by Stephen R. Balzac., Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1987., Title as it appeared in M.I.T. Graduate List, June 1987: An interactive knowledge classifier., Bibliography: leaves 111-112.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are playing a significant role in
economic, political and cultural development. The relationship between technologies
supporting information processing and distribution, and the application of that knowledge
for development purposes has only recently come into focus.…

Evaluation of public programming currently tends toward plans that are set in advance of any sampling and adhered to throughout. Because increments in the knowledge profile during the course of an evaluation might beckon adjustment of the working procedure, fixed…

Wusor II is the second program that has been developed to tutor students in the game of Wumpus. From the earlier efforts with Wusor I it was possible to produce a rule-based expert which processed a relatively complete mastery of…

The program described here takes as its input a collection of lines, vertices and surfaces describing a scene, and analyzes the scene into a composition of three-dimensional objects. The program does not need to know the form (model, or pattern)…

Cavity balancing is the process of altering the flow front within a cavity through thickness and design changes such that the desired fill pattern is achieved. The 2 dimensional (2D) cavity-balancing algorithm, developed by Lam and Seow [1] can only…

Explanation-based Generalization requires that the learner obtain an explanation of why a precedent exemplifies a concept. It is, therefore, useless if the system fails to find this explanation. However, it is not necessary to give up and resort to purely…

An analysis was conducted to determine the behavior of a high pressure electric arc discharge inside the Plasmatron Fuel Reformer. The Plasmatron Fuel Reformer uses an electric arc to partially combust fuel in an internal combustion engine to increase efficiency…

Continued advances in the semiconductor industry will require the introduction of new materials and processes concurrent with shrinking device dimensions. These simultaneous demands drastically reduce margins for error and necessitate an increasingly quantitative understanding of semiconductor processes. Leaders of the…

This dissertation investigates how rapid learning occurs in high technology industries, many of which operate in what Bourgeois and Eisenhardt (1988) term "high velocity environments." The dissertation consists of three empirical studies, which follow the method of extended case study…

All intelligence relies on search --- for example, the search for an intelligent agent's next action. Search is only likely to succeed in resource-bounded agents if they have already been biased towards finding the right answer. In artificial agents, the…

The convergence of three distinct but interconnected trends - unrelenting globalization,
growing worldwide electronic connectivity, and increasing knowledge intensity of
economic activity - is creating powerful new opportunities and challenges for global
politics. This rapidly changing environment…

Modem society requires reliable and safe operation of its infrastructure. Policymakers believe that, in many industries, competitive markets and regulatory incentives will result in system performance superior to that under command-and-control regulation. Analytical techniques to evaluate the reliability and safety…

The water-gas shift reaction is an exothermic and reversible catalytic process that converts carbon monoxide and water (steam) to hydrogen and carbon dioxide. In regard to energy-related issues, the water-gas shift is part of the process of reforming hydrocarbons to…