Project Problem statement
Database Design
CmpE 226
Practice Problems
Practice Problem (10)
________________________________________________________________________
1. Design a database with at least 10-12 of tables or ((constraint tables. The
constraint tables should use the full power of linear constraints. (For example,
the equality constraint x =1 does not use the full power of linear constraints. So
don ’t use only equality constraints in your database.)) The tables should contain a
reasonable number of tuples or (constraint tuples), not too few and not too many.
2. Prepare traditional class diagram for the following problems showing at least 10
relationships among the following object classes, including associations,
aggregations, and generalizations. Show multiplicities in your diagrams.
Your model should have 3-5 attributes and 3-5 operations per class. Use association
and role names when needed. As you prepare the diagrams, you may add additional
object classes.
3. If you use MLPQ, find at least 4 iconic queries or sequence of iconic queries.
Explain what they mean and write them down in the style of the examples in the
MLPQ system manual. (Iconic queries are shown in Figure 1 MLPQ Graphical
Interface in the MLPQ Specifications, such as Intersection, Union, Difference,
Max, Min, etc.)
4. Find at least 4 SQL queries of each of the following kind: Basic, Aggregation, Sets,
and Nested. (That is, a total of 16 queries.)
________________________________________________________________________
A solution to track spread of Genetically modified Organism
ELITE226 Team
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Description of domain .................................................................................................................................... 2
Description of the program and sample queries. ............................................................................................ 3
Detailed Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 3
Relation or entities’ names and attributes ....................................................................................................... 4
Landscape: location, elevation, forest density ........................................................................................... 4
Climate: location, time, rainfall, temperature, wind, humidity .................................................................. 4
Animal: location, time, average number present per area of land .............................................................. 4
Land cultivated: physical boundaries of plots of land under GMO cultivation, time ................................ 4
Herbicide Usage: plot of land, total herbicide used, season. ..................................................................... 5
GMO Crop Yield: plot of land, total crop yield, season ............................................................................ 5
GMO Contamination: percentage GMO plant, location of test site ........................................................... 5
Herbicide-resistant wild weeds: plot of GMO cultivated land, frequency of occurrence .......................... 5
Superweed: frequency of occurrence, location .......................................................................................... 5
CMPE 226 Fall 2006
1
Project Problem statement
Abstract
Biotechnology has lots of new and upcoming research being conducted on agricultural
products and lot of work has already been done in genetic engineering of agricultural
products. The goal of this program is to collect and analyze available information about
cultivation of a particular genetically modified organism, its spread, and conditions
affecting the spread. Information about area under cultivation, landscape, climate,
animals affecting spread of seed and pollen, use of herbicides, crop yield, GMO
contamination, occurrence of superweeds, will be stored in our database.
We propose to design a database to record and analyze the undesirable spread of a
specific genetically modified organism in the United States. We choose a crop that has
been engineered to tolerate a specific herbicide. Our database would contain available or
easily obtainable information related to the undesirable spread of this GMO crop.
Description of domain
Biotechnology is a relatively new and quickly growing area of research and development.
Large biotech companies invest resources into developing agricultural products with
certain desirable properties. Modern technology allows scientists to take a desirable gene
from one organism and insert it into another organism, producing an organism that does
not exist in nature. The so-called “first generation” of genetically-modified (GMO)
agricultural crops has been engineered to either tolerate specific herbicides or resist pests.
Such properties make it easier for farmers to grow these crops.
The first GMO crop was marketed in the United States in 1996. Since then, cultivation of
GMO agricultural crops in the US has been rapidly expanding. Today the US produces
two thirds of the world’s production of GMO crops. Most of the corn, soybeans, and
cotton cultivated in the US are from the genetically modified variety.
Because the technology is relatively new and untested, many GMO crops have been
marketed prematurely and are still considered unsafe and banned by many countries
outside the US. Some of the unforeseen consequences of consumption and use of GMO
products are allergic reactions in humans and animals, other health concerns,
disappearance of some insects in areas where GMO plants are cultivated, which could
potentially have severe ecological consequences.
Many scientists consider the introduction of GMO plants into the environment to be
irreversible. Seeds or pollen of these plants can easily spread outside the area of
cultivation with the help of wind, animals, and other environmental factors. Below are
listed some of the consequences of the uncontrollable spread of genetically modified
organisms:
1) Endangering organic agriculture. Many farmers market their produce as being
“natural” or “GMO free.” The organic status of these farms could be endangered by
CMPE 226 Fall 2006
2
Project Problem statement
the spread of GMO organisms. Seed developers are also concerned about
contamination of their seeds with genes from GMO strains.
2) Risk to US Export. Other countries may refuse to buy any US crop for the fear that
all of it may be contaminated (as in the case of Japan refusing to buy US rice).
3) Occurrence of Superweeds. Most GMO plants are engineered to resist a specific
herbicide, so that other weeds may be killed, while leaving the GMO plant
unharmed. In order to kill the GMO plant, if desired, a different herbicide is used.
Some wild weeds are naturally resistant to the herbicide used to control GMO
plants. It is possible that the GMO plant cross-pollinates with these wild weeds,
producing hybrids, known as superweeds, resistant to both herbicides. It becomes
more difficult to kill these hybrids, requiring more and different varieties of
herbicides
Description of the program and sample queries.
We propose to design a database to record and analyze the undesirable spread of a
specific genetically modified organism in the United States. We choose a crop that has
been engineered to tolerate a specific herbicide. Our database would contain available
or easily obtainable information related to the undesirable spread of this GMO crop.
The goals of this program are to collect and analyze available information about
cultivation of a particular genetically modified organism, its spread, and conditions
affecting the spread. Information about area under cultivation, landscape, climate,
animals affecting spread of seed and pollen, use of herbicides, crop yield, GMO
contamination, occurrence of superweeds, will be stored in our database. After
designing the database we should be able to use queries to answer the following
questions:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
How do physical boundaries affect the spread of GMO organism?
How does the use of herbicide change as a result of continued GMO cultivation?
How does climate affect yield and spread of GMO?
What are the areas that are least likely to be contaminated?
What is the relationship between the use of herbicide and the occurrence of
superweeds?
6) What is the level of GMO contamination and how quickly is it changing?
7) What is the relationship between seasonal behavior of particular animals and the
spread of GMO crops?
Detailed Requirements
Because the program analyzes spatiotemporal information—the spread of the
genetically modified organism across the United States—an effective visual interface
is necessary. The user must be able to observe the map with areas of most/least GMO
contamination, regions of most/least change in GMO occurrence, regions with similar
CMPE 226 Fall 2006
3
Project Problem statement
landscape/climate attribute values (ex. All regions within a specific temperature range
for a specific season). Users must also be able to observe a map of all areas under
GMO cultivation.
The program’s goal is to find relationships between the spread of GMO organism and
the various factors affecting the spread. In order to do this, the program will try to
isolate regions that have least variables. For example, the program will try to find
regions that have similar climate and animal distributions, but different elevations. It
would then be likely that the resulting difference in the spread of GMOs in different
regions is related to elevation. The user should be able to specify which factors
should be similar between the regions and which factors should vary. The program
would then find the regions based on specifications and present the user with
information about the spread of GMOs in these regions.
Relation or entities’ names and attributes
Following is the list of the important entities and some of their attributes:
Landscape: location, elevation, forest density
This entity describes the nature of land, all attributes of landscape that could impact
the spread of seed or pollen. It should also take account of physical boundaries such
as bodies of water (this has to be further developed to describe bodies of water in
intelligent manner.) This entity is separate from climate because its attributes, as a
rule, change slower over time.
Climate: location, time, rainfall, temperature, wind, humidity
This entity keeps track of local climate as a function of time.
Animal: location, time, average number present per area of land
This entity keeps track of animals known to contribute to the spread of plant’s genetic
material. This entity also may have to contain an attribute relating to the extent to
which an animal contributes to the spread as a function of time. This is because an
animal may behave differently in relation to the plant based on the season.
Land cultivated: physical boundaries of plots of land under GMO
cultivation, time
This entity stores information about change in physical boundaries of plots of land
under GMO cultivation
CMPE 226 Fall 2006
4
Project Problem statement
Herbicide Usage: plot of land, total herbicide used, season.
This entity contains information as to how much herbicide was used per season in
each of the plots of land under GMO cultivation. The assumption here is that a
continuous plot of land receives a uniform distribution of herbicide.
GMO Crop Yield: plot of land, total crop yield, season
Total crop harvested from each plot per season. This could be used to analyze
relationship between herbicide use and yield, climate and yield, number of seasons of
cultivation and change in yield, etc.
GMO Contamination: percentage GMO plant, location of test site
This entity contains information about spread of GMO plant varieties in areas were
GMO plants were not intentionally cultivated.
Herbicide-resistant wild weeds: plot of GMO cultivated land, frequency of
occurrence
Herbicide-resistant wild weeds are non-GMO plants that are naturally resistant to
herbicides used to kill GMO plant we are considering. Use of a specific herbicide
against GMO plant increases frequency of occurrence of such wild weeds. This is
significant because cross-pollination of GMO plant with these wild weeds could
result in a hybrid plant, known as a superweed. This superweed would be resistant to
both the herbicide to which the GMO plant has been engineered to be resistant and
the herbicide to which wild weeds in question are naturally resistant.
Superweed: frequency of occurrence, location
This entity keeps track of recorded occurrences of superweeds.
CMPE 226 Fall 2006
5