ProjectFor

Masters of Software Engineering

A developing Pesticide Database(A safety concern on eco-system and the environment)

Student: Fengyou JiaID: 512-11-6317Date: 2003-2004

Presentation #1April 15, 2003

Committee:

Dr. Hankley, William (CIS)(Major Professor)

Dr. Deloach, Scott (CIS)

Dr. Zamfir-Bleyberg, Maria (CIS)

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ProjectFor

Masters of Software Engineering

A developing Pesticide Database(a safety concern on eco-system and the environment)

Overview

Student: Fengyou JiaID: 512-11-6317Date: 2003-2004

Presentation #1April 15, 2003

Committee:

Signature date

Dr. Hankley, William _____________________ __________(Major Professor)

Dr. Deloach, Scott _____________________ __________

Dr. Zamfir-Bleyberg, Maria _____________________ __________

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A Developing Pesticide Database (A safety concern on eco-system and the environment)

1 PROJECT OVERVIEW

Various databases for pesticides are available currently. However, due to differences in requirements and specifications, each database for pesticides serves for different purposes. In general, current existing databases for pesticides do not support the requirements for retrieve safety information to humans, ecosystems, and the environment. Currently existing databases for pesticides could be classified into 3 categories by emphasis: administrative and research, product-oriented, and pest-oriented.

1.1 Administration and research emphasisA number of pesticide databases were particularly designed to serve for administration, management, and research. One typical example is NPIRS (National Pesticide Information Retrieval System) (http://nspirs.ceris.purdue.edu/npirs). NSIRS database is able to retrieve information such as pesticides names and EPA numbers, active ingredients, registration number and states, active status, etc. It may also provide certain safety information, but in a very inefficient way if users want to compare the safety features among pesticides. NSIRS database does not support the queries for retrieving information such as ecotoxicity and pollution potentials to the environment. It does not provide the information such as endangered species, product costs either.

Pesticide Database (Jinno Laboratory, Toyohashi University of Technology) system retrieves information such as chemical structures and other chemical properties, serving on research purpose. The Pesticide Action Network Pesticide Database (http://www.pesticideinfo.org) provides current toxicity and regulatory information for pesticides. The Hazardous Chemical Database (http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/erd) allows users to retrieve information for any of the 3995 hazardous chemicals. The Pesticide Properties Database (PPD) has been developed to provide water quality modelers and managers a list of the pesticide properties most important for predicting the potentials of pesticides to move into ground and surface waters under a range of weather and soil conditions. Information such as chemical structures of pesticides is useful, but less likely to be cared by end-users.

Product-oriented databasesThis type of database was designed to provide detailed information about particular pesticides of interest, such as product names, active ingredients, product formulation, chemical toxicity category, target pests to be controlled, etc.

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Typical databases include PANPD (Pesticide Action Network Pesticide Database) (http://www.pesticideinfo.org). This type of database does not support the request for comparing safety features among or between several pesticides.

Pest-oriented databasesThis type of pesticide database is designed to retrieve a list of pesticide products that could control given a site of treatment, or pest(s). They may be able to provide the safety information individually. However, none of them has such a capacity to evaluate the safety features comprehensively among several candidate pesticide products. http://www.kellysolution.com is a typical pest-oriented database.

User-oriented databasesA user-oriented database is user-centered and intends to provide friendly user interfaces and sophisticated data retrieve tools. However, there is no such database for pesticides available to date. And, of all pesticide databases available, most require user-fees/membership fees and/or passwords to gain access making them untouchable to most of the general public. The goal of my MSE Project is to design and develop a powerful, sophisticated and user-oriented database for pesticide (including insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides) in guidance of pesticide selection and application in pest management program. I emphasize the safety application of pesticides not only to human beings but also to ecosystems and surrounding environments. Ultimately it is expected to reduce and minimize the usage of pesticides that have high hazardous potentials to humans, ecosystems, and the environment through using this database.

One target pest in practice could be controlled by many different kinds of pesticide products. However, these candidate pesticides that are able to control that pest may vary significantly with their hazard potentials to humans, domestic animals, ecosystems, and the environment. Therefore, it is very possible for users to be able to choose the least hazardous one among pesticide products available in pest control programs. However, it is very inefficient to compare the safety features among pesticide products by reading pesticide labels and safety data sheets. It is almost impossible to compare pesticides when several safety features are considered simultaneously without using tool support. Thus, building up a user-oriented database with a safety focus is required and necessary to optimize pesticide application and protect environments.

Fortunately, most safety information is available for those pesticide products applied in agricultural production. Based on NSPIRS, 5776 pesticide products have been registered in Kansas alone. Their active ingredients have been studied regarding their hazards to humans, domestic animals, ecosystems, and the environment prior to release. To construct a user-oriented data retrieval

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system is able to help user to find the least hazardous pesticide products in pest management programs.

This pesticide database shall be designed and implemented with a safety emphasis on the pesticide application. This pesticide database is supposed to be able to retrieve information such as ingredients, target pests, hazardous potentials to humans, ecosystems, and the environment in the basic version. I will also consider the pesticide products, economical cost, pesticide registration, and users in the advanced version. With the equivalent control potential and economical cost, this database could help users to find pesticide products with least hazards to humans, domestic animals, ecosystems, and the environment. It will be able to help the users, consultants, and related government agencies in determining appropriate pesticide products used to destroy or repel pests, while reducing and minimizing the hazardous potentials of pesticides.

Ultimately, I expect that this database would assist to reduce or minimize the use of certain pesticides that commit high hazard potentials to humans, domestic animals, ecosystems, and the environment. I also expect this database of pesticides would also be integrated into Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEP), serving to educate the general public in understanding the adverse influence of pesticides on humans and the environment.

The major tasks for the proposed pesticide database include database and user interface designs and implementations, data collection, data transformation, data population, and data manipulation (insertion, deletion, updating). Oracle9i (the latest version) residues in the Oznet server will be used for this project. User interfaces will be implemented by using ASP and JavaScript supported by Microsoft FrontPage. This pesticide database will be accessible to general public through a web page registered in Kansas State University (http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/pesticidedatabase/main.html).

This MSE Project described above is just a small part of a research program proposed by the Department of Entomology, Kansas State University. The total budget for this program is over half million dollars for a 3-year period. Over 70% percent effort is data collection, data transformation, and table populations.

2 COST ESTIMATION

2.1 Introduction

The SW cost estimation for my MSE Project is base on experiences and the proposed project for funding.

2.1.1 Estimates

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It is important to estimate the effort to provide a quality product as early possible in a project. This is to ensure to be successful on the SW developing job. Thus, it is highly recommended that people bring in projects for the time and cost projected from the very beginning. A good estimate may remain the project to be focused. Programmers are always aware where they are and where they are going during the process of SW development [1, 2].

2.1.2 References[1] The Estimating Guide handout from David A. Gustafson, CIS740 Software Engineering Course. Kansas State University Fall Semester 2002.[2] Scott A. Deloach, CIS746 Software Measurement Course. Kansas State University Spring Semester 2002.

2.2 Size Estimate

2.2.1 Systematic Wild Anatomical Guess Based on experience this project as part of a proposed project (RAMP) will be about 1500 Line of Code (SLOC).

HTML ASP JavaScript

2.3 Effort

2.3.1 Systematic Wild Anatomical GuessFrom the Project Plan, the total estimated hours are 600 Hours.

2.3.2 Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO)System features to determine system typeUnderstanding of product objectives High(organic)Experience with related software High(organic)Need for conformance to pre-existing requirements Low(organic)Need to meet external interface specific Low(organic)Concurrent development, new OS, or new hardware Low(organic)Need for special data structures Low(organic)Relative value of early completion Low(organic)

All of these points to an organic system, therefore the following COCOMO formulas is being used.

Effort (in moths) = 2.4 M (KDSI)1.05

Where M = multipliersKDSI = 1000s of lines of delivered source codes

Td = 2.5 E 0.38

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Where E = Effort in person-months

An estimated multipliers is 0.80, thusE = 2.4 x (multipliers) x (KDSI)1.05

= 2.4 x 0.80x (1.5) 1.05

= 2.94 person-months (or 517 person-hours, 22day/month and 8hours/day)

Time to deliver:Td = 2.5 E 0.38

= 2.5 x (9.53) 0.38 = 3.77 months

2.4 Cost

2.4.1 Based on Project Plan Assuming engineering cost at 100$ per hour, using this with the estimated hours from the project plan results in $60, 000 project cost to completion this project.

2.4.2 COCOMOUsing the same rate and calculating the cost based on the effort resulting from the COCOMO calculation results in a cost of $66,352 for completion of the project.

3 PROJECT PLAN

3.1 Milestones

3.1.1 Milestones Mail Documentation for Presentation 1 4/1/2003 Presentation 1 4/4/2003 Documentation Signed off from Presentation1 4/4/2003 Mail Documentation for Presentation 2 9/1/2003 Presentation 2 9/2/2003 Documentation Signed off from Presentation2 9/2/2003 Mail Documentation for Presentation 3 11/1/2003 Presentation 3 11/26/2003 Documentation Signed off from Presentation3 11/26/2003

3.1.2 Deliverables Project Overview Tasks Scheduled Plan Engineering Notebook (see attachment) Cost Estimation (Proposal budget) Project plan

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Requirement Specification Specification of Modules? SQA Plan Test Plan Formal Inspection Report References Design Documents

Object Model Diagram Function Diagram Data Dictionary Schema Normalization / Dependences

Source Code? User manual Project Evaluation

3.2 Evaluation CriteriaThis section provides the comment evaluation criteria that each deliverable shall be judged against. They shall be reviewed as follows:

Relative to the project plan in terms of schedule, resources, and cost Product relative to documentation requirement Control of document during development Completeness and adequacy of each document Documentation of problem and resolutions

3.3 Project plan (see attachment: task_schedule)

4. Requirements Specification

4.1 IntroductionThis section provide an introduction to the requirements for a Database of Pesticide that is being implemented for as a project to partial satisfy the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering. The section defines the purpose, scope, and goals of the project.

4.1.1 System Purpose

The purpose of the Database of Pesticides defined by this specification is to provide a usable tool for various users including formers, growers, universities, government agencies, and extension agencies, which is public available for the retrieval of data that allows information to be learned.

4.2.1 System ScopeAs my MSE project, which is a part of proposed research program (of RAMP, Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program), includes data collection,

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data transformation, and database design. This system is limited to providing a database that meets the data needs of certain users using the interface that will be generated with Microsoft FrontPage. These data needs are for its retrieval and knowledge discovery.

4.2.1.1 Problem StatementPublics need an application software specific to those persons and agencies that are more likely to be responsible for pesticide application and selection. The applications (databases) currently in use by publics are not designed specifically for safety purpose. They are expensive sometimes (member fees), not user friendly, not inclusive of everyone’s needs, and not readily changeable to meet the changing needs or desires of the user. Even though various pesticide databases are available currently (http://www.epa.gov/region07/programs/wwpd/pests/dbinfo.htm), most of them were designed without focusing on the safety properties of pesticides, less likely considering the hazardous potentials to ecosystems and the environment. In addition, tedious un-categorized safety information for each pesticide product makes it impractical for users to compare among several to many different pesticide products simultaneously, especially when several safety properties of pesticides are considered at the same time. Thus, building up a user-oriented database with a safety focus is required and necessary to optimize pesticide application and protect environments.

4.2.1.2 Benefits and GoalsThere are obvious intangible benefits for this system. They are:

Data information easily to accessible for publics (final deliverable product only)

Reducing or minimizing negative influence of pesticides Protecting the environment (underground waters and ecosystems)

The goal of this project is to provide a database that is accessible to public, able to track the safety information of pesticides of interest, and generate user reports.

4.2.1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

ASP (Active Server Pages): Active Server Pages, a specification that generates dynamically created Web Pages. These server side dynamic pages allow user interaction and database connectivity, providing for a wealth of Web Application functionality, such as shopping carts, Newsgroups and Discussion Forums. All of the specialized applications shown on this Coastal Web example site are created with ASP pages.

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When a Web browser requests an ASP page, the Web server generates a page with HTML code and sends it back to the browser. ASP pages are similar to CGI scripts, but they enable programmers who are familiar with Microsoft's programming languages to work with similar development tools.

Database: A computer application that consist of a collection of interrelated data and a set of programs to access that which contains information about one particular enterprise. The primary goal is to provide an environment that is both convenient and efficient to use in retrieving and storing this information [1].

DDP: A developing database of pesticides with an emphasis on safety to the environment and ecosystem.

FrontPage: A tool for web site creation and database connection, written and sold by Microsoft Company that has a powerful and easy to use graphical user interface.

JavaScript: A scripting language developed by Netscape and used to create interactive Web sites.

MSE: This is an abbreviation for Master ‘s of Software Engineering degree.

RAMP: This is an abbreviation for Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program.

Oracle9i: Oracle9i Database, which developed by Oracle Corporation, is the most scalable and full-featured database available. Whether driving your web site, packaged applications, data warehouses or OLTP applications, Oracle9i Database is a foundation technology for any professional computing environment. Oracle9i Database is available in three editions: Enterprise, Standard, and Personal [http://www.oracle.com/ip/deploy/database/oracle9i/index.html?oracle9idb_features2.html].

SQL: This is an acronym for Structure Query language. This is a language that was defined to access database. It has been implemented by many database applications, but has the same syntax for the base instructions.

Ingredients: A pesticide may contain one to several different active ingredients that are the key chemical(s) to destroy pests. We will present the proportion for each ingredient contained in the pesticides.

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Mamtoxicity: The toxicity of a pesticide is at best a relative measure to estimate its toxic effect on humans or other animals. There is no actual scientific test that can be conducted in which humans are subjected to lethal doses of pesticides. Fortunately, the hazards of every ingredient have been studied based on various animals testing (rats or mice). Manufacturers are required to provide the information such as acute oral toxicity and skin and eye irritation. It is important that persons working with pesticides have a broad general knowledge of the relative toxicity of at least the most common pesticides. By choosing the pesticides with low toxicity if possible, applicators can reduce the potential hazards to themselves. In this database, we used WHO and EPA to represent the toxicity of pesticides.

EPA: Toxicity level standardized by Environment Protection Agency WHO: Toxicity level standardized by World Health Organization

Ecotoxicity: toxicity of a pesticide to birds (mallard ducks), fish (rainbow trout), or bees (honey bees). BIRD: Animals tested in determining the toxic level of a given ingredient of pesticide. FISH: Animals tested in determining the toxic level of a given ingredient of pesticide. HONEY BEES: Animals tested in determining the toxic level of a given ingredient of pesticide. Environmental fates: All pesticides should degrade or break down eventually into other chemicals and into the simple building blocks of which the whole world is made, however, this process occurs at very different rates for different pesticides. In some, the changes occur rapidly (in hours or a few days). In others, the changes are slower and the pesticides may be present for relatively long periods of time (several to many years), which are known as persistent pesticides.

Dissipation half-life (DF50): FD50 measures overall rate of disappearance of pesticide from soil-includes leaching, runoff, hydrolysis, photolysis, microbial degradation, and vaporization as a function of pesticide, site, climate, and soil. Soil half-life (DT50): DT50 predicts the persistence of a pesticide in the soil, which is a relative indictor of pesticide persistence because it can be changed with the soil conditions.

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Pesticide Leaching Potential (PLP): Pesticide movement in soils. Pesticides with fast movement in soil are of great concern because of their high leaching potential (PLP) for contaminating groundwater in the environmentally sensitive areas.

Formulation: The mixture of active and inactive ingredients is called pesticide formulation [3].

4.2.1.4 Major references (this part will be updated with the progress of project)[1] Abraham Silberschatz, Henry F. Korth, and S. Sudarshan, Database System Concepts. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 1997.

[2] Jerome W. Middleton, Jr. Elementary School Database. Kansas State University, 1999.

[3] Bohmont, L. B. The standard pesticide user’s guide. 4th ed. A Simon & Schuster Company, New Jersey. 1997.

4.2.1.5 System OverviewUltimately, my MSE Project will be integrated into a proposed project developing an application package to meet the data needs of the general public and professional individuals in pest control programs. These data needs are for the storage of information and its retrieval. These needs will be met by a final version of the database. The database will collect information related to the safety of pesticides.

(Pesticide information) Pest

Pest to be controlled Pest description Pest album

Mamtoxicity EPA WHO Cancer/Birth defects related

Ecotoxicity BIRD FISH HONEY BEES

Environmental fates Dissipation half-life (DF50) Soil half-life (DT50) Leaching Potential (LP)

Pesticide products Formulation

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Registration States Restricted Status

4.2 DescriptionThis document provides the detailed of a database application. The application simplifies the interaction between the user and the database by providing selection function buttons and predefined data input formats. This describes the way, by who, and how this application will be used and its characteristics.

4.2.1 System ContextThe final application operates in a Microsoft Windows environment. For this project that will be Window 2000 or late. The final application will be accessible for general public through internet.

4.2.2 System ModesThis database system will have two basic modes of interaction. The first one is the expert mode. This mode uses Oracle9i (Oracle Corporation) to edit or create a database’ properties. This would be by the author or someone authorized to accept full responsibility for their actions. The second is the public user accessing the archived data. This would be by the application program written for archive retrieval.

4.2.3 Physical CharacteristicsThis database system will be FrontPage application on Personal Computer (PC). It will run under the Microsoft based operating systems of Window 2000, XP or Window NT. It will be a graphical user interface and allows the users all entries using the mouse with some keyboard interaction.

One physical characteristic of the application will be durability. This means the application will be self contained and not require changes as the user update their computer’s commercial software packages. The response time characteristic of the application will be such that the user does not need to wait more than 5 seconds. A user will be able to work with a database on their computer anywhere if the computers are on a network. They will be able to retrieve any information defined in the database.

4.2.4 User (Group) CharacteristicsBy the very nature of the application that is designed for general public, the normal users will includes farmers/ranches, universities, extension agencies, and environmental protection agencies. They will be able to retrieve data via network.

4.2.5 Assumptions and Dependencies

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It is assumed that a user is familiar with running application programs under Microsoft’s window operating system environments. This includes Windows 2000 and XP, or Windows NT 4.0 or above. The application is dependent on the Microsoft’s FrontPage, Oracle9i, and the Window’s Operating System.

4.2.6 Operational ScenariosThere is one major scenario for use of this application. The ‘pesticide’ database, which is accessible to general public, will be centered around the needs of a data retrieval. For example, the user may want to find the most safe (to human and domesticated) pesticide to kill cockroaches at kitchen. It owned by Kansas State University. The pesticide safety information includes LD50, leaching potential, persistence potential, hazardous potentials to ecosystem, and residual potentials in soils and underground waters.

4.3 Capabilities, Constraints, and Conditions

4.3.1 CapabilitiesThe capabilities of this application can be categorized as following five.o Defined database storageo Information storage and retrievalo Database updating o User report generationThese capabilities provide the user with the needed functionality to simplify their data inputs (for general public only). Following section defines and describes the functions that the application contains.

Define database storage. The pesticide database storage will be implemented following the database creation. Typically users (general public) are not allowed to update pesticide database, yet allowed to do data retrievals only.

Information storage and retrieval. The main reason to have a database is to provide quick and efficient storage and retrieval of information for the users. Particularly in this database, the data retrievals are to assist to find the desired safe pesticides for users.

Database update. No database is static. Especially, more and more information regarding the safety properties of pesticides will be cumulated with time being. This capability will allow the authorized individuals (not the general publics) to be able to update the information stored in the database, allowing users to obtain the latest information.

Report generation. The report capability will allow the users (general publics) to generate reports for both the computer screen and printer.

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4.3.1.1 FunctionsListed below is the list of capability and related application functions, which will be implemented by the application. The functions are what the various users will use to interact with the database. Defined database storage

Create user databaseCreate pesticide database

Information storage and retrievalEnter dataQuery retrievals

Database updating (here applied to the basic version only)Add an ingredientDelete an ingredientEdit information

User report generationDefined formatQuery dataDisplay or print

4.3.1.2 InputsAll inputs to the application are made by using window screen. The screen could be viewed in the following link (http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/pesticidedatabase/main.asp. Almost every effort in choosing a desired pesticide will be made to use the mouse for input and avoid the use of key board.

4.3.1.3 OutputsOutputs from the application are made to the computer monitor or a printer. The outputs are a direct result of user requests.

4.3.1.4 Data handlingData handling is by the use of Software Query Language (SQL) statement residued in the ASP supported with MicroSoft FrontPage. These statements actually interact with Oracle9i database application. These statements could create, enter, or retrieve data from the DDP database.

4.3.2 ConditionsThis section shall cover the operating conditions of the application. These are performance characteristics, project reliability, and anticipated system maintenance.

4.3.2.1 Performance characteristicsOne of important characteristics to be considered is speed of the application. It is expected that the wait for response be approximated 5 to 10 seconds. This response time depends on user request. If user wants to

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look the album (images) of a targeted pest (e. g., bugs), it may take longer time to return an image of the pest that is usually about 2 to 5 Mbytes in size.

The second characteristic is one of throughput. With the computer system today, report generation is expected not to take long. Each request is supposed to return one page of report. It may take printer (even ink jet printer) less than a minute to print out.

The capacity characteristic of this application is expected to be able to fit all program, albums, and the database into 3 gigabytes of disk storage initially. This will handle approximately 3000 ingredients and 500 important economical pests in the database. This is based on the maximum space of 50,000 bytes of information storage for one ingredient and 5 Mbytes for each picture of pest. With considering user information, another 3 gigabytes may need to store user information per year.

4.3.2.2 ReliabilityThis application is not a safety critical application and as a result the reliability factor for the application is not overly critical. However, the reliability will be reexamined following the release of a try-version for a 6-month period.

4.3.2.3 MaintainabilityThe use of tool MicroSoft FrontPage will help make the application easier to maintain. The reason for this is because FrontPage can generate codes automatically and the authors will not directly deal with codes of the application. In addition, other applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint could be borrowed in the application creation using FrontPage.

4.3.2.4 Life cycle requirements

4.3.2.4.1 Planned Quality ActivitiesThe master’s of Software Engineering Project requirements specify that a software quality assurance plan, test plan, and document inspection report are parts of the software portfolio submitted for the project. These documents will detail specific quality tasks and requirements to be carried out to complete the project. These documents will be written during the design phase of the project and cover activities to be completed during the design and implementation parts of the project.

Changes are expected to be made to this application, they will be tracked by reasoning for change, date of change, and an issue configuration control designation on documents. The application will be expected to be extended from my MSE Project in conformity with the proposed project.

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4.3.3 ConstraintsThis section specifies the possible constrain for the application, the minimum hardware requirements for it to run.

4.3.3.1 System RequirementsThe following list the minimum system requirement for this application to achieve better performance. These will be updated as the project progresses. o Windows 2000 or later version requiredo 500 MHZ Pentium or equivalent chip clone recommendedo 256 MB RAMo 1 Gigabytes hard disk spaceo 640 X 480 displayo Windows compatible mouse or pointing deviceo Windows support printer

4.3.3.2 Security Security is not a major concern in this application due to following reasons. The first is that the database will be designed to be accessible for public. The second reason is that the data collected are accessible to general public.

5 Interfaces

5.1 User InterfacesThe first screen a user will see is the starting page. The screen will allow users directly search for the desired pesticides to control target pest(s). There are 3 option buttons that allow the users to choose the pest groups (insect pests, plant diseases, and weeds). The drop-down box ‘Pest To Be Controlled’ is dependent on the users’ choice on pest groups. For example, if Insect is selected, this box lists all insect pests that allow the users to choose one of them. There is two checkboxes in this form. This provides an option for the users to identify the target pests. The users could choose one or both of them.

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Figure 1 Screen ‘Select the pest you want to control!’

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Figure 2 Screen ‘Select the pest you want to control!’ with insects selected

The third screen will be the option screen which provides the information for user to identify the target pest to be controlled. Users could click either description or album or both in the starting page as they wish.

Figure 3 Screen ‘Pest Description and Album View’

When the user clicks the continue button in the starting page the screen ‘Safety Consideration to Humans, or Ecosystem, or Environment’ will be display. This screen contains 3 checkboxes that allows users to choose the preferred pesticide products.

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Figure 4 Screen ‘Safety Consideration to Humans, or Ecosystem, or Environment’

The users are allowed to choose one of them, or any two of them, or all of them, or none of them based upon there preference. Thus, different screen will be displayed based on the users’ choice. For example, if only checkbox ‘To human and other mammals’ is selected, following screen will be showed up.

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Figure 5 Screen ‘Pesticide Hazards to Humans’

In this screen, there are two toxicity standards. Each has three option buttons. The users are allowed to choose only one standard (either EPA or WHO) and one toxic level (Low, medium, and High).

If the users choose two of them; e. g, ‘To human and other mammals’ and ‘To eco-system’, following screen will be showed up.

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Figure 6 Screen ‘Pesticide Hazards to Humans and Ecosystem’

In this screen, only mamtoxicity and Ecotoxicity are considered by users. The users are allowed to choose one toxic level from each of them to represent the potential hazards to humans and ecosystem.

Accordingly, there are 8 different possible screens will be displayed based upon users’ option.

0(None)1(Any one of three) (To Humans and other mammals)1(Any one of three) (To eco-system)1(Any one of three) (To environment)2(Any two of three) (To Humans and other mammals and eco-system)2(Any two of three) (To Humans and other mammals and environment)2(Any two of three) (To eco-system and environment)3(All three)

When the users click the continue button the screen ‘Pesticide Formulation and Availability’ will be displayed. In this screen, there are two dropdown boxes. The first one is to allow the users to choose different formulations, which one of important safety features of pesticide products. The second one is to allow the users to learn whether they can purchase the pesticide product with the preferred safety properties from a given state.

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Figure 7 Screen ‘Pesticide Formulation and Availability’

Figure 8 Screen ‘Pesticide Formulation and Availability’ showing the formulation dropdown box

When the users click the continue button, the result page will be displayed.

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Figure 9 Screen ‘Search Results’

In this screen, all pesticide products with the desired safety properties will be displayed. In addition, all safety features considered in this database will be displayed for each pesticide product, allowing users to further filter their desire pesticide products. Furthermore, a special warning may be issued based whether or not such a pesticide has a hazardous potential to cause birth defect or cancer. This property is one of the important factors that may trim user selection decision.

Each pesticide product has a link to the pesticide label, thus, allowing the users to check the pesticide product individually. By clicking the link, the users could learn more other information about the pesticide product if they want.

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Figure 10 Screen ‘Pesticide Label’

At any time during the searching, the user may click the link in the left side of each page. It provides the information regarding the definitions about the pesticide safety indicators. Such as if the users want to learn the PLP, they can lick the link ‘PLP(Pesticide Leach Potential)’. Following page will display. It gives the details about the terminology PLP definition and other related information.

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Figure 11 Screen ‘PLP link Page’

If there is no result retuned, the users are suggested to refine their selection criteria and continue to search. A continue button is provided that allow the users to continue to search.

Figure 11 Screen ‘Continue to Search’

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5.2 System InterfaceThis system makes use of the MicroSoft FrontPages. This provides ASP (Active Server page) and JavaScript with the ability to use SQL commands to query. Both ASP and JavaScript are even driven programming languages.

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