PROLOG EXPERT SYSTEM BUILDING TOOL
          Contributed by Steven Salvini, Heriot-Watt University
                   Received on the 30th of August 1988
                   Shelved on the 3rd of October 1988


PROTEST EXPERT SYSTEM

This is a  cut-down version of the expert system  building tool produced
by Steven Salvini as part of his M.Sc. dissertation in 1986. [Steven S]


PROTEST is  a tool for building  prototype expert systems.  It accepts a
knowledge base written in IF-THEN rules whose conditions and conclusions
consist of object/attribute/value triples:

    rule1:
        if
                pain/duration/constant
            and
                pain/localisation/accurate
            and
                pain/'initiated by'/'gentle touch'
            and
                pain/character/'sudden onset'
            and
                pain/character/'intense & throbbing'
            and
                gingivae/swelling/present
            and
                gingivae/erythema/present
            and
                miscellaneous/'local lymphadenopathy'/present
            and
                pain/'initiated by'/'clenching, biting or chewing'
            and
                tooth/mobility/present
        then
            diagnosis/group/abscess
        with
            certainty(0.9).

Conclusions may contain certainty factors.

Inference can be either backward chaining or mixed. The former is normal
backward  chaining, giving  a single  firm  conclusion if  one has  been
deduced or  else as  a list of  possible conclusions  in order  of their
certainties.

Mixed mode  is a "mixed" inference  strategy which first prompts  you to
enter your initial findings and then tries  to deduce one or more of the
goals. If a firm  conclusion is not reached, it then  tries to solve the
problem by backward-chaining.

After PROTEST has  given a conclusion, you  can ask to see  its chain of
reasoning.

A sample knowledge base, for dental diagnosis, is included. [JNP]



SIZE : 325 kilobytes.                    


CHECKED ON EDINBURGH-COMPATIBLE (POPLOG) PROLOG : yes.

    occasionally, some messages seem to  go missing, possibly because of
    an incompatibility in terminals.

PORTABILITY :

    the terminal-control predicates are terminal-specific.


INTERNAL DOCUMENTATION :

    Each important predicate  comes with a brief  comment describing its
    purpose. There is a user manual.