CH 10: EXPERT SYSTEMS:

Representing using domain knowledge

Expert system shells
Explanation ,Knowledge acquisition
EXPERT SYSTEM :
 An expert system is a computer program that represents and
reasons with knowledge of some specialists subject with a view
to solve problems or give advice.
 Expert systems are generally based on the way of knowledge
representation , production rule formation, searching
mechanism and so on.
 To build expert system , expert system shell is used which is
existing knowledge independent framework into which domain
knowledge can be added to produce a working expert system.
 Expert systems are programs whose knowledge base contains
the knowledge used by human experts.
 Expert systems also need to explain to the users how they have
reached their decisions.
 An expert system is a computer program that is designed to solve
complex problems and to provide decision-making ability like a
human expert. It performs this by extracting knowledge from its
knowledge base using the reasoning and inference rules according
to the user queries.
 It solves the most complex issue as an expert by extracting the
knowledge stored in its knowledge base. The system helps in
decision making for complex problems using both facts and
heuristics like a human expert. It is called so because it contains
the expert knowledge of a specific domain and can solve any
complex problem of that particular domain. These systems are
designed for a specific domain, such as medicine, science, etc.
 The performance of an expert system is based on the expert's
knowledge stored in its knowledge base. The more knowledge
stored in the KB, the more that system improves its performance.
One of the common examples of an ES is a suggestion of spelling
errors while typing in the Google search box.
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF EXPERT SYSTEM:

Inference
engine
 CHARACTERISTICS OF EXPERT
SYSTEMS:
 Simulation (replica)of human reasoning:
 Representation of human knowledge:

 Use approximations:

 Provide explanations:

Some typical tasks performed by existing expert system are as follows:

 Data interpretations: (sonar , geophysical measurements)

 Diagnosis of malfunctions: (equipment faults or human disease.)

 Structural analysis: (chemical compounds)

 Planning:

 Prediction: (future prediction based on past knowledge )

 Exa : weather forecasting, share prices.
 High performance:
 Highly responsive: (user friendly)

 Reliable:
REAL TIME EXPERT SYSTEMS:
 Dendral: It was an artificial intelligence project that was made as
a chemical analysis expert system. It was used in organic
chemistry to detect unknown organic molecules with the help of
their mass spectra and knowledge base of chemistry.
 Mycin: One of the earliest expert systems based on backward
chaining. It can identify various bacteria that can cause severe
infections and can also recommend drugs based on the person’s
weight.It was also used for the recommendation of antibiotics
and the diagnosis of blood clotting diseases.
 Altrex:

 Prospector :

 Predicate:
Characteristics of Expert System

 High Performance: The expert system provides high

performance for solving any type of complex problem of a
specific domain with high efficiency and accuracy.
 Understandable: It responds in a way that can be easily
understandable by the user. It can take input in human language
and provides the output in the same way.
 Reliable: It is much reliable for generating an efficient and
accurate output.
 Highly responsive: ES provides the result for any complex
query within a very short period of time.
BUILDING BLOCKS OF EXPERT SYSTEM:
 Knowledge base:
 Factual knowledge:
 Heuristic knowledge: (experimental ,art of good guessing)

 The reasoning or inference engine:

 Forwardchaining:
 Backward chaining:

 Explanation subsystem:
 Knowledge engineer:
 Inference Engine – The function of the inference engine is to fetch the
relevant knowledge from the knowledge base, interpret it and to find a solution
relevant to the user’s problem. The inference engine acquires the rules from its
knowledge base and applies them to the known facts to infer new facts.
Inference engines can also include an explanation and debugging abilities.
 Forward Chaining :

 Backward chaining:
EXPERT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE:
 Knowledge Base – It is warehouse of special heuristics or rules, which are used
directly by knowledge, facts (productions). It has knowledge that is needed for
understanding, formulating, & problem solving.
 Working Memory – It helps to describe the current running problem and record
intermediate output.
    Records Intermediate Hypothesis & Decisions: 1. Plan, 2. Agenda, 3. Solution

 Inference Engine – It is heart of expert system as well as helps to manage entire

structure of expert system, and it delivers to different methodology for reasoning.
 Explanation System –  It helps to trace responsibility and justify the behavior of
expert system by firing questions and answers, such as Why, How, What, Where,
When, Who. Explanation Module –
This module helps the expert system to give the user an explanation about how
the expert system reached a particular conclusion.
 User Interface – It allows users to insert their queries with using own Natural
Language Processing otherwise menus & graphics.
 Knowledge Engineer – Main objective of this engineer is to design system for
specific problem domain with using of expert system shell.
 System Engineer – To design user interface and declarative format of knowledge
base as well as to build inference engine
 Users – They are non expert person who want to seek direct advice.
DEVELOPMENT PHASE OF EXPERT
SYSTEMS: GTU
1. Identify problem domain:
 The problem must be suitable for an expert system to solve it.
 Find the experts in task domain for the ES project.
 Establish cost-effectiveness of the system.

2. Design the system:

 Identifythe ES Technology
 Know and establish the degree of integration with the other systems
and databases.
 Realize how the concepts can represent the domain knowledge best.

3. Develop the prototype:

 From Knowledge Base: The knowledge engineer works to −
 Acquire domain knowledge from the expert.
 Represent it in the form of If-THEN-ELSE rules.
 Test and Refine the Prototype:
 The knowledge engineer uses sample cases to test the prototype for
any deficiencies in performance.
 End users test the prototypes of the ES.

 Develop and Complete the ES:

 Test and ensure the interaction of the ES with all elements of its
environment, including end users, databases, and other information
systems.
 Document the ES project well.
 Train the user to use ES.

 Maintain the System:

 Keep the knowledge base up-to-date by regular review and update.
 Cater for new interfaces with other information systems, as those
systems evolve.
EXPERT SYSTEM SHELL: GTU
 Components of expert system shell:
 Knowledge acquisition subsystem:
 Knowledge base:
 Inference engine:
 Explanation subsystem:
 User interface:
EXPLANATIONS :
 Types of explanations:
 Report on rule trace on progress of consultation.

 Explanation on how the system has reached to a

particular conclusion.
 Explanation of why the system is asking question.

 Explanation of why system did not give any conclusion.

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION: GTU
 It is the process of extracting, organizing, and structuring the domain
knowledge, specifying the rules to acquire the knowledge from various
experts, and store that knowledge into the knowledge base.
 Steps :
1. Knowledge elicitation:
 Knowledge engineer needs to interact with the domain expert and get all the
knowledge. He also need to format it in systematic way so that it can be used
while developing the expert system shell.
2. Intermediate knowledge representation:
 The knowledge obtain from the domain expert needs to be store in some
intermediate representation such that it can be worked upon to produce the
final refined version.
3. Knowledgebase representation:
 The intermediate representation of the knowledge needs to be compiled and
transformed into an executable format. This version of knowledge is ready to
get uploaded to system shell as it is.
E.g. production rule, that the inference engine can process.
 Identification:

 Conceptualization:

 Formalization:

 Implementation:

 Testing:
 KNOWLEDGE ELICITATION:
 Steps : knowledge engineer perform this steps
 Gather maximum possible data about the problem domain from books,
manuals , internet, etc. in order to become familiar with specialist
terminology and jargons of the problem domain.
 Identify the types of reasoning and problem solving tasks that the
system will be required to perform.
 Find domain expert or team of expert who are willing to work on the
project. sometimes experts are frightened of being replaced by a
computer system.
 Interview the domain experts multiple times during the course of
building the system. find out how they solve the problem that the
system is expected to solve.
It is a time consuming process.
There exists automated knowledge elicitation and machine learning
techniques which are increasingly being used as common modern
alternatives.
APPLICATION OF EXPERT SYSTEM:
 Diagnosis and troubleshooting of devices and systems of all
kinds.
 Planning and scheduling.

 Configuration of manufactured objects from subassemblies.

 Financial decision making.

 Knowledge publishing.

 Process monitoring and control.

 Decision and manufacturing.

 Planning experiment in biology, chemistry and molecular

genetics.
 Identification of chemical compound structure.

 Scheduling of customer order, computer resources and

various manufacturing task.
EXPERT SYSTEMS LIMITATIONS
 No technology can offer easy and complete solution. Large
systems are costly, require significant development time, and
computer resources. ESs have their limitations which include −
 Limitations of the technology

 Difficult knowledge acquisition

 ES are difficult to maintain

 High development costs

 Do not have human-like decision-making power.

 Cannot possess human capabilities.

 Cannot produce correct result from less amount of knowledge.

 Requires excessive training.

DISADVANTAGES : 

 The expert system has no emotions.

 Common sense is the main issue of the expert system.

 It is developed for a specific domain.

 It needs to be updated manually. It does not learn itself.

 Not capable to explain the logic behind the decision.

GTU QUESTIONS :
 Describe the expert system development procedure
 What is an expert system? Explain Architecture of an
Expert system.
 Explain followings with reference to expert system:
 (i) Expert system shell
 (ii) Knowledge acquisition

 What is an expert system? Explain Architecture of an

Expert system. Expert system.