Yarmouk University

Faculty of Information Technology & Computer Sciences

Department of Computer Information Systems

CS 672: Knowledge-Base Systems

Course Credits: 3 Cr. Hrs. Pre-requisite(s): CS 376
Semester/Session: Spring 2013/2014
Class Section(s) Time & Location:
Section 1, Mo, Wed 3:30 – 5:00, Al-Khawarezmi Rm. 413
Instructor: Dr. Iyad Abu Doush Web: faculty.yu.edu.jo/iyad
Office Hours: Sun, Tue, Thu 10:00 – 11:00; Office Location: Al-Khawarezmi 208
Mon, Wed 10:00 – 11:00
E-Mail address: dr.iyad.abudoush@gmail.com
Phone: ext. 3858

Course Description:

Knowledge representations and mappings, approaches and issues (e.g. predicate

logic, fuzzy logic, week and strong slot and filler structures), knowledge
acquisition, the frame problem, symbolic reasoning under uncertainty (non-
monotonic reasoning, augmenting a problem Solver), statistical reasoning (e.g.
probability and Bays Theorem, Bayesian networks, Dumpster-Shafer theory),
building knowledge-based systems.

Course Objectives:
This course aims to:

 The students will design an expert system using appropriate knowledge-based

software tools.
 To enable students to search for knowledge (acquisition) and to specify it
clearly (validation).
 The concepts of expert systems will be introduced.
 To enable students to design a knowledge structure integrated with production
planning, quality control and other subsystems of an industrial organization.
 To introduce the features of a feasible expert system.
 To enable students use various knowledge representation methods and
different expert system structures from the industrial engineering point of
view.
 To allow students to present oral and written reports.
 Apply AI techniques to the problem of acquisition and representation of expert
knowledge for problem solving in the expert’s domain.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course the participant will:
 Be able to understand the knowledge-based systems representation.
 Be able to understand automatic reasoning.
 Be able to understand inductive and deductive learning.
 Be able to implement a small knowledge- based system.

Teaching Methods:
The course will be based on the following teaching and learning activities:
 Lectures covering the theoretical part using PowerPoint presentations
 Case studies
 Review questions
 Lab sessions

Evaluation Plan:
Students will be evaluated in this course using a combination of assessment
methods, including:
 Written exams: 70% of the total grade (Midterm exam 30% and Final Exam
40%, as specified in the course plan)
 Assignments and a Project 30% of the total grade (will be on 3 phases 10%
each).

Teaching Resources:

Main Textbook

 Knowledge-Based Systems. Rajendra Akerkar , Priti Sajja, 2009 ,

ISBN10: 0763776475.

Supplementary Textbooks

 Engineering of Knowledge-Based Systems. Avelino J. Gonzalez, Douglas

D. Dankel, Prentice Hall (2000), ISBN-10: 0130189731.
 Expert Systems: Principles and Programming, Fourth Edition.Joseph C.
Giarratano, Gary D. Riley, 2004, ISBN-10: 0534384471

Supplies: The course will involve a project using ECLiPSe (Constraint Logic
Programming language http://eclipseclp.org/ ).

Electronic material placed on Yarmouk University site for this course:

Syllabus, PowerPoint slides, exercises, assignments, case studies,
announcements, exam samples, and discussions.
Cooperation and Cheating
Do not look at or copy another students solution to a homework or lab. I am not concerned with
how you come to understand the problem and how to solve it, but once you have the background
necessary to solve it, you must provide your own solution. Exchanging homework or lab solutions is
cheating and will be reported to the University. At minimum, you will fail the course.
Class Policies

1. The University policy on attendance will be observed.

2. Students absent during recitations and quizzes will get no credit for that particular
requirement.

3. All homework assignments are due at the beginning of the class unless otherwise stated.
Late homework assignments will not be accepted.

4. Late programming exercises are subject to 10% late penalty per day.

5. Any form of dishonesty or cheating is not tolerated. While all students are encouraged to
openly discuss and ask questions, the final work to be submitted must be the student’s own.

Course Plan:

Topic
1 Week 1
❖ Introduction
 Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS), Expert Systems (ES)
 Data/Information/Knowledge
2 Week 2
❖ Knowledge Representation
 Semantic Nets, Rules, Frames, Scripts, Logic, RDF

3 Week 3

❖ Reasoning and Inference

 Predicate Logic, Description Logics, Inference Methods,
Resolution
4 Week 4

❖ Reasoning and Inference

 Inference Methods, Resolution

5 Week 5

❖ ECLiPSe-specific Language features

  Structure, Iteration, Loops, I/O

6 Week 6

❖ Reasoning with Uncertainty

 Probability, Bayesian Decision Making, Dempster-Shafer
Theory

7 Week 7
❖ Reasoning with Uncertainty
 Dempster-Shafer Theory

8 Week 8+9

❖ Approximate Reasoning
 Fuzzy Logic

Midterm Exam
9 Week 10

❖ Semantic Web Technologies

10 Week 11
❖ Semantic Web Technologies

11 Week 12+ 13

❖ KBS Case Studies

12 Week 14
❖ Projects Presentation
Final Exam