GExpLine: A tool for supporting experiment composition

Abstract

Scientific experiments present several advantages when modeled at high abstraction levels, independent from Scientific Workflow Management System (SWfMS) specification languages. For example, the scientist can define the scientific hypothesis in terms of algorithms and methods. Then, this high level experiment can be mapped into different scientific workflow instances. These instances can be executed by a SWfMS and take advantage of its provenance records. However, each workflow execution is often treated by the SWfMS as independent instances. There are no tools that allow modeling the conceptual experiment and linking it to the diverse workflow execution instances. This work presents GExpLine, a tool for supporting experiment composition through provenance. In an analogy to software development, it can be seen as a CASE tool while a SWfMS can be seen as an IDE. It provides a conceptual representation of the scientific experiment and automatically associates workflow executions with the concept of experiment. By using prospective provenance from the experiment, GExpLine generates corresponding workflows that can be executed by SWfMS. This paper also presents a real experiment use case that reinforces the importance of GExpLine and its prospective provenance support. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.