Beng Chin Ooi

Recent years have seen an explosive growth in the use of new database applications such as CAD/CAM systems, spatial information systems, and multimedia information systems. The needs of these applications are far more complex than traditional business applications. They call for support of objects with complex data types, such as images and spatial objects, and for support of objects with wildly varying numbers of index terms, such as documents. Traditional indexing techniques such as the B-tree and its variants do not efficiently support these applications, and so new indexing mechanisms have been developed. As a result of the demand for database support for new applications, there has been a proliferation of new indexing techniques. The need for a book addressing indexing problems in advanced applications is evident. For practitioners and database and application developers, this book explains best practice, guiding the selection of appropriate indexes for each application. For researchers, this book provides a foundation for the development of new and more robust indexes. For newcomers, this book is an overview of the wide range of advanced indexing techniques. Indexing Techniques for Advanced Database Systems is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course on indexing techniques, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

Recent years have seen an explosive growth in the use of new database applications such as CAD/CAM systems, spatial information systems, and multimedia information systems. The needs of these applications are far more complex than traditional business applications. They call for support of objects with complex data types, such as images and spatial objects, and for support of objects with wildly varying numbers of index terms, such as documents. Traditional indexing techniques such as the B-tree and its variants do not efficiently support these applications, and so new indexing mechanisms have been developed. As a result of the demand for database support for new applications, there has been a proliferation of new indexing techniques. The need for a book addressing indexing problems in advanced applications is evident. For practitioners and database and application developers, this book explains best practice, guiding the selection of appropriate indexes for each application. For researchers, this book provides a foundation for the development of new and more robust indexes. For newcomers, this book is an overview of the wide range of advanced indexing techniques. Indexing Techniques for Advanced Database Systems is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course on indexing techniques, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, or peer computing, is a paradigm that is viewed as a potential technology for redesigning distributed architectures and, consequently, distributed processing. Yet the scale and dynamism that characterize P2P systems demand that we reexamine traditional distributed technologies. A paradigm shift that includes self-reorganization, adaptation and resilience is called for. On the other hand, the increased computational power of such networks opens up completely new applications, such as in digital content sharing, scientific computation, gaming, or collaborative work environments. In this book, Vu, Lupu and Ooi present the technical challenges offered by P2P systems, and the means that have been proposed to address them. They provide a thorough and comprehensive review of recent advances on routing and discovery methods; load balancing and replication techniques; security, accountability and anonymity, as well as trust and reputation schemes; programming models and P2P systems and projects. Besides surveying existing methods and systems, they also compare and evaluate some of the more promising schemes. The need for such a book is evident. It provides a single source for practitioners, researchers and students on the state of the art. For practitioners, this book explains best practice, guiding selection of appropriate techniques for each application. For researchers, this book provides a foundation for the development of new and more effective methods. For students, it is an overview of the wide range of advanced techniques for realizing effective P2P systems, and it can easily be used as a text for an advanced course on Peer-to-Peer Computing and Technologies, or as a companion text for courses on various subjects, such as distributed systems, and grid and cluster computing.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, or peer computing, is a paradigm that is viewed as a potential technology for redesigning distributed architectures and, consequently, distributed processing. Yet the scale and dynamism that characterize P2P systems demand that we reexamine traditional distributed technologies. A paradigm shift that includes self-reorganization, adaptation and resilience is called for. On the other hand, the increased computational power of such networks opens up completely new applications, such as in digital content sharing, scientific computation, gaming, or collaborative work environments. In this book, Vu, Lupu and Ooi present the technical challenges offered by P2P systems, and the means that have been proposed to address them. They provide a thorough and comprehensive review of recent advances on routing and discovery methods; load balancing and replication techniques; security, accountability and anonymity, as well as trust and reputation schemes; programming models and P2P systems and projects. Besides surveying existing methods and systems, they also compare and evaluate some of the more promising schemes. The need for such a book is evident. It provides a single source for practitioners, researchers and students on the state of the art. For practitioners, this book explains best practice, guiding selection of appropriate techniques for each application. For researchers, this book provides a foundation for the development of new and more effective methods. For students, it is an overview of the wide range of advanced techniques for realizing effective P2P systems, and it can easily be used as a text for an advanced course on Peer-to-Peer Computing and Technologies, or as a companion text for courses on various subjects, such as distributed systems, and grid and cluster computing.

This monograph describes methods for extending relational database systems for geographic applications. The ways in which a relational database system is supplemented with unconventional spatial indexing structures, additional spatial subsystems and query processors are described in great detail. The work presents an extensive survey of existing spatial indexing techniques and a taxonomy of the extensions to the multidimensional indexing structures. An extensive experimental analysis of spatial indexes is presented. The work covers the following areas: - the design of geographic information systems (GIS) - extended query languages for GIS - spatial indexing mechanisms - query processing strategies. The author presents his own skd-trees and extended query optimization strategies. The survey of spatial indexing structures for non-zero sized objects provides a framework for workers in the field of spatial information systems to evaluate spatial access methods. The consideration of query optimization will assist understanding of the role of that topic in GIS.