Verification of Siphons and Traps for Algebraic Petri Nets
Siphons and traps are structures which allow for some implications on the net's behaviour and can be used in manual correctness proofs for concurrent systems. We introduce symbolic representations of siphons and traps which work quite well even in infinite cases and are still intuitively readable. The verification of symbolic siphons and traps is traced back to unification and structural induction on the terms. This approach is motivated by some additional considerations. For unification and other proposed structural reasoning mechanisms tool support is given by completeness proof tools studied in the theorem-proving community.

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: Distributed verification with LoLA
abstract: We report work in progress on a distributed version of explicit state space generation in the Petri net verification tool LoLA. We propose a data structure where all available memory of all involved workstations can be fully exploited, and load balancing actions are possible at any time while the verification is running. It is even possible to extend the set of involved workstations while a verification is running.

title: LoLA: a low level analyser
abstract: With LoLA, we put recently developed state space oriented algorithms to other tool developers disposal. Providing a simple interface was a major design goal such that it is as easy as possible to integrate LoLA into tools of different application domains. LoLA supports place/transition nets. Implemented verification techniques cover standard properties (liveness, reversibility, boundedness, reachability, dead transitions, deadlocks, home states) as well as satisfiability of state predicates and CTL model checking. For satisfiability, both exhaustive search and heuristically goal oriented system execution are supported. For state space reduction, LoLA features symmetries, stubborn sets, and coverability graphs.

title: Model-Checking with Coverability Graphs
abstract: We show that several formulas of a temporal logic can be verified using the coverability graph of the underlying system. Of course, the procedure is not capable of verifying all formulae, since already the reachability problem for (unbounded) Petri nets is computationally hard. Thus, the procedure returns true, false, or unknown for a query. The formulae that can be verified cover most of the well known standard properties which have been listed in the context of coverability graph analysis so far.

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.

title: Green Computing - A Case for Data Caching and Flash Disks?
abstract: Green computing or energy saving when processing information is primarily considered a task of processor development. However, this position paper advocates that a holistic approach is necessary to reduce power consumption to a minimum. We discuss the potential of integrating NAND flash memory into DB-based architectures and its support by adjusted DBMS algorithms governing IO processing. The goal is to drastically improve energy efficiency while comparable performance as is disk-based systems is maintained.

title: Comparison of Complete and Elementless Native Storage of XML Documents
abstract: Because XML documents tend to be very large, are accessed by declarative and navigational languages, and often are processed in a collaborative way using read/write transactions, their fine-grained storage and management in XML DBMSs is a must for which, in turn, a flexible and space-economic tree representation is mandatory. In this paper, we explore a variety of options to natively store, encode, and compress XML documents thereby preserving the full DBMS processing flexibility on the documents required by the various language models and usage characteristics. Important issues of our empirical study are related to node labeling, document container layout, indexing, as well as structure and content compression. Encoding and compression of XML documents with their complete structure leads to a space consumption of ~40% to ~60% compared to their plain representation, whereas structure virtualization (elementless storage) saves in the average more than 10%, in addition.

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: Autonomes Index Tuning - DBMS-integrierte Verwaltung von Soft Indexen
abstract: Das Self Management in DBMS, und das Self Tuning als wichtiger Teil davon, gewinnt auf Grund der wachsenden Komplexitat von Systemen und Anwendungen und den daraus resultierenden steigenden Betriebskosten zunehmend an Beachtung. Der Stand der Technik bezuglich des Index Tunings sind AdministrationsTools, die aus einem gegebenen Workload eine empfohlene Indexkonfiguration ableiten. Diese muss jedoch bei Anderungen des Systems, dessen Umgebung oder der Zugriffsmuster wiederholt angepasst werden. Wir stellen in diesem Beitrag einen dynamischen Ansatz zum Index Tuning vor, der zur Laufzeit das Systemverhalten und die -nutzung uberwacht, Entscheidungen bezuglich moglicher Verbesserungen der aktuellen Indexkonfiguration trifft und diese integriert mit der Anfrageverarbeitung umsetzt. Fur den zuletzt genannten Aspekt fuhren wir mit IndexBuildScan und SwitchPlan neue Operatoren zur Erzeugung von Indexen wahrend der Bearbeitung einer Anfrage sowie deren sofortiger Nutzung ein. Die Beschreibung der Implementierung der vorgestellten Konzepte als Erweiterung des PostgreSQL-Systems, sowie eine Evaluierung an Hand eines von TPC-H abgeleiteten Benchmarks beschliesen den Beitrag.

title: 
 Storing and indexing XML documents upside down

abstract: 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.