Web-based Integration of Distributed Research Databases

俄勒冈州跨学科数据库联盟（OCID）的18个数据库和H. J.安德鲁斯实验森林的长期生态研究（LTER）的250多个数据库将作为一个开发基于Web的软件的项目的试验平台，该软件将使分布式数据库集成到一个无缝的虚拟数据库成为可能。拟议的软件框架将包括基于网络的工具，用于界定元数据，说明每个数据库的哪些方面适合与其他数据库相互参照，以及在独立数据库之间进行调解的软件代理。该项目将演示如何将软件部署到跨学科机构和硬件/软件边界，以创建生物逻辑，地球物理和气候数据的虚拟数据库。这样的资源将为研究美国西北地区的生物学和生态学提供比以前更丰富的背景。作为将其他类似的区域和国家数据库相互连接的一个模式，它不仅将成为研究和自然资源管理的宝贵资源，而且也将成为教育的宝贵资源。该项目汇集了一个由计算机科学家领导的多学科团队，专门帮助多学科小组适应先进的计算技术，以满足其特定需求，以及来自LTER计划的生态学家-统计学家-信息经理。每一个同意与PI合作的科学家都已经建立了至少一个具有国家意义的研究数据库。计算机科学家和生物科学家在这个项目上的密切合作将产生一个实用的、经过充分测试的基础，全国各地的数据库所有者可以利用这个基础将他们自己的资源与远程机构或其他远程网络的同事联系起来。 ***

The eighteen databases of the Oregon Coalition for Interdisciplinary Databases (OCID) and the over 250 databases of the Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest will serve as a testbed for a project to develop Web-based software that will make it possible to integrate distributed databases into a seamless virtual database. The proposed software framework will include Web-based tools for defining metadata to describe what aspects of each database are appropriate for cross-referencing against other databases, as well as software agents that mediate among independent repos-itories of data. The project will demonstrate how the software can be deployed to cross disciplinary agency and hardware/software boundaries to create a virtual database of bio-logical, geophysical, and climatic data. Such a resource will offer a much richer context for studying the biology and ecology of the northwestern region of the United States than has been available previously. As a model for interlinking other similar regional and national databases, it will be a valuable resource not only for research and natural resource management, but also for education. The project brings together a multidisciplinary team led by a computer scientist specializing in helping multidisciplinary groups adapt advanced computing technology to their specific needs and an ecologist-statistician-infor- mation manager from the LTER program. Each of the scientists who have agreed to coop-erate with the PIs has already built at least one research database of national significance. The close collaboration of computer scientists and biological scientists on this project will yield a practical, well-tested foundation that database owners throughout the country can exploit to link their own resources with colleagues at distant institutions or in other disci-plines. ***