OWL本体到关系数据库模式的映射

通过对现有本体存储模式的分析,以及对OWl本体和关系数据库模式之间的概念对应关系的分析,定义了从OWL本体到关系数据库模式的转换规则,给出了OWL本体存储模式的设计原则,并基于该原则提出了一种新的本体存储模式.针对本体描述语言OWL的构词特点,该模式提出将本体中的语义信息存放在不同的表中,以达到方便理解、结构稳定和提高效率的目的,适应于多数中小型本体的存储.     

Semantics of data bases: The semantics of data models

The definition of data equivalence depends on a notion of the semantics (i.e. the meaning) of the data stored in a data base. To define the semantics of these data it is very important to distinguish between the things to be modelled in a data base and the language in which they are represented. We introduce an abstract data model which is suited to express the semantics of schemas respectively data instances. To represent this model we propose a logical data definition language (LDDL) and a logical data language (LDL) which as a consequence allow to specify the kind of information which may be stored in the data base and which ensures the correctness and consistency of this information.     

Attribute-oriented fuzzy generalization in proximity- and similarity-based relational database systems

In this article we investigate an attribute-oriented induction approach for acquisition of abstract knowledge from data stored in a fuzzy database environment. We utilize a proximity-based fuzzy database schema as the medium carrying the original information, where lack of precise information about an entity can be reflected via multiple attribute values, and the classical equivalence relation is replaced with the broader fuzzy proximity relation. We analyze in detail the process of attribute-oriented induction by concept hierarchies, utilizing the original properties of fuzzy databases to support this established data mining technique. In our approach we take full advantage of the implicit knowledge about the similarity of original attribute values, included by default in the investigated fuzzy database schemas. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 22: 763–779, 2007.     

基于同义词表的异构数据库-本体映射

本体是信息在语义层和知识层的描述。将现有的其它数据形式转换为本体表示将有利于实现数据共享和语义推理。目前计算机系统中的数据大多以关系数据库形式存在,因此基于关系数据库构建本体的研究具有重要意义。本文首先分析了单一数据库-本体映射问题,扩充了Ghawi规则以覆盖更多类型的数据关系,其次针对同质异构数据库-本体映射问题,进一步扩充Ghawi规则,给出了基于同义词表的异构数据库-本体映射规则集,实现了异构数据库-本体映射。     

A Task-Based Interface to Legal Databases

This paper addresses the problems that lawyers experience retrieving information from legal-text databases. Traditional access mechanisms of text databases require users to know how information is stored. We propose a method for index organisation which shields lawyers from the internal storage structures and which allows them to address the legal databases in their own legal terms. The proposed index is based on a model of legal tasks as opposed to traditional database indexes which represent the contents of the database. We will lay out the architecture of an information system in which this task model is used to determine the information need, to retrieve relevant documents and to give methodical guidance for the legal task itself. To account for the design of a task-based legal information retrieval system, a substantial part of this paper is devoted to analysis and representation of legal tasks.     

Constructing the Bayesian network structure from dependencies implied in multiple relational schemas

Relational models are the most common representation of structured data, and acyclic database theory is important in relational databases. In this paper, we propose the method for constructing the Bayesian network structure from dependencies implied in multiple relational schemas. Based on the acyclic database theory and its relationships with probabilistic networks, we are to construct the Bayesian network structure starting from implied independence information instead of mining database instances. We first give the method to find the maximum harmoniousness subset for the multi-valued dependencies on an acyclic schema, and thus the most information of conditional independencies can be retained. Further, aiming at multi-relational environments, we discuss the properties of join graphs of multiple 3NF database schemas, and thus the dependencies between separate relational schemas can be obtained. In addition, on the given cyclic join dependency, the transformation from cyclic to acyclic database schemas is proposed by virtue of finding a minimal acyclic augmentation. An applied example shows that our proposed methods are feasible.     

Grammars++ for modelling information in text

Grammars provide a convenient means to describe the set of valid instances in a text database. Flexibility in choosing a grammar can be exploited to provide information modelling capability by designing productions in the grammar to represent entities and relationships of interest to database applications. Additional constraints can be specified by attaching predicates to selected nonterminals in the grammar. When used for database definition, grammars can provide the functionality that users have come to expect of database schemas. Extended grammars can also be used to specify database manipulation, including query, update, view definition, and index specification.     

基于领域本体和关系模型的XML语义集成方法研究

由于缺乏足够的语义信息,不同模式的XML数据之间很难进行互操作。针对油气井工程中的XML数据集成需求,借助领域全局本体,提出一种模式无关的XML语义集成方法。该方法首先在XML Path路径与领域本体之间进行语义映射,屏蔽其模式差异;然后,按照模型映射方法将XML存储为关系数据;最后通过查询重写将SPARQL转换为SQL语句,实现语义查询。该方法对XML模式进行语义标注,利用关系数据库存储与查询XML数据,能有效处理领域XML数据的语义集成。     

Fuzzy querying of incomplete, imprecise, and heterogeneously structured data in the relational model using ontologies and rules

In this paper, we present a new method, called multiview fuzzy querying, which permits to query incomplete, imprecise and heterogeneously structured data stored in a relational database. This method has been implemented in the MIEL software. MIEL is used to query the Sym'Previus database which gathers information about the behavior of pathogenic germs in food products. In this database, data are incomplete because information about all possible food products and all possible germs is not available; data are heterogeneous because they come from various sources (scientific bibliography, industrial data, etc); data may be imprecise because of the complexity of the underlying biological processes that are involved. To deal with heterogeneity, MIEL queries the database through several views simultaneously. To query incomplete data, MIEL proposes to use a fuzzy set, expressing the query preferences of the user. Fuzzy sets may be defined on a hierarchized domain of values, called an ontology (values of the domain are connected using the a kind of semantic link). MIEL also proposes two optional functionalities to help the user query the database: i) MIEL can use the ontology to enlarge the querying in order to retrieve the nearest data corresponding to the selection criteria; and ii) MIEL proposes fuzzy completion rules to help the user formulate his/her query. To query imprecise data stored in the database with fuzzy selection criteria, MIEL uses fuzzy pattern matching.     

关系数据库模式和本体间映射的研究综述

关系数据库模式和本体问映射是语义网研究中的一个重要问题.首先,给出关系数据库模式和本体间映射的形式化定义,并从建模思想和应用场景两个方面分析问题的难点.根据3个不同角度,即模型转换的途径、映射策略的适用范围以及映射结果的表达形式,调研当前存在的多种解决途径.在此基础上,进一步介绍并比较6个具有代表性的关系数据库模式和本体间映射的工具.最后,讨论存在的挑战,并指出未来可能的研究方向.     

Methodology and intermediate layer for the automatic creation of ontology instances stored in relational databases

In this paper, we introduce our solution for mapping local ontologies to relational and object‐oriented representations. This solution is part of the GeoNis framework for the interoperability of geo‐information systems applications in a local community environment. The GeoNis framework is based on a hybrid ontology approach for data integration. Therefore, a very important subject in our research on semantic data integration is the creation of mapping between a spatial information source and its local ontology. We developed the OWL2RDB mapping language to create an intermediate layer between a relational database and the OWL ontology. This intermediate layer contains rules (expressed in the OWL2RDB language) for mapping between the structural elements of a relational database and the concepts of OWL ontologies. We also present a system that uses the OWL2RDB intermediate layer to create classes that can handle ontology instances stored in relational databases. We have developed a prototype for a tool that uses this proposed approach for the automatic generation of translator/wrapper components in the GeoNis interoperability environment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Approximate OLAP of document-oriented databases: A variety-aware approach

Schemaless databases, and document-oriented databases in particular, are preferred to relational ones for storing heterogeneous data with variable schemas and structural forms. However, the absence of a unique schema adds complexity to analytical applications, in which a single analysis often involves large sets of data with different schemas. In this paper we propose an original approach to OLAP on collections stored in document-oriented databases. The basic idea is to stop fighting against schema variety and welcome it as an inherent source of information wealth in schemaless sources. Our approach builds on four stages: schema extraction, schema integration, FD enrichment, and querying; these stages are discussed in detail in the paper. To make users aware of the impact of schema variety, we propose a set of indicators inspired by the definition of attribute density. Finally, we experimentally evaluate our approach in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.     

Model independent assertions for integration of heterogeneous schemas

Due to the proliferation of database applications, the integration of existing databases into a distributed or federated system is one of the major challenges in responding to enterprises' information requirements. Some proposed integration techniques aim at providing database administrators (DBAs) with a view definition language they can use to build the desired integrated schema. These techniques leave to the DBA the responsibility of appropriately restructuring schema elements from existing local schemas and of solving inter-schema conflicts. This paper investigates theassertion-based approach, in which the DBA's action is limited to pointing out corresponding elements in the schemas and to defining the nature of the correspondence in between. This methodology is capable of: ensuring better integration by taking into account additional semantic information (assertions about links); automatically solving structural conflicts; building the integrated schema without requiring conforming of initial schemas; applying integration rules to a variety of data models; and performing view as well as database integration. This paper presents the basic ideas underlying our approach and focuses on resolution of structural conflicts.     

Using Constraint Programming in Selection Operators for Constraint Databases

Constraint Databases represent complex data by means of formulas described by constraints (equations, inequations or Boolean combinations of both). Commercial database management systems allow the storage and efficient retrieval of classic data, but for complex data a made-to-measure solution combined with expert systems for each type of problem are necessary. Therefore, in the same way as commercial solutions of relational databases permit storing and querying classic data, we propose an extension of the Selection Operator for complex data stored, and an extension of SQL language for the case where both classic and constraint data need to be managed. This extension shields the user from unnecessary details on how the information is stored and how the queries are evaluated, thereby enlarging the capacity of expressiveness for any commercial database management system. In order to minimize the selection time, a set of strategies have been proposed, which combine the advantages of relational algebra and constraint data representation.     

The MIEL system: Uniform interrogation of structured and weakly-structured imprecise data

We present an information system developed to help assessing the microbiological risk in food. That information system contains experimental results in microbiology, mainly extracted from scientific publications. The increasing amount of the experimental results available and the difficulty to integrate them into a classic relational database schema led us to design a system composed of two distinct subsystems queried through a common interface. The first subsystem is a classic relational database. The second subsystem is a database containing weakly-structured pieces of information expressed in terms of conceptual graphs. The data stored in both bases can be fuzzy ones in order to take into account the specificities of the biological information. The uniform query language used on both relational database and conceptual graph database allows the users to express preferences by using fuzzy sets in their queries. The MIEL system is now operational and used by the microbiologists involved in the Sym’Previus French project.     

Automatic fuzzy ontology generation for semantic Web

Ontology is an effective conceptualism commonly used for the semantic Web. Fuzzy logic can be incorporated to ontology to represent uncertainty information. Typically, fuzzy ontology is generated from a predefined concept hierarchy. However, to construct a concept hierarchy for a certain domain can be a difficult and tedious task. To tackle this problem, this paper proposes the FOGA (fuzzy ontology generation framework) for automatic generation of fuzzy ontology on uncertainty information. The FOGA framework comprises the following components: fuzzy formal concept analysis, concept hierarchy generation, and fuzzy ontology generation. We also discuss approximating reasoning for incremental enrichment of the ontology with new upcoming data. Finally, a fuzzy-based technique for integrating other attributes of database to the ontology is proposed.     

Instance-based domain ontological view creation towards semantic integration

In many domains today there are very limited explicit ontologies established for implementing information systems. Traditional ontology-driven semantic integration approaches cannot be directly applied in integrating these information systems. Usually, the information systems have schemas, a type of formal information model, for their information repositories which to some extent imply the semantics of the information. Each schema actually reflects a specific view of the domain conceptualization. This paper investigates the theoretical foundation of ontologies and extends the traditional ontology concept to the ontological view concept. It proposes to use ontological views to address the challenge of semantic integration. The proposed approach adopts the schemas to create local ontological views, uses data instances of the information systems to discover semantic relationships between the concepts within the ontological views, and builds a domain ontological view based on the discovered equivalence mappings. It applies the hierarchical clustering technique on the data instances and, in the further analysis, uses the clusters to reduce the cost of processing a large amount of data. The matching of concept properties is based on the probability distribution of the data instances. The experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach.     

Query optimisation using a data dictionary

Data dictionaries are playing an increasingly important role as repositories for information about all the data belonging to an organisation. Through the provision of sophisticated end user facilities, database management system implementors are encouraging high-level interface access to databases. However, it is often alleged that this type of database access is very costly. In this paper we describe the use of a data dictionary in the implementation of a high-level query interface to CODASYL databases. A feature of the query interface is its use of database monitoring information, stored in the data dictionary, to optimise the processing of queries.