Dear Colleague

We hope you enjoyed Issue 1 of the Energy/ Environment News. This issue brings you exciting news about technical reports available from NTIS, new features in Inspec on DataStar, and energy and environmental news in Dialog NewsRoom, as well as search techniques and highlight stories on nanotechnology, a top research priority.

Don’t forget to send us your suggestions for articles you would like to see featured in the newsletter and sign up for other e-newsletters, including What’s New on Dialog, Engineering News and What's New on DataStar.

Vanessa Lamarche, Ph.D.
Science/IP Specialist

Click to NTIS Technical Reports in PDF Format

With just a click of the mouse, you now have access to approximately 400,000 reports in PDF format from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Report links are available in NTIS (File 6) through DialogLink 5 and other Dialog Web-based products. To order, click the link at the top of the record and fill out the order form that displays. The report can be downloaded directly or sent to a recipient by e-mail.

File 6 contains summaries of U.S. government-sponsored research, development and engineering, plus analyses prepared by federal agencies, their contractors or grantees. The reports come from 240 agencies such as NASA, DOD, DOE, HUD, DOT, and The Department of Commerce. NTIS also provides access to results of government-sponsored research and development from countries outside the United States.

Review the QRC for details of ordering an NTIS report.

New Inspec® Archive on DataStar

A new archival backfile (IN68) for Inspec is now available on DataStar containing the entire content text of the Science Abstracts Journals (1898–1968), the precursor to the Inspec® database.

The backfile covers all aspects of physics, electrical and electronic engineering, and computing and control engineering. The more than 873,000 records includes the original value-added indexing and classifications, plus the nearest equivalent current Inspec Thesaurus term(s) and Inspec Classification Code(s).

Documents indexed include conference proceedings, books, journals, reports and dissertations, and contain abstracts varying in length from a half page to several pages, which are longer than the abstracts available today. IN68 is available either on a purchase basis (i.e. ownership in perpetuity), as a site license or transactionally. Contact your account manager for further information.

To accommodate the addition of the archival backfile, the following changes have been made to the Inspec file labels and coverage:

• INZZ: 1898 to date (previously 1969 to date)
• INYY: 1969 to date (new file)
• INSP: 1987 to date (no change)
• IN86: 1980–1986 (no change)
• IN79: 1969–1979 (no change)
• IN68: 1898 to 1968 (new file)

The Inspec archive is also available on Dialog in File 202 (1989-1968).

Inspec on DataStar Reloaded and Enhanced with Interactive Thesaurus

Inspec® (INZZ,INSP) on DataStar has been reloaded and now includes an integrated thesaurus that can be accessed through the interactive thesaurus functionality or in its own file, IVOC. The thesaurus contains approximately 9,000 terms and is specifically tailored to help retrieval in Inspec's main areas of coverage in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computers and computing, information technology, production, manufacturing and mechanical engineering.
In addition, some major functionality changes have been introduced that allow for more effective display of data supplied by Inspec. Also affected is the order in which paragraphs are displayed and how the information is displayed within them. Some paragraphs have been renamed and in some cases removed. For more information, see BASE–DataStar Database Guides (BASE).

Dialog NewsRoom: An Important Resource for Energy and Environmental Information

Have you tried Dialog NewsRoom for your energy or environmental information needs? In its over 11,000 publications, Dialog NewsRoom (File 990/NEWS) covers numerous environmental and energy topics such as renewable energy; power, electric and gas industries in North America, Europe and Asia; regulations and compliance, to name a few. And, you can search the most current information, updated continuously during the day.

Energy and Environmental Sources
NewsRoom publications include newspapers, trade journals, newsletters and newswires with new sources added daily, such as Energy & Power Management, Energy Intelligence Briefing, Energy User News and the newsletter Ozone Depletion Today. For example, newspapers from around the world like the Dallas Morning News and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report on water pollution issues in their geographic area, and U.S. Federal News and the Clean Air Report discusses federal regulations on ozone. Articles in Renewable Fuel News show how countries around the world are working to increase their energy resources. Renewable Energy Today even has a listing of all conferences worldwide related to renewable energy in its Weekly Update.

These are just a few of the sources and topics on energy and the environment in Dialog NewsRoom. Review the Search Techniques in the sidebar for tips on pinpointing exactly the information you need.

Nanotechnology: Potential for the Future

Nanotechnology is already invading our lives as consumers, and new uses are continuing to be found. Current products on the market include fabrics, sporting goods, paints and cosmetics. However, there has been little, if any, federal or state review and little available research about the possible effects on human health and the environment effects of nanotechnology.

What are some of the possible benefits of nanotechnology for energy storage, production and conversion, as well as protection of the environment? What other issues need to be addressed, such as regulation and a governance structure that will look into the uncertainties and risks posed by nanotechnologies?

Potential contributions of nanotechnology to future economic growth has brought increasing government attention. Because nanotechnology has applications for energy, environment, manufacturing and health, it requires interagency coordination. Thus, the U.S. government has established the National Nanotechnology Initiative with its own Web site to focus on research, funding opportunities, education, safety and more.

Explore www.nano.gov to learn about societal and ethical issues; current research and products; agencies and educational institutions involved in nanotechnology research for the environment, biomedicine and energy; funding opportunities; safety; nanotechnology centers and much more.

Introducing Techstreet®, the Industry Codes and Standards Superstore

Now get free and immediate access to one of the world’s largest online databases of industry codes and standards. At www.techstreet.com, The Online Standards Superstore, you can search and order documents for overnight delivery or immediate download. Free online tools make it easy to find and manage standards information. Unlimited standards tracking automatically sends free e-mail alerts when any document is updated, revised, amended or withdrawn, with no purchase necessary. Find out more about Techstreet from Thomson Scientific.

Call for Contributors

Participate in knowledge sharing with your colleagues interested in business/news-related topics. Share your story suggestions with us at support.dialog.com/enewsletters/contribute/.