Knowledge Engineering

(IT4362)

Quang Nhat Nguyen

(quang.nguyennhat@hust.edu.vn)

Hanoi University of Science and Technology

School of Information and Communication Technology
Academic year 2021-2022
Content
◼ Introduction
• Knowledge engineering
• Knowledge-based systems
• Social impact
◼ First-order logic
◼ Knowledge representation
◼ Logic programming
◼ Expert systems
◼ Uncertain reasoning
◼ Knowledge discovery by Machine learning
◼ Knowledge discovery by Data mining

Knowledge Engineering 2
Definition of Data
◼ Data (the plural of datum) are just raw facts (Long and
Long, 1998)
◼ Data . . . are streams of raw facts representing events . . .
before they have been arranged into a form that people
can understand and use (Laudon and Laudon, 1998)
◼ Data is comprised of facts (Hayes, 1992)
◼ Recorded symbols (McNurlin and Sprague, 1998)

→Data is often defined as facts or symbols

Knowledge Engineering 3
Definition of Information
◼ That property of data which represents and measures effects
of processing them (Hayes, 1992)
◼ Data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningful and
useful to human beings (Laudon and Laudon, 1998)
◼ Data that have been collected and processed into a
meaningful form. Simply, information is the meaning we give
to accumulated facts (data) (Long and Long, 1998)
◼ Data in context (McNurlin and Sprague, 1998)

→Information is often defined as data processed or transformed

into a form or structure suitable for use by human beings
→Information comes after (does not appear before) data

Knowledge Engineering 4
Definition of Knowledge
◼ The result of the understanding of information (Hayes,
1992)
◼ The result of internalizing information (Hayes, 1992)
◼ Collected information about an area of concern (Senn,
1990)
◼ Information with direction or intent – it facilitates a
decision or an action (Zachman, 1987)

→Knowledge is often defined as understanding of

information

Knowledge Engineering 5
 Pyramid of Data/Information/Knowledge

Knowledge on knowledge
(e.g., how/when to apply)

Knowledge-
based
systems Meta- Understanding of a
domain. Can be applied to
Knowledge solve problems

Knowledge
Lower volume. Higher
value. With context and
Management
information Databases,
Information associated meanings
systems transaction
systems Data
Large volume. Low
value. Usually no
meaning/ context

(Adapted from “Knowledge Engineering course (CM3016), by K. Hui 2008-2009”)

Knowledge Engineering 6
Example of Data/Information/Knowledge

◼ Data
❑ The temperature outside is 5 degree Celsius

◼ Information
❑ It is cold outside

◼ Knowledge
❑ If it is cold outside then you should wear a warm coat

→The perceived value of data increases as it is transferred

into knowledge
→Knowledge enables useful decisions to be made

Knowledge Engineering 7
Definition of Knowledge Engineering
◼ Knowledge Engineering (KE)
❑ An engineering discipline
❑ To integrate knowledge into computer systems (in order to solve
complex problems normally requiring a high level of human
expertise)

◼ KE enables computer systems

❑ To build knowledge bases
❑ To maintain knowledge bases
❑ To exploit knowledge bases to provide solutions to real-world
problems

Knowledge Engineering 8
Main activities of KE
◼ Knowledge representation
❑ To represent (encode) knowledge in the knowledge base
◼ Knowledge acquisition
❑ To obtain knowledge from various sources (e.g., human experts,
computer sources of data, books, etc.)
◼ Knowledge validation
❑ Knowledge is checked using test cases for adequate quality
◼ Inferring (reasoning)
❑ To form inferences in the knowledge so that the system can
make a decision or provide advice to the user
◼ Explanation and justification
❑ To explain how a conclusion was reached using knowledge in the
knowledge base
Knowledge Engineering 9
Knowledge-based systems
◼ Knowledge-based systems (KBSs) are those systems
that maintain and exploit knowledge to solve real-world
(often complex) problems
◼ KBS = Knowledge + Inference (Reasoning)
◼ Knowledge in a KBS
❑ Specific to a domain (application area)
❑ Represented and stored in the system’s knowledge base
◼ Inference (reasoning) in a KBS
❑ Apply domain-specific knowledge to search for a solution (if any)
❑ Simulate a logical reasoning process
◼ E.g., Simulate the reasoning process of experts in the given domain

Knowledge Engineering 10
Main features of KBSs
◼ The separation of the knowledge from how it is used
◼ The use of specific-domain knowledge
◼ The heuristic (experience) rather than algorithmic nature
of the knowledge employed
❑ Solve problems by heuristic methods, not just only by algorithms

◼ Simulate human reasoning about a problem domain

❑ Perform reasoning over representations of knowledge

Knowledge Engineering 11
Architecture of a KBS (1)
Knowledge-based system

Inference User
User
engine interface

Working
memory
Knowledge
base

Knowledge Engineering 12
Architecture of a KBS (2)
◼ Knowledge Base (KB)
❑ Representation of knowledge
❑ Contains expertise (domain-specific knowledge), such as
relationships/association between objects/concepts, problem-
solving strategies, etc.

◼ Inference Engine
❑ Use of knowledge
❑ Applies knowledge in the KB in order to find a solution to the
current problem

Knowledge Engineering 13
Architecture of a KBS (3)
◼ Working Memory
❑ To temporarily store status of the current problem solving session
◼ facts about the current situation
◼ any (intermediate) conclusions drawn
◼ hypothesis (goals)

◼ User Interface
❑ Allows the KBS to interact with the user
❑ User provides facts (i.e., describes the problem) and queries the
KBS to get a solution
❑ The KBS returns solution(s)

Knowledge Engineering 14
Main steps of development of a KBS
◼ Problem identification and analysis
❑ Elicit requirements (e.g., organizational needs and constraints)
◼ Knowledge engineering
❑ Represent knowledge, acquire knowledge, transfer acquired
knowledge to the knowledge base, construct inference engine
◼ System modeling and design
◼ System implementation
❑ Develop system prototype
◼ System evaluation
❑ Test the knowledge, test the reasoning, and test the system
◼ System maintenance
Knowledge Engineering 15
Knowledge acquisition
◼ To acquire (elicit) knowledge from sources of expertise,
and transfer it to the knowledge base
◼ Sources of expertise: human experts, books, magazines,
databases, the Internet, etc.
◼ Methods of knowledge acquisition
❑ Manually: interviewing, or observing and tracking the reasoning
process
❑ Automatically: using computer programs to discover knowledge
❑ Semi-automatically: interviewing human experts, with the aid
(support) of computer programs/tools

Knowledge Engineering 16
Knowledge representation
◼ A number of knowledge representation methods
❑ Production rules, Frames, Semantic networks, Ontology,
Probabilistic models, etc.
◼ Completeness
❑ Support the acquisition of all aspects of knowledge
◼ Conciseness
❑ Efficient acquisition, Easy storage and access
◼ Computational efficiency
◼ Transparency
❑ Enable understanding of the system’s behaviour and conclusions

Knowledge Engineering 17
Typical types of KBSs
◼ Expert systems
❑ To mimic the decision-making process of human experts in a
specific domain
◼ Machine learning-based systems
❑ To learn from experience (i.e., examples) to discover knowledge
❑ E.g., Neural networks, case-based reasoning, decision tree, etc.
◼ Data mining-based systems
❑ To identify relationships in data (in large datasets)
❑ E.g., To identify products/services often purchased at the same
time
◼ Intelligent agent-based systems
❑ To learn and make increasingly complex decisions on behalf of
their users, in order to reach (achieve) their predefined goal(s)
Knowledge Engineering 18
Typical tasks of KBSs (1)
◼ Decision making support (e.g., decisions of product
selection)
◼ Interpretation of data (e.g., sonar signals, vocal signals)
◼ Diagnosis of malfunctions (e.g., diseases, machine fails)
◼ Structural analysis of complex objects (e.g., chemical
compounds, DNA sequences)
◼ Configuration of complex objects (e.g., computer
systems)
◼ Recognition of objects (e.g., faces, hand-written words)

Knowledge Engineering 19
Typical tasks of KBSs (2)
◼ Classification of concepts (e.g., animals, web pages’
categories)
◼ Prediction of consequences of situations (e.g., storm
forecasting)
◼ Scheduling activities (e.g., schedule of courses)
◼ Planning sequence of actions (e.g., robot’s motion and
actions)
◼ Natural language understanding (e.g., language
translation of a text)

Knowledge Engineering 20
Advantages of KBSs
◼ Distribution and availability of knowledge (expertise)
❑ KBSs enables knowledge to be exploited in any time, and in
anywhere
◼ Consistent results
❑ Given a problem, results returned by different persons (or the
same person at different moments) may be inconsistent
◼ Retaining of knowledge
❑ To store obtained knowledge for reuse in the future
◼ Able to solve problems with incomplete/uncertain data
and knowledge
◼ Able to explain the system’s produced solutions

Knowledge Engineering 21
Disadvantages of KBSs
◼ Correctness of the produced results (solutions) depends
strongly on the knowledge owned by the system
◼ Limited knowledge
❑ Not all knowledge can be represented and captured
❑ The system does not know the limitations of its owned knowledge
◼ Lack of ‘commonsense knowledge’
❑ Knowledge about the same application domain of two KBSs may
be different (even contain some conflicts)
◼ Elicitation and maintenance of knowledge is (very) difficult
◼ Often need (but also often difficult) to manage the degradation
of knowledge over time
❑ True knowledge at a previous time may be less (or not) correct at
a latter time

Knowledge Engineering 22
Examples of practical KBSs (1)
◼ MYCIN
❑ Work as a consultant for physicians
❑ Diagnose certain infectious diseases (e.g., infectious blood)
❑ Prescribe anti-microbial therapy
❑ Can explain its reasoning in detail
❑ In a controlled test, its performance equaled that of specialists

◼ DENDRAL
❑ Support organic chemists in identifying unknown organic
molecules, and in determining the molecular structure of soil
❑ Uses the molecular formula, the spectrographic data, and the
encoded heuristic knowledge of organic chemists and geneticists

Knowledge Engineering 23
Examples of practical KBSs (2)
◼ PROSPECTOR
❑ For mineral exploration
❑ Use a combined structure of rules and a semantic network
❑ Help exploration geologists assess suspected mineral deposits

◼ XCON
❑ Assist customers in the ordering of DEC's VAX computer systems
– by automatically selecting the computer system components
based on the customer's requirements
❑ Before XCON, when ordering a VAX from DEC, every cable,
connection, and bit of software had to be ordered separately
❑ Customers would find that they had hardware without the correct
cables, printers without the correct drivers, a processor without
the correct language chip, etc.

Knowledge Engineering 24
Examples of practical KBSs (3)
◼ MEDEX
❑ Predict the onset, continuation and cessation of specific gale-
force wind events (wind speeds greater than 17 meters per
second) throughout various regions within the Mediterranean Sea
❑ Uses expert system methods to represent the expertise of a
meteorologist/forecaster with 25 years of experience in the
Mediterranean
❑ Use fuzzy set methods to deal with the uncertainty and
imprecision inherent in the expression of this type of knowledge
◼ NAVEX
❑ Monitor radar data
❑ Estimate the velocity and position of the space shuttle

Knowledge Engineering 25
Examples of practical KBSs (4)
◼ CROP ADVISOR
❑ Advise cereal grain farmers on appropriate fertilizers and
pesticides for their farms
❑ Given relevant data, the system produces various financial return
projections for different application rates of different chemicals
❑ The system uses statistical reasoning to come to these
conclusions
◼ OPTIMUM-AIV
❑ A planner, used by the European Space Agency, to help in the
assembly, integration, and verification of spacecraft
❑ Generate plans and monitor their execution
❑ Can reason about complex conditions, time, and resources (such
as budget constraints)

Knowledge Engineering 26
Examples of practical KBSs (5)
◼ FraudWatch (Barclay Bank)
❑ To detect frauds in use of credit cards
◼ KLM Airlines
❑ Help customers construct their flight schedule
◼ Hitachi
❑ Process scheduling in chemical plants
◼ Toshiba
❑ Diagnose faults (and restore operation) of an electric power system
◼ NEC
❑ COSMOS/AI – a crew scheduling system for Japan Airlines
◼ Mitsubishi Electric
❑ A knowledge-based system for elevator group control
Knowledge Engineering 27
References
◼ R. Hayes. The Measurement of Information. In Vakkari, P. and Cronin, B.
(editors): Conceptions of Library and Information Science, pp. 97–108.
Taylor Graham, 1992.
◼ K. C. Laudon and J. P. Laudon. Management Information Systems: New
Approaches to Organisation and Technology (5th edition). Prentice-Hall,
1998.
◼ L. Long and N. Long. Computers (5th edition). Prentice-Hall, 1998.
◼ B. McNurlin and R. H. Sprague. Information Systems Management in
Practice (4th edition). Prentice-Hall, 1998.
◼ J. A. Senn. Information Systems in Management. Wadsworth Publishing,
1990.
◼ J. Zachman. A Framework for Information Systems Architecture. IBM
Systems Journal, 26(3): 276–292, 1987.

Knowledge Engineering 28