Project Homepage Research Articles

Subject gateways: fulfilling the DESIRE for knowledge

One of the greatest challenges for users in the electronic age is to learn how the Internet can be used to meet their information needs and to conceptualise how the different Internet search and retrieval tools can help them to do this. This article aims to describe how subject gateways can help different user communities to make effective use of the Internet and to clarify some of the key differences between subject gateways and search engines. The paper will reference work that has been done by the European Union's DESIRE Project [DESIRE Project Home Page, http://www.desire.org/] on developing guidelines and tools for the development of new subject gateways. It will highlight some of the gateways already freely available for use and will give some insight into the far-reaching developments that users can expect to see in the coming months and years.

Searching the Web, Continued

Searching the Web, Continued

Dynamic adaptation of network connections in mobile environments

Most network applications assume continuous connectivity-an assumption that does not migrate to wireless environments. The authors present the design of a communication layer for mobile computing that dynamically adapts to changes in network connections. Our work was part of AMIGOS (Advanced Mobile Integration in General Operating Systems), a collaboration between researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the University of Minho in Portugal. The AMIGOS project provides transparent support for semi connected operations on mobile computers running a standard operating system; the project home page is at http://www.econ.cbs.dk/people/birger/AMIGOS/. Briefly, our design lets a mobile user connect a mobile host to a LAN, then disconnect the host from it. The user then can reconnect, for example, via a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular modem without losing TCP/IP connections. We want to allow existing TCP/IP based applications to be used in a mobile environment, without application modifications.

The Geographer's Craft: Teaching GIS in the Web

The Geographer's Craft is a two‐semester course introducing GIS and geographic research methods using active‐learning, problem‐solving techniques. All of the materials for the course were developed in hypertext form in the World‐Wide Web (WWW). The organization of this electronic textbook and laboratory manual is explained and related to principles for using the WWW to enrich GIS education. Teaching strategies are discussed as are lessons learnt in developing hypertext courseware. The value of enlisting student participation in the development process is stressed. Note is made of the ways in which Web‐based materials may lead to the emergence of distance of education programmes in GIS. The project homepage is http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/contents.html

The Nuclear Receptor Resource Project.

We have expanded the original Glucocorticoid Receptor Resource (GRR) database to include several individual resources as part of a larger project called the Nuclear Receptor Resource (NRR). In addition to the GRR, the NRR currently features the Thyroid Hormone Receptor Resource, the Androgen Receptor Resource, the Mineralocorticoid Receptor Resource, the Vitamin D Receptor Resource, and the Steroid Receptor Associated Proteins Resource. The goal of the NRR project is to provide a comprehensive resource for information on the nuclear receptor superfamily, and to provide a forum for the dissemination and discussion of both published and unpublished material on these proteins. Although the individual resources are managed from different servers, all the files are integrated and can be accessed through the project's Home Page, housed at http://nrr. georgetown.edu/nrr.html. In the near future, we hope to expand the project to contain information on other nuclear receptors and to better our electronic publication system. To accomplish this, we encourage the involvement of nuclear receptor investigators in the NRR.