MCSE003 : Previous Year Questions with Answer (June & Dec 2021)

MASTER OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS (MCA) 

MCSE-003 : ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 

Solved Question Papers (June & December, 2021) 

Question1 : Write short notes on the following : (June 2021)

(a) Semantic Networks 

(b) Knowledge Acquisition Systems 

(c) Building Blocks of Expert System 

(d) Different forms of Learning in Agents

Answer :

(a) Semantic Networks: Semantic networks are graphical representations of knowledge that depict the relationships between different concepts or entities. They consist of nodes, which represent concepts or objects, and arcs, which represent the relationships between these concepts. Semantic networks are used to represent knowledge in a structured and organized manner, allowing for easier understanding and manipulation of information. They are often used in artificial intelligence and knowledge representation systems to model and reason about relationships between different pieces of knowledge.

(b) Knowledge Acquisition Systems: Knowledge acquisition systems are tools or methodologies used to acquire, represent, and incorporate knowledge into a knowledge-based system or expert system. These systems aim to capture knowledge from various sources, such as subject matter experts, documents, databases, or other existing systems, and convert it into a format that can be utilized by a computer system. Knowledge acquisition involves processes like knowledge elicitation, knowledge representation, knowledge validation, and knowledge integration. The goal is to effectively transfer human expertise and domain knowledge into a computer system.

(c) Building Blocks of Expert Systems: Expert systems are computer programs designed to mimic the problem-solving abilities of human experts in specific domains. They are built using various components, or building blocks, that enable them to function effectively. Some common building blocks of expert systems include:

1. Knowledge Base: This is where the domain-specific knowledge and expertise are stored. It consists of facts, rules, and heuristics that the expert system uses to make inferences and decisions.

2. Inference Engine: The inference engine is responsible for reasoning and decision-making based on the knowledge stored in the knowledge base. It applies logical rules and inference mechanisms to derive conclusions and solve problems.

3. User Interface: The user interface allows users to interact with the expert system, providing input, receiving outputs, and seeking explanations or recommendations. It can be text-based, graphical, or even natural language-based.

4. Explanation Facility: Expert systems often include an explanation facility that can explain the system's reasoning and provide justifications for its conclusions. This helps users understand and trust the system's outputs.

5. Knowledge Acquisition System: A knowledge acquisition system is used to acquire and update the knowledge base of the expert system. It facilitates the capture and integration of domain knowledge from human experts.

(d) Different Forms of Learning in Agents: In the context of artificial intelligence and agent-based systems, learning refers to the ability of agents to improve their performance or behavior based on experience or data. There are various forms of learning in agents, including:

1. Supervised Learning: In supervised learning, an agent learns from labeled examples provided by a supervisor. It aims to generalize from known examples to make accurate predictions or classifications on unseen data.

2. Unsupervised Learning: Unsupervised learning involves learning from unlabeled data. The agent identifies patterns, structures, or relationships in the data without explicit guidance or supervision. It is often used for tasks like clustering, anomaly detection, or dimensionality reduction.

3. Reinforcement Learning: Reinforcement learning involves learning through interaction with an environment. The agent receives feedback in the form of rewards or punishments based on its actions. It learns to maximize the cumulative reward by exploring different actions and exploiting the most rewarding ones.

4. Deep Learning: Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that utilizes artificial neural networks with multiple layers to learn hierarchical representations of data. It has achieved significant success in various domains, such as image recognition, natural language processing, and speech recognition.

5. Transfer Learning: Transfer learning allows an agent to leverage knowledge or skills acquired from one task or domain to improve performance on another related task or domain. It enables agents to generalize and learn more efficiently with limited data. These different forms of learning enable agents to adapt, improve, and solve complex problems in diverse environments.

Question 2 : Write short notes on the following : (Dec 2021) 

(i) MYCIN 

(ii) Task Environment of Agents 

(iii) Structure of Agents 

(iv) Knowledge Representation Schemes

Answer :

(i) MYCIN:

MYCIN was an early and influential expert system developed in the 1970s at Stanford University. It was designed to assist doctors in diagnosing bacterial infections and prescribing appropriate antibiotics. MYCIN utilized a rule-based approach and a probabilistic reasoning mechanism known as certainty factors.

The knowledge in MYCIN was represented in the form of rules, which consisted of conditions and actions. The conditions described the symptoms and clinical findings, while the actions represented the recommendations for treatment. Certainty factors were used to quantify the degree of certainty associated with each rule.

MYCIN employed a backward chaining inference mechanism to reason about the patient's symptoms and generate a diagnostic conclusion. It used a confidence factor to measure the degree of belief in the diagnosis. MYCIN was considered groundbreaking at the time for its ability to mimic expert decision-making in a complex medical domain.

(ii) Task Environment of Agents:

The task environment of an agent refers to the external conditions, entities, and interactions in which the agent operates and performs its tasks. It encompasses everything that the agent perceives from its sensors and interacts with through its actuators.

The task environment can vary widely depending on the application and the agent's specific domain. It includes factors such as the physical environment (e.g., a robot navigating a maze), the virtual environment (e.g., a software agent operating in a simulated world), other agents or entities in the environment (e.g., humans, other autonomous agents), and the tasks or goals the agent needs to accomplish.

The task environment can be simple or complex, static or dynamic, deterministic or stochastic. It can involve uncertainty, partial observability, and adversarial conditions. Understanding and modeling the task environment is crucial for designing intelligent agents that can perceive, reason, and act effectively to achieve their objectives.

(iii) Structure of Agents:

The structure of an agent refers to its internal components and organization, which enable it to perceive, reason, and act in its environment. The structure of an agent typically includes the following components:

1. Perceptual Component: This component allows the agent to sense or perceive its environment through various sensors or input devices. It captures data or information from the environment and converts it into a suitable internal representation.

2. Reasoning Component: The reasoning component processes the perceptual inputs and performs various forms of reasoning, such as logical inference, probabilistic reasoning, or machine learning algorithms. It allows the agent to analyze and interpret the available information, make decisions, and plan its actions.

3. Knowledge Base: The knowledge base stores the agent's knowledge or beliefs about the world. It can include domain-specific knowledge, rules, facts, heuristics, or learned models. The knowledge base provides the agent with a foundation for reasoning and decision-making.

4. Actuation Component: The actuation component enables the agent to interact with the environment by producing appropriate actions. It uses actuators or output devices to execute physical actions, generate messages, or control other systems in the environment.

5. Learning Component: Many intelligent agents include a learning component that allows them to acquire new knowledge or improve their performance over time. This component can use various learning algorithms, as discussed in a previous response, to adapt the agent's behavior based on experience or data.

The specific structure of an agent can vary depending on its application, complexity, and underlying technologies used. However, these core components provide a general framework for building intelligent agents.

(iv) Knowledge Representation Schemes:

Knowledge representation schemes are used to represent and organize knowledge in a form that can be processed and utilized by computer systems. Different schemes are designed to capture different aspects of knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, relationships, and uncertainties. Some common knowledge representation schemes include:

1. Semantic Networks: As discussed earlier, semantic networks use nodes and arcs to represent relationships between concepts or entities.

2. Frames: Frames are a knowledge representation scheme that structures knowledge into objects or entities and their properties, attributes, and relationships. They allow for inheritance and provide a way to represent complex structures.

3. Rules: Rules are a popular knowledge representation scheme that uses logical statements to represent knowledge. They consist of conditions and actions, allowing for reasoning and inference.

4. Ontologies: Ontologies provide a formal representation of knowledge in a particular domain. They define concepts, their relationships, properties, and constraints. Ontologies enable sharing and integration of knowledge across different systems.

5. Production Systems: Production systems represent knowledge as a set of production rules. Each rule has conditions and actions, and the system applies rules to infer new knowledge or make decisions.

6. Bayesian Networks: Bayesian networks represent probabilistic relationships between variables using a directed acyclic graph. They can model uncertainty and perform probabilistic inference.

7. Description Logics: Description logics provide a logical and formal way to represent knowledge using concepts, roles, and axioms. They are often used in the semantic web and knowledge representation systems.

The choice of a knowledge representation scheme depends on the nature of the domain, the type of knowledge being represented, and the requirements of the application. Different schemes have different strengths and weaknesses in terms of expressiveness, reasoning capabilities, and computational efficiency.

Question 3 : Compare predicate logic and propositional logic. Write De Morgan’s law for both. How will you verify that a given formula is valid or invalid ? What do you understand by validity and consistency of any well form formula ?