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On the problems of time retrieval of temporal relations causality, and coexistence

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Abstract

Intelligent question-answering programs do more than retrieve “raw” data; they make deductive inferences in order to return all valid responses. They report logical inconsistencies, possibly at the data input phase. Similarly, more information is requested from the user if a question asked proves to be ambiguous. A question-answering system of the above type has been designed and implemented. Besides retrieving explicit and implicit temporal relations, the system discovers potentially causal relationships which also satisfy different time restrictions. Questions concerning a generalized concept of coexistence can also be answered. It is hoped that programs of a similar nature will become of much pragmatic use to researchers in physics, chemistry, biology, and so on, in evaluating complex, interrelated experimental data. Several additional applications for this type of program are mentioned, ranging from problems in criminology to air traffic control. The Associative Memory, Parallel Processing Language, AMPPL-II, was found rather satisfactory for the project. It is finally suggested that the system being described could serve as a component in a complex cognitive mechanism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, State University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst, New York

    Nicholas V. Findler & David Chen

Authors
  1. Nicholas V. Findler
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  2. David Chen
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Additional information

The work reported here was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant GJ-658.

This paper, in a less complete form, was presented at the Second International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, London, England, September 1971.

Both authors worked on the design of the system. The first author (N.V.F.) suggested and elaborated the subject matter and was responsible for the writing of this paper. Many refinements and improvements are due to the second author (D.C.), who has also done all the programming. An enlarged version of this work, in the form of a Master's Project, will be submitted to the State University of New York at Buffalo in partial fulfilment of the requirements of David Chen's M.S. degree.

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Findler, N.V., Chen, D. On the problems of time retrieval of temporal relations causality, and coexistence. International Journal of Computer and Information Sciences 2, 161–185 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986121

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986121

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