Klas Orsvärn

Senior Researcher
Intelligent Systems Laboratory
Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS)
Email: klasorsv@sics.se, for other contact info, use finger.

Research Interests

Knowledge engineering in general, in particular for product configuration tasks. Some related Web links are here.

Research Background

I received my MSc in Computer Science and Engineering, from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, 1988, and have been working as a researcher at SICS since then. The first three years I worked with KBS applications, mainly in the field of electronics design. After that, I have worked four years in the ESPRIT project KADS-II, developing a methodology for knowledge-based systems, mainly on the contents and use of the library of reusable modelling components. In my PhD studies, under supervision of Prof. Carl-Gustaf Jansson, I also studied cognitive science at the University of Stockholm, and I am a member of the Centre for Information Technology and Cognitive Science. I defended my PhD thesis at the Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, in June 1996.

Current Activities

My main activity now is in the application area of product configuration tasks. Two ongoing projects are CTKONFIG and PROBELICS. I also host an experience exchange group on sales configuration tools for Swedish industry.

Other Features

Husband of Maria. Father of Emma and Nils. Likes any music descending from the Velvet Underground: e.g. Joy Division, Orange Juice, the Go-Betweens, PJ Harvey and Gullan Bornemark (esp. Sudda Sudda). Member of Föreningen s/s Blidösund.

Selected Publications and Reports

(In reverse order of appearance)

• Klas Orsvärn and Ola Hansson, Prestudy of Configuration of a Naval Combat Management System, In Working Notes of AAAI Fall Symposium on Configuration, MIT, Nov. 1996.
• Knowledge Modelling with Libraries of Task Decomposition Methods , Klas Orsvärn, PhD thesis, The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, June 1996.
• Principles for Libraries of Task Decomposition Methods - Conclusions from a Case-study. Klas Orsvärn, in Proceedings of European Knowledge Acquisition Workshop EKAW'96, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1076, pp. 48-65, Springer-Verlag, May 1996.
• Adaptation of Generic Models in Model-driven Knowledge Acquisition. Klas Orsvärn, Working Notes of 1995 AAAI Fall Symposium: Adaptation of Knowledge for Reuse, MIT, November 1995.
• Guidelines for Adapting an Interpretation Model in an Application. Klas Orsvärn, Olle Olsson, Hesham A. Hassan. Proc. of Knowledge Engineering Forum, GMD Sankt Augustin, Germany, March 1995. (A previous version was presented as poster at EKAW-94).
• Case-study in Knowledge Modelling with Benjamins' Library of Diagnosis Methods. Klas Orsvärn, Proc. of Knowledge Engineering Forum, GMD Sankt Augustin, Germany, March 1995.
• Modelling Scenario: SAT Expertise Model. Klas Orsvärn and Steve Wells . In, Wielinga, B. (Ed.) Expertise Model Definition Document, Esprit Project P5248, Deliverable DM2.1c, University of Amsterdam, 1994. Available as a separate report on the WWW.
• Guidelines for the Select-and-Modify Approach. Klas Orsvärn, Olle Olsson, Hesham A. Hassan. In, Wielinga, B. (Ed.) Expertise Model Definition Document, Esprit Project P5248, Deliverable DM2.1c, University of Amsterdam, 1994. Available as a separate report on the WWW. A short version (recommended) of this is called Guidelines for Adapting... above.
• Sequential Diagnosis. Klas Orsvärn In, J. A. Breuker and W. Van de Velde (Eds.) Expertise Model Document Part II: The CommonKADS Library, Technical report KADS-II/TM.2/VUB/TR/054/3.0, Free University of Brussels, 1994. Available as a separate report on the WWW.
• Adaptation of a task specific problem solving method to the features of an application. Klas Orsvärn In, Proc. 7th Banff Knowledge-Acquisition for Knowledge-Based Systems Workshop, Banff, Canada, October 11-16, 1992. A later version of this paper is available on the WWW, with the title Technical Diagnosis by Top-Down Fault-Localization.
• An Application Specific Shell for Design Rule Checking. Orsvärn, K., Holmgren, F., Lidman, R., Olsson, I. In, Proc. 1st International Conference on the Practical Application of Prolog. London, UK, April 1-3, 1992.