- A monthly newsletter which supports information integration -

BioResource Newsletter  Vol.1  No.4 

 News from the Resource
    Center No. 4: 

 New Resources Information Site
 Released

 Resource Feature
    (Lotus)



 Visiting the Faculty of Agriculture,
 Univ. of Miyazaki

 Info on currently available resources

 Ongoing column vol. 4: 

 Access Log File Analysis Tool (2)

shigenImage


No.4 2005/04/28  


Download the PDF version of this newsletter here.

 


News from the Resource Center No. 4

   We have started a new web site called "New Resources Information Site", where updates on latest bioresearches will be provided timely. Hot items posted within the past month are indicated with three stars, items within the past 2 months with two stars and items within the past 3 months are indicated with a star. This site not only contains information on new repositories but also information on new services and sites related to bioresources.

New Resources Information Site
 http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/shigen/newresources/

 


Resource Feature (Lotus japonicus) No. 3

Visiting the Faculty of Agriculture, Univ. of Miyazaki

    We visited the agriculture faculty in University of Miyazaki which is the resource center for National BioResource Project - Legume. Although the objective of our visit was to discuss the construction of a database for Legume resources, it was also a great opportunity for us to look at their excellent facilities for cultivating, preserving and distributing Lotus japonicus resources. March 28 was a really nice day and it was also the first day that cherry blossoms came into bloom in Miyagi prefecture. The university is located south of Miyazaki Airport in the Kibana area, a 15 min drive along the Miyazaki Minami Bypass with beautiful phoenix trees on both sides of the road. Greenhouses for cultivation and research purposes are situated in the Kibana field of the Kibana Agricultural Science Station which covers over 23 ha of land. They are equipped with glass houses (photo 1 and 3) and isolated cultivation rooms (photo 2). The DNA resources preservation room (photo 4) and the seed selection and preservation room (photo 5) are also facilitated with ample space.

   Both Lotus japonicus and Glycine max are model plants for Legumes. Beans are very important as a source of vegetative-protein in Japan. Recently more and more researchers have started using Lotus japonicus as a research resource because of its relatively short life cycle and its small genome size. The legume plant is used for basic science because (1) Legume is the third biggest family in Magnoliophyta, (2) they have a variety of storage proteins, and (3) they have distinctive characteristics such as symbiosis with leguminous bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen fixation. Among the 24 different organisms maintained by the National BioResource Project, "Legume" is anticipated to be one of the model research resources that supports both fundamental science and applied researches.


Photo 1: Exterior of a glass house

Photo 2: Isolated cultivation room in a glass house

Photo 3: Interior of a glass house

     

Photo 4: DNA preservation room

Photo 5: Seed selection and preservation room

Prof. Akashi and Lotus


  Users can search for Legume resources and request for them through the online LegumeBase website, which is a portal site for both the LegumeBase - Lotus japonicus and the LegumeBase - Glycine max

 

Info on Currently Available Resources



LegumeBase-Lotus japonicus (Public site fro Lotus/Glycine resource)
 http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/lotusjaponicus/ (test version)
pLegume Base (Database for Lotus)
 http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/legume/legumebase/
LegumeBase-Glycine max (Database for Glycine)
 http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/legume/legumebase/
NBRP Lotus/Glycine Introduction Page
 http://www.nbrp.jp/report/reportProject.jsp?project=beans
NBRP Information Site
 http://www.nbrp.jp/



 

Information Technology   Vol.4

Access Log File Analysis Tool (2)

  In the previous issue, I talked about "Webalizer", tool that analyzes access log files and displays the results graphically. In this issue, I will explain the contents of an access analysis graph, a main feature of the "Webalizer".


The picture above shows an analysis graph for access during the past 12 months.



  As you can see, there are many ways that access can be analyzed.
  Generally, it is common to assume that the access count is indicated by the number of hits. However access to photos within a webpage or error pages are also counted as a hit. Moreover, visits by robotic search engines such as Google will also cause the hit count to increase excessively. Therefore it is wrong to simply assume that an increase in access count indicates an increase in users. If you want to know the total of users utilizing your website, it is important to view the numbers shown in "Visits" and "Sites".
  In the next issue, I will talk about other analysis graphs

Genetic Informatics Laboratory, Center for Genetic Resource Information
Takehiro YAMAKAWA



Editor's notes: This time around we visited Miyazaki University. Prof. Akashi was kind enough to willingly accept this interview and even introduced Miyazaki's deep food culture to us. All of us who went enjoyed Miyazaki tremendously. Thank you very much to Prof. Akashi and everyone at the research lab.

Contact : Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8640, JAPAN
Center for Genetic Resources Information, National Institute of Genetics

 

TEL 055-981-6885 (Yamazaki)
E-mailBRnews@chanko.lab.nig.ac.jp