Storing and indexing XML documents upside down

AbstractXML documents contain substantial redundancy in their structure part, because each path from the root
 node to a leaf node is explicitly represented and typically large sets of such path instances belong to
 a path class, i.e., the nodes of the path instances are labeled by the same sequence of element (or attribute)
 names. To save storage space and I/O cost, we want to get rid of this structural redundancy to the extent
 possible. While all known methods for the physical representation (storage) of XML documents proceed from
 the root via the element/attribute hierarchy (internal nodes) down to the leaves (values), we follow an
 upside-down approach which explicitly stores the values and only reconstructs
 the internal nodes, if needed. The cornerstones for such a solution are suitable node labels and a path
 synopsis which efficiently represents all path classes of an XML document. As a solution, we propose a compact
 internal storage format for native XML database systems where the inner structure of the stored documents
 is virtualized. Because this elementless storage format provides an efficient reconstruction of a document
 using its path synopsis, all processing properties are preserved and the semantics of navigational and declarative
 operations of XML languages remains unchanged. Adjusted indexes support the full spectrum of so-called
 content-and-structure single path queries. Apart from greatly reduced storage consumption, our approach
 demonstrates its superiority, compared to competing methods, not only for a substantial fraction of those
 queries, but also for storing, reconstructing, and navigating XML documents.

title: Autonomous Management of Soft Indexes
abstract: In recent years the support for index tuning as pan of physical database design has gained focus in research and product development, which resulted in index and design advisors. Nevertheless, these tools provide a one-off solution for a continuous task and are not deeply integrated with the DBMS functionality by only applying the query optimizer for index recommendation and profit estimation and decoupling the decision about and execution of index configuration changes from the core system functionality. In this paper we propose an approach that continuously collects statistics for recommended indexes and based on this, repetitively solves the Index Selection Problem (lSP).A key novelty is the on-the-fly index generation during query processing implemented by new query plan operators In-dexBuildScan and SwitchPlan. Finally, we present the implementation and evaluation of the introduced concepts as part of the PostgreSQL system.

title: Adaptive Resource Management in a Native XDBMS
abstract: A graphite reinforced glass composite is described comprising discontinuous graphite fibers in substantially planar orientation in a glass matrix with strength and fracture toughness greater than the unreinforced glass matrix. The resulting composite has superior strength, fluid impermeability, wear resistance, failure strain and fracture toughness. In fact, the stress-strain, curve for composites of the invention resembles that of metal making it particularly suitable for a variety of moldable shapes and machinable designs.

title: Usage-driven storage structures for native XML databases
abstract: There are numerous and influential parameters associated with the selection of suitable native storage structures for XML documents within an XML DBMS. The most important parameters are related to node labeling, path synopsis, document container layout, indexing, and text compression. While node labeling and the presence of a path synopsis greatly determine flexibility and efficiency of the entire DBMS-internal XML processing, the remaining issues primarily address I/O demand and space consumption. In particular, text compression---considered orthogonal to the design choices affected by the other parameters---implies additional algorithmic costs for encoding/decoding during document processing. Having the vision in mind that future storage managers can autonomously figure out optimal choices for all of these parameters, we discuss how various storage options favor different usage patterns and how they can be specified beforehand to influence native XML storage options by the anticipated usages.

title: Tailor-Made Native XML Storage Structures
abstract: Automatically choosing suitable native storage structures for XML doc- uments arriving at the XML DBMS is a challenging task for its storage manager. While some of the critical parameters require pre-specification, others can be deter- mined by pre-analysis or sampling of the incoming document or by just making ex- perience-driven "educated guesses". In this paper, we discuss approaches to achieve an adaptive behavior of the storage manager to provide tailor-made native XML stor- age structures to the extent possible. 1I ntroduction The XML data model allows for a great deal of modeling flexibility with which order, op- tional and multi-valued concepts, as well as deeply nested relationships can be captured. Therefore, the resulting tree structures of natively represented XML documents exhibit large variations in breadth and depth. Furthermore, XML documents may be data-centric having relatively little 'content' stored as short text values or they may be document-cen- tric where a single content node may contain huge portions of text, e.g., an entire book in a digital library. For these reasons, it is highly advisable to equip the storage manager with the ability to select reasonable or even optimal storage structures for documents. Furthermore, two cas- es have to be considered: a document sent by a client arrives at a time—the so-called block mode, i.e., the document can be pre-parsed and analyzed before a storage structure is cho- sen—or it arrives at the DBMS interface in stream mode where fragments present, due to their size, have to be allocated in a suitable storage structure on disk before the entire "streamed" document is available for the DBMS. In the latter case, the storage manager must decide—based on imprecise structural information—on the storage structure to be chosen and, at best, can make some educated guesses based on context or sampling infor- mation.

title: An Adaptive Storage Manager for XML Documents
abstract: Effective and efficient management and manipulation of XML documents requires stable decisions at the time a document enters the XML DBMS to provide for storage structures which are adjusted to the document characteristics and which reflect the future processing needs. While some of the critical parameters require a kind of pre-specification, others can be determined by pre-analysis or sampling of the incoming document or by just making experience-driven “educated guesses”. Important parameters are related to node labeling, path synopsis, document container layout, and indexing. In this paper, we discuss approaches to achieve an adaptive behavior of the storage manager to provide tailor-made native XML storage structures to the extent possible.

title: How to calculate symmetries of Petri nets
abstract: Symmetric net structure yields symmetric net behaviour. Thus, knowing the symmetries of a net, redundant calculations can be skipped. We present a framework for the calculation of symmetries for several net classes including place/transition nets, timed nets, stochastic nets, self–modifying nets, nets with inhibitor arcs, and many others. Our approach allows the specification of different symmetry groups. Additionally it provides facilities either to calculate symmetries on demand while running the actual analysis algorithm, or to calculate them in advance. For the latter case we define and calculate a ground set of symmetries. Such a set has polynomial size and is sufficient for an efficient implementation of the for all symmetries loop and the partition of net elements into equivalence classes. These two constructions are the usual way to integrate symmetries into an analysis algorithm.

title: Controllability of Open Workflow Nets.
abstract: An open workflow net is basically a workflow net extended with a message passing interface. Open workflow nets are adequate models for services or parts of inter-organizational business processes. We investigate the problem of controllability, a natural counterpart of soundness in classical workflow nets (as studied by van der Aalst). We distinguish centralized, distributed, and local controllability and provide solutions to all problems.

title: Using Petri net invariants in state space construction
abstract: The linear algebraic invariant calculus is a powerful technique for the verification of Petri nets. Traditionally it is used for structural verification, i.e. for avoiding the explicit construction of a state space. In this paper, we study the use of Petri net invariants for reducing the memory resources required during state space construction. While place invariants help to reduce the amount of memory needed for each single state (without reducing the number of states as such), transition invariants can be used to reduce the number of states to be stored. Interestingly, our approach does not require computing invariants in full, let alone storing them permanently. All information we need can be deduced from an upper triangular form of the Petri net's incidence matrix. Experiments prove that the place invariant technique leads to improvements in both memory and run time costs while transition invariants lead to a space/time tradeoff that can be controlled heuristically.

title: Stubborn sets for model checking the EF/AG fragment of CTL

title: LoLA wird Pfadfinder.
abstract: LoLA ist ein erreichbarkeitsgraphbasiertes Werkzeug f ur Stellen/Transitions{Netze. Hier geht es um LoLAs Fahigkeit, erreichbare Zustande mit vorgegebenen Eigenschaften zu suchen und im Erfolgsfall einen solchen Zustand mit einem Weg von der Anfangsmarkierung dorthin anzugeben. Die Besonderheit besteht darin, da wahrend der Suche nur zwei Zustande gespeichert werden: der Anfangszustand und der aktuelle Zustand. Anstatt also den Zustandsraum systematisch zu durchmustern (und dabei meist am Speicherende zu scheitern), navigiert LoLA ohne Kenntnis der schon betretenen Zustande durch den Erreichbarkeitsgraph. Da sie trotzdem ihre Aufgabe erfolgreich lost, liegt an ihren spezi schen Fahigkeiten: Schnelligkeit, Bescheidenheit, Zielstrebigkeit, Neugier und Ausdauer.