The traditional transaction model, with the atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability properties, was originally developed for data processing applications. To meet the requirements and challenges for the next-generation information systems, researchers have continued to refine and generalize the traditional model in several directions. This book assembles a collection of papers authored by thinkers, designers and implementors of database systems, to describe developments that lie at the heart of mid-to-late-1990s research in advanced transaction processing areas. The papers have been grouped into the following topical areas: workflow transactions; tool-kit approaches; long transactions and semantics; concurrency control and recovery; transaction optimization; active database approach; on-line transaction processing (OLTP) and on-line analytical processing (OLAP); real-time data management; and mobile computing. This text should provide researchers and students with a complete survey of current research available on the subject. Broad in scope, this book could serve as a textbook not only in a specialized course at the graduate level, but also in an introductory course on advanced transaction systems. The book concludes with a complete bibliography which provides a guide for further reading.