The ramification problem in temporal databases: Changing beliefs about the past

In this paper we study the ramification problem in the setting of temporal databases. Standard solutions from the literature on reasoning about action are inadequate because they rely on the assumption that fluents persist, and because actions have effects on the next situation only. In this paper we provide a solution to the ramification problem based on an extension of the situation calculus and the work of McCain and Turner. More specifically, we study the case where the effects of an action refer to the past, a particularly complex problem. 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.