Logic Databases and the Meaning of Change 1 a Note from the Organizers

This report gives account of the seminar on Logic Databases and The Meaning of Change, held at the marvelous conference and research center of Dagstuhl, in the last week of September 1996. The seminar attracted a total of 36 invited researchers in the eld, from 14 countries. Each of the participants contributed to the seminar by giving talks, demonstrations and/or participating in lively discussions which followed upon every presentation. Particular highlights included talks on the Situation Calculus (Monday), on Transaction Logic (Tuesday), on Active Databases (Wednesday), as well as on Abductive, Inductive and other, more involved inference techniques. Not surprisingly, the most frequently addressed topics are named by the keywords Updates, Transactions, and Integrity. Often, discussions after presentations did not cease during breaks for cooee and lunch, and always continued well into the evenings. Exchanges of opinions and points of view were favorably stimulated by the well-appreciated personal atmosphere of the by-now famous Dagstuhl wine cellar and other locations in the Schloss. Apart from many productive sessions in the wine cellar, some particularly vivid debates and interchanges of views were witnessed during several open forum discussions, scheduled on the last two days 1