On integrating database modeling constructs for software engineering databases

A bi-level object-oriented data model together with a user query language called OFQL is designed which can support applications like GIS (geographic information systems). The data model is divided into two layers, the higher-level data model and the lower-level data model. The higher-level data model or the geographic object data model primarily consists of the geographic objects and a set of semantic spatial functions through which the topological relationships of the geographic objects are defined or derived. The lower-level data model or the geometric object data model has geometric objects which are the actual spatial representations of the geographic objects in the higher-level data model. It also has a set of geometric functions that retrieve, manipulate, and compute for geometric objects. The general architecture of a GIS system using this data modeling approach consists of two modules: the query processor and the function implementor. With the OFQL user-interface, the user is able to pose queries of a geographic nature without knowing the details of the spatial representation and computation of the geographic objects.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Developing a three-dimensional (3D) data model for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an essential and complex issue. 3D modelling in GIS is becoming ever more important for the development of cyber cities and digital earth, which have recently become feasible. A competent 3D model forms an efficient foundation for 3D visualization, query and spatial analysis. As a development of the existing 3D models, this study proposes particular improvements in handling complex 3D objects. We present an object-oriented data model for handling complex 3D objects in GIS. First, the conceptual data model is developed based on the principle of object-oriented (OO) data modelling. This model is designed based on the following three basic geometric elements: node, segment and triangle. Accordingly, the abstract geometric objects are defined: including points, lines, surfaces and volumes. Second, the corresponding 3D logical model is designed based on the defined abstract objects and the relationships between them. Third, a formal representation of the 3D spatial objects is described in detail. Fourth, a prototype 3D GIS is developed based on the proposed 3D data model. Finally, we describe the results of an experimental study to reconstruct 3D objects using this 3D GIS and a comparison with the performance of other 3D data models. The proposed model is able to handle complex objects, such as complex buildings and TV towers, which is an essential functionality for building large-scale cyber cities, such as for Hong Kong. The proposed data model proves to be very efficient, particularly in visualization and rendering. The experimental results show which the data volume of the proposed model is compacted and the visualization speed for 3D objects is improved, compared with the existing models.

To deal with issues of data model transformation and to make combined use of different data models, this paper proposed a database reengineering scheme which includes schema translation and data conversion from object-oriented data model to flattened XML data model with is-a and cardinality data semantics preservation. In this paper, conceptual schema of object-oriented data model and flattened XML data model are elaborated by UML class diagram and XML Schema Definition(XSD) graph respectively. Logical schema is described by UNISQL class definition and XSD respectively. This paper firstly analyzes class definitions from OODB and sorts them from most independent classes to most dependent classes. Secondly schema translation is processed by mapping class to complexType and then creating element definitions in XSD file. Thirdly data conversion is processed automatically. Performance tests have shown that the proposed database reengineering scheme is reliable and efficient.

An object wrapper [3,4] is a piece of middleware that provides an object view on top of a legacy database management system. But legacy database management systems such as relational database systems (RDS) and multidimensional database systems (MDS) [5,6,7] are different in many aspects from an Object-oriented Data Model. Among these aspects are semantic management, data structures and data types supported in these models. As a result, it is crucial to understand these data models in order to design and implement an efficient piece of middleware. In this paper, a short discussion of the real-world data modelling requirements is presented. Then, this is followed by a discussion on an Object View’s requirements. The third section of the paper presents the architecture of the Object-to-Multidimensional Mapping Engine (O-MME) [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. A detail discussion on major interfaces and classes in the Object-to-Multidimensional mapping algorithm are presented next. Issues such as data type conversion and database language statements generation are discussed in this paper also. Finally, some performance issues are presented and future possible researches are outlined.KeywordsStructure Query LanguageMapping EngineCache ManagerBusiness ClassisRelational Database SystemThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This paper describes algorithmic approach to consistent and efficient management of changes in data model for distribution network applications in smart grid solutions. In application domain of power distribution network analysis (DNA), clean separation between engineering data model and operational (run-time) data model must be maintained. Until explicit request to import changes from engineering data model into operational data model, operational data model must not be affected with changes in engineering data model. The process of activation introduces changes prepared within engineering data model into operational data model and thus put them in use. This paper outlines algorithm for efficient data model change management and activation process. This approach provides efficient handling of data model changes regarding memory and disc space usage. It allows fast switching to previous data models, allows arbitrary long history about past activations; and simplifies incident and what-if analysis for any of previous configurations.

This book consists of 35 chapters presenting different theoretical and practical aspects of Intelligent Information and Database Systems. Nowadays both Intelligent and Database Systems are applied in most of the areas of human activities which necessitates further research in these areas. In this book various interesting issues related to the intelligent information models and methods as well as their advanced applications, database systems applications, data models and their analysis and digital multimedia methods and applications are presented and discussed both from the practical and theoretical points of view. The book is organized in four parts devoted to intelligent systems models and methods, intelligent systems advanced applications, database systems methods and applications and multimedia systems methods and applications. The book will be interesting forpractitioners and researchers, especially graduate and PhD students of information technology and computer science, as well more experienced academics and specialists interested in developing and verification of intelligent information, database and multimedia systems models, methods and applications. The readers of this volume are enabled to find many inspiring ideas and motivating practical examples that will help them in the current and future work.

ORION-2 is a commercially available, federated, object-oriented database management system designed and implemented at MCC. One major architectural innovation in ORION-2 is the coexistence of a shared databese and a number of private databases. The shared database is accessible to all authorized users of the system, while each private database is accessible to only the user who owns it. A distributed database system with a shared database and private databases for individual users is a natural architecture for data-intensive application environments on a network of workstations, notably computer-aided design and engineering systems. This paper discusses the benefits and limitations of such a system and explores the impact of such an architecture on the semantics and implementation of some of the key functions of a database system, notably queries, database schema, and versions. Although the issues are discussed in the context of an object-oriented data model, the results (at least significant portions thereof) are applicable to database systems supporting other data models.

Class-centered data models, such as the object-oriented data model, are inadequate for supporting engineering design product models because of their lack of support for object evolution, schema evolution, and semantic and user-defined relationships. Description logic overcomes these limitations by providing constructs for intentional description of classes, relationships, and objects. By combining description logic with object-oriented modelling concepts, design product schemas and data can be uniformly represented and modified throughout the design process.

Information imprecision and uncertainty exist in many real-world applications, and for this reason fuzzy data modeling has been extensively investigated in various database models. In particular, Zadeh’s fuzzy set theory has been identified as a successful technique for modeling imprecise and uncertain information in various database models. This has resulted in numerous contributions, mainly with respect to the popular fuzzy conceptual data models (fuzzy ER/EER model, fuzzy UML data model, and etc.) and fuzzy logical database models (fuzzy relational database model, fuzzy object-oriented database model, and etc.). Also, it is shown that fuzzy set theory is very useful in Web-based business intelligence. Therefore, topics related to the modeling of fuzzy data are considered very interesting in XML since it is the current standard data representation and exchange format over the Web. In particular, to manage fuzzy XML data, it is necessary to integrate fuzzy XML and various fuzzy databases, and various fuzzy database models (fuzzy relational database model and fuzzy object-oriented database model) need to be used for mapping to and from the fuzzy XML models. Therefore, in this chapter, we mainly introduce several fuzzy database models, including fuzzy UML data model, fuzzy relational database model, and fuzzy object-oriented database model. Before that, we briefly introduce some notions of fuzzy set theory.

The relational data model is the dominant paradigm in the commercial database market today, and it has been for several years. However, there have been challenges to the model over the years, and they have influenced its evolution and that of database technology. The object-oriented revolution that got started in programming languages arrived to the database area in the form of a brand new data model. The relational model managed not only to survive the newcomer but to continue becoming a dominant force, transformed into the object-relational model (also called extended relational, or universal) and relegating object-oriented databases to a niche product. Although this market has many nontechnical aspects, there are certainly important technical differences among the mentioned data models. In this article I describe the basic components of the relational, object-oriented, and object-relational data models. I do not, however, discuss query language, implementation, or system issues. A basic comparison is given and then future trends are discussed.

At the end of this chapter the reader will be able to: Establish the need for database systems Provide a definition for the concepts of a database, a DBMS and a data model Distinguish between data model as architecture and data model as blueprint Provide a brief history of data management Introduce the process of database system development

An XML-based methodology for parametric temporal database model implementation

Today many e-learning systems achieve high standards in delivering online courses via Web technologies and database system. However, these systems are constrained by rigid data model or schema that was pre-defined in the database to provide data storage structure for contents in e-learning applications. In the development of database driven e-learning system, the schema is crucial in analysing the data requirement for the system. However, many disadvantages are the results of system being developed on top of a static data model structure. The most concern issue includes the inflexibility of the data model that leads to unalterable contents data structure and its layout format, because the attributes in the data model are expected to be hard coded during the development in most cases. To avoid such inflexibility and improve the performance in the e-learning system, this paper introduces an approach of generic data model scheme in the database structure and interface-design toolkits, which allow the users to make modifications on the data structure and the system has the ability to adapt these changes. It achieves the adaptability, extensibility and reusability of database structure in the e-learning system.

Railway distributed system integration needs to realize information exchange, resources sharing and coordination process across fields, departments and application systems. And railway data integration is essential to implement this integration. In order to resolve the problem of heterogeneity of data models among data sources of different railway operation systems, this paper presents a novel integration data model of spatial structure, a XML-oriented 3-dimension common data model. The proposed model accommodates both the flexibility of level relationship and syntax expression in data integration. In this model, a spatial data pattern is used to describe and express the characteristic relationship of data items among all types of data. Based on the data model with rooted directed graph and the organization of level as well as the flexibility of the expression, the model can represent the mapping between different data models, including relationship model and object-oriented model. A consistent concept and algebraic description of the data set is given to function as the metadata in data integration, so that the algebraic manipulation of data integration is standardized to support the data integration of distributed system.

An object-oriented data model for the finite element method is described in this paper. In the data model, which is based on the Entity-Relationship model, a finite element is treated as an object.The proposed data model is applied to the h-version adaptive mesh technique. In the h-version adaptive mesh technique, an element is divided into 2 or 4 elements recursively to reduce the error norm for the whole analysis domain. The present mesh refinement system is constructed using the C+ + object-oriented programming language for the implimentation of the data model. To verify the mesh refinement system, we have chosen some 2-dimensional stress concentration and singularity problems. The results show that the newly proposed data model is very useful for the h-version adaptive mesh technique. Moreover, the data model shows great promise for the integrated FEM systems.