marek@marek.cs.uh.edu (Dr. Marek Rusinkiewicz) (02/25/89)
SCHOOL ON THE RECENT TECHNIQUES
FOR INTEGRATING HETEROGENEOUS DATABASES
1. OBJECTIVES
The goal of the school is to present the current state-of-the-art
in multidatabase system research, development, and applications. The
multidatabase management issues will be confronted with those of the
integrated information systems to provide a sound basis for critical
appraisal of current (and immediate future) requirements and capabili-
ties.
An international forum of researchers, developers, system
engineers, and users of the multidatabase system technology will
meet to discuss the principal issues and future trends. We believe
that the maturity of multidatabase technology, and the growing needs
to integrate preexisting information systems, more than justify a
dedicated forum.
An introduction to multidatabase management will be provided by
an overview of the integrated information systems engineering
setting the scene for the more specific technical issues.
Architecture and some formal issues of multidatabase management will
be presented to provide information regarding the current
state-of-the-art of the heterogeneous database integration
technology. Specific technical aspects such as integration and
interoperability, query processing, and user-friendly interfaces
will be presented.
The future trends of the multidatabase management technology,
in particular those concerning integration of data and knowledge
management, will be represented by such topics as object-oriented
database technology in integrated information systems,
knowledge-based user interfaces, and distributed knowledge base
management.
Active participation of the audience in the technical discussions
will be enhanced by a number of panel discussions as well as product
and research prototype presentations.
2. TIME & PLACE
The school will be held in Venice on the 10-14 of April 1989. at
Venezia University, Aula Magna, Ca' Dolfin
3. STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAMME
The programme includes in-depth formal presentations, panels, as
well as presentations and demos of practical multidatabase systems.
The emphasis is on providing participants both with a thorough
understanding of the principles underlying multidatabase management
techniques and with a good grasp of current practical applications.
The formal presentations will address fundamental issues of the
multidatabase technology, starting with integrated information system
engineering and architectures of multidatabase management systems.
Query processing, in particular multidatabase query optimization, is
one of the fundamental MDBMS implementation issues. A talk will be
given highlighting the principal results in this area.
Integration of knowledge and data processing in the context of
multidatabase systems will be the subject of several presentations,
culminating in a talk on the federated knowledge-based systems.
Panels involving seminar lecturers will discuss current issues
and future trends in the area of application of the multidatabase
technology in integrated information systems, as well as the principal
research and engineering issues.
Several practical multidatabase products will be presented and
the on-going demos will be available to the participants during the
school.
Active participation is expected from the school attendees both
in the scientific as well as industrial sessions and demonstrations.
4. PARTICIPANTS
The seminar will provide useful information for all practitioners
and researchers in the database management field. In particular,
administrators of large scale information systems, database
administrators, and system designers will profit from in-depth
discussions of multidatabase technology. A number of topics to be
covered by the seminar talks represent areas of of great research
interest. Participation of researchers active in those fields will
stimulate interesting exchange of ideas concerning future trends of
the multidatabase technology.
5. FORMAL PRESENTATIONS
Integrated Information System Engineering
David Bell
University of Ulster
Belfast, United Kingdom
Technological challenge coming both from the information system
user community and the rapidly evolving information technology
market creates a requirement for new tools and techniques in the area
of information system engineering. The talk will concentrate on the
information system integration issues. The organizational and
technical problems of integrated information system engineering will
be presented. An integration case study will be used to illustrate
the main problems and requirements that today shape the existing and
emerging integrating software tools and methodologies.
Issues in Federated Knowledge-Based Systems
Misbah Deen
University of Keele
Keele, United Kingdom
The talk will focus on some special research in the area of
distributed knowledge bases and cooperating expert systems. In
particular, knowledge representation model homogenization, data and
rule incompatibility, and intelligent agent modelling will be
presented. The object-oriented approach to high-level knowledge
processing will discussed exemplified by an object-oriented language
(DEAL) proposed as a global knowledge representation facility. A VDM
based technique currently being developed for handling rule incom-
patibilities will be presented.
Formal Aspects of Data Model Equivalence and Translation
Leonid Kalinichenko
Institute of Problems of Informatics
The USSR Academy of Sciences
Moscow, USSR
The main principles forming the basis of the heterogeneous
database integration will be covered, including the data model
axiomatic extension principle, the data model commutative mapping
principle, and the unifying conceptual level data model synthesis
principle. Practical use of the above formal techniques will be
highlighted. Data manipulation semantics will be discussed in the
context of the database schema mapping rules and the extended target
data model.
Implications of the principles and formal tools on the architecture of
a heterogeneous database integrating system will be exemplified by the
SISYPHUS multidatabase management system.
Integration and Interoperability
Witold Litwin
INRIA France
University of Maryland USA
The are two alternative approaches to multidatabase management.
One is based on the common global schema providing an integrated
view of data coming from the underlying heterogeneous databases, and
the other is integration of federated databases that are made visible
and directly accessible to the multidatabase system users. The second
approach is very useful in dynamic multidatabase system environments,
where databases and system nodes are added and removed frequently.
The talk will concentrate on the issues of system integration, in
particular on the mechanisms that resolve structural and semantic
conflicts that remain after homogenization of the underlying database
schemata. The interoperability allows queries to directly address the
homogenized nodes and to dynamically determine the rules for
combination of data from different nodes to fit the structure
required by the query. The principals of interoperability will be
discussed in detail and they will be illustrated by presentation of
practical solutions.
Applications of Object-oriented Database Technology in Knowledge-Based
Integrated Information Systems
Frank Manola
Intelligent Database Systems Department
GTE Laboratories Incorporated
Waltham, Massachusetts
The talk describes applications of object-oriented database
technology in knowledge-based integrated information systems,
including the integration of heterogeneous (and distributed) system
components, and heterogeneous data and knowledge representations. An
extension of the objectoriented technology towards the distributed
object management technology will be discussed, with stress put on
integration of data and knowledge processing as well as of the data
and knowledge itself.
Knowledge-Based Support for Multidatabase Management
Domenico Sacca'
Universita' della Calabria
Arcavacata (CS), Italy
An architecture of a friendly and knowledgeable environment
supporting access to multiple heterogeneous databases will be
presented. The talk is based on experience stemming from a successful
ESPRIT project that resulted in development of a Knowledge-based
User-friendly System for the Utilization of Information Bases (KIWI).
KIWI applications are developed with the use of a knowledge
representation language (called OOPS+), that is basically object-
oriented but enriched with other paradigms. The language is supported
by an advanced database environment which is based on the combination
of the logic programming inference mechanism and the relational
database technology used for managing the KIWI knowledge base as well
as for retrieving facts from external databases.
Architecture of Multidatabase Management Systems
Witold Staniszkis
CRAI
Rende (CS), Italy
A generalized architecture of a multidatabase management system
will be presented. The specific multidatabase management problems, in
particular multidata model query processing, data and transaction
integrity in the heterogeneous DBMS environment, as well as the
multidatabase application design methodology, will be discussed in
detail. The most significant multidatabase management system research
and development projects will be appraised in view of the generalized
architecture requirements.
Query Processing in Multidatabase Management Systems
Marjorie Tempelton
UNISYS
Santa Monica, California
A multidatabase system must layer query processing in order to
provide a single user interface and view across heterogeneous systems
that may have different query languages, operating system interfaces,
DBMS commands, and DBMS interface methods. The principal aspects of
query processing will be covered, in particular including the user
query language using a federated view and common data model, use of
the intermediate language to avoid many to many translations, query
optimization, and schema and data translation. Presentation of
multidatabase query optimization includes optimization criteria, such
as location of data, network and processor speeds, as well as handling
of replicated and fragmented copies of relations. Examples will be
drawn from the Mermaid system developed under direction of the
speaker.
6. PANELS
1. The Role of Multidatabase Technology in Present and
Future Information Systems
Panelists
David Bell (University of Ulster)
Andrew Hutt (ICL)
Frank Manola (GTE Laboratories)
Witold Staniszkis (CRAI)
Marjorie Tempelton (UNISYS)
2. Principal Research and Engineering Issues in Multidata-
base Technology
Panelists
Misbah Deen (University of Keele)
Leonid Kalinichenko (Soviet Academy of Sciences)
Domenico Sacca' (Universita' della Calabria)
Giovanni Turco (CRAI)
CRAI
DQS is a Multidatabase Management System running on an SNA
network of IBM mainframes. The current system integration
capabilities include IMS/VS, DB2, ADABAS, IDMS R, and access method
data sets (VSAM, ISAM, BDAM).
MULTISTAR
Andrew Hutt
ICL
MULTISTAR is a Multidatabase Management System running on a
network of Unix and VMS machines. A bridge between Multistar and
DQS, providing for heterogeneous computer system integration, has been
developed.
ALPE
Tommaso Mostardi
CRAI
ALPE provides a user-friendly knowledge-based environment for
querying multidatabase systems (DQS, MULTISTAR). The logic
programming based interface is very efficient due to the novel logic
query optimization and execution algorithms.
8. REGISTRATION
Registration fees
Attendance is limited. Applications and seminar fee must be
received on/or before March 31, 1989. The seminar fee is Lit.
1.500.000.plus V.A.T. 19%. Twenty scholarship grants are available
for university students and young researchers.
The reduced fee is Lit. 800.000 plus V.A.T. 19%. A curriculum
vitae must be enclosed with the registration form by those who wish to
apply for the scholarship.
The fees cover: school attendance, free access to demos and
exhibitions, copy of lecture notes, coffe breaks and the social
dinner.
Registration procedure
Contact:
Ms. Daniela Cavallo
CRAI
Loc. S. Stefano
87036 RENDE (CS)
Italy
Tel.: +39-984-833323
Fax: +39-984-446044