TY - GEN
T1 - Pest risk assessment in the European Community: inventory of data sources. Scientific Report submitted to EFSA
AU - Rossi, Vittorio
AU - Giosue', Simona
AU - Bernazzani, Roberto
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The purpose of the Prassis project (acronym of Pest risk assessment in the European Community: inventory of
data sources) is to review and to produce an inventory of international and national key information and data
sources, necessary to conduct the risk assessment of harmful organisms. A protocol was developed for
inventorying the sources available in literature, in web-sites, in databases, and in software, in a structured,
transparent, and efficient manner. The protocol was designed in such a way that the data sources inventoried
could also be useful for future risk assessments in other fields and / or connected with other databases. About
250 descriptors (metadata) were defined for describing the data sources. Metadata for evaluation of data quality
(strengths and weaknesses), accessibility for EFSA, and suitability for pest risk assessment were also included.
International standards and codes were used whenever possible. The protocol was implemented in a userfriendly
web-portal. The web-portal was designed to facilitate on-line entry of new data sources and on-line
modification or updating of the existing ones. The web-portal also makes it possible to search the data sources
within the inventory by using both basic and advanced search procedures, and to summarize results in a clear
and concise way. A database was developed containing international and national information and data sources.
The inventory covers the 27 European Member States and 34 third Countries. About 500 sources were entered
in the web-based portal; because some sources contain information on different aspects of pest risk analysis,
there are more than 600 records of interest. The project has three main weaknesses: i) although very large, the
database is incomplete; ii) procedures for evaluating the quality of the sources included in the inventory can be
improved; iii) the practical use of web-portal functionalities has not been thoroughly tested. Possible solutions
are provided.
1
AB - The purpose of the Prassis project (acronym of Pest risk assessment in the European Community: inventory of
data sources) is to review and to produce an inventory of international and national key information and data
sources, necessary to conduct the risk assessment of harmful organisms. A protocol was developed for
inventorying the sources available in literature, in web-sites, in databases, and in software, in a structured,
transparent, and efficient manner. The protocol was designed in such a way that the data sources inventoried
could also be useful for future risk assessments in other fields and / or connected with other databases. About
250 descriptors (metadata) were defined for describing the data sources. Metadata for evaluation of data quality
(strengths and weaknesses), accessibility for EFSA, and suitability for pest risk assessment were also included.
International standards and codes were used whenever possible. The protocol was implemented in a userfriendly
web-portal. The web-portal was designed to facilitate on-line entry of new data sources and on-line
modification or updating of the existing ones. The web-portal also makes it possible to search the data sources
within the inventory by using both basic and advanced search procedures, and to summarize results in a clear
and concise way. A database was developed containing international and national information and data sources.
The inventory covers the 27 European Member States and 34 third Countries. About 500 sources were entered
in the web-based portal; because some sources contain information on different aspects of pest risk analysis,
there are more than 600 records of interest. The project has three main weaknesses: i) although very large, the
database is incomplete; ii) procedures for evaluating the quality of the sources included in the inventory can be
improved; iii) the practical use of web-portal functionalities has not been thoroughly tested. Possible solutions
are provided.
1
KW - data sources
KW - inventory
KW - pest risk assessment
KW - quarantine pests
KW - web-portal
KW - data sources
KW - inventory
KW - pest risk assessment
KW - quarantine pests
KW - web-portal
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/8425
M3 - Other contribution
ER -