G. Lamperti - Böcker

This monograph describes an innovative prototyping framework for data and knowledge intensive systems. The proposed approach should prove useful for advanced and research-oriented projects that aim to develop a traditional database perspective into fully-fledged advanced database approaches and knowledge engineering technologies. The book is organized in two parts. The first part, comprising chapters 1 to 4, provides an introduction to the concept of prototyping, to database and knowledge-based technologies, and to the main issues involved in the integration of data and knowledge engineering. The second part, comprising chapters 5 to 12, illustrates the proposed approach in technical detail.

This book is a comprehensive work on model-based diagnosis of a broad class of discrete-event systems, called active systems. The diagnostic approach, developed over several years by the authors, is surveyed along with introductory elements and related contributions. Each subject is dealt with both informally and formally, so that, based on a variety of examples, the reader can understand the basic ideas at an intuitive level first, while possibly delving into formal details afterwards.

This book is a comprehensive work on model-based diagnosis of a broad class of discrete-event systems, called active systems. The diagnostic approach, developed over several years by the authors, is surveyed along with introductory elements and related contributions. The area is new and the presented material is not collected in any other outlet. Each subject is dealt with both informally and formally, so that, based on a variety of examples, the reader can understand the basic ideas at an intuitive level first, while possibly delving into formal details afterwards. Based on an insight into an advanced technology, researchers and system engineers are likely to draw inspiration to cope with conceptual and practical aspects of the complex task of diagnosis. Audience: This volume will be of interest to researchers in the field of model-based diagnosis, both in academic and industrial contexts, and to students of artificial intelligence, knowledge engineering and algorithms and data structures, and to system engineers involved in the monitoring and diagnosis of industrial apparatus.

Databaseprogrammingis the process ofdeveloping data-intensiveapplications which demand the access to large amounts of structured, persistent data. The primary tool required for implementing such applications is a database programming language, namely aformal language which is specialized in the definition and manipulationof relevant large-scale data. As such, a database programming language is expected to provide high-level data modeling capabilitiesas well as avarietyofconstructs which facilitatethehandlingofthespecifieddata. Inthis perspective, the aim of this book is: (i) to present the recent advances in database technologyfrom theviewpointofthe novel database paradigmsproposedfor the developmentofadvanced, non-standard, data-intensive applications, (ii) to focus specificallyon the relational approach, with considerableemphasis on the extensions proposed in the last decade, and (iii) to describe the extended relational database languageAlgres which is primarily the outcome of research work conducted by the authorsincooperationwithalargenumberofothercolleaguesandstudents.Furthermore, in orderto put the concepts presented in the book into practice, the reader is invited to experiment with the Algres system, afree copyofwhich can be requestedfromKluwerAcademicPublishers,ordirectlyfromtheauthors. Dependingonthespecific interest andbackgroundofthereader,thebookcanserve either:(1) to overview recent trends in databases, (2) to introduce in more detail the concepts and theory of the nested relational model, or (3) to present a complete advancedrelationallanguagewhichcanbefreelyusedforexperimentalpurposeswithin academicandresearchframeworks.