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Telic Distinction in Temporal Databases

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Encyclopedia of Database Systems

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Synonyms

Point- versus period-based semantics

Definition

In the context of temporal databases, telic (atelic) data is used to store telic (atelic) facts, and the distinction between telic and atelic data is drawn using the properties of downward and upward inheritance.

  • Downward inheritance. The downward inheritance property implies that one can infer from temporal data d that holds at valid time t (where t is a time period) that d holds in any sub-period (and sub-point) of t.

  • Upward inheritance. The upward inheritance property implies that one can infer from temporal data d that holds at two consecutive or overlapping time periods t1 and t2 that d holds in the union time period t1 ∪t2.

In temporal databases, the semantics of atelic data implies that both downward and upward inheritance holds; on the other hand, neither downward nor upward inheritance holds for telic data.

Historical Background

The distinction between telic and atelic facts dates back to Aristotle’s categories [2] and...

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Recommended Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Operations and Decision Technologies Department, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Vijay Khatri

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Richard T. Snodgrass

  3. Dataware Ventures, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Richard T. Snodgrass

  4. Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica (DiSIT), Universita’ del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”, Alessandria, Italy

    Paolo Terenziani

Authors
  1. Vijay Khatri
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  2. Richard T. Snodgrass
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  3. Paolo Terenziani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vijay Khatri .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ling Liu

  2. University of Waterloo School of Computer Science, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. Tamer Özsu

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Khatri, V., Snodgrass, R.T., Terenziani, P. (2018). Telic Distinction in Temporal Databases. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_1526

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