NDIS, FBI Database

The National DNA Index System, or NDIS, is a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI ) DNA database that facilities the electronic comparison and exchange of DNA profiles between participating local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and forensic laboratories. First made operational in 1998, the NDIS is a highly valued instrument that is used by law enforcement professionals in order to better coordinate and communicate information related to serial violent crimes committed across the United States. Authorization to establish the NDIS came about from the DNA Identification Act of 1994.

The NDIS is a critical component of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS ), an FBI software support program developed in 1990, which uses DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) technology to generate leads in crimes where forensic evidence is recovered from crime scenes. In its role, the NDIS enables participating organizations to compare DNA profiles on a national level in order to more efficiently investigate crimes. Managed by the FBI as the nation's DNA database, DNA profiles typically are generated at the local level, transferred to state and national levels, and uploaded electronically through the Internet at the state level to the NDIS. At this point, the data is compared to determine if a convicted offender can be associated with a previous or current crime, or if two or more crimes can be joined together.

An actual example that shows how the NDIS works involves the unsolved (and previously unconnected) rape and murder cases of a college professor in Flint, Michigan, in 1986; and of a flight attendant in Romulus, Michigan, in 1991. With access to CODIS in 2001, Michigan State Police submitted DNA from the 1986 case to the NDIS. When the sample was matched with DNA from the 1991 case, latent fingerprints from the 1986 case were sent to the FBI's Latent Fingerprint Unit. While searching through the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), one of the prints was identified. Based on this information, the Flint Police Department followed the suspect, recovered a restaurant napkin used by the suspect, and after the material found on the napkin was forensically matched with evidence left at both homicide scenes, the suspect was arrested and charged with murder.

From its beginnings on October 13, 1998, to today, the NDIS has gained participants and now includes over 130 federal, state, and local laboratories representing all fifty states, the District of Columbia (the FBI Laboratory), Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Army. On June 12, 2002, the NDIS achieved a major milestone when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement contributed the one millionth DNA profile to the program. As of December 2004, the total number of DNA profiles within the NDIS is 2,132,470; the total number of convicted offender profiles is 2,038,470; and the total number of forensic profiles is 93,956.

see also CODIS: Combined DNA Index System; DNA; DNA databanks; DNA profiling; FBI (United States Federal Bureau of Investigation); FBI crime laboratory; Integrated automated fingerprint identification system; Serial killers.

Global Database on National Nutrition Policies and Programmes

Hunger and malnutrition occur throughout the world, though the knowledge and resources exist to eliminate them. The challenge lies in changing political will, developing realistic policies, and taking determined actions both nationally and internationally. These are the basic beliefs of the Global Database on National Nutrition Policies and Programmes (GDNNPP). GDNNPP was created by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1995 to monitor and evaluate the progress of implementation of the 1992 World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition, which states that all people should have access to safe and nutritious food and be free from hunger.

GDNNPP plays a large role in improving nutrition status globally by compiling data from six regions of the world: Africa, the Americas (in conjunction with the Pan-American Health Organization), the Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific. Policies and programs vary from country to country according to population needs.

GDNNPP provides a global review and comparative analysis of national nutrition policies and plans of action. It identifies the priority nutrition issues of various countries, as well as key elements for developing and implementing effective and sustainable nutrition policies and programs. It also evaluates each country's progress in developing, strengthening, and implementing national nutrition policies and programs, and it serves as a guide to creating better national nutrition policies and programs through authoritative standards and guidelines, research, and collaboration. GDNNPP is designed to help enforce the health objectives, strategies, and activities of the WHO, which also provides technical and financial support to participating WHO countries.

Delores C. S. James

Internet Resources

Pan American Health Organization. "Nutrition and Food Protection: Current Health Topics." Available from <http://www.paho.org>

World Health Organization. "Global Database on National Nutrition Policies and Programmes." Available from <http://www.who.int/nut_pol.htm>

database management system (DBMS or dbms) A software system that provides comprehensive facilities for the organization and management of a body of information required for some particular application or group of related applications. This implies some overall logical view of the database in terms of some particular data model, and database management systems are conventionally categorized according to the data model they implement. The system will provide a database language in which schemas and subschemas (user views) can be specified and retrieval and update programs written. There will be facilities to specify and modify the storage schema, for logging, rollback, and recovery. A major objective of a DBMS is to provide data independence within the constraints of its data model. More modern DBMS provide a higher degree of data independence than earlier products where significant schema modification requires the database system to cease to be operational and for the data to be reorganized and reloaded. This can be impractical for large operational systems, a main reason for them becoming out of date and requiring redevelopment.

Well-known DBMS include the relational database systems ORACLE, INGRES, SYBASE, and INFORMIX, and the earlier systems IMS, IDMS, and ADABAS, still widely used in practice. Some of these products have versions with more limited facilities for the PC environment, for which specialist products such as Access and dBASE IV have also been developed. See also object-oriented database.

database management system A large collection of software which carries out the processes of storing, maintaining, granting access, archiving, and optimizing large collections of data stored in FILES. These files can be stored on the same computer or can be distributed across a number of computers; in the latter case the database management system is known as a distributed database management system. Database management systems have been in existence since the 1960s; the demands made upon them in distributed systems mean that they have become very sophisticated and complex pieces of software. The vast majority of database management systems now have interfaces to the WORLD WIDE WEB to enable BACK END PROCESSes to take place in ECOMMERCE systems.

database
1. Normally and strictly, a body of information held within a computer system using the facilities of a database management system. All accessing and updating of the information will be via the facilities provided by this software as will be the recording of information on the log file, database recovery, and multiaccess control.

2. Occasionally and colloquially, a collection of data on some subject however defined, accessed, and stored within a computer system. (This nontechnical use of the term can cause confusion to the nonspecialist as in: “we don't use a database management system for our database, just straightforward VSAM files.”)

databank A system that offers facilities for the deposit and withdrawal of data to a community of users on a particular topic (e.g. biological species, trade statistics, commodity prices). While it need not be an open public facility, the usual implication is that the user community is widespread. Access to a databank may be, for instance, via a videotex facility, or via any other form of network, or even via the postal service. The data itself may be organized as a database or as one or more files.

database A collection of data stored on some permanent medium which is structured in order to show the relationship between individual items within the database. For example, a banking database would contain data on accounts and customers, together with an indication of which accounts are associated with which customers. This is in contrast to a FILE which is just a loose collection of data on some permanent storage medium.

database Collection of data produced and retrieved by computer. The data is usually stored on magnetic disk or tape. A database program enables the computer to generate files of data and later search for and retrieve specific items or groups of items. For example, a library database system can list, on screen, all the books on a particular subject and can then display further details of any selected book.

da·ta·base / ˈdatəˌbās; ˈdā-/ • n. a structured set of data held in a computer, esp. one that is accessible in various ways.

databank •ankh, bank, blank, clank, crank, dank, drank, embank, flank, franc, frank, hank, lank, outflank, outrank, Planck, plank, point-blank, prank, rank, sank, shank, shrank, spank, stank, swank, tank, thank, wank, yank •sandbank • piggy bank • mountebank •fog bank • mudbank • Bundesbank •databank • riverbank • Burbank •greenshank • sheepshank •scrimshank • Cruikshank •think tank • Franck • Eysenck •bethink, blink, brink, chink, cinque, clink, dink, drink, fink, Frink, gink, ink, interlink, jink, kink, link, mink, pink, plink, prink, rink, shrink, sink, skink, slink, stink, sync, think, wink, zinc •rinky-dink • Humperdinck • iceblink •cufflink • bobolink • Maeterlinck •lip-sync • countersink • doublethink •kiddiewink •tiddlywink (US tiddledywink) •hoodwink

database •abase, ace, apace, backspace, base, bass, brace, case, chase, dace, efface, embrace, encase, enchase, enlace, face, grace, interlace, interspace, in-your-face, lace, mace, misplace, outface, outpace, pace, place, plaice, race, space, Thrace, trace, upper case •airbase • freebase • wheelbase •database • steeplechase • paperchase •paleface • typeface • whiteface •boldface • coalface • interface •staircase • briefcase • slipcase •packing case • doorcase • showcase •notecase • pillowcase • suitcase •bookcase • nutcase • marketplace •anyplace • everyplace • showplace •shoelace • bootlace • someplace •Lovelace • fireplace • commonplace •workplace • birthplace • tenace •airspace • aerospace • hyperspace •carapace • workspace • ratrace •millrace • Fuentes • rosace