- chemweb - imperial.ac.uk

UK Chemistry Departments
by MH Barker 01 Nov '96

01 Nov '96

Dear Chemist, An updated page of UK chemistry resources is now available at Liverpool url: http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/Links/ukchemdepts.html Links have been made to chemistry related information at eighty-five UK institutions, including direct links to the staff pages, research profiles, undergraduate course details and postgraduate oportunities where available. If there are any omissions, glaring mistakes or you have updated your pages and would like something changing, please e-mail mhbarker(a)liv.ac.uk Thank you for your attention. Michael Barker. *-------------------------------------------------* | Michael H. Barker | | The University of Liverpool | | Department of Chemistry | | | | E-mail: mhbarker(a)liv.ac.uk | | Fax: +44 151 794 3588 | | Telephone: +44 151 794 2274 | | WWW: http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry.html | *-------------------------------------------------* ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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MOTM
by Paul May 31 Oct '96

31 Oct '96

Hi, This month's 'Molecule of the Month' is now on-line. It's been written by Stephen Isles and Alan Wilson from Birmingham and is available from: http://www.che.bham.ac.uk/motm/sialyl.html (Ordinary Version) http://www.che.bham.ac.uk/motm/sialylchime.html (Chime version) or via the MOTM home page at: http://www.bris.ac.uk/MOTM/motm.htm Regards, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Paul May, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK tel: +44 (0)117 9287667, fax: +44 (0)117 9251295 email: paul.may(a)bris.ac.uk WWW: http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/staff/pwm.htm "Put your message in a modem and throw it in the cybersea" - Rush, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Re: Plug-ins for Internet Explorer 3.0
by Bryan Van Vliet 29 Oct '96

29 Oct '96

>Am I correct in asserting that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.0 is >now compatible with plug-ins meant for Netscape Navigator? If so, >could someone provide some pointers to how to incorporate MDL's >Chime into IE 3.0? Chime displays structures in IE 3.0 (which is only available for Windows 95 & NT) as long as you have "Enable ActiveX controls and plug-ins" checked on the "View" "Options" "Security" menu. However: - Plug-in support in Internet Explorer is incomplete. It doesn't support the EMBED tag option "type=", it doesn't support a plug-in executing a JScript command via a URL reference, and it doesn't support the LiveConnect capabilities of plug-ins. And JScript is a very buggy, incomplete version of Netscape's JavaScript. - I submitted a priority support request to Microsoft about the above problems and got the following responses: "After several e-mail threads, it was determined that we do not support usage of Netscape Plug-ins.. Called and left voice mail for customer." "Final resolution: We do not support the functionality the customer is requesting. I have verified that Program Management is aware of this and the answer remains, so the customer has been informed that all of his clients will not be able to use IE3.0 for their requested functionality." - Apparently, Microsoft's committment to plug-in support is less than encouraging. This is distressing for us, not because it would be hard to take our Chime plug-in and wrap it as an ActiveX control, rather: - Sites would need 2 sets of documents, one supporting the EMBED (plug-in) command and one supporting the OBJECT (ActiveX) command. - Sites would likely support two types of scripting, JavaScript and VBScript (JScript is too buggy and incomplete to use and most OLE/ ActiveX programmers would probably feel more comfortable in Visual Basic.) - Microsoft, in the 3 years we have been developing OLE controls, has never successfully ported OLE to the Macintosh (it performs so slowly it is unusable.) It is unlikely that ActiveX will become a cross- platform standard, which is fine for corporate Intranets bases solely on Windows machines, but doesn't work well in an Internet environment. This is going to be quite a problem in the chemical Internet community. Netscape and Microsoft are both very important providers of Internet technology; it is frustrating to see that the standards for embedding technology are deviating and that HTML documents, once mostly portable between all platforms and browsers, will start to depend on very specific object technology that users may not have. - Bryan ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Bryan Van Vliet bryan(a)mdli.com | | Project Manager, Internet Technologies 510.895.1313 x1160 (Voice) | | MDL Information Systems, Inc. 510.352.2870 (Fax) | | 14600 Catalina Street, San Leandro, CA 94577 http://www.mdli.com | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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CD ROM: POPE '96
by Rzepa, Henry 29 Oct '96

29 Oct '96

Althogh perhaps somewhat outside "chemistry", this CD ROM based on the "Perspectives on Protein Engineering '96" conference has just landed on my desk. It is more than just a conference, containing much valuable reference material of interest to chemists. Best of all, it is an exemplary illustration of how to produce a value packed CD ROM, using technology in a sensibly applied manner. Further details from http://www.biodigm.com/pope/cdrom.htm A must for any chemistry or biochemistry library (I can say that, having no affiliation with biodigm myself). The reason by the way why I have a copy is that we contributed a paper to it. Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ (Eudora Pro 3.0) ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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UK chemistry academic staff homepage list
by Mark Winter 29 Oct '96

29 Oct '96

Dear colleague I am writing to tell you about ***a new section*** of the Sheffield Chemdex that I hope you, your colleagues, and other WWW users might find useful. The Sheffield Chemdex now includes pointers to the home pages of some 1700 UK academic chemists. The information is indexed in two ways - alphabetically on staff name, and by institution. The information was gleaned from open-access pages at UK universities. The information is still not complete as not all Departments make this information available on the WWW pages as a matter of course. Further, some of the names in the list are not academic chemists - it is hoped to filter such names out of the list with time. Find it at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/chemdex/chem-uk/ It is hoped also to extend this new section of the Sheffield Chemdex shortly to include a searchable key-word feature allowing, for instance, prospective research students or industrial users to locate chemists with specific interests. As such, I hope that this package will be of considerable use in establishing links between your academic staff and external individuals or organisations. Please understand this section of the Chemdex is at an early stage and I hope to work with the appropriate organisations to ensure that its effectiveness is increased. Feedback welcome! [The Sheffield Chemdex at http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/chemdex/ is a list of chemistry resources (largely WWW) on the Internet. Currently it includes more than 2300 links (to universities, companies, learned societies, teachingmaterials, etc., etc.), and is probably the largest chemistry-only index of its type in existence. It is also one of the oldest such lists and has been operational since September 1993 (in a number of guises).] Dr Mark J Winter (Deputy Head of Department, Director of Studies) Department of Chemistry, The University, Sheffield S3 7HF, England tel: +44 (0)114 282 4498 fax: +44 (0)114 273 8673 e-m: mark.winter(a)sheffield.ac.uk http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/staff/mjw/mark-winter.html WebElements is the periodic table on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/web-elements/ The Sheffield Chemdex is a listing of chemistry sites on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/chemdex/ ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Review of ACS web meeting in Chem & Industry News
by Paul May 29 Oct '96

29 Oct '96

Hi, There is a review of the recent ACS meeting on Chemistry & the Internet in the Sept 16th issue of Chemistry & Industry News. There are 2 quite long articles describing all the recent developments as regards chemistry on the web, and makes a good starting point for people new to the area. Apparently the articles are also available on-line at: http://pubs.acs.org [click on "What's New"] but I haven't been able to check this yet cos my connection to the States is too slow at the moment :-( Regards, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Paul May, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK tel: +44 (0)117 9287667, fax: +44 (0)117 9251295 email: paul.may(a)bris.ac.uk WWW: http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/staff/pwm.htm "Put your message in a modem and throw it in the cybersea" - Rush, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Re: Netscape vs. Microsoft
by timp＠vt.edu 28 Oct '96

28 Oct '96

Recently Bryan Van Vliet wrote, ( Re: Plug-ins for Internet Explorer 3.0) >- Apparently, Microsoft's committment to plug-in support is less than > encouraging. This is distressing for us, not because it would be hard > to take our Chime plug-in and wrap it as an ActiveX control, rather: > - Sites would need 2 sets of documents, one supporting the EMBED > (plug-in) command and one supporting the OBJECT (ActiveX) command. > - Sites would likely support two types of scripting, JavaScript and > VBScript (JScript is too buggy and incomplete to use and most OLE/ > ActiveX programmers would probably feel more comfortable in Visual > Basic.) and > - Microsoft, in the 3 years we have been developing OLE controls, has > never successfully ported OLE to the Macintosh (it performs so slowly > it is unusable.) It is unlikely that ActiveX will become a cross- > platform standard, You might as well get ready for more of the same. This is going to be a prime business strategy for Microsoft in its competition with Netscape for dominance in the browser market. Based on past history, Microsoft will start out following the "open" standards, then start adding proprietary "improvements" which will have the effect of distinguishing between browsers, and use its dominant market position to gradually suck market share away from the competition. Once that happens, Microsoft will have locked up another segment of the market, and we will have to get by with what they decide to provide for us. Evidently it is hard for users to resist the temptation of "free candy" as Ross Perot would say, as more and more users try the free Internet Explorer browser, which just by coincidence happens to have the same version number as the current Netscape Navigator release. You can see the train coming, folks. Are you going to get out of the way, or just get run over? (I'm only moderately paranoid about Microsoft.) =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Dr. Timothy L. Pickering, Assistant Director NSF Center for Polymeric Adhesives and Composites Virginia Tech 201A Hancock Hall Blacksburg, VA 24061-0257 Tel. (540) 231-4443, FAX: (540) 231-9452 E-Mail: timp(a)vt.edu URL http://www.vt.edu:10021/research/stc/STC.Home.Page.html =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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search the world's largest chemical database!
by mac＠elara.tripos.com 28 Oct '96

28 Oct '96

Tripos, Inc. and Silicon Graphics recently announced a record-making event-- SpaceCrunch. The joint project demonstrates how the union of high-performance scaleable supercomputing and leading edge chemical database technology can fundamentally change the drug discovery process. The SpaceCrunch project involves creating a structural database containing over 100 billion compounds, and provides capabilities to search and manipulate the database at rates above 100 million compounds per hour per CPU. The technology for building and searching the database comes from Tripos' ChemSpace(TM), a patented methodology for the creation and management of chemical databases. The power to build and search the database is provided by the scalable computing power of Silicon Graphics computer systems. The SpaceCrunch project is running on a POWER CHALLENGE at the Silicon Graphics Supercomputing Technology Center in Cortaillod, Switzerland. What does this mean to you? Anyone with an internet browser can participate in SpaceCrunch, although Java is needed for full interactive capability. During the next two months, you can access SpaceCrunch through URL http://spacecrunch.sgi.ch or URL http://www.tripos.com/spacecrunch. The event will consist of two phases, during the initial period (October 28 to November 11) visitors may find out more about the project and may propose molecular structure queries to be applied to the full database. The second phase, in early December, will be a live event in which visitors will interactively examine and explore the results of queries that were selected for running against the database. You can participate in the world's first public applications of this groundbreaking new technology. Combinatorial Chemistry and High Throughput Screening are new disciplines in which large chemical compound libraries are designed, created and tested for desired biological activity. The one-by-one screening method used currently is being replaced by these new technologies. The design and evaluation process of library building has been performed up until now on a small scale. Now, ChemSpace and Silicon Graphics Technology brings innovation to this process by enabling the creation and searching of vast libraries containing billions of chemical compounds stemming from specific reactions and reagents. ChemSpace is unique in enabling both the construction of massive medicinal databases and the ability to search them for specified similarity or chemical substructures. The ChemSpace technology is scalable across the entire Silicon Graphics line of products, from the entry-level Indy desktop workstation to the top-of-the-line POWER CHALLENGEarray as well as on the recently announced product line extending from the O2 desktop solution, through ORIGIN200 and up to the ORIGIN2000 scalable solutions. Visit the web sites to learn more about ChemSpace and Silicon Graphics technology and to submit a query to be one of those possibly selected to run against the SpaceCrunch database. Contact Mark Schwartz of Tripos (314-647-1099, schwartz(a)tripos.com) or Heidi Taylor of Silicon Graphics (+44 1734 257500, heidi(a)reading.sgi.com) for additional information. mac Malcolm A Cline Tripos WebMaster ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Correction: make that Chemistry & Engineering news
by Paul May 28 Oct '96

28 Oct '96

Hi, Sorry, I meant the Sept 16th issue of Chemistry & Engineering News. Regards, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Paul May, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK tel: +44 (0)117 9287667, fax: +44 (0)117 9251295 email: paul.may(a)bris.ac.uk WWW: http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/staff/pwm.htm "Put your message in a modem and throw it in the cybersea" - Rush, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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data needs of academic researchers on the Internet
by Gary Wiggins 27 Oct '96

27 Oct '96

I'd like to know what types of data problems academic researchers have encountered in using the Internet. For example, 1. Have you found inaccurate data in Internet databases? 2. If so, to what extent is that true? 3. Do the Internet resources routinely give the original source of the data in a compiled database? 4. What area do you find the most data available for? 5. Are there data analysis programs associated with the data sources you find on the Internet? 6. How helpful are the data analysis programs? 7. Do you see a need for standardization of data formats on the Internet? 8. Are you aware of any cooperative data efforts to share data through a kind of reciprocal network? 9. Are the major data standards-setting bodies (e.g., IUPAC, IUCr, IUB, etc.) active in defining a role for data handling on the Internet? 10. What kinds of formatting problems do you run into that make data hard to interpret on the Internet? 11. What are the best guides (lists of lists, etc.) to Internet-accessible numeric data that you have encountered? I'm sure that there are lots more aspects of this question than I have listed above. If you will reply to me, I will summarize for the CHEMWEB subscribers. Gary Wiggins, Indiana University Chemistry Library wiggins(a)indiana.edu ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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