Normalization for relational and graph databases

The Data Science Discipline of the School of EECS is hosting the following guest seminar:

Normalization for relational and graph databases

Speaker: Prof Sebastian Link (University of Auckland)
Host: Prof Xue Li

Abstract: Normalization aims at grouping properties such that common updates and queries can be processed efficiently. State-of-the-art methods for relational databases date back until the late 1970s, and compute a lossless, dependency-preserving decomposition into Third Normal Form (3NF), which will be in Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF) whenever possible. The talk will showcase two very recent new developments. Firstly, we show how the number of minimal keys constitutes a parameter that can measure both update inefficiency and query efficiency of schemata in BCNF, thereby breaking ties between different schemata in BCNF and improving the ability to predict update and query performance at the logical level [1]. Secondly, we will show how state-of-the-art schema design for relational databases can be transferred to graph databases [2]. 

Speaker Bio: Sebastian holds a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Auckland, where he is currently a Professor of Computer Science, the Director of Data Science, and the Associate Dean International for Science. His research interests include the modeling, mining, quality and sampling of data, database design, and applications of discrete mathematics. Sebastian received the Chris Wallace Award for Outstanding Research. He has published more than 150 articles, and served as a reviewer in venues such as SIGMOD, VLDB, ICDE, ACM ToDS, the VLDB Journal, Information Systems, and IEEE TKDE.

References:
[1] Zhuoxing Zhang, Wu Chen, Sebastian Link: Composite Object Normal Forms: Parameterizing Boyce-Codd Normal Form by the Number of Minimal Keys. Proc. ACM Manag. Data 1(1): 13:1-13:25, 2023.
[2] Philipp Skavantzos and Sebastian Link. Normalizing Property Graphs. Proc. VLDB Endow. 16(11): 3031 - 3043, 202