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Definition
The lifespan of a database object is the time during which the corresponding real-world object exists in the modeled reality.
Key Points
Some temporal data models, e.g., conceptual models, provide built-in support for the capture of lifespans, while other models do not. It may be observed that lifespans can be reduced to valid times, in the sense that the lifespan of an object o is the valid time of the fact “o exists.”
In the general case, the lifespan of an object is an arbitrary subset of the time domain and is naturally captured by a temporal element timestamp.
The synonym “existence time” is also used for this concept.
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Recommended Reading
Jensen CS, Dyreson CE, editors. Böhlen M, Clifford J, Elmasri R, Gadia SK, Grandi F, Hayes P, Jajodia S, Käfer W, Kline N, Lorentzos N, Mitsopoulos Y, Montanari A, Nonen D, Peressi E, Pernici B, Roddick JF, Sarda NL, Scalas MR, Segev A, Snodgrass RT, Soo MD, Tansel A, Tiberio R, Wiederhold G. A consensus glossary of temporal database concepts – February 1998 version. In: Etzion O, Jajodia S, Sripada S. editors. Temporal databases: research and practice. LNCS, vol. 1399. Berlin: Springer; 1998. p. 367–405.
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Jensen, C.S. (2016). Lifespan. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_1416-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_1416-2
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