Datalog Queries Distributing over Components

We investigate the class D of queries that distribute over components. These are the queries that can be evaluated by taking the union of the query results over the connected components of the database instance. We show that it is undecidable whether a (positive) Datalog program distributes over components. Additionally, we show that connected Datalog ¬ (the fragment of Datalog ¬ where all rules are connected) provides an effective syntax for Datalog ¬ programs that distribute over components under the stratified as well as under the well-founded semantics. As a corollary, we obtain a simple proof for one of the main results in previous work [19], namely, that the classic win-move query is in F2 (a particular class of coordination-free queries)

A data complexity and rewritability tetrachotomy of ontology-mediated queries with a covering axiom

Aiming to understand the data complexity of answering conjunctive queries mediated by an axiom stating that a class is covered by the union of two other classes, we show that deciding their first-order rewritability is PSPACE-hard and obtain a number of sufficient conditions for membership in AC0, L, NL, and P. Our main result is a complete syntactic AC0/NL/P/CONP tetrachotomy of path queries under the assumption that the covering classes are disjoint

A tetrachotomy of ontology-mediated queries with a covering axiom

Our concern is the problem of efficiently determining the data complexity of answering queries mediated by descrip- tion logic ontologies and constructing their optimal rewritings to standard database queries. Originated in ontology- based data access and datalog optimisation, this problem is known to be computationally very complex in general, with no explicit syntactic characterisations available. In this article, aiming to understand the fundamental roots of this difficulty, we strip the problem to the bare bones and focus on Boolean conjunctive queries mediated by a simple cov- ering axiom stating that one class is covered by the union of two other classes. We show that, on the one hand, these rudimentary ontology-mediated queries, called disjunctive sirups (or d-sirups), capture many features and difficulties of the general case. For example, answering d-sirups is Π2p-complete for combined complexity and can be in AC0 or L-, NL-, P-, or coNP-complete for data complexity (with the problem of recognising FO-rewritability of d-sirups be- ing 2ExpTime-hard); some d-sirups only have exponential-size resolution proofs, some only double-exponential-size positive existential FO-rewritings and single-exponential-size nonrecursive datalog rewritings. On the other hand, we prove a few partial sufficient and necessary conditions of FO- and (symmetric/linear-) datalog rewritability of d- sirups. Our main technical result is a complete and transparent syntactic AC0 / NL / P / coNP tetrachotomy of d-sirups with disjoint covering classes and a path-shaped Boolean conjunctive query. To obtain this tetrachotomy, we develop new techniques for establishing P- and coNP-hardness of answering non-Horn ontology-mediated queries as well as showing that they can be answered in NL

A tetrachotomy of ontology-mediated queries with a covering axiom

Our concern is the problem of efficiently determining the data complexity of answering queries mediated by descrip- tion logic ontologies and constructing their optimal rewritings to standard database queries. Originated in ontology- based data access and datalog optimisation, this problem is known to be computationally very complex in general, with no explicit syntactic characterisations available. In this article, aiming to understand the fundamental roots of this difficulty, we strip the problem to the bare bones and focus on Boolean conjunctive queries mediated by a simple cov- ering axiom stating that one class is covered by the union of two other classes. We show that, on the one hand, these rudimentary ontology-mediated queries, called disjunctive sirups (or d-sirups), capture many features and difficulties of the general case. For example, answering d-sirups is Π2p-complete for combined complexity and can be in AC0 or L-, NL-, P-, or coNP-complete for data complexity (with the problem of recognising FO-rewritability of d-sirups be- ing 2ExpTime-hard); some d-sirups only have exponential-size resolution proofs, some only double-exponential-size positive existential FO-rewritings and single-exponential-size nonrecursive datalog rewritings. On the other hand, we prove a few partial sufficient and necessary conditions of FO- and (symmetric/linear-) datalog rewritability of d- sirups. Our main technical result is a complete and transparent syntactic AC0 / NL / P / coNP tetrachotomy of d-sirups with disjoint covering classes and a path-shaped Boolean conjunctive query. To obtain this tetrachotomy, we develop new techniques for establishing P- and coNP-hardness of answering non-Horn ontology-mediated queries as well as showing that they can be answered in NL

Locality-Aware Distribution Schemes

One of the bottlenecks in parallel query processing is the cost of shuffling data across nodes in a cluster. Ideally, given a distribution of the data across the nodes and a query, we want to execute the query by performing only local computation and no communication: in this case, the query is called parallel-correct with respect to the data distribution. Previous work studied this problem for Conjunctive Queries in the case where the distribution scheme is oblivious, i.e., the location of each tuple depends only on the tuple and is independent of the instance. In this work, we show that oblivious schemes have a fundamental theoretical limitation, and initiate the formal study of distribution schemes that are locality-aware. In particular, we focus on a class of distribution schemes called co-hash distribution schemes, which are widely used in parallel systems. In co-hash partitioning, some tables are initially hashed, and the remaining tables are co-located so that a join condition is always satisfied. Given a co-hash distribution scheme, we formally study the complexity of deciding various desirable properties, including obliviousness and redundancy. Then, for a given Conjunctive Query and co-hash scheme, we determine the computational complexity of deciding whether the query is parallel-correct. We also explore a stronger notion of correctness, called parallel disjoint correctness, which guarantees that the query result will be disjointly partitioned across nodes, i.e., there is no duplication of results

Pseudo-contractions as Gentle Repairs

Updating a knowledge base to remove an unwanted consequence is a challenging task. Some of the original sentences must be either deleted or weakened in such a way that the sentence to be removed is no longer entailed by the resulting set. On the other hand, it is desirable that the existing knowledge be preserved as much as possible, minimising the loss of information. Several approaches to this problem can be found in the literature. In particular, when the knowledge is represented by an ontology, two different families of frameworks have been developed in the literature in the past decades with numerous ideas in common but with little interaction between the communities: applications of AGM-like Belief Change and justification-based Ontology Repair. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between pseudo-contraction operations and gentle repairs. Both aim to avoid the complete deletion of sentences when replacing them with weaker versions is enough to prevent the entailment of the unwanted formula. We show the correspondence between concepts on both sides and investigate under which conditions they are equivalent. Furthermore, we propose a unified notation for the two approaches, which might contribute to the integration of the two areas

28th International Symposium on Temporal Representation and Reasoning (TIME 2021)

The 28th International Symposium on Temporal Representation and Reasoning (TIME 2021) was planned to take place in Klagenfurt, Austria, but had to move to an online conference due to the insecurities and restrictions caused by the pandemic. Since its frst edition in 1994, TIME Symposium is quite unique in the panorama of the scientifc conferences as its main goal is to bring together researchers from distinct research areas involving the management and representation of temporal data as well as the reasoning about temporal aspects of information. Moreover, TIME Symposium aims to bridge theoretical and applied research, as well as to serve as an interdisciplinary forum for exchange among researchers from the areas of artifcial intelligence, database management, logic and verifcation, and beyond