12. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the encoded representation of the knowledge source comprises: designating at least one of the conditions as a required condition; designating at least another one of the conditions as an optional condition; and storing said designations as metadata attributes in the encoded representation, such that the encoded representation can be programmatically used to require the required condition for detection of the problem and to not require the optional condition for detection of the problem.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the encoded representation of the knowledge source comprises: designating at least one of the conditions as a required condition; designating at least another one of the conditions as an optional condition; and storing said designations as metadata attributes in the encoded representation, such that the encoded representation can be programmatically used to require the required condition for detection of the problem and to not require the optional condition for detection of the problem. 13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the encoded representation includes a confidence calculation procedure for calculating a confidence in the existence of the problem, the confidence calculation procedure configured to increase the calculated confidence if the optional condition exists and to decrease the calculated confidence if the optional condition does not exist.