Databases with Missing Values that are Governed by Missingness Mechanisms

2026-09-22

AI Summary

研究通过构建缺失性图（MG）和观察数据库，为含缺失值的数据库提供语义，并识别出两个最优可能世界类以进行查询解答。

Abstract

We address the problems of giving a semantics to a relational database (RDB) that has missing values (MVs). The causes for the latter are governed by a Missingness Mechanism that is modelled as a Bayesian Network (BN) that involves the DB attributes as variables. The BN is called a Missingness Graph (MG). Our approach considerable departs from the treatment of RDBs with NULL (values). The combination of the MG and the observed DB allows us to build a block-independent probabilistic DB. We identify two optimal classes of its possible worlds on which QA can be performed. Those classes jointly capture probabilistic uncertainty and statistical plausibility of the implicit imputation of MVs. We obtain tractability results for the computation of some optimal classes; and we also obtain complexity results that characterize the computational feasibility of our approach.

Problem

• Missing Values
• Relational Database
• Missingness Mechanism
• Bayesian Network

Innovation

• Missingness Mechanism
• Bayesian Network
• Probabilistic DB
• Possible Worlds
• Statistical Plausibility