[comp.ai] Model-based Reasoning - References?

jdavis@gollum.UUCP (James P. Davis) (09/19/88)

I am looking for some good references on the subject of Model-based
reasoning (MBR). I am also interested in finding out who is doing
work/research in this area, and what domains are being investigated.
Nobody seems to have put any special compendiums (like Morgan Kaufmann)
in this area yet. Any of you out there?

Specifically, I am looking at the area of using a modeling framework,
which allows the structure and behavior for certain classes of
domains to be expressed in some declarative form, to drive the
reasoning process. My understanding of MBR is that it is an approach
at exploiting the inherent structure and constraints of a system
or enterprise to guide the process of reasoning about problems in
the given domain. I am developing an "analogical" representation
which allows the expression of domain semantics in terms of
structure and constraint declaration constructs based on the syntactic
construction of wff's in the modeling technique. The domain is
information systems design. In theory, by developing a self-describing
modeling formalism, in which the information systems design activity
can take place, the nature of the solution space can be constrained
such that only those solutions which adhere to the semantics of the
formalism itself (in which are expressed the semantics of the domain
application) are relevant.

What's happening in MBR? How does it relate to "reasoning from first
principles"?

Any and all responses are appreciated. I can summarize to the net if
requested.

Jim Davis
Advanced Systems Development
NCR Corporation
jdavis@Gollum.Columbia.NCR.COM