Revision of thesis --Stanford University, 1980. / Includes index. Bibliography: p. [165]-169.

This dissertation describes the development and implementation of a rule based expert system for the design of computer systems' hardware configurations utilizing a portable workload model based on user/process profiles, local optimization rules and architectural constraints. The systems' configuration expert was designed within the framework of an expert system lifecycle model. The lifecycle model provides an useful methodology to support the design of expert systems. Expert systems are proposed as a means for automated support for decision making in systems analysis and design, especially for those less structured tasks that occur during problem definition, requirements analysis and logical design. The development of the systems' configuration expert was simplified by the use of an integrated rule base management tool: NEWES. NEWES allows for data driven inference, flexible conflict resolution, multiple concurrent rule bases, relational data base like access to short term memory and frame based object definition of short term memory.

An information center (IC) is described as an organization designed to help end users help themselves. ICs are expected to provide several services to end users. The services can be summarized as: consultation, distribution and trouble-shooting. The research is focused on a specific consultation activity: software selection. Providing support for selection and evaluation of software for users constitutes 91.5 percent of a typical IC's daily workload. In the last decade, ICs have proved successful in managing software resources for organizations. The initial success of ICs has increased user expectations and demand for the services offered but, because ICs are considered cost centers in most organizations, there is growing pressure for them to accomplish more with fewer resources. The research hypothesis is that the knowledge and methodologies of IC consultants, concerning software selection, as well as relevant institutional policies, can be represented in a knowledge base. A knowledge-based system ICE (Information Center Expert) to assist users with software selection has been developed and evaluated in the study reported here. The development of ICE used two main design criteria: maintainability and transportability. Maintainability was defined as the ability to support frequent updating of the software supported by an IC. This is important because new software tools are introduced in the market at a very rapid rate; to stay competitive an IC must be able continually to adapt to this dynamic environment. Transportability was considered necessary to make ICE usable in many different ICs, each supporting a different set of software. The transportability feature allows different ICs to individualize the system to meet their own site-specific needs. Validation studies were conducted to test the appropriateness of the recommendations made by ICE, using "blind" validation procedures in which scenarios (in case form) were presented to consultants. The cases were selected to represent problems frequently taken to an IC. Two sets of solutions, those offered by consultants and those provided by ICE, were then presented to experts who were asked to judge the appropriateness of each solution to a case without knowing its source. To test the comparative advantages of using ICE or IC consultants to obtain assistance with software selection a laboratory experiment was conducted. A hypothetical construct called "Consultation Effectiveness" was used, which included measures for "user satisfaction" with the process, as well as measures for the "task basis" and the "recommendation basis" for evaluating a consultation session.

Group Decision Support System (GDSS) pre-session planning is a complex task requiring considerable expertise. GDSS pre-session planning involves the selection of group participants and GDSS tools for a subsequent computer-supported group meeting. An effective plan is required to achieve a successful meeting (success measured by the time and cost necessary to reach an outcome satisfactory to group participants). This research investigates the nature of GDSS pre-session planning and the knowledge that is applied when expert human facilitators plan for collaborative work. A model of and a prototype expert system for GDSS tool selection were developed from the documented knowledge of pres-session planning. The model and system were then revised as a result of extensive consultations with domain experts. The expert system was verified by comparing human experts' recommendations with the system's recommendations (there was no significant difference between the two sets of recommendations). The usefulness of the system was tested by comparing facilitators' and non-facilitators' (with and without the use of the expert system) recommendations with those of human experts in a 2 by 2 factorial design. Results show that facilitators and non-facilitators who use the system are better able to select the tools experts have chosen than they would have otherwise. When they are not using the system, facilitators and non-facilitators perform equally well in selecting the tools experts have judged most appropriate (both groups differ significantly from the experts' recommendations). This research contributes to knowledge of pre-session planning for GDSS sessions with a particular emphasis on the tool selection process. However, further research on the development of a complete session agenda is needed.

The problem approached in this thesis is how to help the novice do image processing with a rule-based system. An interactive expert system prototype, which includes the image processing functions of SADIE, has been created. A software interface between the image processing environment, SADIE, and the expert system tool, CLIPS, has been coded in standard C. Knowledge about low-level image processing (contrast enhancement and noise suppression) has been successfully implemented in the CLIPS program. The experimental results have shown that this system is efficient and friendly. Although this system was developed on a VAX under VMS, it is easily modified for most machines because it includes the portability of CLIPS. With only a minimal amount of work, we also can incorporate the system with the new SADIE C version, which has been developed in another project.

Broadband local area network cable plant design is a time consuming work, it takes lots of computation and it depends a lot on designer's experience. In this thesis the author presents an approach to cable plant design automation, the expert system was implemented in language SCHEME, symbol manipulation was used to generate the data structure (tree) which represent the design results. Signal level simulation can be performed based on the data structure.

This thesis focuses on reusing domain ontologies and generic problem solvers (PSs) in the development of new Knowledge Based Systems (KBSs). A two-stage methodology for achieving this has been developed: in the first stage, knowledge is mapped from a domain ontology to the requirements of a generic PS (expressed in a PS ontology); in the second stage, this mapped knowledge and the domain specific reasoning requirements of the generic PS are used to “drive” by the PS. This acquired knowledge can then be used to generate an executable KBS. Developing this methodology involved a detailed review of the earlier reuse literature, in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of earlier approaches. Generic PSs for propose-and-revise design and diagnosis were also developed based on two existing KBSs which performed these tasks in the elevator domain. To gain insights into the KBS development process, the generic PSs were used to manually build two new executable KBSs. A tool MAKTab, was then developed to support the methodology by semi-automatically performing the actions undertaken during the manual building of the two KBSs. MAKTab has been used to successfully recreate the two elevator systems, and fully develop diagnosis and design KBSs in the computer hardware domain. The findings described in the thesis support the belief that a domain ontology developed for one type of PS will, in general, be unable to fully meet the procedural requirements of another type of PS; this knowledge must therefore be acquired. This work also shows that a single, general knowledge acquisition technique can be applied with different types of generic PSs, to acquire the necessary procedural knowledge.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / With the events of September 11, 2001, terrorist organizations have moved to the forefront of threats to U.S. national security. These organizations utilize unconventional forms of warfare and new organizational structures to survive. However, they must still perform all the functions of traditional organizations: fundraising, internal and external communications, command and coordination, creation of a product, etc. Using an expert system to evaluate the structure of a terrorist organization could increase the amount of knowledge and understanding of it and provide critical insights into the organization's strengths and vulnerabilities. This research will focus on the utility of the expert system Organizational Consultant to evaluate the Hamas terrorist organization as a case study to determine its utility in discerning the organization's structure and suitability to its environment. In order to combat terrorism effectively, the U.S. must gather as much knowledge about various terrorist organizations as possible. Using fit criteria and certainty factors to analyze an organization by means of the expert system Organizational Consultant, the Department of Defense could potentially gain a powerful understanding of the organization's strengths and weaknesses and utilize that knowledge to bring about the terrorist organization's demise efficiently and effectively. / Lieutenant Junior Grade, United States Naval Reserve

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Electromechanical Engineering

by Lam Wai. / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Bibliography: leaves 216-220.