Potentially Polluting Marine Sites GeoDB: An S-100 Geospatial Database as an Effective Contribution to the Protection of the Marine Environment

Potentially Polluting Marine Sites (PPMS) are objects on, or areas of, the seabed that may release pollution in the future. A rationale for, and design of, a geospatial database to inventory and manipu-late PPMS is presented. Built as an S-100 Product Specification, it is specified through human-readable UML diagrams and implemented through machine-readable GML files, and includes auxiliary information such as pollution-control resources and potentially vulnerable sites in order to support analyses of the core data. The design and some aspects of implementation are presented, along with metadata requirements and structure, and a perspective on potential uses of the database

XML Matchers: approaches and challenges

Schema Matching, i.e. the process of discovering semantic correspondences between concepts adopted in different data source schemas, has been a key topic in Database and Artificial Intelligence research areas for many years. In the past, it was largely investigated especially for classical database models (e.g., E/R schemas, relational databases, etc.). However, in the latest years, the widespread adoption of XML in the most disparate application fields pushed a growing number of researchers to design XML-specific Schema Matching approaches, called XML Matchers, aiming at finding semantic matchings between concepts defined in DTDs and XSDs. XML Matchers do not just take well-known techniques originally designed for other data models and apply them on DTDs/XSDs, but they exploit specific XML features (e.g., the hierarchical structure of a DTD/XSD) to improve the performance of the Schema Matching process. The design of XML Matchers is currently a well-established research area. The main goal of this paper is to provide a detailed description and classification of XML Matchers. We first describe to what extent the specificities of DTDs/XSDs impact on the Schema Matching task. Then we introduce a template, called XML Matcher Template, that describes the main components of an XML Matcher, their role and behavior. We illustrate how each of these components has been implemented in some popular XML Matchers. We consider our XML Matcher Template as the baseline for objectively comparing approaches that, at first glance, might appear as unrelated. The introduction of this template can be useful in the design of future XML Matchers. Finally, we analyze commercial tools implementing XML Matchers and introduce two challenging issues strictly related to this topic, namely XML source clustering and uncertainty management in XML Matchers.Comment: 34 pages, 8 tables, 7 figure

Functorial Data Migration

In this paper we present a simple database definition language: that of categories and functors. A database schema is a small category and an instance is a set-valued functor on it. We show that morphisms of schemas induce three "data migration functors", which translate instances from one schema to the other in canonical ways. These functors parameterize projections, unions, and joins over all tables simultaneously and can be used in place of conjunctive and disjunctive queries. We also show how to connect a database and a functional programming language by introducing a functorial connection between the schema and the category of types for that language. We begin the paper with a multitude of examples to motivate the definitions, and near the end we provide a dictionary whereby one can translate database concepts into category-theoretic concepts and vice-versa.Comment: 30 page

Innovative Evaluation System – IESM: An Architecture for the Database Management System for Mobile Application

As the mobile applications are constantly facing a rapid development in the recent years especially in the academic environment such as student response system [1-8] used in universities and other educational institutions; there has not been reported an effective and scalable Database Management System to support fast and reliable data storage and retrieval. This paper presents Database Management Architecture for an Innovative Evaluation System based on Mobile Learning Applications. The need for a relatively stable, independent and extensible data model for faster data storage and retrieval is analyzed and investigated. It concludes by emphasizing further investigation for high throughput so as to support multimedia data such as video clips, images and documents

UK utility data integration: overcoming schematic heterogeneity

In this paper we discuss syntactic, semantic and schematic issues which inhibit the integration of utility data in the UK. We then focus on the techniques employed within the VISTA project to overcome schematic heterogeneity. A Global Schema based architecture is employed. Although automated approaches to Global Schema definition were attempted the heterogeneities of the sector were too great. A manual approach to Global Schema definition was employed. The techniques used to define and subsequently map source utility data models to this schema are discussed in detail. In order to ensure a coherent integrated model, sub and cross domain validation issues are then highlighted. Finally the proposed framework and data flow for schematic integration is introduced

View mappings for query languages

The problems of current use of query languages are looked at. One chief drawback is the undesirable requirement for end user familiarity with and knowledge of the underlying database structures, in order to retrieve data effectively. The approach adopted towards resolving this is by means of high-level view support, using unit view structures called perceived records. A prime concern of this thesis then, is the study of perceived record mappings from the database. A set of criteria for categorising and analysing the features of database mappings for end-user views is first developed. In addition, a classification of data structure transformations and data item transformations is also presented. The framework is general and is independent of a specific data model or database management system. Its usefulness is demonstrated by its application to the analysis of view transformations from recursive database structures to high-level, unit view structures. In addition, it serves as a basis for evaluating and comparing the mapping facilities in existing systems. Possible ways of specifying a suitable data model for the perceived record view concept are described. Following on, two general mapping techniques are discussed. This leads to a proposal for a mapping mechanism that supports the flexible derivation of complex perceived record views that can differ considerably from the source structures. The mechanism uses an intermediary canonical transform model. Description of how the transform model mechansim can be used in practical systems to derive perceived record views, is also presented. The feasibility of the ideas proposed are tested out by implementing an interactive software system for defining perceived record views. For this, a mapping definition language for perceived record derivation is first designed. The control system sets up the structures of the mapping definition language and prompts the End-User-Administrator to define and specify the mappings for a perceived record. Appraisals of both the proposed mapping mechanism and implementation are discussed. Examples of use of the interface system are included. The limitations of the implementation are pinpointed with suggestions for further improvements. Practical applications of the work and evaluation of the approach in the light of other existing approaches, are also discussed