Trust Academy

In Collaboration with

Midlands State University

Bachelor of Science (Hons.) Management Information Systems

MARKING GUIDE

BMIS225 : EXPERT SYSTEMS AND KNOWLEDGE - BASED

SYSTEMS

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SECTION A

QUESTION 1
a) Explain the phases involved in expert system design [10 marks]
b) Explain what the following early Expert Systems were known for:
i. PROSPECTOR
ii. ELIZA
iii. DENDRAL
iv. XCON
v. MYCIN [10 marks]

Answer points
a) ESDLC contains the following phases:
1. Assessment
2. Knowledge Acquisition
3. Design
4. Testing
5. Documentation
6. Maintenance
Any 5 explained will get 2 marks each

b) Expert system
DENDRAL
– identification of chemical constituents
– Applied knowledge (i.e., rule-based reasoning)
– Deduced likely molecular structure of compounds
MYCIN
– diagnosis of illnesses
– A rule-based expert system
– Used for diagnosing and treating bacterial infections
PROSPECTOR
– analysis of geological data for minerals
– discovered a mineral deposit worth millions of dollars.
XCON/R1
– configuration of DEC VAX computer systems
– saved lots of time and millions of dollars
– A rule-based expert system
– Used to determine the optimal information systems configuration

QUESTION 2

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 a. Describe what you understand by knowledge engineer in expert system.
[2 marks]
b. Discuss problems associated with knowledge engineering in terms of:
i. The expert; and [4 marks]
ii. Knowledge engineer [4 marks]
c. Discuss any five characteristics of human intelligence that can be applied in Expert
and Knowledge based systems
[10 marks]

SOLUTION
i. A knowledge engineer is an expert in AI language and knowledge
representation who investigates a particular problem domain, determines
important concepts, and creates correct and efficient representations of the
objects and relations in the domain. The knowledge engineer helps the experts
structure the problem Area by interpreting human answer to question drawing
analogies, Posing counterexamples and bringing conceptual difficulties. He or
She is the system builder.
ii. - Expert may fail to explain
1. May not have time to see through the elicitation phase
2.

Knowledge engineer

3. May fail to get the concepts as explained by expert

4. Fail to represent the knowledge

Any other problems that are valid will be given full marks

c) Characteristics of human intelligence that can be applied in Expert and Knowledge based
systems
Adaptability: an investigative procedure can be refined as new symptoms emerge and new test
results become available.
Abstraction: the most significant symptoms will be considered, and those may be considered as
special cases of more general categories of symptoms. Connections between symptoms and
causes may be established at the general level, e.g. fever is one of the flu-like symptoms, and flu-
like symptoms could point to influenza, pneumonia, viral infection, etc.
Goal directedness: the diagnostic system has a main goal: to identify the cause of the
symptoms; and will plan procedures that progress towards achieving that goal.

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Judgement: recommendations and decisions will be based on experience with previous patient
cases; thus, different experts may have different judgement (c.f. second opinion).
Learning: procedures for selecting and conducting tests are based on treatment of previous
patients (with similar symptoms). Results of the treatment fed back to the KBS will be used to
influence future decisions.
Uncertainty: prognoses about illnesses are often predictions that are based on incomplete
information about the progression of the illness in the patient. That is, there can be incomplete
information about the disease and about the patient.
Any 5 for 2 marks each
SECTION B: Choose any THREE questions from this section.

QUESTION 3
Tom is a cat. Tom caught a bird. Tom is owned by John. Tom is ginger in colour. Cats like
cream. The cat sat on the mat. A cat is a mammal. A bird is an animal. All mammals are animals.
Mammals have fur.
a) Design a semantic network from above scenario. [10 marks]
b) Represent the above scenario using a frame. Add additional relevant information.
[10
marks]
Answer pointer

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b. The student to draw frame showing frame name, slots and fillers for 10 marks

QUESTION 4
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Neural Networks systems are increasingly being deployed in a
number of application areas. Neural network systems offer powerful approaches which can be
applied to the solution of problems in many different application domains.
a) Define Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and discuss how they work. [10 marks]
b) Briefly explain the role of Neurons and Firing Rules in Artificial Neural Networks.
[10
marks]
Answer Pointer
a) In AI, a neural network is "...a computing system made up of a number of simple, highly
interconnected processing elements, which process information by their dynamic state
response to external inputs.” (Hecht-Nielsen). It is an emulation of a biological neural system
that can model mathematically the way biological brain works, allowing the machine to think
and learn the same way humans do. They enable recognition of speech, objects etc. They are
organised in layers made up of interconnect ‘nodes’ - processing elements (neurons) that
work together to solve problems. The features are adaptive learning and self-organising
abilities. The systems contain ‘learning rules’ and are self-learning and trained and are able
to derive meaning from complex data by extracting patterns and detecting trends. They have
the ability to learn how to do tasks based on the data given for training or initial experience.
They recognise patterns and respond in Associative Mapping (the process of learning to
produce a particular pattern on the set of input units or Regularity Detection (where units
learn to response to particular properties of the input patterns.

b) A neuron has many inputs and one output and two modes of operation; the ‘training mode’
and the ‘using’ mode. When a taught input pattern is detected in the input in the using mode, its
associated output becomes the current output. If the input pattern does not belong in the taught
list of input patterns, the firing rule is used to determine whether to fire to not. Firing rules
determine the sequence of activities exhibited by neural networks. A firing rule determines
whether a neuron should fire (respond) for any input pattern and include every input pattern. It
relates to all the input patterns, not only the ones on which the node was trained. A simple firing
rule can be implemented by using Hamming distance technique.

QUESTION 5
a) Conflict resolution strategies
- textual order
- refractoriness
- recency
- breadth
- MEA
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 - Specificity
- LEX
- Simplicity
- priority (salience)
[any 6 explained, 2 marks each]
b) Describe the characteristics of expert systems.
SOLUTION
• Heuristics
Expert systems are considered as a branch of AI because the method of problem solving is
predominantly based on heuristics.  This contrasts very much with the conventional
programming paradigm that uses algorithms to solve problems. 
• Representing knowledge using rules
As we have already seen, expert systems differ from conventional programming in that they
process knowledge rather than data or information.  This knowledge is frequently represented in
a computer in the form of rules; they store the 'rules of thumb ‘that guide the human expert. 
• The inference engine
The real forte of expert systems is their capacity to make inferences or the drawing of
conclusions from premises.  This is precisely what makes an expert system intelligent.
• Explanation facilities
The ability to explain their reasoning processes are another key feature of expert systems.  Such
explanation facilities provide the user with a means of understanding the system behaviour. 

QUESTION 6
There are five members of the expert system development team; the knowledge engineer, the
domain expert, programmer, project manager and the end user. Explain their roles and functions
in the expert system development [20 marks]

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1. Domain Expert:
 is a knowledgeable and skilled person capable of solving problems in a specific area or
domain
 the person’s expertise is to be captured in the expert system
 could be more than one expert that contribute to an expert system
 the expert must be able to communicate his or her knowledge, be willing to participate in
the expert system development and commit a substantial amount of time to the project
 is the most important person in the expert system development team
2. Knowledge Engineer:
 is someone who is capable of designing, building and testing an expert system
 interviews the domain expert to find out how a particular problem is solved
 establishes what reasoning methods the expert uses to handle facts and rules and decides
how to represent them in the expert system
 choose some development software or an expert systems shell, or look at programming
languages for encoding the knowledge
 responsible for testing, revising and integrating the expert system into the workplace
3. Programmer:
 is the person responsible for the actual programming, describing the domain
knowledge in terms that a computer can understand

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  Needs to have the skills in symbolic programming in such AI language such as
Prolog.
 should also know conventional programming language like C, Pascal, FORTRAN
and Basic
4. Project Manager:
 is the leader of the expert system development team, responsible for keeping the
project on track
 makes sure that all deliverables and milestones are met, interacts with the expert,
knowledge engineer, programmer and end-user
5. End-user:
 often called the user
 Is a person who uses the expert system when it is developed.
 must not only be confident in the expert system performance but also feel
comfortable using it

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