LINUS: New electronic databases in Science Library

LINUS July 2001 : Electronic Resources

New electronic databases in Science Library

Chew Hooi Tze, Science Library

All the databases listed below are available from the Science Library Information Desk.

ACD/Labs Software on CD-ROM

ACD/Labs Software is produced and published by Advanced Chemistry Development Inc with the Interactive Laboratory.

ACD/ChemSketch is a chemical drawing/graphics software, which is designed to be used alone or integrated with other ACD software such as the NMR Predictor engines. ChemSketch is used to draw chemical structures, reactions and schematic diagrams. It can also be used to design chemistry-related reports and presentations. ACD/ChemSketch has the following major features:

Structure Mode for drawing chemical structures and calculating their properties.
Draw Mode for text and graphics processing.
Molecular Properties calculations for automatic estimation of molecular weight, percentage composition, molar refractivity, molar volume, parachor, index of refraction, surface tension, density, dielectric constant, and polarizability
3D viewer that allows you to convert two-dimensional structures into their three-dimensional counterparts, i.e. sketch to SDF converter, SDF to sketch converter or sketch to VRML converter

Aldrich/ACD Library of FT NMR Spectra-Pro is an electronic version of The Aldrich Library of C and H FT NMR Spectra. The library contains CNMR and HNMR spectra of 11,828 organic compounds as well as information about their physico-chemical properties.

It allows you to browse through the database, perform searches using the catalogue parameters (e.g. catalogue number, CAS number, formula, name, and book references), print spectrum, as well as perform some basic operations with a spectrum (e.g. Peak Picking and Integration). It has additional features such as multi-level searching using search lists; searching according to molecular weight, chemical properties (e.g. boiling point, melting point), spectral parameters (e.g. peaks and solvent), searching for portions of the spectrum and substructure search. Moreover, it allows you to create and modify reports using ACD/ChemSketch chemical graphics application.

Agrovoc

Agrovoc is produced and published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This is a multilingual thesaurus on agricultural information systems. It provides a support subject control for the AGRIS agricultural bibliographic database and the CARIS database of agricultural research projects on vocabulary indexing.

The Dynamic Cell 2000 on CD-ROM

The Dynamic Cell 2000 is produced and published by Springer-Verlag with Interactive Learning Productions. It is a cell biology database; in which cell structures and complex processes are represented with descriptive three-dimensional pictures and simulations. Short describing texts are also included.

How to use the database:

You may access to the three-dimensional pictures by clicking on objects in VR (Virtual Reality) screens and selecting from their submenus to open an Illustrated Record (IR) in a pop-up window. You may also choose to access the three-dimensional pictures by selecting VR Scene from the main menu.

This icon allows you to access Illustrated Record List directly. In this list you may select from the Alphabetical List the name of molecule you want to view and it will open up the IR window.

Each IR has a short text, with the following colour-coded hyperlinks:

Light Blue allows changing the image in the left-hand frame.
Dark Blue directs to a new IR on the highlighted topic.
Red changes the image in the left-hand frame to an animation or video clip. Click on the arrow underneath the image to run the animation.
Green opens the Rasmol software, showing the highlighted molecule. The appearance may be adjusted using the drop-down menus.
Pink opens the glossary entry for the highlighted word.

Clicking on the Caption button brings up a caption for the currently displayed image, video or animation. The Labels button allows the elements within an image, video or animation to be identified. The labels function may be applied at any time during the running of the videos or animations and only the labels on the nearest frame will be displayed. In order to identify all elements of an animation or video, activate the labels function before starting. The video or animation will play continually until next molecule is selected.

Electronic Guide to Food Regulations on CD-ROM

This Electronic Guide combines concise, targeted reviews of the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration), US DA (United States Department of Agriculture (Food Safety and Inspection Service)), and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) rules. It provides information about fundamental regulatory concepts in food regulations while also identifying the latest changes in federal agency requirements. You may use the following features to begin your search:

Full text of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) affecting food and dietary supplement products as of September 1, 1998
Government guidance documents and related agency studies
Indexes with electronic searching capability

How to select documents or indexes for searching:

This database is in Adobe Acrobat.

Click on this button to search only the document currently appearing on the screen.

Click on this button to search multiple documents using special indexes for all or part of the Guide. The default selection is Search the entire Guide which searches across all documents for the terms identified in the dialog box.

You may restrict the search to one or more sections in the Guide: Regulatory Reviews; Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); Federal Register (FR); or Guidance, Reports, and Statutes. First, the corresponding indexes must be added individually to the selection list:

Select the Indexes button (in the search dialog box) and choose Add.
From the 'Chapters' directory, select any one of the four Acrobat index (*.pdx) files displayed; click on Open will add it to the selection list.
Repeat this step to add the other available indexes.

A checkmark before an index name indicates that it is selected for the current search. Click the appropriate boxes to toggle the desired indexes on and off. Be sure to turn off the default option to Search the Entire Guide, if you only want to search portions of the Guide. Once the index selections are made, click OK, enter the desired terms in the main dialog box, and click Search to get a list of results.

Food Properties 2.0

Food Properties 2.0 is a database developed by R. Paul Singh, professor of Food Engineering, University of California, Davis. It includes over 2,400 food-property combinations and over 2,450 food materials. Food Properties database also features a collection of mathematical models that have been proposed for predicting food property values. It provides food composition such as caloric content, water content, fat, protein, carbohydrates, ash, and vitamins. A simple step-by-step instructions manual for this database is available at the Information Desk.

The Food Properties Database 2.0 includes Food Properties, Metals, Non-metals, Polymeric Materials and Non-Food Properties.

The search function in Non-Food Materials allows you to investigate the properties of Metals, Non-metals and Polymeric Materials.

International Pesticide Directory on CD-ROM

This corresponds to the printed International Pest Control. This directory comprises three sections which list and cross-reference the information provided an alphabetical list of some 170 pesticide manufacturers and suppliers; details of over 3,000 pesticides, their active ingredients, brief description of use and all the products listed in the active ingredients.

SciGlass Lite on CD-ROM

SciGlass is a unique glass properties information system containing information on the property values of glasses and glass-forming melts, the synthesis of the corresponding glasses, the ways of sample preparation and preliminary heat treatment and the methods of measurements and errors involved in them.

SciGlass Lite is a version of SciGlass based on a simplified database containing properties for one-component, binary, and ternary systems. The author database comprises over 5,000 different author names. It has more than 50 glass and melt properties; over 600 spectra for glasses and melts.

Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater on CD-ROM

This CD-ROM is a published jointly by the American Public Health Association and Water Environment Federation. It contains over 400 methods and tables, charts and graphic images for the printed book. It also includes over 300 illustrated figures, with introductions to new analytical tools for a number of inorganic non-metals and improved data evaluation, sample preservation, reagent water to help users with toxicity testing.

Every word in this infobase is indexed for rapid retrieval and you may search using Query dialog or Advanced Query dialog.

The Materials Selector on CD-ROM

The Materials Selector provides information on engineering materials including Metals, Ceramics, Polymers, Thermosets, Elastomers and Composites. It provides a base to compare properties such as:

Corrosion and wear behaviour and methods for prevention
Manufacturing and joining
Design for electromagnetic compatibility
Design for minimal environmental impact
Units and conversion factors
Summaries of advantages and limitations for each generic class of engineering material
Data on mechanical, physical, electrical and environmental performance according to international specifications and standards
Qualitative and quantitative information on materials performance

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Contents July 2001

Library News Welcome to NUS Library Useful URLs SelfCheck in 5 libraries Revamp of Digital Library homepage New Head of Technical Services New Head of Medical Library LAS Outstanding Service Award Discover a world of information Borrow more books and renew online! Beyond Library office hours

Electronic Resources ABI/Inform Global has a new interface Databases moved to Digital Library Index to Singapore Acts and Singapore Subsidiary Legislation online Legal databases moved New CD-ROM databases in Central Library New CD-ROM databases in C J Koh Law Library New databases in Digital Library New EIU statistical databases New marketing databases New electronic databases in Science Library Osiris ScienceDirect databases guide

Collection Highlights Recent materials on Effective Teaching Methods Which MBA?

Other LINUS issues

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