Advanced Database System Set 1

1. Explain the theory of database internals.

Ans:
a) Indexing: The most common kind of index is a sorted list of the contents of some
particular table column, with pointers to the row associated with the value. An
index allows a set of table rows matching some criterion to be located quickly.
Various methods of indexing are commonly use; B-trees, ashes and linked lists
are all common indexing
b) Transactions and concurrency: In addition to their data model, most practical
databases attempt to enforce a database transaction. Ideally, the database
software should enforce the ACID rules, summarized here. Atomicity,
Consistency, Isolation, Durability.
c) Replication: replication of databases is closely related to transactions. If a
database can log its individual actions, it is possible to create a duplicate of the
data in rest time. The duplicate can be use to improve performance or availability
of the whole database system. Common replication concept includes –
master/Slave Replication, Quorum, Multimaster.

2. Describe the following with respect to Query processing:

A) Query Optimizer: Is the component of database management system that
attempts to determine the most efficient way to execute a query. The optimizer
considers the possible query plans for a given input query, and attempts to
determine which of those plans will be the most efficient. Cost-based query
optimizers assign an estimated “cost” to each possible query plan, and choose the
plan with the least cost. Costs are used to estimate the runtime cost of evaluating
the query, in terms of the number of I/O operations required, the CPU
requirements, and other factors.
B) Query Plan: A Query Plan is a set of steps used to access information in a SQL
relational database management system. This is a specific case of the relational
model concept of access plane. Since SQL is declarative, there are typically a
large number of alternative ways to executive a given query, with widely varying
performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer
evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and
returns what it considers the best alternative. Because query optimizers are
imperfect, database users and administrators sometimes need to manually
examine and tune the plans produced by the optimizer to get better performance.
C) Implementation: Most query optimizers represent query plans as a tree of “plan
nodes”. A plan node encapsulates a single operation that is requires to execute
the query. The nodes are arranged as a true, in which intermediate results flow
from the bottom of the tree to the top. Each node has zero or more child nodes –
those are nodes whose output is fed as input of the parent node.

3. Explain the following with respect to Heuristics of Query Optimizations:

A) Equivalence of Expressions: The first step in selecting a query-processing strategy is
to find a relational algebra expression that is equivalent to the given query and is efficient
to execute.

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B) Selection Operation: Consider the query to find the assets and branch-names of all
banks who have depositors living in port Chester in relational algebra, this is
Π bname, assests ( σ ccity='Port "Chester" (customer |X| deposit |X| branch))

C) Projection Operation: Like selection, projection reduces the size of relations. It is

advantageous to apply projections early. Consider this form of our example query:
Π bname, assests ((( σ ccity='Port "Chester"(customer)) |X| deposit |X| branch)

D) Natural Join Operation: Another way to reduce the size of temporary results is to
choose an optimal ordering of the join operations.

Natural join associative:

(r1 |X| r2) |X| r3 = r1 |X|(r2|X|r3)

4. Explain the following:

A) Data Management Functions: The primary objective for a data management system,
DMS, is to provide efficient and effective management of the database. This includes
providing functions for data storage, retrieval, secure modification, DB integrity and
maintenance. There are two principle quality measures for a DMS; efficiency and
effectiveness.
B) Database Design & Creation: Prior to establishing a database, the database
administrator, DBA, should create a data model to describe the intended content and
structure for the DB. It is this model that is the basis for specification of the Data
definition Language, DDL statements necessary for construction of the DB schema and
the structure for the DB storage areas.
C) Information & Data Retrieval: The term information and data are often used
interchangeably in the data management literature causing some confusion in
interpretation of the goals of different data management system types. It is important to
remember that despite the name of a data management system type, it can only manage
data these data are representations of information.

5. Describe the Structural Semantic Data Model (SSM) with relevant examples.
Ans: SSM was developed as teaching tool and has been and can continue to be modified
to include new modeling concepts. A particular requirement today is the inclusion of
concepts and syntax symbols for modeling multimedia objects.

Concepts Definition Examples

Entity(object Something of interest to the information A person, student,
) system about which data is collected customer, employee,
department, product exam,
order…
Entity type A set of entities sharing common attributes Citizens of Norway
Person (Name, Address...)

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Subclass, A sub-class entity type is a specialization, Subclass : Superclass

superclass of, alternatively a role played by, a super- Student IS_A person
entity type class entity type. Teacher IS_A Person

Shared A shared subclass entity type has A student-assistant

Subclass characteristics of 2 or more parent entity IS_BOTHA student and an
entity type types employee
Category A subclass entity type of 2 or more An owner IS_EITHERA
entity type district / independent super-class entity Person or an organization
types

6. Explain the following concepts with respect to SQL3:

A) Result Presentation: An SQL3-based ORDBMS will return all attributes specified in
the SELECT clause even if the document body has been stored externally to the table and
replaced by a link. However, it can only order the result set according to the values of
regular attributes. It is not meaningless to sort large documents by their ‘whole’ content,
nor is it particularly helpful to the documents by heir order in the DB
B) Image Retrieval: Popular knowledge claims that an image is worth 1000 words.
Unfortunately, these 1000 words may differ from one individual to another depending on
their perspective and/or knowledge of the image context. For example, a familiar
demonstration that an image can have multiple, quite different interpretations. Thus even
if a 1000-world image description were available, it is not certain that the image could be
retrieved by a user with a different description.
The problem is fundamentally one of communication between an information/image
seeker/user and the image retrieval system. Since user may have differing needs and
knowledge about the image collection an image collection, an image retrieval system
must support various forms for query formulation.

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