With the increasing usage of storing textual data into relational databases, there is a demand for the databases to support keyword queries over textual data. Due to the normalization and the inherent connections among tuples in different tables, traditional IR-style ranking and query evaluation methods do not apply. A number of systems have been proposed to deal with this issue. In this thesis, I will give a detailed demonstration and description to our SPARK project. In the project, we study both the effectiveness and the efficiency issues of answering top-k keyword query on a relational database system. We propose a new ranking formula by adapting existing IR techniques on a natural notion of ???virtual document???. Compared with previous approaches, our new ranking method is simple yet effective, and agrees with human being???s perception better. We also study efficient query processing methods based on the new ranking method, and propose algorithms that have minimal accesses to the database. We have conducted extensive experiments on large-scale real databases using two popular RDBMSs. The experimental results demonstrate significant improvement to the alternative approaches in terms of both retrieval effectiveness and efficiency. We build a prototype of SPARK system on top of popular RDBMS based on these new techniques to satisfy different kinds of users and to support various query modes.

Zugl.: Saarbrücken, Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2003 u.d.T.: Wirschum, Nadine: Erleichterung der Informationssuche im Internet

Report (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. M.S. 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 48). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Duke University, 2007.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-58). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Gregory Riccardi, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Computer Science. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 7, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 102 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, 1995. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography (leaves 212-221).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, 1995. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography (leaves 212-221).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Computer Science, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-54).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Purdue University, 1984. / Vita. Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-91).