XML document design via GN-DTD

Designing a well-structured XML document is important for the sake of readability and maintainability. More importantly, this will avoid data redundancies and update anomalies when maintaining a large quantity of XML based documents. In this paper, we propose a method to improve XML structural design by adopting graphical notations for Document Type Definitions (GN-DTD), which is used to describe the structure of an XML document at the schema level. Multiples levels of normal forms for GN-DTD are proposed on the basis of conceptual model approaches and theories of normalization. The normalization rules are applied to transform a poorly designed XML document into a well-designed based on normalized GN-DTD, which is illustrated through examples

Transforming N-ary relationships to database schemas: an old and forgotten problem

The N-ary relationships, have been traditionally a source of confusion and still are. One important source of confusion is that the term cardinality in a relationship has several interpretations, two of them being very popular. But none of the two approaches, nor the two together, allow us to express all the possible cardinality patterns. The transformations from all the possible relationships to database schemas have never been described by the existing literature. Using the 14 ternary patterns as example, we discuss these transformations particularly the transformations from the patterns ignored in the literature.Postprint (published version

On the Scope of the Universal-Algebraic Approach to Constraint Satisfaction

The universal-algebraic approach has proved a powerful tool in the study of the complexity of CSPs. This approach has previously been applied to the study of CSPs with finite or (infinite) omega-categorical templates, and relies on two facts. The first is that in finite or omega-categorical structures A, a relation is primitive positive definable if and only if it is preserved by the polymorphisms of A. The second is that every finite or omega-categorical structure is homomorphically equivalent to a core structure. In this paper, we present generalizations of these facts to infinite structures that are not necessarily omega-categorical. (This abstract has been severely curtailed by the space constraints of arXiv -- please read the full abstract in the article.) Finally, we present applications of our general results to the description and analysis of the complexity of CSPs. In particular, we give general hardness criteria based on the absence of polymorphisms that depend on more than one argument, and we present a polymorphism-based description of those CSPs that are first-order definable (and therefore can be solved in polynomial time).Comment: Extended abstract appeared at 25th Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2010). This version will appear in the LMCS special issue associated with LICS 201

Evaluating Knowledge Representation and Reasoning Capabilites of Ontology Specification Languages

The interchange of ontologies across the World Wide Web (WWW) and the cooperation among heterogeneous agents placed on it is the main reason for the development of a new set of ontology specification languages, based on new web standards such as XML or RDF. These languages (SHOE, XOL, RDF, OIL, etc) aim to represent the knowledge contained in an ontology in a simple and human-readable way, as well as allow for the interchange of ontologies across the web. In this paper, we establish a common framework to compare the expressiveness of "traditional" ontology languages (Ontolingua, OKBC, OCML, FLogic, LOOM) and "web-based" ontology languages. As a result of this study, we conclude that different needs in KR and reasoning may exist in the building of an ontology-based application, and these needs must be evaluated in order to choose the most suitable ontology language(s)

Metamodeling in EIA/CDIF - Meta-Metamodel and Metamodels

This article introduces the EIA/CDIF set of standards for the modeling of information systems and its exchange among computer-aided software tools of different vendors. It lays out the meta-metamodel and the standardized metamodels which are fully depicted in a hierarchical layout and annotated with the unique identifiers of all the standardized modeling concepts. The article also stresses the fact that EIA/CDIF has been used as the baseline in the creation of an international standard, the ISO/CDIF set of models, an ongoing project

Pairwise Check Decoding for LDPC Coded Two-Way Relay Block Fading Channels

Partial decoding has the potential to achieve a larger capacity region than full decoding in two-way relay (TWR) channels. Existing partial decoding realizations are however designed for Gaussian channels and with a static physical layer network coding (PLNC). In this paper, we propose a new solution for joint network coding and channel decoding at the relay, called pairwise check decoding (PCD), for low-density parity-check (LDPC) coded TWR system over block fading channels. The main idea is to form a check relationship table (check-relation-tab) for the superimposed LDPC coded packet pair in the multiple access (MA) phase in conjunction with an adaptive PLNC mapping in the broadcast (BC) phase. Using PCD, we then present a partial decoding method, two-stage closest-neighbor clustering with PCD (TS-CNC-PCD), with the aim of minimizing the worst pairwise error probability. Moreover, we propose the minimum correlation optimization (MCO) for selecting the better check-relation-tabs. Simulation results confirm that the proposed TS-CNC-PCD offers a sizable gain over the conventional XOR with belief propagation (BP) in fading channels.Comment: to appear in IEEE Trans. on Communications, 201

Guidelines for representing complex cardinality constraints in binary and ternary relationships

Ternary relationships represent the association among three entities whose constraints database designers do not always know how to manage. In other words, it is very difficult for the designer to detect, represent and add constraints in a ternary relationship according to the domain requirements. To remedy the shortcomings in capturing the semantics required for the representation of this kind of relationship, the present paper discusses a practical method to motivate the designer's use of ternary relationships in a methodological framework. The method shows how to calculate cardinality constraints in binary and ternary relationships and to preserve the associated semantics until the implementation phase of the database development method.This work forms part of the ‘Thuban: Natural Interaction Platform for Virtual Attending in Real Environments’ project (TIN2008-02711), the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade through the project Semants (TSI-020100-2009-419) and also by the Spanish research projects: MA2VICMR: Improving the access, analysis and visibility of the multilingual and multimedia information in web for the Region of Madrid (S2009/TIC-1542).Publicad