276 research outputs found
Answer Sets for Consistent Query Answering in Inconsistent Databases
A relational database is inconsistent if it does not satisfy a given set of
integrity constraints. Nevertheless, it is likely that most of the data in it
is consistent with the constraints. In this paper we apply logic programming
based on answer sets to the problem of retrieving consistent information from a
possibly inconsistent database. Since consistent information persists from the
original database to every of its minimal repairs, the approach is based on a
specification of database repairs using disjunctive logic programs with
exceptions, whose answer set semantics can be represented and computed by
systems that implement stable model semantics. These programs allow us to
declare persistence by defaults and repairing changes by exceptions. We
concentrate mainly on logic programs for binary integrity constraints, among
which we find most of the integrity constraints found in practice.Comment: 34 page
Computing Preferred Answer Sets by Meta-Interpretation in Answer Set Programming
Most recently, Answer Set Programming (ASP) is attracting interest as a new
paradigm for problem solving. An important aspect which needs to be supported
is the handling of preferences between rules, for which several approaches have
been presented. In this paper, we consider the problem of implementing
preference handling approaches by means of meta-interpreters in Answer Set
Programming. In particular, we consider the preferred answer set approaches by
Brewka and Eiter, by Delgrande, Schaub and Tompits, and by Wang, Zhou and Lin.
We present suitable meta-interpreters for these semantics using DLV, which is
an efficient engine for ASP. Moreover, we also present a meta-interpreter for
the weakly preferred answer set approach by Brewka and Eiter, which uses the
weak constraint feature of DLV as a tool for expressing and solving an
underlying optimization problem. We also consider advanced meta-interpreters,
which make use of graph-based characterizations and often allow for more
efficient computations. Our approach shows the suitability of ASP in general
and of DLV in particular for fast prototyping. This can be fruitfully exploited
for experimenting with new languages and knowledge-representation formalisms.Comment: 34 pages, appeared as a Technical Report at KBS of the Vienna
University of Technology, see http://www.kr.tuwien.ac.at/research/reports
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
Initial Draft of a Possible Declarative Semantics for the Language
This article introduces a preliminary declarative semantics for a subset of the language Xcerpt (so-called
grouping-stratifiable programs) in form of a classical (Tarski style) model theory, adapted to the specific
requirements of Xcerpt’s constructs (e.g. the various aspects of incompleteness in query terms, grouping
constructs in rule heads, etc.). Most importantly, the model theory uses term simulation as a replacement
for term equality to handle incomplete term specifications, and an extended notion of substitutions in
order to properly convey the semantics of grouping constructs. Based upon this model theory, a fixpoint
semantics is also described, leading to a first notion of forward chaining evaluation of Xcerpt program
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
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