STRUCTURING KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION THROUGH GENERIC TASKS: A CASE STUDY IN HINDSIGHT

Knowledge Acquisition is widely recognized as the single major bottleneck in the commercialization of Expert Systems technology. The typically ad-hoc choice of techniques for eliciting and representing expert knowledge, makes Expert Systems development expensive and prone to failure. Arguments have been made in the Knowledge Acquisition literature for performing an epistemological or "knowledge-level" analysis to "structure" the knowledge elicitation process. The need of the hour is for an empirical evaluation of these claims. In this paper, we present the results of a study that evaluates an approach to Structured Knowledge Acquisition, that is based on analyzing expert behavior using generic problem-solving tasks. Data from a large Expert Systems project currently nearing completion, has been used for the study.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

The development of an expert system for the diagnosis of diseases in fibre and dairy goats

This thesis details the development of an expert system for the diagnosis of diseases in fibre and dairy goats. Divided into five sections, five appendices, and a bibliography, this thesis centres on the methods used to build the expert system: the decisions taken at the outset of, and during the course of, development; some of the problems encountered, and the solutions to those problems. A detailed appraisal is made of the development process and suggestions are made for future developments over similar domains (for example, the diagnosis of diseases in animals other than goats). Much emphasis is placed on three topics in particular: the selection of the expert system tool(s) to be used (and the rejection of numerous others); the methodology employed for this selection process; and the methodology used for the process of development. Other topics which are routinely found in texts on expert systems (for example, knowledge elicitation techniques, explanatory facilities, expert system evaluation etc) are dealt with only briefly. However, for the reader interested in further information on these topics, references are made in the text to appropriate sources

Knowledge acquisition for effective and efficient use of engineering software

The problem of effective and efficient use of engineering software can be thought of as a Pareto optimal problem. However, the complexity of modern engineering software precludes the possibility of acquiring complete knowledge of the software's Pareto optimal set. Instead, heuristic knowledge must be acquired. The thesis proposes that heuristic knowledge be acquired via a knowledge acquisition procedure. The use of a knowledge acquisition system, which may be computerised, forms an integral part of this procedure. Two examples of knowledge acquisition illustrate the use of the knowledge acquisition procedure

Knowledge based system development as an engineering process

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Knowledge Based System (KBS) development is a difficult and challenging task, in particular in knowledge intensive domains. The traditional view of knowledge engineering is one of mining experts' knowledge and somehow transforming it into a machine usable form. This process, in general, suffers from insufficient or misconstrued representation of experts' problem solving behaviour. It is also unstructured and unduly biased at an early stage by design and implementation issues - normally in the form of incremental prototyping. We believe that both knowledge acquisition and KBS development for real life applications will require a 'structured' approach. This approach should harness a KBS developer's ability in extracting knowledge and developing systems. The structure should also be sufficiently flexible to allow the knowledge engineer to use his sense of creativity in developing a KBS. This thesis puts forward such a structured approach, in which KBS development is carried out in an engineering fashion. A process in which the worker is provided with an environment for developing knowledge based systems as an engineering process, as opposed to that of an artform or crafting. The main emphasis of this work is that part of the process which deals with the analysis and design phases in developing KBS. The analysis is performed at an 'epistemological' level, not coloured by design or implementation issues. The output of this phase captures both an expert's problem solving capability, and the business constraints placed upon the intended system. This is then used by the design process in order to create an optimal, workable, and elegant design architecture for the ultimate system.Commission for the European Communities' ESPRIT programme (Project Number 1098

Knowledge based improvement : simulation and artificial intelligence for understanding and improving decision making in an operations system

The thesis investigates the possibility of using simulation for understanding and improving the design of decision making in a real context. The approach is based on the problem of representing decision making behaviour in Discrete Event Simulation. An investigation of existing techniques led to the design of a methodology known as Knowledge Based Improvement (KBI). The KBI covers the key stages of the process of using simulation for understanding and improving the design of decision making. Using a research strategy that involves a case study in Ford, the research tests each stage of KBI. The thesis explains how simulation can be used for understanding real decision making problems and for collecting the data required for modelling individual decision making strategies. The thesis demonstrates the possibility of a simulation based knowledge elicitation in a real context and it investigates the practical difficulties involved in this process. The research tests the process of understanding decision making policies by modelling specific decision makers using Artificial Intelligence. It tests the use of simulation for assessing the decision making strategies and it shows that simulation can be used for identifying efficient strategies and for improving the design of decision making practices. The thesis reports the degree of success of the approach in relation to the data that were collected and it describes the validation checks that were undertaken. In addition, it reports the lessons learned from the application of the KBI methodology, the overall success of the approach and the main limitations that were identified during the implementation

A qualitative study of the relationships between the knowledge and behaviour of coaches in two football academies in Malaysia

The formation of the Football Academy in Malaysia was seen as the best possible way to develop young footballers, through a decentralized programme with the aim to provide a strong base for many players who are sound and strong and to produce an individual player who can reach world class standard. With the problem of performance of the Malaysia national football team, which has been considerably affected by problems relating to the knowledge of coaching and behaviour of the football coaches in the coaching process, the study of the academy football coaches in Malaysia was conducted to offer some possible ways to address the issues facing the coaching profession in Malaysia. It is significant to study the academy coaches since the football academies are expected to play a prominent role in producing quality players for the states, national and international teams. The study applied a qualitative methodology to explore the unique features and circumstances surrounding the football academy coaches and players in the context of this study and the major sources of data include the interview, observation and documentation analysis. Subsequently, the findings of this study revealed that i) the development of knowledge of coaching has taken place in the academy but constrained by factors involving the coach education programme at the academy level; ii) the weaknesses of the coaches in transferring important knowledge to the players showed a significant impact on the players’ performance; iii) the coaches’ behaviour that were seen in organizing the players and training them for competition has impacted on the players’ performance; iv) the important relationship between coaches’ knowledge and behaviour that play a significant role in the development of the players; and v) other factors which have impact on the coaches’ behaviour during the coaching process

Elicitation of requirements from multiple perspectives

Imperial Users onl

Knowledge based improvement : simulation and artificial intelligence for understanding and improving decision making in an operations system

The thesis investigates the possibility of using simulation for understanding and improving the design of decision making in a real context. The approach is based on the problem of representing decision making behaviour in Discrete Event Simulation. An investigation of existing techniques led to the design of a methodology known as Knowledge Based Improvement (KBI). The KBI covers the key stages of the process of using simulation for understanding and improving the design of decision making. Using a research strategy that involves a case study in Ford, the research tests each stage of KBI. The thesis explains how simulation can be used for understanding real decision making problems and for collecting the data required for modelling individual decision making strategies. The thesis demonstrates the possibility of a simulation based knowledge elicitation in a real context and it investigates the practical difficulties involved in this process. The research tests the process of understanding decision making policies by modelling specific decision makers using Artificial Intelligence. It tests the use of simulation for assessing the decision making strategies and it shows that simulation can be used for identifying efficient strategies and for improving the design of decision making practices. The thesis reports the degree of success of the approach in relation to the data that were collected and it describes the validation checks that were undertaken. In addition, it reports the lessons learned from the application of the KBI methodology, the overall success of the approach and the main limitations that were identified during the implementation

Modélisation d'un outil d'acquisition de connaissances destiné à l'enseignant

Ce mémoire de maîtrise s'inscrit dans le domaine de l'ingénierie de connaissances et plus précisément dans une tâche de construction de contenu pédagogique pour un système éducationnel. Jusqu'ici, divers outils de présentation, d'échange et de stockage des informations ont été développés pour favoriser l'apprentissage de l'étudiant dans les systèmes éducationnels. Cependant, à notre connaissance, peu d'outils visent à minimiser l'effort de l'enseignant dans la construction de contenu pédagogique. L'objectif de notre projet est d'approfondir la notion d'acquisition des connaissances pour aider l'enseignant à construire les connaissances associées à un système éducationnel. Ce projet s'insère dans le cadre de la conception d'un système informatique, disponible en ligne, pour l'apprentissage humain à partir d'exemples. Un agent d'acquisition est proposé pour entrer des exemples et générer automatiquement des documents électroniques représentant ces exemples. Cet agent a été développé et permet de créer des patrons représentant la structure d'un exemple donné. Une interface d'acquisition est générée à partir d'un patron pour permettre la saisie des données qui vont servir à générer l'exemple. Cet exemple sera stocké dans un fichier XML, puis présenté à l'apprenant par le système éducationnel. La technologie XML se prête bien à ces tâches de gestion des connaissances, car elle permet d'inclure une logique de traitement des informations et d'automatiser les traitements, et ce de façon indépendante de la plate-forme utilisée. L'enseignant dispose ainsi d'un outil lui permettant d'ajouter des exemples d'exercices résolus d'une manière plus conviviale et plus flexible, peu importe le contenu de l'exemple