Motivated by the ongoing success of Linked Data and the growing amount of semantic data sources available on the Web, new challenges to query processing are emerging. Especially in distributed settings that require joining data provided by multiple sources, sophisticated optimization techniques are necessary for efficient query processing. We propose novel join processing and grouping techniques to minimize the number of remote requests, and develop an effective solution for source selection in the absence of preprocessed metadata. We present FedX, a practical framework that enables efficient SPARQL query processing on heterogeneous, virtually integrated Linked Data sources. In experiments, we demonstrate the practicability and efficiency of our framework on a set of real-world queries and data sources from the Linked Open Data cloud. With FedX we achieve a significant improvement in query performance over state-of-the-art federated query engines.

Abstract. In this paper we present FedBench, a comprehensive benchmark suite for testing and analyzing the performance of federated query processing strategies on semantic data. The major challenge lies in the heterogeneity of semantic data use cases, where applications may face different settings at both the data and query level, such as varying data access interfaces, incomplete knowledge about data sources, availability of different statistics, and varying degrees of query expressiveness. Accounting for this heterogeneity, we present a highly flexible benchmark suite, which can be customized to accommodate a variety of use cases and compare competing approaches. We discuss design decisions, highlight the flexibility in customization, and elaborate on the choice of data and query sets. The practicability of our benchmark is demonstrated by a rigorous evaluation of various application scenarios, where we indicate both the benefits as well as limitations of the state-of-the-art federated query processing strategies for semantic data.

Abstract. Driven by the success of the Linked Open Data initiative today's Semantic Web is best characterized as a Web of interlinked datasets. Hand in hand with this structure new challenges to query processing are arising. Especially queries for which more than one data source can contribute results require advanced optimization and evaluation approaches, the major challenge lying in the nature of distribution: Heterogenous data sources have to be integrated into a federation to globally appear as a single repository. On the query level, though, techniques have to be developed to meet the requirements of efficient query computation in the distributed setting. We present FedX, a project which extends the Sesame Framework with a federation layer that enables efficient query processing on distributed Linked Open Data sources. We discuss key insights to its architecture and summarize our optimization techniques for the federated setting. The practicability of our system will be demonstrated in various scenarios using the Information Workbench.

The NewProt protein engineering portal is a one-stop-shop for in silico protein engineering. It gives access to a large number of servers that compute a wide variety of protein structure characteristics supporting work on the modification of proteins through the introduction of (multiple) point mutations. The results can be inspected through multiple visualizers. The HOPE software is included to indicate mutations with possible undesired side effects. The Hotspot Wizard software is embedded for the design of mutations that modify a proteins' activity, specificity, or stability. The NewProt portal is freely accessible at http://newprot.cmbi.umcn.nl/ and http://newprot.fluidops.net/.

No abstract