THE UNIVERSITY OF TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT/EXAMINATIONS
SEPTEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
Course Code and Title: DBST5001 - Advanced Databases

Programme: Masters of Science (MSc.) in Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Date and Time: Duration: 3 hours

PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU BEGIN THIS

EXAMINATION

Instructions to Candidates

1. This paper has five (5) pages and three (3) sections.
2. You are required to answer only three (3) questions in Section A. Only the first three (3)
responses will be marked.
3. You are required to answer all questions in Section B.
4. You are required to answer only one (1) question in Section C. Only the first response will be
marked.
5. Use the answer booklet for all answers.
6. Write your Student ID in the space provided at the top of each page

Key Examination Protocol

1. Students please note that academic dishonesty (or cheating) includes but is not limited to
plagiarism, collusion, falsification, replication, taking unauthorized notes or devices into an
examination, obtaining an unauthorized copy of the examination paper, communicating or
trying to communicate with another candidate during the examination, and being a party to
impersonation in relation to an examination.
2. The above mentioned and any other actions which compromise the integrity of the academic
evaluation process will be fully investigated and addressed in accordance with UTT’s
academic regulations.
3. Please be reminded that speaking without the Invigilator’s permission is NOT allowed.

© The University of Trinidad & Tobago

September/December 2014 Alternative Examinations
(DBST5001)
Page 1 of 5
 SECTION A – ( 30 marks )

Provide brief explanation, description, or discussion. State any assumptions you might have to
avoid overly lengthy answers. Choose only three (3) questions. Only the first three responses
will be marked.
 

1. Discuss the terms ‘transaction processing’ in terms of:

a. Two-phase locking and the functions at each stage
b. Serializibility
Give examples and/or diagrams to illustrate your answer (hint: include the role of serial
and interleaved schedules).
[10 marks]

2. Use a simple example and/or diagram to describe the potential problems that may occur
in a multi-user database if concurrency control techniques are not fully implemented.
You answer should include the following in your discussion, transaction scheduling
techniques and how data may be lost. [10 marks]

3. Explain each of the following transaction management terms. As examples write a single
sentence explaining the key idea. Each is worth two (2) marks (hint: you are writing very
brief two (2) sentence description for each).
[10 marks]
a. Schedule
b. Cascaded rollback
c. Optimistic locking
d. Pessimistic locking
e. Checkpoint

4. Explain how the ACID properties affect database transactions behavior. Give simple
examples and/or diagrams to illustrate your answer.
[10 marks]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© The University of Trinidad & Tobago
September/December 2014 Alternative Examinations
(DBST5001)
Page 2 of 5
 SECTION B – ( 45 marks )
Answer all questions.

Question 1

The following database contains Information about actors, plays, and roles performed.
Customer(custID, firstname, midinit, lastmame, dob, email, phone) 
Vehicle (RegNum, type, Model, DateManufactured) 
Registration (custID, RegNum, Date) 
Repair(InvoiceNum, custID, RegNum, Date, Cost)

1. Write the SQL statements that define the relational schema (tables) for this database.
Identify all appropriate keys.
[10 marks]

2. Write the equivalent SQL query statements for the following:

π
a. Type(Vehicle) 

b. COUNT RegNum(Date < "01/01/06" (Registration)) 

c. RegNum  COUNT InvoiceNum(Repair) 
π
d. CustID, InvoiceNum(Registration X Repair) 
π
e. CustID( MAX Cost (Repair)) 

f. RegNum, Date(Repair=⋈RegNum=RegNum Vehicle) 
π

[12 marks]

3. Give the relational algebra for the following:

a. List all customer's names and phone numbers.
b. List the registration number and manufacturer date of all vehicles that have been
registered.
c. List the registration numbers of all vehicles that have been repaired at least twice.
d. List the names of all customers who have registered a vehicle that was manufactured
after 01/01/2005.
[8 marks]
© The University of Trinidad & Tobago
September/December 2014 Alternative Examinations
(DBST5001)
Page 3 of 5
 4. Write an SQL query to find the customer name and phone numbers for all customers who
have repaired their vehicles at least twice. Then, give a relational algebra query plan
drawn as a tree that correctly computes this query.
[10 marks]

Question 2

Provide a graph and tree representation for the following case:

Produce a wait-for-graph (WFG) for the following transaction scenario.

[3 marks]
 
Transaction Data items locked by Data items waiting for
transaction transaction
T1 x1 x8
T1 x6 x2
T2 x4 x1
T2 x5
T3 x2 x7
T3 x3
T4 x7
T4 x8 x5
T5 x3 x7

 
Determine whether deadlock exists for the scenario above. [2 marks]

© The University of Trinidad & Tobago

September/December 2014 Alternative Examinations
(DBST5001)
Page 4 of 5
 SECTION C– ( 25 marks )
 
Provide a well formed explanation, description, or discussion. State any assumptions you might
have to avoid overly lengthy answers. Answer only one (1) question . Only the first response
will be marked.

Question 1

Compare and contrast a data warehouse in terms of function, content and structure with an OLTP
database? [5 marks]

For each of the following items, explain the underlying concepts involved, any associated
benefits or limitations, typical applications and features. Give examples and/or diagrams to
illustrate your answer.

a. OLAP, its varieties, the role of aggregation and the impact on SQL [5 marks]

b. Data Mining, associated algorithms/techniques and data cleaning [5 marks]

c. Multi-Dimensional Data, dimensional analysis, roll-up and pivoting [5 marks]

d. Explain the term ‘ETL’ with respect to data warehousing. Highlight common techniques,
problems or issues in each stage of the use of ETL. [5 marks]

Question 2

Security is a major concern in database systems.

a. Describe the main threats to database security. [5 marks]

b. Describe the two (2) different firewall techniques. [5 marks]
c. Using examples, discuss how Triggers can contribute to the security of a database, before
and after a security breach. [5 marks]
d. Describe two (2) mechanisms for guarding against SQL injection. [5 marks]
e. Explain the term “Data Stewardship Best Practices”. [5 marks]

----THE END---

© The University of Trinidad & Tobago

September/December 2014 Alternative Examinations
(DBST5001)
Page 5 of 5