An expert system approach to astronomical data analysis

Expert systems technology has much to offer to the problem of astronomical data analysis, where large data volumes and sophisticated analysis goals have caused a variety of interesting problems to arise. The construction of a prototype expert system whose target domain is CCD image calibration, is reported. The prototype is designed to be extensible to different and more complex problems in a straighforward way, and to be largely independent of the details of the specific data analysis system which executes the plan it generates

Knowledge-Based Systems. Overview and Selected Examples

The Advanced Computer Applications (ACA) project builds on IIASA's traditional strength in the methodological foundations of operations research and applied systems analysis, and its rich experience in numerous application areas including the environment, technology and risk. The ACA group draws on this infrastructure and combines it with elements of AI and advanced information and computer technology to create expert systems that have practical applications. By emphasizing a directly understandable problem representation, based on symbolic simulation and dynamic color graphics, and the user interface as a key element of interactive decision support systems, models of complex processes are made understandable and available to non-technical users. Several completely externally-funded research and development projects in the field of model-based decision support and applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) are currently under way, e.g., "Expert Systems for Integrated Development: A Case Study of Shanxi Province, The People's Republic of China." This paper gives an overview of some of the expert systems that have been considered, compared or assessed during the course of our research, and a brief introduction to some of our related in-house research topics

Legal knowledge engineering: Computing, logic and law

The general problem approached in this thesis is that of building computer based legal advisory programs (otherwise known as expert systems or Intelligent Knowledge Based Systems). Such computer systems should be able to provide an individual with advice about either the general legal area being investigated, or advice about how the individual should proceed in a given case. In part the thesis describes a program (the ELl program) which attempts to confront some of the problems inherent in the building of these systems. The ELl system is seen as an experimental program (currently handling welfare rights legislation) and development vehicle. It is not presented as a final commercially implementable program. We present a detailed criticism of the type of legal knowledge contained within the system. The second, though in part intertwined, major subject of the thesis describes the jurisprudential aspects of the attempt to model the law by logic, a conjunction which is seen to be at the heart of the computer/law problem. We suggest that the conjunction offers very little to those who are interested in the real application of the real law, and that this is most forcefully seen when a working computer system models that conjunction. Our conclusion is that neither logic nor rule-based methods are sufficient for handling legal knowledge. The novelty and import of this thesis is not simply that it presents a negative conclusion; rather that it offers a sound theoretical and pragmatic framework for understanding why these methods are insufficient - the limits to the field are, in fact, defined

Design, fabrication, test, qualification, and price analysis of third generation design solar cell modules

The fabrication of solar cell modules is detailed with emphasis upon laminating and interconnecting the panels that hold the simicrystalline silicon cells. Design problems and enviromental tests are described as well as performance characteristics

Object technology: A white paper

Object-Oriented Technology (OOT), although not a new paradigm, has recently been prominently featured in the trade press and even general business publications. Indeed, the promises of object technology are alluring: the ability to handle complex design and engineering information through the full manufacturing production life cycle or to manipulate multimedia information, and the ability to improve programmer productivity in creating and maintaining high quality software. Groups at a number of the DOE facilities have been exploring the use of object technology for engineering, business, and other applications. In this white paper, the technology is explored thoroughly and compared with previous means of developing software and storing databases of information. Several specific projects within the DOE Complex are described, and the state of the commercial marketplace is indicated

Survey of models for computer music

The introduction of digital computers to the world of music composition provided a medium from which to write far more efficiently than the traditional means of transcription. Of course, this applies to modern notation software, but it is the way in which computers have granted the composer the ability to utilize stochastic generation, algorithmic reasoning, and later, artificial intelligence that was especially groundbreaking. To be sure, there are countless models created by composers and computer scientists that utilized every aspect of the abilities granted by the technology at the time of their creation. However, there are those few models that are given some form of mention in almost every research paper on the subject, though for good reason. The projects developed by Lejaren Hiller and David Cope were more than influential; they were revolutionary in their demonstration of how computers could be used as composing tools, and in some cases, composers themselves