Belief Function Retraction and Tracing Algorithm for Rule Refinement

Building a stable knowledge base is an important issue in the application of knowledge engineering. In this paper, we present an algorithm for detecting and locating discrepancies in the line of the reasoning process especially when discrepancies occur on belief values. This includes backtracking the rule firing from a goal node of the rule network. Retracting a belief function allows the current belief state to move back to another belief state without the rule firing. It also gives an estimate, called contribution measure, of how much the rule has an impact on the current belief state. Examining the measure leads the expert to locate the possible cause of problem in the rule. For non-monotonic reasoning, the belief retraction method moves the belief state back to the previous state. A tracing algorithm is presented to identify and locate the cause of problem. This also gives repair suggestions for rule refinement.