Knowledge based systems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Knowledge based systems - Assignment Example Having a clear understanding of this technology poses a challenge given the fact that the term has been used to mean different things for different scenarios. An example is the fact that experts systems has been defined by some people as computer programs which make use of knowledge and inferences to solve a problem which could have been regarded as difficult if it was to be solved by human beings; perhaps difficult enough to require significant expertise (Martin, & Hoover, 2008). Yet others have defined as software which is created by bringing together and codifying the knowledge used by one or more experts and also which is also designed to perform a task which could require special expertise under normal circumstances. The last definition, at least for this paper, gives experts systems as programs which have reasoning by use of information which is symbolic in nature and use heuristics approach as opposed to algorithmic approaches; they are flexible at both runtime and design leve l. These definitions give a consensus which is broad in nature but gives us an ample scope for discussion as to the meaning of very key terms A knowledge base is special database that is used primarily for management of knowledge. It thus provides a means for the collection, organization, and retrieval of knowledge in a computerized manner. It also represents a collection of data which have related experiences and their results are related to their problems and solutions. This is a subset of the experts systems.

Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Case Study - Assignment Example Capital budgeting decisions fundamentally places strong emphasis on time value of money. In this regard, net present value method is very effective as it takes in consideration discounting of the inflow. The NPV of project Alpha was determined to be  £36,700 while that of project Beta was determined to be  £29,340. Both NPVs are positive but project Alpha has higher NPV, hence the firm should accept project Alpha. Accounting rate of return has been measured by establishing proportionate relationship between average accounting income and average investment for a specific period. The ARR of project Alpha was determined to be 29.39% while that of project Beta was determined to be 1.62%. The reason for low ARR in project Beta is significant investment in new purchases in the third year. Based on ARR, project alpha should be accepted. Additionally, payback period is least for project Alpha and based on the argument that a project with quicker returns should be accepted, project Alpha is better investment that Project Beta. Nonetheless, the overall assessment favours project Alpha over project Beta. Therefore, Project Alpha is a better investment (Froot and Stein, 1998). Capital budgeting decisions can be evaluated using discounted and non-discounted techniques: the discounted techniques comprise NPV and IRR method while non-discounted techniques include ARR and Payback period. NPV is referred to the difference between initial investment in a project and the discounted future net cash flows from the project. The NPV of a project ranges among positive, negative or breakeven (equivalent to zero). The first criterion for accepting a project is positive NPV as negative NPV indicates unfeasible project while zero indicates breakeven. The second criterion for accepting or rejecting a project is that an investment with highest NPV will be accepted. Discounting cash flows using a discounting factor, which