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International Conference on Conceptual Modeling

ER 1999: Conceptual Modeling — ER ’99 pp 384–399Cite as

A Taxonomy of Recursive Relationships and Their Structural Validity in ER Modeling

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1728))

Abstract

In this paper, we present the complete classification of recursive relationships and the criteria that contribute to the structural validity of modeling recursive relationships within the entity-relationship (ER) diagram. Unlike typical other analyses that use only maximum cardinality constraints, we have used both maximum and minimum cardinality constraints in defining the properties and their structural validity criteria. We used the notions of role uniqueness, path connectivity, and cardinality constraints to derive a complete and comprehensive set of decision rules. Five rules and three corollaries were established to determine structural validity of recursive relationships. The contribution of this paper is to present a complete taxonomy of recursive relationships with their properties as well as the decision rules for their structural validity. These decision rules can be readily applied to real world data models regardless of their complexity. The rules can easily be incorporated into the database modeling and designing process, or extended into case tool implementations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boeing Phantom Works, The Boeing Company, Philadelphia, PA, 19142, USA

    James Dullea

  2. College of Info. Science and Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Il-Yeol Song

Authors
  1. James Dullea
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  2. Il-Yeol Song
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, 292 Rue Saint Martin, F-75141, Paris Cedex 03, France

    Jacky Akoka

  2. Université de Versailles, 45 Avenue des Etats Unis, F-78035, Versailles Cedex, France

    Mokrane Bouzeghoub  & Elisabeth Métais  & 

  3. ESSEC, Avenue Bernard Hirsch, F-92021, Cergy Cedex, France

    Isabelle Comyn-Wattiau

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Dullea, J., Song, IY. (1999). A Taxonomy of Recursive Relationships and Their Structural Validity in ER Modeling. In: Akoka, J., Bouzeghoub, M., Comyn-Wattiau, I., Métais, E. (eds) Conceptual Modeling — ER ’99. ER 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1728. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47866-3_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47866-3_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66686-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47866-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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