The Information Management Group
The Information Management Group (IMG) conducts research into the design, development and use of data and knowledge management systems. Such research activities are broad in nature as well as scope, including basic research on models and languages that underpins activities on algorithms, technologies and architectures. Challenging applications motivate and validate our research, in particular the Semantic Web and e-Science.
SNEE: Sensor Network Query Compiler/Optimizer :: Source Code ReleaseProject page: http://snee.cs.manchester.ac.We would like to announce the release of the SNEE sensor network query compiler/optimizer. SNEE (for Sensor NEtwork Engine) has been developed at the University of Manchester. It supports an expressive continuous, declarative query language over acquisitional streams, called SNEEql, using a software architecture that extends traditional distributed query processing techniques. SNEEql queries are compiled into query evaluation plans (QEPs) in the form of executable nesC/TinyOS code. SNEEql QEPs currently target the TOSSIM simulator and the Avrora Mica2/MicaZ instruction-level simulator (TinyOS 1.x only). We have also run SNEE-generated QEPs on Tmote Sky motes running TinyOS 2.x, and a further release in which the generated QEPs are fit for small-scale experiments on such mote-level hardware is planned for the next few months. The SNEE compilation/optimization architecture explicitly makes a broad range of query planning decisions that take into account the resource constrained nature of sensor networks, including:
SNEE compilation/optimization is also responsive to explicitly-stated QoS expectations, such as delivery time. A version of SNEE is being prepared that will enable multiple query evaluation as well as responsiveness to a broader range of QoS expectations than are currently supported by any comparable sensor network query processing software. SNEE was first developed in the DIAS-MC project funded by the UK EPSRC and is currently being significantly further developed and deployed in the SemSorGrid4Env project ( http://www.semsorgrid4env.eu/ ) funded by
the European Union. SemSorGrid4Env aims to provide enabling technology for the semantic discovery and integration of diverse sensor networks (and other data resources such as historical databases or satellite imagery) to support the development of on-the-fly data mashups involving streaming sensor data in the context of disaster response scenarios. One of the prototypes being developed as a demonstrator for this project is a fire-prevention application, and plans are underway to deploy SNEE in a sensor network for monitoring the risk of forest fires in Spain. The source code of SNEE has been released under the New BSD License, and is hosted at: http://code.google.com/p/snee/ At the above URL, you can download the source, with some simple examples. The quickest way to get up and running is to follow the 'getting started guide' link in the above page. The following associated publications are currently available: Overview paper: - Comprehensive Optimization of Declarative Sensor Network Queries. Ixent Galpin, Christian Y. A. Brenninkmeijer, Farhana Jabeen, Alvaro A. A. Fernandes, and Norman W. Paton. In SSDBM, pages 339-360, 2009. http://dblp.uni-trier.de/rec/ Available at: http://snee.cs.manchester.ac. Other papers about SNEE: - Validated Cost Models for Sensor Network Queries. Christian Y. A. Brenninkmeijer, Ixent Galpin, Alvaro A. A. Fernandes, and Norman W. Paton. In DMSN, (Article no. 8), 2009. http://dblp.uni-trier.de/rec/ Available at: http://snee.cs.manchester.ac. - A Semantics for a Query Language over Sensors, Streams and Relations. Christian Y. A. Brenninkmeijer, Ixent Galpin, Alvaro A. A. Fernandes, and Norman W. Paton. In BNCOD, pages 87-99, 2008. http://dblp.uni-trier.de/rec/ Available at: http://snee.cs.manchester.ac. - An Architecture for Query Optimization in Sensor Networks. Ixent Galpin, Christian Y. A. Brenninkmeijer, Farhana Jabeen, Alvaro A. A. Fernandes, and Norman W. Paton. In ICDE, pages 1439-1441, 2008. http://dblp.uni-trier.de/rec/ Available at: http://snee.cs.manchester.ac. More information is available at our project page: http://snee.cs.manchester.ac. We would be very grateful for any comments or questions, so do let us know your experiences, good or bad, if you try out the software. For this purpose, and as default for projects hosted by Google Code, the SNEE page ( http://code.google.com/p/snee ) comes with a Wiki as well It as Group Discussion fora. If you prefer to email us directly, please use {ixent,alvaro}(at)cs.man.ac.uk . External links to software/hardware platforms mentioned above: nesC/TinyOS http://docs.tinyos.net/index. TOSSIM http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ http://docs.tinyos.net/index. Avrora http://compilers.cs.ucla.edu/ Mica2 http://www.xbow.com/Products/ MicaZ http://www.xbow.com/Products/ Tmote Sky http://www.sentilla.com/ |
Three papers from IMG members accepted at the EDBT 2010 conferenceEDBT ("Extending Database Technology") is one of the top conferences in the broad area of data management. We are happy to announce that this year's edition will feature three papers from IMG people, and they are:Khalid Belhajjame, Norman W. Paton, Suzanne Embury, Alvaro A. A. Fernandes and Cornelia Hedeler. Feedback-Based Annotation, Selection and Refinement of Schema Mappings for Dataspaces Paolo Missier, Norman Paton and Khalid Belhajjame. Fine-grained and efficient lineage querying of collection-based workflow provenance Kwanchai Eurviriyankul, Norman W. Paton, Alvaro A. A. Fernandes and Steven Lynden. Adaptive Join Processing in Pipelined Plans Congratulations especially to Norman, who is a co-author of all three! |
Web Accessibility Expert Interviewed By Spanish MediaA local Spanish media, NoticiasdeGipuzkoa.com, recently featured an interview with Dr. Simon Harper on Web accessibility and how it will give blind users the independence to purchase online. He discussed about the aspects of making a website accessible, the benefits of doing it, and the practicability of achieving it. Read the original full article at http://www.noticiasdegipuzkoa.com/2009/12/02/sociedad/euskadi/una-web-accesible-permite-a-un-usuario-ciego-comprar-online-y-asi-ganar-autonomia. For the translated English version of the article click here. |
Full paper accepted to the Computers in Human BehaviorA full paper titled, "Small Device Users Situationally Impaired by Input" by Yeliz Yesilada, Simon Harper, Tianyi Chen and Shari Trewin has been accepted to the prestigious Computers in Human Behavior Journal. This paper is written as part of the collaboration between the HCW researchers and Shari Trewin from IBM Watson Research Center. This paper describes empirical work which makes the link between the behaviour of motor impaired desktop users and non--impaired users of small--devices. This is important because it may, therefore, be possible to leverage existing solutions for motor impaired users into the small--device domain. We find that there is significant overlap in the extent of the problems encountered, but not the magnitude. Eight of the eleven existing errors made by motor impaired users were also present in our small--device study in which two additional error types, key ambiguity and landing errors, were also observed. In addition, small--device rates for common error types were higher than those of desktop users with no impairment, but lower than those of desktop users with motor impairments. |
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Taverna 2 formal semantics paper accepted for publication Our paper on the formal semantics of Taverna 2 has been accepted for publication in the Special Issue on Scientific Workflows of the Journal of Computer and System Sciences. This is good news: the paper is a result of an ongoing collaboration between the myGrid people, Jan Hidders of the Technical University of Delft, NL, and Jacek Sroka, of the University of Warsaw, Poland. Here is the temporary citation: Jacek Sroka, Jan Hidders, Paolo Missier, and Carole Goble, Formal semantics for the Taverna 2 Workflow Model, Journal of Computer and System Sciences, Special Issue on Scientific Workflows, 2010, in press. This is a relevant paper, in that it provides a formal foundation for the new version of the Taverna workflow management system. A similar "formal semantics" paper, which however follows a different modelling approach, described the original Taverna model and appears in the procs. of the IEEE e-science conference: DOI. |