SPARK: A System for Parallel Representation of Knowledge

I n t he System f o r P a r a l l e l R e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f Knowledge (SPARK) the i n g r e d i e n t o f c o n c e r n i s no t t h e h i g h l e v e l , h u m a n l i k e , m o d e l i n g o f k n o w l e d g e , bu t t h e compac t , e f f i c i e n t , and e f f e c t i v e i n t e r n a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n and use of t h e k n o w l e d g e . SPARK employs a knowledge base r e p r e s e n t a t i o n t e c h n i q u e wh ich has been shown to be as much as seven t i m e s more e f f i c i e n t f o r i n f o r m a t i o n r e t r i e v a l t han some o t h e r r e l a t i o n a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s . A t t h e same t i m e , t h i s t e c h n i q u e , c a l l e d t he P a r a l l e l R e p r e s e n t a t i o n (PAR) T e c h n i q u e , can a l s o compact the knowledge base by a f a c t o r o f two o r mo re . What d i s t i n g u i s h e s SPARK f r om d a t a management systems i s t h a t t h i s e f f i c i e n t and e f f e c t i v e r e t r i e v a l mechanism a l s o p r o v i d e s a p o w e r f u l d e d u c t i v e i n f e r e n c e c a p a b i l i t y .