B.G. Sunder Singh

NISSAT, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi-110016

Bombay Telephone Directory in CDROM

System Computers Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai has placed the Mumbai Telephone Directory in a CD-ROM. The final version of CD-ROM Directory of Bombay Telephones, CD-DIR-Main v. 1.0 contains 15 lakh telephone subscribers details of Bombay as of 31 January 1997.

In case of Cd-DIR-MAN v. 1.0 directory, following searches are possible.

• Access a phone number by giving the name of subscriber;

• Identify the subscriber's name and address by entering the phone number on screen;

• Access the changed phone number, subscriber's details and date of change by just entering the old phone number;

• ISD/STD code by entering station name;

• ISD/STD station name by entering code.

Following are the main advantages of CD-ROM Directory

• Each CD-ROM Directory saves more than 4 kg of paper apart from extra efforts for printing, transport, handling, distribution, etc.

• CD-ROM Directory saves office space considerably;

• The paper print directory production costs over Rs.1000 per copy where as the CD-ROM will cost less than Rs. 100.

• One can carry the CD-ROM in shirt pocket;

• One can access the subscriber name by giving phone number;

• The access time per record is less than 1.5 seconds;

• New version of CD-ROM directory can be released with latest data every 3 months/6 months with minimum cost.

Source : Personal mail from System Computers Pvt. Ltd.

CD-ROM on Bangalore from Deccan Yellow Pages

The business and information directory about Bangalore on a CD-ROM disc will contain details on important locations, hotels, major business houses and a host of other information about the city.

The Deccan Yellow Pages have plans to have a part of the contents available on Internet and also to bring out similar directories on important cities in the country.

The directory will provide video and audio sections for companies to advertise their products at competitive rates. Direct Fax facilities are provided to place purchase orders to vendors at the click of a button. It also contains information on various goods, guided maps, brief history of Bangalore, and important personalities of the city.

— AIS Tech News Vol. 8, No.2, 1997

The Herdin CD-ROM Version 1.0

Health Research and Development Information Network (HERDIN) CD-ROM is the first health CD-ROM produced in the Philippines.

The CD-ROM contains, in a single disc, HERDIN's bibliographic database which has 21,000 abstracts, plus some 1994 articles in full text. The bibliographic database is about published Philippine literature on health and related topics.

With the CD-ROM's Windows-based retrieval system, searching comes easy as the user can do general search of the database using any word, phrase, author, title or source publication. Users can also do a field search wherein the application program limits the scope of searching to a specific field like the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH). End-users can also view or browse a record in citation format or the full text article if the latter is available.

HERDIN is supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and other international organizations like the World Health Organization, British Council, and UNESCO. PCHRD, the Department of Health (DOH), and UP-Manila are the major HERDIN contributors.

For subscriptions contact:

Ms. Nenita Adao
Philippine Council for Health Research and Development
Department of Science and Technology
3rd Floor DOST Main Bldg. Bicutan, Togig, Metro Manila
E-mail: nenet[at]health.pchrd.dost.gov.ph

— Astinfo Newsletter Vol 12, No.1, 1997

New Full Text Products From UMI

UMI Inc., USA have launched two new full text databases on CD-ROM:

Proquest Medical Library

Covers 110 + core medical journals full-image format from the Medline Database of National Library of Medicine. This is also a cost-effective alternative to all ADONIS subscribers as this database will be priced at around US$ 12850/- for a standalone subscription. UMI will sell the product both as a CD-ROM database and as a Power Page database.

Applied Science & Technology Plus

It contains 400 + abstracts and index titles from H W Wilson's Applied Science & Technology database. The database, which will be updated every month. Coverage is from 1994 onwards.

For more details, contact:

Informatics India Pvt. Ltd., CD-ROM Division,
337, 3rd Floor, Karuna Complex',
Sampige Road, Malleswaram,
Bangalore 560 003.
Fax : 3344598
E-mail: Info[dot]bng[at]iipl[dot]sprintpg[dot]ems[dot]vsnl[dot]net[dot]in,info[at]giasbg01[dot]vsnl[dot]net[dot]in

Chamber's Dictionary on CD-ROM

Liris Interactive has announced the availability of five dictionaries, i.e. the Chambers Dictionary, Chambers Biographies, Harrap's Shorter English-French/French-English Dictionary, Chambers Encyclopedic Dictionary, and Larousse Dictionary of Science and Technology on CD-ROM.

All CD-ROMs have comprehensive search facilities including head word search, full text search and a select and search. Look-up cross-referencing tool. The floating `Toolbox' feature gives one-click access to these searches and the most commonly used functions including copying, pasting and printing.

All titles have online help and direct links to and from Microsoft Word.

— CD Focus Vol 5, No.2, 1997

World Metals database

Metals Infodisk is a new CD-ROM containing a comprehensive metals database which has recently been published by ILI. A fully networkable, integrated management resource, it analyses almost 30,000 metallic materials from the UK, USA, France, Japan, Italy and Germany, specified in some 6,000 standards. It allows users to compare a material's chemical composition, mechanical and physical properties.

Customers can add their own data proprietary or obscure materials, with provision for up to 600 words of notes about any material, standard or manufacturer, so that the disk can be tailored to become a company's own reference tool.

Each record includes data on the material's chemical composition, mechanical properties, designation, material description, form, standard number, country of origin, heat treatment provisions, comparable materials and their manufacturers, where available. The disk comes complete with powerfull, intergrated ILI software.

The disk comes complete with powerfull, intergrated ILI software. All key data fields are multilingual and can be searched in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Users can secure multiple search results from different enquiries and switch them to compare results.

— CD Focus Vol 5, No.2, 1997

Human Brain Cancer Diagnostics

Human Brain Cancer: Diagnostic Decisions is a new interactive CD-ROM from Microinfo which teaches the physician to recognise normal and abnormal brain anatomy and pathology. It elaborates on the types of brain cancers, the prognostic indicators associated with individual brain cancer and on the histologic methods used during tumour diagnosis.

The source contains 44 case studies in which the physician is asked to diagnose the patient, discuss treatment options using information from patient clinical histories and relate these to pathologic and radiological images as well as pictures of gross anatony.

Designed for use by oncologists, pathologists, neurologists and neurosurgeons, the CD-ROM contains 17 cross-referenced chapters, including Astocytoma, Oligodendroglioma, Ependymoma, Neuronal Neoplasms, Embryonal Neoplasms, and Pituitary Adenoma.

— CD Focus Vol 5, No.2, 1997

Surgery Database

SilverPlatter Education has released a new CD-ROM, aimed at providing a worktool for surgeons carrying out laparoscopic cholescystectomy operations. Current Techniques in Surgery; Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy details each step of the operation and includes further clinical information on technique, variance, checks, do's and don'ts and problems.

— CD Focus Vol 5, No.2, 1997

Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford University Press has produced New Shorter, a follow-on from the Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM. Users can search 500,000 definitions and 7.5 million words of text, cross-reference, and lookup quotations and etymologies. It contains details from literary English to street slang, historical and contemporary vocabulary and scientific and legal terms.

— CD Focus Vol 5, No. 2, 1997

World Academic Database

The World Academic Database contains two separate, but linked, databases:data from the International Association of Universities, and the TRACE International Higher Education Information Network. There are over 12,000 higher education institutions and academic bodies listed, together with information on education systems and academic qualifications.

The database is going to be a useful resource for policy makers and planners, anyone involved with academic co-operation, student exchanges and counselling, credential evaluation, research collaboration and career planning.

The coverage includes:

• Pre-higher education information;

• Higher education system;

• structure;

• main types of institutions;

• academic year;

• language of instruction;

• higher vocational/technical studies;

• university level studies;

• teacher education;

• non-formal studies;

• grading; and so on.

— CD Focus Vol 5, No.2, 1997

CD on Vastushastra

Unnaty Vastu Consultants (UVC), a Mumbai-based interior designing firm, has launched a CD on Vastushastra, the ancient Indian science of structure, in collaboration with Indian Interactive Realities (IIR), another Mumbai-based CD publisher.

The CD is aimed at espousing the scientific base of the Vastushastra tenets and explains their applications in today's modern times. The CD is claimed to give an in-depth analysis of Vastu norms vis-a-vis the solar architecture and climatology. The CD, the company said contains analyses of hundreds of parameters under micro/macro level for the major cities all across the globe, with recommendations using interactive expert system.

The CD is targeted at corporate houses, NRIs and Indians who have in the recent times shown an inclination towards adopting Vastu for structural designs.

— Express Computer, 21 April, 1997

TEDDY ONLINE

TEDDY (Teri Energy Data, Directory, and Yearbook) in print version is an authoritative desk reference for planners, policy-makers, and researches on diverse topics regarding India's past, present and future planning. Compiled from many hard-to-obtain government documents and a few established private sources, and rigorously cross-checked by experts. The data in Teddy Online are accurate, uptodate, and comprehensive. The electronic version supplies data over a longer time compared to that given in print version. The data are organized into four-levels i.e. sections, sectors, tables and columns. The sections are:

Supply—coal, oil and gas, forests, power, and convention/non-conventional sources;

Demands—transport, agrculture, households and the industry;

Environment—air pollution, water pollution, statistics of Five-Year Plans, country profiles, sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, impacts of global warning, strategies to respond to global warming, etc;

Economy—macroeconomic data on GNP and GDP, imports, exports, demographic indicators, resource use, classification of land use, etc.

The user-friendly software that accompanies Teddy Online one can:

• Build customized new table from two or more tables;

• Get instant information on sources of data, units of measurement, abbreviations, etc from `Help' keys, and

• Export the data to other software package

Source : TERI brochure