The growing amount of XML encoded data exchanged over the Internet increases
the importance of XML based publish-subscribe (pub-sub) and content based
routing systems. The input in such systems typically consists of a stream of
XML documents and a set of user subscriptions expressed as XML queries. The
pub-sub system then filters the published documents and passes them to the
subscribers. Pub-sub systems are characterized by very high input ratios,
therefore the processing time is critical.