Living without oil
Crude oil is currently our most important global source of energy. It is vital in the manufacture of many modern materials. But the world's supply of oil is finite, its price is unstable and our reliance on oil has damaging environmental consequences. This unit explains why developing alternatives to oil is an essential and urgent task for humanity. First published o
Test kits for water analysis
This unit steps outside the laboratory to look at some examples of analytical procedures being carried out in the field using commercial test kits. These quick tests provide results on-site, extending the options available to analysts. The methods used are chemical or microbiological in nature, made portable by microelectronics. First published on Mon
Galaxies, stars and planets
This unit is a general introduction to galaxies, stars and planets, including scale of the universe from the very large to the very small; orbits and gravity; the Solar System; the Sun and other stars; galaxies and the composition of astronomical objects. First published on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 as Author(s):
Introduction to histology
This unit provides an introduction to histology, the study of tissues. It also describes how histology can aid in the diagnosis of disease and explains how histology services are organised within a hospital. First published on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 as Author(s):
Introduction to histopathology
This unit provides an introduction to the subject of histopathology and outlines how the appearance of different tissues changes due to damage, inflammation, infection or degeneration and how microscopy can aid in the diagnosis of disease. First published on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 as Author(s):
Introduction to microscopy
The unit provides an introduction to microscopy and the operation of a simple light microscope, of the type found in histology units and teaching laboratories. It outlines different methods used for preparing and staining tissue sections for microscopy, and explains how different stains can be used to identify particular cells, pathogens and anatomical structures.Author(s):
5.3 Project initiation In the early 1970s a discovery was made independently by two different researchers, Klaus Starke in Germany and Salomon Langer in Argentina. Their results showed that there were two types of alpha receptor. The first type, which they called alpha1 is the one already described that is found on the blood vessel wall. The second type, which they called alpha2, is located on the nerve-ending itself. Noradrenaline binds to the alpha2 receptors when the alpha
Introduction Global warming: are we responsible? Is our environmental impact damaging the planet? This unit examines the use of ozone depleting technology, the impact of fossil fuel use and explores how the development of technology can influence the direction of a society. From the Industrial Revolution to the present day find out how we have changed the planet. This unit is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Working with our environment: technology for a sustainable future (T172) whic
3.1 Voyages of discovery and settlement In Section 2, we saw that there are momentous new and recently transformed flows that are impacting on island territories. Some flows have important precedents, and others may not be quite as novel as they first appear. In this section, we look more closely at some of the flows that have helped make, remake and sometimes
Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should be able to: recognise the interaction of human and physical processes in the making of environments and the understanding of environmental issues; understand coastal regions as dynamic and contested environments; consider the contested nature of coastal management policies using the case study of managed retreat.
2.3 Communication techniques In the introduction to communication, I focused on the problems of getting a message through, but Author(s):
6.6 Professional bodies and societies Consider joining a learned society or professional organisation. They can be very useful for conference bulletins as well as in-house publications, often included in the subscription. Don't forget to ask about student rates. Try looking for the websites of learned societies associated with your subject area (e.g. The Royal Society, the Institute of Electrical
6.1 Introduction The process of keeping up-to-date in your chosen subject area is useful for your studies and afterwards, for your own personal satisfaction, or perhaps in your career as part of your continuing professional development. There are a great many tools available that make it quite easy to keep yourself up to date. You can set them up so that the information comes to you, rather than you having to go out on the web looking for it. Over the next few pages, you will be experimenting with some
5.4 Social bookmarks If you find you have a long unmanageable list of favourites/bookmarks you might like to try social bookmarks as an alternative. Read 7 things you should know about so 5.2 Ways of organising yourself How do you organise yourself? Make a note of how you organise your: emails internet bookmarks or favorites computer files you 4.8 Summary In this section we have introduced you to the PROMPT checklist as a useful tool for assessing the quality of any piece of information. If you use it regularly you will find that you develop the ability to scan information quickly and identify strengths and weaknesses. As a closing exercise you might like to pick one of the websites below or any of your own choice and try to evaluate it using the PROMPT criteria. To make it easier for you we have provided a printable checklist (see below). 4.6 P is for Provenance The provenance of a piece of information (i.e. who produced it? where did it come from?) may provide another useful clue to its reliability. It represents the 'credentials' of a piece of information that support its status and perceived value. It is therefore very important to be able to identify the author, sponsoring body or source of your information. Why is this important? 3.8 Patents Patents are a key source of information for technology. 3.5 Images Images can also be found online. Some useful image databases are: 3.4 Databases At a basic level, a database is a collection of information which can be searched. It is a way of storing, indexing, organising and retrieving information. You may have created one yourself to keep track of your references – or your friends' names and addresses. They are useful for finding articles on a topic, and can be used to search for many different types of information. You may find some of the following databases useful for your topic. They contain different types of informatio
Activity 14 – what you need to know about social bookmarks
Activity 12
Esp@cenet
The Esp@cenet database is a European initiative to make the information contained in patents widely available to non-professionals at no cost via national
Flickr
A photo sharing website that contains pictures relating to all subjects. Note that in order to reuse a picture from this site you may need to get the permission of the person who uploaded the photo.
