Links' Seminars and Public Events | ![]() ![]() |
2021 | |
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Fri 15th Jan 10:00 am 12:00 pm | Séminaire de Kim Nguyễn Titile: The BOLDR project Abstract: I n this presentation, I will give an account of the BOLDR project and perspectives in the field of language integrated queries. Several classes of solutions allow programming languages to express queries: specific APIs such as JDBC, Object-Relational Mappings (ORMs) such as Hibernate, and language-integrated query frameworks such as Microsoft's LINQ. However, most of these solutions do not allow for efficient cross-databases queries, and none allow the use of complex application logic from the programming language in queries. We study the design of a new language-integrated query framework called BOLDR that allows the evaluation in databases of queries written in general-purpose programming languages containing application logic, and targeting several databases following different data models. In this framework, application queries are translated to an intermediate representation. Then, they are typed with a type system extensible by databases in order to detect which database language each subexpression should be translated to. This type system also allows us to detect a class of errors before execution. Next, they are rewritten in order to avoid query avalanches and make the most out of database optimizations. Finally, queries are sent for evaluation to the corresponding databases and the results are converted back to the application. Our experiments show that the techniques we implemented are applicable to real-world database applications, successfully handling a variety of language-integrated queries with good performances. This talk will give an overview of what has been achieved so far (mainly in the context of Julien Lopez' PhD Thesis) and will glimpse at preliminary work that is being done in the context of a collaboration with Oracle Labs. |
Fri 8th Jan 10:45 am 12:30 pm | Séminaire @ Lê Thành Dũng (Tito) Nguyễn Title: The planar geometry of first-order string transductions (joint work with Pierre Pradic) Abstract: hal.archives-ouvertes......ument We propose a new machine model recognizing star-free languages, with a geometric flavor. Our starting point is the characterization of regular languages using two-way automata (2DFA). The idea is to take seriously the visual representations found throughout the literature of the behavior of a 2DFA on a word ; by putting a total order on the set of states, one can formally define what it means for such a behavior to be planar, in a sense analogous to the planarity of combinatorial maps. Star-free languages are then exactly the languages recognized by "planar 2DFA". We also show that the corresponding planar transducer model characterizes the class of first-order transductions (a.k.a. aperiodic regular functions). If time allows, the talk will briefly discuss the connections of this work with the non-commutative lambda-calculus (cf. our recent paper Aperiodicity in a non-commutative logic, ICALP'20). |
2020 | |
Thu 17th Dec 2:00 pm 4:00 pm | Nofar Carmeli Speaker: Nofar Carmeli (nofar.carme.li/) Zoom link: univ-lille-fr.zoom.us/j/95419000064 Title: The Complexity of Answering Unions of Conjunctive Queries. Abstract: We discuss the fine-grained complexity of enumerating the answers to a query over a relational database. With the ideal guarantees, linear time is required before the first answer to read the input and determine its existence, and then we need to print the answers one by one. Consequently, we wish to identify the queries that can be solved with linear preprocessing time and constant or logarithmic delay between answers. A known dichotomy classifies CQs into those that admit such enumeration and those that do not. The computationally expensive component of query answering is joining tables, which can be done efficiently if and only if the join query is acyclic. However, the join query usually does not appear in a vacuum; for example, it may be part of a larger query, or it may be applied to a database with dependencies. We inspect how the complexity changes in these settings and chart the borders of tractability within. In addition, we consider the task of enumerating query answers with a uniformly random order, and we propose to do so using an efficient random-access structure for representing the set of answers. We also prove conditional lower bounds showing that our algorithms capture all tractable queries in some cases. Among our results, we show that a union of tractable conjunctive queries may be intractable w.r.t. random access; on the other hand, a union of intractable conjunctive queries may be tractable w.r.t. enumeration. |
Fri 11th Dec 10:00 am 11:30 am | Alexandre Vigny Title: Elimination Distance to Bounded Degree on Planar Graphs Link to the zoominar: univ-lille-fr.zoom.us/j/95419000064 Abstract: What does it mean for a graph to almost be planar? Or to almost have bounded degree? On such simple graphs classes, some difficult algorithmic problems become tractable. Ideally, one would like to use (or adapt) existing algorithms for graphs that are "almost" in such a simple class. In this talk, I will discuss the notion of elimination distance to a class C, a notion introduced by Bulian and Dawar (2016). The goals of the talk are: 1) Define this notion, and discuss why it is relevant by presenting some existing results. 2) Show that we can compute the elimination distance of a given planar graph to the class of graph of degree at most d. I.e. answer the question: "Is this graph close to a graph of bounded degree?" The second part is the result of a collaboration with Alexandre Lindermayer and Sebastian Siebertz. |
Fri 4th Dec 10:00 am 11:00 am | Seminar: Pierre Pradic Title: Extracting nested relational queries from implicit definitions Abstract: arxiv.org/pdf/2005.06503.pdf In this talk, I will present results obtained jointly with Michael Benedikt establishing a connection between the Nested Relational Calculus (NRC) and sets implicitly definable using Δ₀ formulas. Call a formula φ(I,O) an implicit definition of the relation O(x,...) in terms of I(y,...) if O is functionally determined by I: for every I, O, O', if both φ(I,O) and φ(I,O') hold, then we have O ≡ O'. When φ is first-order and I and O are relations over base sorts, then Beth's definability theorem states that there is a first-order formula ψ(I,x,...) corresponding to O whenever φ(I,O) holds. Further, this explicit definition ψ can be effectively be computed from a sequent calculus proof witnessing that φ is functional. This allows for practical use of implicit definitions in the context of database programming, as there is a well-established link between fragments of explicitly FO definable relations and relational calculi. NRC is a conservative extension of relational calculi from database theory with limited powerset types in addition to tupling and anonymous base types. NRC expressions thus not only encompass flat relations over primitive datatypes like SQL but also nested collections, while remaining useful in practice. We extend the above correspondence between first-order logic and flat relational queries to NRC and implicit definitions using set-theoretical Δ₀ formulas over (typed) nested collection. Our proof of the equivalence goes through a notion of Δ₀-interpretation and a generalization of Beth definability for multi-sorted structures. This proof is non-constructive and thus does not yield any useful algorithm for converting implicit definitions into NRC terms. Using an approach more closely related to proof-theoretic interpolation, we give a constructive proof of the result restricted to intuitionistic provability, i.e, when the input functionality proof π of φ(I,O) is carried out in intuitionistic logic. Further, if π is cut-free, this can be done efficiently. Whether or not there exists a polynomial-time procedure working with classical proofs of functionality is still an open problem. I will focus on the effective result for the talk, and if time allows, discuss the difficulties with extending it to classical logic. I will not assume any background in either database or model theory. |
Fri 27th Nov 10:00 am 11:30 am | Seminar: Charles Paperman Title: Stackless processing of streamed trees Abstract: In this talk, I will first present the state of the art of efficiency implementation of streaming-text algorithms on modern architecture. Then some recent results on the extraction of information on streamed of structured documents without stack overhead. For more info: paperman.name/data/pub.....d.pdf |
Fri 13th Nov 10:00 am 12:00 pm | Seminar: Mikaël Monet Title: The Complexity of Counting Problems over Incomplete Databases Abstract: In this presentation, I will talk about various counting problems that naturally arise in the context of query evaluation over incomplete databases. Incomplete databases are relational databases that can contain unknown values in the form of labeled nulls. We will assume that the domains of these unknown values are finite and, for a Boolean query $q$, we will consider the following two problems: given as input an incomplete database $D$, (a) return the number of completions of $D$ that satisfy $q$; or (b) return or the number of valuations of the nulls of $D$ yielding a completion that satisfies $q$. We will study the computational complexity of these problems when $q$ is a self-join--free conjunctive query, and study the impact on the complexity of the following two restrictions: (1) every null occurs at most once in $D$ (what is called *Codd tables*); and (2) the domain of each null is the same. Roughly speaking, we will see that counting completions is much harder than counting valuations, and that both (1) and (2) can reduce the complexity of our problems. I will also talk about the approximability of these problems and prove that, while counting valuations can efficiently be approximated, in most cases counting completions cannot. On our way, we will encounter the counting complexity classes #P, Span-P and Span-L. The presentation will be based on joint work with Marcelo Arenas and Pablo Barcelo; see arxiv.org/abs/1912.11064 |
Fri 16th Oct 11:00 am 12:00 pm | Seminar: Aurélien Lemay Title: ShEx Learning from Typed Graphs Abstract: In knowledge graphs, schemas are becoming a new asset to describe the organization of data. The new world-leading format Shex is becoming a de-facto standard in the industry that allows defining flexible and powerful schemas. In this context, the inference of schemas can become a solution to provide shex expressions that describe already existing data. Typically, the inference starts from untyped graphs. However, these tasks appears to be more complex than expected in general, and is possible only for subclasses of Shex. The inference of schemas from typed graph gives a baseline for those algorithms. Its comprehension allows to understand better the underlying difficulties of the task. It presents already unexpected difficulties. We present an algorithm that infers Shex-defined schemas from fully typed graphs. We also present some encountered difficulties, as well as the limitations of the approach. |
Fri 24th Jul 2:30 pm 4:30 pm | Momar Sakho, PhD defense |
Wed 8th Jan 1:30 pm 3:30 pm | Introduction to argumentation theory Salle Agora 1, Bâtiment ESPRIT |