Internet Resources Newsletter

Culled directly from the Internet Resources Newsletter, here is the latest engineering-related internet news.  As ever, do take a look at the newsletter itself which is always packed with links to both useful and intriguing sites. 

Building Sustainable Design (UBM Built Environment’s latest brand) is a new monthly magazine for building services engineers, architects, clients and all construction professionals who care about sustainable, low energy design in the built environment.

EngineeringDaily.net is a news/articles/discussions magazine by and for in-the-trenches practitioners.

Anyone interested in RSS feeds may like to view the following:

Royal Academy of Engineering News Releases
http://www.raeng.org.uk/feeds/rssnews.aspx

Women and engineering – an online exhibition

Photo by Duke Yearlook, www.flickr.com

We’ve come across a really interesting online exhibition put together by the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Entitled ‘Women and engineering, emancipation from drudgery’ it charts the fascinating history of the struggle women encountered before gaining recognition and acceptance as engineers. The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) and the Electrical Association for Women and their efforts to educate and help them are also featured.

Adding a local flavour, you’ll see by clicking on the link to ‘The Woman Engineer’, the journal of the WES, one of the first editions has a cover shot of women working in the gauge shop at Loughborough College!

Link here to the full exhibition.

Web snippets

 

Extracted from the May edition of the Internet Resources Newsletter, just  three items to tempt you with this time. Once you’ve looked at these, do try the newsletter itself – there’s usually something for everyone!

Journal of Applied Science & Engineering Technology

The Journal of Applied Science & Engineering Technology (JASET) is an open access, peer reviewed, double blind, journal for the dissemination of applied technical scholarship.

Project Leadership: Building and Improving Teams 09

The Barbican, London, 19th May.

“Increasingly the project management community is debating the role of leadership within projects, having realised that the plethora of systems, processes, procedures and IT software created in the past couple of decades is still not guaranteeing a successful project outcome. Is project leadership the key skill that has been missing our attention?”

SearchPetroleum.net

SearchPetroleum.net (SP.net ) is a search engine created specifically for the petroleum industry. It displays the most relevant and highest quality petroleum websites.

Spring edition of Magnet

 

The second issue of Magnet, the quarterly Library newsletter for engineering students, is now available online. Included in this issue is news about the Engineering Drop-In sessions (offering one-to-one advice for students, researchers and staff on information sources), the Student Hub and a number of new full-text databases.

Much of the content of this month’s issue is relevant to staff and students alike. So please take a look and let us know what you think!

Internet resources for engineers

Here are the latest engineering-related extracts from the Internet Resources Newsletter.  When you’ve looked at these, why not take a look at the newsletter itself – it’s full of diverse and fascinating sites. Guaranteed, you’ll find something worth clicking on!

International Journal of Advanced Mechatronic Systems: IJAMechS

http://www.inderscience.com/ijamechs

 

A new journal from Inderscience. The intention of IJAMechS is to provide an international forum to report current development from interdisciplinary theoretical studies, computational algorithm development, and applications of mechatronic systems. It particularly welcomes those emerging methodologies and techniques which bridge theoretical studies and applications in all mechatronic systems. Novel quantitative engineering and science studies may also be considered.

 

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy: JRSE

 

http://jrse.aip.org/

 

 The first issue of this journal is now available. JRSE is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal covering all areas of renewable and sustainable energy-related fields that apply to the physical science and engineering communities. As an electronic-only, Web-based journal with rapid publication time, JRSE is responsive to the many new developments expected in this field. The interdisciplinary approach of the publication ensures that the editors draw from researchers worldwide in a diverse range of fields.

 

SEB’09 – International Conference on Sustainability in Energy and Buildings

 

 

http://seb09.sustainedenergy.org/

 

 Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront, United Kingdom, 29th & 30th April and 1st May 2009. Hosted by the University of Brighton, UK, and organised by the KES International research and knowledge transfer organisation, SEB’09 will be a major opportunity for researchers in subjects related to sustainability, renewable energy technology, and applications in the built environment to report on recent research and mix with stakeholders in the field.

 

 

The Construction Index

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/

 

 

“Use The Construction Index as you would any other major Search Engine. For a list of our national results, type e.g. “Construction Training”. If you are looking for something in a particular town, type it into the search bar. e.g. “Construction Training Peterborough”.”

Free construction webinars

 

IHS, in partnership with BSRIA are offering Loughborough University members some free webinars courtesy of their subscription to the Construction Information Service.  The topics are:

• Introduction to the Building regulations
• Energy Performance of Buildings directive
• Improving Environmental Performance
• Maintenance Contracts

Click HERE to register.

Webinars are usually £50.00 plus VAT to attend for those who are not customers.

A series of webinar programmes focusing on a wide range of construction industry related topics, lasting no long than an hour delivered direct to your desktop in realtime, giving you the chance to ask the expert questions.

Literature reviews: are students clued up?

Photograph by ntr23. www.flickr.com

Final year Civil & Building students have recently taken the opportunity to share their views on the literature review process.  As part of the Centre for Education for the Built Environment (CEBE) funded research project, “NEW Review”, final year students were asked for their feedback on a whole range of issues, from how important they felt the literature review was, how many sources they expected to search and read, and how confident they felt using the wide range of resources and services provided by the Library.

Of the 54 respondents, a pleasing 90% felt that the literature review was either very important or important compared with the rest of the dissertation.  In fact most expected to search over 15 resources, read at least 11-20 sources and to continue their search over the lifetime of the project.  However, there was a disconcerting lack of confidence about some the Library’s key resources.  For example, 25% of students were not confident about what Metalib was,  40% were not confident about using it, 33% lacked confidence about what databases the Library has, and 50% lacked confidence about using SFX  to locate full-text.  60% lacked confidence in using Refworks. 

Students ranked well in other areas though.  Over three-quarters felt they could recognise the bias and authority of a source.  Over 80% felt they understood how to cite.  Almost all students felt they understood plagiarism.

 

This data will help the project develop a new approach to teaching the literature review.  Experimental work is currently underway to capture students’ information seeking activities online which will further assist the project’s aim.

 

For more information on the work of the project, please contact Prof Andrew Baldwin, Dept of Civil & Building, A.N.Baldwin@lboro.ac.uk or use the comment box below.

Take a look at ‘Magnet’!

We’re delighted to announce the launch of ’Magnet’, a newsletter from the Library Engineering Team. Aimed at all Engineering students, ‘Magnet’ will keep you up to date with new developments and resources. The first edition includes details of the drop-in sessions for project students, and how to access the new SAE Digital Library.

‘Magnet’ is available from the Library webpages at:
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/about/PDFs/MagnetAut2008.pdf

Perhaps members of staff could give ‘Magnet’ a plug too! 

Feedback (good or bad) is welcomed. Please use the comments box below.

Engineering snippets

From October’s edition of the Internet Resources Newsletter, here are the bits and bobs we’ve extracted for you. Lots to include this month so each entry is of the short-and-sweet variety. If any warrant a longer posting please let us know and we’ll happily oblige. In no particular order:

Obtain a free subscription via TechXtra to the Automotive DesignLine Europe Newsletter.

Search for difficult to locate engineering conference proceedings through Engineering Conferences Online. This site is open access and papers largely free of charge.

The aptly named Brick Bulletin was first published in 1947 ”and features profiles of brick projects, news and technical guidance”.

One for the students: Eureka on Campus is a career magazine for budding engineering designers.

View the latest innovation in solid waste management at http://www.bigbellysolar.com/

India’s national one-stop shop on the environment and development issues is available at http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/ 

The International Journal of Project Organisation and Management is a new quarterly journal.

For anyone involved in nanotechnology the nanoHUB is a must-see resource. “The nanoHUB hosts over 1300 resources which will help you learn about nanotechnology, including Online Presentations, Courses, Learning Modules, Podcasts, Animations, Teaching Materials, and more” [from website].

Conference and event news: EuroSimE 2009 takes place in Delft, The Netherlands from April 27-29 2009. Its scope will be thermal, mechanical and multiphysics simulation and experiments in microelectronics and microsystems. Process Engineering Live is a new event taking place at Manchester Central on the 10th and 11th March 2009. As the name suggests, this event will feature all things process engineering including exhibitors, workshops, seminars and industry forums.

The Forum for Applied Mechanics is designed to increase communication between UK organisations involved in experimental or theoretical applied mechanics. Members include IMechE, BSSM and the Institute of Physics.

Useful engineering websites

 

 

The latest engineering news highlighted by the Internet Resources Newsletter includes:

Conference notification:

SEB ‘09 – International Conference on Sustainability in Energy and Buildings. Hosted by the University of Brighton and taking place on 29th -30th April and 1st May 2009. “Organised by the KES International research and knowledge transfer organisation, SEB’09 will be a major opportunity for researchers in subjects related to sustainability, renewable energy technology, and applications in the built environment to mix with industrialists and other stakeholders in the field”. [from website].

New journal:

The International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacuring Systems

The first issue of this new journal is now available in print and online. Publication will be four times a year and all papers are refereed.

Webcast:

A total of 2338 presentations are currently available free of charge from IET.tv, the webcast division of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Coverage is from 2002 and  search categories include corporate presentations, research seminars, communications, electronics, manufacturing, power and transport.

Free subscription to technical magazine:

You may like to take advantage of the free subscription currently being offered by TechXtra to Production Engineering Solutions. Geographical eligibility is the UK and Ireland. “The editorial team on Production Engineering Solutions is dedicated to covering all of the technological areas pertinent to mechanical and production engineers everywhere” [from website].

Environmental publisher:

For books and journals on the environment, development and sustainability Earthscan is the highly-regarded and world-leading publisher. Specific topic areas covered include climate change, energy, business and environmental management, cities and built environment and natural resource management.

Knowledge network:

‘Find, share, connect’ is the strapline of the knowledge network created by the Institution of Engineering and Technology.  IET Discover is a good place to search for information that other people in your field of interest are finding useful. Or, you may have some helpful material you’d like to share with others. You can also join or create groups with other engineers in your sector.