Artificial Intelligence

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Lecture #12 – Knowledge Representation
Outline
Artificial Intelligence
ICS461 ƒ Ontological engineering
Fall 2010 ƒ Categories and objects
ƒ Actions, situations and events
ƒ Mental events and mental objects
Nancy E. Reed ƒ The internet shopping world
ƒ Reasoning systems for categories
nreed@hawaii.edu
ƒ Reasoning with default information
ƒ Truth maintenance systems 2

Ontological Engineering The Upper Ontology of the World

ƒ How to create more general and flexible
representations.
• Concepts like actions, time, physical objects and
beliefs
• Operates on a bigger scale than knowledge
engineering
ƒ Define general framework of concepts
• Upper ontology
ƒ Limitations of logic representation
• Red, green and yellow tomatoes: exceptions and
uncertainty
3 4

Differences with Special-Purpose

Categories and Objects
Ontologies
ƒ A general-purpose ontology should be ƒ KR requires the organization of objects into
applicable in more or less any special-purpose categories
domain. • Interaction at the level of the object
• Add domain-specific axioms • Reasoning at the level of categories
ƒ In any sufficiently demanding domain ƒ Categories play a role in predictions about
diff
differentt areas off knowledge
k l d needd to
t be
b objects
unified. • Based on perceived properties
• Reasoning and problem solving could involve several ƒ Categories can be represented in two ways by
areas simultaneously first-order logid (FOL)
ƒ What do we need to express? • Predicates: apple(x)
• Categories, Measures, Composite objects, Time, Space, • Reification of categories into objects: apples
Change, Events, Processes, Physical Objects, ƒ Category = set of its members
Substances, Mental Objects, Beliefs 5 6

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Category Organization FOL and Categories

ƒ Relation = inheritance: ƒ An object is a member of a category
• MemberOf(BB12,Basketballs)
• All instance of food are edible, fruit is a subclass of ƒ A category is a subclass of another category
food and apples is a subclass of fruit then an apple is • SubsetOf(Basketballs,Balls)
edible. ƒ All members of a category have some properties
ƒ Defines a • ∀ x (MemberOf(x,Basketballs)
(MemberOf(x Basketballs) ⇒ Round(x))
ƒ All members of a category can be recognized by
taxonomy some properties
• ∀ x (Orange(x) ∧ Round(x) ∧
Diameter(x)=9.5in ∧ MemberOf(x,Balls) ⇒
MemberOf(x,BasketBalls))
ƒ A category as a whole has some properties
• MemberOf(Dogs,DomesticatedSpecies)
7 8

Relations Between Categories Relations Between Categories

ƒ Two or more categories are disjoint if they ƒ A partition is a disjoint exhaustive
have no members in common: decomposition:
• Disjoint(s)⇔(∀ c1,c2 c1 ∈ s ∧ c2 ∈ • Partition(s,c) ⇔ Disjoint(s) ∧
s ∧ c1 ¹ c2 ⇒ Intersection(c1,c2) E.D.(s,c)
={})
• Example:
• Example; Disjoint({animals,
Disjoint({animals P titi ({M l
Partition({Males,Females},Persons)
F l } P )
vegetables})
ƒ Is ({Americans, Canadian,
ƒ A set of categories s constitutes an
exhaustive decomposition of a category c if Mexicans}, NorthAmericans) a
all members of the set c are covered by partition?
categories in s: ƒ Categories can be defined by providing
• E.D.(s,c) ⇔ (∀ i, i ∈ c ⇒ ∃ c2 c2 necessary and sufficient conditions for
∈ s ∧ i ∈ c2) 9
membership
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E l E h ti D iti

Natural Kinds Physical Composition

ƒ Many categories have no clear-cut definitions ƒ One object may be part of another:
(chair, bush, book) • PartOf(Bucharest,Romania)
• PartOf(Romania,EasternEurope)
ƒ Tomatoes: sometimes green, red, yellow, black. • PartOf(EasternEurope,Europe)
Mostly round. ƒ The PartOf predicate is transitive (and irreflexive),
ƒ One solution: category Typical(Tomatoes). so we can infer that PartOf(Bucharest,Europe)
• ∀ x,
x x ∈ Typical(Tomatoes) ⇒ Red(x) ∧ ƒ More generally:
Spherical(x). • ∀ x PartOf(x,x)
ƒ We can write down useful facts about categories • ∀ x,y,z PartOf(x,y) ∧ PartOf(y,z) ⇒ PartOf(x,z)
without providing exact definitions. ƒ Often characterized by structural relations among
parts.
ƒ What about “bachelor”? Quine challenged the • E.g. Biped(a) ⇒
utility of the notion of strict definition. We might
question a statement such as “the Pope is a
bachelor” 11 12

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Measurements Actions, Events and Situations

ƒ Objects have height, mass, cost, .... ƒ Reasoning about the
Values that we assign to these are measures outcome of actions is
ƒ Combine Unit functions with a number: central to KB-agent
Length(L1) = Inches(1.5) = Centimeters(3.81)
ƒ How can we keep track of
ƒ Conversion between units:
∀ i Centimeters(2.54
i ( x i) = Inches(i).
h (i)
location in FOL?
• Remember the multiple copies
ƒ Some measures have no scale: Beauty, in PL.
Difficulty, etc.
• Most important aspect of measures: is that they are ƒ Representing time by
orderable situations (states resulting
• Don't care about the actual numbers from the execution of
E.g. An apple can have deliciousness .9 or .1.
actions).
13 14
• Situation calculus

Situation Calculus ƒ Results of action

ƒ Actions are logical terms sequences are determined
ƒ Situations are logical terms by the individual actions
consiting of
ƒ Projection task: an SC
• The initial situation I
• All situations resulting from the agent should be able to
action on I ((=Result(a
Result(a,s))
s)) deduce the outcome of a
ƒ Fluents are functions and sequence of actions
predicates that vary from
one situation to the next. ƒ Planning task: find a
• E.g. ¬Holding(G1, S0) sequence that achieves a
ƒ Eternal predicates are also desirable effect
allowed
• E.g. Gold(G1) 15 16

Describing Change
ƒ Simplest Situation calculus requires two
axioms to describe change:
• Possibility axiom: when is it possible to do the action
- At(Agent,x,s) ∧ Adjacent(x,y) ⇒
Poss(Go(x,y),s)
• Effect axiom: describe changes due to action
- P ) ) ⇒
Poss(Go(x,y),s)
(G (
At(Agent,y,Result(Go(x,y),s))
ƒ What stays the same?
• Frame problem: how to represent all things that stay
the same?
• Frame axiom: describe non-changes due to actions
- At(o,x,s) ∧ (o ≠ Agent) ∧ ¬Holding(o,s)
⇒ At(o,x,Result(Go(y,z),s))
17 18

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The Frame Problem Other Problems

ƒ For F fluents and A actions we need ƒ How to deal with secondary (implicit)
A*F frame axioms to describe other objects effects?
which are stationary unless they are held • If the agent is carrying the gold and the agent
• Must write down the effect of each action moves then the gold moves too.
• Ramification problem
ƒ Solution - describe how each fluent changes
over time ƒ How to decide efficiently whether fluents
• Successor-state axiom:
hold in the future?
- Pos(a,s) ⇒ (At(Agent,y,Result(a,s)) ⇔ • Inferential frame problem
(a = Go(x,y)) ∨ (At(Agent,y,s) ∧ a ≠
Go(y,z))
ƒ Extensions
• Note that next state is completely specified by current
• Event calculus (when actions have a duration)
state. 19 • Process categories 20

E h ti ff t i ti d l

Mental Events and Objects The Internet Shopping World

ƒ So far, KB agents can have beliefs and deduce new ƒ A Knowledge Engineering example
beliefs
ƒ What about knowledge about beliefs? ƒ An agent that helps a buyer to find product
ƒ What about knowledge about the inference proces? offers on the internet.
• Requires a model of the mental objects in someone’s head and the • IN = product description (precise or ¬precise)
processes that manipulate those objects
ƒ Relationships between agents and mental objects: • OUT = list of webpages that offer the product for sale
believes, knows, wants, …
• Believes(Lois,Flies(Superman)) with Flies(Superman) being a
ƒ Environment = WWW
function … a candidate for a mental object (reification)
ƒ Percepts = web pages (character strings)
ƒ Agent can now reason about the beliefs of agents
• Extracting useful information required

21 22

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Find Relevant Product Offers Find Relevant Product Offers, cont

ƒ RelevantOffer(page,url,query) ⇔ ƒ Require rich category vocabulary
Relevant(page, url, query) ∧
• synonymy
Offer(page)
• ambiguity
ƒ Write axioms to define Offer(x)
ƒ How to retrieve pages: GetPage(url) ?
ƒ Find relevant pages: Relevant(x,y,z)
Relevant(x y z) ? • Procedural attachment
• Start from an initial set of stores.
ƒ Compare offers (information extraction)
• What is a relevant category?
• What are relevant connected pages?

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Reasoning systems for Categories Semantic Networks

How to organize and reason with ƒ Logic vs. semantic networks
categories? ƒ Many variations
ƒ Semantic networks • All represent individual objects, categories of
• Visualize knowledge-base objects and relationships among objects.
• Efficient algorithms for category membership
inference ƒ Allows for inheritance reasoning
ƒ Description logics • Female persons inherit all properties from person.
• Formal language for constructing and combining • Cfr. OO programming.
category definitions ƒ Inference of inverse links
• Efficient algorithms to decide subset and superset • SisterOf vs. HasSister
relationships between categories.
25 26

Semantic Network Example Semantic networks

ƒ Drawbacks
• Links can only assert binary relations
• Can be resolved by reification of the proposition
as an event
ƒ Representation
R t ti off default
d f lt values
l
• Enforced by the inheritance mechanism

27 28

Description Logics Reasoning with Default Information

ƒ Are designed to describe defintions and ƒ “The following courses are offered: ICS101,
properties about categories ICS110, ICS111, EE160”
• A formalization of semantic networks ƒ Four (db)
ƒ Principal inference task is • Assume that this information is complete (not asserted
ground atomic sentences are false)
• Subsumption: checking if one category is the
• = CLOSED WORLD ASSUMPTION
subset of another by comparing their definitions
• Assume that distinct names refer to distinct objects
• Classification: checking whether an object belongs
• = UNIQUE NAMES ASSUMPTION
to a category.
• Consistency: whether the category membership ƒ Between one and infinity (logic)
criteria are logically satisfiable • Does not make these assumptions
29 • Requires completion. 30

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Truth Maintenance Systems Summary

ƒ Many inferences have default status ƒ Ontological engineering
rather than being absolutely certain ƒ Categories and objects
• Inferred facts can be wrong and need to be
retracted = belief revision.
ƒ Actions, situations and events
• Assume KB contains sentence P and we want ƒ Mental events and mental objects
to execute TELL(KB, ¬P)
ƒ The internet shopping world
- To avoid contradiction: RETRACT(KB,P)
- But what about sentences inferred from P? ƒ Reasoning systems for categories
ƒ Truth maintenance systems are designed ƒ Reasoning with default information
to handle these complications. ƒ Truth maintenance systems
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First-Order Logic

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Difference between
Propositional Logic and First-Order Logic

• Ontological commitment
(i.e.) what it assumes about the nature
of reality
– Propositional logic  facts that either hold or
do not hold.
– First-order logic  objects with relations
among them that hold or do not hold.

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logic
Propositional logic is declarative
Propositional logic allows partial/disjunctive/negated information
– (unlike most data structures and databases)
Propositional logic is compositional:
– meaning of B1,1  P1,2 is derived from meaning of B1,1 and of P1,2
Propositional logic is context-independent
– (unlike natural language, where meaning depends on context)
Propositional logic has very limited expressive power
– (unlike natural language)
– E.g., cannot say "pits cause breezes in adjacent squares“
• except by writing one sentence for each square

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Special purpose logics

• Make further ontological commitment
• Special purpose logic
– Temporal logic (Facts that hold at a particular
time)
– Higher-order logic (functions and relations by
first-order logic with objects)
Epistemological commitments possible states (
true, false, unknown)

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Different Logics
LANGUAGES Ontological Commitment Epistemological
Commitment

PROPOSITIONAL Facts True / False / Unknown

LOGIC
FIRST-ORDER LOGIC Facts, Objects, Relations True / False / Unknown

TEMPORAL LOGIC Facts, Objects, Relations, True / False /Unknown

Times

PROBABILITY Facts Degree of belief (0,1)

THEORY
FUZZY LOGIC Facts with degree of truth Known interval value

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First-order logic
• Whereas propositional logic assumes the world
contains facts,
• first-order logic (like natural language)
assumes the world contains

– Objects: people, houses, numbers, colors, baseball

games, wars, …
– Relations: red, round, prime, brother of, bigger
than, part of, comes between, …
– Functions: father of, best friend, one more than,
plus, …

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Syntax of FOL: Basic elements

• Constants KingJohn, 2,...
• Predicates Brother, >,...
• Functions Sqrt, LeftLegOf,...
• Variables x, y, a, b,...
• Connectives , , , , 
• Equality =
• Quantifiers , 

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Models for FOL: Example

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Atomic sentences
Atomic sentence = predicate (term1,...,termn)
or term1 = term2

Term = function (term1,...,termn)

or constant or variable

• E.g., Brother(John,Richard)

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Complex sentences
• Complex sentences are made from atomic sentences using
connectives
S, S1  S2, S1  S2, S1  S2, S1  S2,

E.g. Sibling(John,Richard)  Sibling(Richard,John)

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Symbols and Interpretations

• Sentences are true with respect to a model and an interpretation

• Model contains objects (domain elements) and relations among

them

• Interpretation specifies referents for

constant symbols → objects

predicate symbols → relations

function symbols → functional relations

• An atomic sentence predicate(term1,...,termn) is true

iff the objects referred to by term1,...,termn
are in the relation referred to by predicate
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Universal quantification
• <variables> <sentence>
Everyone in cse is smart:
x (x,cse)  Smart(x)

• x P is true in a model m iff P is true with x being each

possible object in the model

• Roughly speaking, equivalent to the conjunction of

instantiations of P
in(John,cse)  Smart(KingJohn)
 in(Richard,cse)  Smart(Richard)
 in(Sam,cse)  Smart(Sam)

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A common mistake to avoid

• Typically,  is the main connective with 

• Common mistake: using  as the main connective

with :
x in(x,cse)  Smart(x)
means “Everyone is in cse and everyone is smart”

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Existential quantification
• <variables> <sentence>
• Someone in cse is smart:
• x (x,cse)  Smart(x)

• x P is true in a model m iff P is true with x being some

possible object in the model
•

• Roughly speaking, equivalent to the disjunction of

instantiations of P
•
in(KingJohn,cse)  Smart(John)
 in(Richard,cse)  Smart(Richard)
 in(Sam,cse)  Smart(Sam)
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Another common mistake to avoid

• Typically,  is the main connective with 

• Common mistake: using  as the main connective

with :
x in(x,cse)  Smart(x)

is true if there is anyone who is not in cse!

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Properties of quantifiers

• x y is the same as y x

• x y is the same as y x

• x y is not the same as y x

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Nested Quantifiers
• x y Loves(x,y)
– “There is a person who loves everyone in the
world”
–
• y x Loves(y,x)
– “Everyone in the world is loved by at least one
person”

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Quantifier duality

Quantifier duality: each can be expressed using

the other

• x Likes(x,IceCream) = x Likes(x,IceCream)

• x Likes(x,icecream) = x Likes(x,icecream)

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Unification
• We can get the inference immediately if we can find a substitution θ
such that King(x) and Greedy(x) match King(John) and Greedy(y)

θ = {x/John,y/John} works

• Unify(p,q) = θ where SUBST(θ,p)= SUBST(θ,q)

p q θ
Knows(John,x) Knows(John,Jane) {x/Jane}
Knows(John,x) Knows(y,Bill) {x/Bill,y/John}
Knows(John,x) Knows(y,Mother(y)) {y/John,x/Mother(John)}
Knows(John,x) Knows(x,Elizabeth) fail

• Standardizing apart eliminates overlap of variables, e.g.,

Knows(z,Elizabeth)

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Unification
• To unify Knows(John,x) and Knows(y,z),

θ = {y/John, x/z } or θ = {y/John, x/John, z/John}

• The first unifier is more general than the second.

• There is a single most general unifier (MGU) that is

unique up to renaming of variables.
• MGU = { y/John, x/z }

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The unification algorithm

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The unification algorithm

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Generalized Modus Ponens

p1', p2', … , pn', ( p1  p2  …  pn q) where pi'θ = pi θ for all i

qθ
p1' is King(John) p1 is King(x)
p2' is Greedy(y) p2 is Greedy(x)
θ is {x/John,y/John} q is Evil(x)
q θ is Evil(John)

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Forward Chaining
• What is Forward Chaining?
-Start with the atomic sentences in the KB
and apply modus ponens in the forward
direction
-Known facts to goal
• Modus ponens, α β , α
β
From the given sentence α, β can be inferred.

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• Definite Clauses
Ex:- situation Response
Definite clauses are useful for systems that
make inferences in responses to newly arrived
information.

• To build a KB using definite clauses

• Reasoning with forward chaining is much
more efficient.

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• To apply forward chaining to first-order

definite clauses
• First-order definite clauses are disjunctions or
conjunctions of literals.

ex:- for first-order definite clauses

King (x)  Greedy (x)  Evil(x)
King(john)
Greedy(y)

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• Datalog KB: set of first-order definite clauses

with no function symbols or quantifiers.
– The absence of function symbols makes inference
much easier.

• What will the forward chaining algorithm do?

-Starts from the known facts,
-it triggers all the rules whose premises are
satisfied,
- adding their conclusions to the known facts.

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• The process repeats until the query is answered

or no new facts are added.
• Renaming – one sentence is a renaming of
another if they are identical except the name of
the variables.
Ex:- likes(x,icecream)
likes(y,icecream)

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Forward chaining algorithm

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Example knowledge base

• The law says that it is a crime for an American
to sell weapons to hostile nations. The country
Nono, an enemy of America, has some
missiles, and all of its missiles were sold to it
by SAM, who is American.

• Prove that SAM is a criminal

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Example knowledge base contd.

... it is a crime for an American to sell weapons to hostile nations:
American(x)  Weapon(y)  Sells(x,y,z)  Hostile(z)  Criminal(x)

Nono … has some missiles, i.e., x Owns(Nono,x)  Missile(x):

Owns(Nono,M1) and Missile(M1)

… all of its missiles were sold to it by SAM

Missile(x)  Owns(Nono,x)  Sells(sam,x,Nono)

Missiles are weapons:

Missile(x)  Weapon(x)

An enemy of America counts as "hostile“:

Enemy(x,America)  Hostile(x)

SAM, who is American …

American(sam)

The country Nono, an enemy of America …

Enemy(Nono,America)
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Forward chaining proof Tree

American(x)  Weapon(y)  Sells(x,y,z)  Hostile(z)  Criminal(x)

Missile(x)  Owns(Nono,x)  Sells(sam,x,Nono)
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Properties of forward chaining

• Sound and complete for first-order definite clauses

• Datalog:
– Datalog= first-order definite clauses + no functions

• Termination –
-FC terminates for Datalog in finite number of iterations
- May not terminate in general if sentence α is not
entailed

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Efficiency of forward chaining

Incremental forward chaining: no need to match a rule
on iteration k if a premise wasn't added on iteration k-
1  match each rule whose premise contains a newly added
positive literal

Matching itself can be expensive:

Database indexing allows O(1) retrieval of known facts

– e.g., query Missile(x) retrieves Missile(M1)

Forward chaining is widely used in deductive databases

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RESOLUTION
Resolution:- It means to show that a given
sentence is entailed by the set of sentences in
a KB.
completeness theorem:- any entailed
sentence has a finite proof.

Incompleteness theorem:- sentences that are

entailed, but have no finite proof within the
system.
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Conjunctive Normal Form
Everyone who loves all animals is loved by someone.

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The resolution inference rule

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BINARY RESOLUTION
• Resolution rule that resolves exactly two
literals.
• The binary resolution rule by itself does not
yield a complete inference procedure.

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Completeness of Resolution
• Resolution is refutation-complete, which
means that if a set of sentences is
unsatisfiable, then resolution will always be
able to derive a contradiction

• Completeness:-Resolution can be used to

establish that a given sentence is entailed by
the set of sentences.

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Resolution Strategies
• Resolution inference rule will eventually find a
proof if one exists

• Resolution Strategies that help find proofs

efficiently.
1. Unit preference
2. Set of support
3. Input resolution
4. Sub-sumption

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Unit Preference
• Prefer inferences that produce shorter
clauses.

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Set of support

• It starts by identifying a subset of the sentences

called the set of support.
• Every resolution combines a sentence from the
set of support with another sentence and adds
the resolvent into the set of support.
• If the set of support is small relative to the
whole knowledge base, the search space will
be reduced dramatically.

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Input Resolution
• Every resolution combines one of the input
sentences (from the KB or the query) with
some other sentence.
• The linear resolution strategy is a slight
generalization that allows P and Q to be
resolved together either if P is in the original
KB or if P is an ancestor of Q in the proof tree.
Linear resolution is complete.

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Subsumption
• The subsumption method eliminates all
sentences that are subsumed by an existing
sentence in the KB.
• For example, if P(x) is in the KB, then there is
no sense in adding P(A) and even less sense in
adding P(A) V Q(B).
• Subsumption helps keep the KB small, and
thus helps keep the search space small.

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Backward Chaining
• Goal to known facts
• List of goals – stack
• For first goal , the BC algorithm finds every
clause in the KB whose positive literal unifies
with the goal.
• Each such clause creates a new recursive call
in which the premise of the clause is added to
the goal stack.

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Backward chaining algorithm

-Algorithm uses composition of substitutions

SUBST(COMPOSE(θ1, θ2), p) = SUBST(θ2, SUBST(θ1, p))

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Backward chaining example

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Backward chaining example

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Backward chaining example

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Backward chaining example

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Backward chaining example

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Backward chaining example

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Backward chaining example

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Properties of backward chaining

• Depth-first recursive proof search: space is linear in
size of proof.
• Incomplete due to infinite loops
–  fix by checking current goal against every goal on stack
• Inefficient due to repeated sub-goals (both success
and failure)
–  fix using caching of previous results (extra space)
• Widely used for logic programming

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Logic programming: Prolog
• Algorithm = Logic + Control

• Program = set of clauses = head :- literal1, … literaln.

criminal(X) :- american(X), weapon(Y), sells(X,Y,Z), hostile(Z).

• Depth-first, left-to-right backward chaining

• Built-in predicates for arithmetic etc., e.g., X is Y*Z+3
• Built-in predicates that have side effects (e.g., input and output
• predicates, assert/retract predicates)
• Closed-world assumption ("negation as failure")
– e.g., given alive(X) :- not dead(X).
– alive(joe) succeeds if dead(joe) fails

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Prolog
• Appending two lists to produce a third:
append([],Y,Y).
append([X|L],Y,[X|Z]) :- append(L,Y,Z).

• query: append(A,B,[1,2]) ?

• answers: A=[] B=[1,2]

A=[1] B=[2]
A=[1,2] B=[]

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Knowledge
representation
2

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Knowledge Representation
using structured objects

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Knowledge Representation
using structured objects
Semantic nets

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 c o v e re d _ b y www.rejinpaul.com
a n im a l
tr a v e ls _ b y s k in
fly in g
is a is a
tr a v e ls _ b y
b ir d fis h
fe a th e rs
c o v e re d _ b y s w im m in g

is a is a is a is a

o s tr ic h p e n g u in c a n a ry r o b in

tr a v e ls _ b y c o lo u r
c o lo u r

w a lk in g y e llo w
tr a v e ls _ b y

re d

in s ta n c e _ o f

in s ta n c e _ o f
O pus
T w e e ty

c o lo u r
w h ite
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Semantic nets

knowledge is represented as a collection

of concepts, represented by nodes
(shown as boxes in the diagram),
connected together by relationships,
represented by arcs (shown as arrows in
the diagram).
certain arcs - particularly isa arcs - allow
inheritance of properties.

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Semantic nets

Problems with semantic nets

logical inadequacy - vagueness about what
types and tokens really mean.
heuristic inadequacy – finding a specific
piece of information could be chronically
inefficient.
trying to establish negation is likely to lead
to a combinatorial explosion.
"spreading activation" search is very
inefficient, because it is not knowledge-
guided.
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Semantic nets

Attempted improvements
building search heuristics into the
network.
more sophisticated logical structure,
involving partitioning.
these improvements meant that the
formalism’s original simplicity was
lost.

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Semantic nets

Developments of the semantic nets idea:

psychological research into whether
human memory really was organised in
this way.
used in the knowledge bases in certain
expert systems: e.g. PROSPECTOR.
special-purpose languages have been
written to express knowledge in semantic
nets.
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Knowledge Representation
using structured objects
Frames

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Frames

Devised by Marvin Minsky, 1974.

Incorporates certain valuable human
thinking characteristics:
Expectations, assumptions, stereotypes.
Exceptions. Fuzzy boundaries between
classes.
The essence of this form of knowledge
representation is typicality, with
exceptions, rather than definition.
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Frames

The idea of frame hierarchies is very

similar to the idea of class hierarchies
found in object-orientated programming.

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How frames are organised

A frame system is a hierarchy of frames

Each frame has:
a name.
slots: these are the properties of the entity
that has the name, and they have values.
A particular value may be:
a default value
an inherited value from a higher frame
a procedure, called a daemon, to find a
value
a specific value, which might represent
an exception.
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How frames are organised

In the higher levels of the frame

hierarchy, typical knowledge about the
class is stored.
The value in a slot may be a range or a
condition.
In the lower levels, the value in a slot
may be a specific value, to overwrite the
value which would otherwise be
inherited from a higher frame.
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How frames are organised

An instance of an object is joined to its

class by an 'instance_of' relationship.
A class is joined to its superclass by a
'subclass_of' relationship.
Frames may contain both procedural
and declarative knowledge.
Slot values normally amount to declarative
knowledge, but a daemon is in effect a
small program. So a slot with a daemon in it
amounts to procedural knowledge.
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How frames are organised

Note that a frames system may allow

multiple inheritance but, if it does so, it
must make provision for cases when
inherited values conflict.

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Frames: some examples

The following is an exploration of

Minsky's frames, using simple
examples.
Note that this is not exactly the way
Minsky described frames in his original
paper, but it is the way the idea has
come to be used in practice.

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Frames: some examples

First I provide a verbal description of some

concept;
then I show a diagram representing the
resulting frame;
beside this is a bit of programming which
implements this frame in a suitable
knowledge representation programming
language - in this case, the MIKE package
written by knowledge engineering
specialists at the Open University.
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Frames: some examples

We will start with a simple piece of

information: there is a category of things
called cars.
Given this information, we can start to
build a frame:

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Name: car Subclass of: thing

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More information: a car has 4 wheels, is

moved by an engine, and runs on petrol
or diesel.
We can now add three slots to the
frame.
The last of these has a restriction rather
than a specific value.

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“a car has 4 wheels, is moved by an engine,
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and runs on petrol or diesel.”

car subclass_of
Name: car Subclass of: thing thing
with
Slots:
wheels: 4,
Name: Value: Restrictions:
moved_by:
engine,
wheels 4 fuel:
moved by engine [value:
unknown,
fuel ? petrol or diesel type:
[petrol,diesel]].
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More information: there is a particular

type of car called a VW, manufactured in
Germany.
We can add a second frame to our
system, with one slot. We don’t need to
repeat the slots and values in the
previous frame: they will be inherited.

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 “there is a particular type of car called
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a VW,
manufactured in Germany.”

‘VW’ subclass_of
Name: VW Subclass of: car car
with
Slots:
made_in:
Name: Value: Restrictions:
‘Germany’.
made in Germany

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More information: there is a particular

type of VW called a Golf, which has a
sun-roof.
We can add a third frame to our system,
with one slot. Once again, we don’t
repeat the slots in the previous frames,
because they will be inherited.

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“there is a particular type of VW calledwww.rejinpaul.com
a Golf,
which has a sunroof.”

‘Golf’ subclass_of
Name: Golf Subclass of: VW VW
with
Slots:
top: sunroof.
Name: Value: Restrictions:

top sunroof

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More information: there is a particular

type of Golf called a TDi, which runs on
diesel. A TDi has 4 cylinders, and an
engine capacity of 1.8 litres.
We can add a fourth frame to our
system, with three slots. One of the slots
(fuel) was already in the system, but
appears here because it now has a
specific value rather than a restriction.
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“there is a particular type of Golf called a TDi,
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which runs on diesel, has 4 cylinders, and has a 1.8
litre engine.”

‘TDi’ subclass_of
Name: TDi Subclass of: Golf ‘Golf’
with
Slots:
fuel: diesel,
Name: Value: Restrictions:
engine_capacity:
fuel diesel 1.8,
cylinders: 4.
engine
capacity 1.8 litres

cylinders 4

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More information: my car, called

C637SRK, is a Golf Tdi. It hasn’t got a
sun-roof.
We can add a fifth frame to our system,
with two slots. Unlike all the previous
frames, this one is an instance frame.
One of the slots (top) was already in the
system, but appears here because the
value contradicts (overwrites) the value
which would otherwise be inherited.
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“There is a car called C637SRK which is an
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instance of a Golf TDi etc.”

‘C637SRK’
Name: C637SRK Instance of: TDi instance_of
‘TDi’
Slots: with
Name: Value: Restrictions: owner: jp,
top:
owner jp
no_sun_roof.

top no sun-roof

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More information: to calculate a car’s

cylinder size, you divide the total engine
capacity by the number of cylinders.
We can now add another slot to the car
frame. It’s a daemon, which discovers
the information required, if the user asks
what the value in the slot is.

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“to calculate a car’s cylinder size, you divide the
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total engine capacity by the number of
cylinders.”

car subclass_of thing

with
Name: car Subclass of: thing wheels: 4,
moved_by: engine,
Slots: fuel: [value: unknown,
type: [petrol,diesel]],
Name: Value: Restrictions: cylinder_size:
wheels 4 [value: unknown,
moved by engine access_rule:
fuel ? petrol or diesel. (if the
cylinder size ? find total engine engine_capacity of
?self is E & the
capacity, find cylinders of ?self is
no.of cylinders, C & Ans := E/C
divide first by then make_value
second.
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Knowledge Representation
using structured objects
Other varieties of structured object

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Other varieties of structured
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object
Knowledge representation researchers -
particularly Roger Schank and his
associates - devised some interesting
variations on the theme of structured
objects.
In particular, they invented the idea of
scripts (1973).
A script is a description of a class of
events in terms of contexts, participants,
and sub-events.
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Scripts

Rather similar to frames: uses inheritance

and slots; describes stereotypical
knowledge, (i.e. if the system isn't told
some detail of what's going on, it assumes
the "default" information is true), but
concerned with events.
Somewhat out of the mainstream of
expert systems work. More a development
of natural-language-processing research.
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Scripts

Why represent knowledge in this way?

Because real-world events do follow
stereotyped patterns. Human beings use
previous experiences to understand verbal
accounts; computers can use scripts instead.
Because people, when relating events, do
leave large amounts of assumed detail out of
their accounts. People don't find it easy to
converse with a system that can't fill in
missing conversational detail.
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Scripts

Scripts predict unobserved events.

Scripts can build a coherent account from
disjointed observations.

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Scripts

Commercial applications of script-like

structured objects: work on the basis that a
conversation between two people on a pre-
defined subject will follow a predictable
course.
Certain items of information need to be
exchanged.
Others can be left unsaid (because both people
know what the usual answer would be, or can
deduce it from what's been said already), unless
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Scripts

This sort of knowledge representation has

been used in intelligent front-ends, for
systems whose users are not computer
specialists.
It has been employed in story-
understanding and news-report-
understanding systems.

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Conceptual graphs

In 1984, John Sowa published his

conceptual graph approach.
This is something like the semantic net
approach described earlier.
It is more sophisticated in the way in
which it represents concepts
It is much more precise regarding what
the objects in the graphs mean in real-
world terms.
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Knowledge Representation
using structured objects
Practical applications

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KBSs using structured objects

Two more examples of KBSs using

structured objects for knowledge
representation

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Explorer

Explorer is a natural-language interface

for a database relating to oil-wells:
Contains geological knowledge,
organised as structured objects.
Interfaced to a graphics package that
can draw oil-exploration maps.
The geologist can converse with the
program in unconstrained natural
language, and in geological jargon.
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system
Bank customer advisory system:
Advises customer on opening a bank
account, based on customer's
needs/characteristics. This is a task that
can consume a lot of the bank staff's time.
Deduces customer's intended meaning.
Does not annoy customer by asking for
every detail; uses its knowledge about
people to deduce what the answers must
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Knowledge Representation
using structured objects
The CYC project

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The CYC Project

A very large scale commercial research

project designed to represent a large
body of common-sense knowledge.
Headed by Lenat and Guha, and based
in Austin, Texas
Has been making steady progress since
1984

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The CYC Project

It now ‘knows’ a huge collection of

fragments of real-world knowledge such
as:
Mothers are older than their children.
You have to be awake to eat.
You can usually know people’s noses, but
not their hearts.
If you cut a lump of peanut butter in half,
each half is a lump of peanut butter, but if
you cut a table in half, neither half is a table.
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The CYC Project

The ultimate objective is to give it enough

knowledge to understand ordinary books,
so that it can read them and expand its
own knowledge.
So far, it’s got to a stage where, when
asked to find photos of “risky activities”, it
located photos of people climbing
mountains and doing white-water rafting.

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Knowledge Representation
using structured objects
Final comments

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 Structured objects: final
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comments
A knowledge-representation system with
property inheritance should make a
distinction between essential properties
('universal truths') and accidental properties.
Some don't: some allow unrestrained overwriting
of inherited properties.
It's possible to generate incoherent structures in
any of these systems.
It's particularly easy when multiple inheritance is
involved.
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comments
At best, structured objects provide data
& control structures which are more
flexible than those in conventional
languages, and so more suited to
simulating human reasoning.

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