Preface

Contents

Virtually every application of artificial intelligence requires the use of context. At the very least, the application domain itself provides an important context for reasoning, and AI applications can be more effective and efficient if they exploit this contextual knowledge. Often, the application must work in several different contexts. For example, an interface will have to work with different users, a medical diagnosis system will have to deal with different patients and different disease presentations, and an autonomous underwater vehicle will need to work effectively in different geographical locations and terrain types.