CLIPS: An expert system tool for delivery and training

The C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) is a forward chaining rule-based language. The requirements necessary for an expert system tool which is used for development, delivery, and training are examined. Because of its high portability, low cost, and ease of integration with external systems, CLIPS has great potential as an expert system tool for delivery and training. In addition, its representation flexibility, debugging aids, and performance, along with its other strengths, make it a viable alternative for expert system development

Real-time systems development with SDL and next generation validation tools

The language SDL has long been applied in the development of various kinds of systems. Real-time systems are one application area where SDL has been applied extensively. Whilst SDL allows for certain modelling aspects of real-time systems to be represented, the language and its associated tool support have certain drawbacks for modelling and reasoning about such systems. In this paper we highlight the limitations of SDL and its associated tool support in this domain and present language extensions and next generation real-time system tool support to help overcome them. The applicability of the extensions and tools is demonstrated through a case study based upon a multimedia binding object used to support a configuration of time dependent information producers and consumers realising the so called lip-synchronisation algorithm

The formal, tool supported development of real time systems

The language SDL has long been applied in the development of various kinds of systems. Real-time systems are one application area where SDL has been applied extensively. Whilst SDL allows for certain modelling aspects of real-time systems to be represented, the language and its associated tool support have certain drawbacks for modelling and reasoning about such systems. In this paper we highlight the limitations of SDL and its associated tool support in this domain and present language extensions and next generation real-time system tool support to help overcome them. The applicability of the extensions and tools is demonstrated through a case study based upon a multimedia binding object used to support a configuration of time dependent information producers and consumers realising the so called lip-synchronisation algorithm

Tools for second language support

The second language problem is the context in which non-native English speakers are required to interact with English-based computer systems. In other papers, we have characterized this setting and proposed methods of supporting such users. The present paper details several tools that we have developed to assist in our work with second language support. A prime consideration in such tool development is to facilitate easy management of alternative language resources. The need for criteria to direct second language support and the role of such tools in helping to evaluate such criteria is detailed here

Development and validation of a bilingual language battery for language-based learning disabilities.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.There are social, linguistic, cultural, and political dimensions that impact on health and education in South Africa. The evolving nature of these dimensions demand the use of language assessment tools that are developed and validated for the South African population. Speech-language assessment informs parents and educators of the nature of speech and language difficulties the learner may have and guides the intervention. IsiZulu is the most widely spoken African language in South Africa. Therefore, development of a tool to assess expressive, receptive, and written language skills of learners with language-based learning disorders in isiZulu, is imperative. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a tool for language assessment of isiZulu-English speaking learners in grades 1, 2, and 3 who may have language-based learning disabilities. An assessment tool was designed to assess core language skills and identify early indicators of language-based learning disabilities that may result in academic difficulties. The tool development process aimed to construct an innovative test that is linguistically and culturally sensitive to bilingual or isiZulu-English speakers while the content is rich for identifying indicators of language-based learning disability. Elements in expressive and receptive language, phonological awareness, listening, reading, and mathematically-based language concepts were considered. The conceptual tool development phase involved a systematic literature review, pretesting with two existing tools and consultation of a five member Delphi review panel for advice and reviews. Field trials contributed to the development of test items and procedures and tested the tool’s application in mainstream and remedial schools as well as rural and urban communities of learners in KwaZulu-Natal. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect and analyse data. The results indicated that the new tool was linguistically and culturally appropriate. The majority of the subtests provided good reliability and valid results. The study makes a worthy contribution to the body of knowledge in the field of speech-language therapy and basic education. The results and guidelines from this study set out the basic elements required for development of language assessment tools in other African languages. The development of the assessment tool will yield standardization of a bilingual language assessment tool in South Africa

Towards a Tool-based Development Methodology for Pervasive Computing Applications

Despite much progress, developing a pervasive computing application remains a challenge because of a lack of conceptual frameworks and supporting tools. This challenge involves coping with heterogeneous devices, overcoming the intricacies of distributed systems technologies, working out an architecture for the application, encoding it in a program, writing specific code to test the application, and finally deploying it. This paper presents a design language and a tool suite covering the development life-cycle of a pervasive computing application. The design language allows to define a taxonomy of area-specific building-blocks, abstracting over their heterogeneity. This language also includes a layer to define the architecture of an application, following an architectural pattern commonly used in the pervasive computing domain. Our underlying methodology assigns roles to the stakeholders, providing separation of concerns. Our tool suite includes a compiler that takes design artifacts written in our language as input and generates a programming framework that supports the subsequent development stages, namely implementation, testing, and deployment. Our methodology has been applied on a wide spectrum of areas. Based on these experiments, we assess our approach through three criteria: expressiveness, usability, and productivity

ART-Ada: An Ada-based expert system tool

The Department of Defense mandate to standardize on Ada as the language for software systems development has resulted in increased interest in making expert systems technology readily available in Ada environments. NASA's Space Station Freedom is an example of the large Ada software development projects that will require expert systems in the 1990's. Another large scale application that can benefit from Ada based expert system tool technology is the Pilot's Associate (PA) expert system project for military combat aircraft. Automated Reasoning Tool (ART) Ada, an Ada Expert system tool is described. ART-Ada allow applications of a C-based expert system tool called ART-IM to be deployed in various Ada environments. ART-Ada is being used to implement several prototype expert systems for NASA's Space Station Freedom Program and the U.S. Air Force

Prototyping Formal System Models with Active Objects

We propose active object languages as a development tool for formal system models of distributed systems. Additionally to a formalization based on a term rewriting system, we use established Software Engineering concepts, including software product lines and object orientation that come with extensive tool support. We illustrate our modeling approach by prototyping a weak memory model. The resulting executable model is modular and has clear interfaces between communicating participants through object-oriented modeling. Relaxations of the basic memory model are expressed as self-contained variants of a software product line. As a modeling language we use the formal active object language ABS which comes with an extensive tool set. This permits rapid formalization of core ideas, early validity checks in terms of formal invariant proofs, and debugging support by executing test runs. Hence, our approach supports the prototyping of formal system models with early feedback.Comment: In Proceedings ICE 2018, arXiv:1810.0205