A quantitative analysis of the robustness of Knowledge-Based Systems through degradation studies

Perry Groot
Annette ten Teije
Frank van Harmelen

The overall aim of this paper is to provide a general setting for quantitative quality measures of Knowledge-Based System behavior which is widely applicable to many Knowledge- Based Systems. We propose a general approach that we call degradation studiesof how system output changes as a function of degrading system input, such as incomplete or incorrect data or knowledge.
To show the feasibility of our approach, we have applied it in a case study. We have taken a large and realistic vegetation-classification system, and have analyzed its behavior under various varieties of incomplete and incorrect input. This case study shows that degradation studies can reveal interesting and surprising properties of the system under study.

(PDF paper, 145Kb)

@Article{KAIS03,
  author = 	 "Perry Groot and Annette ten Teije and Frank van Harmelen",
  title = 	 "A quantitative analysis of the robustness of
                  Knowledge-Based Systems through degradation studies",
  journal = 	 "Knowledge and Information Systems",
  year = 	 2003,
  volume =	 7,
  number =	 2,
  pages  =       "224-245",
  URL = "http://www.springerlink.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=8cac231awn5ynvebaddj&referrer=parent&backto=issue,5,6;journal,2,25;linkingpublicationresults,1:105441,1",
  keywords = {Approximate Reasoning},
  urlPaper = "http://www.cs.vu.nl/~frankh/postscript/KAIS03.pdf"
}

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