A Data Transformation System for Biological Data Sources

Scientific data of importance to biologists in the Human Genome Project resides not only in conventional databases, but in structured files maintained in a number of different formats (e.g. ASN.1 and ACE) as well a.s sequence analysis packages (e.g. BLAST and FASTA). These formats and packages contain a number of data types not found in conventional databases, such as lists and variants, and may be deeply nested. We present in this paper techniques for querying and transforming such data, and illustrate their use in a prototype system developed in conjunction with the Human Genome Center for Chromosome 22. We also describe optimizations performed by the system, a crucial issue for bulk data

A procedure for mediation of queries to sources in disparate contexts

Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-19).S. Bressan ... [et al.]

Semantic interoperability through context interchange : representing and reasoning about data conflicts in heterogeneous and autonomous systems

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-25).Supported in part by ARPA, International Financial Services Research Center (IFSRC), PROductivity From Information Technology (PROFIT), National University of Singapore, and USAF/Rome Laboratory. F30602-93-C-0160Cheng Hian Goh, Stuart E. Madnick, Michael D. Siegel

Methods of optimization of distributed databases

The great variety of existing databases is emphasized and their brief description is given. When analyzing a distributed database management system, it is emphasized that they consist of a single logical database, divided into a number of fragments. Each fragment of the database is stored on one or more computers (nodes, sites), which are interconnected by a communication network and each of which operates under the control of a separate database. The advantages, disadvantages and necessary requirements to the distributed database are analyzed. The most effective ways to optimize the structure of distributed databases are listed separately, approaches to assessing their effectiveness (performance, scalability (extensibility), reliability, data protection, availability, ease of application development, the level of interaction with the user). The fragment of grammar of T-SQL language is resulted and the basic generalizing recommendations on writing of inquiries which are convenient for the optimizer and effective at execution are resulted

NoSQL - Factors Supporting the Adoption of Non-Relational Databases

Relational databases have been around for decades and are still in use for general data storage needs. The web has created usage patterns for data storage and querying where current implementations of relational databases fit poorly. NoSQL is an umbrella term for various new data stores which emerged virtually simultaneously at the time when relational databases were the de facto standard for data storage. It is claimed that the new data stores address the changed needs better than the relational databases. The simple reason behind this phenomenon is the cost. If the systems are too slow or can't handle the load, the users will go to a competing site, and continue spending their time there watching 'wrong' advertisements. On the other hand, scaling relational databases is hard. It can be done and commercial RDBMS vendors have such systems available but it is out of reach of a startup because of the price tag included. This study reveals the reasons why many companies have found existing data storage solutions inadequate and developed new data stores. Asiasanat:databases, database scalability, data models, nosq

New Architectural Models for Visibly Controllable Computing: The Relevance of Dynamic Object Oriented Architectures and Plan Based Computing Models

Traditionally, we've focussed on the question of how to make a system easy to code the first time, or perhaps on how to ease the system's continued evolution. But if we look at life cycle costs, then we must conclude that the important question is how to make a system easy to operate. To do this we need to make it easy for the operators to see what's going on and to then manipulate the system so that it does what it is supposed to. This is a radically different criterion for success. What makes a computer system visible and controllable? This is a difficult question, but it's clear that today's modern operating systems with nearly 50 million source lines of code are neither. Strikingly, the MIT Lisp Machine and its commercial successors provided almost the same functionality as today's mainstream sytsems, but with only 1 Million lines of code. This paper is a retrospective examination of the features of the Lisp Machine hardware and software system. Our key claim is that by building the Object Abstraction into the lowest tiers of the system, great synergy and clarity were obtained. It is our hope that this is a lesson that can impact tomorrow's designs. We also speculate on how the spirit of the Lisp Machine could be extended to include a comprehensive access control model and how new layers of abstraction could further enrich this model