23,865 research outputs found
Towards Intelligent Databases
This article is a presentation of the objectives and techniques
of deductive databases. The deductive approach to databases aims at extending
with intensional definitions other database paradigms that describe
applications extensionaUy. We first show how constructive specifications can
be expressed with deduction rules, and how normative conditions can be defined
using integrity constraints. We outline the principles of bottom-up and
top-down query answering procedures and present the techniques used for
integrity checking. We then argue that it is often desirable to manage with
a database system not only database applications, but also specifications of
system components. We present such meta-level specifications and discuss
their advantages over conventional approaches
A New Rational Algorithm for View Updating in Relational Databases
The dynamics of belief and knowledge is one of the major components of any
autonomous system that should be able to incorporate new pieces of information.
In order to apply the rationality result of belief dynamics theory to various
practical problems, it should be generalized in two respects: first it should
allow a certain part of belief to be declared as immutable; and second, the
belief state need not be deductively closed. Such a generalization of belief
dynamics, referred to as base dynamics, is presented in this paper, along with
the concept of a generalized revision algorithm for knowledge bases (Horn or
Horn logic with stratified negation). We show that knowledge base dynamics has
an interesting connection with kernel change via hitting set and abduction. In
this paper, we show how techniques from disjunctive logic programming can be
used for efficient (deductive) database updates. The key idea is to transform
the given database together with the update request into a disjunctive
(datalog) logic program and apply disjunctive techniques (such as minimal model
reasoning) to solve the original update problem. The approach extends and
integrates standard techniques for efficient query answering and integrity
checking. The generation of a hitting set is carried out through a hyper
tableaux calculus and magic set that is focused on the goal of minimality.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1301.515
Evolving information systems: meeting the ever-changing environment
To meet the demands of organizations and their ever-changing environment, information systems are required which are able to evolve to the same extent as organizations do. Such a system has to support changes in all time-and application-dependent aspects. In this paper, requirements and a conceptual framework for evolving information systems are presented. This framework includes an architecture for such systems and a revision of the traditional notion of update. Based on this evolutionary notion of update (recording, correction and forgetting) a state transition-oriented model on three levels of abstraction (event level, recording level, correction level) is introduced. Examples are provided to illustrate the conceptual framework for evolving information systems
Logic Programming Applications: What Are the Abstractions and Implementations?
This article presents an overview of applications of logic programming,
classifying them based on the abstractions and implementations of logic
languages that support the applications. The three key abstractions are join,
recursion, and constraint. Their essential implementations are for-loops, fixed
points, and backtracking, respectively. The corresponding kinds of applications
are database queries, inductive analysis, and combinatorial search,
respectively. We also discuss language extensions and programming paradigms,
summarize example application problems by application areas, and touch on
example systems that support variants of the abstractions with different
implementations
Monitoring land use changes using geo-information : possibilities, methods and adapted techniques
Monitoring land use with geographical databases is widely used in decision-making. This report presents the possibilities, methods and adapted techniques using geo-information in monitoring land use changes. The municipality of Soest was chosen as study area and three national land use databases, viz. Top10Vector, CBS land use statistics and LGN, were used. The restrictions of geo-information for monitoring land use changes are indicated. New methods and adapted techniques improve the monitoring result considerably. Providers of geo-information, however, should coordinate on update frequencies, semantic content and spatial resolution to allow better possibilities of monitoring land use by combining data sets
Expert system verification concerns in an operations environment
The Space Shuttle community is currently developing a number of knowledge-based tools, primarily expert systems, to support Space Shuttle operations. It is proposed that anticipating and responding to the requirements of the operations environment will contribute to a rapid and smooth transition of expert systems from development to operations, and that the requirements for verification are critical to this transition. The paper identifies the requirements of expert systems to be used for flight planning and support and compares them to those of existing procedural software used for flight planning and support. It then explores software engineering concepts and methodology that can be used to satisfy these requirements, to aid the transition from development to operations and to support the operations environment during the lifetime of expert systems. Many of these are similar to those used for procedural hardware
- …