A Task-Specific Problem-Solving Architecture for Candidate Evaluation

Task-specific architectures are a growing area of expert system research. Evaluation is one task that is required in many problem-solving domains. This article describes a task-specific, domain-independent architecture for candidate evaluation. I discuss the task-specific architecture approach to knowledge-based system development. Next, I present a review of candidate evaluation methods that have been used in AI and psychological modeling, focusing on the distinction between discrete truth table approaches and continuous linear models. Finally, I describe a task-specific expert system shell, which includes a development environment (Ceved) and a run-time consultation environment (Ceval). This shell enables nonprogramming domain experts to easily encode and represent evaluation-type knowledge and incorporates the encoded knowledge in performance systems.