Abstract
We thank the discussants for their kind remarks and appreciation of our work. We also agree with the discussants on the importance of disseminating experts' knowledge to all local agencies so that they will be able to make appropriate decisions. In the next few paragraphs, we are responding to the discussants' comments and requests in the same order. 1. Input screen. Figure R1 shows a typical screen with the scanned images shown as an example of how the questions appear. The user will note that there is a Why in each of the screens. Clicking Why will give the user the reason why the system is asking that particular question. Quit will end the session. The user has the option to answer the question or click the appropriate image answers. After all the questions have been asked, the final report with the recommended maintenance decision will be presented. 2. System implementation. We agree with the discussants that the introduction of object-oriented programming shells that allow the developer to include pictures, graphics, and figures dynamically, in any application, provided a great potential for building more powerful expert system applications. However, these shells were not widely available during the development of PMAS. Therefore, the system was first implemented using Exsys Professional for the IBM-PC (Exsys 1988) which was the most popular shell at that time. Then, to make the application more user friendly, we implemented it using Instant Expert Plus (Human Intellect Systems 1988) for the Macintosh which has good graphic capabilities to better explain the question and answer session. 3. Development of decision tree for combined distresses. The decision tree for the combined distresses types shown in Fig. 4 was developed based on the information provided by the Newfoundland Road Maintenance Standard. The top level of this tree shows all possible combined distresses that may occur. The lower level of the tree shows the maintenance decision based on the effects of severity and density for a given combined distresses. 4. Confidence factors. As the discussants have pointed
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