this article is to develop a task structure for design as a knowledge -based problemsolving activity

In order to learn effectively, a reasoner must not only possess knowledge about the world and be able to improve that knowledge, but it also must introspectively reason about how it performs a given task and what particular pieces of knowledge it needs to improve its performance at the current task. Introspection requires declarative representations of meta-knowledge of the reasoning performed by the system during the performance task, of the system's knowledge, and of the organization of this knowledge. This paper presents a taxonomy of possible reasoning failures that can occur during a performance task, declarative representations of these failures, and associations between failures and particular learning strategies. The theory is based on Meta-XPs, which are explanation structures that help the system identify failure types, formulate learning goals, and choose appropriate learning strategies in order to avoid similar mistakes in the future. The theory is implemented in a ...

Case-based reasoning systems have traditionally been used to perform high-level reasoning in problem domains that can be adequately described using discrete, symbolic representations. However, many real-world problem domains, such as autonomous robotic navigation, are better characterized using continuous representations. Such problem domains also require continuous performance, such as online sensorimotor interaction with the environment, and continuous adaptation and learning during the performance task. This article introduces a new method for continuous case-based reasoning, and discusses its application to the dynamic selection, modification, and acquisition of robot behaviors in an autonomous navigation system, SINS (Self-Improving Navigation System). The computer program and the underlying method are systematically evaluated through statistical analysis of results from several empirical studies. The article concludes with a general discussion of case-based reasoning issues addr...

Modern software development is a knowledge-intensive activity. The proliferation of development tools, rapidly changing technology, and increasing complexity and diversity of application domains all increase the cognitive burden placed on software developers. General purpose programming languages and CASE tools offer little relief from these problems. Knowledge management tools are needed that can effectively capture and disseminate software development knowledge that applies to the domain-specific needs of an organization. This knowledge is not static, but evolves with technology and the changing needs of the organization's development practices, customer base, and business milieu.

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Case-based reasoning (CBR) has a great deal to offer in supporting creative design, particularly processes that rely heavily on previous design experience, such as framing the problem and evaluating design alternatives. However, most existing CBR systems are not living up to their potential. They tend to adapt and reuse old solutions in routine ways, producing robust but uninspired results. Little research effort has been directed towards the kinds of situation assessment, evaluation, and assimilation processes that facilitate the exploration of ideas and the elaboration and redefinition of problems that are crucial to creative design. Also, their typically rigid control structures do not facilitate the kinds of strategic control and opportunism inherent in creative reasoning. In this paper, we describe the types of behavior we would like case-based design systems to support, based on a study of designers working on a mechanical engineering problem. We show how the standard CBR framewo...

We introduce an organizational interpretation of the well-known case-based reasoning cycle of Aamodt and Plaza which is helpful for comparing the case-based reasoning approach to other approaches known from Software Engineering like the quality improvement paradigm and experience factory approach. We will point out that the introduction of an organizational view to the case-based reasoning cycle contributes to the modeling of and the decision support for experience guided business processes and we believe that this is a first step into the right direction for case-based reasoning to become a key technology for supporting organizational learning. In addition, even for simple application scenarios the applicability potential of casebased reasoning technology is made more explicit by including organizational issues that are usually necessary within real-life environments. 1. Introduction An increasing number of activities and publications underlines that the fields of Software and Knowle...

Abstract. The rapid expansion of Decision and Negotiation Support Systems has been built mainly on decision theoretic approaches. This has resulted in the decision maker being viewed through the lens of the problem. In this paper the focus is on the decision maker's view of the problem. Three levels of problem articulation are described. Special emphasis is placed on the needs level and the implications it carries for the cognitive and instrumental levels. The three levels of articulation, the organizational model of making decision in social settings and the three basic approaches to decision making form the basis for computer support focused on understanding and change rather than preferences and outcomes. We argue that in the dynamic, interactive context characteristic of negotiations, a cognitive support system based on restructurable modelling provides a richer basis for support.

A case-based system for expert advice-giving is described. The system, TaxOps, engages the user, a corporate tax professional, in an interactive video dialog that explores the problem domain from various perspectives. As a result, the user is exposed to the collective memory of the organization, in a manner that is focused by the problem being solved. TaxOps combines casebased reasoning to analyze client situations, with question-based browsing, to enable the user to explore the potential solutions in a goal-directed way. 1. Introduction TaxOps, the Tax Opportunity Advisor, is a case-based consulting system that delivers expert advice to corporate tax professionals. This advice is in the form of "war" stories, anecdotes, and professional opinions, all gathered from videotaped interviews with a group of corporate tax specialists. TaxOps places the user within a network of these video clips and, by motivating a tour of the network, engages the user in an interactive video dialog with th...

We review Margaret Boden's book The Creative Mind, an excellent survey and synthesis of current computational theories of creativity. Boden's stated goal is to explain how creativity (as a psychological phenomenon) is possible, where an explanation of possibility is taken to be a computational process. Although Boden does not deliver a full-fledged computational explanation and leaves most details of the underlying processes unexplicated, she provides a strong argument that such an explanation is possible. As part of our critique, we sketch our preferred (case-based) framework for modeling creativity, in which much of mental life depends on the retrieval and manipulation of past experiences. We focus on five major influences on cognition (and thus on creativity) : inference, knowledge, task, situation, and strategic control. We also highlight "constructive modeling" which integrates analogical reasoning with visual reasoning and thought experimentation. Our framework, while broadly com...