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or rule-based languages, is the issue of language processing.

The English
language provides an almost infinite variety of expressions which identify
the same concept. For example, the term "Toxic gases" might be given by
the user as a constraint to be avoided when improving a soil. This term will
not match the constraint of "Hazardous gases" in the Limitation table,
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despite the fact that the same idea is being conveyed. This problem becomes
worse as the schema becomes more complex and the number of records
increase. Additional research into natural language processing and data
dictionaries needs to be undertaken to address this problem.

Closure by Teresa M. Adams 3

The original paper is a comparative study of the set operators in rule-


based production languages and relational query languages. In particular,
the original paper focuses on the use of IN, NOT IN, EXISTS, and NOT
EXISTS subselect conditions of the structured query language (SQL). IN
(NOT IN) checks for set membership. EXISTS (NOT EXISTS) represents
the existential quantifier. The examples illustrate the use of nested NOT
IN and double-nested NOT EXISTS subselect statements to search a da-
tabase of knowledge represented as physical symbols in table relations. The
queries and tabular knowledge representation are compared to an equivalent
formulation using production rules and a static fact base.
The discusser has identified two areas of research to be further investi-
gated. The first deals with a comparative study of the speed of query pro-
cessors and inference engines. From a practical perspective, it appears that
the queries described in the original paper should only be considered when
knowledge can be represented in tabular form and when relational database
technology is already being used. After these initial criteria are met, the
writer agrees with the discusser's proposal for evaluating the speed benefits
of each method. In addition to the parameters suggested by the discusser,
the outcome of a comparative study is likely to be highly influenced by size
of the problem, the specific database management and inference engine
software, whether indexing is used, and the hardware configuration.
The second area of research focuses on natural language processing to
deal with varied expressions for the same term such as "toxic gases" and
"hazardous gases." The writer agrees with the discusser. Advancements in
natural language processing will surely benefit not only the tabular and rule-
based knowledge representations described in the original paper, but also
numerous other applications of physical symbol systems using artificial in-
telligence and database management technology.

3Asst. Prof., Dept. of Civ. and Envir. Engrg., Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, 1415
Johnson Dr., Room 2208, Madison, WI 53706.
398

J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 1994, 8(3): 398-398

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