances our science education emphasis."
Citizens can set up a free e-mail alert account and receive information on a wide variety of energy-related research through a new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) developed service. Users can target information of interest, and then choose whether to receive updates on a weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Registration is required. The alert service can be accessed through ETDEWEB or Energy Technology Data Exchange World Energy Base.
In 1983, Barbara McClintock, at the age of 81, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of mobile genetic elements in plants. McClintock was the first woman to receive an unshared Nobel Prize in the category of Physiology or Medicine.
The Science.gov Alert Service has been updated to take advantage of the new Science.gov 3.0 query capabilities. The Alert Service tracks the latest information on your science topics of interest and delivers that information to your desktop e-mail each Monday. The Science.gov Alert Service was highlighted by the Science.gov Alliance at the 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, February 16–20 in St. Louis, MO. The Alert Service is free, and registration is available at the Science.gov home page.
The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) was a key participant in the symposium, Global Discovery on the Internet, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2006 Annual Meeting Feb. 16–20 in St. Louis, MO. The symposium introduced Global Discovery, which promises to increase the pace of science by searching all scientific communities at once for data, information, or methodological advances. "Imagine a Google-like search capability that returns results across the whole of science, giving scientists information on research they didn't even know existed," said Dr. Walter Warnick, director. "Except that this search would go further than traditional search engines. Rather than crawling across indexed information, this search would rapidly probe the world's most comprehensive databases and delve into the world's great scientific laboratories in real time." OSTI is conducting applied research on a number of challenges related to this vision aimed at turning local discovery into Global Discovery. The benefits for researchers, for citizens, and for the U.S. economy could prove far-reaching.
OSTI's Sharon Jordan and Valerie Allen were recently cited for their central roles in the creation and ongoing development of Science.gov, a federal science Web portal. Jordan and Allen, along with Jean Bowers, National Technical Information Service and Ken Lanfear, U.S. Geological Survey, received the second annual Award of Meritorious Service, given by CENDI, an interagency working group of senior scientific and technical information managers from 12 U.S. federal agencies.
Martinus J.G. Veltman, the John D. MacArthur Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Michigan, and [Frederick] Reines — known among scientists as the "father of neutrino physics," are highlighted. Veltman was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in physics "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics". Reines won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1995 ["for the detection of the neutrino"], nearly 40 years after his neutrino experiments changed the world of physics and set in motion a new way of looking at the universe.
