NEW RESOURCES

Researchers in India have developed a database of worms. “Rather cumbersomely called the Northeast India Helminth Parasite Information Database, or NEIHPID, it has exhaustive information on worm parasites of the northeast that are also widely found in South and Southeast Asia, regions with similar dietary habits.”

Now available: an online archive covering the history of Haiti. “[Adam] Silvia, who wrote his dissertation on Haiti, created a digital archive, Haiti: An Island Luminous, that combines rare books, manuscripts and photographs from libraries and archives in Haiti with commentary by more than 100 scholars from 75 universities around the world.”

A new Web site wants to help people better understand the health research they read about. “Understanding Health Research is a new website that has been created by the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (MRC/CSO SPHSU), University of Glasgow, in collaboration with an advisory panel of academics…. Users are presented with a step-by-step series of questions to answer about the piece of research they are interested in, and given guidance on what these questions mean and why the answers matter to them. The line of questioning varies according to the answers given, and it attempts to raise critical thinking about what to look out for when trying to work out what might be good research – e.g. funding sources, peer review, and ethics – as well as asking about the specific type of research being appraised.”

Two researchers have created an online depository of research about the education of African-American males. “The accessible, web-based repository provides a comprehensive collection of scholarly articles from peer-reviewed journals that focus on higher education and includes everything from mentoring and psychological health to sports and athletics. The research provides information for other academics, mentors, educators and policymakers that addresses root causes and overlooked factors regarding roadblocks to black male academic success.”

The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has launched a digital library of materials for patient education. “AGA’s new digital library of patient education materials covers 25 GI-related topics and conditions to help make patient care more efficient and valuable. The resources provide easy-to-read, practical information for gastroenterologists to use with their patients before, during and after their appointment.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

You remember that Nintendo Power archive at the Internet Archive recently? It’s gone.

After a weekend of exciting competition wherein no one got eaten by an Ocean Sewage Monster, Facebook is adding more Olympics coverage. “The social networking giant has partnered with more than 20 official broadcasters and National Olympic Committees to host more content on Facebook and Instagram. That includes broadcasters from local networks and athletes from more than 10 countries participating in the Games.” I really hope that Dutch cyclist lady will be okay. That was a horrible crash.

The government has finalized its source code policy. “The use of open source code for federal projects has been a major push from the administration over the last couple years and the new policy shows an effort for the government to abide by the same standards they espouse…. Under the final Federal Source Code policy, agencies will have to share internally developed code with each other and release at least 20 percent to the public.”

USEFUL STUFF

It’s always great to hear from Amit: How to Make Pixel Paintings with Google Spreadsheets. “If you would like to create your own spreadsheet art but don’t have the time to carefully paint every cell manually, here’s a simple workaround for you. You can take any photograph, vector art, or any other image and use a Google Script to convert that bitmap image into spreadsheet art.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Facebook is pushing back against claims that it was reluctant to cooperate with Germany in criminal investigations. “Facebook rejected on Monday claims made by Germany’s state authorities that it was reluctant to co-operate with them on criminal investigations, saying many of the requests it received for user data were incorrectly formulated. Several regional interior ministers have complained that the social media group is hesitant to respond to requests for data and have called on the Federal Justice Ministry to introduce new laws.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

NPR: Federal Officials Seek To Stop Social Media Abuse Of Nursing Home Residents. “Federal health regulators have announced plans to crack down on nursing home employees who take demeaning photographs and videos of residents and post them on social media. The move follows a series of ProPublica reports that have documented abuses in nursing homes and assisted living centers using social media platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. These include photos and videos of residents who were naked, covered in feces or even deceased. They also include images of abuse.”

Reading the security news lately is not helping my stomach at all. Now: hiding malware in digitally-signed executables. “Researchers have shown that it’s possible to hide malicious code in digitally signed executables without invalidating the certificate, and execute this code – all without triggering AV solutions.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!