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From: entpm@zeus.bris.ac.uk (TP. Martin)
Subject: Re: Fuzzy Software Selection Help
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 07:57:49 GMT
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Thomas Darakis (ezw0112@desc.dla.mil) wrote:

: We are developing a decision support system and want to incorporate
: some fuzzy logic capabilities.  We have been looking at commercial
: software packages and would like to solicit some opinions.

: 1.  Has anyone developed an AI application using neural nets and 
: fuzzy logic that is not a mechanical control application. We are 
: particularly interested in fuzzy logic suitable for emulating
: human decision making.

The two listed below do not use neural nets, but use the uncertainty-handling
methods in Fril (including fuzzy):

Orthodontic Expert System

An expert system for planning orthodontic treatment  [Sims Williams et al 1987;
 1989]  was originally developed at the University of Bristol in collaboration
 with practitioners at the Bristol Dental Hospital. Recently this work was 
extended and the system is commercially available from Team Management
Systems Ltd. The system is written in Fril, with graphics extensions
(to display teeth etc) written in C and integrated using the Fril
foreign language interface.

Orthodontics concerns the management of growth and development of teeth to
prevent or correct such problems as overcrowding or misalignment.
The development of the system involved analysing the decision making processes
used by orthodontists, to identify possible methods of emulating the process
by computer. This resulted in a knowledge representation which used fuzzy sets
since orthodontic reasoning routinely involves the manipulation of vague or
uncertain concepts.
The expert system has been tested extensively using a number of general
dental practitioners entering a sample of cases. The system's recommendations
have been shown to be comparable to the recommendations of a consultant
orthodontist when assessed by peer review in a blind trial.

Refs: 
Sims Williams, J. H., et al. (1987,89) "Computer Controlled Expert System for
Orthodontic Advice" British Dental Journal 163:  161-166 (1987); 
"An Orthodontic Expert System." Fuzzy Sets and Systems 30:  121-133.(1989)
--

Design/assessment of composite materials

CODEX  [Wu, Webber and Morton 1991; Morton 1994] is an expert system for the
design and assessment of composite plates and struts, being developed by the
University of Bristol and the Civil Aircraft Division of British Aerospace.

Due to the orthotropic macro-mechanical behaviour of advanced fibre-reinforced
composites, layers of material are bonded with fibres in different orientations
to give all-round strength. Optimisation of the amount of material with respect
to weight, cost, stiffness, strength and other less quantifiable factors is
central. The computer system aids users in the design of plates and struts,
and allows assessment of the relative merits of previous designs based on such
criteria. The plate or strut designs obtained can be compared by using a set of
rules representing different design criteria. The relative importance of the
rules can be set by the user, and an overall assessment for a design is
derived using Fril.

Refs:

S.K.Morton, J.P.H.Webber, "Heuristic methods in the design of composite 
laminated plates", Composite Structures 19: 207-265, 1991

Wu, C. M. L., Webber, J. P. H. and Morton, S. K. (1991).
"A knowledge-based expert system for laminated composite strut design"
Aeronautical Journal 95:  1-20.

J.F.Baldwin, S.K.Morton "The Assessment of Composite Aircraft Components
using Evidential Reasoning", EUFIT-94

: 2.  What packages are available that produce output (code) that can 
: be incorporated in a standalone application?

Fril can be embedded as a module in a C (or other language) program, and
can call code written in other langauges. There is an application
generator which allows you to create a stand-alone application without
the end user needing to know or understand what is going on below the surface.

: 3.  What are your opinions of the packages?

Personally I think Fril is the best thing since sliced bread.

Trevor Martin
