A Collaborative Schema Integration System

Conceptual modelling as applied to database development can be described as a two stage process: schema modelling followed by schema integration. Schema modelling is the process of transforming individual user requirements into a conceptual schema: an implementation-independent map of data requirements. Schema integration is the process of combining individual conceptual schemas into a single, unified schema. Single-user tools for schema modelling have enjoyed much success partly because the process of schema modelling has become relatively well formalised. Although a number of formal approaches to conducting schema integration have been proposed, it appears that schema integration tools have not enjoyed the same level of success. This we attribute not so much to the problem of formalisation but to the inherent collaborative nature of schema integration work. This paper first discusses the importance of collaboration to schema integration work. It then describes SISIBIS, a demonstrator system employing the IBIS (Issue Based Information System) scheme to support collaborative database design.     

基于源模式分裂的模式匹配算法

模式匹配就是在作为输入的模式中有对应语义关系的元素间产生一个映射.为了提高模式匹配的效率,提出了一种新型的模式匹配方法--源模式分裂模式匹配算法.它可以解决标准模式匹配难以解决的问题:1)源模式的某一个属性和多个目标模式的多个属性之间建立匹配关系;2)表格中的不同元组对应其他表格同一元组的不同属性值的匹配.在匹配过程中,该方法先搜索种类型属性,然后根据种类型属性建立选择条件,最后把源模式进行分裂形成视图,再重新生成候选匹配集合,从而提高模式匹配的质量.     

基于模式图的规范化XML模式设计

在给定关系模式的属性集及其函数依赖最小覆盖集的基础上,提出一种基于模式图的规范化XML模式设计方法。定义了模式图,在模式图中增加了Keys的描述信息,给出由函数依赖集构造模式图的算法。该模式图独立于具体的XML模式语言,经分析证明,所设计的模式满足XNF。     

一种时序数据模式演化的跟踪与查询方法

在物联网与大数据应用蓬勃发展的背景下,各类感知设备产生海量的时序数据,设备管理软件版本的快速迭代导致时序数据的模式演化问题日益凸显.模式演化要求对数据模式进行版本管理,使数据进行模式变更时不产生信息损失,且支持对数据跨模式版本进行读写操作.结合流行的时序数据库管理系统,调研总结了各类数据库管理系统对模式演化的支持情况,对时序数据及其模式进行了形式化表述,对其模式演化的过程进行了分析,设计了一种面向时序数据的模式演化跟踪及查询方法,形式化表达了模式跟踪及跨模式版本查询的整体框架与关键步骤,并在时序数据库Apache IoTDB上进行了实现与测试.最后,分析了实现系统的性能,并展望了未来研究方向.     

XML Schema与DTD的比较及应用

XML是目前广泛应用的数据交换标准，而模式是应用XML进行数据交换的正确性的保证机制之一。模式详细描述了文档的结构，确保文档的元素和属性等的正确性。XML Schema和DTD是其中应用最广泛的模式。文中详细比较了两者的异同，并指出了各自的局限及最佳的应用，DTD非常适合于文本密集型XML文档，而XML Schema更适合于数据密集型XML文档。     

Bridging Ontologies and Conceptual Schemas in Geographic Information Integration

Integration of geographic information has increased in importance because of new possibilities arising from the interconnected world and the increasing availability of geographic information. Ontologies support the creation of conceptual models and help with information integration. In this paper, we propose a way to link the formal representation of semantics (i.e., ontologies) to conceptual schemas describing information stored in databases. The main result is a formal framework that explains a mapping between a spatial ontology and a geographic conceptual schema. The mapping of ontologies to conceptual schemas is made using three different levels of abstraction: formal, domain, and application levels. At the formal level, highly abstract concepts are used to express the schema and the ontologies. At the domain level, the schema is regarded as an instance of a generic data model. At the application level, we focus on the particular case of geographic applications. We also discuss the influence of ontologies in both the traditional and geographic systems development methodologies, with an emphasis on the conceptual design phase.     

Matching large schemas: Approaches and evaluation

Current schema matching approaches still have to improve for large and complex Schemas. The large search space increases the likelihood for false matches as well as execution times. Further difficulties for Schema matching are posed by the high expressive power and versatility of modern schema languages, in particular user-defined types and classes, component reuse capabilities, and support for distributed schemas and namespaces. To better assist the user in matching complex schemas, we have developed a new generic schema matching tool, COMA++, providing a library of individual matchers and a flexible infrastructure to combine the matchers and refine their results. Different match strategies can be applied including a new scalable approach to identify context-dependent correspondences between schemas with shared elements and a fragment-based match approach which decomposes a large match task into smaller tasks. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the match strategies using large e-Business standard schemas. Besides providing helpful insights for future match implementations, the evaluation demonstrated the practicability of our system for matching large schemas.     

Managing schema evolution in a container‐based persistent system

Managing schema evolution is a problem every persistent system has to cope with to be useful in practice. Schema evolution consists basically of supporting class modification and dealing with data objects created and stored under the old class definitions. Several proposals have been made to handle this problem in systems that follow a full orthogonally persistent approach, but, until now, there has not been any proposal to support it in container‐based persistent systems. In this paper we describe a schema evolution management system designed for Barbados. Barbados is a complete programming environment which is based on an architecture of containers to provide persistent storage. Barbados does not provide full orthogonal persistence, but, as will be described in this paper, its architecture has several other advantages. Among them is the fact that this model is especially suitable for solving the schema evolution problem. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种有效的贪婪模式匹配算法

模式匹配问题是意图获得两个模式中所包含个体对象之间的语义匹配和映射,其结果表示源模式的个体对象与目标模式的个体对象之间存在特定的语义关联.它在数据库应用领域起到关键性的作用,例如数据集成、电子商务、数据仓库、XML消息交换等,特别地,它已成为元数据管理的基本问题.然而,模式匹配很大程度上依赖人工的操作,是一个费时费力的过程.模式匹配问题可以归约为一个组合优化问题:多标记图匹配问题.首先,将模式表示为多标记图,将模式匹配转换为多标记图匹配问题.其次,提出多标记图的相似性度量方法,进而提出基于多标记图相似性的模式匹配目标优化函数.最后,在这个目标函数基础上设计实现了一个贪婪匹配算法,其最显著的特点是综合多种可用的标记信息,灵活准确地获得最优的匹配结果.     

基于本体的信息集成框架中包装器的设计

将本体应用在信息集成框架中能够在语义层次上消除底层数据源的异构,但是本体只相当于一个知识库,在定义用户接口时,需要赋予其一个语法结构,这个语法结构可作为与用户交互的全局模式,从本体到全局模式的转换可以用包装器来实现。而此全局模式和各个数据源之间的局部模式也需要映射,这些映射也可以用包装器来实现。该文提出了基于本体的信息集成框架中一种包装器的设计,通过将本体转换为XMLSchema作为全局模式,并利用XSLT实现全局模式和局部模式的映射,从而屏蔽了数据源的异构性。     

一种基于数据挖掘的Deep Web模式匹配方法

模式匹配是Deep Web异构信息集成中的关键问题.介绍了一种整体性匹配方法,即同时发现大量模式,并一次性进行匹配.主要通过分析和比较两种已经存在的大规模模式匹配原型系统:MGS和DCM,结合它们核心算法的优点,提出一种新的基于数据挖掘技术的算法(Correlated-clustering).该算法先利用积极相关发现组匹配,再通过概念相似度的计算聚类同义属性,最后进行匹配选择.实验结果表明,本算法全面、效率高,充分体现了整体性方法的思想.     

Schema versioning and database conversion techniques for bi-temporal databases

Schema evolution and schema versioning are two techniques used for managing database evolution. Schema evolution keeps only the current version of a schema and database after applying schema changes. Schema versioning creates new schema versions and converts the corresponding data while preserving the old schema versions and data. To provide the most generality, bi-temporal databases can be used to realize schema versioning, since they allow both retroactive and proactive updates to the schema and database. In this paper we first study two proposed database conversion approaches for supporting schema evolution and schema versioning: single table version approach and multiple table version approach. We then propose the partial table version approach to solve the problems encountered in these approaches when applied to bi-temporal databases. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

发掘数据库模式间的复杂语义匹配

模式匹配是数据集成和数据转换中的重要问题.现有的模式匹配方法大多集中于发掘模式间的1:1匹配,然而,现实世界模式之间除了1:1匹配还包括许多的复杂匹配.本文提出一种新的发掘数据库模式问复杂匹配的方法--CSM(Complex Schema Matching),它在全面发掘模式问1:1和复杂匹配的同时,还可进一步找到不透明列间的匹配关系.实验表明,CSM不仅能全面的发掘模式间匹配,与其它模式匹配方法相比,还具有较高的查全率、查准率和效率.     

基于语义约束的数据转换模式研究

XML是因特网中不同企业之间进行信息交流的一种标准的数据转换模式,为了加速数据之间的转换,企业组织通过定义公共数据文档接口来实现基于XML的应用。本文提出了一种新的将关系数据模式转换为XML模式的方法。在转换的过程中,不仅考虑关系模式的结构,而且考虑语义约束,比如内部函数依赖。该方法的输入模式是具有多值函数依赖的关系模式,输出模式是X-Schema。最后,通过实验对该转换方法进行了验证。     

一种基于部分已验证匹配关系的模式匹配模型

模式匹配是模式集成、语义WEB及电子商务等领域的重点及难点问题. 为了有效利用专家知识提高匹配质量, 提出了一种基于部分已验证匹配关系的模式匹配模型. 在该模型中, 首先,人工验证待匹配模式元素间的少量对应关系, 进而推理出当前任务下部分已知的匹配关系及单独匹配器的缺省权重; 然后,基于上述已收集到的先验知识对多种匹配器所生成的相似度矩阵进行合并及调整, 并在全局范围内进行优化; 最后,对优化矩阵的选择性进行评估, 从而为不同匹配任务推荐最合理的候选匹配生成方案. 实验结果表明, 部分已验证匹配关系的使用有助于模式匹配质量的提高.     

The XML Tree Model – toward an XML conceptual schema reversed from XML Schema Definition

XML Schema Definition (XSD) is the logical schemas of an XML model, but there is no standard format for the conceptual schema of an XML model. Therefore, we propose an XML Tree Model (XTM) as an XML conceptual schema for representing data semantics in a diagram, and also as an XML data model validator for confirming the data semantics required by users. An XTM consists of hierarchical nodes representing all the elements, and the data relationships among elements within the XSD. A rule-based algorithm and an information capacity with pre- and post-conditions are developed as the methodology for reverse engineering. The proposed algorithm consists of two rules: General Information Transformation and Data Semantic Recovering to construct an XTM. Users can draw an XTM with data relationships among elements as a result of the reverse engineering.     

Semi-automated schema integration with SASMINT

The emergence of increasing number of collaborating organizations has made clear the need for supporting interoperability infrastructures, enabling sharing and exchange of data among organizations. Schema matching and schema integration are the crucial components of the interoperability infrastructures, and their semi-automation to interrelate or integrate heterogeneous and autonomous databases in collaborative networks is desired. The Semi-Automatic Schema Matching and INTegration (SASMINT) System introduced in this paper identifies and resolves several important syntactic, semantic, and structural conflicts among schemas of relational databases to find their likely matches automatically. Furthermore, after getting the user validation on the matched results, it proposes an integrated schema. SASMINT uses a combination of a variety of metrics and algorithms from the Natural Language Processing and Graph Theory domains for its schema matching. For the schema integration, it utilizes a number of derivation rules defined in the scope of the research work explained in this paper. Furthermore, a derivation language called SASMINT Derivation Markup Language (SDML) is defined for capturing and formulating both the results of matching and the integration that can be further used, for example for federated query processing from independent databases. In summary, the paper focuses on addressing: (1) conflicts among schemas that make automatic schema matching and integration difficult, (2) the main components of the SASMINT approach and system, (3) in-depth exploration of SDML, (4) heuristic rules designed and implemented as part of the schema integration component of the SASMINT system, and (5) experimental evaluation of SASMINT.