Research and development in expert systems IX: proceedings of Expert Systems 92, the Twelfth Annual Technical Conference of the British Computer Society Specialist group on Expert Systems, London, December 1992

358 Pages·1993·4.85 MB·English

by  British Computer Society. Specialist Group on Expert Systems. Technical Conference

Research and Development in Expert Systems IX
THE BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY CONFERENCE SERIES
Editor: P. HAMMERSLEY
The BCS Conference Series aims to report developments of an advanced
technical standard undertaken by members of The British Computer Society
through the Society's conference organization. The series should be vital reading
for all whose work or interest involves computing technology. Volumes in this
Series will mirror the quality of papers published in the BCS's technical
periodical The Computer Journal and range widely across topics in computer
hardware, software, applications and management.
1: SE90, edited by P.A.V. Hall
2: Research & Development in Expert Systems VII, edited by T. Addis
& R. Muir
3: People and Computers VI, edited by D. Diaper & N. Hammond
4: Research & Development in Expert Systems VIE, edited by I.M. Graham
& R.W. Milne
5: People and Computers VII, edited by A. Monk, D. Diaper & M.D. Harrison
6: Research & Development in Expert Systems DC, edited by M.A. Bramer
& R.W. Milne
British Computer Society Conference Series 6
Research and Development in
Expert Systems IX
Proceedings of Expert Systems 92, the Twelfth Annual Technical
Conference of the British Computer Society Specialist Group
on Expert Systems, London, December 1992
Edited by
M. A. Bramer
University of Portsmouth
R. W. Milne
Intelligent Applications Limited
Published on behalf of
THE BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY
by
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Victoria 3166, Australia
© British Informatics Society Ltd 1993
First published 1993
Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data available
British Library cataloguing in publication data available
ISBN 0 521 44517 5
Contents
Introduction
M. A. BRAMER 1
CONSULTANT: providing advice for the machine learning toolbox
S. CRAW, D. SLEEMAN, N. GRANER, M. RISSAKIS & S. SHARMA 5
A methods model for the integration of KBS
and conventional information technology
C. HARRIS-JONES, T. BARRETT, T. WALKER,
T. MOORES & J. EDWARDS 25
KBS methodology as a framework for co-operative working
J. KINGSTON 45
Project management for the evolutionary development of expert systems
I. WATSON 61
The specification and development of rule-based expert systems
P. MAHER & O. TRAYNOR 75
Towards a method for multi-agent system design
A. OVALLE & C. GARBAY 93
Jigsaw: configuring knowledge acquisition tools
D. R. PUGH & C. J. PRICE 107
On the relationship between repertory grid
and term subsumption knowledge structures: theory practice tools
M. L. G. SHAW & B. R. GAINES 125
Strategy maze: an on-line tool for support management
of the knowledge acquisition process
N. Y. L. YUE & B. COX 145
Concurrent engineering using collaborating truth maintenance systems
C. J. HINDE & A. D. BRAY 165
Ockham's razor as a gardening tool
R. S. FORSYTH 183
A designer's consultant
J. W. BRAHAN, B. FARLEY, R. A. ORCHARD,
A. PARENT & C. S. PHAN 197
Fairness of attribute selection in probabilistic induction
A. P. WHITE & W. Z. LIU 209
An application of case-based expert system technology
to dynamic job-shop scheduling
A. BEZIRGAN 225
Neural network design via LP
J. P. IGNIZIO & W. BAEK 237
KEshell2: an intelligent learning data base system
X. WU 253
Approaches to self-explanation and system visibility
in the context of application tasks
G. A. RINGLAND, H. R. CHAPPEL, S. C. LAMBERT,
M. D. WILSON & G. J. DOE 273
An object oriented approach to distributed problem solving
A. ELIENS 285
Intelligent user interface for multiple application systems
X. ZHANG, J. L. NEALON & R. LINDSAY 301
Combining qualitative and quantitative information for temporal reasoning
H. A. TOLBA, F. CHARPILLET & J. -P. HATON 317
Documents as expert systems
B. R. GAINES & M. L. G. SHAW 331
Preface
This volume contains the refereed papers presented in the
technical stream at Expert Systems '92, the twelfth annual
conference of the British Computer Society Specialist Group on
Expert Systems, held at Churchill College, Cambridge in December
1992.
On behalf of the programme committee I should like to thank those
who took part in the refereeing this year. Their names are listed
below.
I should also like to thank all those who have contributed to the
organisation of this conference, in particular Rob Milne who again
acted as the chairman of the conference organising committee and
Ian Graham who organised the applications stream of the
conference.
Thanks are also due to this year's conference organisers, Applied
Workstations Limited, for their many efforts in making this
conference possible, not least for their help in the preparation
of this volume.
Max Bramer
Programme Chairman. Expert Systems '92
Conference Organising Committee
Rob Milne (Conference Chairman)
Max Bramer (Programme Chairman)
Alex Goodall
Ian Graham (Organiser of Applications Stream)
David Lloyd
Ann Macintosh
Programme Committee
Max Bramer (Chairman)
Tom Addis
Ian Graham
David Lloyd
Ann Macintosh
Robin Muir
Tim Rajan
Referees fin addition to Programme Committee members)
Alan Black Jonathan Killin
Paul Brna John Kingston
Flavio S Correa da Silva Ian Lewin
Brian Drabble Rob Milne
Ian Filby Dave Robertson
Terry Fogarty Nigel Shadbolt
Richard Forsyth Peter Sharpe
Ian Harrison Gail Swaffield
Sheila Hughes Mike Uschold
Richard Kamm Mike Yearworth

Introduction and Overview
M.A.BRAMER
Department of Information Science
University of Portsmouth
Locksway Road
Milton, Southsea P04 8JF
England
In 1980, when the British Computer Society's Specialist Group on
Expert Systems was established, it was remarked that the number of
operational expert systems in the world could be counted on the
fingers of one mutilated hand.
Expert Systems and its parent field Artificial Intelligence, which
were then barely known outside a few specialist academic
institutions, are now accepted parts of most degree courses in
Computer Science.
Moreover, the history of expert systems in the last ten years is a
highly successful example of technology transfer from the research
laboratory to industry.
Today there are thousands, possibly tens of thousands of expert
systems in use world-wide. They cover a very wide range of
application areas, from archaeology, through munitions disposal to
welfare benefits advice (see, for example, Bramer 1987, 1988,
1990).
Many of these systems are small-scale, developed in a few months
(or even weeks) and often comprising just a few hundred rules.
However, even relatively straightforward expert systems can still
frequently be of great practical and commercial value.
The Department of Trade and Industry recently produced a series of
12 case studies of commercially successful expert system
applications in the UK which included systems for tasks as diverse
as product design at Lucas Engineering, corporate meetings
planning at Rolls-Royce and personnel selection at Marks and
Spencer (DTI, 1990). However, despite explosive growth in the last
ten years, it seems clear that we are still only scratching the
surface of possible applications.
Although much of the early work was concerned with standalone
systems - particularly consultation systems - which were
principally rule-based, both the computational techniques employed
and the nature of the systems themselves have broadened
considerably in recent years.