Version 4.155
A bug that caused a crash if a map was loaded that had nodes with all parameters assigned yet no links provided, has been corrected. This bug is unlikely to show in normal use but a test is now carried out for node connectivity before certain analysis rules are applied to each node.
Version 4.154
When the full rebuild function was called, KST would sometimes not continue to update the graphic window. This problem has now been rectified at the expense of a slightly slower rebuild operation. However, a mouse click in the graphic window will abort the rebuild operation. There may be a delay of a few seconds for the abort to take effect. The operation of the rebuild function itself has been changed slightly.
Version 4.153
A long standing potential problem with KST is that it would hang if the user entered circular links and then called rebuild related functions. This problem has been fixed by causing KST to check for circular links and disallow them during an "add_arc" operation. A KSM should not contain circular Learning Dependencies. The help files had become out of date in favour of the newer KST user guide. The menu help tab now calls internet explorer and loads the user guide pdf into it. There should be a directory c:\KST that contains the KST.exe and the use guide KSTug.pdf for the help menu tab to work correctly.
Version 4.152
The info file required with KST is now embedded in the exe file. This means that KST.exe no longer needs info.bmp in the same directory. Info.bmp can be dispensed with.
Version 4.151
The "find" option in the edit menu has been altered and extended. There are now three options, "find in name" "find in text" and "find in all". When any of the options is selected, a string input window pops up to allow the user to enter a string and click "OK". Depending on the find option selected, KST searches for the string either in the node names, the node description and summary or all of these. Every node where a positive match (ignoring case) is found, the node is displayed as selected (green fill). This selection persists until edit is pressed or another option that uses the fill function to display information is selected. The new find options are most useful when the screen displays the whole map.
Selection colours have been changed. The current selected node is grey (as always). Other selections are now green except for "top ten risk" wich is selected as red. When the selected node (current focus) is also a displayable selected node, it is shown as blue so that the user knows it is both part of the information requested and also the node that the user is currently working with.
Version 4.15
KST will export links to corax that reference local files. It will accept "//" and ":/" as URL specifiers.
Parameter table views now contain a RISK column with a risk value computed to two decimal places. These tables also indicate the top ten risk items. Tables have an improved selection view.
Parameter file export to CSV now also contain risk values. A new knowledge base record file export option has been added that exports whole node data records as single CSV lines for easier post processing. A new "integration" value has been included in this file that gives some indication as to the connectivity of a knowledge node.A new corax export control has been placed in the map options window. Business users that do not wish corax to show computer generated options for action can set this value to zero to prevent KST exporting this data to Corax.
Version 4.143
Several minor changes have been included.
A view Options for Action in the view menu.
View Options and view top_ten now switch to edit mode on call.
Analysis will work if "Difficulty" is redefined as "Complexity" and/or "Known By" is redefined as "Well Known". These labels are no longer case sensitive. Additional limited print control has been provided in the menu-options interface to help organise a map for plotting. Some box font size change is now possible although other parameters will need to be controlled in parallel with alterations to font size.
Version 4.142
Exporting data to the CORTAX delivery tool is available within the file menu.
Two small operational changes have been made in the VIEW menu.
A top-ten-risk selection is available. This works like the analysis options by shading selected nodes grey. The nodes shaded are those that are members of the top 10% of high risk nodes. These can be de-selected by choosing the edit mode from the edit menu or the clear-selected option from the edit menu, or using an analysis option.
A map-complete option in the view menu provides on screen information about how much data is still to be entered on to a map during a project There are 8 items of data to be entered for each node. These consist of 4 numeric parameters provided by the sliders and 4 text parameters (see user guide). The node boarder top and bottom each show 4 small rectangles either filled for complete or blank for not entered. It will be obvious which is which. This is a toggle menu option and needs to be selected again to turn it off. When this option is working, colour coding of nodes is not available.
NOTE that KST evaluation and analysis functions cannot work correctly if data is not provided. The map-complete facility helps identify where more data is required.
Version 4.14
The report feature of KST has been changed. There are now three menu options for a report, One gives the developer some advice and the other two are as before, Map and Node reports. Both reports are simpler and the node report is very condensed but now includes an Options For Action element for ceratin nodes. These are computer generated options that are intended for consideration as decision support.
Version 4.14 is the first version to see a separation between elicitation and analysis and delivery. A separate web based delivery system has been developed and KST can export the source files for this once a project is complete. An Export to XML function can create files that can be used by a separate FLASH delivery tool for the web. This means that data elicited during a project and computed by KST is made available to a separate delivery tool. This tool provides access to the map and many of the inspection features of KST. It provides the computer generated Options for Action and it also provides an on line learning system. Users will need to obtain the delivery executables. These will work with any project named source files if they are placed in the same directory as the executable. Contact AKRI for more information.
Version 4.11
When entering text for each knowledge node in a text field, KST has the requiremet that the user presses the return key before changes are acknowledged and entered into the data base. There are good reasons for this but many KST users find it anoying. KST Version 4.11 provides some protection from loss of text if the user fails to press the return key before moving on to a new node. The official line of pressing the return key to confirm each text edit remains the same but this change may help to minimise data loss if the user forgets . If operational problems result from this modification, it may be withdrawn at a later stage.
Version 4.1
Following several requests, it is now possible to redefine the way that KST computes risk. This is achieved by altering risk weights for each of the four slider parameters, in the map options box. Values entered must be between -1 and +1 and use only 1 decimal place. If the value is negative then the inverse of that parameter is computed. In tool table printing responds to the new definitions. Risk will always be computed using the users definition. If a parameter is made inverse (negative) that table will be shown inverted on the screen. Tables written to files will not be inverted. The report will also respond to the user risk definition and if redefined, a report will show the computation for risk at the end of the report. File formats are changed slightly to accommodate the additional data. As normal KST V4.1 will read all previous file versions automatically but will save new versions. It is also possible to change the names given to each parameter. This responds to user requests but it should only be used with care. The report generator will withhold reports if any parameter name is changed.
Version 4.05
The way reports are generated has been changed. Many of the changes are internal to KST but the report itself has been improved with new analysis comments included. Better reporting of risk is achieved along with a new clustering analysis that provides comment on similar nodes. This would not be something that would be noticed in manual investigations. To allow visual inspection from the new cluster analysis, a cluster analysis option has been included in the analysis menu. This shows the nodes on the map that are the most similar to the selected node in terms of parameter values and map structure. Futue developments of the report generation facility in KST are planned.
Version 4.03
This update contains changes that are in the experimental section only at present. However, should a user feel that they need access to these facilities, this can be provided. KST now supports a study mode that makes use of the new capability to add additional information to each knowledge node. The intention of this is that the map can also be used as a learning tool by trainees etc. KST will also export a simple KBS simulation (that works within KST) directly to web page format. This means that if a simple advice system is developed in KST, this can be exported to linked HTML pages and used on the web.
Version 4.02
This supports an improved layout feature. The layout menu has been changed slightly to remove some unused options but include some new ones. The full rebuild option provides a layout that is much improved over the previous rebuild function. Manual adjustment is still required but a reasonable map layout can now be obtained in much less time. One or two bugs with reporting and layout have been found and fixed.
Version 4.01
This revision provides some additional research functionality within the new service menu. This development has no operational significance.
Version 4.0
Version 4 represents a major change to KST but it remains compatible with all older knowledge files and current methodology.
The main changes are:
KST no longer requires passwords. KST is provided in one of 7 versions that depend on the needs of the user.
KST now supports a new improved methodology for elicitation. In particular this development allows more comprehensive note taking about each knowledge node. Additional notes conform to a new methodology and updated knowledge files are produced by KST. For most users continuing with the existing file structure and methodology, KST is provided in a version that does not support this new information but is able to read files that have been produced by systems that do.
There is a preferences window available that allows the user to change parameters such as node size, text printing and fine control of map scale. Preferences take immediate effect on the map when altered.
Note
New versions of KST will read files produced by older versions but older versions of KST may not read files produced by new versions without text edits.
KST Version 3.2
The option 'data access' in the view menu has been replaced by two options 'table' and 'chart'. This separates tables and graphs etc.
A new chart has been added to allow the user to view node distribution information. The data for this will be used later for automated report generation but is provided graphically now to help users control the quality of their work.
When viewing a table, the node selected is now shown RED, giving a visual indication of the place in the list that is the current focus. This makes parameter editing in table mode much easier.
After viewing table or chart, the original scroll position on the map is retained when refresh is selected.
KST Version 3.1
The major change in version 3.1 is to the map file structure. Version 3.1 will load all Knowledge Structure Maps (KSMs) saved by older versions of KST. However, maps saved using version 3.1 will not be loadable by older versions. Actually there is a simple text edit that can be carried out in notepad that will make files compatible again. Several map variables are now saved with the map files. The main difference that the user will notice is that when a map is saved, the size and scroll position of the map are saved as well. This means that a map loaded into KST will take on the same size and position from its last saved configuration. Several other map appearance variables are also saved such as map title and position. These are currently only editable through the LISP interface however.
Updates to version 3.02
Version 3.03 features an improved arc crossing eliminator that uses a better whole map cross detector. The function is slower than the earlier one because it does a lot more work. However there is some on screen information that lets a user know what is going on during the time the software takes to reduce arc crossing. This feature is intended for advanced map layout users. Unfortunately there is no escape from the function once it is selected (it will run to completion).
Version 3.04 contains a simple addition to the zoom feature for a map. When zoom is selected, the system message box provides an estimate as to the new size of the map in mm. This feature has been provided to help those that plot maps out by allowing them to estimate the size of the plot before using the plotter driver. It is also useful to make sure a map will fit on an A4 or A3 page. It should be remembered however, that printers have variable borders that are not accounted for and the map should be positioned close to the top and left screen boundaries for the size to represent the size of the plot paper that will be used.
KST - New Report Feature
The new report feature contained within KST is experimental but has been enabled for full users to try. When a report is selected from the view window, a new text window is created. This has two options at present. Select a map report and select a node report. The map report provides some basic information about the whole map and on some occasions advice. The node report will provide a brief report for any node that is selected on the map. To see a report for any node, first select the node on the map and then select node report in the report window. This feature is intended to help SKA practitioners and may offer a way of providing interim results for information hungry managers. This feature will develop in the future.
KST Version 3
The latest version of KST is 3.02. Version 3 now includes an experimental reporting feature that is accessible for full users. Version 3.02 corrects a small bug when the report feature is used on nodes where parameters have been left unset. See below for more information about the reporting feature.
KST Version 3 is now delivered in several versions. This will not affect the facilities offered to full users. The main difference is that it is now possible to create a demonstration version of KST that offers most analytical features but saving new work is not allowed.
KST version 2.3 includes an overlapping knowledge table feature in the view menu. This useful feature calculates all of the overlapping knowledge structures on all map layers and displays the results in the form of tables for each layer. Entries in tables that include a white rectangle in the corner show that the particular overlap has some significance and is worth a closer look, possibly using the existing overlap view feature.
Updates to KST
1. latest version of KST is version 2.25
2. If a map has not been saved and the windows OS close icon is activated, a prompt to save the current map will appear (with no other help). This was always available when selecting exit from the file menu.
3. The information screen now states the software expiry date as well as the version number. There was a bug if multiple info screens were called. This has now been fixed.
4. Some improvement to the 'consistency checking' for importance have been made.
5. Some printing errors with the KBS demonstrator were noticed following the node name printing improvements. These problems have been addressed but the printing is still not perfect (but acceptable now). (screen printing)
6. Parameter values can now be edited from the table views. Click on the table row to select an entry and the data panel for that node will appear in the information section of the screen. All values are editable from here but parameter values will not show on the map until it is refreshed by scrolling etc. (maybe a later change).
7. Node name printing on the diagram has been improved so that node names remain within the confines of the box and space within the box is used more effectively during map zoom.
8. A hidden (remove_duplicate_arcs) function is available for experienced users on a trial basis. This function removes all redundant arcs from a map. That is arcs that pass directly to a prerequisite node when there is already an alternative path to that node. Please note that this function may be removed in later KST releases or transferred to the main menu if successful. It is a non recoverable function so save the file before use.
9. Some operational improvements have been made to the map tidy - shuffle algorithm. In addition, more of the control variables used by this algorithm are accessible to the experienced user (see advanced help file - released with version 2.23). This algorithm is now also called at the end of a slightly improved re-build function.
Please email any further comments about this site to lee@akri.org
Page updated : March 12, 2005
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