CPSC5185U/CPSC5185G Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Spring Semester 2006
Instructor information
Name: Dr. Shamim Khan
Office: Center for Commerce and Technology (CCT) Room 444
Office hours: MW 9.30-11:30 am, R 9:30am-10.30 am or by appointment
Email: khan_shamim@colstate.edu (preferred method of contact)
Office Phone: 706/565-3519; Dept. Phone: 706/568-2410; Dept. Fax: 706/565-3529
Course details
Meets Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30 - 5:45 pm in CCT406
Course website at http://webct.colstate.edu
Prerequisite(s)
CPSC 2108 with a grade of C or better.
Description
This course covers the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and its application for problem
solving. The emphasis is on popular AI and soft computing methodologies used for developing
software systems known as intelligent systems. The course involves practical work.
Learning objectives
1. Students will learn the rational behind the artificial intelligence and soft computing
paradigms with their advantages over traditional computing.
2. Students will gain an understanding of the theoretical foundations of various types of
intelligent systems technologies including the following:
 Rule-based expert systems
 Fuzzy systems
 Artificial neural networks
 Evolutionary computation
 Hybrid intelligent systems
 Data mining
 Case-based reasoning
 Natural language processing
 Intelligent agents
3. Students will gain knowledge about the design and development of intelligent systems
for problem solving.
4. Students will familiarize themselves adequately with at least one intelligent system
methodology to be able to develop a system for solving a problem in a chosen
application area.
Required textbook
Title: Artificial Intelligence: A Guide to Intelligent Systems,
2nd edition
Authors: Michael Negnevitsky
Publisher: Addison Wesley
ISBN: 0-321-20466-2
Supplementary materials
Class notes, class handouts, online resources (articles, software).
Online interface
CougarView (WebCT Vista) will be a major method of interaction in this course. You can access
WebCT Vista at: http://webct.colstate.edu/ .
Click on the "Log-in" link to activate the WebCTVista logon dialog box, which will ask for your
WebCT username and password. Students who used Vista in the previous semester will use
the same passwords for the current semester. New student passwords on WebCTVista have
been set to the students birth date in the format of DDMMYY. (Example - Birthday of Oct. 25,
1978 is 251078).
If you try the above and WebCT will not let you in, please click on the new Online Support
Center for Vista is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For further assistance, visit
WebCT Help. If you are still having problems gaining access a day or so after the class begins,
please e-mail me.
Once you've entered CougarView, you will see a list of courses you have access to. Clicking on
the name of a course will take you to the course's home page. If you don't see the
"Introduction to Artificial Intelligence " course in the list, please e-mail me immediately.
Once you have clicked on the course's name and accessed the particular course itself, you will
find a home page with links to other sections and tools, and a menu on the left-hand side.
Please explore the online interface and become familiar with components such as: discussions,
calendar, email, more resources and the syllabus. Items will be progressively added to course
home page.
Assessment components
7 Discussions (online through WebCT)
1 mid-term exam
1 final exam
1 Project
Total points
Grading scale
A: 90-100 %
B: 80-89 %
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
5 points each for 6 best (counts for 30%)
15 points (counts for 15%)
30 points (counts for 30%)
25 points (counts for 25%)
100 points (100%)
C: 70-79 %
D: 60-69 %
F: below 60 %
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Discussions
There will be 7 threaded discussions via WebCT. At least one response of 150 words is
required for each discussion. At least one comment on another student’s response is also
required to obtain full credit. There is no upper limit on the number of messages that you can
post. Discussion deadlines are inflexible and set at Friday midnight of the week stated in the
weekly schedule below and course calendar in CougarView. The lowest discussion grade out of
7 will be dropped and only the best 6 will be considered.
Responses and comments must be insightful and add to the substance of the postings. No
verbatim text is allowed without citation or reference. The comments on others’ postings should
request clarification, provide a different perspective, or challenge the assertions made by
providing real or hypothetical scenarios that the original posting does not adequately address.
Remember, the purpose of course discussions is to stimulate academic debate. Critical thinking
is highly desirable. I will read all postings, but will not necessarily respond to every posting. I
will, however, interject comments if necessary.
To do well in this assessment component you should read the relevant topic material before
making your contributions.
Online etiquette
CSU is committed to open, frank, and insightful dialogue in all of its courses. Note that the
online interface hides cues such as inflection, facial gestures, intonation and body language.
Diversity has many manifestations, including diversity of thought, opinion, and values. Students
are encouraged to be respectful of that diversity and to refrain from inappropriate commentary.
Should such inappropriate comments occur, I will intervene as needed. University disciplinary
action may be recommended if deemed appropriate. Students as well as faculty should be
guided by common sense and basic etiquette. The following are good guidelines to follow:
 Never post, transmit, promote, or distribute content that is known to be illegal.
 Never post harassing, threatening, or embarrassing comments.
 If you disagree with someone, respond to the subject, not to the person.
 Never post content that is harmful or abusive; racially, ethnically or religiously offensive;
vulgar, sexually explicit or otherwise potentially offensive to readers.
Exams
1 mid-term exam and 1 comprehensive final exam are planned. You will be given advance
notice of the time and format of these exams. All exams are expected to be your own work. If
you miss an exam, no make up will be allowed. Exams may be given on WebCT or in class, and
can be take-home, or timed in-class or a combination.
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Tentative weekly schedule
Week #
Topic
1
Topic 1: Introduction to AI and intelligent
(1/8-12)
systems
2
(1/15-1/19)
Topic 2A: Rule-based expert systems
uncertainty management
Activities
Read syllabus, topic note, text book
chapter 1, any relevant articles
Familiarization with WebCT tools
(calendar, email, discussions)
Read topic notes, text book
chapters 2, any relevant articles
3
(1/22-1/26)
Topic 2B: Uncertainty management in
expert systems, developing expert
systems
Read topic notes, text book chapter
3, any relevant articles
Discussion 1 due by Friday
4
(1/29-2/2)
Topic 3: Fuzzy systems
Read topic notes, text book chapter
4, any relevant articles
5
(2/5-2/9)
Topic 3: Fuzzy systems (cont’d)
Read topic notes, text book chapter
4, any relevant articles
Discussion 2 due by Friday
Read topic notes, text book chapter
6, any relevant articles
6
(2/12-2/16)
Topic 4: Artificial neural networks
7
(2/19-2/23)
Topic 4: Artificial neural networks (cont’d)
8
(2/26-3/2)
(3/5-3/9)
9
(3/12-3/16)
Topic 5: Evolutionary computation
10
(3/19-3/23)
11
(3/26-3/30)
Topic 7: Case-based reasoning
12
(4/2-4/6)
13
(4/9-4/13)
14
(4/16-4/20)
15
(4/23-4/27)
Topic 9: Data mining
Spring Break (no classes)
Topic 6: Hybrid intelligent systems
Topic 8: Knowledge engineering
Topic 10: Natural language processing
Topic 10: Natural language processing
(cont’d)
Topic 11: Intelligent agents
Last class day: 4/26/07, Thursday
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Read topic notes, text book chapter
6, any relevant articles
Discussion 3 due by Friday
Read topic notes, text book chapter
7, any relevant articles
Read topic notes, text book chapter
8, any relevant articles
Mid-term exam (Topics 1-5;
tentative date: 3/13/07,Tuesday)
Discussion 4 due by Friday
Read topic notes, relevant articles
Read topic notes, text book chapter
9, any relevant articles
Discussion 5 due by Friday
Read topic notes, relevant articles
Read topic notes, relevant articles
Discussion 6 due by Friday
Read topic notes, relevant articles
Read topic notes, relevant articles
Course ends
Discussion 7 due by 4/27 Friday
Comprehensive final exam
(tentative date:5/3, Thursday)
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Instructor responsibilities
As an instructor of this course, I am responsible for:
 posting lecture notes online in a timely manner
 responding to student concerns via email or on discussion boards in a timely manner
(within 24 hours usually if I am in town)
 Monitoring and participating, if necessary, in discussions
 logging in to CougarView daily to study new developments
 posting discussions and important announcements in a timely fashion
Student responsibilities
As a student in this course, you are responsible for:
 managing your time and maintaining the discipline required to meet course requirements
 covering all readings, online and offline, in a timely manner
 actively participating in discussions and adhering to course deadlines
 reading any e-mail sent by me and responding promptly
 logging in to CougarView at least once daily to study new developments
“I didn’t know” or “I didn’t look on website” is not an acceptable excuse for failing to meet the
course requirements. If you fail to meet your responsibilities, you do so at your own risk.
Software required
1. Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher, and the ability to administer your own machine.
2. Microsoft Office 2000 or higher
3. Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher or equivalent browser
4. Other software as needed for assignments, tests and discussions
Other important items
1. Please CC to yourself any email that you need to be sure has reached me. Please note that I
am unable to provide individual confirmation of receipt of your email sent to me.
2. In CougarView, the “Outbox” stores all sent emails, if they have been successfully sent. This
feature is handy to use if you need to check whether an (assignment) attachment was sent
successfully to me via CougarView email.
3. Please observe online etiquette; the absence of facial cues and voice inflections may render
offensive any intended humor. If you’re critical of something, be careful to criticize the idea and
not the person. Disagree cordially. No personal attacks (e.g. on religion, gender, race, etc.) are
permitted; such postings will be deleted without warning and the student will be penalized.
Academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, activities such as cheating and plagiarism
(http://aa.colstate.edu/advising/a.htm#Academic Dishonesty/Academic Misconduct). It is a basis
for disciplinary action. Any work turned in for individual credit must be entirely the work of the
student submitting the work. You may share ideas but submitting identical assignments (for
example) will be considered cheating. You may discuss the material in the course and help one
another with concepts; however, any work you hand in for a grade must be your own.
A simple way to avoid inadvertent plagiarism is to talk about the assignments, but don't read
each other's work or write solutions together. For your own protection, keep old versions of
assignments to establish ownership until after the assignment has been graded and returned to
you. If you have any questions about this, please contact me immediately. All work that is not
your own MUST be properly cited. This includes any material found on the Internet. Stealing,
giving or receiving any code, diagrams, drawings, text or designs from another person (CSU or
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non-CSU, including on the Internet) is not allowed. Having access to another person’s work on
the computer system or giving access to your work to another person is not allowed. It is your
responsibility to keep your work confidential.
No cheating in any form will be tolerated. The penalty for the first occurrence of academic
dishonesty is a grade of F in this course. Other penalties include suspension from the Computer
Science program at CSU and/or dismissal from the program. All instances of cheating will be
documented in writing in the university records. Students will be expected to discuss the
academic misconduct with the faculty member and the chairperson of the department. For more
details see http://aa.colstate.edu/faculty/FacHandbook0203/sec100.htm#109.14 and the
Student Handbook: http://sa.colstate.edu/handbook/handbook2003.pdf
Academic honesty is highly valued at Columbus State University. You must always submit work
that represents your own original ideas. If any programming or ideas are used that do not
represent your original work, then you must cite all relevant sources. Ideas that require citations
include, but are not limited to, all hardcopy or electronic publications, whether copyrighted or
not, and all verbal or visual communication when the content of such communication clearly
originates from an identifiable source. Collaboration is not permitted on assignments or exams
in this course, unless explicitly specified by the instructor.
For exams, access to any type of written material or discussion of any kind (except with me) is
not allowed. In addition to instructor-initiated penalties, there will also be university-initiated
penalties and disciplinary action. Academic dishonesty could involve:
 Having a tutor or friend complete a portion of your assignments.
 Having a reviewer make extensive revisions to an assignment.
 Copying work submitted by another student.
 Using information from online information services without proper citation.
Getting help
Student assistants in the Computer Center (see http://cins.colstate.edu/studenthelp/index.htm)
can help you with basic computer-related problems such as logging on to the network, saving
your work, etc., but they are not obligated to help you with your assignments. There are several
tutors in the Computer Science department who may be able to help you with some courserelated work. Their schedule is posted in the Computer Science department and on the website
http://cs.colstate.edu. You can always contact me through email, fax, mail, in person during my
posted office hours or by appointment.
Some URLs of interest
Websites that provide general information, including FAQ’s on advising and curricular issues:
1. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/home/main.aspx (CS, Computer Science, department at CSU)
2. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/home/faq_advising.aspx (Advising FAQ)
3. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/academics/advisors.aspx (Advisor listing)
4. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/programs/grad.aspx (Graduate program main page)
5. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/home/faq.aspx (General FAQ, find free software!)
6. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/home/job_board.aspx (Job opportunities)
7. http://csc.colstate.edu/memos/internship/ (Internship FAQ)
8. http://clubs-orgs.colstate.edu/acm/ (Join ACM, a professional organization)
9. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/academics/course_requests.aspx (Request a course!)
10. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/academics/online_support.aspx (Online student FAQ)
11. http://cins.colstate.edu/ (Main page of the Computer Info and Networking Services at CSU)
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12. http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/facstaff/facstaff.aspx (Faculty and staff pages)
13. http://academics.colstate.edu/calendars/ (CSU calendar, important dates)
14. http://registrar.colstate.edu/ (Registrar, apply for graduation, etc.)
15. http://academics.colstate.edu (Main page for ISIS registration system, schedule of classes)
Attendance
It is your responsibility to sign a roll sheet for every meeting in the classroom. At my discretion, I
may drop you from the course for more than 3 physical absences. Missing an exam is
considered an absence. Missed classes caused by participation in University-sponsored events
will not count as absences provided you notify me of such anticipated absences in advance.
You are responsible for all class work missed, regardless of the reason for the absence(s). Late
assignments will not be accepted, nor will late discussion postings. No makeup exams will be
given, so please make sure you are present for all exams and quizzes. Refer to the CSU
Catalog (http://aa.colstate.edu/advising/a.htm#Absence%20Policy) for more information on
class attendance and withdrawal.
For the online portion of this class, attendance involves logging in at least thrice a week on
WebCT and spending a least an hour each session. Be aware that you get from this course only
what you put in – if you log in and then aimlessly surf the Internet for an hour during a WebCT
session, you will not learn course-related material. Note that you are ultimately responsible for
reading the textbook, all discussions, important announcements, etc. in order to ensure a
successful learning experience.
Student web space and email account
All currently enrolled students (including online students) can request free Web server space on
the CSU student Web server. Simply go to http://students.colstate.edu and click on the "Get
Free Web Pages" icon. Then click on the links to request the account. Under normal
circumstances, the account and space will be created in a matter of seconds. This server is also
.NET capable. As a CSU student, you also have an email account with the form
lastname_firstname@colstate.edu. Since most CSU-related emails are sent to this account,
please check it regularly or enable email forwarding to another account.
Website(s)
It is your responsibility to frequently look at the course material on WebCT to keep your
knowledge of class activities current. I am not responsible for missed assignments or exams
because you did not read an announcement regarding the deadlines.
Confidentiality of shared information
CSU does not guarantee the confidentiality of information shared by students in the course
environment. Therefore, you should not share any confidential information from employers
unless explicitly released for public use. It is not the instructor’s responsibility to ensure the
privacy, integrity, confidentiality or security of shared information.
CSU's ADA compliance statement
If you have a documented disability as described by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 933112 Section 504) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and would like to request academic
and/or physical accommodations please contact Joy Norman at the Office of Disability Services
in the Center for Academic Support and Student Retention, Tucker Hall (706) 568-2330, as
soon as possible. Course requirements will not be waived but reasonable accommodations may
be provided as appropriate.
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Important dates/holidays
First day of classes: Thursday, August 17, 2006
Schedule change: Wednesday, August 16, and Friday, August 18, 2006
Labor day holiday: Monday, September 4, 2006
Tentative date of mid-term exam: Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Last day to withdraw from the course without a WF grade: Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Fall break: Thursday, October 12 – Friday, October 13, 2006
Last class day: Monday, October 9; Final exam: Wednesday, October 11, 2006
____________________________________________________________________________
Please send the following information to me as soon as possible; otherwise your grades
may not be posted. You may send it via any one of the following methods:
1. CougarView email (after scanning the page as .jpg or .pdf)
2. Fax addressed to me (706/565-3529)
3. Envelope underneath my office door (CCT 444)
4. Envelope delivered to the Computer Science department (CCT 453) to be delivered to me
5. Delivered to me in person during class or office hours
CPSC 5185 Spring 2006
Student’s full name: ___________________________________
Contact phone number: ________________________________
Declaration: I have read and understood the various components of the syllabus. I agree to
abide by the policies outlined. (You must sign and date below).
Signature: _______________________________ Date: ________________
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