Applying Case-Based Reasoning: Techniques for Enterprise Systems (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Artificial Intelligence) [Paperback]

Ian Watson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558604626 | ISBN-13: 978-1558604629 | Publication Date: July 15, 1997 | Edition: 1

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is an intelligent-systems method that enables information managers to increase efficiency and reduce cost by substantially automating processes such as diagnosis, scheduling and design. A case-based reasoner works by matching new problems to "cases" from a historical database and then adapting successful solutions from the past to current situations. Organizations as diverse as IBM, VISA International, Volkswagen, British Airways, and NASA have already made use of CBR in applications such as customer support, quality assurance, aircraft maintenance, process planning, and decision support, and many more applications are easily imaginable.

It is relatively simple to add CBR components to existing information systems, as this book demonstrates. The author explains the principles of CBR by describing its origins and contrasting it with familiar information disciplines such as traditional data processing, logic programming, rule-based expert systems, and object-oriented programming. Through case studies and step-by-step examples, he goes on to show how to design and implement a reliable, robust CBR system in a real-world environment. Additional resources are provided in a survey of commercially available CBR tools, a comprehensive bibliography, and a listing of companies providing CBR software and services.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is one of the most promising recent technologies for building intelligence into computers. This useful introduction to the technology shows what CBR is, why it is important, and how it can be applied to some intriguing real-world problems. The early part of this text outlines the the so-called four "re-'s" of CBR: retrieve, reuse, revise, and retain. Basically, CBR systems match possible solutions to a database of earlier questions, retrieve the answer, and adapt (or revise) it. If appropriate, CBR systems can even save (or retain) these new problems and solutions to its "case-base" for later reuse. For example, if your car does not start, you can use a CBR to match the characteristics of your problem with a database of diagnoses.

The author does a fine job of distinguishing CBR from other artificial intelligence models, such as expert systems (which are rules-based and can be hard to develop because experts don't always get their expertise translated perfectly by programmers) and neural networks (CBR can be more accurate because it can match characteristics and give a reason, while a neural network cannot), and proving that CBR can be faster computationally. He also gives an excellent presentation on how CBR has been used successfully in a surprising range of applications, such as manufacturing, medicine, law, and help desk systems for products, including Web-based applications systems for users. (Help desk applications are a natural fit for CBR technology, but they are not its only use.)

CBR has already enjoyed considerable success without many people knowing about it. (As the author suggests, expert systems, a promising older artificial intelligence [AI] technology, never quite lived up to its initial dazzle.) The author shows that CBR research has already been used to create products. He provides a survey of tools from two continents as well as an extensive bibliography for those experts who want to read more on the subject.

From the Back Cover

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is an intelligent-systems method that enables information managers to increase efficiency and reduce cost by substantially automating processes such as diagnosis, scheduling and design. A case-based reasoner works by matching new problems to "cases" from a historical database and then adapting successful solutions from the past to current situations. Organizations as diverse as IBM, VISA International, Volkswagen, British Airways, and NASA have already made use of CBR in applications such as customer support, quality assurance, aircraft maintenance, process planning, and decision support, and many more applications are easily imaginable.

It is relatively simple to add CBR components to existing information systems, as this book demonstrates. The author explains the principles of CBR by describing its origins and contrasting it with familiar information disciplines such as traditional data processing, logic programming, rule-based expert systems, and object-oriented programming. Through case studies and step-by-step examples, he goes on to show how to design and implement a reliable, robust CBR system in a real-world environment. Additional resources are provided in a survey of commercially available CBR tools, a comprehensive bibliography, and a listing of companies providing CBR software and services.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (July 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558604626
• ISBN-13: 978-1558604629
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,857,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a writer and academic at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. I've published several books and over one hundred scientific papers, on various aspects of artificial intelligence, and am regular speaker at computing conferences worldwide. I also makes regular contributions to the popular NZ computer magazine NetGuide. I am on sabbatical in 2011 writing a new book, called "The Universal Machine - from the dawn of computing to digital consciousness" that will be published in 2012 by Springer Praxis Books.

Q. Who invented the computer? [hint it's not Steve Jobs or Bill Gates]

Be honest, you don't know do you? Don't you think its strange that you don't know who invented something as widely used as the computer.
For someone who has such an influence on us all, computing's Einstein Alan Turing is virtually unknown. It is his metaphor of the computer as a universal machine that is the unifying theme of this book. The computer unlike other inventions is universal; you can use a computer to do many different tasks: write documents, compose music, design buildings, plan and book vacations, create movies, inhabit virtual worlds, communicate with friends...
The story of the computer begins in the 1840's with Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine and Lady Ada Lovelace's writings on machine intelligence. It then moves onto early US office automation machines, Alan Turing's pioneering work on the theory of computation and the first computers of the 1930s and 40s. The innovations in Silicon Valley in the 60's leading to the development of personal computing, Apple and Microsoft and the PC boom of the 70's and 80's. The book doesn't just talk about technology but introduces key people in the computer's development: Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Apple's Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, and many other people. In many ways this story is more about people and the changes computers have caused in society than it is about machines.
Concluding with the advent of ubiquitous computing the book explores the impact that artificial intelligence will have in the future and the promise of quantum and molecular computing. The computer has been a radical invention. In less than a single human life (sixty five years from 1945 to 2010) the computer has developed from a multi million-dollar governmental behemoth, to a tiny chip worth cents. Computers are transforming economies, societies and cultures like no other human invention before.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Straightforward written, October 15, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Applying Case-Based Reasoning: Techniques for Enterprise Systems (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Artificial Intelligence) (Paperback)

The author gives a comprehensible introduction to the field of Case Base Reasoning (CBR). He starts with an overview to the various techniques and algorithms to be used with CBR and formulates practical criteria when to use them and when not (e.g. adaptation). Very usefull are the differences to other AI approaches and the criteria to check the applicability of these methods. A chapter on CBR software tools reviews a series of available tools and development shells. Practical examples, especially on helpdesk applications show how CBR has been used successfully in projects. All in all the book demystifies CBR and encourages the use of it for building up decision support systems.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to case-based reasoning, September 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Applying Case-Based Reasoning: Techniques for Enterprise Systems (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Artificial Intelligence) (Paperback)

This book is easily the best of its type, there is no other introductory book on CBR available! I bought this at AAAI-97 and found it extremely easy to read and sensibly layed out. It provides a good comparison of CBR with other AI and IS techniques and clearly explains what CBR's unique strengths (and to be fair) weaknesses are. A sensible range of application case-studies both academic and commercial are described and a wide range of CBR tools are described and compared. The book concludes with some methodological guidelines for building case-based systems. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to undergraduate and postgraduate students who want an approachable introduction to CBR. The book will also be invaluable to commercial developers who are thinking of deploying a case-based system. Finally, the book's remarkably extensive bibliography, which is categorised to make finding references on specific subjects easy to find, will mean that ALL researchers in CBR should buy this book - it will save you days in the library. To conclude, an excellent book that will satisfy a wide range of readers

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare Item, January 23, 2012

By 

JunHa - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Applying Case-Based Reasoning: Techniques for Enterprise Systems (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Artificial Intelligence) (Paperback)

It is the rare item in my country. CBR become an active reserach for today. So, it's good for sciencetist, engineer and student to know about CBR through this book.