Foundations of Knowledge Base Management

This book is based on material from current research projects and cooperations and from a recent workshop in the area of Knowledge Base Management Systems. It contains 25 revised papers and related discussions that concentrate on the integration of Database Technology (deductive databases, extended relational technology, object-oriented systems) and Artificial Intelligence (in particular logic programming and knowledge representation). The emphasis of the book is on the integration of DB/AI technology required for knowledge Base Management Systems. The book isolates major conceptual contributions, systems extensions, and reseach directions that lead towards that goal. This book is a European counterpart to another volume in the Topics in Information Systems Series, "On Knowledge Base Management Systems", resulting from a North American workshop and edited by M. Brodie and J. Mylopoulos, which concentrates on theoretical results and the more abstract levels of Knowledge Base Management.