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At least 73 records · Page 4

Expert networks in CLIPS

Rule-based expert systems may be structurally and functionally mapped onto a special class of neural networks called expert networks. This mapping lends itself to adaptation of connectionist learning strategies for the expert networks. A parsing algorithm to translate C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) rules into a network of interconnected assertion and operation nodes has been developed. The translation of CLIPS rules to an expert network and back again is illustrated. Measures of uncertainty similar to those rules in MYCIN-like systems are introduced into the CLIPS system and techniques for combining and hiring nodes in the network based on rule-firing with these certainty factors in the expert system are presented. Several learning algorithms are under study which automate the process of attaching certainty factors to rules.

Hruska, S. I.↗

PCLIPS: Parallel CLIPS

PCLIPS (Parallel CLIPS) is a set of extensions to the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) expert system language. PCLIPS is intended to provide an environment for the development of more complex, extensive expert systems. Multiple CLIPS expert systems are now capable of running simultaneously on separate processors, or separate machines, thus dramatically increasing the scope of solvable tasks within the expert systems. As a tool for parallel processing, PCLIPS allows for an expert system to add to its fact-base information generated by other expert systems, thus allowing systems to assist each other in solving a complex problem. This allows individual expert systems to be more compact and efficient, and thus run faster or on smaller machines.

Gryphon, Coranth D.↗

Design concepts for integrating the IMKA technology with CLIPS

The author shares his experiences in evaluating the technical alternatives for integrating the Initiative for Managing Knowledge Assets (IMKA) frame-based knowledge acquisition system with the C language Integrated Production System (CLIPS). Integrating the IMKA technology with CLIPS allows application knowledge to be encoded naturally, using both frames and rules, and allows the knowledge stored in frames to be reasoned about using rules. An overview is given in viewgraph form of the features of the IMKA technology. The challenges of integrating the IMKA technology with CLIPS, three integration models, and the circumstances under which each is appropriate are discussed.

Scarola, David↗

Third CLIPS Conference Proceedings, volume 1

Expert systems are computed programs which emulate human expertise in well defined problem domains. The potential payoff from expert systems is high: valuable expertise can be captured and preserved, repetitive and/or mundane tasks requiring human expertise can be automated, and uniformity can be applied in decision making processes. The C Language Integrated Production Systems (CLIPS) is an expert system building tool, developed at the Johnson Space Center, which provides a complete environment for the development and delivery of rule and/or object based expert systems. CLIPS was specifically designed to provide a low cost option for developing and deploying expert system applications across a wide range of hardware platforms. The development of CLIPS has helped to improve the ability to deliver expert systems technology throughout the public and private sectors for a wide range of applications and diverse computing environments.

Riley, Gary↗

Using CLIPS to represent knowledge in a VR simulation

Virtual reality (VR) is an exciting use of advanced hardware and software technologies to achieve an immersive simulation. Until recently, the majority of virtual environments were merely 'fly-throughs' in which a user could freely explore a 3-dimensional world or a visualized dataset. Now that the underlying technologies are reaching a level of maturity, programmers are seeking ways to increase the complexity and interactivity of immersive simulations. In most cases, interactivity in a virtual environment can be specified in the form 'whenever such-and-such happens to object X, it reacts in the following manner.' CLIPS and COOL provide a simple and elegant framework for representing this knowledge-base in an efficient manner that can be extended incrementally. The complexity of a detailed simulation becomes more manageable when the control flow is governed by CLIPS' rule-based inference engine as opposed to by traditional procedural mechanisms. Examples in this paper will illustrate an effective way to represent VR information in CLIPS, and to tie this knowledge base to the input and output C routines of a typical virtual environment.

Engelberg, Mark L.↗

Fault-tolerant, embedded CLIPS applications

The enhancements to CLIPS4.3 presented in this paper provide an embedded CLIPS application with the ability to continue operation with minimal to no loss of information in the event of a hardware or a software failure. Given an arbitrary failure, the CLIPS application's environment (fact-list, agenda, and pattern matching network) will be reconstructed to the point at which the failure was experienced. The environment reconstruction is based on state files to which the application periodically checks environment information (fact-list and agenda). The routine for checkpointing the state of the application is as efficient as possible so that the overhead introduced to normal execution of the application is minimal. The only assumptions made by the CLIPS application are that it is running under an operating system that guarantees it access to uncorrupt state files and that the application will be automatically restarted should it terminate abnormally.

Hicks, Jaye↗

A CLIPS expert system for clinical flow cytometry data analysis

An expert system is being developed using CLIPS to assist clinicians in the analysis of multivariate flow cytometry data from cancer patients. Cluster analysis is used to find subpopulations representing various cell types in multiple datasets each consisting of four to five measurements on each of 5000 cells. CLIPS facts are derived from results of the clustering. CLIPS rules are based on the expertise of Drs. Stewart, Duque, and Braylan. The rules incorporate certainty factors based on case histories.

Salzman, G. C.↗

Implementation of a frame-based representation in CLIPS

Knowledge representation is one of the major concerns in expert systems. The representation of domain-specific knowledge should agree with the nature of the domain entities and their use in the real world. For example, architectural applications deal with objects and entities such as spaces, walls, and windows. A natural way of representing these architectural entities is provided by frames. This research explores the potential of using the expert system shell CLIPS, developed by NASA, to implement a frame-based representation that can accommodate architectural knowledge. These frames are similar but quite different from the 'template' construct in version 4.3 of CLIPS. Templates support only the grouping of related information and the assignment of default values to template fields. In addition to these features frames provide other capabilities including definition of classes, inheritance between classes and subclasses, relation of objects of different classes with 'has-a', association of methods (demons) of different types (standard and user-defined) to fields (slots), and creation of new fields at run-time. This frame-based representation is implemented completely in CLIPS. No change to the source code is necessary.

Assal, Hisham↗

Executing CLIPS expert systems in a distributed environment

This paper describes a framework for running cooperating agents in a distributed environment to support the Intelligent Computer Aided Design System (ICADS), a project in progress at the CAD Research Unit of the Design Institute at the California Polytechnic State University. Currently, the systems aids an architectural designer in creating a floor plan that satisfies some general architectural constraints and project specific requirements. At the core of ICADS is the Blackboard Control System. Connected to the blackboard are any number of domain experts called Intelligent Design Tools (IDT). The Blackboard Control System monitors the evolving design as it is being drawn and helps resolve conflicts from the domain experts. The user serves as a partner in this system by manipulating the floor plan in the CAD system and validating recommendations made by the domain experts. The primary components of the Blackboard Control System are two expert systems executed by a modified CLIPS shell. The first is the Message Handler. The second is the Conflict Resolver. The Conflict Resolver synthesizes the suggestions made by the domain experts, which can be either CLIPS expert systems, or compiled C programs. In DEMO1, the current ICADS prototype, the CLIPS domain expert systems are Acoustics, Lighting, Structural, and Thermal; the compiled C domain experts are the CAD system and the User Interface.

Taylor, James↗

Constructing complex graphics applications with CLIPS and the X window system

This article will demonstrate how the artificial intelligence concepts in CLIPS used to solve problems encountered in the design and implementation of graphics applications within the UNIX-X Window System environment. The design of an extended version of CLIPS, called XCLIPS, is presented to show how the X Windows System graphics can be incorporated without losing DOS compatibility. Using XCLIPS, a sample scientific application is built that applies solving capabilities of both two and three dimensional graphics presentations in conjunction with the standard CLIPS features.

Faul, Ben M.↗

An object oriented generic controller using CLIPS

In today's applications, the need for the division of code and data has focused on the growth of object oriented programming. This philosophy gives software engineers greater control over the environment of an application. Yet the use of object oriented design does not exclude the need for greater understanding by the application of what the controller is doing. Such understanding is only possible by using expert systems. Providing a controller that is capable of controlling an object by using rule-based expertise would expedite the use of both object oriented design and expert knowledge of the dynamic of an environment in modern controllers. This project presents a model of a controller that uses the CLIPS expert system and objects in C++ to create a generic controller. The polymorphic abilities of C++ allow for the design of a generic component stored in individual data files. Accompanying the component is a set of rules written in CLIPS which provide the following: the control of individual components, the input of sensory data from components and the ability to find the status of a given component. Along with the data describing the application, a set of inference rules written in CLIPS allows the application to make use of sensory facts and status and control abilities. As a demonstration of this ability, the control of the environment of a house is provided. This demonstration includes the data files describing the rooms and their contents as far as devices, windows and doors. The rules used for the home consist of the flow of people in the house and the control of devices by the home owner.

Nivens, Cody R.↗

Masking of photovoltaic system performance problems by inverter clipping and other design and operational practices

We describe how performance problems can be “masked,” or not readily evident by several causes: by photovoltaic (PV) system configuration (such as the size of the PV array capacity relative to the size of the inverter and the resultant clipped operating mode); by instrumentation design, installation, and maintenance (such as a misaligned or dirty pyranometer); by contract clauses (when operational availability is transformed to contractual availability, which excludes many factors); and by identified management and operational practices (such as reporting on a portfolio of plants rather than individually). A simple method based on a duration curve is introduced to overcome shortcomings of Performance Ratio based on nameplate capacity and Performance Index based on hourly simulation when quantifying masking effects, and inverter clipping and pyranometer soiling are presented as two examples of the new method. With a better understanding of the non-transparency of masking issues, stakeholders can better interpret performance data and deliver improved AC and DC plant conditions through PV system operation and maintenance (O&M) for improved performance, reduced O&M costs, and a more consistently delivered, and reduced, levelized cost of energy (LCOE).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

First Moments of a Polyhedron Clipped by a Paraboloid

We provide closed-form expressions for the first moments (i.e., the volume and volume-weighted centroid) of a polyhedron clipped by a paraboloid, that is, of a polyhedron intersected with the subset of the three-dimensional real space located on one side of a paraboloid. These closed-form expressions are derived following successive applications of the divergence theorem and the judicious parametrization of the intersection of the polyhedron’s faces with the paraboloid. Here, we provide means for identifying ambiguous discrete intersection topologies, and propose a corrective procedure for preventing their occurence. Finally, we put our proposed closed-form expressions and numerical approach to the test with millions of random and manually engineered polyhedron/paraboloid intersection configurations. The results of these tests show that we are able to provide robust machine-accurate estimates of the first moments at a computational cost that is within one order of magnitude of that of state-of-the-art half-space clipping algorithms.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A spectral method for determining the percentage of green herbage material in clipped samples

A laboratory radiometric method for the rapid determination of green and brown vegetation percentages in clipped grass samples has been developed and tested. The method uses red and photographic infrared radiance or reflectance differences between green and brown vegetation. Mixtures of green and brown material were found to have radiances or reflectances proportional to the percentage of green material present. This method may permit the use of rapid green/brown radiometric determinations to replace the tedious hand sorting now generally used. It may also have application in remote sensing of vegetation ground-truth work where the determination of dry green biomass in clipped samples is necessary.

Tucker, C. J.↗

CLIPS: An expert system tool for delivery and training

The C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) is a forward chaining rule-based language. The requirements necessary for an expert system tool which is used for development, delivery, and training are examined. Because of its high portability, low cost, and ease of integration with external systems, CLIPS has great potential as an expert system tool for delivery and training. In addition, its representation flexibility, debugging aids, and performance, along with its other strengths, make it a viable alternative for expert system development.

Riley, Gary↗

A cost-effective strategy for nonoscillatory convection without clipping

Clipping of narrow extrema and distortion of smooth profiles is a well known problem associated with so-called high resolution nonoscillatory convection schemes. A strategy is presented for accurately simulating highly convective flows containing discontinuities such as density fronts or shock waves, without distorting smooth profiles or clipping narrow local extrema. The convection algorithm is based on non-artificially diffusive third-order upwinding in smooth regions, with automatic adaptive stencil expansion to (in principle, arbitrarily) higher order upwinding locally, in regions of rapidly changing gradients. This is highly cost effective because the wider stencil is used only where needed-in isolated narrow regions. A recently developed universal limiter assures sharp monotonic resolution of discontinuities without introducing artificial diffusion or numerical compression. An adaptive discriminator is constructed to distinguish between spurious overshoots and physical peaks; this automatically relaxes the limiter near local turning points, thereby avoiding loss of resolution in narrow extrema. Examples are given for one-dimensional pure convection of scalar profiles at constant velocity.

Leonard, B. P.↗

Using a CLIPS expert system to automatically manage TCP/IP networks and their components

A expert system that can directly manage networks components on a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network is described. Previous expert systems for managing networks have focused on managing network faults after they occur. However, this proactive expert system can monitor and control network components in near real time. The ability to directly manage network elements from the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) is accomplished by the integration of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and a Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN) parser into the CLIPS artificial intelligence language.

Faul, Ben M.↗