It is known that any totally skew quantity with (n + 1) indices, each of which ranges over n values, vanishes identically. The aim of this short note is to show that this is equivalent to the simple fact that any (n + 1) vectors in an n-dimensional vector space are linearly dependent.

This issue contains nine articles that provide an overview of trends and research in parallel information retrieval. Topics discussed include network design for text searching; the Connection Machine System; PThomas, an adaptive information retrieval system on the Connection Machine; algorithms for document clustering; and system architecture for…

Discusses precision and recall in information science and proposes a new model based on fractal geometry for clusters of relevant documents. Search strategies for retrieving a group of relevant documents are reviewed; fractal sets and chaotic processes are described; and the new model is explained. (Contains 43 references.) (LRW)

Presents an overview of current data gathering and analytical techniques for author cocitation analysis (ACA). Highlights include selection of the author set; retrieval of cocited author counts; multivariate analyses, including multidimensional scaling; data display techniques; an example for macroeconomics; interpretation and validation of…

Describes a study conducted on the cystic fibrosis (CF) database, a subset of MEDLINE, that investigated clustering structure and the effectiveness of cluster-based retrieval as a function of the exhaustivity of the uncontrolled subject descriptions. Results are compared to calculations for controlled descriptions based on Medical Subject Headings…