The efficient and flexible management of large datasets is one of the core requirements of modern business applications. Having access to consistent and up-to-date information is the foundation for operational, tactical, and strategic decision making. Within the last few years, the database community sparked a large number of extremely innovative research projects to push the envelope in the context of modern database system architectures. In this paper, we outline requirements and influencing factors to identify some of the hot research topics in database management systems. We argue that—even after 30 years of active database research—the time is right to rethink some of the core architectural principles and come up with novel approaches to meet the requirements of the next decades in data management. The sheer number of diverse and novel (e.g., scientific) application areas, the existence of modern hardware capabilities, and the need of large data centers to become more energy-efficient will be the drivers for database research in the years to come.

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Modern society is intrinsically dependent on the ability to manage data effectively. While relational databases have been the industry standard for the past quarter century, recent growth in data volumes and complexity requires novel data management solutions. These trends revitalized the interest in deductive databases and highlighted the need for column-oriented data storage. However, programming technologies for enterprise computing were designed for the relational data management model (i.e., row-oriented data storage). Therefore, developers cannot easily incorporate emerging data management solutions into enterprise systems. To address the problem above, this thesis presents Deductive Java (DJ), a system that enables enterprise programmers to use a column oriented deductive database in their Java applications. DJ does so without requiring that the programmer become proficient in deductive databases and their non-standardized, vendor-specific APIs. The design of DJ incorporates three novel features: (1) tailoring orthogonal persistence technology to the needs of a deductive database with column-oriented storage; (2) using Java interfaces as a primary mapping construct, thereby simplifying method call interception; (3) providing facilities to deploy light-weight business rules. DJ was developed in partnership with LogicBlox Inc., an Atlanta based technology startup. / Master of Science

L’irrigation a connu de grands changements dans le bassin du Rhône français durant les trente dernières années du vingtième siècle. La mise en œuvre d’un Système d’Information sur le bassin du Rhône (SIR) montre l’existence de quatre grands systèmes d’irrigation qui s’individualisent au sein de plusieurs « régions d’irrigation ». Ces dernières révèlent des dynamiques contrastées, mettant à mal l’idée que l’irrigation aurait connu une expansion continue et homogène, même si les superficies irriguées augmentent globalement. Ces dynamiques spatiales s’expliquent par les profondes transformations d’une pratique modernisée, utilisant des techniques toujours plus économes en eau. C’est d’ailleurs le deuxième enseignement de la recherche : l’accroissement général des superficies irriguées n’a pas entraîné une augmentation des demandes en eau. Celles-ci ont plutôt tendance à diminuer, de l’ordre de 30 % en trente ans. Sous l’impulsion des gestionnaires, les irrigants font un usage de plus en plus raisonné des ressources en eau et, à terme, il ne faut certainement pas considérer l’irrigation comme une menace généralisée pour les équilibres environnementaux... Le mémoire de thèse s’accompagne d’un système de gestion de l’information géographique et d’un atlas en version électronique. / Over the last thirty years of the twentieth century, irrigation in the French basin of the Rhône river has undergone substantial change. The implementation of a Geographic Information System on the Rhône basin (SIR) demonstrates the existence of four main irrigation systems individualized within several “irrigation regions.” These reveal in turn a series of contrasted dynamics, putting into question the idea that irrigation expansion had been both continuous and homogeneous, even though the total surface area irrigated actually increased. These spatial dynamics can be accounted for by the deep transformations due to a modernised practice that relies on techniques ever more sparing with water. This is in fact the second lesson one can draw from this study : the general increase in irrigated surface areas did not lead to an increase in water demand. On the contrary, water demand has tended to diminish, in the order of 30% over thirty years. Driven by management, the cultivators’ use of water resources is more and more reasoned, so that in the long run irrigation is surely no global threat to environmental balance. The thesis includes a system for managing geographic information as well as an electronic atlas.