Basic Causes for the Inconsistency Tolerance of Query Answering and Integrity Checking

Methods for query evaluation usually differ from methods for integrity checking, and even more so if they are flexible enough to cope with extant inconsistencies. A recently developed cause-based approach provides a uniform foundation of inconsistency tolerance for query answering and integrity checking. It also provides flexibility to handle different degrees of inconsistency. We improve the cause-based approach by focusing on causes that are basic, i.e., irreducible to other causes.