Probabilistic query answering over inconsistent databases

This paper presents a framework for querying inconsistent databases in the presence of functional dependencies. Most of the works dealing with the problem of extracting reliable information from inconsistent databases are based on the notion of repair, a minimal set of tuple insertions and deletions which leads the database to a consistent state (called repaired database), and the notion of consistent query answer, a query answer that can be obtained from every repaired database. In this work, both the notion of repair and query answer differ from the original ones. In the presence of functional dependencies, tuple deletions are the only operations that are performed in order to restore the consistency of an inconsistent database. However, deleting a tuple to remove an integrity violation potentially eliminates useful information in that tuple. In order to cope with this problem, we adopt a notion of repair, based on tuple updates, which allows us to better preserve information in the source database. A drawback of the notion of consistent query answer is that it does not allow us to discriminate among non-consistent answers, namely answers which can be obtained from a non-empty proper subset of the repaired databases. To obtain more informative query answers, we propose the notion of probabilistic query answer, that is query answers are tuples associated with probabilities. This new semantics of query answering over inconsistent databases allows us to give a measure of uncertainty to query answers. We show that the problem of computing probabilistic query answers is FP ^#P -complete. We also propose a technique for computing probabilistic answers to arbitrary relational algebra queries.     

Programming mobile context-aware applications with TOTAM

In tuple space approaches to context-aware mobile systems, the notion of context is defined by the presence or absence of certain tuples in the tuple space. Existing approaches define such presence either by collocation of devices holding the tuples or by replication of tuples across all devices. We show that both approaches can lead to an erroneous perception of context. Collocation ties the perception of context to network connectivity which does not always yield the expected result. Tuple replication can cause that a certain context is perceived even if the device has left the context a long time ago. We propose a tuple space approach in which tuples themselves carry a predicate that determines whether they are in the right context or not. We present a practical API for our approach and show its use by means of the implementation of various mobile applications. Benchmarks show that our approach can lead to a significant increase in performance compared to other approaches.     

On lower and upper intension order relations by different cover concepts

In this paper, the concept of intension is used to introduce two types of ordering relations based on information that generates a cover for the universal set. These types of ordering relations are distinct from the well-known ordering relation based on set inclusion. For these ordering relations, we consider the algebraic structures that arise in various types of covers. We show that in the case of a representative cover, the algebraic structure resulting from the lower intension inclusion is a double Stone algebra, while in the case of a reduced cover, it is a Boolean algebra. In addition, the algebraic structure resulting from the upper intension inclusion in the case of a representative cover is a Boolean algebra, and in the case of a reduced cover, the two Boolean algebraic structures from lower and upper intension inclusions are isomorphic.     

Fine-grained integration of access control policies

Collaborative and distributed applications, such as dynamic coalitions and virtualized grid computing, often require integrating access control policies of collaborating parties. Such an integration must be able to support complex authorization specifications and the fine-grained integration requirements that the various parties may have. In this paper, we introduce an algebra for fine-grained integration of sophisticated policies. The algebra, which consists of three binary and two unary operations, is able to support the specification of a large variety of integration constraints. For ease of use, we also introduce a set of derived operators and provide guidelines for users to edit a policy with desired properties. To assess the expressive power of our algebra, we define notion of completeness and prove that our algebra is complete and minimal with respect to the notion. We then propose a framework that uses the algebra for the fine-grained integration of policies expressed in XACML. We also present a methodology for generating the actual integrated XACML policy, based on the notion of Multi-Terminal Binary Decision Diagrams. Experimental results have demonstrated both effectiveness and efficiency of our approach. In addition, we also discuss issues regarding obligations.     

An extended algebra for constraint databases

Constraint relational databases use constraints to both model and query data. A constraint relation contains a finite set of generalized tuples. Each generalized tuple is represented by a conjunction of constraints on a given logical theory and, depending on the logical theory and the specific conjunction of constraints, it may possibly represent an infinite set of relational tuples. For their characteristics, constraint databases are well suited to model multidimensional and structured data, like spatial and temporal data. The definition of an algebra for constraint relational databases is important in order to make constraint databases a practical technology. We extend the previously defined constraint algebra (called generalized relational algebra). First, we show that the relational model is not the only possible semantic reference model for constraint relational databases and we show how constraint relations can be interpreted under the nested relational model. Then, we introduce two distinct classes of constraint algebras, one based on the relational algebra, and one based on the nested relational algebra, and we present an algebra of the latter type. The algebra is proved equivalent to the generalized relational algebra when input relations are modified by introducing generalized tuple identifiers. However, from a user point of view, it is more suitable. Thus, the difference existing between such algebras is similar to the difference existing between the relational algebra and the nested relational algebra, dealing with only one level of nesting. We also show how external functions can be added to the proposed algebra     

Building a relatedness graph from Linked Open Data: A case study in the IT domain

The availability of encyclopedic Linked Open Data (LOD) paves the way to a new generation of knowledge-intensive applications able to exploit the information encoded in the semantically-enriched datasets freely available on the Web. In such applications, the notion of relatedness between entities plays an important role whenever, given a query, we are looking not only for exact answers but we are also interested in a ranked list of related ones. In this paper we present an approach to build a relatedness graph among resources in the DBpedia dataset that refer to the IT domain. Our final aim is to create a useful data structure at the basis of an expert system that, looking for an IT resource, returns a ranked list of related technologies, languages, tools the user might be interested in. The graph we created is a basic building block to allow an expert system to support the user in entity search tasks in the IT domain (e.g. software component search or expert finding) that goes beyond string matching typical of pure keyword-based approaches and is able to exploit the explicit and implicit semantics encoded within LOD datasets. The graph creation relies on different relatedness measures that are combined with each other to compute a ranked list of candidate resources associated to a given query. We validated our tool through experimental evaluation on real data to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

基于网格的数据流连续约束Skyline处理技术研究

作为数据流上的一种重要查询,skyline对于很多在线应用都非常重要,包括移动运算环境、网络监控、传感器网络、股票交易等。与大多数数据流skyline处理技术不同,本文着重于约束skyline的处理。约束skyline支持用户定义在某些属性上的偏好,系统中存在多个约束skyline查询,为skyline查询处理技术带来了新的挑战。为了在高速数据流上对约束skyline进行高效处理,本文使用了一种网格索引存储元组,并提出两个算法用于计算和维护skyline集合,我们还为每个查询定义了影响区域,以减少在新元组到达和旧元组失效时需要处理的网格数目。理论分析和实验证明了该方法的有效性。     

Query processing over incomplete autonomous databases: query rewriting using learned data dependencies

Incompleteness due to missing attribute values (aka “null values”) is very common in autonomous web databases, on which user accesses are usually supported through mediators. Traditional query processing techniques that focus on the strict soundness of answer tuples often ignore tuples with critical missing attributes, even if they wind up being relevant to a user query. Ideally we would like the mediator to retrieve such possibleanswers and gauge their relevance by accessing their likelihood of being pertinent answers to the query. The autonomous nature of web databases poses several challenges in realizing this objective. Such challenges include the restricted access privileges imposed on the data, the limited support for query patterns, and the bounded pool of database and network resources in the web environment. We introduce a novel query rewriting and optimization framework QPIAD that tackles these challenges. Our technique involves reformulating the user query based on mined correlations among the database attributes. The reformulated queries are aimed at retrieving the relevant possibleanswers in addition to the certain answers. QPIAD is able to gauge the relevance of such queries allowing tradeoffs in reducing the costs of database query processing and answer transmission. To support this framework, we develop methods for mining attribute correlations (in terms of Approximate Functional Dependencies), value distributions (in the form of Naïve Bayes Classifiers), and selectivity estimates. We present empirical studies to demonstrate that our approach is able to effectively retrieve relevant possibleanswers with high precision, high recall, and manageable cost.     

Beyond search: Retrieving complete tuples from a text-database

A common task of Web users is querying structured information from Web pages. For realizing this interesting scenario we propose a novel query processor for systematically discovering instances of semantic relations in Web search results and joining these relation instances into complex result tuples with conjunctive queries. Our query processor transforms a structured user query into keyword queries that are submitted to a search engine, forwards search results to a relation extractor, and then combines relations into complex result tuples. The processor automatically learns discriminative and effective keywords for different types of semantic relations. Thereby, our query processor leverages the index of a search engine to query potentially billions of pages. Unfortunately, relation extractors may fail to return a relation for a result tuple. Moreover, user defined data sources may not return at least k complete result tuples. Therefore we propose an adaptive routing model based on information theory for retrieving missing attributes of incomplete result tuples. The model determines the most promising next incomplete tuple and attribute type for returning any-k complete result tuples at any point during the query execution process. We report a thorough experimental evaluation over multiple relation extractors. Our query processor returns complete result tuples while processing only very few Web pages.     

Data Cleaning and Query Answering with Matching Dependencies and Matching Functions

Matching dependencies were recently introduced as declarative rules for data cleaning and entity resolution. Enforcing a matching dependency on a database instance identifies the values of some attributes for two tuples, provided that the values of some other attributes are sufficiently similar. Assuming the existence of matching functions for making two attribute values equal, we formally introduce the process of cleaning an instance using matching dependencies, as a chase-like procedure. We show that matching functions naturally introduce a lattice structure on attribute domains, and a partial order of semantic domination between instances. Using the latter, we define the semantics of clean query answering in terms of certain/possible answers as the greatest lower bound/least upper bound of all possible answers obtained from the clean instances. We show that clean query answering is intractable in general. Then we study queries that behave monotonically w.r.t. semantic domination order, and show that we can provide an under/over approximation for clean answers to monotone queries. Moreover, non-monotone positive queries can be relaxed into monotone queries.     

Ordered functional dependencies in relational databases

We extend the relational data model to incorporate linear orderings into data domains, which we call the ordered relational model. The conventional Functional Dependencies (FDs) are examined in the context of ordered relational databases by using the notion of System Ordering Independence (SOI), which refers to the desirable scenario that the ordering of tuples in a relation is independent of the implementation of the underlying DBMS. We also extend Armstrong's axiom system for FDs to object relations, which are a subclass of ordered relations that allow us to view tuples as objects. We formally define Ordered Functional Dependencies (OFDs) for the extended model by means of two possible extensions of domains, pointwise-orderings and lexicographical orderings. We first present a sound and complete axiom system for OFDs in the case of pointwise-orderings and then establish a sound and complete set of chase rules for OFDs in the case of lexicographical orderings. Our main result shows that the implication problems for both cases of OFDs are decidable, and that it is linear time for the case of pointwise-orderings.     

An improved algorithm for the incremental recomputation of activerelational expressions

Qian and Wiederhold (1991) presented an algorithm for the incremental recomputation of relational algebra expressions that was claimed to preserve a certain minimality condition. This condition guarantees that the incremental change sets do not contain any unnecessary tuples; so, redundant computations are not performed. We show that, in fact, their algorithm violates this condition. We present an improved algorithm that does preserve this notion of minimality     

不一致数据库上带信任标记的查询结果

不一致数据无法正确反映现实世界,其上的查询结果内含错误或矛盾,而现有的很多不一致数据查询处理相关研究都存在信息丢失的问题.AQA(annotation based query answer)针对这一问题采用信任标签在属性级别上区分一致和不一致数据,避免了信息丢失.但AQA假设记录在依赖左边属性上的分量可信,且只针对函数依赖一种约束,具有应用局限性.在综合约束(函数依赖、包含依赖和域约束)范围内、不确定属性任意的情况下扩展了AQA,重新审视了AQA的数据模型及其上的查询代数,讨论了任意约束在查询结果上的蕴含约束计算问题.实验结果表明,扩展后的AQA非连接类查询的性能和普通的SQL基夺相同,连接查询经优化后性能接近普通SQL查询,但AQA不丢失信息与部分同类研究相比有很大优势.     

基于不确定理论的不确定性数据Top-k查询计算

在不确定性数据集中,基于参数化排名函数的Top-k查询研究近年来备受关注。给出了一种新的解决方法,该方法将不确定性数据集中的元组建模为不确定网络,将有序元组的Top-k查询等价转化为相应样本图中边的不确定测度关系,并对样本图依据所包含边的排序位置进行分类,从而 将不确定性数据中基于参数化排名函数的Top-k查询等价转换为依Top-k值不同的有限查询。本算法避免了计算所有元组在样本图中的排名不确定测度值,提高了不确定图的Top-k查询计算效率。 理论分析和实验结果表明,提出的Top-k查询算法能够从非确定角度解决不确定性数据的Top-k查询计算问题。     

Containment and disjointedness in partitioned normal form relations

Containment and disjointedness are two important properties in the updating materialized views. Disjointedness means that the set of tuples to be inserted in the view are disjoint from the view, and containment means that the tuples to be deleted from the view are contained in the view. In this paper we consider how to extend the definition of containment and disjointedness from flat relations to nested relations which are in partitioned normal form. The two correctness requirements that we place on our definitions are that they must be faithful and precise; where faithful means that the definition should coincide with the corresponding definition for flat relations when the nested relations are flat, and precise means that the definition should coincide with the corresponding definition for flat relations after performing a total unnest on the nested relation. We then propose definitions for disjointedness and containment for partitioned normal form relations and prove that the definitions proposed are faithful and precise. We also show that simple set based extensions of the definitions for flat relations are not correct since they are not precise. Received: 9 October 2000 / 17 September 2001     

Semantic optimization techniques for preference queries

Preference queries are relational algebra or SQL queries that contain occurrences of the winnow operator (find the most preferred tuples in a given relation). Such queries are parameterized by specific preference relations. Semantic optimization techniques make use of integrity constraints holding in the database. In the context of semantic optimization of preference queries, we identify two fundamental properties: containment of preference relations relative to integrity constraints and satisfaction of order axioms relative to integrity constraints. We show numerous applications of those notions to preference query evaluation and optimization. As integrity constraints, we consider constraint-generating dependencies, a class generalizing functional dependencies. We demonstrate that the problems of containment and satisfaction of order axioms can be captured as specific instances of constraint-generating dependency entailment. This makes it possible to formulate necessary and sufficient conditions for the applicability of our techniques as constraint validity problems. We characterize the computational complexity of such problems.     

Query rewriting for SWIFT (First) answers

Traditionally, the answer to a database query is construed as the set of all tuples that meet the criteria stated. Strict adherence to this notion in query evaluation is, however, increasingly unsatisfactory because decision makers are more prone to adopting an exploratory strategy for information search which we call “getting some answers quickly, and perhaps more later”. From a decision-maker's perspective, such a strategy is optimal for coping with information overload and makes economic sense (when used in conjunction with a micropayment mechanism). These new requirements present new opportunities for database query optimization. In this paper, we propose a progressive query processing strategy that exploits this behavior to conserve system resources and to minimize query response time and user waiting time. This is accomplished by the heuristic decomposition of user queries into subqueries that can be evaluated on demand. To illustrate the practicality of the proposed methods, we describe the architecture of a prototype system that provides a nonintrusive implementation of our approach. Finally, we present experimental results obtained from an empirical study conducted using an Oracle server that demonstrate the benefits of the progressive query processing strategy     

Query languages for relational multidatabases

With the existence of many autonomous databases widely accessible through computer networks, users will require the capability to jointly manipulate data in different databases. A multidatabase system provides such a capability through a multidatabase manipulation language, such as MSQL. We propose a theoretical foundation for such languages by presenting a multirelational algebra and calculus based on the relational algebra and calculus. The proposal is illustrated by various queries on an example multidatabase. It is shown that properties of the multirelational algebra may be used for optimization and that every multirelational algebra query can be expressed as a multirelational calculus query. The connection between the multirelational languages and MSQL, the multidatabase version of SQL, is also investigated.     

Preferential Accessibility and Preferred Worlds

Modal accounts of normality in non-monotonic reasoning traditionally have an underlying semantics based on a notion of preference amongst worlds. In this paper, we motivate and investigate an alternative semantics, based on ordered accessibility relations in Kripke frames. The underlying intuition is that some world tuples may be seen as more normal, while others may be seen as more exceptional. We show that this delivers an elegant and intuitive semantic construction, which gives a new perspective on defeasible necessity. Technically, the revisited logic does not change the expressive power of our previously defined preferential modalities. This conclusion follows from an analysis of both semantic constructions via a generalisation of bisimulations to the preferential case. Reasoners based on the previous semantics therefore also suffice for reasoning over the new semantics. We complete the picture by investigating different notions of defeasible conditionals in modal logic that can also be captured within our framework.