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International audience; We reconsider the problem of containment of monadic datalog (MDL) queries in unions of conjunctive queries (UCQs). Prior work has dealt with special cases of the problem, but has left the precise complexity characterization open. In addition, the complexity of one important special case, that of containment under access patterns, was not known before. We start by revisiting the connection between MDL/UCQ containment and containment problems involving regular tree languages. We then present a general approach for getting tighter bounds on the complexity of query containment, based on analysis of the number of mappings of queries into tree-like instances. We give two applications of the machinery. We first give an important special case of the MDL/UCQ containment problem that is in EXPTIME, and use this bound to show an EXPTIME bound on containment under access patterns. Secondly we show that the same technique can be used to get a new tight upper bound for containment of tree automata in UCQs. We finally show that the new MDL/UCQ upper bounds are tight. We establish a 2EXPTIME lower bound on the MDL/UCQ containment problem, resolving an open problem from the early 1990s. This bound holds for the MDL/CQ containment problem as well. We also show that changes to the conditions given in our special cases can not be eliminated, and that in particular slight variations of the problem of containment under access patterns become 2EXPTIME-complete.

International audience; Query transformations are ubiquitous in semantic web query processing. For any situation in which transformations are not proved correct by construction, the quality of these transformations has to be evaluated. Usual evaluation measures are either overly syntactic and not very informative —the result being: correct or incorrect— or dependent from the evaluation sources. Moreover, both approaches do not necessarily yield the same result. We suggest that grounding the evaluation on query containment allows for a data-independent evaluation that is more informative than the usual syntactic evaluation. In addition, such evaluation modalities may take into account ontologies, alignments or different query languages as soon as they are relevant to query evaluation.

Data structured in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) are increasingly available in large volumes. This leads to a major need and research interest in novel methods for query analysis and compilation for making the most of RDF data extraction. SPARQL is the widely used and well supported standard query language for RDF data. In parallel to query language evolutions, schema languages for expressing constraints on RDF datasets also evolve. Shape Expressions (ShEx) are increasingly used to validate RDF data, and to communicate expected graph patterns. Schemas in general are important for static analysis tasks such as query optimisation and containment. Our purpose is to investigate the means and methodologies for SPARQL query static analysis and optimisation in the presence of ShEx schema constraints.Our contribution is mainly divided into two parts. In the first part we consider the problem of SPARQL query containment in the presence of ShEx constraints. We propose a sound and complete procedure for the problem of containment with ShEx, considering several SPARQL fragments. Particularly our procedure considers OPTIONAL query patterns, that turns out to be an important feature to be studied with schemas. We provide complexity bounds for the containment problem with respect to the language fragments considered. We also propose alternative method for SPARQL query containment with ShEx by reduction into First Order Logic satisfiability, which allows for considering SPARQL fragment extension in comparison to the first method. This is the first work addressing SPARQL query containment in the presence of ShEx constraints.In the second part of our contribution we propose an analysis method to optimise the evaluation of conjunctive SPARQL queries, on RDF graphs, by taking advantage of ShEx constraints. The optimisation is based on computing and assigning ranks to query triple patterns, dictating their order of execution. The presence of intermediate joins between the query triple patterns is the reason why ordering is important in increasing efficiency. We define a set of well-formed ShEx schemas, that possess interesting characteristics for SPARQL query optimisation. We then develop our optimisation method by exploiting information extracted from a ShEx schema. We finally report on evaluation results performed showing the advantages of applying our optimisation on the top of an existing state-of-the-art query evaluation system.; La disponibilité de gros volumes de données structurées selon le modèle Resource Description Framework (RDF) est en constante augmentation. Cette situation implique un intérêt scientifique et un besoin important de rechercher de nouvelles méthodes d’analyse et de compilation de requêtes pour tirer le meilleur parti de l’extraction de données RDF. SPARQL est le plus utilisé et le mieux supporté des langages de requêtes sur des données RDF. En parallèle des langages de requêtes, les langages de définition de schéma d’expression de contraintes sur des jeux de données RDF ont également évolués. Les Shape Expressions (ShEx) sont de plus en plus utilisées pour valider des données RDF et pour indiquer les motifs de graphes attendus. Les schémas sont importants pour les tâches d’analyse statique telles que l’optimisation ou l’injection de requêtes. Notre intention est d’examiner les moyens et méthodologies d’analyse statique et d’optimisation de requêtes associés à des contraintes de schéma.Notre contribution se divise en deux grandes parties. Dans la première, nous considérons le problème de l’injection de requêtes SPARQL en présence de contraintes ShEx. Nous proposons une procédure rigoureuse et complète pour le problème de l’injection de requêtes avec ShEx, en prenant en charge plusieurs fragments de SPARQL. Plus particulièrement, notre procédure gère les patterns de requêtes OPTIONAL, qui s’avèrent former un important fonctionnalité à étudier avec les schémas. Nous fournissons ensuite les limites de complexité de notre problème en considération des fragments gérés. Nous proposons également une méthode alternative pour l’injection de requêtes SPARQL avec ShEx. Celle-ci réduit le problème à une satisfiabilité de Logique de Premier Ordre, qui permet de considérer une extension du fragment SPARQL traité par la première méthode. Il s’agit de la première étude traitant l’injection de requêtes SPARQL en présence de contraintes ShEx.Dans la seconde partie de nos contributions, nous proposons une méthode d’analyse pour optimiser l’évaluation de requêtes SPARQL groupées, sur des graphes RDF, en tirant avantage des contraintes ShEx. Notre optimisation s’appuie sur le calcul et l’assignation de rangs aux triple patterns d’une requête, permettant de déterminer leur ordre d’exécution. La présence de jointures intermédiaires entre ces patterns est la raison pour laquelle l’ordonnancement est important pour gagner en efficicacité. Nous définissons un ensemble de schémas ShEx bien- formulés, qui possède d’intéressantes caractéristiques pour l’optimisation de requêtes SPARQL. Nous développons ensuite notre méthode d’optimisation par l’exploitation d’informations extraites d’un schéma ShEx. Enfin, nous rendons compte des résultats des évaluations effectuées, montrant les avantages de l’application de notre optimisation face à l’état de l’art des systèmes d’évaluation de requêtes.

Data structured in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) are increasingly available in large volumes. This leads to a major need and research interest in novel methods for query analysis and compilation for making the most of RDF data extraction. SPARQL is the widely used and well supported standard query language for RDF data. In parallel to query language evolutions, schema languages for expressing constraints on RDF datasets also evolve. Shape Expressions (ShEx) are increasingly used to validate RDF data, and to communicate expected graph patterns. Schemas in general are important for static analysis tasks such as query optimisation and containment. Our purpose is to investigate the means and methodologies for SPARQL query static analysis and optimisation in the presence of ShEx schema constraints.Our contribution is mainly divided into two parts. In the first part we consider the problem of SPARQL query containment in the presence of ShEx constraints. We propose a sound and complete procedure for the problem of containment with ShEx, considering several SPARQL fragments. Particularly our procedure considers OPTIONAL query patterns, that turns out to be an important feature to be studied with schemas. We provide complexity bounds for the containment problem with respect to the language fragments considered. We also propose alternative method for SPARQL query containment with ShEx by reduction into First Order Logic satisfiability, which allows for considering SPARQL fragment extension in comparison to the first method. This is the first work addressing SPARQL query containment in the presence of ShEx constraints.In the second part of our contribution we propose an analysis method to optimise the evaluation of conjunctive SPARQL queries, on RDF graphs, by taking advantage of ShEx constraints. The optimisation is based on computing and assigning ranks to query triple patterns, dictating their order of execution. The presence of intermediate joins between the query triple patterns is the reason why ordering is important in increasing efficiency. We define a set of well-formed ShEx schemas, that possess interesting characteristics for SPARQL query optimisation. We then develop our optimisation method by exploiting information extracted from a ShEx schema. We finally report on evaluation results performed showing the advantages of applying our optimisation on the top of an existing state-of-the-art query evaluation system.; La disponibilité de gros volumes de données structurées selon le modèle Resource Description Framework (RDF) est en constante augmentation. Cette situation implique un intérêt scientifique et un besoin important de rechercher de nouvelles méthodes d’analyse et de compilation de requêtes pour tirer le meilleur parti de l’extraction de données RDF. SPARQL est le plus utilisé et le mieux supporté des langages de requêtes sur des données RDF. En parallèle des langages de requêtes, les langages de définition de schéma d’expression de contraintes sur des jeux de données RDF ont également évolués. Les Shape Expressions (ShEx) sont de plus en plus utilisées pour valider des données RDF et pour indiquer les motifs de graphes attendus. Les schémas sont importants pour les tâches d’analyse statique telles que l’optimisation ou l’injection de requêtes. Notre intention est d’examiner les moyens et méthodologies d’analyse statique et d’optimisation de requêtes associés à des contraintes de schéma.Notre contribution se divise en deux grandes parties. Dans la première, nous considérons le problème de l’injection de requêtes SPARQL en présence de contraintes ShEx. Nous proposons une procédure rigoureuse et complète pour le problème de l’injection de requêtes avec ShEx, en prenant en charge plusieurs fragments de SPARQL. Plus particulièrement, notre procédure gère les patterns de requêtes OPTIONAL, qui s’avèrent former un important fonctionnalité à étudier avec les schémas. Nous fournissons ensuite les limites de complexité de notre problème en considération des fragments gérés. Nous proposons également une méthode alternative pour l’injection de requêtes SPARQL avec ShEx. Celle-ci réduit le problème à une satisfiabilité de Logique de Premier Ordre, qui permet de considérer une extension du fragment SPARQL traité par la première méthode. Il s’agit de la première étude traitant l’injection de requêtes SPARQL en présence de contraintes ShEx.Dans la seconde partie de nos contributions, nous proposons une méthode d’analyse pour optimiser l’évaluation de requêtes SPARQL groupées, sur des graphes RDF, en tirant avantage des contraintes ShEx. Notre optimisation s’appuie sur le calcul et l’assignation de rangs aux triple patterns d’une requête, permettant de déterminer leur ordre d’exécution. La présence de jointures intermédiaires entre ces patterns est la raison pour laquelle l’ordonnancement est important pour gagner en efficicacité. Nous définissons un ensemble de schémas ShEx bien- formulés, qui possède d’intéressantes caractéristiques pour l’optimisation de requêtes SPARQL. Nous développons ensuite notre méthode d’optimisation par l’exploitation d’informations extraites d’un schéma ShEx. Enfin, nous rendons compte des résultats des évaluations effectuées, montrant les avantages de l’application de notre optimisation face à l’état de l’art des systèmes d’évaluation de requêtes.

Quality of service (QoS) can be a critical element for achieving the business goals of a service provider, and accepting a service by the customer. The criticality is more pronounced when the service provider handles the non-functional QoS attribute of privacy, i.e., privacy related to the customer's personal data. In this regard, the customer needs some guarantee(s) from the service provider about confidentiality management, leading to overall quality characterization of the provided service. A service level agreement (SLA) is primarily intended to specify (in terms of clauses) the level of such non-functional QoS delivered to the customer. The aim is to provide customers with tools that show the fulfillment of QoS guarantees, through SLA monitoring process. In this paper, we address the problem of usage control of private data in service based applications ensuring end-to-end QoS capabilities. We propose a query containment based approach to support the monitoring of privacy-aware SLA compliance, that spells out a customer's privacy rights, and shows how the customer's private information must be handled by a Web service provider. We introduce the private data usage flow model upon which the monitoring is performed to observe the data usage flow, and capture the privacy vulnerabilities that may lead to non-compliance. The model is built on top of (i) properties and time-related privacy requirements to be monitored, and (ii) a set of identified privacy violations. As proof of concept, a privacy aware SLA monitoring system, which is an easy-to-use, and efficient tool for observing the dynamic private data usage flow is developed. Experiment results indicate the relevance and applicability of the proposed approach.

This thesis investigates the practical aspects of implementing Query Containment algorithms for the query language XPath. Query Containment is the problem to decide if the results of one query are a subset of the results of another query for any database. Query Containment algorithms can be used for the purpose of optimising the querying process in database systems. Two algorithms have been implemented and compared, The Canonical Model and The Homomorphism Technique. The algorithms have been compared with respect to speed, ease of implementation, accuracy and usability in database systems. Benchmark tests were developed to measure the execution times of the algorithms on a specific set of queries. A simple database system was developed to investigate the performance gain of using the algorithms. It was concluded that The Homomorphism Technique outperforms The Canonical Model in every test case with respect to speed. The Canonical Model is however more accurate than The Homomorphism Technique. Both algorithms were easy to implement, but The Homomorphism Technique was easier. In the database system, there was performance to be gained by using Query Containment algorithms for a certain type of queries, but in most cases there was a performance loss. A database system that utilises Query Containment algorithms for optimisation would for every issued query have to evaluate if such an algorithm should be used. Denna rapport undersöker de praktiska aspekterna av att implementera Query Containment-algoritmer för queryspråket XPath. Query Containment är problemet att avgöra om resultaten av en query är en delmängd av resultaten av en annan query, oavsett databas. Query Containment-algoritmer kan användas för ändamålet att optimera queryingprocessen i databassystem. Två algoritmer har implementerats och jämförts, The Canonical Model och The Homomorphism Technique. Algoritmerna har jämförts med avseende på hastighet, lätthet att implementera, exakthet och användbarhet i riktiga databassystem. Prestandatester utvecklades för att mäta exekveringstider för algoritmerna på specifikt framtagna queries. Ett enkelt databassystem utvecklades för att undersöka prestandavinsten av att använda algoritmerna. Slutsatsen att The Homomorphism Technique presterar bättre än The Canonical Model i samtliga testfall med avseende på hastighet drogs. The Canonical Model är dock mer exakt än The Homomorphism Technique. Båda algoritmerna var lätta att implementera, men The Homomorphism Technique var lättare. I databassystemet fanns det en prestandavinst i att använda Query Containment-algoritmer för en viss typ av queries, men i de flesta fall var det en prestandaförlust. Ett databassystem som använder Query Containment-algoritmer för optimering bör för varje query avgöra om en sådan algoritm ska användas.

Static analysis is a core task in query optimization and knowledge base verification. We study static analysis techniques for SPARQL, the standard language for querying Semantic Web data. Specifically, we investigate the query containment problem and the query-update independence analysis. We are interested in developing techniques through reductions to the validity problem in logic.We address SPARQL query containment with optional matching. We focus on the class of well-designed SPARQL queries, proposed in the literature as a fragment of the language with good properties regarding query evaluation. SPARQL is interpreted over graphs, hence we encode it in a graph logic, specifically the modal logic K interpreted over label transition systems. We show that this logic is powerful enough to deal with query containment for the well-designed fragment of SPARQL. We show how to translate RDF graphs into transition systems and SPARQL queries into K-formulae. Therefore, query containment in SPARQL can be reduced to unsatisfiability in K.We also report on a preliminary overview of the SPARQL query-update problem. A query is independent of an update when the execution of the update does not affect the result of the query. Determining independence is especially useful in the contest of huge RDF repositories, where it permits to avoid expensive yet useless re-evaluation of queries. While this problem has been intensively studied for fragments of relational calculus, no works exist for the standard query language for the semantic web. We report on our investigations on how a notion of independence can be defined in the SPARQL context; L’analyse statique est une tâche essentielle dans l’optimisation des requêtes et la vérification de la base de graphes RDF. Nous étudions des techniques d’analyse statique pour SPARQL, le langage standard pour l’interrogation des données du Web sémantique. Plus précisément, nous étudions le problème d’inclusion des requêtes et de l’analyse de l’indépendance entre les requêtes et la mise à jour de la base de graphes RDF.Nous sommes intéressés par le développement de techniques grâce à des réductions au problème de la satisfaisabilité de la logique.Nous nous traitons le problème d’inclusion des requêtes SPARQL en présence de l’opérateur OPTIONAL. L’optionalité est l’un des constructeurs les plus compliqués dans SPARQL et aussi celui qui rend ce langage plus expressif que les langages de requêtes classiques, comme SQL.Nous nous concentrons sur la classe de requêtes appelée "well-designed SPARQL", proposées dans la littérature comme un fragment du langage avec de bonnes propriétés en matière d’évaluation des requêtes incluent l’opération OPTIONAL. À ce jour, l’inclusion de requête a été testée à l’aide de différentes techniques: homomorphisme de graphes, bases de données canoniques, techniques de la théorie des automates et réduction au problème de la validité d’une logique. Dans cette thèse, nous utilisons la dernière technique pour tester l’inclusion des requêtes SPARQL avec OPTIONAL utilisant une logique expressive appelée «logique K». En utilisant cette technique, il est possible de régler le problème d’inclusion des requêtes pour plusieurs fragment de SPARQL, même en présence de schémas. Cette extensibilité n’est pas garantie par les autres méthodes.Nous montrons comment traduire a graphe RDF en un système de transitions, ainsi que une requête SPARQL en une formula K. Avec ces traductions, l’inclusion des requêtes dans SPARQL peut être réduite au test de la validité d’une formule logique. Un avantage de cette approche est d’ouvrir la voie pour des implémentations utilisant solveurs de satisfiabilité pour K.Nous présentons un banc d’essais de tests d’inclusion pour les requêtes SPARQL avec OPTIONAL. Nous avons effectué des expériences pour tester et comparer des solveurs d’inclusion de l’état de l’art.Nous présentons également un aperçu préliminaire du problème d’indépendance entre requête et mise à jour. Une requête est indépendante de la mise à jour lorsque l’exécution de la mise à jour ne modifie pas le résultat de la requête. Bien que ce problème ait été intensivement étudié pour des fragments de calcul relationnel, il n’existe pas de travaux pour le langage de requêtes standard pour le web sémantique. Nous proposons une définition de la notion de l’indépendance dans le contexte de SPARQL et nous établissons des premières pistes de analyse statique dans certains situations d’inclusion entre une requête et une mise à jour.

The problem of query containment is fundamental to many aspects of database systems, including query optimization, determining independence of queries from updates, and rewriting queries using views. In the data-integration framework, however, the standard notion of query containment does not suffice. We define relative containment, which formalizes the notion of query containment relative to the sources available to the data-integration system. First, we provide optimal bounds for relative containment for several important classes of datalog queries, including the common case of conjunctive queries. Next, we provide bounds for the case when sources enforce access restrictions in the form of binding pattern constraints. Surprisingly, we show that relative containment for conjunctive queries is still decidable in this case, even though it is known that finding all answers to such queries may require a recursive datalog program over the sources. Finally, we provide tight bounds for variants of relative containment when the queries and source descriptions may contain comparison predicates.

We describe carin , a novel family of representation languages, that combine the expressive power of Horn rules and of description logics. We address the issue of providing sound and complete inference procedures for such languages. We identify existential entailment as a core problem in reasoning in carin , and describe an existential entailment algorithm for the ALCNR description logic. As a result, we obtain a sound and complete algorithm for reasoning in non-recursive carin ALCNR knowledge bases, and an algorithm for rule subsumption over ALCNR . We show that in general, the reasoning problem for recursive carin - ALCNR knowledge bases is undecidable, and identify the constructors of ALCNR causing the undecidability. We show two ways in which carin - ALCNR knowledge bases can be restricted while obtaining sound and complete reasoning.

Building complex knowledge based applications requires encoding large amounts of domain knowledge. After acquiring knowledge from domain experts, much of the effort in building a knowledge base goes into verifying that the knowledge is encoded correctly. A knowledge base is verified if it can be shown that certain constraints always hold between the inputs and the outputs. We consider the knowledge base verification problem for Horn rule knowledge bases and for three kinds of constraints: I/O consistency constraints, I/O dependency constraints, and input completeness constraints. For the first two cases, we establish tight complexity results on the problem, and show in what cases it is decidable. In the third case, we show that the problem is, in general, undecidable, and we identify two decidable cases. In our analysis we show how the properties of the problem vary depending on the presence of recursion in the Horn rules, the presence of the interpreted predicates =, ⩽, < and ≠ and the presence of negation in the antecedents of the rules. Our approach to the verification problem is based on showing a close relationship to the problem of query containment, studied in the database literature. This connection also provides novel algorithms for the knowledge base verification problem. Finally, we provide the first algorithm for verifying hybrid knowledge bases that combine the expressive power of Horn rules and the description logicALCNR.

SPARQL is a schema query language allowing access to the TBox part of a knowledge base. Moreover its entailment regimes enable to take into account knowledge inferred from persistently stored knowledge bases in the query answering process. Thus, the emergence of SPARQL entailment regimes provide a new perspective for the containment problem. As one has to deal with axiomatic triples, datatype reasoning, and blank nodes that result in infinite answers. Of particular interest for us is the union of conjunctive queries that are a core fragment of SPARQL. In this paper, we study the containment of such queries based on the OWL-ALCH Direct and RDF-Based Semantics entailment regimes.

International audience; We consider the entailment problem in the fragment of first-order logic (FOL) composed of existentially closed conjunctions of literals (without functions), denoted FOL(exists, et, not_a). This problem can be recast as several fundamental problems in artificial intelligence and databases, namely query containment for conjunctive queries with negation, clause entailment for clauses without functions and query answering with incomplete information for Boolean conjunctive queries with negation over a fact base. Entailment in FOL(exists, et, not_a) is Pi2P-complete, whereas it is only NP-complete when the formulas contain no negation. We investigate the role of specific literals in this complexity increase. These literals have the property of being "exchangeable", with this notion taking the structure of the formulas into account. To focus on the structure of formulas, we shall see them as labeled graphs. Graph homomorphism, which provides a sound and complete proof procedure for positive formulas, is at the core of this study. Let ENTAILMENT_k be the following family of problems: given two formulas g and h in FOL(exists, et, not_a), such that g has at most k pairs of exchangeable literals, is g entailed by h? The main results are that ENTAILMENT_k is NP-complete if k is less or equal to 1, and P^NP-II-complete for any value of k greater or equal to 3. As a corollary of our proofs, we are able to classify exactly ENTAILMENTk for any value of k different from 2 when g is decomposable into a tree.