Semistructured probabilistic databases

The article describes a novel theoretical framework for uniform storage and management of diverse probabilistic information. The semistructured data model has gained wide acceptance recently as a means of representing data which lacks a rigid structure of schema. In particular, the similarity of the semistructured data model and the underlying data model for eXtensible Markup Language (XML), the emerging open standard for data storage and transmission over the Internet, make our choice of this approach attractive. The authors present the formal model for semistructured probabilistic objects. They provide the theoretical foundations for storing and managing semistructured probabilistic objects. Previously (S. Hawkes and A. Dekhtyar, 2001), we started the process of translating this model into XML. We introduce the advising application and give formal definitions of semistructured probabilistic objects. Finally, we introduce the underlying algebra for semistructured probabilistic databases.