Specifications
INTRODUCTION
An
effective
characterization
of
siiequality
and
site
condition
is
very
impottantin
ecosystem
management;
therefore,
considerable
effort
has
been
devoted
to
the
developmeniufForesiEcosySlemClassincati,n(FFX)Sys,em..ThcNorthweslcrn
Ontario
Forest
Ecosystem
Classification
(NWO
FEC)
has
provided
a
tool
for
boreal
forest
site
classification.
Unfortunately
its
Held
application
requires
considerable
expertise
and
frequent
referral
to
field
manuals
for
determination
o
soil
properties
and
identification
of
species
of
trees,
shrubs,
herbs,
mosses,
and
lichens.
An
"expert"
or
"knowledge-based"
system
is
one
thai
applies
specified
facts
and
rulesforinfercnce,enablingthe
software
to
cxhibkhuman-likediagnosiic
abilities
lr,
a
limited
problem
domain
(Pressman
1992).
Expert
systems
have been
used
in
many
fields,
including
medicine,
engineering,
agriculture,
and
forestry.
The
NWO
FFCis
essentially
a
well
defined
diagnostic
tool
requiring
the
user
to
determine
certain
soil
and
vegetation
characteristics
,n
order
to
classify
them
into
specifically
defined
groups.
This
makes
it
suitable
for
automation
using
expert
system
principles.
FEXPERT
is
designed
to
facilitate
the
application
of
the
NWO
FEC
system
by
computerizing
the
essential
contents
of
its
field
manuals
and
classification
proce
dures
so
that
the
user
may
have
immediate
access
to
the
necessary
information
lor
quick
consistent,
and
accurate
classification.
FEXPERT
should
prove
valuable
to
,he
novice
by
providing
extensive
help
in
the
form
of
text,
diagrams,
pictures,
profiles,
etc.,
for
proper
classification.
GETTING
STARTED
This
section
describes
how
to install
FEXPERT
on
your
computer.
To
do
this
you
nuist
run
the
install
program
provided.
The
files
on
the
installation
disks
are
ma
compressed
format,
and
must
be
correctly
installed
before
the
program
can
be
executed.
System
Requirements
FEXPERT
requires
the
following
minimum
hardware
and
software
for
successful
installation
and
execution:
•
A
personal
computer,
i.e.,
an
IBM
386
or
486
compatible
•
One
high
density
3.5-inch
floppy
disk
drive
•
40
Mbytes
of
available
hard
drive
space
•
595
Kbytes
of
free
memory
•
A
Microsoft-
or
Logitech-compatible
mouse
with
the
mouse
driver
installed
•
A
VGA-compatible
graphics card
and
monitor
•
MS-DOS
5.0
or a
later
version
{no
DOS
versions
prior
to
5.0
have been
tested)
The
simplest
way
to free
sufficient
memory
to
run
FEXPERT
is
to
prepare
a special
boot
disk
containing
only
amouse
driver
and
then
load
all
necessary
terminate
slay
residents
(TSRs)
and
drivers
into
high
memory.
If
you
arc
not
familiar
with
the
necessary
TSRs
and
drivers
for
your
computer
system,
contact
someone
who
is.
For
example,
you
may
try
the
following
sicps
in
preparing
your
bootable
disk:
I
Insert
a
blank
floppy
diskctle
into
a
booiable
floppy
disk
drive.
Can.
For.
Serv.,
Inf.
Rep.
O-X-443