Oscar - Dss

OSCAR-DSS is a generic decision support system based upon OSCAR—a general-purpose programmable architecture for rational agents. OSCAR-DSS is a partial implementation of that architecture, with some minor modifications to convert it to a decision support system that merely recommends actions rather than performing them. OSCAR-DSS has been further instantiated to produce OSCAR-MDA, a medical decision support system currently focused on emergency room medicine. The OSCAR architecture begins by distinguishing between epistemic cognition (cognition about what to believe) and practical cognition (cognition about what to do). The core of the OSCAR architecture consists of the system of epistemic cognition together with procedures for dealing with plans that have been adopted. The system of epistemic cognition is in turn based largely upon a general-purpose defeasible and deductive reasoner. The core is implemented directly in LISP. The bulk of the system of practical cognition is then implemented indirectly in the core by giving the system of epistemic cognition the ability to reason about plan adoptability. 1 This work was supported by NSF grant no. IRI-9634106.