Screen-Capture Video & Self-Assessment Workshop on the Local Production of Effective Learning Resources

18th March 2009, University of the West of England

This workshop is being conducted as part of the Royal Society of Chemistry ‘Chemistry For Our Future’ project and being organised by Graham Currell and Dilys Thornton of the University of the West of England.

It is now possible, with very little effort and practice, to produce effective video-based learning materials that are extremely well received by the students. These can vary from little more than a video ‘email’ to a more sophisticated interactive learning package.

The fact that these materials can be produced quickly in-house can permit the development of many small learning objects, some of which could evolve to be extremely useful in building support (as per Lego) for learning in other institutions. It is also possible to produce these videos in a core format which can then be further edited by a recipient university to produce a locally customised version.

The aims of this workshop are to develop skills and consider mechanisms by which such locally produced learning objects can be shared more widely.

For more information see the website:
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/events/detail/2009/screen_capture_workshop

Edikt2009: Using Computing in your Research

29th April, 2009 09:30 - 17:00
WestPark Conference Centre, Dundee

Following the successful edikt2008 symposium, this year's event will bring together Scottish researchers who make heavy use of computer simulations, models or analysis to do research, allowing them to swap ideas and see how other scientists use the resources to maximum benefit. There is no similar activity in Scotland.

The day will be arranged into four sessions covering a wide range of computational research; including cell biology, computational chemistry, brain imaging and bioinformatics.

A poster session will also be held in the coffee and lunch breaks.

The symposium is free of charge and lunch is provided. Please register your interest by emailing Jon Hill (j.hill@ epcc.ed.ac.uk).

For more information on the edikt2 project or the symposium, please see the webpage (http://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/research/activities/edikt/) or contact Jon Hill (j.hill@ epcc.ed.ac.uk).

CambridgeSoft Conference & User Meeting in London on March 9th, 2009

This free event will consist of customer presentations, product demonstrations and discussion of future product initiatives.

Monday, March 9th, 2009, at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, London, UK

http://www.cambridgesoft.com/direct/index.cfm?did=8355&userid=1483545

The conference will include presentations by well-known pharmaceutical companies and CambridgeSoft management and development staff.

There is also paid training on some of our most popular application on Tuesday, March 10th — taught by members of the CambridgeSoft Development Team. For more information on the training sessions, please click on the following links:

Inventory: http://www.cambridgesoft.com/direct/index.cfm?did=8356&userid=1483545
E-Notebook: http://www.cambridgesoft.com/direct/index.cfm?did=8357&userid=1483545
ChemBioViz: http://www.cambridgesoft.com/direct/index.cfm?did=8358&userid=1483545

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
Participation in the Conference & User Group Meeting is FREE, but you must REGISTER early as space is limited. You may register online at:
http://www.cambridgesoft.com/direct/index.cfm?did=8355&userid=1483545

Maximising the effectiveness of virtual worlds in teaching and learning

This joint event organised by JISC CETIS and Eduserv provided a range of perspectives on the use of virtual worlds in HE from experienced practitioners.

More, including presentations from:

http://wiki.cetis.ac.uk/CETIS-Eduserv-VW2009

Research-Teaching Links in the Physical Sciences: Politics and Practice, Wednesday 18th March 2009, The Reinvention Centre, University of Warwick

Undergraduate Research and the Research Teaching Link are currently hot topics. Autumn 2008 saw the publication of three major reports, from the Scottish QAA and from Professors Nigel Thrift and Paul Ramsden to the Minister, John Denham, that provide a clear political framework for 2009 onwards.

The purpose of this workshop will be to explore what this proposed framework means for practitioners in the Physical Sciences in UK Higher Education through case studies that highlight what is actually happening in Physical Science Departments around the country, brief presentations around the Reports and plenty of opportunity for discussion.

If you would like to contribute a 10 minute case study presentation to the workshop, please Ruth Wellock, r.wellock@hull.ac.uk, with details of what you would like to present.

There is no registration fee for this meeting for those working in UK HE and lunch and refreshments will be provided. For more details and to register online:

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/events/detail/2009/rtl_mar_2009

Discontinuation of SciFinder Scholar 2006

On 30th January, the following client desktop editions of SciFinder will stop working:

1) SciFinder Scholar 2006 for MicrosoftR Windows
2) SciFinder Scholar 2006 for MAC OS X

If you are using one of these, please upgrade. For information about downloading the 2007 version and about web access go to http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resbysub/scifinder.shtml

The UoEdinburgh open access computer labs are running SciFinder Scholar 2007.

[To see which version you're using: select Help from the top menu then About SciFinder Scholar. The version is given just above the copyright notice on the box which displays.]

CAS registry numbers on "certain" Elsevier databases

From publisher, Elsevier's website at http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authored_newsitem.cws_home/companynews05_01105

Academic publishing company, Elsevier is providing enhanced electronic versions of its journal articles to CAS SciFinder publisher, and CAS in turn is helping Elsevier identify additional CAS Registry Numbers in certain of its databases.

The CAS Registry Number identification aspect of the agreement is being carried out periodically through an automated, first level, "machine comparison". That method is neither comprehensive nor detailed relative to many chemical structure conventions, and so this resulting addition of Registry numbers does not represent a complete comparison of Elsevier resources with the CAS Registry, the most comprehensive substance collection...From time to time more CAS Registry Numbers will be added.

2011 international year of chemistry

The 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution proclaiming 2011 as International Year of Chemistry, placing UNESCO and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) at the helm of the event.

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy amongst others

Physical Sciences Centre funding for learning and teaching projects

Each year the Physical Sciences Centre offers funding of up to £5000 for academics to carry out learning and teaching projects. The funding can be used to buy out staff time, to employ summer project students or part time staff, or to pay for expertise not immediately available.

The closing date for bidding is 31st March 2009. Applications should be made using the template provided on the website. Contact the Centre Director, Tina Overton, for an informal discussion of ideas for projects (01482 465453, t.l.overton@hull.ac.uk).

For further information, including criteria, previous projects and details of how to apply see: www.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/home/projects/devprojects

RSC & ChemZoo developing tools to help chemists label compounds with standard tags

The information below is an edited version of the item from Knowledgespeak Newsletter

RSC news item Web chemistry progresses InChI by InChI in Chemistry World

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and ChemZoo, a US-based software firm, are developing tools to help chemists label their own compounds with a standard computer-readable tag. A beta form of the InchI resolver is expected to be on display in March.

The standard way to represent chemical structures using a string of text, the International Chemical Identifier (InChI), was developed several years ago but is unused, even unknown, by many chemists.

The free 'resolver' would turn any InChI into a shorter 25-letter code (the 'InChI key') seen to be friendlier to search engines.

There is disagreement over what impact the collaboration could have on current gold standards in managing chemical information, such as the ACS' subscription-only Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). The ACS service allots compounds a CAS number and catalogues them using its own proprietary informatics platform. CAS holds some 40 million organic and inorganic substances in its registry - roughly double ChemSpider's existing database.

A comment "Five Questions about the InChI Resolver" posted on the blog Depth-First: walking the web of chemical informatics.

SciFinder Scholar e-seminars

Two January seminars over the web. They will be repeated and they will also be recorded and posted on the website for viewing.

To register, visit: http://casevents.webex.com

After you register, you will receive an e-mail confirmation containing the teleconference phone numbers.

You can submit questions at any time during a live e-Seminar.
________________________________

1) SciFinder: Spectra and Properties

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - 19:00-20:00 GMT
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - 11:00 GMT & 14:00 GMT

In addition to the 2 billion predicted and experimental properties, spectra, and data tags already available in SciFinder, 23.8 million predicted proton NMR spectra have been added.

Nearly every organic substance in the CAS REGISTRYSM now has a proton NMR spectrum.

The e-Seminar will:

* Explore the collection of expanded property information
* Share how SciFinder adds value to spectral data
* Discuss how to locate the expanded property information in SciFinder

2) Exploring New Enhancements in the Web Version of SciFinder®!

January 23 - 13:30
February 3 - 18:00
February 17 - 13:30
February 24 - 20:00

The upcoming release of the web version of SciFinder extends functionality beyond the capabilities of all existing SciFinder products. In these sessions, CAS will:

* Explore existing features
* Introduce brand new features such as one click linking to your favorite SciFinder answers, new Keep Me Posted features, related references on key scientific concepts, and more . . .
* Unveil new content such as experimental and predicted properties and reaction data

Bursaries to attend conferences in the USA

The RSC Education Division is offering bursaries of up to £1500 for academics to attend a major US chemistry education conference in order to initiate collaboration and networking with those carrying out pedagogic research in chemistry.