KNOWLEDGE BASED SYSTEMS

AND EXPERT SYSTEMS

NEENU.T.HARI

S1 MBA-IB,
Roll No. 13,
School of Management Studies,
CUSAT, Kochi- 22.
E-mail:neenuhr@gmail.com

Abstract: A major turning point occurred in the field of artificial intelligence

with the realization that “in knowledge lies the power”. This realization led to
the development of a new class of systems: knowledge based systems and
expert systems. Knowledge based systems and expert systems uses
specialized set of coded knowledge to reason and perform limited intelligent
tasks. They have now become one of the most important innovations of AI
since they have been shown to be successful commercial products as well
as interesting tool.

Keywords: AI, Knowledge base, Inference-control unit, Input-output unit

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
Knowledge based system is defined as computer system that is programmed to
imitate human problem-solving by means of artificial intelligence and reference to a
database of knowledge on a particular subject. Knowledge based systems get their
power from expert knowledge that has been coded into facts, rules, heuristics, and
procedures. The knowledge is stored in a base separate from the control and
inferencing components. This makes it possible to add new knowledge or refine
existing knowledge without recompiling the control and inferencing programs. An
expert system is a computer program that draws upon the knowledge of human
experts captured in a knowledge base to solve problems that normally require human
expertise. Unlike conventional programming, an expert system does not follow an
algorithm that details a precise series of steps to yield a precise result. Instead ,
processing is based on rules called heuristics, often called rules of thumb, that state
relationships that are likely , but not guaranteed, to yield an outcome in a environment
where information is uncertain or incomplete. The expert knowledge must be obtained
from specialist or other sources of expertise, such as texts, journal articles, and data
bases.

2.0 COMPONENTS OF A KNOWLEDGE BASED SYSTEM

There are three main components of a knowledge based system:
1. Input-output unit.
2. Inference-control unit.
3. Knowledge base.

Input – Inference- Knowledge

output unit control unit base

The knowledge is stored in a knowledge base separate from the control and
inferencing components. This makes it possible to add new knowledge or refine
existing knowledge without recompiling the control and inferencing programs. This
greatly simplifies the construction and maintenance of knowledge based systems.
Knowledge base is a special kind of database for knowledge management providing
the means for the computerized collection, organizing and retrieval of knowledge. The
inference engine accepts user input queries and responses to questions through the
I/O interface and uses this dynamic information together with static knowledge stored
in the knowledge base.

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2.0 KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION
The organization of knowledge in memory is key to efficient processing. Knowledge based
system may require tens of thousands of facts and rules to perform their intended tasks. It is
essential then that the appropriate facts and rules be easy to locate and retrieve. Otherwise,
much time will be wasted in searching and testing large numbers of items in memory.
Knowledge can be organized in memory for easy access by a method known as indexing. It
amounts to grouping the knowledge in a way that key words can be used to access the groups.
The key words “point” to the knowledge groups. As a result, the search for some specific chunk
of knowledge is limited to the group only, a fraction of the knowledge base rather than the
whole memory. The choices of representation can simplify the organization and access
operations. For example, frames linked together in a network represent a versatile organization
structure. Each frame will contain all closely associated information about an object and
pointers to related object frames making it possible to quickly gain access to this information.
Subsequent processing then typically involves only a few related frames.

3.0 KNOWLEDGE MANIPULATION

Decisions and actions in knowledge based systems come from manipulation of the knowledge
in specified ways. Typically, some form of input will initiate a search for a goal or decision. This
requires that known facts in the knowledge-base be located, compared, and possibly altered in
some way. This process may set up other sub goals and require further inputs, and so on until
a final solution is found. The manipulations are the computational equivalent of reasoning. This
requires a form of inference or deduction, using the knowledge and inferring rules. All forms of
reasoning require a certain amount of searching and matching. In fact, these two operations by
far consume the greatest amount of computation time in AI system s. For this reason it is
important to have techniques available that limit the amount of search and matching required
to complete any given task. Much research has been done in these areas to find better
methods. The research has paid off with methods which help to make many otherwise
intractable problems solvable. They help to limit or avoid many otherwise intractable problems
which are so common in search.

3.0 ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE

One of the greatest bottlenecks in building knowledge-rich systems is the acquisition and
validation of the knowledge. Knowledge can come from various sources, such as experts,
textbooks, reports, technical articles etc.To be useful, the knowledge must be accurate,
presented at the right level for encoding, complete in sense that all essential facts and rules
are included, free of inconsistencies, and so on. Eliciting facts, heuristics, procedures, and
rules from expert is a slow tedious process. Experience in building dozens of experts systems
and other knowledge based systems over the past fifteen years has shown this to be the single
most time consuming and costly part of the building process. This has led to the development
of some sophisticated acquisition tools, including a variety of intelligent editors, editors which
provide much assistance to the knowledge engineers and system users. The acquisition
problem has also stimulated much research in machine learning system, that is, systems which
can learn new knowledge autonomously without the aid of humans. Since knowledge-based
systems depend on large quantities of high knowledge for their success, it is essential that
better methods of acquisition, refinement, and validation be developed. The ultimate goal is to
develop techniques that permit systems to learn new knowledge autonomously and continually
improve the quality of the knowledge they possess.

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4.0 EXPERT SYSTEMS BUILDING TOOLS
An expert system tool, or shell, is a software development environment containing the basic
components of expert systems. The core components of expert systems are the knowledge
base and the reasoning engine.

1. Knowledge base: A store of factual and heuristic knowledge. An ES tool provides

one or more knowledge representation schemes for expressing knowledge about the
application domain. Some tools use both frames (objects) and IF-THEN rules. In
PROLOG the knowledge is represented as logical statements.
2. Reasoning engine: Inference mechanisms for manipulating the symbolic information
and knowledge in the knowledge base to form a line of reasoning in solving a
problem. The inference mechanism can range from simple modus ponens backward
chaining of IF-THEN rules to case-based reasoning.
3. Knowledge acquisition subsystem: A subsystem to help experts build knowledge
bases. Collecting knowledge needed to solve problems and build the knowledge base
continues to be the biggest bottleneck in building expert systems.
4. Explanation subsystem: A subsystem that explains the system's actions. The
explanation can range from how the final or intermediate solutions were arrived at to
justifying the need for additional data.
5. User interface: The means of communication with the user. The user interface is
generally not a part of the ES technology, and was not given much attention in the
past. However, it is now widely accepted that the user interface can make a critical
difference in the perceived utility of a system regardless of the system's performance.

5.0 CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF EXPERT SYSTEM

Expert systems differ from conventional computer systems in several important ways:
1. Expert systems use knowledge rather than data to control the solution process. Much
of the knowledge used is heuristic in nature rather than algorithmic.
2. The knowledge is encoded and maintained as an entity separate from the control
program.
3. Expert system use symbolic representation for knowledge and perform their inference
through symbolic computation that closely resemble manipulations of natural
language.
4. Expert systems are capable of explaining how a particular conclusion was reached
and why requested information is needed during a consultation.
5. Expert system often reason with metaknowledge.

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5.1 BACKGROUND HISTORY
Expert systems first emerged from the research laboratories of a few leading U.S universities
during the 1960s and 1970s. They were developed as specialized problem solvers which
emphasized the use of knowledge rather than algorithms and general search methods. This
approach marked a significant departure from conventional AI architectures at that time. The
accepted direction of researchers then was to use AI systems that employed general problem
solving techniques, such as hill-climbing or mean-end analysis rather than specialized domain
knowledge and heuristics. This departure from the norm proved to be a wise choice. It led to
the development of a new class of successful systems and special system designs. The first
expert system to be completed was DENDRAL, developed at Stanford University in the late
1960s. This system was capable of determining the structure of chemical compounds given a
specification of the compound’s constituent elements and mass spectrometry data obtained
from samples of the compound. Shortly after DENDRAL was completed, the development of
MYCIN began at Stanford University. MYCIN is an expert system which diagnoses the
infection blood disease and determines a recommended list of therapies for the patient. As part
of the heuristic programming project at Stanford, several projects directly related to MYCIN
were completed including a knowledge acquisition component called THEIRESIUS, a tutorial
component called GUIDON, and a shell component called EMYCIN. Other early expert system
projects included PROSPECTOR, a system that assists geologist in the discovery of mineral
deposits, and RI, a system used by Digital Equipment Corporation to select and configure
components of complex computer systems. Since the introduction of these early expert
system, numerous commercial and military versions have been completed with a high degree
of success.

5.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Advantages:
• Provides consistent answers for repetitive decisions, processes and tasks
• Holds and maintains significant levels of information
• Encourages organizations to clarify the logic of their decision-making
• Never "forgets" to ask a question, as a human might
• Can work round the clock
• Can be used by the user more frequently
• A multi-user expert system can serve more users at a time

Disadvantages:
• Lacks common sense needed in some decision making
• Cannot make creative responses as human expert would in unusual circumstances
• Domain experts not always able to explain their logic and reasoning
• Errors may occur in the knowledge base, and lead to wrong decisions
• Cannot adapt to changing environments, unless knowledge base is changed

6.0 APPLICATIONS
Since the introduction of these early expert systems, the range and depth of applications has
broadened dramatically. Application can be found in almost all areas of business and
government. They include such areas as:

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 • Different types of medical diagnoses
• Diagnosis of complex electronic and electromechanical systems.
• Diagnosis of software development projects.
• Forecasting crop damage.
• Identification of chemical compound structures and chemical compounds.
• Location of faults in computer and communication systems.
• Evaluation of loan applicants for lending institution.
• Stock and bond portfolio selection and management
• Numerous applications related to space planning and exploration.

7.0 CONCLUSION
Expert systems are a recent product of artificial intelligence. They are composed of at least
one knowledge base, inference engine and some form of user interface. A few systems also
have some learning capability and a case history file with which to record complete
consultation traces. They began to emerge as university research system during the early
1970s. They have now become one of the more important innovations of AI since they have
been shown to be successful commercial products as well as interesting research tools.

8.0 REFERNCES
1. Hussain & Hussain, 1995,”Information systems Analysis Design and Implementation“,
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