Semantic association model for corporate and scientific-statistical databases

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Information Sciences; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-0255(83)90015-4· OSTI ID:6038971

Su, S Y.W.

A semantic association model called SAM which is designed for modeling not only scientific-statistical databases but also business-oriented databases is described. The model uses concepts and associations of these concepts to model the real-world information of a database management environment. Seven general association types are defined and distinguished on the basis of their structural properties, operational characteristics, and semantic constraints. They are the basic constructs for an explicit and direct modeling of complex semantic relationships in databases. The model is characterized by (1) its expressive power offered by the seven modeling constructs and the recursive use and nested structuring of these constructs, (2) its recognition of complex data types such as text, ordered set, matrix, time series, vector, set, and time as primitive data types which can be directly manipulated by the user using a DML, (3) its support of principle of relativism by allowing concepts to be multiply labeled to explicitly specify the conflicting views of these concepts, and (4) the distinction it makes between attributes which characterize objects and attributes which statistically summarize a set of objects, together with its support of statistical operations. A network structure and a tabular structure called generalized relation or G-relation are proposed for representing the conceptual and implementation designs of databases respectively. A number of restructuring operations and algebraic operations are also defined for processing G-relations.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Florida, Gainesville
• DOE Contract Number: AS05-81ER10977
• OSTI ID: 6038971
• Journal Information: Information Sciences; (United States), Journal Name: Information Sciences; (United States) Vol. 29
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990300* -- Information Handling
DATA BASE MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS