By Sathish N,

PA of Dr. P. Deepalakshmi

DST/SEED/TSP/STI/2020/333

 

Review of Existing Databases

Validation and digitization of indigenous medicinal knowledge of the tribes
of selected districts in Tamil Nadu

PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT

 

  1. Design - Study of similar database and websites, Database Content Discussion
  2. Design improvement and acceptance - Database and Website Design, Skeleton Design and Creation

#1 Design

 

  • A study of similar and existing websites was perfomed.
  • It was split into two phases.
    • Collection of database sites
    • Review  of database sites

#1 Design

 

#1 Design

 

#1.1 DATA COLLECTION

 

  • The URLs for related databases and websites were collected from research papers and also from search engines.

 

 

  • URLs were extracted from PDF documents using coreutils on Linux.
  • The data was transformed into a spreasheet and deduplication was performed.
$ strings {filename} | grep http | sort | uniq
 
$ strings Mangare_Catherine_Francis_Li,ACM_Press[10.1145_3239264.3239266].pdf | grep http | sort | uniq
 
$ <</Rect[351.7 280.96 447.29 291.31]/Subtype/Link/BS<</W 0>>/A<</URI(http://www.ippc.orst.edu/ipmafrica/db/index.html)/S/URI/Type/Action>>/F 4>>
<</Rect[351.7 291.31 472.15 301.66]/Subtype/Link/BS<</W 0>>/A<</URI(http://www.ippc.orst.edu/ipmafrica/db/index.html)/S/URI/Type/Action>>/F 4>>

#1.1 DATA COLLECTION

 

The collected sites and databases were reviewed for functionality and their tech stack was inferred from  response headers.

#1.2 DATA STATS - Functionality

 

Of all the collected sites, a lot of them ended up being dead or fully broken.

120

Site/Database Status Count
Functional 34
Non-functional 86

#1.2 DATA STATS - Regions Covered

Regions Covered

34

#1.2 DATA STATS - National Databases

 

Most of the databases were regional, but quite a few were national.

34

#1.3 DATA STATS - Tech Stack

 

Inferences about the front-end, framework and server were gathered from response headers

Further data could be obtained from IP and DNS metadata

#1.3 DATA STATS - Tech Stack

 

#1.3 DATA STATS - Tech Stack

 

#1.4 DATA STATS - Popular Sites

 

Search results for the common neem "Azadirachta indica"

https://cb.imsc.res.in/imppat/basicsearchauth

https://www.tropicos.org/name/Search?name=Azadirachta%20indica

https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=ABBA

https://phytochem.nal.usda.gov/phytochem/search/list

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt

https://www.rain-tree.com/plants.htm#.V59I2bfyncs

https://www.africamuseum.be/en/research/collections_libraries/biology/prelude/results?keywords=Azadirachta%20indica&region=0

#2 DESIGN IMPROVEMENT AND ACCEPTANCE

 

  1. Creation of brand identity - brand name, logo, color palette, typography
  2. Development of App Architecture and Front-End wireframes and demos.
  3. Implemention of  app with an iterative approach.

 

# 2.1 Brand Identity

 

  • The name "Audadham" is derived from a Tamil word which means, "medicine".
  • The logo was conceptualized based on a modern and minimalist style.
  • A cohesive color palette and typography were also implemented.
  • audadham.in was chosen as domain

 

#2.2 APP ARCHITECTURE

  • For backend, directus was used along with MS SQL.
  • Each service  use separate docker container for sandboxing and continuous developoment.
  • The containers run on a Ubuntu VPS.

admin.audadham.in

audadham.in

#2.2 APP ARCHITECTURE

  • The different repositories with source code are under git.
  • The Front-End repository is synced to the server using rsync.
  • Backups of the database in the form of SQL dumps and files are taken regularly using a bash script and the backups are synced locally.
  • Several tools like mprocs, doctl, npm, imgmin(image optimizer, custom bash) were also used.