Aia Awards recognize theses on database programming language integration and data encryption

Nijmegen, February 22th, 2010 – On February 19, Aia Software has presented the seventh annual awards for the best theses written by computing and information science students at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Student Bas Lijnse has received the Master Award of €4,000 for his thesis, ”Between Types and Tables – Generic Mapping between Relational Databases and Data Structures in Clean.” The Bachelor Award of €1,000 has gone to Joost Koppers for his thesis “Database Encryption Schemes - Dealing with Sensitive Information.” The jury consists of lecturers from the Institute for Computing and Information Sciences at the Radboud University in Nijmegen and management staff from Aia Software.

Master Award: Integrating database and programming languages

Bas Lijnse will be recognized for his research into the integration of database and programming languages. “A lot of large software systems consist of two key components: the database and the programs. In practice, this means that different languages need to be used for programming and for accessing databases. Programmers need to be experts in both types of language in order to be able to make significant, efficient use of databases. Another problem is that, due to lack of integration between languages, it is extremely difficult to detect errors automatically in SQL from a programming language and vice versa. In actual fact, the two languages are completely unaware of the other’s existence,” said Bas.

In his master thesis, “Between Types and Tables - Generic Mapping between Relational Databases and Data Structures in Clean,” he looked at how databases are accessed from Clean. Clean is a functional programming language developed at the Radboud University. Bas enabled data to be read and written from Clean without the programmer needing to be familiar with SQL, while retaining the valuable properties of functional languages.

Aia Software CEO Paul Dirven said, “This is a particularly good piece of work that was carried out with great precision, but that is also highly relevant, which is why it was chosen for the Aia Award. The thesis contributes towards a solution for a problem that most programmers struggle with on a day-to-day basis. In short, it is an appealing topic with an appealing result."

Bachelor Award: Improving data security through encryption

Joost Koppers’ thesis, “Database Encryption Schemes - Dealing with Sensitive Information,” deals with a topical problem – unauthorized access to databases. According to Joost, “Errors in applications mean that unauthorized persons can access underlying databases and read all data stored in it. This can cause massive problems if the database contains company secrets or sensitive information like medical records.”

Joost’s research deals with encrypted data storage and focused on data storage in a pharmacy application in both theory and practice. After looking at various types of database encryption, Joost performed a practical implementation of one particular scheme in the existing pharmacy application. Various tests led to a suitable method of performing database encryption properly and efficiently without any performance issues.

“In light of all the discussion about the introduction of the ‘Electronic Patient Dossier,’ this is an application that is highly relevant to society,” noted Rinus Plasmeijer, Professor at the Institute for Computing and Information Sciences and Chairman of the jury. “A well executed piece of theoretical research put into practice well, a thoroughly deserved Aia Bachelor Award for the most appealing thesis.”

About Aia Software

Aia Software is a leading global supplier of documentation solutions. Their ITP Documentation Platform helps staff create relevant and personalized business-critical documentation. Over 850 organizations use ITP as their integrated total solution for large-scale automated generation of standard documents, individualized components-based correspondence, and dynamic form-based data entry. ITP interfaces seamlessly with existing business applications. Aia Software is a fully independent company with head offices in the Netherlands and branch offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.
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