A perspective on intelligent systems-A framework for analysis and design, by Ladislav Kohout. Chapman and Hall, London, 1990. US$56.00. 225 pp

✍ Scribed by J. Anderson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 76 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0884-8173
• DOI: 10.1002/int.4550070207

✦ Synopsis

This book is a profound and important contribution to our thinking about systcm analysis, design, and repair of intelligent systems. Professor Kohout has fashioned his concept of a gencral thcory of action by using activity structurcs which are goal oriented. In the midst of a welter of implementations of intelligent systems, he has suggestcd that key concepts need to be revised in the light of his activity structures, in particular his protection structures, which are used to represent adaptive behaviour in natural and artificial systems in relation to a particular environment.

The structure of the book is oriented to meet the needs of diverse groups of readers, including those who have little knowledge of formal descriptions of mathematics and different logics. On the other hand, the formal and algorithmic aspccts embodying the conceptual methodology are not neglected. A contents review is followed by a discussion of the abstract structures useful for modelling action. A theory of action is developed based on human activities and drawing on its behavioural aspects. Abstract logics are used as a tool to describe an external world in relation to its internal model or representation by a participant. Another chapter describes the relationships between behaviour and structure, especially the terms function, substratum, and structure. His studies of human movement lay the basis for his notions of behaviour, functional activity structure and purpose, which are carefully defined. After reviewing the structure of intelligent systems, he explores protection structures and their relationship to constraints and basic system functions, shedding new light on the scope and problems of protection. He goes on to analyse formal and dynamic models of protection. especially for the wrist movement in Parkinson's disease. Activity structures for accessing and processing knowledgc are explored and related to a systematization of the knowledge elicitation process.

He concludes with an exciting review of a research programme for the further study of intelligent systems. This is a novel and outstanding contribution to our understanding of the behaviour of intelligent systems and the Systems Research Foundation in 1988 recognised this by giving him its Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award. All those interested in a rigorous approach to intelligent systems will find they benefit from its original concepts and the development of a framework for analysis and design.