As part of the operation of an Expert System, adeductive component accesses a database of facts to helpsimulate the behavior of a human expert in a particularproblem domain. The nature of this access is examined, andfour access strategies are identified. Features of each ofthese strategies are...

The simultaneous optimization of multiple queries submitted to adatabase system may lead to substantial savings over the current approach ofoptimizing each query separately. Isolating common subexpressions in multiplequeries and treating their execution as a sharable resource are...

MEDIATOR is a negotiation support system (NSS) based onevolutionary systems design (ESD) and database-centered implementation.It supports negotiations by consensus seeking through exchange ofinformation and, where consensus is incomplete, by compromise. Thenegotiation problem is shown...

A number of DSS for supporting decisions by more than one person have beenproposed. These can be categorized by spatial distance (local vs. remote),temporal distance (meeting vs. mailing), commonality of goals (cooperationvs. bargaining), and control (democratic vs. hierarchical)....

Negotiation support is an important aspect of multiperson decision supportsystems. Besides mechanisms for representing and evolving group joint problem representations, suchDSS should also provide an environment in which decision makers are supported in developing,analyzing and reinforcing their...

The maintenance of large information systems involves continuousmodifications in response to evolving business conditions or changing userrequirements. Based on evidence from a case study, we show that thesystems maintenance activity would benefit greatly if the processknowledge reflecting the...

Decision support systems are of many kinds depending on themodels and techniques employed in them. Multiple criteriadecision making techniques constitute an important class of DSSwith unique software requirements. This paper stresses theimportance of interactive MCDM methods since these...