Specific Expert System Research Articles

XTRA: a natural-language access system to expert systems

The XTRA access system to expert systems is presented which is aimed at rendering the interaction with expert systems easier for inexperienced users. XTRA communicates with the user in a natural language (German), extracts data relevant to the expert system from his/her natural-language input, answers user queries as to terminology and provides user-accommodated natural-language verbalizations of results and explanations provided by the expert system. A number of novel artificial intelligence techniques have been employed in the development of the system, including the combination of natural-language user input and user gestures on the terminal screen, referent identification with the aid of four different knowledge sources, simultaneous communication of the access system with the user and the expert system, fusion of two complementary knowledge bases into a single one, and the design of a natural-language generation component which allows for a controlled interaction between the “what-to-say” and the “how-to-say” parts to yield a more natural output. XTRA is being developed independently of any specific expert system. In its first application the access to an expert system in the income tax domain is being realized.

Bcaus project description and consideration of control isolation issues

Our experience with the development of a diagnostic expert system has caused us to examine the commonly stated truths that data may be segregated from program control in “generic” expert system shells and that such tools support straightforward knowledge representation. We believe that the ideal of separation of data from program control in expert systems is difficult to realize for a variety of reasons. One approach to achieving this goal is to integrate hybrid collections of specialized shells and tools instead of producing custom systems built with a single “all purpose” expert system tool. In this report, we try to examine aspects of these issues in the context of a specific diagnostic expert system application, the Backup Control Mode Analysis and Utility System (BCAUS), being developed for the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) spacecraft. We present a description of the project, our experience to date, and plans for the on-going system development. A more detailed description of the BCAUS prototype development has already appeared ( CSC, 1988).

Expert system technology for the military: selected samples

Considers the applications of expert systems to complex military problems. A brief description of needs for expert systems in the military arena is given. An important aspect of expert systems concerns using uncertain information and ill-defined procedures. Many of the general techniques of dealing with uncertainty are described. The major portion of this work addresses specific expert system examples such as resource allocation, identification of radar images, maintenance and troubleshooting of electronic equipment, and the interpretation and understanding of radar images. Extensions of expert systems to incorporate learning are examined in the context of military intelligence to determine the disposition, location, and intentions of the adversary. The final application involves the use of distributed communicating cooperating expert systems for battle management.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Expert Systems: Implications for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Learning Disabilities

Application of artificial intelligence to the problems of education is a relatively recent endeavor. This article will focus on one of the most promising aspects of artificial intelligence — expert systems technology — and some of the characteristics that make expert systems “intelligent”. Selected present and potential applications of expert systems to the field, of learning disabilities are presented along with examples of specific expert systems.

OARPLAN: Generating project plans by reasoning about objects, actions and resources

This paper describes OARPLAN, a prototype planning system that generates construction project plans from a description of the objects that comprise the completed facility. OARPLAN is based upon the notion that activities in a project plan can be viewed as intersections of their constituents: objects, actions and resources. Planning knowledge in OARPLAN is represented as constraints based on activity constituents and their interrelationships; the planner functions as a constraint satisfaction engine that attempts to satisfy these constraints. The goal of the OARPLAN project is to develop a planning shell for construction projects that (i) provides a natural and powerful constraint language for expressing knowledge about construction planning, and (ii) generates a facility construction plan by satisfying constraints expressed in this language.To generate its construction plan, OARPLAN must be supplied with extensive knowledge about construction objects, actions and resources, and about spatial, topological, temporal and other relations that may exist between them. We suggest that much of the knowledge required to plan the construction of a given facility can be drawn directly from a three-dimensional CAD model of the facility, and from a variety of databases currently used in design and project management software. In the prototype OARPLAN system, facility data must be input directly as frames. However, we are collaborating with database researchers to develop intelligent interfaces to such sources of planning data, so that OARPLAN will eventually be able to send high level queries to an intelligent database access system without regard for the particular CAD system in which the project was designed.We begin by explaining why classical AI planners and domain specific expert system approaches are both inadequate for the task of generating construction project plans. We describe the activity representation developed in OARPLAN and demonstrate its use in producing a plan of about 50 activities for a steel-frame building, based on spatial and topological constraints that express structural support, weather protection and safety concerns in construction planning. We conclude with a discussion of the research issues raised by our experiments with OARPLAN to date.

Expert Systems: Implications for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Learning Disabilities

Application of artificial intelligence to the problems of education is a relatively recent endeavor. This article will focus on one of the most promising aspects of artificial intelligence — expert systems technology — and some of the characteristics that make expert systems “intelligent”. Selected present and potential applications of expert systems to the field of learning disabilities are presented along with examples of specific expert systems.

From Socrates to expert systems: The limits of calculative rationality

This paper examines the general epistemological assumptions of artificial intelligence technology, and recent work in the development of expert systems. These systems are limited because of a failure to recognize the real character of expert understanding, which is acquired as the fifth step of a five-step process. A review of the successes and failures of various specific expert system programs confirms this analysis. This is a paper included in C. Mitcham and Alois Huning, eds., Philosophy and Technology II: Information Technology and Computers in Theory and Practice (Boston: D. Reidel, in press), and is included here with permission.