arXiv subjects

Panos Vassiliadis

Publications and source records attributed to Panos Vassiliadis.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Semantics and Multi-Query Optimization Algorithms for the Analyze Operator

In their hunt for highlights, i.e., interesting patterns in the data, data analysts have to issue groups of related queries and manually combine their results. To the extent that the analyst's goals are based on an intention on what to discover (e.g., contrast a query result to peer ones, verify a pattern to a broader range of data in the data space, etc), the integration of intentional query operators in analytical engines can enhance the efficiency of these analytical tasks. In this paper, we introduce, with well-defined semantics, the ANALYZE operator, a novel cube querying intentional operator that provides a 360 view of data. We define the semantics of an ANALYZE query as a tuple of five internal, facilitator cube queries, that (a) report on the specifics of a particular subset of the data space, which is part of the query specification, and to which we refer as the original query, (b) contrast the result with results from peer-subspaces, or sibling queries, and, (c) explore the data space in lower levels of granularity via drill-down queries. We introduce formal query semantics for the operator and we theoretically prove that we can obtain the exact same result by merging the facilitator cube queries into a smaller number of queries. This effectively introduces a multi-query optimization (MQO) strategy for executing an ANALYZE query. We propose three alternative algorithms, (a) a simple execution without optimizations (Min-MQO), (b) a total merging of all the facilitator queries to a single one (Max-MQO), and (c) an intermediate strategy, Mid-MQO, that merges only a subset of the facilitator queries. Our experimentation demonstrates that Mid-MQO achieves consistently strong performance across several contexts, Min-MQO always follows it, and Max-MQO excels for queries where the siblings are sizable and significantly overlap.

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arXiv2024

A Conceptual Model for Data Storytelling Highlights in Business Intelligence Environments

We introduce a conceptual model for highlights to support data analysis and storytelling in the domain of Business Intelligence, via the automated extraction, representation, and exploitation of highlights revealing key facts that are hidden in the data with which a data analyst works. The model builds on the concepts of Holistic and Elementary Highlights, along with their context, constituents and interrelationships, whose synergy can identify internal properties, patterns and key facts in a dataset being analyzed.

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arXiv2023

Cube Interestingness: Novelty, Relevance, Peculiarity and Surprise

In this paper, we discuss methods to assess the interestingness of a query in an environment of data cubes. We assume a hierarchical multidimensional database, storing data cubes and level hierarchies. We start with a comprehensive review of related work in the fields of studies of human behavior and computer science. We define the interestingness of a query as a vector of scores along difference dimensions, like novelty, relevance, surprise and peculiarity and complement this definition with a taxonomy of the information that can be used to assess each of these dimensions of interestingness. We provide both syntactic (result-independent) checks and extensional (result-dependent) measures and algorithms for assessing the different dimensions of interestingness in a quantitative fashion. We also report our findings on a user study that we conducted, analyzing the significance of each dimension, its evolution over time and the behavior of the study's participants.

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arXiv2023

A declarative approach to data narration

This vision paper lays the preliminary foundations for Data Narrative Management Systems (DNMS), systems that enable the storage, sharing, and manipulation of data narratives. We motivate the need for such formal foundations and introduce a simple logical framework inspired by the relational model. The core of this framework is a Data Narrative Manipulation Language inspired by the extended relational algebra. We illustrate its use via examples and discuss the main challenges for the implementation of this vision.

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arXiv2023

A Cube Algebra with Comparative Operations: Containment, Overlap, Distance and Usability

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive rigorous modeling for multidimensional spaces with hierarchically structured dimensions in several layers of abstractions and data cubes that live in such spaces. We model cube queries and their semantics and define typical OLAP operators like Selections, Roll-Up, Drill-Down, etc. The model serves as the basis to offer the main contribution of this paper which includes theorems and algorithms for being able to associate data cube queries via comparative operations that are evaluated only on the syntax of the queries involved. Specifically, these operations include: (a) foundational containment, referring to the coverage of common parts of the most detailed level of aggregation of the multidimensional space, (b/c) same-level containment and intersection, referring to the inclusion/existence of common parts of the multidimensional space in two query results of the same aggregation levels, (d) query distance, referring to being able to assess the similarity of two queries in the same multidimensional space, and, (e) cube usability, i.e., the possibility of computing a new cube from a previous one, defined at a different level of abstraction.

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arXiv2020

Beyond Roll-Up's and Drill-Down's: An Intentional Analytics Model to Reinvent OLAP (long-version)

This paper structures a novel vision for OLAP by fundamentally redefining several of the pillars on which OLAP has been based for the last 20 years. We redefine OLAP queries, in order to move to higher degrees of abstraction from roll-up's and drill-down's, and we propose a set of novel intentional OLAP operators, namely, describe, assess, explain, predict, and suggest, which express the user's need for results. We fundamentally redefine what a query answer is, and escape from the constraint that the answer is a set of tuples; on the contrary, we complement the set of tuples with models (typically, but not exclusively, results of data mining algorithms over the involved data) that concisely represent the internal structure or correlations of the data. Due to the diverse nature of the involved models, we come up (for the first time ever, to the best of our knowledge) with a unifying framework for them, that places its pillars on the extension of each data cell of a cube with information about the models that pertain to it -- practically converting the small parts that build up the models to data that annotate each cell. We exploit this data-to-model mapping to provide highlights of the data, by isolating data and models that maximize the delivery of new information to the user. We introduce a novel method for assessing the surprise that a new query result brings to the user, with respect to the information contained in previous results the user has seen via a new interestingness measure. The individual parts of our proposal are integrated in a new data model for OLAP, which we call the Intentional Analytics Model. We complement our contribution with a list of significant open problems for the community to address.

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arXiv2018

An Integration-Oriented Ontology to Govern Evolution in Big Data Ecosystems

Big Data architectures allow to flexibly store and process heterogeneous data, from multiple sources, in their original format. The structure of those data, commonly supplied by means of REST APIs, is continuously evolving. Thus data analysts need to adapt their analytical processes after each API release. This gets more challenging when performing an integrated or historical analysis. To cope with such complexity, in this paper, we present the Big Data Integration ontology, the core construct to govern the data integration process under schema evolution by systematically annotating it with information regarding the schema of the sources. We present a query rewriting algorithm that, using the annotated ontology, converts queries posed over the ontology to queries over the sources. To cope with syntactic evolution in the sources, we present an algorithm that semi-automatically adapts the ontology upon new releases. This guarantees ontology-mediated queries to correctly retrieve data from the most recent schema version as well as correctness in historical queries. A functional and performance evaluation on real-world APIs is performed to validate our approach.

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