Uncertainty in Multi-Source Databases

by Nair, Premchand S.

• ISBN13: 9783540032427
• ISBN10: 3540032428
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Database and database systems have become an essential part of everyday life, such as in banking activities, online shopping, or reservations of airline tickets and hotels. These trends place more demands on the capabilities of future database systems, which need to evolve into decision making systems based on data from multiple sources with varying reliability. In this book a model for the next generation of database systems is presented. It is demonstrated how to quantize favorable and unfavorable qualitative facts so that they can be stored and processed efficiently, as well as how to use the reliability of the contributing sources in our decision makings. The concept of a confidence index set (ciset), is introduced in order to mathematically model the above issues. A simple introduction to relational database systems is given allowing anyone with no background in database theory to appreciate the further contents of this work, especially the extended relational operations and semantics of the ciset relational database model.

Table of Contents

1 CISET	1	(26)
1.1 Confidence Index	2	(5)
1.2 Confidence Index Set	7	(1)
1.3 Basic Operations	8	(11)
1.4 Relations	19	(8)
2 THE RELATIONAL MODEL	27	(28)
2.1 Formalization of Relation	28	(4)
2.2 Integrity Constraints	32	(9)
2.3 The Relational Operators	41	(14)
3 THE CISET RELATIONAL MODEL	55	(14)
3.1 Formalization of Ciset Relation	56	(7)
3.2 Integrity Constraints	63	(6)
4 THE CISET RELATIONAL ALGEBRA	69	(24)
4.1 Union, Intersection and Difference	69	(5)
4.2 Select and Project	74	(2)
4.3 Product and Join	76	(8)
4.4 Equi-join and Theta-join	84	(3)
4.5 Divide	87	(6)
5 ALTERNATE WORLDS	93	(18)
5.1 Introduction	93	(7)
5.2 Precision of Ciset Relational Operations	100	(11)
6 ADDITIONAL CISET OPERATIONS	111	(32)
6.1 Confidence Index Operations	111	(5)
6.2 Ciset Operations	116	(10)
6.3 C-relations	126	(17)
7 INFORMATION SOURCE TRACKING	143	(36)
7.1 The IST Model	144	(4)
7.2 Alternate Worlds	148	(3)
7.3 Extended Relational Algebra Operations	151	(12)
7.4 Probabilistic Approach	163	(16)
REFERENCES	179	(4)
LIST OF FIGURES	183	(2)
LIST OF TABLES	185	(2)
INDEX	187