On Independence Atoms and Keys

Uniqueness and independence are two fundamental properties of data. Their enforcement in database systems can lead to higher quality data, faster data service response time, better data-driven decision making and knowledge discovery from data. The applications can be effectively unlocked by providing efficient solutions to the underlying implication problems of keys and independence atoms. Indeed, for the sole class of keys and the sole class of independence atoms the associated finite and general implication problems coincide and enjoy simple axiomatizations. However, the situation changes drastically when keys and independence atoms are combined. We show that the finite and the general implication problems are already different for keys and unary independence atoms. Furthermore, we establish a finite axiomatization for the general implication problem, and show that the finite implication problem does not enjoy a k-ary axiomatization for any k

Анализ типизированных зависимостей включения с неопределенными значениями

Null values have become an urgent problem since the creation of the relational data model. The impact of the uncertainty affects all types of dependencies used in the design and operation of the database. This fully applies to the inclusion dependencies, which are the theoretical basis for referential integrity on the data. Attempts to solve this problem contain inaccuracy in the statement of the problem and its solution. The errors in formulation of the problem can be associated with the use in the definition of untyped inclusion dependencies, which leads to permutations of the attributes, although, the attributes in database technology are identified by name and not by their place. In addition, linking with the use of the inclusion dependencies of heterogeneous attributes, even of the same type, is a sign of lost functional dependencies and leads to interaction of inclusion dependencies and non-trivial functional dependencies. Inaccuracies in the solution of the problem are contained in the statements of axioms and the proof of their properties, including completeness. In this paper we propose an original solution of this problem only for typed inclusion dependencies in the presence of Null values: a new axiom system is proposed, its completeness and soundness are proved. On the basis of inference rules we developed an algorithm for the construction of a not surplus set of typed inclusion dependencies. The correctness of the algorithm is proved.Неопределенные значения стали актуальной проблемой с момента создания реляционной модели данных. Влияние неопределенностей сказывается на всех видах зависимостей, используемых при проектировании и эксплуатации базы данных. В полной мере это относится и к зависимостям включения, которые являются теоретической основой ссылочной целостности на данные. Попытки решения указанной проблемы содержат неточности как в постановке задачи, так и в самом ее решении. К постановочным ошибкам можно отнести использование в определении нетипизированных зависимостей включения, что приводит к перестановкам атрибутов, хотя в технологиях баз данных атрибуты идентифицируются по имени, а не по их позиции. Кроме того, связывание зависимостью включения разнородных, пусть даже однотипных, атрибутов является признаком потерянной функциональной зависимости и приводит к взаимодействию нетривиальных зависимостей включения и функциональных зависимостей. Зависимости включения должны определять количественное соотнесение объектов друг с другом, а не значений атрибутов. Неточности в решении указанной проблемы содержатся в формулировках аксиом и доказательстве их свойств, в том числе полноты. В этой статье предлагается оригинальное решение этой проблемы только для типизированных зависимостей включения при наличии неопределенных значений: предложена система аксиом, доказана ее полнота и непротиворечивость. На основе правил вывода разработан алгоритм построения не избыточного множества типизированных зависимостей включения. Доказана корректность этого алгоритма

A PC Chase

PC stands for path-conjunctive, the name of a class of queries and dependencies that we define over complex values with dictionaries. This class includes the relational conjunctive queries and embedded dependencies, as well as many interesting examples of complex value and oodb queries and integrity constraints. We show that some important classical results on containment, dependency implication, and chasing extend and generalize to this class

Static Analysis of Graph Database Transformations

We investigate graph transformations, defined using Datalog-like rules based on acyclic conjunctive two-way regular path queries (acyclic C2RPQs), and we study two fundamental static analysis problems: type checking and equivalence of transformations in the presence of graph schemas. Additionally, we investigate the problem of target schema elicitation, which aims to construct a schema that closely captures all outputs of a transformation over graphs conforming to the input schema. We show all these problems are in EXPTIME by reducing them to C2RPQ containment modulo schema; we also provide matching lower bounds. We use cycle reversing to reduce query containment to the problem of unrestricted (finite or infinite) satisfiability of C2RPQs modulo a theory expressed in a description logic

Finite Open-World Query Answering with Number Restrictions (Extended Version)

Open-world query answering is the problem of deciding, given a set of facts, conjunction of constraints, and query, whether the facts and constraints imply the query. This amounts to reasoning over all instances that include the facts and satisfy the constraints. We study finite open-world query answering (FQA), which assumes that the underlying world is finite and thus only considers the finite completions of the instance. The major known decidable cases of FQA derive from the following: the guarded fragment of first-order logic, which can express referential constraints (data in one place points to data in another) but cannot express number restrictions such as functional dependencies; and the guarded fragment with number restrictions but on a signature of arity only two. In this paper, we give the first decidability results for FQA that combine both referential constraints and number restrictions for arbitrary signatures: we show that, for unary inclusion dependencies and functional dependencies, the finiteness assumption of FQA can be lifted up to taking the finite implication closure of the dependencies. Our result relies on new techniques to construct finite universal models of such constraints, for any bound on the maximal query size.Comment: 59 pages. To appear in LICS 2015. Extended version including proof

When Can We Answer Queries Using Result-Bounded Data Interfaces?

We consider answering queries on data available through access methods, that provide lookup access to the tuples matching a given binding. Such interfaces are common on the Web; further, they often have bounds on how many results they can return, e.g., because of pagination or rate limits. We thus study result-bounded methods, which may return only a limited number of tuples. We study how to decide if a query is answerable using result-bounded methods, i.e., how to compute a plan that returns all answers to the query using the methods, assuming that the underlying data satisfies some integrity constraints. We first show how to reduce answerability to a query containment problem with constraints. Second, we show "schema simplification" theorems describing when and how result bounded services can be used. Finally, we use these theorems to give decidability and complexity results about answerability for common constraint classes.Comment: 65 pages; journal version of the PODS'18 paper arXiv:1706.0793

When Can We Answer Queries Using Result-Bounded Data Interfaces?

We consider answering queries where the underlying data is available only over limited interfaces which provide lookup access to the tuples matching a given binding, but possibly restricting the number of output tuples returned. Interfaces imposing such "result bounds" are common in accessing data via the web. Given a query over a set of relations as well as some integrity constraints that relate the queried relations to the data sources, we examine the problem of deciding if the query is answerable over the interfaces; that is, whether there exists a plan that returns all answers to the query, assuming the source data satisfies the integrity constraints. The first component of our analysis of answerability is a reduction to a query containment problem with constraints. The second component is a set of "schema simplification" theorems capturing limitations on how interfaces with result bounds can be useful to obtain complete answers to queries. These results also help to show decidability for the containment problem that captures answerability, for many classes of constraints. The final component in our analysis of answerability is a "linearization" method, showing that query containment with certain guarded dependencies -- including those that emerge from answerability problems -- can be reduced to query containment for a well-behaved class of linear dependencies. Putting these components together, we get a detailed picture of how to check answerability over result-bounded services.Comment: 45 pages, 2 tables, 43 references. Complete version with proofs of the PODS'18 paper. The main text of this paper is almost identical to the PODS'18 except that we have fixed some small mistakes. Relative to the earlier arXiv version, many errors were corrected, and some terminology has change