A cooperative framework for molecular biology database integration using image object selection.

The theme and the concept of 'Molecular Biology Database Integration’ and the problems associated with this concept initiated the idea for this Ph.D research. The available technologies facilitate to analyse the data independently and discretely but it fails to integrate the data resources for more meaningful information. This along with the integration issues created the scope for this Ph.D research. The research has reviewed the 'database interoperability' problems and it has suggested a framework for integrating the molecular biology databases. The framework has proposed to develop a cooperative environment to share information on the basis of common purpose for the molecular biology databases. The research has also reviewed other implementation and interoperability issues for laboratory based, dedicated and target specific database. The research has addressed the following issues: - diversity of molecular biology databases schemas, schema constructs and schema implementation -multi-database query using image object keying -database integration technologies using context graph - automated navigation among these databases This thesis has introduced a new approach for database implementation. It has introduced an interoperable component database concept to initiate multidatabase query on gene mutation data. A number of data models have been proposed for gene mutation data which is the basis for integrating the target specific component database to be integrated with the federated information system. The proposed data models are: data models for genetic trait analysis, classification of gene mutation data, pathological lesion data and laboratory data. The main feature of this component database is non-overlapping attributes and it will follow non-redundant integration approach as explained in the thesis. This will be achieved by storing attributes which will not have the union or intersection of any attributes that exist in public domain molecular biology databases. Unlike data warehousing technique, this feature is quite unique and novel. The component database will be integrated with other biological data sources for sharing information in a cooperative environment. This/involves developing new tools. The thesis explains the role of these new tools which are: meta data extractor, mapping linker, query generator and result interpreter. These tools are used for a transparent integration without creating any global schema of the participating databases. The thesis has also established the concept of image object keying for multidatabase query and it has proposed a relevant algorithm for matching protein spot in gel electrophoresis image. An object spot in gel electrophoresis image will initiate the query when it is selected by the user. It matches the selected spot with other similar spots in other resource databases. This image object keying method is an alternative to conventional multidatabase query which requires writing complex SQL scripts. This method also resolve the semantic conflicts that exist among molecular biology databases. The research has proposed a new framework based on the context of the web data for interactions with different biological data resources. A formal description of the resource context is described in the thesis. The implementation of the context into Resource Document Framework (RDF) will be able to increase the interoperability by providing the description of the resources and the navigation plan for accessing the web based databases. A higher level construct is developed (has, provide and access) to implement the context into RDF for web interactions. The interactions within the resources are achieved by utilising an integration domain to extract the required information with a single instance and without writing any query scripts. The integration domain allows to navigate and to execute the query plan within the resource databases. An extractor module collects elements from different target webs and unify them as a whole object in a single page. The proposed framework is tested to find specific information e.g., information on Alzheimer's disease, from public domain biology resources, such as, Protein Data Bank, Genome Data Bank, Online Mendalian Inheritance in Man and local database. Finally, the thesis proposes further propositions and plans for future work

Integrating hypertext with information systems through dynamic mapping

This dissertation presents a general hypertext model (GHMI) supporting integration of hypertext and information systems through dynamic mapping. Information systems integrated based on this model benefit from hypertext function-alities (such as linking, backtracking, history, guided tours, annotations, etc.) while preserving their own computation capabilities. Although systems supporting integration of hypertext and interface-oriented information systems do exist in hypertext literature, there is no existing model or system effectively supporting integration of hypertext and computation-oriented information systems. GHMI makes its major contributions by both extending and specifying the well-known Dexter Hypertext Reference Model. GHMI extends the Dexter model to overcome its limitations. GHMI also maps its capabilities to the extended Dexter model with appropriate specifications to meet the requirements of our dynamic mapping environment. The extended Dexter functions apply bridge laws in the hypertext knowledge base to map information system objects and relationships to hypertext constructs at run-time. We have implemented GHMI as a prototype to prove its feasibility

A cooperative framework for molecular biology database integration using image object selection

The theme and the concept of 'Molecular Biology Database Integration' and the problems associated with this concept initiated the idea for this Ph.D research. The available technologies facilitate to analyse the data independently and discretely but it fails to integrate the data resources for more meaningful information. This along with the integration issues created the scope for this Ph.D research. The research has reviewed the 'database interoperability' problems and it has suggested a framework for integrating the molecular biology databases. The framework has proposed to develop a cooperative environment to share information on the basis of common purpose for the molecular biology databases. The research has also reviewed other implementation and interoperability issues for laboratory based, dedicated and target specific database. The research has addressed the following issues: - diversity of molecular biology databases schemas, schema constructs and schema implementation -multi-database query using image object keying -database integration technologies using context graph - automated navigation among these databases This thesis has introduced a new approach for database implementation. It has introduced an interoperable component database concept to initiate multidatabase query on gene mutation data. A number of data models have been proposed for gene mutation data which is the basis for integrating the target specific component database to be integrated with the federated information system. The proposed data models are: data models for genetic trait analysis, classification of gene mutation data, pathological lesion data and laboratory data. The main feature of this component database is non-overlapping attributes and it will follow non-redundant integration approach as explained in the thesis. This will be achieved by storing attributes which will not have the union or intersection of any attributes that exist in public domain molecular biology databases. Unlike data warehousing technique, this feature is quite unique and novel. The component database will be integrated with other biological data sources for sharing information in a cooperative environment. This/involves developing new tools. The thesis explains the role of these new tools which are: meta data extractor, mapping linker, query generator and result interpreter. These tools are used for a transparent integration without creating any global schema of the participating databases. The thesis has also established the concept of image object keying for multidatabase query and it has proposed a relevant algorithm for matching protein spot in gel electrophoresis image. An object spot in gel electrophoresis image will initiate the query when it is selected by the user. It matches the selected spot with other similar spots in other resource databases. This image object keying method is an alternative to conventional multidatabase query which requires writing complex SQL scripts. This method also resolve the semantic conflicts that exist among molecular biology databases. The research has proposed a new framework based on the context of the web data for interactions with different biological data resources. A formal description of the resource context is described in the thesis. The implementation of the context into Resource Document Framework (RDF) will be able to increase the interoperability by providing the description of the resources and the navigation plan for accessing the web based databases. A higher level construct is developed (has, provide and access) to implement the context into RDF for web interactions. The interactions within the resources are achieved by utilising an integration domain to extract the required information with a single instance and without writing any query scripts. The integration domain allows to navigate and to execute the query plan within the resource databases. An extractor module collects elements from different target webs and unify them as a whole object in a single page. The proposed framework is tested to find specific information e.g., information on Alzheimer's disease, from public domain biology resources, such as, Protein Data Bank, Genome Data Bank, Online Mendalian Inheritance in Man and local database. Finally, the thesis proposes further propositions and plans for future work.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Information resources management, 1984-1989: A bibliography with indexes

This bibliography contains 768 annotated references to reports and journal articles entered into the NASA scientific and technical information database 1984 to 1989

An intelligent Geographic Information System for design

Recent advances in geographic information systems (GIS) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been summarised, concentrating on the theoretical aspects of their construction and use. Existing projects combining AI and GIS have also been discussed, with attention paid to the interfacing methods used and problems uncovered by the approaches. AI and GIS have been combined in this research to create an intelligent GIS for design. This has been applied to off-shore pipeline route design. The system was tested using data from a real pipeline design project. [Continues.

Efficiency in utilizing ICT infrastructure in developing countries: a case study of the Royal Thai Police\u27s attitudes to the adoption of an image retrieval application for eyewitness identification

One of the most important aspects of decision and policy making is the timely access to accurately and relevant information. At present the situation in some developing countries is that communication and exchange of information between the government agencies are still paper-based. It can often take weeks or months for one government agency to obtain the records it requires from another agency. The lack of communication between these agencies often results in duplication of efforts and inefficiencies. This lack of communication also means that agencies often produce more of the irrelevant albeit sophisticated information (such as the Statistics Division) than the essential information that is critical and actually needed by other agency for decision making. (World Bank report, 1998) In order to bring people into information society, to have access to information, it is crucial to have appropriate technology and applications that compatible with both old and new technologies—given that majority can not afford to keep up with new technologies being introduced everyday--as well as quality programming in indigenous languages, To create an information society in developing countries, we must first have knowledge of their past, understand their present. Only then participating in their future can be more probable and possible (Matsepe-Casaburri 1996) The overall aim of this study is to add value to the process of information sharing among the government departments in Thailand. It does this by analyzing the opportunity to integrate existing technology with the data available in existing databases and make it more valuable for future use. A case study of the Department of Local Administration, under the Ministry of Interior, and the Royal Thai Police Department is used to develop an understanding of how the utilization of data to a full extent can be beneficial in the government service. In Thailand, every Thai citizen is required to carry a national identity card. Personal data of each person such as date of birth, height, blood type, religion and occupation, including registered address and individual photograph image, are kept in the Central Registration Database Systems (CRDS). The CRDS is operated by the Department of Local Administration under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior. In order to maximize the benefits from this database, the CRDS is shared by other authorized government agencies. The Royal Thai Police Department is one of the government agencies that also share the information from the CRDS. Frequently, the individual registration database and photographs from CRDS are needed to support crime investigation. This research therefore, investigates how the Thai government could utilize the existing database system to aid in the crime investigation process. It then suggests an effective method of image retrieval to support police officers when searching criminal records from a Central Registration Database Systems. The research begins with an exploratory study of the use and sharing of information amongst the government agencies in developing countries. It examines the use of existing technology and how the Government uses technology to access information. There are two major objectives in this research. The first one addresses how value can be added to the present data in the existing system. The author chooses to focus on the area of crime investigation and evaluate two existing image retrieval methods, in order to determine the most suited one from crime investigation process in Thailand. The second objective is to examine and evaluate the attitudes and perceptions of the Thai police towards acceptance of IT usage in the crime investigation process. The results are then was compared with the literature on barriers to the adoption of IT and some of the more recently developed Technology Acceptance Models, which is also used to explain the findings