Emanuel Sallinger

On the undecidability of the equivalence of second-order tuple generating dependencies

Second-order tuple generating dependencies (SO tgds) were introduced by Fagin et al. to capture the composition of simple schema mappings. Testing the equivalence of SO tgds would be important for applications like model management and mapping optimization. However, we prove the undecidability of the logical equivalence of SO tgds. Moreover, under weak additional assumptions, we also show the undecidability of a relaxed notion of equivalence between two SO tgds, namely the so-called conjunctive query equivalence. HighlightsWe prove undecidability of logical equivalence of SO tuple generating dependencies.This result holds even for conjunctive query equivalent mappings.CQ-equivalence is shown undecidable for mappings based on SO tgds and source KDs.

Nested dependencies: structure and reasoning

During the past decade, schema mappings have been extensively used in formalizing and studying such critical data interoperability tasks as data exchange and data integration. Much of the work has focused on GLAV mappings, i.e., schema mappings specified by source-to-target tuple-generating dependencies (s-t tgds), and on schema mappings specified by second-order tgds (SO tgds), which constitute the closure of GLAV mappings under composition. In addition, nested GLAV mappings have also been considered, i.e., schema mappings specified by nested tgds, which have expressive power intermediate between s-t tgds and SO tgds. Even though nested GLAV mappings have been used in data exchange systems, such as IBMs Clio, no systematic investigation of this class of schema mappings has been carried out so far. In this paper, we embark on such an investigation by focusing on the basic reasoning tasks, algorithmic problems, and structural properties of nested GLAV mappings. One of our main results is the decidability of the implication problem for nested tgds. We also analyze the structure of the core of universal solutions with respect to nested GLAV mappings and develop useful tools for telling apart SO tgds from nested tgds. By discovering deeper structural properties of nested GLAV mappings, we show that also the following problem is decidable: given a nested GLAV mapping, is it logically equivalent to a GLAV mapping?

Relaxed notions of schema mapping equivalence revisited

Recently, two relaxed notions of equivalence of schema mappings have been introduced, which provide more potential of optimizing schema mappings than logical equivalence: data exchange (DE) equivalence and conjunctive query (CQ) equivalence. In this work, we systematically investigate these notions of equivalence for mappings consisting of s-t tgds and target egds and/or target tgds. We prove that both CQ- and DE-equivalence are undecidable and so are some important optimization tasks (like detecting if some dependency is redundant). However, we also identify an important difference between the two notions of equivalence: CQ-equivalence remains undecidable even if the schema mappings consist of s-t tgds and target dependencies in the form of key dependencies only. In contrast, DE-equivalence is decidable for schema mappings with s-t tgds and target dependencies in the form of functional and inclusion dependencies with terminating chase property.

Swift Logic for Big Data and Knowledge Graphs.

Many modern companies wish to maintain knowledge in the form of a corporate knowledge graph and to use and manage this knowledge via a knowledge graph management system (KGMS). We formulate various requirements for a fully-fledged KGMS. In particular, such a system must be capable of performing complex reasoning tasks but, at the same time, achieve efficient and scalable reasoning over Big Data with an acceptable computational complexity. Moreover, a KGMS needs interfaces to corporate databases, the web, and machinelearning and analytics packages. We present KRR formalisms and a system achieving these goals.

Relaxed Notions of Schema Mapping Equivalence Revisited

Recently, two relaxed notions of equivalence of schema mappings have been introduced, which provide more potential of optimizing schema mappings than logical equivalence: data exchange (DE) equivalence and conjunctive query (CQ) equivalence. In this work, we systematically investigate these notions of equivalence for mappings consisting of s-t tgds and target egds and/or target tgds. We prove that both CQ- and DE-equivalence are undecidable and so are some important optimization tasks (like detecting if some dependency is redundant). However, we also identify an important difference between the two notions of equivalence: CQ-equivalence remains undecidable even if the schema mappings consist of s-t tgds and target dependencies in the form of key dependencies only. In contrast, DE-equivalence is decidable for schema mappings with s-t tgds and target dependencies in the form of functional and inclusion dependencies with terminating chase property.

The Vadalog system: datalog-based reasoning for knowledge graphs

Over the past years, there has been a resurgence of Datalog-based systems in the database community as well as in industry. In this context, it has been recognized that to handle the complex knowledge-based scenarios encountered today, such as reasoning over large knowledge graphs, Datalog has to be extended with features such as existential quantification. Yet, Datalog-based reasoning in the presence of existential quantification is in general undecidable. Many efforts have been made to define decidable fragments. Warded Datalog+/- is a very promising one, as it captures PTIME complexity while allowing ontological reasoning. Yet so far, no implementation of Warded Datalog+/- was available. In this paper we present the Vadalog system, a Datalog-based system for performing complex logic reasoning tasks, such as those required in advanced knowledge graphs. The Vadalog system is Oxfords contribution to the VADA research programme, a joint effort of the universities of Oxford, Manchester and Edinburgh and around 20 industrial partners. As the main contribution of this paper, we illustrate the first implementation of Warded Datalog+/-, a high-performance Datalog+/- system utilizing an aggressive termination control strategy. We also provide a comprehensive experimental evaluation.

Complexity of Repair Checking and Consistent Query Answering

Inconsistent databases (i.e., databases violating some given set of integrity constraints) may arise in many applications such as, for instance, data integration. Hence, the handling of inconsistent data has evolved as an active field of research. In this paper, we consider two fundamental problems in this context: Repair Checking (RC) and Consistent Query Answering (CQA). So far, these problems have been mainly studied from the point of view of data complexity (where all parts of the input except for the database are considered as fixed). While for some kinds of integrity constraints, also combined complexity (where all parts of the input are allowed to vary) has been considered, for several other kinds of integrity constraints, combined complexity has been left unexplored. Moreover, a more detailed analysis (keeping other parts of the input fixed - e.g., the constraints only) is completely missing. The goal of our work is a thorough analysis of the complexity of the RC and CQA problems. Our contribution is a complete picture of the complexity of these problems for a wide range of integrity constraints. Our analysis thus allows us to get a better understanding of the true sources of complexity.

Function Symbols in Tuple-Generating Dependencies: Expressive Power and Computability

Tuple-generating dependencies -- for short tgds -- have been a staple of database research throughout most of its history. Yet one of the central aspects of tgds, namely the role of existential quantifiers, has not seen much investigation so far. When studying dependencies, existential quantifiers and -- in their Skolemized form -- function symbols are often viewed as two ways to express the same concept. But in fact, tgds are quite restrictive in the way that functional terms can occur. In this paper, we investigate the role of function symbols in dependency formalisms that go beyond tgds. Among them is the powerful class of SO tgds and the intermediate class of nested tgds. In addition, we employ Henkin quantifiers -- a well-known concept in the area of logic -- and introduce Henkin tgds to gain a more fine-grained understanding of the role of function symbols in dependencies. For members of these families of dependency classes, we investigate their expressive power, that is, when one dependency class is equivalently representable in another class of dependencies. In addition, we analyze the computability of query answering under many of the well-known syntactical decidability criteria for tgds as well as the complexity of model checking.

Reasoning about Schema Mappings

Schema mappings are an important tool in several areas of database research. Recently, the topic of reasoning about schema mappings was given attention, in particular revolving around the central concepts of equivalence and optimality. In this chapter, we survey these results. First, we introduce relaxed notions of logical equivalence and show their potential for finding optimized schema mappings. We then look at applications of these concepts to optimization, normalization, and schema mapping management, as well as the boundaries of computability. We conclude by giving a glimpse at reasoning about schema mappings in a broader sense by looking at how to debug schema mappings.