ADDS

African Data Dissemination Service

ADS

Astrophysics Data System

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ATM

asynchronous transfer mode

AURA

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy

AVHRR

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

BASIS

Battelle Automatic Search Information System

CDC

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDF

Collider Detector at Fermilab

CDIAC

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

CD-ROM

Compact Disk-Read Only Memory

CEC

Commission of the European Communities

CEOS

Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

CGIAR

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

CIESIN

Consortium for International Earth Sciences Information Network

CINDAS

Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis

COBIOTECH

Committee for Biotechnology (ICSU)

CODATA

Committee on Data for Science and Technology (ICSU)

COSTED

Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries

DIS

data indexing system; data and information system

DMC

Data Management Center (IRIS)

DNA

deoxyribonucleic acid

DOC

Department of Commerce

DOD

Department of Defense

DOE

Department of Energy

DOI

Department of the Interior

DVD

digital versatile disk

ENDF/B

Evaluated Nuclear Data File/B

ENSDF

Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File

EOS

Earth Observing System

EOSAT

Earth Observation Satellite Company

EOSDIS

Earth Observing System Data and Information System

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency

EROS

Earth Resources Observation Systems

ESA

European Space Agency

FAME

Fatty Acid Methyl Ester

FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization

FDSN

Federation of Digital Seismic Networks

FITS

Flexible image transport system

FTP

file transfer protocol

GIS

Geographic Information System

GMT

Greenwich mean time

HD-ROM

high density-read only memory

HEP

high-energy physics

HIPPI

high-performance parallel interface

HST

Hubble Space Telescope

HTML

HyperText Mark-up Language

HTTP

HyperText Transfer Protocol

IAEA

International Atomic Energy Agency

ICSU

International Council of Scientific Unions

IEEE

Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force

IFS

International Foundation for Science

IGBP

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme

IITF

Information Infrastructure Task Force

IMPACT

Information Market Policy Action Program

IPng

Internet Protocol next generation

IPR

intellectual property right

IRAF

Image Reduction and Analysis Facility

IREX

International Research and Exchange Board

IRIS

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology

ISDN

integrated services digital network

ISO

International Organization for Standardization

LAN

local area network

MBone

multicast broadcast backbone network

Mbps

megabits per second

MEMS

micro-electromechanical systems

MIAC

Metals Information Analysis Center

MSS

multispectral scanner

NAS

National Academy of Sciences

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCBI

National Center for Biotechnology Information

NCDC

National Climatic Data Center

NGDC

National Geophysical Data Center

NGO

nongovernmental organization

NIH

National Institutes of Health

NII

national information infrastructure

NIST

National Institute of Standards and Technology

NLM

National Library of Medicine

NNDC

National Nuclear Data Center

NOAA

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NODC

National Oceanographic Data Center

NRC

National Research Council

NSF

National Science Foundation

NUDAT

Nuclear database (part of ENSDF)

OAS

Organization of American States

OECD

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

OMB

Office of Management and Budget

OTA

Office of Technology Assessment

PC

personal computer

PDF

PostScript Data File

POSIX

Portable Operating System Interface for Computer Environments (an IEEE standard)

POTS

"plain old" telephone service

PTO

Patent and Trademark Office

PTT

Post, Telephone, and Telegraph ministry

RNA

ribonucleic acid

SGML

Standard Generalized Mark-up Language

SIMBAD

set of identifications, measurements, and bibliography for astronomical data

SMART

System for the Mechanical Analysis and Retrieval of Text

SMTP

Simple Message Transfer Protocol

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol

SOTER

Soils and Terrain Digital Database

SPECINFO

a database from Chemical Concepts GmbH containing digitized nuclear magnetic resonance data and infrared spectra for chemical compounds

STAIRS

Storage and Information Retrieval System

ST-ECF

Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility

STN

Science and Technology Network International

STScI

Space Telescope Science Institute

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

TM

Thematic Mapper

TRIPS

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Agreement on

TWAS

Third World Academy of Sciences

UC

University of California

UNCED

United Nations Commission on Economic Development

UNCTAD

United Nations Commission on Trade and Development

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNEP

United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

UNIDO

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

URL

uniform resource locator

URN

uniform resource name

USAID

United States Agency for International Development

USGS

United States Geological Survey

USNC-CODATA

United States National Committee for CODATA

VITA

Volunteers in Technical Assistance

VHS

video home system

WDC

World Data Center

WHO

World Health Organization

WIPO

World Intellectual Property Organization

WMO

World Meteorological Organization

WTO

World Trade Organization

WWW

World Wide Web