INSPEC launches natural language searching and display of scientific formulas

EBSCO, our providers of the INSPEC database has launched enhanced search and display features for scientific formulas. Previously a formula would be displayed as H sub 2 O. Searching on a formula also required this format. Now searchers can use natural language queries for formulas and the results display in a more readable format too. Take a look at these before and after examples.

REF: Results of the pilot

At a briefing on the Queen’s Lawn at Imperial College HEFCE announced the interim results of the pilot REF process which 22 institutions (not us) have been involved in. It seems that HEFCE have now decided that expert panels will continue to be the main way in which block research funding will be allocated, though citation counts may still be used by these peer review panels to help assess quality – particularly in STEM subjects.  It is possible that bibliometric data will be used by the panels to help assess each paper submitted. Dr Graeme Rosenberg of HEFCE indicate that citation data from both Web of Science and Scopus will be used – and it is likely that HEFCE will help make WOS and Scopus more widely available to institutions.

The next assessment period will cover 2008-2012 and may require researchers to submit their best 3 papers for assessment. The figure of 3 is not finalised and a final report will be available at the end of the summer. More on the REF on the HEFCE website and in the Times Higher

Obtaining electronic UK Theses: The EThOS service

UK PhD theses are now available to search, order and download using the British Library ’s Electronic Thesis Online Service (EThOS). A list of participating institutions is available here

You do not need to register or login to search the database, but if you want to order material you will need to register and create a username and password.

Some theses are available to download immediately. Where a thesis has not been digitized, users can expect a delay of approximately ten working days before it is available electronically.

Most theses are available free of charge to the end user as the majority of institutions participating in EThOS have agreed to pay for digitisation of their theses in support of the Open Access initiative. However, some institutions may not have the budget to fund the digitisation and have set charges which appear on EThOS.

If the thesis you want does not appear on EThOS you can complete a request form . Please remember to check that the thesis you require is from a participating institution and that it is listed on that university’s library catalogue before you complete the form. Links to UK higher education library catalogues are available here .

If a you want to consult a thesis from a university that is not participating in EthOS please contact Jane Bramley or Jeanette Machin for advice.

Graduate School poster competition

Last week the Graduate School held a poster competition for postgraduate researchers to present their research to a non-specialist audience. There were entries from all three Faculties, with participants representing 18 different Departments. However the following members of the Science Faculty deserve special mention.

So, congratulations to Lisa Kelly (Human Sciences) for her poster on thermal comfort on train journeys and to
Christine Parkes (School of Mathematics) for her poster on Does the head rule the healthy heart? Lisa and Christine were among the 5 runners up.

More impressively, three of the five finalists represented the Science Faculty. They are:

• Daniel Elford (Physics) for his poster on Fighting Noise Tsunami and Earthquakes
• Ashleigh Filtness (Human Sciences) for her poster on Sleep restriction increases driving risk in treated obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients
• Samuel King (School of Mathematics) for his poster on Students’ views on the use of voting systems at Loughborough University.

The finalists will represent Loughborough University at the Vitae Midland Hub Poster Competition in July. We wish them well.

Your Library – your say!

 

If you could change ONE THING about the Library, what would it be?

If the Library had more space, how should we use it?

Now’s your chance to have your say about the Library. Please take a few minutes to visit our survey at: http://picture-box.lboro.ac.uk/Public/UCCASS/survey.php?sid=76 before 15 May 2009.

Top authors in the Institutional Repository – March

In our regular review of the Insitutional Repository, the pages with the most visits in March amongst the Science Faculty authors are:

• Norris et al
• Houghton et al
• Sepulveda and Binner

Who will be in the top 3 for April? Don’t forget to add our RSS feed to your reader to find out!

PatBase – database of the month

There are still places available on next week’s PatBase database of the month workshop. So book now to avoid disappointment!

Top authors in the Institutional Repository – February

In our regular review of the Insitutional Repository, the pages with the most visits in February amongst the Science Faculty authors are:

• Jo Bryant
• Michael Norris
• Stephen Fletcher

Who will be in the top 3 for March? Don’t forget to add our RSS feed to your reader to find out!

Great new Journal Tables of Contents Service now available

TicTocs logo

 I tried out the TicTocs Journal Table of Contents service this morning. Wow. You can search 12,000 journals from 430 publishers and, faster than you can say Gail Trimble, Corpus Christi you have the TOCs matching your search terms.  It’s even faster to load relevant references into RefWorks.  You can retrieve the full text where we have a subscription and you can also import RSS feeds into your favourite feed reader such as Google Reader or BlogLines. Access is from www.tictocs.ac.uk. It is a free service but registering enables you to store your newsfeeds.

National Science and Engineering Week

National Science and Engineering Week runs from 6-15 March. To celebrate it we’ve set  up a display showcasing some of the research work and textbooks published by members of the Science and Engineering faculties. In addition to books you’ll see artifacts from pots to pillows and from doodles to didgeredoos. You can view the display on Level 3 of the Pilkington Library from now to the end of March.

In addition to the Library display there’s lots going on for NSEW locally personally my family are off to see an exhibition on Bees and complete the Science trail at Brocks Hill Visitor Centre (Google map), Oadby, Leicestershire this weekend. Click the logo to find out more about NSEW and other events.