In the promotion of research and development projects, substantial data are often accumulated unknowingly while collecting various data and conducting experiments and measurements systematically and cyclopaedically. Although discoveries and new findings derived from these data are disclosed in research papers in the form of study results, the accumulated data themselves have little chance of being widely utilized. The Research Information Database (RIO-DB) is the name of the project to input the valuable data and study results accumulated in these research procsses into databases and to disclose them via the Internet to be used widely as an intellectual foundation for the sake of promulgation. The aggregate of numerous databases constructed based on research results by the RIO-DB project is called RIO-DB also.

The RIO-DB project was started in 1995. Study results and factual data owned by research laboratories controlled by the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology were presented as databases to be used widely by the public and eventually to contribute to promoting industrial development and technological advancement. In fiscal 2001, this project was taken over by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology(AIST), and we are currently promoting database construction and fulfillment of the data.
In fiscal 1996, when data disclosure was launched, the overall total accesses (page views) was 310,000, and the number of databases disclosed was 22. In fiscal 2003, the overall total access exceeding 30 million and 77 databases are disclosed.

Recently, thanks to the development and promulgation of the Internet, it is possible to use vast amounts of data without time and place constraints. Enhanced by the remarkable promulgation of the personal computer, the importance of the data available on the network and their competitive edge over printed matter has been increasing. At the same time, due to the increased number of accesses, the importance of presenting study results in database form has been increasing year by year. With this in mind, since 2001, we have been working to generate a valuable database for use as an intellectual database. In selecting the category of the database, more importance is assigned to large-scale databases to be constructed over time, geology-related databases, and characteristics databases that can be presented by AIST only and are frequently requested by industry and academic sectors. The databases thus constructed are successively being made public, while old databases no longer being updated are being disclosed as archives.
An exciting challenge in the construction of the RIO-DB is to lead the database world while the number of accesses to the RIO-DB worldwide has been increasing.

The RIO-DB contains databases of various fields, and its contents are diverse. Table 1 shows the number of databases by section. A total of 77 databases are currently available, while 13 archives are listed.

Figure 2 is a graph showing RIO-DB users by domain. It can be seen from this that the RIO-DB is utilized worldwide (in about 100 nations). Users from the United States (total of edu, com and net) account for 30%, and Europe and Japan, 20% each. The rest are those whose domain name cannot be resolved from their IP address by the DNS. Of these accesses, a little over 80% of the whole is for one database called the ‘spectral database for organic compounds’ (SDBS). Thus, the distribution of all users almost agrees entirely with that of SDBS.

As for accesses from Japan (.jp domain), academic institutes such as universities (ac.jp) account for 45%, while general households (ne.jp supposed to be primarily ISP) and companies (co.jp) account for 20% each. (Figure 3)

(Statistical data such as the number of accesses referred to here are based on the analysis of access logs for 11 months from April 2003 to February 2004.)

Typical databases selected from the RIO-DB from science, technology, and social viewpoints are introduced hereafter. (See explanations given by the persons in charge on the following pages.)

1. Spectral database for organic compounds
   Of the databases in the RIO-DB, this database is the most frequently accessed, and the majority of users are from academic institutes such as universities. Specialists throughout the world utilize this database that provides standard and highly reliable data evaluated by AIST researchers.
   
   
2. Cyclopedia of strata, rock units and volcanoes
   (Stratigraphic name database)
   Of the databases in the RIO-DB, the majority of accesses to this database are from domestic service providers. In other words, this database is most frequently accessed by the general public. This site is very popular and is ranked 2nd place in the number of accesses. Quaternary volcanoes in Japan are introduced here together with beautiful photographs that attract the attention of the general public even if they are not geologists..
   
   
3. Brain image database
   With this database, one can see the appearance and various sections of the human and the monkey brains. The contents of this database are one of best suited for school education.
   
   
4. Ceramic color database
   The study results of ceramic ware accumulated over a long period by research laboratories (predecessors of AIST) are compiled into a database. Of the RIO-DB databases, this is the most historical.
   
   
5. Network database system for thermophysical property data
   The policy of constructing this database is unique. Data presented by researchers throughout the world as well as those measured and collected by AIST are scrutinized and verified before registration to this database.
   
   
6. Relational Information System for Chemical Accident Database (RISCAD)
   In this database, not only records of accidents but also their causes are verified for effective use for the prevention of problems related to chemical accidents.

As introduced above, in addition to specialty data, those with educational contents, those related to social safety such as earthquakes, literature databases for specialized fields, and energy and environment-related databases are made available. Anyone can access any database at no cost if a computer environment that allows Internet utilization and browsing are available. (User registration is required for certain databases from a management viewpoint.)

URL is http://www.aist.go.jp/RIODB/

Whenever you have a subject requiring investigation, business, hobbies or homework, access RIO-DB for immediate assistance.