<![CDATA[Materials Data Centre - MDC Blog]]>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:57:58 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[SharePoint 2009 Conference]]>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:51:37 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/11/sharepoint-2009-conference.htmlThe MDC team went out to the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas in October. We were amazed by the new features in SharePoint 2010, that sent our minds racing about its use for scientific data management. We're looking at using SP 2010 for the MDC back-end, and are really excited about it!
]]><![CDATA[MDC user requirements report published]]>Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:52:51 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/09/mdc-user-requirements-report-published.htmlThe final user requirements report is now available to download here. This follows from the interim report we published earlier.
jisc_mdc_user_requirements_report.pdf
File Size: 520 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
]]><![CDATA[JISC Workshop in Manchester]]>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:19:19 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/09/jisc-workshop-in-manchester.htmlResearchers Mark Scott and Dr Steven Johnston attended the JISC Rapid Innovation in Development Workshop in Manchester on 3-4 Septermber 2009. Great opportunity to meet other RI folks and compare notes. Well done to Steven for winning most improved pitch award - enjoy the wine!
]]><![CDATA[Initial survey results are in...]]>Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:15:02 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/08/initial-survey-results-are-in.htmlIn order to gather user requirements for the Materials Data Centre we have been conducting a survey. Some intial results are in that we would like to share here.
mdc_interim_user_requirements_report.pdf
File Size: 140 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
If you are a materials scientist or engineer we'd love to hear what you think. We'd be really grateful if you would fill out our online questionnaire available here.
]]><![CDATA[MDC - what's it all about?]]>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:06:56 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/07/mdc-whats-it-all-about.htmlAt the JISC kick-off meeting a word cloud was created about our MDC project. Here it is, make your own decision on whether you think it's right!
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]]><![CDATA[MDC Questionnaire launched!]]>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:25:32 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/07/mdc-questionnaire-launched.htmlWe're very excited that the MDC project is moving forwards at a pace now. In order to gather requirements from end-users we are conducting a wide-ranging survey to gather your views.

If you have a few minutes then we'd really appreciate a few minutes of your time to complete our questionnaire here....

]]><![CDATA[New EPrints to Data Centre (EP2DC) project]]>Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:17:22 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/06/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit.htmlIn April this year the team responsible for the recently approved MDC project submitted a related proposal entitled 'EPrints to Data Centre' (EP2DC) to the JISC Rapid Innovation call.  We are pleased to announce that the EP2DC proposal has been approved for funding.  The financial and managerial assistance from JISC to promote the conservation of research data is greatly appreciated.  

The EP2DC project is based on the premise that the emergence of a semantic web of data offers the prospect of exciting new possibilities for knowledge discovery, and there are already clear indications that it will deliver on its potential.  A good example from the biological sciences is that of NextBio (http://www.nextbio.com/b/home/home.nb), an innovative biotech that is developing a robust framework to connect highly heterogeneous scientific data and textual information, thereby offering new opportunities to tackle complex problems.  For example, discovering connections between different pathologies at the clinical, environmental, and genetic/biochemical level provides a means to identify common disease pathways. 

For engineering materials, a similarly complex case exists for composition-property relationships in advanced alloys, a better understanding of which will facilitate improved alloy design, materials selection and lifing for a wide range of applications.  Integration of experimental data and textual information is especially exciting for inter-disciplinary knowledge discovery, which very often leads to new breakthroughs in science and technology simply as a consequence of connecting complementary activities in different domains.  With a semantic web of data, a systematic discovery of such inter-disciplinary connections will become feasible.  However, to realize this potential, efforts are needed to conserve experimental data together with the publications to which they correspond, and this is the motivation for EP2DC.  

The objective of EP2DC is to develop a prototype module to enable the EPrints repository (presently deployed at more than 250 institutes) to support the submission of XML-formatted experimental data together with the manuscript to which they correspond.  In this way it is hoped that an ever increasing body of experimental data will be captured and made available for future use by the scientific community.  The module will be tested and refined by an integration with the JISC-funded MDC but is intended to find application across all disciplines.

]]><![CDATA[PhD research studentship opportunity!]]>Mon, 11 May 2009 05:02:48 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/05/phd-research-studentship-opportunity.htmlA key part of developing the Materials Data Centre is a PhD research programme to develop the underlying semantic web technologies to enable knowledge discovery for users. This exciting opportunity is available to start immediately and will be based in the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton, UK.

This is open to UK and EU applicants fully-funded, with those from other countries having to supply their own funding to cover additional costs (approximately £10495 per annum).

Details of the studentship and how to apply are available here.

]]><![CDATA[Materials Data Centre website goes live]]>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:19:46 -0800http://www.materialsdatacentre.com/1/post/2009/04/first-post.htmlWe are very excited to have now kicked off the JISC-funded Materials Data Centre project. The aim is to develop a system that will benefit researchers, educators and industry by providing datasets from materials testing across the web. We hope that this will help to drive forward materials technology.

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