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Characterizing Heterogeneous Molecular Biology Database Systems

Victor M. Markowitz

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
phone: (+1-510) 486-6835, fax: (+1-510) 486-4004
Email: VMMarkowitz@lbl.gov


Otto Ritter

Department of Molecular Biophysics
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ)
D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Email: o.ritter@dkfz-heidelberg.de

Keywords:
characterization criteria,
heterogeneous database systems,
molecular biology databases

Abstract:

Molecular biology data are distributed among multiple databases. Although containing related data, these databases are often isolated and are characterized by various degrees of heterogeneity: they usually represent different views (schemas) of the scientific domain and are implemented using different data management systems. Currently, several systems support managing data in heterogeneous molecular biology databases. Lack of clear criteria for characterizing such systems precludes comprehensive evaluations of these systems or determining their relationships in terms of shared goals and facilities. In this paper, we propose criteria that would facilitate characterizing, evaluating, and comparing heterogeneous molecular biology database systems.





Victor M. Markowitz
Tue Nov 14 17:16:09 PST 1995