OSTI Is Re-Focusing and Re-Balancing Its Operations – And Refreshing Its Home Page – to Advance Public Accessby Dr. Jeffrey Salmon 03 Mar, 2014 in Products and Content
Let’s call it creative destruction, borrowing from a popular term in economics. The idea is that the very essence of capitalism is the destruction of old structures and the building of new ones that inevitably face the same pressures as the structures they replaced.  It’s the reason the buggy whip industry fell on hard times. The information management business of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is in constant flux too, where the next big thing can soon become the next big flop. OSTI cannot be immune to these disruptive forces, nor would we wish it to be. Here, I would like to focus on just one of many disruptive forces in the information management and information technology worlds compelling OSTI to change, the push for greater public access to federally-funded R&D results. Frankly, it’s a disruptive force we welcome. Increasingly the legislative and executive branches of government have emphasized public access to federally-funded scholarly publications (i.e., journal articles and accepted manuscripts) and digital datasets. OSTI will lead the implementation of public access to scholarly publications for DOE, just as the organization has offered public access to other forms of scientific and technical information (STI) emanating from DOE and its predecessor agencies for the past 67 years. To this end, OSTI is re-focusing and re-balancing its resources, operations, and priorities. For OSTI, this means looking first and foremost at the STI produced by DOE and serving DOE R&D interests. OSTI is working to be as comprehensive as possible in its processes to collect, preserve/curate, and disseminate all forms of STI from DOE. This means that the DOE Scientific and Technical Information Program, or STIP, is of paramount importance. STIP is a robust and effective collaboration across the DOE... Related Topics: .EDUconnections, Adopt-A-Doc, DOE Green Energy, DOE STI, journal literature, National Library of Energy (NLE) - Beta, osti, OSTI Homepage, Science Accelerator, Science Conference Proceedings, ScienceLab, SciTech Connect
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Wind Turbines and Wear and Tearby Kathy Chambers 20 Aug, 2012 in Products and Content
A modern wind turbine has more than 8,000 component parts that must withstand the wear and tear of wind stresses. DOE researchers and stakeholders have been working hard to predict and eliminate wind stress related barriers and extend the lifespan of wind turbines.  Working on a paper on this subject? OSTI can save you wear and tear by providing web tools that eliminate the need to search through database after database to find the research you need. For example, if you use DOE’s Science Accelerator, you could search through 11 DOE databases, and in about 10 seconds or less, retrieve hundreds of documents about the use of simulations to understand wind turbine shear stress. You could learn about wind turbine gearbox reliability in Energy Citations Database, a database that contains research results submitted by DOE offices, national labs and technology centers and their contractors. Or you have the option to search the resources of 13 government agencies in Science.gov to instantly find thousands of records... Related Topics: osti.gov, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, wind Read more... |
Keep current – sign up now!by Valerie Allen 27 Jun, 2012 in Products and Content
We’ve made tracking a science topic in key DOE/OSTI resources easy with the Science Accelerator Alerts service.  It's as simple as first registering for Science Accelerator Alerts and then proceeding along one of the following channels: 1) conduct a search on your chosen topic/author and then select the 'Create an Alert' button on the search results page; 2) go directly to the Alerts Login page and register. Either of these methods will take you to a page containing an 'Alert Profile' form. Complete the profile, select the frequency of your Alerts and save. You will then receive Alerts via email and also create a personal account. The Science Accelerator was developed as a tool to advance discovery and to deliver science information. It empowers you to search, via a single query, important information resources of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) scientific and technical information. These resources contain the results of DOE research and development (R&D) projects and programs, major R&D accomplishments, and recent research of interest to DOE. They enable you to explore significant DOE discoveries, learn about DOE Nobel Prize Winners, access and search scientific e-prints, locate science conference papers and proceedings, and more. So to broaden your knowledge base and accelerate your science, register for Science Accelerator Alerts today. Related Topics: alerts, e-prints, Nobel Prize, research results, resources, science, Science Accelerator, scientific Read more... |
OSTI and Its Mission Highlighted in Secretary Chu’s Policy Statement on Scientific Integrityby Peter Lincoln 17 May, 2012 in Science Communications The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) plays an integral role in ensuring transparency and access to the results of the Department of Energy’s scientific efforts – and such transparency and access help assure DOE’s scientific integrity, according to a policy statement recently issued by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “Science and technology are the foundation of all Department of Energy activities…,” the Secretarial Policy Statement on Scientific Integrity opens. “The Department’s mission relies on objective, reliable, accurate, and accessible scientific and technical information.” And OSTI addresses the agency’s responsibilities to collect, preserve and disseminate scientific and technical information emanating from the Department’s research and development activities. “In December 2010,” Secretary Chu wrote in a May 11 memo to DOE employees, “the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House issued a memorandum asking all agencies to establish a scientific integrity policy. In response to this call, I recently signed the Secretarial Policy Statement on Scientific Integrity for the Department of Energy applicable to all DOE Federal employees. This policy builds on the Department’s existing policies and best practices to support a culture of scientific integrity.” “DOE will facilitate the free flow of scientific and technological information,” the policy statement provides, “consistent with standards for treatment of classified, sensitive, private, and proprietary information. Transparency and accessibility of scientific and technological information support the continued advancement of a sound science and technology base to help guide and inform the nation’s critical public policy decisions; advance the national, economic and energy security of the U.S.; facilitate the... Related Topics: r&d, Science Accelerator, scientific integrity, Steven Chu Read more... |
Happy Mathematics Awareness Monthby Kate Bannan 13 Apr, 2012 in Science Communications
“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.”  ~Albert Einstein As you prepare your taxes, keep in mind that April is Mathematics Awareness Month.  This year’s theme is, “Mathematics, Statistics and the Data Deluge”. Mathematics is used throughout the world as an essential tool in many fields, including natural science, engineering, medicine and the social sciences. Large amounts of data are collected every day, and scientific data comes in massive amounts from supercomputers, sensor networks, astronomical instruments and other devices. These data need to be sorted out and understood in order to be useful. The White House recently released its Big Data Research and Development Initiative, and OSTI, was recognized as playing a "key role " in shaping the policies and technical implementation of the practice of data citation. Data citation enables efficient reuse and verification of data. OSTI not only ensures that DOE research is tracked, but that a scholarly structure is in place to reward data producers. OSTI recently implemented a Data Identification Service across the DOE complex through which Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are assigned to research datasets, and then registered with DataCite to establish persistence. This initiative makes DOE datasets findable in commercial search engines (e.g. Google) and through federated search portals for science such as the DOE portal ScienceAccelerator.gov, the U.S. gateway... Related Topics: mathematics, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
OSTI Salutes Librarians During National Library Week -- April 9-14, 2012by Kate Bannan 05 Apr, 2012 in Science Communications
April 9 - 14 is National Library Week, a time to honor the contributions of libraries, librarians and library workers in schools, campuses and communities nationwide.   First sponsored in 1958, it is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use. OSTI has a number of Library Tools that are provided as a free service to librarians and the library community to expand access to and use of DOE scientific research results:
OSTI believes that science progresses only if knowledge is shared. And OSTI makes it possible for the public to find, at no cost to the user, research results and science information from the Manhattan Project to the present, download documents, view energy citations, discover patentsand e-prints, read about ongoing DOE accomplishments, search multimedia... Related Topics: Information Bridge MARC Records, patents, Science Accelerator, SciTech Connect Full-Text MARC Records
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Celebrate National Engineers’ Week 2012 – February 19-25, 2012by Kate Bannan 22 Feb, 2012 in Science Communications
National Engineers’ Week was started in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers. The celebration is held in conjunction with President George Washington's Birthday; our first President is considered by many engineers to be the nation's first engineer because of his survey work. Engineers use imagination and analytical skills to invent, design, improve and build things and turn ideas into reality, apply basic research and dream up creative and practical solutions. Engineering has made numerous contributions to modern life, and has made it more comfortable, safe and prosperous. Engineers change the world. The engineering field is as varied as engineers themselves. Engineers design and build superstructures and delicate medical instruments. They explore for energy and better and more efficient ways to deliver it, they design environmental controls for buildings and drive innovation in various fields of energy such as wind, fuel cell technology, solar energy, geothermal energy, petroleum, gas, nuclear engineering, alternative energy, energy efficiency, fusion, hydrogen and superconductor technologies. At DOE and its National Laboratories engineers support the discovery and design of new materials with novel structures, design functions and properties that may lead to new materials for the generation, storage and use of energy and address and solve environmental impacts of energy use. Other engineers use modern tools and capabilities in the engineering sciences to ensure the safety, security, reliability and performance of the current and future U.S. nuclear... Related Topics: National Engineers’ Week, national laboratories, Science Accelerator Read more... |
National Nuclear Science Week – January 23-27, 2012by Kate Bannan 24 Jan, 2012 in Science Communications
Nuclear science comprises many fields. From astrophysics to radioisotopes, nuclear science starts with the atom. The atom, and its fundamental building blocks of protons and neutrons, is the bundle of radioactive energy that makes so much possible. National Nuclear Science Week is designed to recognize the contributions of nuclear science and those who work in it every day.   Did you know that nuclear science is used in archeology, food safety and nuclear medicine? Or to help industry with such things as locating cracks in steel, getting rid of dust from film, or measuring the amount of air whipped into ice cream? And that nuclear power provides 20% of the electricity in the United States? The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s mission is to advance nuclear power as a resource capable of meeting the nation's energy, environmental and national security needs by resolving technical, cost, safety, proliferation resistance and security barriers through research, development and demonstration. DOE is also strongly committed to supporting graduate education,competitive research and advanced scientific tools in the areas of nuclear physics, nuclearchemistry and nuclear engineering. Its Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) fund projects with American universities to facilitate collaborations that lead to breakthroughs in nuclear energy technologies, specifically on breakthroughs that align with the mission of the Office of Nuclear Energy. The broad... Related Topics: Nuclear Energy University Programs, nuclear science, Science Accelerator Read more... |
Snowflake Scienceby Kate Bannan 13 Dec, 2011 in Science Communications
With winter just around the corner, can snow be far behind? We’ve all heard that no two snowflakes are alike, but what do we really know about them? Snowflakes always have six sides.  Their form and shape depends on temperature and moisture.  Snowflake shapes fall into six main categories: plate (flat), column, stars, dendrite (lacy), needle and capped column. When it is extremely cold, snow becomes fine and powdery and the snowflakes’ design becomes simpler, usually needle or rod shaped. When the temperature is close to freezing point, snowflakes become much larger and more complex in design. Snow crystals form in clouds when the temperature is below freezing and are created by water droplets freezing on small ice particles. As an ice crystal drops through the cloud it bumps and knocks others and becomes a snowflake. This process of bumping others, along with melting and re-freezing aids the creation of their complex design. The air that the snowflake drops through has to be under freezing or the snowflake will simply melt and turn into rain. Physicists working on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratoryare working to solve one of the grand challenges of magnetic fusion research: reducing the effect that plasma has on the walls of the tokamak. By using a "snowflake" diverter, a novel magnetic diverter named for its shape, scientists have improved heat and power handling by reducing the interaction between hot plasma and the cold walls surrounding it. You can find more about snowflakes, tokamaks and fusion via Science Accelerator, a gateway to science, including R&D results, project descriptions, accomplishments, and more, via... Related Topics: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Science Accelerator, snowflake, tokamak Read more... |
International Education Week 2011by Kate Bannan 17 Nov, 2011 in Science Communications International Education Weekwas first held in 2000; today it's celebrated annually in more than 100 countries worldwide. IEW is a joint initiative of the US Departments of Stateand Education, and is part of the federal government’s efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences in the United States. Science and technology have been and will continue to be engines of US economic growth and national security. Excellence in discovery and innovation in science and engineering and in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education will strengthen the US economy, increase the capacity of US research and sustain our nation’s leadership role in increasingly competitive international science. The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is the Department of Energy (DOE) office that collects, preserves and disseminates DOE-sponsored R&D results that are outcomes of R&D projects or other funded activities at DOE labs and facilities nationwide and grantees at universities and other institutions. OSTI believes that accelerating the sharing of scientific knowledge accelerates the advancement of science. OSTI ensures global access to DOE research results and brings the world’s research to DOE. OSTI’s databases are made available to the public free of charge via single-point-of-access web portals such as ScienceAccelerator.gov (R&D from DOE resources), Science.gov (U.S. science information from 14 federal agencies), and WorldWideScience.org (global science information from over 70 countries in ten... Related Topics: education, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
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