Flexible query answering with the powerset-AI operator and star-based ranking

Abstract

Query generalization is one option to implement flexible query answering. In this paper, we introduce a generalization operator (called powerset-AI) that extends conventional Anti-Instantiation (AI). We analyze structural modifications imposed by the generalization to obtain syntactic similarity measures (based on the star feature) that rank generalized queries with regard to their closeness to the original query.