NetWeaver for EMDS user guide (version 1.1): a knowledge base development system.

Abstract

The guide describes use of the NetWeaver knowledge base development system. Knowledge representation in NetWeaver is based on object-oriented fuzzy-logic networks that offer several significant advantages over the more traditional rulebased representation. Compared to rule-based knowledge bases, NetWeaver knowledge bases are easier to build, test, and maintain because the underlying object-based representation makes them modular. The modularity of NetWeaver knowledge bases, in turn, allows designers to gradually evolve complex knowledge bases from simpler ones in small, simple steps. Modularity also allows interactive knowledge base debugging at any and all stages of knowledge base development, which expedites the development process. Finally, fuzzy logic provides a formal and complete calculus for knowledge representation that is less arbitrary than the confidence factor approach used in rule-based systems and much more parsimonious than bivalent rules.

Citation

Reynolds, Keith M. 1999. NetWeaver for EMDS user guide (version 1.1): a knowledge base development system. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-471. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 75 p