Title :
Diagnostic reasoning at multiple levels of abstraction
Author :
Chu, Bei-Tseng Bill ; Reggia, James A.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., North Carolina Univ., Charlotte, NC, USA
Abstract :
A precise domain-independent computational model for diagnostic problem-solving at multiple levels of abstraction is presented. The knowledge representation framework allows causal knowledge to be represented in a precise, yet natural, way that reflects a human diagnostician´s experience in guiding diagnostic reasoning at multiple levels of abstraction. The inference mechanism clearly defines how to form plausible diagnostic hypotheses guided by explicit causal links and the principle of parsimonious covering. It permits the efficient formation of high-level diagnostic hypotheses, while at the same time ensuring that all plausible diagnostic alternatives will be considered if one wishes to reason at sufficiently detailed levels. A prototype implementation has been constructed to demonstrate that the proposed inference model is natural for capturing a small but representative fragment of medical causal knowledge and that with the addition of reasonable heuristics, the inference mechanism exhibits desirable problem-solving behavior
Keywords :
inference mechanisms; knowledge representation; medical diagnostic computing; problem solving; abstraction; causal knowledge; diagnostic problem-solving; diagnostic reasoning; explicit causal links; heuristics; high-level diagnostic hypotheses; inference mechanism; inference model; knowledge representation framework; medical causal knowledge; parsimonious covering; plausible diagnostic hypotheses; precise domain-independent computational model; Computational modeling; Computer science; Diseases; Educational institutions; Humans; Inference mechanisms; Knowledge representation; Medical diagnosis; Problem-solving; System testing;
Conference_Titel :
AI Systems in Government Conference, 1990. Proceedings., Fifth Annual
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-2044-7
DOI :
10.1109/AISIG.1990.63817