Model-Checking Based Data Retrieval: An Application to Semistructured and Temporal Data: 2917 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2917) - Softcover

Quintarelli, Elisa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3540209719 ISBN 13: 9783540209713

Publisher: Springer, 2004

Synopsis

This thesis deals with the problems of characterizing the semantics of and assuringe?cient executionfor databasequery languages,wherethedatabase contains semistructured and time-varying information. This area of techn- ogy is of much interest and signi?cance for databases and knowledge bases; it also presents many challenging research problems deserving an in-depth investigation.Thus, the topic of Elisa Quintarelli's dissertation is well chosen and totally appropriate to the current research trends. In her thesis, Elisa addresses a number of related problems. However, her work and contributions concentrate on two main problems. The ?rst is the de?nition of an e?ective graph-based approach to the formalization of query languages for semistructured and temporal information. In her approach, query execution is viewed as the process of matching the query graph with the database instance graph; therefore, query execution reduces to sear- ing the database for subgraphs that are similar to the given query graph. The search for such matches can be supported through the computational process of bisimulation. This approach is used to de?ne the semantics of s- eral languages, including graphical languages, such as G-Log and GraphLog, semistructuredinformationlanguages,suchasLorel,andtemporallanguages, such as TSS-QL. Both graph-based approaches and bisimulation had been used by previous authors for de?ning query languages and their semantics; however, this work goes well beyond previous approaches by integrating and re?ning these techniques into a ?exible and powerful paradigm that Elisa demonstrates to be e?ective on a spectrum of languages and a suite of alt- native semantics.

About this title

Review

From the reviews of the first edition:

"The volume contains the results of the research covered by the Ph.D. dissertation of Elisa Quintarelli at the Politecnico di Milano. Two specific problems in the area of representation of semistructured data and queries are addressed ... . The thesis presents research containing novel contributions and an in-depth expertise on several topics. It represents a valuable source of information." (Antonín Ríha, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1069, 2005)

Synopsis

This book is devoted to the study of the semantics and assuring the efficient execution of database query languages, where the database contains semistructured and time-varying information. The primary focus of the work presented is the definition of an effective graph-based approach to the formalization of query languages for semistructured and temporal information; as a result, query execution can be reduced to searching the database for subgraphs that are similar to the given query graph and thus can be supported through bisimualtion. By integrating and refining graph-based methods and bisimulation, the author develops a powerful and flexible paradigm. The second research challenge solved is that of efficient implementation by modeling graphical queries as formulas in modal logic and interpreting database instance graphs as Kripke transition systems.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3540209719
• ISBN 13: 9783540209713
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152