Project Details:
Online evaluated isotope ratio database for user communities (2011-2014)
| Project No.: | 2009-026-2-200 |
| Start date: | 2011-04-01 |
| End date: | 0000-00-00 |
| Division: | Inorganic Chemistry Division |
Facilitate and streamline the management of isotope data as used by IUPAC, CIAAW and its subcommittees during data evaluation and provide customized isotope related output. The online database will improve the speed and accuracy of the data evaluation, retain historical information, justification to changes, and provide instant specific access of official IUPAC approved data for the user community world wide.
Current methods and protocols used by SIAM and CIAAW do not take advantage of state-of-the-art data management and custom output possibilities. This project will generate an online database, which will serve the complex data input and retrieval requirements of CIAAW and SIAM. It will also provide a variety of custom formats and data required by user communities of isotopic data.
The task group will prepare online data management and processing protocols based on a set of XML formatted documents. XML has been selected because of its simplicity, wide spread use, and cross platform compatibility by the major software and hardware manufacturers. A major advantage of an XML based database is its multi lingual support, which means that custom outputs, such as a table of atomic weight and isotopic composition can easily be produced in any language (eg chinese, spanish, etc.). This is particularly useful for developing countries where it will support their educational system and industrial development.
Nowadays the majority of students and scientists world wide retrieve data online routinely in their work. A plethora of web sites exists displaying more or less correct data. When this database is implemented web sites, like wikipedia, can have automatically updated official IUPAC values on their website.
The task group will produce a prototype online database by February 2012 and be trialed by the other task group members by June 2012. The initial prototype will focus on data entry, retrieval, access control, archiving and version control. In the second half of 2012, prototype output filters will be developed and tested by task group members. Eg, users will be able to specify whether they would like specific isotope data for many elements, or all accessible data for a single element.
Following testing the task group will make the necessary changes and adjustments as required and make it available for use by CIAAW members for entry of the 2013 TSAW and TICE data. It is anticipated that new online database will be approved and recommended for open use by the wider community in the summer of 2014 and publicized via the IUPAC website and in publications such as the “Atomic Weights of the Elements 2013†which will be prepared for Pure and Applied Chemistry.