Working Group Model Management 

The working group Model Management discusses research and applications of model management technologies. Model management aims at developing technologies and mechanisms to support the integration, merging, evolution, and matching of complex data models. This support is required for the management of complex, integrated, distributed, heterogeneous information systems. Basic concepts in model management are models, mappings and operators. Models (e.g. an XML Schema, a schema of a relational database, or an ontology in OWL) describe the structure of data. Mappings represent relationships between elements from different models. Operators are operations on models and mappings (e.g. merging & matching of models, composition of mapping).

The management of metadata is of particular importance for model management. Metadata is data about data and is becoming more and more important as distributed and heterogeneous information systems need to be integrated. Using a metadata-based approach in the design and implementation of an integrated information system increases the flexibility and adaptability of the system, as information about the structure of data models and their dependencies are not hidden in the source code of the system. Instead, this information is captured in semantically rich metadata models, which enable the (re)use of the information in various contexts. Furthermore, a semantically rich representation of data models supports the definition of model management operators.

The working group addresses the following topics in more detail. 

Meta Database Systems

The ConceptBase system is a deductive, object-oriented meta database system. It is based on the conceptual modelling language O-Telos. The system is available free-of-charge for non-commercial purposes. Current work focuses on the improvement of the graphical user interface (in particular, the graphical editor), interfaces to other modelling languages (such as XML Schema or OWL) and other database systems, and ongoing improvement of the ConceptBase kernel system.

Formal Representation of Models and Mappings

A fundamental problem of model management is a formal representation of models and mappings between these models. The formal representation should enable the definition of operators in an efficient and correct way. Our current goal is to define a generic meta model that is able to represent data models in various modeling languages (such as SQL DDL, XML Schema, or OWL).

Schema Matching

Mappings between models are required for many operations in model management. The manual construction of such mappings can be a tedious task, if the models contain thousands of elements. Therefore, (semi-)automatic mechanisms are required to support the creation of mappings. We are currently developing a system for the matching of ontologies.

Quality-Oriented Data Integration

Within a company, data is managed in several systems with different data models and characteristics. However, an integrated view of the data is required to get a comprehensive overview of the state of the organization. This might also include the integration of external sources. In this context, the quality of the data in the various sources has also to be considered. Several sources might provide the same data but with different quality characteristics (e.g. correctness, accuracy, response time of the source). An algorithm for the quality-oriented data integration has been developed in this thesis. We currently plan an implementation of this algorithm using Semantic Web and Grid technologies (see below).

Semantic Web

The vision of the Semantic Web is to have semantic annotations of the data, which is available on the web. This supports the search and integration of the data, as the data can be located by their semantical description and not only by their syntactical representation (e.g. keyword based search). Data integration and data quality are also problems in this context. Grid and P2P systems can be seen as the underlying technologies which enable the implementation of distributed information systems based on the idea of the Semantic Web. Research in this field is currently done in the context of the EU IST project SEWASIE.

Group Members

Researchers

	Christoph Quix
	Mohamed Amine Chatti
	David Kensche
	Xiang Li

Students

	Jiamin Yang
	Julia Hoxha
	Xiuli Jiang

Former Members

	Yong Li
	Hurshid Kadirov
	Thomas Novotny
	Adam Gasior
	Edwin Yaqub
	Sukasom Chaiyakul
	Huang Liang
	Thomas Siegbert
	Yan Xu

Joining the Working Group

If you are interested in joining the working group on Model Management, please contact Christoph Quix. Students can join the group as a student assistant (Hiwi) or do their diploma/master thesis in this research area. Seminars and lab courses are planned for future terms.

The following topics are currently available for a diploma/master thesis:

Conflict Resolution in Schema Integration

GeRoMeSuite

The results of this research has been integrated into the model management prototype system GeRoMeSuite that has been presented at VLDB '07.

Publications

• P. Kranen, D. Kensche, S. Kim, N. Zimmermann, E. Müller, C. Quix, X. Li, T. Gries, T. Seidl, M. Jarke, S. Leonhardt:
  Mobile Mining and Information Management in HealthNet Scenarios
  In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Mobile Data Management (MDM 2008), Beijing, China, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 215-216, 2008
  Abstract & BibTeX  PDF file 
• C. Quix, D. Kensche, X. Li:
  GeRoMeSuite: Ein System für generisches Model Management
  Datenbank-Spektrum, Nr. 24, pp. 4-11, dpunkt.verlag, 2008
  Abstract & BibTeX 
• A. Aleksandrowicz, D. Kensche, S. Kim, P. Kranen, E. Müller, C. Quix:
  Mobile and Wearable P2P Information Management in HealthNet Applications
  Annual Symposium of the IEEE/EMBS Benelux Chapter 2007, Heeze, the Netherlands
  Abstract  PDF file 
• S. Geisler, A. Brauers, C. Quix, A. Schmeink:
  An Ontology-Based System for Clinical Trial Data Management
  Annual Symposium of the IEEE/EMBS Benelux Chapter 2007, Heeze, the Netherlands, pp. 53-55
  Abstract  PDF file 
• D. Kensche, C. Quix:
  Transformation of Models in(to) a Generic Metamodel
  Datenbanksysteme in Business, Technologie und Web (BTW 2007), Workshop Proceedings, pp. 4-15, 2007
  Abstract  PDF file 
• D. Kensche, C. Quix, M.A. Chatti, M. Jarke:
  GeRoMe: A Generic Role Based Metamodel for Model Management
  Journal on Data Semantics, Vol. VIII, LNCS 4380, pp. 82-117, Springer-Verlag, 2007
  Abstract & BibTeX  PDF file 
  Annotation: Extended and revised version of this paper. 
• D. Kensche, C. Quix, X. Li, Y. Li:
  GeRoMeSuite: A System for Holistic Generic Model Management
  In Proceedings of 33rd International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB'07), pp. 1322 - 1325, Vienna, 2007
  Abstract  PDF file 
• D. Kensche, C. Quix, Y. Li, M. Jarke:
  Generic Schema Mappings
  In Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER 2007), Auckland, New Zealand, LNCS 4801, Springer, pp. 132-148, 2007. Springer Verlag.
  Abstract  PDF file 
• C. Quix, D. Kensche, X. Li:
  Generic Schema Merging
  In J. Krogstie, A.L. Opdahl, and G. Sindre (Eds.): In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), Trondheim, Norway, Springer-Verlag, LNCS 4495, pp. 127–141, 2007
  Abstract  PDF file 
• C. Quix, D. Kensche, X. Li:
  Matching of Ontologies with XML Schema Using a Generic Metamodel
  In Proceedings of the 6th Intl. Conf. on Ontologies, DataBases, and Applications of Semantics (ODBASE), Vilamoura, Portugal, pp. 1081-1098, 2007. Springer.
  Abstract  PDF file 
• C. Quix, L. Ragia, L. Cai, T. Gan:
  Matching Schemas for Geographical Information Systems Using Semantic Information
  Proc. of Workshop on Semantic-Based Geographical Information Systems (SeBGIS), OTM Confederated International Workshops, Montpellier, France, LNCS 4278, Springer-Verlag, pp. 1566-1575, 2006
  Abstract & BibTeX  PDF file 
• M. A. Chatti, R. Klamma, C. Quix, D. Kensche:
  LM-DTM: An Environment for XML-Based, LIP/PAPI-Compliant Deployment, Transformation and Matching of Learner Models
  P. Goodyear, D.G. Sampson, D.J.-T. Yang, Kinshuk, T. Okamoto, R. Hartley, and N.-S. Chen (eds.): In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2005), July 5-8, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, pp. 567 - 569
  PDF file 
• M.A. Jeusfeld, C. Quix:
  Meta-Modelling with ConceptBase
  Workshop on Meta-Modelling and Corresponding Tools, Essen, Germany, 2005
  Abstract  PDF file 
• D. Kensche, C. Quix, M. A. Chatti, M. Jarke:
  GeRoMe: A Generic Role Based Metamodel for Model Management
  In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Ontologies, DataBases, and Applications of Semantics (ODBASE), Agia Napa, Cyprus, 2005
  Abstract & BibTeX  PDF file 
  Annotation: An extended and revised edition of this paper has been published in the Journal on Data Semantics VIII. 
• C. Quix, D. Kensche, M. A. Chatti:
  Rollenbasierte Metamodellierung zur Datenintegration
  Datenbank Spektrum 15 (2005), dpunkt.verlag, S. 5-11
  Abstract & BibTeX  PDF file 
• P. Bernstein, S. Melnik, M. Petropoulos, C. Quix:
  Industrial-Strength Schema Matching
  SIGMOD Record, Vol. 33, No. 4, December 2004
  Abstract  PDF file 
• C. Quix:
  Quality-oriented and Metadata-driven Integration in Information Grids
  2nd IST Workshop on Metadata Management in Grid and P2P Systems (MMGPS) - Models, Services, Architectures, London, UK, Dec. 2004
  Abstract  PDF file 
• C. Quix:
  Repository Support for Data Warehouse Evolution
  ICFAI Journal of Systems Management, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 57-72, August 2003
  Abstract 
  Annotation: Reprint of a paper published at DMDW'99  
• C. Quix:
  Metadatenverwaltung zur qualitätsorientierten Informationslogistik in Data-Warehouse-Systemen
  Dissertation, RWTH Aachen, 2003
  Abstract  PDF file 

Links

	Homepage of the ConceptBase system
	Model Management Research Group at Microsoft Research
	OntologyMatching.org provides various resources on matching of models (ontologies in particular)