AN OBJECT-ORIENTED KNOWLEDGE BASE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY FOR SUPPORTING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS

Like many other domains of research and applications, scientific research requires the use of databases and the support of database management systems. The data characteristics and access requirements of scientific databases are quite different from those of business databases. Clearly, existing database management systems, which were mainly developed for business applications, do not provide scientists with adequate modeling, processing, and analysis tools and capabilities to meet their database needs. This paper introduces an object-oriented knowledge base management technology which has a number of desirable features. First, an object-oriented semantic association model OSAM* provides general structural constructs to model complex objects and their various types of semantic associations. It also allows the user to define the behavioral properties of objects through user-defined operations and knowledge rules, which results in an active knowledge base management system (KBMS). Second, a pattern-based query language, OQL, allows complex search conditions and constraints to be easily specified. Third, a set of intelligent graphical interface tools greatly eases scientists' tasks in defining and querying complex knowledge bases. Fourth, the system can be extended to meet the changing requirements of applications by extending the modeling capabilities of the data model, and by modifying the structure of system components. Lastly, the efficiency of processing large knowledge bases is achieved by using a transputer-based multiprocessor system and some multi-wavefront parallel processing algorithms. A prototype KBMS with the above features has been developed which runs on IBM and SUN workstations.