The invention provides methods, systems, and computer program products for short term probability forecasting of selected weather-related events. These embodiments are adaptable for any geographical region that can be identified and for which a reasonable number of data points exist. The inventive method uses a data set of n observations of m parameters, where the parameters may be statistically correlated. A Principal Component Analysis may be performed, with the data set as input, to provide a reduced set of principal components that are uncorrelated and account for most of the variance in the input data set. An orthogonal transformation may be performed on the reduced set of principal components to provide a rotated set of principal components that are aligned with the corresponding parameters in the input data set. Finally a logistic regression may be performed on the rotated set of principal components to derive an S-shaped predictive equation for the probability of a binary weather-related event of interest. An illustrative embodiment of the invention is given for forecasting the probability for the number of lightning flashes exceeding a selected value, for the western United States climatological area.

A rule processing apparatus includes modules for defining/entering attributes, enumerations, and/or relationships; packaging the definitions in a reduced canonical form suitable for propositional logic manipulation using zero-suppressed binary decision diagrams (Zdd) to produce a prime Zdd; and/or (iii) executing the rule by applying a series of user inputs to the prime Zdd to determine a result that preferably includes conflict and selection advice to guide the user to satisfaction. Elective events, such as but not limited to the display of messages or the performance of calculations, may optionally be packaged along with the prime rule or components thereof, and presented during execution to help guide the end user to satisfaction or compliancy when choosing among possible selections. The apparatus automates determination of a complex rule having a combinatorial exploded number of rule components, or a combinatorial number of possible outcomes, exceeding computational capacity of present day computing systems.

The subject disclosure pertains to systems and methods for processing input data provided in multiple formats to generate output data in a standardized, common format. To facilitate processing of the input data, a set of rules can be defined that describe processing for various types and formats of input data. The rules can be maintained separately from the processing component, such that the rules can be updated without necessitating modification of the processing component. Subsets of the rules can be retrieved and utilized to process specific input data. Errors within the input data can be identified and automatically corrected based upon previous input data sets. In addition, rules can be automatically generated based on previous input data and user feedback.

A computer-implemented method and apparatus thereof for validating combinations of product features that are compliant with existing business rules relative to a modified business rule, where the modification includes an include and/or an exclude ZDD rule component. The method comprises obtaining combinations of features compliant with the existing business rules, processing the combinations against a representation of the rule components to determine validity against the modified business rule, and providing to a user an indication of validity of the combinations relative to the modification. The processing optionally comprises forming a representation of a record-by-feature array having rows corresponding to the combinations, ordering columns of the array according to one of the rule components, and testing validity of the rows of the array against the rule component. The features or combinations arc optionally read from a database, and optionally include a service.

A method of providing, in response to user-selected ones of attributes and/or enumerations thereof, a list of product choices from products whose compatibility is characterized by a ZDD rule model having one or more Include and Exclude ZDDs. The method comprises creating a ZDD sub-tree by scanning the Include ZDDs and keeping paths having the selected enumerations set, determining complete paths through the sub-tree to produce potentially valid combinations, checking the potentially valid combinations against the Exclude ZDDs to exclude invalid combinations, and providing resulting valid combinations. The scanning optionally includes examining nodes of the Include ZDDs or of the sub-tree against Index values of the selected enumerations to create nodes in the sub-tree. Other aspects include an apparatus implementing the method, and a computer-readable medium including program instructions enabling a processing device to perform the method.