Database reverse engineering: From requirements to CARE tools

This paper analyzes the requirements that CASE tools should meet for effective database reverse engineering (DBRE), and proposes a general architecture for data-centered applications reverse engineering CASE environments. First, the paper describes a generic DBMS-independent DBRE methodology, then it analyzes the main characteristics of DBRE activities in order to collect a set of desirable requirements. Finally, it describes DB-MAIN, an operational CASE tool developed according to these requirements. The main features of this tool that are described in this paper are its unique generic specification model, its repository, its transformation toolkit, its user interface, the text processors, the assistants, the methodological control and its functional extensibility. Finally, the paper describes five real-world projects in which the methodology and the CASE tool were applied. This is a heavily revised and extended version of “Requirements for Information System Reverse Engineering Support” by J.-L. Hainaut, V. Englebert, J. Henrard, J.-M. Hick, D. Roland, which first appeared in the Proceedings of the Second Working Conference on Reverse Engineering, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 136–145, July 1995. This paper presents some results of the DB-MAIN project. This project is partially supported by the Région Wallonne, the European Union, and by a consortium comprising ACEC-OSI (Be), ARIANE-II (Be), Banque UCL (Lux), BBL (Be), Centre de recherche public H. Tudor (Lux), CGER (Be), Cockerill-Sambre (Be), CONCIS (Fr), D'Ieteren (Be), DIGITAL, EDF (Fr), EPFL (CH), Groupe S (Be), IBM, OBLOG Software (Port), ORIGIN (Be), Ville de Namur (Be), Winterthur (Be), 3 Suisses (Be). The DB-Process subproject is supported by the Communauté Fran?aise de Belgique.     

Efficient calculation of short-range Coulomb energies

An efficient algorithm for the calculation of short-range Coulomb energies is examined. The algorithm uses a boxing scheme and a prescreening for negligible integrals to evaluate the short-range Coulomb energy via computational work that scales only linearly with the size of the system. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 20: 921–927, 1999     

Incorporation of 4J-HMBC and NOE Data into Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation with WebCocon

Over the past decades, different software programs have been developed for the Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation (CASE) with NMR data using with various approaches. WebCocon is one of them that has been continuously improved over the past 20 years. Here, we present the inclusion of 4J_CH correlations (4J-HMBC) in the HMBC interpretation of Cocon and NOE data in WebCocon. The 4J-HMBC data is used during the structure generation process, while the NOE data is used in post-processing of the results. The marine natural product oxocyclostylidol was selected to demonstrate WebCocon’s enhanced HMBC data processing capabilities. A systematic study of the 4J_CH correlations of oxocyclostylidol was performed. The application of NOEs in CASE is demonstrated using the NOE correlations of the diterpene pyrone asperginol A known from the literature. As a result, we obtained a conformation that corresponds very well to the existing X-ray structure.     

When not to rely on Boltzmann populations. Automated CASE-3D structure elucidation of hyacinthacines through chemical shift differences

An Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) procedure (CASE-3D) has been successfully applied to the NMR based configurational assignment of reported hyacinthacines ( 1 – 3 , 5 – 8 ), recently target of configurational analysis using the popular DP4+ methodology. The present analysis makes use of reported ¹H and ¹³C shifts and, in some particular cases, a few ³J_HH couplings. The difficulty in proper computational prediction of relative energies, in molecules capable of inter-molecular hydrogen bonding, introduces large errors in the prediction of conformationally averaged NMR properties in methods based on Boltzmann averaging such as DP4 or DP4+. In contrast CASE-3D conformational amplitudes are free parameters in the model. Here we show that the CASE-3D conformational model selection strategy, when combined with a larger energy cutoff in the molecular-modelling conformational exploration, was sufficient to correctly assign the relative configuration in five of seven cases. Introduction of more information, either by supplementing ¹H and ¹³C data with a few J-couplings, or using a cutoff based on computed DFT energies for the definition of the conformational ensembles, allowed the safe assignment of configuration for all compounds.     

NMReDATA,a standard to report the NMR assignment and parameters of organic compounds

Even though NMR has found countless applications in the field of small molecule characterization, there is no standard file format available for the NMR data relevant to structure characterization of small molecules. A new format is therefore introduced to associate the NMR parameters extracted from 1D and 2D spectra of organic compounds to the proposed chemical structure. These NMR parameters, which we shall call NMReDATA (for nuclear magnetic resonance extracted data), include chemical shift values, signal integrals, intensities, multiplicities, scalar coupling constants, lists of 2D correlations, relaxation times, and diffusion rates. The file format is an extension of the existing Structure Data Format, which is compatible with the commonly used MOL format. The association of an NMReDATA file with the raw and spectral data from which it originates constitutes an NMR record. This format is easily readable by humans and computers and provides a simple and efficient way for disseminating results of structural chemistry investigations, allowing automatic verification of published results, and for assisting the constitution of highly needed open‐source structural databases.     

Computer Automated Structure Evaluation (CASE) of the teratogenicity of retinoids with the aid of a novel geometry index

Summary The CASE (Computer Automated Structure Evaluation) program, with the aid of a geometry index for discriminating cis and trans isomers, has been used to study a set of retinoids tested for teratogenicity in hamsters. CASE identified 8 fragments, the most important representing the non-polar terminus of a retinoid with an additional ring system which introduces some rigidity in the isoprenoid side chain. The geometry index helped to identify relevant fragments with an all-trans configuration and to distinguish them from irrelevant fragments with other configurations.     

Elucidating ‘undecipherable’ chemical structures using computer‐assisted structure elucidation approaches

Structure elucidation using 2D NMR data and application of traditional methods of structure elucidation are known to fail for certain problems. In this work, it is shown that computer‐assisted structure elucidation methods are capable of solving such problems. We conclude that it is now impossible to evaluate the capabilities of novel NMR experimental techniques in isolation from expert systems developed for processing fuzzy, incomplete and contradictory information obtained from 2D NMR spectra. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sar modeling of unbalanced data sets

Abstract

The increased acceptance of SAR approaches to hazard identification has led us to investigate methods to improve the predictive performance of SAR models. In the present study we demonstrate that although on theoretical grounds the ratio of active to inactive chemicals in the learning set should be unity, SAR models can ?tolerate‘ an unbalanced range in ratios from 3 : 1 (i.e., 75% actives) to 1 : 2 (i.e., 33% actives) and still perform adequately. On the other hand SAR models derived from learning sets with ratios in excess of 4 : 1 (80% actives), even when corrected for the initial ratio do not perform satisfactorily.     

A multilevel polyhierarchical model for designing management systems for organizations

The study of the methodology of computer-aided DIAgnostic ANAlysis and design of management systems (DIANA) has been in progress at the Systems Research Institute for many years. The most significant element of this methodology is a formal model of an organization under investigation. Computer implementation of such a model has turned out to be a very difficult problem. The paper presents an attempt at solving it.