The KB paradigm and its application to interactive configuration

The knowledge base paradigm aims to express domain knowledge in a rich formal language, and to use this domain knowledge as a knowledge base to solve various problems and tasks that arise in the domain by applying multiple forms of inference. As such, the paradigm applies a strict separation of concerns between information and problem solving. In this paper, we analyze the principles and feasibility of the knowledge base paradigm in the context of an important class of applications: interactive configuration problems. In interactive configuration problems, a configuration of interrelated objects under constraints is searched, where the system assists the user in reaching an intended configuration. It is widely recognized in industry that good software solutions for these problems are very difficult to develop. We investigate such problems from the perspective of the KB paradigm. We show that multiple functionalities in this domain can be achieved by applying different forms of logical inferences on a formal specification of the configuration domain. We report on a proof of concept of this approach in a real-life application with a banking company. To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP).Comment: To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP

System simulation by SEMoLa

SEMoLa is a platform, developed at DISA since 1992, for system knowledge integration and modelling. It allows to create computer models for dynamic systems and to manage different types of information. It is formed by several parts, each dealing with different forms of knowledge, in an integrated way: a graphical user interface (GUI), a declarative language for modelling, a set of commands with a procedural scripting language, a specific editor with code highlighting (SemEdit), a visual modelling application (SemDraw), a data base management system (SemData), plotting data capabilities (SemPlot), a raster maps management system (SemGrid), a large library of random number generators for uncertainty analysis, support for fuzzy logic expert systems, a neural networks builder and various statistical tools (basic statistics, multiple and non-linear regression, moving statistics, etc.). The core part of the platform is the declarative modelling language (SEMoLa; simple, easy to use, modelling language). It relies on System Dynamics principles and uses an integrated view to represent dynamic systems through different modelling approaches (state/individual-based, continuous/discrete, deterministic/stochastic) without requiring specific programming skills. SEMoLa language is based on a ontology closer to human reasoning rather than computer logic and constitutes also a paradigm for knowledge management. SEMoLa platform permits to simplify the routinely tasks of creating, debugging, evaluating and deploying computer simulation models but also to create user libraries of script commands. It is able to communicate with other frameworks exchanging - with standard formats - data, modules and model components