Managing Text as Data

2015

This article describes a model for storing multiple forms of linguistic data within a relational database as developed and tested through a prototype database for storing data from Arabic dialects.

2015

Time characterizes every aspect of our life and its manage-ment when storing and querying data is very important. In this paper we propose a new temporal query language, called T4SQL, supporting multiple temporal dimensions of data. Besides the well-known valid and transaction times, it encompasses two additional temporal dimensions, namely, availability and event times. The availability time records when information is known and treated as true by the infor-mation system; the event times record the occurrence times of both the event that starts the valid time and the event that ends it. T4SQL is capable to deal with different tem-poral semantics (atemporal aka non-sequenced, current, se-quenced, next) with respect to every temporal dimension. Moreover, T4SQL provides a novel temporal grouping clause and an orthogonal management of temporal properties when defining the selection condition(s) and the schema for the output relation. ∗This work was partially supported by contributions ...

2003

A new method is developed to query a relational database in natural language (NL). Results: The method, based on a semantic approach, interprets grammatical and lexical units of a natural language into concepts of subject domain, which are given in a conceptual scheme. The conceptual scheme is mapped formally onto the logical scheme. We applied the method to query the FlyEx database in natural language. FlyEx contains information on the expression of segmentation genes in Drosophila melanogaster. The method allows formulation of queries in various natural languages simultaneously, and is adaptive to changes in the knowledge domain and user's views. It provides optimal transformation of queries from natural language to SQL, as well as visualization of information as a hyperscheme. The method does not require specification of all possible language constructions as well as a standard grammar accuracy in formulation of NL queries.

IEEE Data(base) Engineering Bulletin, 1989

Data Engineering Builetin is a quarteriy pubiicatlon of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Data Engineering. its scope of interest includes: data structures and models, access strategies, access control techniques, database architecture, database machines, inteiligent front ends, mass storage for very large databases, distributed database systems and techniques, database software design and Implementation, database utilities database security and related areas. Contribution to the Bulletin is hereby solicited. News items, letters, technical papers, book reviews, meeting previews, summaries, case studies, etc., should be sent to the Editor. All letters to the Editor wiii be considered for publication unless accompanied by a request to the contrary. Technical Letter from the Editor Several months ago, Won Kim asked me to put together the December 1989 issue. Ini tially, we agreed on graphical interfaces to databases as the topic. As I began looking into the literature and trying to figure what papers to invite, I noticed that there was very little out there that had to do with non-English interfaces to databases. So I set out to find a broad range of papers, all dealing with interface problems that American and European researchers would find unusual. The individuals who contributed to this issue were asked to put in a lot of effort in a very short amount of time. A few of them had difficulty writing in English. There were also communication problems for the authors located outside the USA. All of the authors deserve a very warm thanks. There are two papers dealing with Arabic. The first paper, by Elmaghraby, El-Shihaby, and El-Kassas, gives an overview of why Arabic presents unusual problems for the developer of interfaces, and why English-based software and hardware may not be easily adapted to handle Arabic. The second paper represents the Ph.D. thesis work of Au Mor feq and describes an effort to develop text database management techniques specifically suited for Arabic. The third paper also deals with textual data. It is by Yaacov Choueka and describes a very aggressive effort at developing a database of Hebrew texts. This effort has pro duced research contributions that are of use to developers of text retrieval systems in gen eral, not just to developers of Hebrew-based systems. The fourth paper is by Fang Sheng Liu and Ju Wei Tai, and concerns the development of graphical interfaces. It suggests that a useful way of constructing and categorizing graphical tokens can be based on Chinese character theory. One interesting aspect of this paper is that it is not dedicated to Chinese-based interfaces. The fifth paper (by Yoshioki Ishii and Hideki Nishimoto) describes the support of Japanese and Korean database interfaces. It gives an overview of why the Japanese and Korean languages present novel problems, and then describes the approach they have taken in developing their system. I hope that the readers of this issue find these papers to be unusual and interesting.

Data and Knowledge Engineering (42:3), 2002

This paper introduces database lexicography, a metadata analysis discipline that applies lexical graph theory to data design. 1 Database lexicography proposes a formal design criterion for data dependencies, and it provides metrics to evaluate the conformance of designs to this criterion. It treats the data dictionary as a first class object encoding design concepts, and its benefits include identification of database dependency architecture; quantification of interdependent data elements' sensitivity to change; categorization of core and peripheral data elements; model integration; and figures of merit by which to fortify data architectures to withstand design fossilization and guide their evolution amidst changing requirements. 1 PROBLEM The data assets of large enterprises tend to be compartmentalized. Line-of-business software systems typically incorporate legacy data designed for single application contexts. Routinely, only data and process owners comprehend the information content of these assets. Relentless disciplinary specialization of knowledge compounds the problem, resulting in minimal re-use of data across processes and organizations. Under these circumstances, data systems proliferate at the expense of information integration. Successful enterprises typically prevail by exploiting insights into the information content of data. For example, discovery technologies like multidisciplinary optimization and data mining can spot unexpected but useful correlations in heterogeneous data. Integration architectures like CORBA enable data systems to exchange information without requiring client knowledge of information resources. When applied in concert to enterprise data problems, frameworks such as these can support unanticipated information requirements , and from time to time this constitutes a competitive advantage. Nevertheless, this is not necessarily good news. Remedial services provided by such frameworks merely patch the deficiencies of stovepipe data assets that cannot keep up with evolving requirements. Since the data systems involved are often core assets of the enterprise, their inability to keep pace with change does not bode well for the future. The underlying problem is often data design. Typically, the design of legacy data systems is more suitable to initial information requirements than, say, requirements at the mid-point of their economic lifetimes. This deficiency usually reflects the structured 1 This paper extends logical foundations presented in [1] to the domain of data design and maintenance.