CellML: its future, present and past

Advances in biotechnology and experimental techniques have lead to the elucidation of vast amounts of biological data. Mathematical models provide a method of analysing this data; however, there are two issues that need to be addressed: (1) the need for standards for defining cell models so they can, for example, be exchanged across the World Wide Web, and also read into simulation software in a consistent format and (2) eliminating the errors which arise with the current method of model publication. CellML has evolved to meet these needs of the modelling community. CellML is a free, open-source, eXtensible markup language based standard for defining mathematical models of cellular function. In this paper we summarise the structure of CellML, its current applications (including biological pathway and electrophysiological models), and its future development—in particular, the development of toolsets and the integration of ontologies.     

基于XML的物种属性构建系统

用PowerBuilder9．0开发了一个基于XML的物种及其属性构建系统,利用该系统可以方便的构建一个物种属性,并可以对该物种属性进行解析翻译。利用该系统以物种毛白杨作为实例进行构建,结果表示：该系统操作简便、构建灵活、能解析、方便读取、实用有效,对物种及其属性能够很好的描述,方便物种属性的管理。     

生物标本地理信息系统SpecimenMapping的设计和实现

针对生物多样性研究领域的需求与现有GIS平台的局限,运用GML和SVG等相关技术设计实现了一个基于XML标本地理信息系统———SpecimenMapping。该系统具有导入常见空间数据格式、投影坐标互相转化、管理个人标本数据、导入其他格式的标本数据、图形化显示标本地理信息、分布地生态因子分析和栖息地预测等功能,具有基于开放标准便于功能扩展、方便操作、针对性强等特点。     

StarDOM: From STAR format to XML

StarDOM is a software package for the representation of STAR files as document object models and the conversion of STAR files into XML. This allows interactive navigation by using the Document Object Model representation of the data as well as easy access by XML query languages. As an example application, the entire BioMagResBank has been transformed into XML format. Using an XML query language, statistical queries on the collected NMR data sets can be constructed with very little effort. The BioMagResBank/XML data and the software can be obtained at http://www.nmr.embl-heidelberg.de/nmr/StarDOM/     

GlycoCT-a unifying sequence format for carbohydrates

As part of the EUROCarbDB project (www.eurocarbdb.org) we have carefully analyzed the encoding capabilities of all existing carbohydrate sequence formats and the content of publically available structure databases. We have found that none of the existing structural encoding schemata are capable of coping with the full complexity to be expected for experimentally derived structural carbohydrate sequence data across all taxonomic sources. This gap motivated us to define an encoding scheme for complex carbohydrates, named GlycoCT, to overcome the current limitations. This new format is based on a connection table approach, instead of a linear encoding scheme, to describe the carbohydrate sequences, with a controlled vocabulary to name monosaccharides, adopting IUPAC rules to generate a consistent, machine-readable nomenclature. The format uses a block concept to describe frequently occurring special features of carbohydrate sequences like repeating units. It exists in two variants, a condensed form and a more verbose XML syntax. Sorting rules assure the uniqueness of the condensed form, thus making it suitable as a direct primary key for database applications, which rely on unique identifiers. GlycoCT encompasses the capabilities of the heterogeneous landscape of digital encoding schemata in glycomics and is thus a step forward on the way to a unified and broadly accepted sequence format in glycobioinformatics.     

生物信息学电子文档收编及优化检索的实现

生物信息学涉及生物、化学、物理、数学、计算机和互联网应用等多方面知识,要从事这个领域的研究工作,必须掌握更多的各方面知识。目前该领域的很多资料和文献在网上以电子文档的形式存在。电子文档能够包含比常规的文档包含更广泛,更丰富的内容,对电子文档的收编整理发能大大节省文档的搜索时间,并能提供更专业,更有效的检索结果,为科研工作服务。本文论述了建立包括电子文档的收集,标注,优化检索的一个方案,检索结果按照文档和检索条件的相似程度分级列出。实践证明,该系统能够有效的提供生物信息学专业信息的管理和检索。     

Open Metadata Formats: Efficient XML-Based Communication for High Performance Computing

High-performance computing faces considerable change as the Internet and the Grid mature. Applications that once were tightly-coupled and monolithic are now decentralized, with collaborating components spread across diverse computational elements. Such distributed systems most commonly communicate through the exchange of structured data. Definition and translation of metadata is incorporated in all systems that exchange structured data. We observe that the manipulation of this metadata can be decomposed into three separate steps: discovery, binding of program objects to the metadata, and marshaling of data to and from wire formats. We have designed a method of representing message formats in XML, using datatypes available in the XML Schema specification. We have implemented a tool, XMIT, that uses such metadata and exploits this decomposition in order to provide flexible run-time metadata definition facilities for an efficient binary communication mechanism. We also demonstrate that the use of XMIT makes possible such flexibility at little performance cost.     

A Web-Based Data Architecture for Problem-Solving Environments: Application of Distributed Authoring and Versioning to the Extensible Computational Chemistry Environment

Next-generation problem-solving environments (PSEs) promise significant advances over those now available. They will span scientific disciplines and incorporate collaboration capabilities. They will host feature-detection and other agents, allow data mining and pedigree tracking, and provide access from a wide range of devices. Fundamental changes in PSE architecture are required to realize these and other PSE goals. This paper focuses specifically on issues related to data management and recommends an approach based on open, metadata-driven repositories with loosely defined, dynamic schemas. Benefits of this approach are discussed, and the redesign of the Extensible Computational Chemistry Environment's (Ecce) data storage architecture to use such a repository is described, based on the distributed authoring and versioning (DAV) standard. The suitability of DAV for scientific data, the mapping of the Ecce schema to DAV, and promising initial results are presented.