IRList Digest Tuesday, 11 August 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 25 Today's Topics: Reply - re: request for information on library automation Abstracts - Dissertation abstracts relating to inf. retrieval (pt 2 of 4) News addresses are ARPANET: fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu BITNET: foxea@vtvax3.bitnet CSNET: fox@vt UUCPNET: seismo!vtisr1!irlistrq ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Aug 87 10:12 PDT From: IIN4CLB@UCLAMVS Subject: re: request for information on library automation While IRlist may not have covered much material on library automation, a lot exists. Start with the indexes LIBRARY LITERATURE and LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ABSTRACTS (LISA). Also several recent texts, includinhg ones by Rice and by Corbin that aren't bad. I teach a one-quarter grad course on library automation here at UCLA and my syllabus includes a fairly extensive bibliography (10-15 pages). I can mail a copy to anyone who is interested in it, either electronically or by USMAIL. I can be reached at Dr. Christine Borgman Grad School of Lib & Information Science UCLA Los Angeles, CA 90034 213/825-1379 IIN4CLB@UCLAMVS.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Aug 87 16:45:32 EDT From: Susanne Humphrey Subject: new edition of abstracts for IRList and SIGIR Forum Selected IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts (continued - part 2 of 4) AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-08218. AU BASU, AMIT. IN The University of Rochester Ph.D. 1986, 180 pages. TI Imprecise reasoning in intelligent decision support systems. SO DAI v47(12), SecA, pp4439. DE Business Administration, Management. AB In this thesis, a formal methodology to support reasoning with imprecise knowledge in computer based decision support systems is developed. Many important decision problems are highly unstructured, and cannot be solved adequately using preset algorithms. Much of the complexity of such problems lies in the reasoning needed to determine how to solve individual problem instances. Existing decision support systems do not provide much reasoning support, largely due to the difficulty of representing and manipulating the fragmented and imprecise knowledge that is generally available. The methodology developed in this dissertation provides a basis for the design of Intelligent Decision Support Systems (IDSS) in which heuristic problem solving methods can be used to support reasoning as well as data retrieval and numerical computation. The dissertation consists of three parts. First, a logic based framework for reasoning is developed. The basic constructs of First Order Logic (FOL) are supplemented with constructs and mechanisms for automatic model manipulation, resulting in a powerful framework for IDSS development. Next, the need to distinguish between two different sources of imprecision, namely fuzziness and uncertainty is established, and methods for formally representing and mechanically manipulating fuzzy and/or uncertain knowledge within the logic framework are developed. Finally, the strengths of the imprecise reasoning methodology are demonstrated by implementing a prototype IDSS to support imprecise reasoning and examining the prototype's performance on sample problems. This research shows how IDSS can be developed for unstructured problems even when the available knowledge is imprecise, and also demonstrates the versatility of such a system. For instance, the imprecision measures provide useful bases for comparing alternative solutions, even solutions that are "close misses"; evaluation of solutions is also possible for each subproblem. Information about imprecision can be used not only to interpret solutions, but also to control the problem solving process itself. Furthermore, the generation of useful results is often possible even if some of the available information is highly imprecise, sometimes even if some information is missing. Such features can be very useful in supporting unstructured decision making, yet cannot readily be supported by a system limited to precise reasoning. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-10552. AU CATER, STEVEN C. IN The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical Col. Ph.D. 1986, 93 pages. TI The topological information retrieval system and the topological paradigm: a unification of the major models of information retrieval. SO DAI v48(02), SecB, pp493. DE Computer Science. AB There are three topics discussed in this work. The first topic is an investigation of the topological properties of the p-norm model of Salton, Fox, and Wu. It is shown that certain properties of the p-norm model that one would expect to hold, given the topological origin of the model, do not in fact hold. These properties include the ability to change the query by changing p, and the ability to adequately separate documents. Since these properties do hold in the model as actually constructed, it must be that the properties do not follow from the topological origin of the model. The second topic is a search for a usable model with an adequate theoretical basis. In order to construct such a model, the topological paradigm is defined. This paradigm establishes a minimal set of requirements that any system with a topological foundation should have. A particular example of the paradigm, the Topological Information Retrieval System (TIRS), is constructed. It is shown that all of the desired properties of the p-norm model hold for the TIRS model. A discussion of the various query systems that may be used with TIRS is given. These query systems include a natural language interface and a weighted boolean query system, as well as two specialized interfaces. The weighted boolean query system has the property that pairs, when treated as units, have all of the properties of the non-weighted boolean lattice. The run time of the system is estimated, once for an inverted file implementation, and once for an implementation using kd-trees. These run times are much better than for traditional systems. The third topic is a reexamination of the standard models of information retrieval, considered as cases of the topological paradigm. The paradigm is shown to be a unifying model, in that all of the standard models, i.e., the boolean, vector space, fuzzy set theoretic, and probabilistic models, as well as a hierarchical model, are shown to be instances of the paradigm. An appendix contains a review of relevant topics from topology and abstract algebra. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-11310. AU CHRISTENSEN, MARGARET H. IN Temple University Ph.D. 1987, 276 pages. TI Explanation generation from algebraic specification through hyperresolution and demodulation: automated heuristic assistance. (Volumes I and II). SO DAI v48(02), SecB, pp493. DE Computer Science. AB AHA delivers semantic help to users of interactive systems. It possesses the following six capabilities: (1) It can report the user's current state. (2) It can list all of the commands which are legal in the user's current state. (3) It can explain the meaning of a given command. (4) It can explain how the user got to the current state. (5) It can explain the consequences of the issuance of hypothetical commands from the current state. (6) It can tell the user how to get to a goal state, and if requested, explain why this will do the job. Knowledge about the software is represented through algebraic specification and question answering is handled by a resolution-based theorem prover with demodulation for the treatment of equality. A demonstration version is implemented for a subset of DEC command language. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-11440. AU FRAME, MICHAEL CHARLES. IN The George Washington University D.Sc. 1987, 183 pages. TI Automatic translation of query language in heterogeneous database management systems. SO DAI v48(02), SecB, pp494. DE Computer Science. AB A heterogeneous database management system (HDBMS) is a set of dissimilar, but cooperating, "local" database management systems (LDBMSs). The LDBMSs may reside on separate computer systems. The HDBMS provides uniform access to the data in all of these databases available to users of all of the computer systems. Users have the impression of interfacing with a single database. One of the problems that exists in providing such a capability is interacting with the various query languages that the LDBMSs provide. A user should be able to access all data with a single query language. In addition, it should be possible to add a new LDBMS to the HDBMS without the necessity of writing a translator to that LDMSs query language. Both of these problems are solved here. The design of an HDBMS is presented that includes a table driven translator based upon attribute grammars. Attribute grammars define the syntax (form) and the semantics (meaning) of a language. A new LDBMS may be added simply by defining an attribute grammar for its query language. The HDBMS includes algorithms for: translating the common query language to an internal form; decomposing the internal form based upon the participating LDBMSs; and translating the decomposed parts each to the appropriate query language. In addition, the HDBMS contains a database "machine" based upon relational algebra. This machine provides the capability of a high degree of parallelism by using a dataflow technique to evaluate relational algebra expressions. Relational algebra is the internal form used in the attribute grammar of the common query language. In addition to its operational use, it also provides a formalism for defining the precise meaning of query languages. This is an improvement over the informal techniques that are now in use. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-08227. AU FRISCH, ALAN MARK. IN The University of Rochester Ph.D. 1986, 127 pages. TI Knowledge retrieval as specialized inference. SO DAI v47(12), SecB, pp4957. DE Computer Science. AB Artificial Intelligence reasoning systems commonly contain a large corpus of declarative knowledge, called a knowledge base (KB), and provide facilities with which the system's components can retrieve this knowledge. This thesis sets out to study the very nature of retrieval. Formal specifications that capture certain informal intuitions about retrieval are developed, studied, and implemented by retrieval algorithms. Consistent with the necessity for fast retrieval is the guiding intuition that a retriever is, at least in simple cases, a pattern matcher, though in more complex cases it may perform selected inferences such as property inheritance. Seemingly at odds with this intuition, this thesis views the entire process of retrieval as a form of inference and hence the KB as a representation, not merely a data structure. A retriever makes a limited attempt to prove that a queried sentence is a logical consequence of the KB. When constrained by the no-chaining restriction, inference becomes indistinguishable from pattern-matching. Imagining the KB divided into quanta, a retriever that respects this restriction cannot combine two quanta in order to derive a third. The techniques of model theory are adapted to build non-procedural specifications of retrievability relations, which determine what sentences are retrievable from the KB's. Model-theoretic specifications are presented for four retrievers, each extending the capabilities of the previous one. Each is accompanied by a rigorous investigation into its properties, and a presentation of an efficient, terminating algorithm that probably meets the specification. The first retriever, which operates on a propositional language, handles only yes/no queries, the second also handles wh-queries, and the third allows quantifiers in the KB and the query. Each is shown to be, in some sense, the strongest retriever that meets the no-chaining restriction. The third retriever forms an excellent basis for integrating a specialized set of inferences that chain in a controllable manner. This is achieved by incorporating taxonomic inference, such as inheritance, to form the fourth retriever, an idealized version of the retriever incorporated in the ARGOT natural language dialogue system. It is characterized by its ability to infer all consequences of its taxonomic knowledge without otherwise chaining. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-08663. AU KAZEMIAN, FEREYDOUN. IN Kansas State University Ph.D. 1987, 95 pages. TI A formal specification for a user interface for office automation. SO DAI v47(12), SecB, pp4959. DE Computer Science. AB This work describes a formal method for specifying the user interface of an Office Automation (OA) system. Since there are no standard office environments to base the formal specifications on, some components of an OA system which model the workings of many offices are considered. A model for the interface to the OA system is developed. Based upon this model the requirements of a hypothetical user is described. From these requirements components of an OA system satisfying them are identified. Formal specification techniques are described. The algebraic specification technique is used for specifying the user interface. Completeness and consistency of the algebraic specification are discussed and the notion of sufficient completeness is presented. An algorithm for testing the sufficient completeness of an algebraic specification of an abstract data type under certain constraints is discussed. Calculus of Communicating Systems is used as a formal specification technique for describing user interaction and communication aspects of the OA system. Finally a framework for the design of a user interface is considered. [Note: rest will be spread over next 2 issues - Ed] ------------------------------ END OF IRList Digest ********************