This paper reviews a number of applications of machine learning to industrial control problems. We take the point of view of trying to automatically build rule-based reactive systems for tasks that, if performed by humans, would require a high degree of skill, yet are generally performed without thinking. Such skills are said to be sub-cognitive. While this might seem restrictive, most human skill is executed subconsciously and only becomes conscious when an unfamiliar circumstance is encountered. This kind of skill lends itself well to representation by a reactive system, that is, one that does not create a detailed model of the world, but rather, attempts to match percepts with actions in a very direct manner.

This paper describes some of our experience gathered during the development of an expert system, the press lineup advisor, in which we used the commercially available expert system development tool, S.1.™ Discussion includes: (1) how we used S. l to develop a system which solves a configuration problem; (2) difficulties we encountered when applying S.1 to this specific reasoning problem; (3) limitations of S.1 from both problem-solving and operational points of view and (4) issues remaining to be solved with respect to generalization of the system.

Like other industrialized countries, France is currently enjoying a vogue for artificial intelligence and, generally, for hardware and software components and structures which will be needed for the design and implementation of the computer applications of the 1990s.

Since public announcement of MITI's Fifth Generation Project in October 1981, the French scientific and industrial communications have exhibited increasing enthusiasm for AI languages, expert systems, man-computer interaction, novel computer architectures, and knowledge-based computer systems as a whole. The choice of the Prolog language for the Japanese project has stimulated many French industrialists to be aware of the existence of a basic AI tool designed mainly in France.

In spite of the present fashion, often maintained by the journalistic milieu, it would be inaccurate to say that the French fifth generation project goes back to the Japanese announcement. The MITI project has certainly been a catalyst of ministerial and industrial awareness, but the bulk of ongoing projects stem from earlier work most often funded by government agencies.

In spite of the current thrust in AI and the centralizing habit in France, a “flagship” AI project cannot be identified. French Research and Development initiatives in artificial intelligence in general, and expert systems in particular, correspond more to a set of distinct projects. These frequently complement each other in technical scope and in their scientific and industrial objectives.

This paper is intended to serve as a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field concerned with the design and use of ontologies. We observe that disparate backgrounds, languages, tools and techniques are a major barrier to effective communication among people, organisations and/or software understanding (i.e. an “ontology”) in a given subject area, can improve such communication, which in turn, can give rise to greater reuse and sharing, inter-operability, and more reliable software. After motivating their need, we clarify just what ontologies are and what purpose they serve. We outline a methodology for developing and evaluating ontologies, first discussing informal techniques, concerning such issues as scoping, handling ambiguity, reaching agreement and producing definitions. We then consider the benefits and describe, a more formal approach. We re-visit the scoping phase, and discuss the role of formal languages and techniques in the specification, implementation and evalution of ontologies. Finally, we review the state of the art and practice in this emerging field, considering various case studies, software tools for ontology development, key research issues and future prospects.

Active rules have been a standard technique in artificial intelligence (AI) for almost two decades. Variants of the Al methods are currently being adapted to provide database systems with the ability to respond reactively to events and database state changes. This paper gives an overview of developments in reactive processing database research, concentrating on active databases that are integrated with relational and object-oriented systems. A general presentation of “trigger”-based processing techniques is given, with a detailed review of active relational and object-oriented database models. An overview of technologies for active processing in AI is also presented, and some common and contrasting themes in database and AI technology identified.