Federated systems

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Metadata is a common computing term referring to data about data, such as the heqaders and trailers of a file. In a more sophisticated way, the term is also used to refer to any structured information that describe raw data, including data models, rules, or even particular ontology. The term metadatabase was created in 1987 by Cheng Hsu [1], with the full model, referred to as the Metadatabase Model, completely published in 1991 [2]. Despite its technical origin, the term is now being used in a very broad sense in many different communities, ranging from scientific computing to entertainment, as well as databases and information integration.

The Metadatabase is a relational database of metadata with many applications [3]. When the metadata that it stores and manages are data models, such as the logical designs of some application databases, the Metadatabase functions as the common conceptual schema for the community of the multiple databases. The design is open to technology and scalable to an open community. When the metadata also include rules, then it facilitates an integrated representation of data and knowledge. A Modelbase is achieved when the metadata are analytical models, such as simulation and optimization models. The Metadatabase model is completed with a metadatabase-enabled query language to perform global query across the community of multiple databases [4], and a system of shells, called rule-oriented programming environment, to connect global processing with distributed local processing [5]. Recent extensions to the Metadatabase model include a natural language query capability [6] and a market-style mechanism for information matching among indepednet databases across enterprises (e.g., global supply chains), with the latter also proposing designs for fusing enterprises data with RFID and wireless sensor data using the Metadatabase [7].

The structure of the Metadatabase, or its conceptual schema [2], is based on the logic of the Two-Stage Entity-Relationship (TSER) method of data and knowledge modeling [8][9]. The TSER method defines a complete core set of elements to represent data, routines, rules, normalized entities, relationships, generalization and aggregation, and the encapsulation of any of these elements into user oriented high level subjects and contexts. These elements, and their networked encapsulations, constitute an ontology describing the logic of all application models using the TSER method. The ontology defines the schema of the Metadatabase.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://viu.eng.rpi.edu/index.html
  2. ^ a b Hsu, C., Bouziane, M., Rattner, L. and Yee, L. "Information Resources Management in Heterogeneous, Distributed Environments: A Metadatabase Approach", IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. SE-17, No. 6, June 1991, pp. 604-624
  3. ^ Hsu, C., Enterprise Integration and Modeling: The Metadatabase Approach, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Amsterdam, Holland and Boston, Mass, 1996.
  4. ^ Cheung, W. and Hsu, C. "The Model-Assisted Global Query System for Multiple Databases in Distributed Enterprises," ACM Transactions on Information Systems,Vol. 14, No.4, Oct 1996, Pages 421-470.
  5. ^ Babin, G. and Hsu, C. "Decomposition of Knowledge for Concurrent Processing," IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 8, no. 5, 1996, pp 758-772.
  6. ^ Boonjing, V. and Hsu, C. "A New Feasible Natural Language Database Query Method," International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, Vol. 20, No. 10, 2006, pp. 1-8.
  7. ^ Hsu, C., Levermore, D., Carothers, C., and Babin, G. "On-Demand Information Exchange Using Enterprise Databases, Wireless Sensor Networks, and RFID Systems," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Part A, Vol. 37, No. 4, July, 2007, pp. 519 - 532.
  8. ^ Hsu, C. "Structured Database System Analysis and Design Through Two-Stage Entity-Relationship Approach," Proc. 4th International Conference on Entity-Relationship Approach, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, CA, 1985, pp. 56-63.
  9. ^ Hsu, C. Tao, Y.-C., Bouziane, M and Babin, G. "Paradigm Translations in Integrating Manufacturing Information Using a Meta-model: The TSER Approach," Information Systems Engineering, France, 1(3), pp.325-352, 1993.
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