5.

EXPERT SYSTEM AND APPLICATIONS

INTRODUCTION
Expert systems (ES) are one of the prominent research domains of AI. It is introduced by the researchers
at Stanford University, Computer Science Department.

Definition: “The expert systems are the computer applications developed to solve complex problems in a
particular domain, at the level of extra-ordinary human intelligence and expertise.”

Characteristics:
1. Expertise: An ES should exhibit expert performance, have high level of skill, and possess adequate
robustness. The high-level expertise and skill of an ES aids in problem solving & makes the system cost
effective.
2. Symbolic Reasoning: Knowledge in an ES is represented symbolically which can be easily reformulated &
reasoned.
3. Self Knowledge: A system should be able to explain & examine its own reasoning.
4. Learning Capability: A system should learn from its mistakes & mature as it grows. Flexibility provided by
the ES helps it grow incrementally.
5. Ability to provide Training: Every ES should be capable of providing training by explaining the reasoning
process behind solving a particular problem using relevant knowledge.
6. Predictive Modelling Power: This is one of the important features of ES. The system can act as an
information processing model of problem solving. It can explain how new situation led to the change, which
helps users to evaluate the effect of new facts & understand their relationship to the solution.
Advantages: The Expert Systems are capable of the following:
 Advising
 Instructing and assisting human in decision making
 Demonstrating
 Deriving a solution
 Diagnosing
 Explaining
 Interpreting input
 Predicting results
 Justifying the conclusion
 Suggesting alternative options to a problem

1
Disadvantages: The Expert Systems are incapable of the following:
 Substituting human decision makers
 Possessing human capabilities
 Producing accurate output for inadequate knowledge base
 Refining their own knowledge

PHASES IN BUILDING EXPERT SYSTEMS

 Identify Problem Domain
 Design the System
 Develop the Prototype
 Test & Refine the Prototype
 Develop & Complete the Expert System
 Maintain the System
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.
Design the System:
 Identify the 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.
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 & 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 & Complete the ES:
 Test & 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.
2
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 SYSTEMS VERSUS TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS

Expert System Traditional System

The entire problem related expertise is encoded Problem expertise is encoded in both program
in data structures only, not in programs. and data structures.

The use of knowledge is vital. Data is used more efficiently than knowledge.
These are capable of explaining how a particular These are not capable of explaining a particular
conclusion is reached and why requested conclusion for a problem. These systems try to
information is needed during a process. solve in a straight forward manner.

Problems are solved more efficiently. Not as efficient as an Expert System.

It uses the symbolic representations for These are unable to express in
knowledge i.e. the rules, different forms of symbols. They just simplify the
networks, frames, scripts etc. and performs their problems in a straight forward
inference through symbolic computations manner and are incapable to express the “how,
why” questions.
Problem solving tools are present in No problem solving tools in specific.
Expert System
Solution of the problem is more Solution of the problem may not be more
accurate. accurate.
Provide a clear separation of Do not separate knowledge from the control
knowledge from its processing. structure to process this
knowledge.
Process knowledge expressed in the form of Process data and use algorithms, a series of
rules and use symbolic reasoning to solve well-defined operations, to solve general
problems in a narrow domain. numerical problems.
Permit inexact reasoning and can deal with Work only on problems where data is
incomplete, uncertain and fuzzy data. complete and exact.
Enhance the quality of problem solving by Enhance the quality of problem solving by
adding new rules or adjusting old ones in the changing the program code, which affects
knowledge base. When new knowledge is both the knowledge and its processing,
acquired, changes are easy to accomplish. making changes difficult.

3
ARCHITECTURE OF EXPERT SYSTEM (or) COMPONENTS OF EXPERT SYSTEM (or) RULE
BASED EXPERT SYSTEMS

I/O Interface:
The I/O Interface permits the user to communicate with the system in a simple way.
Knowledge Base:
 The Knowledge Base is one of the important components of Expert System.
 The Knowledge Base consists of a set of production rules & facts (already proven results) along with its
solutions.
 For Example, if a student fails to get ≥66% in attendance then declare that student as detained.
Inference Engine:
 Inference Engine is also called as Rule Interpreter.
 It performs the task of matching, from the responses given by the user & the rules.
 Finally it picks up a suitable rule.
 The process is as follows

4
Explanation Module:
 Explanation Module consists of the Answers for the Questions of ‘How’ & ‘Why’.
 To respond to a ‘How’ query, the Explanation Module traces the chain of rules.
 To respond to a ‘Why’ query, the Explanation Module must be able to explain why certain information is
needed to complete a step.
Working Memory:
 These are the one which are handled at the current situation by the system.
 It is also called as Temporary Storage Area.
Case History File:
 Case History File consists of all the Input & Output transactions.
 This consists of all the inputs given by various users & the outputs given by the system based upon the
input.
Learning Module:
When the data is concerned with Case History File then, the system performs the learning Module.
Editor:
Editor module is used to insert (or) delete the data in the knowledge base.
Knowledge Acquisition & Validation:
One of the most difficult tasks in building knowledge base is in the acquisition & encoding of requisite domain
knowledge.

Expert System Shell:

Each Expert System that was build from scratch was done by LISP programming language. After several
systems have built in this way it is clear that these systems often use a lot of common things. It was possible to
separate the interpreter from the domain specific knowledge & thus to create a system that would be used to
construct new Expert Systems by adding new knowledge corresponding to the new problem domain.
One of the important features that a shell must provide is an easy way to interface between an Expert
System & a programming environment.
Example: Graphical games.
MYCIN Expert System:
MYCIN is one of the oldest Expert Systems. It was developed at Stanford University in 1970s. It was
developed as an ES that could diagnose & recommend treatment for certain blood infections. MYCIN was
5
developed for exploring the ways in which human experts make guesses on the basis of partial information. In
MYCIN, the knowledge is represented as a set of if-then rules. In MYCIN rule can be written in English as
follows
 IF the infection is primary-bacteraemia AND the site of the culture is one of the sterile sites AND the
suspected portal of entry is the gastrointestinal tract, THEN there is suggestive evidence (0.7) that infection
is bacteriod
The 3 stages of conversation with MYCIN:
 In First stage, initial data regarding the case was gathered to enable the system to come up with a very
broad diagnosis.
 In Second stage, the questions that were asked to test specific hypotheses were more direct in nature.
 In Final stage, a diagnosis was proposed.
The First version of MYCIN had a number of problems which were remedied in later. One of them was that
the rules of domain knowledge were often mixed. EMYCIN was the first Expert shell developed from MYCIN. A
new ES called PUFF was developed using EMYCIN in the new domain of heart disorders. To train Doctors, the
system called NEOMYCIN was developed, which takes them through various sample cases, check their
diagnoses, determines whether their conclusions are right & explains where they went wrong.

BLACK BOARD SYSTEMS

Blackboard Systems were first developed in the 1970s to solve complex, difficult & ill-structured
problems in a wide range of application areas. Blackboard architecture is a way of representing & controlling the
knowledge bases; using independent groups of rules called Knowledge Sources (KSs) that communicate through a
data control database called a Blackboard.

The main modules of Blackboard System are as follows. It consists of 3 main components:
 Knowledge Sources
 Blackboard
 Control Shell

6
 Fig: Blackboard System
Knowledge Sources:
 A KS is regarded to be a specialist at solving certain aspects of the overall application and is separate and
independent of all other KSs in the blackboard system.
 Once it obtains the information required by it on the Blackboard, it can proceed further without any
assistance from other KSs.
 It is possible to add additional KSs to the Blackboard system and upgrade or even remove existing KSs.
 Each KS is aware of the conditions under which it can contribute toward solving a particular problem. This
knowledge in problem solving is known as triggering condition.
Blackboard:
 Blackboard represents a global data repository & shared data structure available to all KSs.
 It contains several important constituents such as raw input data, partial solutions, alternatives & final
solutions, control information, communication medium used in various phrases in problem solving.
 An advantage of the blackboard system is that the system can retain the results of problems that have been
solved earlier, thus avoiding the task of re-computing them later.
Control Component:
 The control Shell, directs the problem-solving process by allowing KSs to respond to changes made to the
black board.
 In a classical blackboard system control approach, the currently executing KS Activation (KSA) generates
events as it makes changes on the blackboard.
 These events are ranked & maintained until the executing KSA is completed.

7
 Fig: Blackboard System Control Cycle

Issues in Blackboard Systems for Problem Solving:

 Specialized representation: KSs may only operate on a few classes of blackboard objects.
 Fully general representation: All aspects of blackboard data are understood by all KSs.

Blackboard System versus Rule-based System:

A major difference between a Blackboard System and a Rule-based System lies in the size & scope of
rules when compared to the size & complexity of KSs.

TRUTH MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS

Truth Maintenance System (TMS) is a structure which helps in revising set of beliefs & maintaining the
truth every time new information contradicts information already present in the system. It is developed by
Doyle in 1979. TMS maintains the beliefs for general problem-solving systems. All TMS manipulate
proposition symbols & the relationships between different proposition symbols.
 A Monotonic TMS manipulates propositional symbols & Boolean constraints.
 A Non-Monotonic TMS allows for heuristic (or) non-monotonic relationships between proposition
symbols such as ‘whenever P is true Q is likely’ (or) ‘if P is true then unless there is evidence to the
contrary Q is assumed to be true’.
Monotonic System & Logic:
In Monotonic Systems, once a fact (or) piece of knowledge stored in the knowledge base is identified, it
cannot be changed during the process of reasoning. In other words, axioms are not allowed to change as once a
fact is confirmed to be true, it must always remain true & can never be modified.

8
  If a formula is a theorem for a particular formal theory, then that formula remains a theorem for any
augmented theory obtained by adding axioms to the theory.
For instance, if a property P is a theorem of T & if T is augmented to T 1 by additional axioms, then P
remains a theorem of T1. Further, if an axiom A is added to a theory T to build a theory T 1, then all the theorems
of T are also theorems of T1.
In Monotonic Reasoning, the world of axioms continually increases in size & keeps on expanding. An
example of monotonic form of reasoning is predicate logic.
Non-Monotonic System & Logic:
In non-monotonic systems, truths that are present in the system can be retracted whenever contradictions
arise. Hence, the number of axioms can increase as well as decrease. The system is continually updated
depending upon the changes in knowledge base. In non-monotonic logic, if a formula is a theorem for a formal
theory, then it need not be theorem for an augmented theory. Common sense reasoning is an example of non-
monotonic reasoning.

Fig: Interaction between different components in Problem Solver

 The term truth maintenance is synonymous with the term knowledge base maintenance and is defined as
keeping track of the interrelations between assertions in knowledge base.
 The main job of TMS is to maintain consistency of the knowledge being used by problem solvers.
 The Inference Engine (IE) solves domain problems based on its current belief set.
Monotonic TMS:
A Monotonic TMs is a general facility for manipulating Boolean constraints on proposition symbols.
The constraint has the form P → Q where P & Q are proposition symbols.
Functionality of Monotonic TMS:
 Add_constraint
 Follow_from
 Interface functions
Add_constraint: This interface functions adds a constraint to the internal constraint set. Once a constraint has
been added, it can never be removed.

9
Follow_from: This function takes 2 arguments namely, a literal (L) and a premise set (Ʃ) and returns the values
yes, no or unknown. If yes is returned, then the TMS guarantees that L follows from the Ʃ and internal
constraints. If no is returned, then the TMS guarantees that L does not follows from the Ʃ and internal
constraints. If TMS is unable to determine, then it returns unknown.
Interface Functions: these compute justifications. There are 2 interface functions used to generate such proofs
namely justifying literals & justifying constraints.
Let us consider an example with a premise set Ʃ = {P, W} and an internal constraint set {P → Q, (P Λ
W) → R, (Q Λ R) → S}.
Justification Literals Derived Literals Justifying Constraints
{P, W} R (P Λ W) → R
{P} Q P→Q
{Q, R} S (Q Λ R) → S

The Justification Tree is as follows

Non-monotonic TMS:
The basic operation of a TMS is to attach a justification to a fact. A fact can be linked with any
component of program knowledge which is to be connected with other components of program information.
Support List is defined as SL (IN-node) (OUT-node), where IN-node represents a list of all IN-nodes
(propositions) that support the considered node as true.
 Here, IN means that the belief is true. OUT-node is a list of all OUT-nodes that do not support the
considered node as true.
 OUT means that the belief is not true for considered node.

10
 For example

Node Number Facts/assertions Justification (justified belief)

1 It is sunny SL(3) (2,4)
2 It rains SL() ()
3 It is warm SL(1) (2)
4 It is night time SL() (1)
Table: Justification of Facts
In this case
 An empty list indicates that its justification does not depend on the current belief or disbelief.
 Node 1 assumes that it is sunny, provided that it is warm and it does not rain, and it is not night time.
 Node 2 has both empty lists indicating that its justification does not depend on current beliefs or
disbeliefs.
 Node 3 assumes that it is warm given that it is sunny & it does not rain.
 Node 4 does not depend on the list in its (IN-node) part.

APPLICATIONS OF EXPERT SYSTEMS

Application Description
Design Domain Camera lens design, automobile design.
Medical Domain Diagnosis Systems to deduce cause of disease from observed data,
conduction medical operations on humans.
Prediction Perform the task of inferring the likely consequences of a
situation like weather prediction for rains, storms, prediction of crops,
share market etc.
Monitoring Systems Comparing data continuously with observed system or with prescribed
behavior such as leakage monitoring in long petroleum pipeline.
Process Control Systems Controlling a physical process based on monitoring.
Knowledge Domain Finding out faults in vehicles, computers.
Finance/Commerce Detection of possible fraud, suspicious transactions, stock market
trading, Airline scheduling, cargo scheduling.

LIST OF SHELLS & TOOLS

The following are the list of popular shells & tools
 ACQUIRE
 ARITY
 ART
 CLIPS
11
ACQUIRE: It is primarily a knowledge-acquisition system & an ES shell, which provides a complete
development environment for the building & maintenance of knowledge-based applications. ACQUIRE SDK is
a software development kit, which provides callable libraries for systems such as MS-DOS, Windows,
Windows NT, Windows 95 and Win 32.
ARITY: Expert Development Package is an ES that was developed by ARITY Corporation.
ART: It is called Automated Reasoning Tool that is an ES shell, which is based on LISP. It supports rule-based
reasoning, hypothetical reasoning and case-based reasoning.
CLIPS: It is used to represent C Language Integrated Production System. It is a public domain software tool
that is used for building Expert Systems. CLIPS is probably the most widely used ES tool because it is fast,
efficient and free.
FLEX: Flex is a hybrid ES which is implemented in PROLOG. It supports forward & backward chaining,
multiple inheritance & also possesses an automatic question & answer system.
GENSYM’S G2: It offers a graphical, object oriented environment for the creation of intelligent applications
that are able to monitor, diagnose & control dynamic events in various environments.
GURU: It is an ES developed environment & offers a wide variety of information processing tools combined
with knowledge-based capabilities such as forward chaining, backward chaining, mixed chaining, multi-value
variables & fuzzy reasoning.
HUGIN SYSTEM: It is a software package for construction of model-based Expert System. It is easy-to-use.
KNOWLEDGE CRAFT: It is an ES development tool kit for scheduling, design & configuration applications.
K- VISION: It is a knowledge acquisition & visualization tool. It runs on Windows, DOS & UNIX
workstations.
MAILBOT: It is a personal e-mail agent that reads an e-mail message on standard input & creates an e-mail
reply to be sent to the sender of the original message. It provides filtering, forwarding, notification & automatic
question-answering capabilities.
TMYCIN: It is an acronym for Tiny EMYCIN & is an ES shell modeled after the EMYCIN shell that was
developed at Stanford. It is especially useful for student exercises, although real ES have been written using it.
TMYCIN is written in common LISP & is fairly small.

12