skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Knowledge system using hybrid reasoning schemes and exploiting a relational database as a frame-like knowledge base

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6966313

This dissertation describes an expert system shell PAIS-I and several prototype systems developed using this shell. The PAIS-I system has a couple of special facilities to support hybrid reasoning schemes, and is capable of exploiting a relational data base as a frame-like knowledge basis. First-generation expert systems reason from rules of thumb, or use heuristic reasoning. They have limited problem-solving ability and a fragile behavior at the boundary of the field domain. With a specific problem, domain-electronic trouble-shooting, three small prototype expert systems were developed using the PAIS-I shell. Each of them employs a different reasoning scheme: the first one uses heuristic reasoning only, the second one uses model-based reasoning only, and the third one combines the first two approaches and uses a hybrid reasoning scheme. The comparative study shows that the heuristic approach is of high efficiency, but the problem-solving ability is limited. The model-based approach has powerful problem-solving ability, but is inefficient. The combined approach supported by the PAIS-I shell can achieve high efficiency as well as powerful problem-solving ability. The special facilities of the PAIS-I shell enable the implementation of this hybrid reasoning scheme easier and more convenient than the existing shells.

Research Organization:
Cincinnati Univ., OH (USA)
OSTI ID:
6966313
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English