Graph theoretical concepts have been used to model the molecular polarizabilities of fifty-four organic derivatives, and the induced dipole moment of a set of fifty-seven organic compounds divided into three subsets. The starting point of these modeling strategies is the hydrogen-suppressed chemical graph and pseudograph of a molecule, which works very well for second row atoms. From these types of graphs a set of graph-theoretical basis indices, the molecular connectivity indices, can be derived and used to model properties and activities of molecules. With the aid of the molecular connectivity basis indices it is then possible to build higher-order descriptors. The problem of 'graph' encoding the contribution of the inner-core electrons of heteroatoms can here be solved with the aid of odd complete graphs, Kp-(p-odd). The use of these graph tools allow to draw an optimal modeling of the molecular polarizabilities and a satisfactory modeling of the induced dipole moment of a wide set of organic derivatives.

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This article focuses on the development of a data warehouse to facilitate government decision-making on national human resources development and to provide public access to information. A set of key challenges was confronted in the development of the data warehouse including: the conceptualisation, design, implementation and management of the data warehouse system. The underlying questions that informed the process were, first: "In what ways will a data warehouse for a social science based research project be different from other database structures?" And second: "What are the particular management problems associated with large-scale long term social science based database projects?"

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To better understand information about human health from databases we analyzed three datasets collected for different purposes in Canada: a biomedical database of older adults, a large population survey across all adult ages, and vital statistics. Redundancy in the variables was established, and this led us to derive a generalized (macroscopic state) variable, being a fitness/frailty index that reflects both individual and group health status. Evaluation of the relationship between fitness/frailty and the mortality rate revealed that the latter could be expressed in terms of variables generally available from any cross-sectional database. In practical terms, this means that the risk of mortality might readily be assessed from standard biomedical appraisals collected for other purposes.

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Many steps are involved in the process of turning an initial concept for a database into a finished product that meets the needs of its user community. In this paper, we describe those steps in the context of a four-phase process with particular emphasis on the quality-related issues that need to be addressed in each phase to ensure that the final product is a high quality database. The basic requirements for a successful database quality process are presented with specific examples drawn from experience gained in the Standard Reference Data Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

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Heterogeneous research environments, interests and locations do not necessarily coincide, thus hitherto the primary method of communication amongst researchers has been email. In this article a novel unified polythematic, real-time, synergistic, data telecommunication system is proposed with peer-reviewed, bidirectional fuzzy feedback for research scientists, to facilitate scientific information exchange via the extensible markup language (XML) on multiple scientific topics, e.g. in mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry.

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In this paper, the idea of building a project-oriented information system based upon a specialized information database was discussed. It attempts to provide tools for helping researchers use Internet resources effectively in the course of their research. Based on this idea, a web-based project-oriented information system was constructed. The paper systematically expounds the design and development process of the project-oriented information system. Furthermore, examples of utilizing the project-oriented information system to obtain useful information and suggestions for specific projects were described. According to our discussion and utilization of the system, we believe that building a project-oriented information system can help researchers with their research projects.

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Researchers collect data from both individuals and organizations under pledges of confidentiality. The U.S. Federal statistical system has established practices and procedures that enable others to access the confidential data it collects. The two main methods are to restrict the content of the data (termed "restricted data") prior to release to the general public and to restrict the conditions under which the data can be accessed, i.e., at what locations, for what purposes (termed "restricted access"). This paper reviews restricted data and restricted access practices in several U.S. statistical agencies. It concludes with suggestions for sharing confidential social science data.

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In recent geographical information science literature, a number of researchers have made passing reference to an apparently new characteristic of spatial data known as 'usability'. While this attribute is well-known to professionals engaged in software engineering and computer interface design and testing, extension of the concept to embrace information would seem to be a new development. Furthermore, while notions such as the use and value of spatial information, and the diffusion of spatial information systems, have been the subject of research since the late-1980s, the current references to usability clearly represent something which extends well beyond that initial research. Accordingly, the purposes of this paper are: (1) to understand what is meant by spatial data usability; (2) to identify the elements that might comprise usability; and (3) to consider what the related research questions might be.

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The fact that many decisions need a combination of information sources makes easy integration of geospatial data an important data usability issue. Our vision is to achieve automated just-in-time integration. As a foundation, we present a system architecture with distributed data and services. Existing and evolving standards and technologies fitting into this architecture are presented along with their scope and shortcomings. A major point is the appropriate definition of data and operation semantics. Further research is needed here to make the automatic formation of service chains for data integration possible.

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In this article, we intend to show how useful Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis is in improving spatial data usability. We first outlined a general framework about usability using conceptual modelling, including Data, Users and Methodologies. We then defined keywords into classes and their relations. A central ternary relation is enhanced to describe usability. In the second section, we present ESDA with its fundamental basics: i.e. robustness and way(s) to handle data and related graphic tools. We also described the software package ARPEGE'. Through a concrete example, we demonstrate and discuss its relevance for exploratory spatial data analysis and usability.

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Recent population censuses have brought about arrays of high-resolution explicitly geo-referenced socio-economic data stored in the framework of Geographic Information Systems. Geography and social science are not prepared for these new urban databases, and this paper considers their potential for investigating residential distribution, based on the data of the 1995 Israeli Census of Population and Households. We focus on the methodological problems: understanding the phenomena, formal analysis, and statistical inference. The methods for mapping high-resolution data, establishing spatial relationships between them, analyzing neighborhood structure, and exploring the significance of the results are proposed and illustrated by examples of the cities of Tel-Aviv (pop. 350,000) and Ashdod (pop. 100,000).

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The paper presents the core concepts of the Polish Spatial Information System, reflecting the results of investigations performed within the framework of the research project conducted at the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography. The architecture of the Polish Spatial Data Infrastructure with regard to data flow and data access is presented. Describing the System the author stresses the importance of data-sharing arrangements on spatial data usability.

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To promote continuous transfer and development of welding technology, a new system for predicting the microstructures and mechanical properties of welded joins has been built on the Internet. It combines a database system containing continuous cooling transformation diagrams (CCT diagrams) for welding and an expert system for computing weld thermal histories. In addition, this system employs a technique which was invented during the development of another distributed database system called "Data-Free-Way" , which was designed to contain information advanced nuclear materials and materials obtained from other programs of welding research at NIMS in the past. This paper describes the current state of our new system for computing weld thermal histories to predict the properties of welded joints using the CCT diagrams database, which is now available on the Internet. Some problems encountered with the database used in such a system are also referred to.

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Providing a sustainable spatial data infrastructure creates responsibility and high demand by continually meeting and satisfying the needs of all kinds of users. It is essential to provide the right information at the right level of quality and reliability and at the right time. Geographic information (GI) is today being universally recognised as a key part of the national information infrastructure, especially by government. GI is an enabler in the knowledge economy since the power of geography can be used to underpin the sharing (and trading) of vital georeferenced information collected by all kinds of organisations. From this information reliable conclusions can and will be drawn and decisions made.

However, achieving such an environment does not just happen. It has to be led, nurtured and developed in line with user needs. Funding requires sustained investment, and it all has to be implemented and maintained whether the economy enjoys good times or bad, and through periods of political change. These are all big challenges encountered by just about every national economy.

The aim of many national governments around the world is to establish a reliable and integrated reference base for GI that can underpin the e-economy. This base needs to support government and the commercial sector who need to reference information, and potentially share it with others (eg land ownership) or link it up to form an application.(eg location based services). To achieve this a consistent method of georefererencing is required and the Digital National Framework is intended to fulfil that need in Great Britain.

This paper will describe what has been happening in Great Britain to build on the firm foundations of the past, and develop a modern and sustainable framework for geographic information for the future. In particular it will be shown that the business model adopted by Ordnance Survey in recent years (ie the users pay for the data) has played a key role in securing the ongoing funding of the modern information infrastructure that many nations are now working towards. It will also be seen that this does not mean exorbitant prices and in reality several valuable services are free of charge.

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Few would question the need to archive the scientific and technical (S&T) data generated by researchers. At a minimum, the data are needed for change analysis. Likewise, most people would value efforts to ensure the preservation of the archived S&T data. Future generations will use analysis techniques not even considered today. Until recently, archiving and preserving these data were usually accomplished within existing infrastructures and budgets. As the volume of archived data increases, however, organizations charged with archiving S&T data will be increasingly challenged (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2002). The U.S. Geological Survey has had experience in this area and has developed strategies to deal with the mountain of land remote sensing data currently being managed and the tidal wave of expected new data. The Agency has dealt with archiving issues, such as selection criteria, purging, advisory panels, and data access, and has met with preservation challenges involving photographic and digital media. That experience has allowed the USGS to develop management approaches, which this paper outlines.

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In the process of implementing a protocol for the transport of science data, the Open Source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) group has learned a considerable amount about the internal anatomy of what are commonly considered monolithic concepts. In order to communicate among our group, we have adopted a collection of deinitions and observations about data and the metadata that make them useful: differentiating between "semantic" and "syntactic" metadata, and deining categories such as "translational" and "use" metadata. We share the deinitions and categorizations here in the hope that others will ind them as useful as we do.

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The quickly increasing number of spatio-temporal applications in fields like environmental management, geology and mobile communication is a new challenge to the development of database management systems. After discussing the related work we present concepts and implementations for the modelling and persistent management of geological long-period scientific data. The spatio-temporal classes are based upon GeoToolKit, an object-oriented 3D/4D geodatabase kernel system. Range queries on spatio-temporal objects are described in detail. We demonstrate the application of the spatio-temporal model with the balanced restoration of structural Rhine Basin evolution, an ambitious geological application. Finally, we give an outlook on our future research in the context of spatio-temporal database services.

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Science has advanced in part because data and scientific methodologies have traditionally not been subject to intellectual property protection. In recent years, intellectual property has played a greater role in scientific work. While intellectual property rights may have a positive role to play in some fields of science, so does the public domain. This paper will discuss some of the positive functions of the public domain and ways in which certain legal developments may negatively impact the public domain. It suggests some steps that scientists can take to preserve the positive functions of the public domain for science.

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The availability of the Internet has provided unprecedented opportunities for both data compilers and users. With respect to materials data, this paper explores: how do we know what is available? how can data be accessed, interpreted, exchanged? what novel modes of presentation are now available? what organizations are active in this field and what are their programs? what improvements are needed? where do we go from here and how? Examples will be illustrated of specific materials databases available on the Internet from a variety of materials data fields, e.g. fundamental data, engineering design properties, environmental data, and materials safety data. While there is no question that large and widely varied bodies of data are accessible on the Internet, significant improvements are needed promptly. The paper concludes by summarizing these problems and possible means for their alleviation.

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