Querying model-driven spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are being used with many different purposes that range from toy applications to complete information systems. In any of these cases, they are often used as data repositories that can grow significantly. As the amount of data grows, it also becomes more difficult to extract concrete information out of them. This paper focuses on the problem of spreadsheet querying. In particular, we propose an expressive and composable technique where intuitive queries can be defined. Our approach builds on a model-driven spreadsheet development environment, and queries are expressed referencing entities in the model of a spreadsheet instead of in its actual data. Finally, the system that we have implemented relies on Google’s query function for spreadsheets.(undefined

Graphical querying of model-driven spreadsheets

This paper presents a graphical interface to query modeldriven spreadsheets, based on experience with previous work and empirical studies in querying systems, to simplify query construction for typical end-users with little to no knowledge of SQL. We briefly show our previous text based model-driven querying system. Afterwards, we detail our graphical model-driven querying interface, explaining each part of the interface and showing an example. To validate our work, we executed an empirical study, comparing our graphical querying approach to an alternative querying tool, which produced positive results.(undefined

Design and implementation of queries for model-driven spreadsheets

This paper presents a domain-specific querying language for model-driven spreadsheets. We briefly show the design of the language and present in detail its implementation, from the denormalization of data and translation of our user-friendly query language to a more efficient query, to the execution of the query using Google. To validate our work, we executed an empirical study, comparing QuerySheet with an alternative spreadsheet querying tool, which produced positive results

RegenBase: a knowledge base of spinal cord injury biology for translational research.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) research is a data-rich field that aims to identify the biological mechanisms resulting in loss of function and mobility after SCI, as well as develop therapies that promote recovery after injury. SCI experimental methods, data and domain knowledge are locked in the largely unstructured text of scientific publications, making large scale integration with existing bioinformatics resources and subsequent analysis infeasible. The lack of standard reporting for experiment variables and results also makes experiment replicability a significant challenge. To address these challenges, we have developed RegenBase, a knowledge base of SCI biology. RegenBase integrates curated literature-sourced facts and experimental details, raw assay data profiling the effect of compounds on enzyme activity and cell growth, and structured SCI domain knowledge in the form of the first ontology for SCI, using Semantic Web representation languages and frameworks. RegenBase uses consistent identifier schemes and data representations that enable automated linking among RegenBase statements and also to other biological databases and electronic resources. By querying RegenBase, we have identified novel biological hypotheses linking the effects of perturbagens to observed behavioral outcomes after SCI. RegenBase is publicly available for browsing, querying and download.Database URL:http://regenbase.org

Embedding model-driven spreadsheet queries in spreadsheet systems

Spreadsheets are widely used not only to define mathematical expressions, but also to store large and complex data. To query such data is usually a difficult task to perform, usually for end user. In this work we embed the textual query language in the model-driven spreadsheet environment as a spreadsheet itself. The result is an expressive and powerful query environment that has knowledge of the business logic defined by the spreadsheet data (the spreadsheet model) to guide end users constructing correct queries

GEORDi: Supporting lightweight end-user authoring and exploration of Linked Data

The US and UK governments have recently made much of the data created by their various departments available as data sets (often as csv files) available on the web. Known as ”open data” while these are valuable assets, much of this data remains useless because it is effectively inaccessible for citizens to access for the following reasons: (1) it is often a tedious, many step process for citizens simply to find data relevant to a query. Once the data candidate is located, it often must be downloaded and opened in a separate application simply to see if the data that may satisfy the query is contained in it. (2) It is difficult to join related data sets to create richer integrated information (3) it is particularly difficult to query either a single data set, and even harder to query across related data sets. (4) To date, one has had to be well versed in semantic web protocols like SPARQL, RDF and URI formation to integrate and query such sources as reusable linked data. Our goal has been to develop tools that will let regular, non-programmer web citizens make use of this Web of Data. To this end, we present GEORDi, a set of integrated tools and services that lets citizen users identify, explore, query and represent these open data sources over the web via Linked Data mechanisms. In this paper we describe the GEORDi process of authoring new and translating existing open data in a linkable format, GEORDi’s lens mechanism for rendering rich, plain language descriptions and views of resources, and the GEORDI link-sliding paradigm for data exploration. With these tools we demonstrate that it is possible to make the Web of open (and linked) data accessible for ordinary web citizen users

ES-SQL: visually querying spreadsheets

This paper presents ES-SQL, an embedded tool for visually constructing queries over spreadsheets. This tool provides an expressive query environment which has knowledge on the business logic of spreadsheets, and by this knowledge it assists the user in defining the intended queries

MDSheet - Model-Driven Spreadsheets

This paper showcases MDSheet, a framework aimed at improving the engineering of spreadsheets. This framework is model-driven, and has been fully integrated under a spreadsheet system. Also, its practical interest has been demonstrated by several empirical studies.ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-02053