Read journals on your iPad using BrowZine

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

browzineDo you own an iPad?  Do you read scholarly journals?  Then BrowZine might be a great tool for you!

The Library has arranged for a subscription to the Browzine app for all University of Chicago users.  BrowZine assists users by presenting open access and Library-subscribed journals on a common newsstand.  The result is an easy and familiar way to browse, read and monitor scholarly journals across the disciplines or to have a convenient list of favorite journals titles at your fingertips.  BrowZine works with the campus proxy server, giving you access to your favorite journals on your iPad.

Articles accessed through BrowZine may be synced up with Zotero, Dropbox or several other services to help keep all of your information together in one place.

If you have any questions about BrowZine or would like a guided a tour, please contact crerar-reference@lib.uchicago.edu

 Download BrowZine from the App Store on iTunes (requires a UChicago network connection): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/browzine/id463787411?mt=8

If you need a little help getting started, BrowZine has this two-minute video tutorial to help: http://thirdiron.com/browzine-ipad-app/video/

(If you are already a BrowZine user, to access the full set of UChicago journals available in the trial, tap the Settings button, log out, then log back in selecting “University of Chicago” from the list of libraries.  You will be prompted for your CNetID and password to authenticate through the campus proxy server.)

This service will continue to expand and add new titles and features as time goes on.  Third Iron welcomes you to follow their progress on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/thirdiron) or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/third_iron) and reminds you to watch for notifications on your iPad that an update to BrowZine is available. 

Compendex: a Comprehensive Engineering and Material Sciences Database

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

Compendex is one of the most comprehensive bibliographic databases of engineering research available, containing over 15 million records of references and abstracts taken from over 5,000 engineering journals, conferences and technical reports.

The broad subject areas of engineering and applied science are comprehensively covered including civil and mechanical engineering. Compendex also covers extensively literature in chemical engineering, bioengineering, materials engineering, applied physics, optics, computers and data processing. 

Compendex can also be searched together with Inspec, a complementary database that covers physics and engineering topics.  To include it simply check Inspec above the search box.

Historical Material

The Engineering Index Backfile, which covers 1884-1969, offers historical content in engineering including many engineering developments and innovations described in the literature during that period.  Over 1.7 million records have been digitized from the original Engineering Index print indexes. 

Type of coverage

Compendex offers abstracts and bibliographic citations.  Use the Find it! Button to link to full text University of Chicago owned content.

User Tools and Special Features:

-Specification and Standard Index, Patent Search:  Use the “expert search” tab at the top and field tags listed to construct these searches.

- Email alerts:  On the Search results page click “Create Alert” in the query bar above the results list.

-Tagging Records: Navigate to the Abstract or Detailed view of a record and the “Add a tag” box appears to the right.  You can make your tags private or public.

- Saved Searches: Above your search results (in the query bar) click “Save Search”

Book a Room Service at Crerar

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

photo of a group study in Crerar Library

One of the many group studies bookable by groups using the new Book a Room system.

This past January, the Library launched a “Book a Room” service, which allows faculty, students and staff to book meeting and study rooms in the Library.   The online reservation system provides an overview of all available spaces and allows users to reserve a room with a few clicks.

In the Crerar Library, there are 7 study rooms that are available, four of which have a pull down projection screen.  A projector can be checked out from the circulation desk.  The largest room (320 B) can accommodate up to 12 individuals, while all rooms seat at least 6.

Since we began offering the service, 390 groups have booked space in Crerar for a total of 71 days, 7 hours, and 47 minutes across all study rooms.  Book a Room allows groups to name themselves for easy identification, and while most are either straightforward or completely obscure about their purpose, we’ve hosted a few with more creative group names.  Animals seem to be popular, as we’ve seen Tigers, Two Frogs, and Desert Foxes.  Other groups have been more frank about their work, such as O-Chem Death, Why Did We Write BAs?!, and Thesis Woes.  

This is a pilot, and the service will be reviewed to ensure that it is meeting the needs of faculty, students and staff.

More information is available at: http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2013/01/04/book-a-room-pilot-for-group-studies-begins-jan-7/ including policies on room use.

 If you have used the service, we would like to hear your feedback.  Please use our form – http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/ask/roombook.html – or contact Barb Kern at bkern@uchicago.edu or 702-8717.

 

Endnote Workshop, Wednesday May 15th, 12-1pm

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

EndNoteX6Location: Crerar Library Computer Classroom.

Learn how to use the bibliographic software EndNote.  Topics covered include creating and managing libraries, importing references from online databases, importing and managing PDFs and creating formatted bibliographies and citations in Microsoft Word. Registration is required.  Register here.

Get training and advanced assistance with NCBI biotechnology tools

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Crerar Science

ncbieyeUniversity of Chicago faculty and students interested in using biotechnology information tools and resources can ask questions, schedule consultations, or arrange training sessions with Vedana Vaidhyanathan from the John Crerar Library.

Vedana, the Biomedical Reference Librarian and Informatics Specialist at Crerar, recently attended a train-the-trainer course at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). There she learned new techniques for teaching NCBI resources, including BLAST, a tool that examines a piece of DNA or a protein and finds others in the system that are similar; Gene, NCBI’s repository for gene-specific information; and Cn3D, a tool that allows a user to see the 3D structure of a protein. Additionally Vedana has learned to teach epigenetic and small molecule resources so that she can share her knowledge with the University community.

NCBI resources are made freely available by the federal government, but they can be difficult to navigate.  Vedana is here to help UChicago faculty, researchers and students with this type of research. In conjunction with her specialized training at NCBI, Vedana gained priority access to the researchers who design these tools and can rapidly contact them with advanced questions.   

For assistance, consultations, and training sessions on NCBI tools and resources, contact Vedana at vedana@uchicago.edu.

Crerar’s hanging sculpture: Crystara

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

crystaraCrystara was commissioned in 1984 for the newly built Crerar Library.  Designed by artist John David Mooney, and constructed of aluminum and Waterford Crystal, the 30 by 12 foot  sculpture fills much of the three story atrium of Crerar.  The crystals were made at the Waterford glassworks in southeastern Ireland and hand cut in numerous ways to create a constantly changing prismatic effect by refracting the natural light flooding into the atrium. 

Crystara has its own website with more information about the artist and work.

 

Informatics Virtual Journal Club broadcast Thursday, May 2

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Vedana Vaidhyanathan at Crerar Science

The John Crerar Library is pleased to host a showing of the monthly Informatics Journal Club. This month’s article “Reduction in medication errors in hospitals due to adoption of computerized provider order entry systems” will be broadcast on Thursday May 2, 2013 from 2pm to 3pm in the Kathleen Zar room. David C. Radley, Ph.D., M.P.H. senior analyst and project director for The Commonwealth Fund Health System Scorecard and Research Project, a grant-funded position located at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, Massachusetts will be online to discuss the article which examines medication errors in hospitals. This study’s objective was to derive a nationally representative estimate of medication error reduction in hospitals attributable to electronic prescribing through computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems.

All are welcome to attend. For further information please contact Vedana Vaidhyanathan at 773-702-8774 or vedana@uchicago.edu.

Illinois flood information from USGS and NOAA

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science
flooded river and bridge

Record floods in Illinois rivers recorded in April 2013

Courtesy of Emily Wild, USGS librarian and scientist:

USGS near real-time data, Illinois

USGS Illinois Flood information, 1995-2011

USGS news release: USGS Measures Record Flooding in Illinois 

USGS Flood information, National, or select state of interest, e.g. Illinois 

USGS Historical streamflow search, National

USGS Animation of streamflow maps, National

USGS Water Resources office for Illinois USGS Illinois 

These two web sites show the same data: USGS and NOAA.  When it comes to forecasting the river data, NOAA takes over the data interpretation.

Be safe out there if you are near a high river with Flood Safety Information.

Blackwell Reference Online and The Cochrane Library will be down for Maintenance April 13 and 14

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Crerar Science

Blackwell Reference Online and the Cochrane Library will be down for maintenance this weekend, April 13 and 14 2013. The websites will be unavailable for no more than 12 hours starting at 3pm Chicago time on Saturday 13th April 2013. During this time, due to the nature of the work there will not be a  maintenance note so anyone trying to access the site will get a “Site not found” or similar message.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Non-English Abstracts in PubMed

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Crerar Science

Publishers will soon be able to submit non-English abstracts to PubMed. The additional language view(s) will be links on the Abstract display, with bold text indicating the language that is currently displayed. The abstract text will default to English when a citation has an accompanying non-English abstract. Users can click the language link to view the abstract in a different language. If a citation has only a non-English abstract, PubMed will not display an abstract by default, and users can select the non-English option. The non-English abstracts will not be reviewed for accuracy. Non-English abstracts will not be available in other views in PubMed.

Current Exhibits Recipes for Domesticity: Cookery, Household Management, and the Notion of Expertise

Posted on April 4, 2013 by The University of Chicago Library
Illustration from Cassell's Household Guide, Being a Complete Encyclopaedia of Domestic and Social Economy... London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, [187-] Vol. 2. Rare Book Collection. The University of Chicago Library

Illustration from Cassell’s Household Guide, Being a Complete Encyclopaedia of Domestic and Social Economy… London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, [187-] Vol. 2. Rare Book Collection, Special Collections Research Center, The University of Chicago Library.

Exhibition: Recipes for Domesticity: Cookery, Household Management, and the Notion of Expertise
Date: April 22 – July 13, 2013

How does one roast a fawn or properly set a dinner table for twelve? For centuries, people have been documenting and decoding the vast array of knowledge associated with domestic life, assembling cooking and household guides to assist with the tasks of daily living. Not merely collections of recipes and how-to instructions, these guides also document cultural  patterns and give insight into the development of modern-day kitchen and cooking practices. This exhibition, drawn primarily from the Rare Books Collection, provides a sampling of European and American cookbooks and domestic manuals from court chefs of the 15th century to cooking icons of the 20th century.

Curator: Julia Gardner, Head, Reader Services, Special Collections Research Center

At the Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery
1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL
Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–4:45 p.m.; Saturdays: 9:00 a.m.–12:45 p.m. when classes are in session

Use of Images

These images from the exhibition are available for members of the media, and are reserved for editorial use in connection with the University of Chicago Library exhibitions, programs, or related news.  Email Rachel Rosenberg (phone: 773-834-1519) or Joseph Scott (phone: 773-702-6655)  to request high-resolution images.

 

Le Pastissier Francois

Engraved title page from François Pierre de La Varenne’s Le pastissier françois… Amsterdam : Chez Louys & Daniel Elzevier, 1655. Special Collections Research Center, The University of Chicago Library.

 

Man drinking coffee, coffee pot, coffee plant

Engraving from Philippe Sylvestre’sTraitez nouveaux & curieux du café, du thé et du chocolate… The Hague: Adrian Moetjens, 1685. John Crerar Collection of Rare Books in the History of Science and Medicine, Special Collections Research Center, The University of Chicago Library.

 

Coffee Arabica plant

Colored engraving from Alexandre Martin’s Manuel de l’amateur de café… Paris: Audot, 1828. John Crerar Collection of Rare Books in the History of Science and Medicine. The University of Chicago Library.

 

 

 

Tools for DOIs

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science

What the heck does “DOI: 10.1021/ic00183a004” mean and why should you care?  The DOI (or digital object identifier) is a unique character string that identifies a digital object.  This object can be an article, a report, a book chapter, an image, a dataset or any other single package of online information.  Most commonly you will encounter journal article DOIs in reference lists or endnotes.  While the DOI characters don’t generally have a human readable meaning, there are web based tools to link the DOI to the actual full text article. 

If you have a DOI and you want to find the object itself (this is also called “resolving the DOI”), the easiest thing to do is to point your browser to http://dx.doi.org/ and copy and paste in the DOI.

After clicking “Go” you will be taken to the publisher’s web page for the article:

Henry C. Kelly, Sritana C. Yasui, and Andrea B. Twiss-Brooks  “Hypochlorite chlorination of tertiary amine-boranes,” Inorganic Chemistry 1984 23 (15), 2220-2223

Or, if you have an article citation and need to find the DOI (many journals now request or require a DOI in article manuscript submissions in the list of references) you can use the CrossRef Simple Text Query Form.  You must register an email address with CrossRef to use this form. 

To use this tool, go to http://www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/ and type (or copy and paste) your reference, enter your registered email address and submit.  The tool works best if you have the reference formatted in a standard style (e.g., APA, MLA, etc.).  For example, if you copy and paste the same text citation –

Henry C. Kelly, Sritana C. Yasui, and Andrea B. Twiss-Brooks “Hypochlorite chlorination of tertiary amine-boranes,” Inorganic Chemistry 1984 23 (15), 2220-2223

–into the tool, you will retrieve the DOI link for the article:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ic00183a004  

 

Exhibits Under Covers: The Art and Science of Book Conservation – new web exhibit

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

conservation largeA web version is now available of the current Crerar Library exhibit: Under Covers:  The Art and Science of Book Conservation.  The physical exhibit is showing in the atrium of Crerar Library and will run until October 11, 2013.  

Description: Conservators at the University of Chicago Library keep collections safe and intact for future scholars by combining traditional craft with a knowledge of current research on processes of deterioration. Under Covers:  The Art and Science of Book Conservation reveals the techniques conservators use to preserve and repair materials in the state-of-the-art Conservation Laboratory in the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library. The exhibit explores issues affecting modern and older library materials and shows conservators employing the newest scientific research in their work.

This exhibit coincides with the American Library Association’s Preservation Week (April 21-27, 2013).  It will run March 26 – October 11, 2013.

More information about Crerar exhibits is available here: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/exhibits/

Location: The John Crerar Library, Atrium, 5730 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago
Public Hours: Monday – Saturday: 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Cost: Free

Eckhart Library Interim Hours

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

old photo of Eckhart LibraryFrom March 23-31 Eckhart Library will be opened Monday-Friday 12-5pm 

Eckhart will resume regular hours April 1st:  Monday-Friday 9am-8pm, Saturday 9am-5pm.

Updated hours for all libraries are available at : http://hours.lib.uchicago.edu.

Copy, Print, Fax, and Scan requires 4-digit PIN starting March 25

Posted on March 22, 2013 by The University of Chicago Library

Copy, Print, Fax, and Scan stationStarting Monday, March 25, all users will be required to set and use a 4-digit PIN (personal identification number) when using the Canon copy, print, fax, and scan stations in the libraries, residence halls, and the Arley D. Cathey Learning Center (formerly Harper Library Commons).  This change is being made to protect users from unauthorized use of their accounts.

When you use a copy, print, fax, and scan station for the first time on or after March 25, you will be prompted to set a PIN; for subsequent uses you will be prompted to input the PIN after swiping or tapping your card.

More information, including detailed instructions on how to set your PIN, is available at https://printing.uchicago.edu/.

 

Under Covers: The Art and Science of Book Conservation

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science
A person with knife at work in the conservation lab

At work in the Conservation Lab

Conservators at the University of Chicago Library keep collections safe and intact for future scholars by combining traditional craft with a knowledge of current research on processes of deterioration. Under Covers:  The Art and Science of Book Conservation reveals the techniques conservators use to preserve and repair materials in the state-of-the-art Conservation Laboratory in the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library. The exhibit explores issues affecting modern and older library materials and shows conservators employing the newest scientific research in their work.

This exhibit coincides with the American Library Association’s Preservation Week (April 21-27, 2013).  It will run March 26 – October 11, 2013.

An associated web exhibit is available at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/webexhibits/scienceofconservation/

More information about Crerar exhibits is available here: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/exhibits/

Location: The John Crerar Library, Atrium, 5730 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago
Public Hours: Monday – Saturday: 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Cost: Free

Crerar Library interim hours

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Crerar Science

Crerar Library has reduced hours for the Spring Break interim, from Saturday, March 23 – Sunday, March 31.

Building hours, for users with a valid UC ID, Library Card, or daypass are:

March 23: 8am – 8pm
March 24 – 28: 8am – 10pm
March 29 and 30: 8am – 8pm
March 31: 8am – 10pm

Circulation hours, for users who need to check out items, or have questions about access or their account:

March 23: 9am – 5pm
March 24: Closed
March 25 – 29: 8:30am – 5pm
March 30: 9am – 5pm
March 31: Noon – 5pm

Reference hours, for users with questions about research or library resources, remain the same.  

For all library hours, please check http://hours.lib.uchicago.edu.

Exhibits Sweet Home Chicago – newly archived web exhibit

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

Cracker Jack AdSweet Home Chicago: Chocolate and Confectionery Production and Technology in the Windy City, an exhibit that ran in Crerar Library in 2011, is now available online as an archived web exhibit.

About the exhibit: Wrigley’s gum, Fannie May chocolate, and Cracker Jack are just some of the confections that have been created and manufactured in Chicago, a major center of candy production in the 20th century. Drawing from items in the substantial cookery collection at the John Crerar Library, this exhibit explores the history of chocolate and confectioners in the city and the science and technology of the candy making process.

Curated by Beth Kimmerle, author of Blommer: An American Chocolate Legacy, Chocolate: the Sweet History and Candy: the Sweet History

Endnote Workshop, March 15th 12-1pm Crerar Library

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

Endnote picLocation: Crerar Library Computer Classroom.

Learn how to use the bibliographic software EndNote.  Topics covered include creating and managing libraries, importing references from online databases, importing and managing PDFs and creating formatted bibliographies and citations in Microsoft Word. Registration is required.  Register here.

Computational Tools for Chemists and Biochemists – a workshop on Mar 7@1PM

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science

Presenter:  Nicholas Labello
Location: John Crerar Library, Kathleen A. Zar Room
Date:  March 7, 2013
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 PM

Register for this hands-on workshop:
https://training.uchicago.edu/course_detail.cfm?course_id=1255

Numerous tools exist to help chemists and biochemists work efficiently with molecular data.  Cheminformatics libraries permit the automation of creating, optimizing, computing properties, and comparing small molecules, while structural bioinformatics tools provide means of analyzing protein structures and the output of molecular dynamics simulations.  In this hands-on workshop you will develop Python scripts and programs that convert between chemical formats, perform geometry optimizations, and analyze molecular structure.  This workshop is introductory; bring a laptop to participate in the hands-on session.  Students that are new to computational chemistry research are particularly encouraged to attend.  

Supporting global collaborative research – “Show and Tell” lecture on March 5 @ 3pm

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science

Global Cyber Commons: Supporting Global Collaborative Research, Development and Education using Cyber-Infrastructure-Enhanced Environments

Jason Leigh (Professor, Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago)

A lecture in the Show and Tell: Visualizing the Life of Mind seminar series
March 5, 2013 | 3:00pm-4:30pm
Kathleen A. Zar Room, John Crerar Library

David Gelernter, in his 1992 landmark book Mirror Worlds, says,

“A Mirror World is some huge institution’s moving, true-to-life mirror image trapped inside a computer – where you can see and grasp it whole. The thick, dense, busy sub-world that encompasses you is also, now, an object in your hands…  This software technology, in combination with high-speed parallel computers and computer networks, makes it possible to envision enormous, intelligent information reservoirs linking libraries and databases across the country or the world…The Mirror World is a wholeness-enhancing instrument; it is the sort of instrument that modern life demands. It is an instrument that you (almost literally) look through, as through a telescope, to see and grasp the nature of the organizational world that surrounds you.”

Global Cyber-Commons is the Electronic Visualization Laboratory’s instantiation of Mirror Worlds; it is the telescope that one uses to view and collect data from global resources. But Cyber-Commons goes beyond Mirror Worlds, bringing real people together, in real time to enable real collaboration. The goal is not just to mirror the “universe in a shoebox,”  but to enable people worldwide to work together to create and learn from that world-in-a-box. The presentation will introduce the notion of the Cyber-Commons, the technology that drives it, and the types of research and educational activities that it has enabled.

BIOGRAPHY
Jason Leigh is a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory and the Software Technologies Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently he is also a Fellow of the Institute for Health Research and Policy.  Prior projects and research for which he is best known include, the OptIPuter, GeoWall, CoreWall, LambdaVision, Tele-Immersion, and Reliable Blast UDP. His research for the past ten years focused on Cyber-Commons- ultra-resolution display-rich collaboration environments amplified by high performance computing and networking. His newest area of research is called Human Augmentics – technologies for expanding the capabilities and characteristics of humans. His work in lifelike avatars has been featured on the Popular Science’s Future Of, and he has been profiled on Nova ScienceNow.
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Show and Tell, Visualizing the Life of Mind is a new seminar series that focuses on the practical application, art and science of visualization in research and scholarship at The University of Chicago. The series is presented in the John Crerar Library Kathleen A. Zar room,a joint venture between the Research Computing Center and The University of Chicago Library to bring cutting edge data visualization capabilities to the research community. 

Learn more about Show and Tell — http://rcc.uchicago.edu/news/show_and_tell.html  

Learn more about the Research Computing Center — http://rcc.uchicago.edu 

Make a request to be added to the Research Computing Center’s announcement list by completing the ‘Contact Us’ form at http://rcc.uchicago.edu .

Exhibits Make-a-zine event at the Logan Center on March 7

Posted on February 27, 2013 by The University of Chicago Library

Make-a-zine event posterMake-a-Zine at the Logan Center
Thursday, March 7
5:00 – 7:00 pm
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Room 028

Learn to make your own zine at the University of Chicago Library’s Make-A-Zine event at the Logan Center.  We’ll supply the zine-making materials, you supply the creativity. Experienced zinesters and newbies are welcome.  A copy of each zine will be deposited into the Library’s Special Collections Research Center (where the rare books, archives, and manuscripts are housed).

Refreshments will be served. While registration is not required, RSVP’s are appreciated.

This event is held in conjunction with My Life Is an Open Book: D.I.Y. Autobiography, on exhibit now through April 13, 2013 in the Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery.

Persons with disabilities who need an accommodation in order to participate in this event should contact Debra Werner 773-702-8552.

Lecture on explorations for scientific data – Feb 28 @ 3PM

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science

Visual Salience: Insights and Explorations for Scientific Data

Amitabh Varshney / Director, University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland

Thursday, February 28, 2013, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm in the Crerar Library, Kathleen A. Zar Room

Even as scientific datasets have been growing at an exponential rate, the capabilities of the human visual system have remained unchanged. As a result, we have now reached a stage where the current generation datasets can easily overwhelm the limits of human comprehension. Visual scalability is rapidly emerging as one of the grand challenges in scientific data exploration. This has informed much of our recent research in developing saliency-guided techniques for large data visualization and analysis. Most of the time, most of the data is innocuous and unimportant and even considering it wastes precious time and resources. However, current visualization systems effectively assume a default, that every piece of data is equally important. In this talk I shall highlight some of the recent advances in building visualization systems for exploring visualization datasets that leverage the principles of perception of visual salience and machine learning to address the big data challenge.

===========================================================================

Show and Tell, Visualizing the Life of Mind is a new seminar series that focuses on the practical application, art and science of visualization in research and scholarship at The University of Chicago. The series is presented in the John Crerar Library Kathleen A. Zar Room, a joint venture between the Research Computing Center and The University of Chicago Library to bring cutting edge data visualization capabilities to the research community.

Learn more about Show and Tell

http://rcc.uchicago.edu/news/show_and_tell.html

Learn more about the Research Computing Center

http://rcc.uchicago.edu

Biographical resources on Nicolaus Copernicus

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science
Portrait of Copernicus

Image from Popular Science Monthly Volume 39
This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

Today marks the 540th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543).   Copernicus (in Polish Mikolaj Kopernik) was a Polish Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a comprehensive heliocentric model which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center of the universe.

Interested readers can learn more about Copernicus by using a variety of biographical and research tools available from the Library.  (Some resources are limited to UChicago users).  Just a few of these are shown below:

Books about Copernicus in the Library

Online biographical resources from Uni-Bonn’s history of astronomy site

Search for articles on Copernicus in ArticlesPlus, including this fascinating account found as full text in the JSTOR collection:

“Genetic Identification of Putative Remains of the Famous Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.” Wiesław Bogdanowicz, Marie Allen, Wojciech Branicki, Maria Lembring, Marta Gajewska, Tomasz Kupiec and Alan Walker. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Vol. 106, No. 30 (Jul. 28, 2009), pp. 12279-12282 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40484127

“Copernicus, Nicholas.” Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2008. 401-411. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2830900984&v=2.1&u=chic_rbw&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w

For a YouTube video showing Google’s homage to Copernican observation and theory embodied as a Google “doodle”: http://youtu.be/mMdqVCZqKOk

 

RCC workshop — Intel tools for high-performance software development

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science

The Research Computing Center is pleased to welcome Mike Voss from Intel to give a hands-on introduction to many of Intel’s tools for high-performance software development. Topics covered will include (1) the Intel C, C++, and Fortran compilers, their common use, best practices, and optimization settings; (2) optimizing distributed parallel codes with the Intel MPI library; (3) shared memory parallelism using OpenMP with the Intel compilers; (4) the Intel  Math Kernel Library for numerical linear algebra; and (5) the Intel Threaded Building Blocks for expressing task-based parallelism in C++.

Presenter:  Mike Voss
Location:  John Crerar Library, Kathleen A. Zar Room
Date:  February 19, 2013
Time:   10:00AM – 2:00 PM (break for lunch noon-1PM)
                      followed by 2:00PM – 4:30 PM Optional Q/A and hands-on session

Registration is required, at the following website:

https://training.uchicago.edu/course_detail.cfm?course_id=1383

Prerequisites:

Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop and their codes to participate in the hands-on session.

Mike Voss is a Software Architect in Intel’s Software and Services Group, where he is currently one of the lead developers of Intel Threading Building Blocks. He joined Intel in 2006.  Before joining Intel, Mike was an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto from 2001–2005. His interests include languages, tools, and compilers for parallel computing. He received his Ph.D. and M.S.E.E degrees in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 2001 and 1997, respectively.