NISC disks

The National Information Services Corporation (NISC) provides CD-ROM databases which cover scientific, practical and information disciplines. The subjects range from aquaculture to worldwide wildlife, combining information from a number of different sources and providing it in one easy to access database. NISC have provided a number of features which are specially designed to aid users of these databases and ensure all the relevant articles are found. The database checks variations of the search information, automatically searching for alternative spellings of words (cenozoic, caenozoic or cainozoic), checking for plurals (formula, formulae, formulas) and allowing for compound words (CD-ROM, CD ROM and CDROM). A thesaurus feature on some of the CD-ROMs also helps to locate accurately and quickly the required information. The following are some examples of the databases available through NISC: Biotechnology Abstracts: Agricultural and Environmental - This database, published recently by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, gathers world literature in which molecular biology and genetics are applied to agricultural and environmental areas. This includes agricultural products, both plants and animals, new applications across the food industry and wide ranging environmental developments. The database contains abstracts from 1983 up to the present and is currently growing at around 3,600 new entries per year - supplied in quarterly updates. Price US$695.00 Entomology Abstracts - As more insect species are discovered and research reveals more and more about those species already identified, researchers working in the insect field could find this collection of abstracts a useful source of information. Containing articles from 1978 to the present, the database covers information from anatomy through to reproduction and genetics and is growing at over 10,000 entries per year. Price US$1,445.00 Aquatic Biology, Aquaculture & Fisheries Resources - This 2 CD-ROM set (1971-1984 and 1985-present) combines relevant portions of a number of different databases. The subjects covered include biology and physiology, fish culture, diseases, and the culture of shellfish, plants and other organisms. Databases include the aquaculture subset of CAB abstracts, FISHLIT from the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Rhodes University, SA, and Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts from Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. Price US$2995.00 Fish and Fisheries Wordwide - Covering culture and propagation, limnology and oceanography, genetics and behaviour, natural history, parasites, diseases, general research and management. The CD-ROM combines information from 7 different databases dating back to 1970, and gains more than 13,500 records per year. Price US$895.00 All prices are for an annual subscription for a single user, and exclude shipping and handling. Rates are also available for use over networks with multiple users. All CD-ROMs come complete with ROM Wright software for accessing the databases and require a DOS compatible machine with a CD-ROM drive and 180KB of RAM available (512KB without extended memory). Those interested in these or any of NISC's other databases can try the disks free of charge for 30 days by contacting Margaret Crampton (see below). Alternatively, for those with internet access, the NISC Web site has details of these and other CD-ROMs and it is also possible to access some of the databases on a trial basis. Margaret Crampton - 10 Constitution Street, PO Box 377 - Grahamstown 6140, SOUTH AFRICA Tel: 0461 29698 - Fax: 0461 29550 E-mail: NISC@ru.ac.za http://www.nisc.com/The National Information Services Corporation (NISC) provides CD-ROM databases which cover scientific, practical and information disciplines. The subjects range from aquaculture to worldwide wildlife, combining information from a number of different..