Hypothesizing Device Mechanisms: Opening Up the Black Box

Title: en_US Hypothesizing Device Mechanisms: Opening Up the Black Box
Creator: en_US Doyle, Richard James
Date: 2004-10-20T20:01:02Z
Date Available: 2004-10-20T20:01:02Z
Date Issued: en_US 1988-06-01
Identifier: en_US AITR-1047
uri: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6839
Abstract: en_US I describe an approach to forming hypotheses about hidden mechanism configurations within devices given external observations and a vocabulary of primitive mechanisms. An implemented causal modelling system called JACK constructs explanations for why a second piece of toast comes out lighter, why the slide in a tire gauge does not slip back inside when the gauge is removed from the tire, and how in a refrigerator a single substance can serve as a heat sink for the interior and a heat source for the exterior. I report the number of hypotheses admitted for each device example, and provide empirical results which isolate the pruning power due to different constraint sources.
Extent: en_US 213 p.; 19331119 bytes; 7483468 bytes
Format: application/postscript; application/pdf
Language: en_US
Relation: en_US AITR-1047
Subject: en_US causal reasoning; en_US theory formation; en_US qualitative reasoning; en_US smodeling