Inferences involving embedded multivalued dependencies and transitive dependencies

Much work has been done recently on finding a complete set of dependency rules for Embedded Multivalued Dependencies (EMVDs), the generalization of the Multivalued Dependencies developed by Fagin and Zaniolo. We show that no finite such set of rules can exist by explicitly constructing a class containing, for all n, irreducible n-ary EMVD inference rules. These n-ary rules may be understood clearly when described in terms of the more "expressive" Transitive Dependencies (TDs) of Paredaens. However, we show in addition that no finite set of rules can exist for TDs either.