Presents specifications for software that is designed to support manual development and maintenance of information retrieval thesauri. Evaluation of existing software and design of custom software is discussed, requirements for integration with larger systems and for the user interface are described, and relationships among terms are discussed.…

Describes the Constituent Object Parser (COP), a domain independent syntactic parser developed for use in information retrieval and similar applications. The syntactic structure of natural language entities is discussed, and the mechanisms by which COP handles the problems of conjunctions, ellipsis, and discontinuous constituents are explained.…

Reviews what information and software sciences have thus far accomplished in search for empirical regularities and laws and examines what theories have been developed to explain and account for regularities and laws. Specific laws and theories of information highlighted are those of Zipf, Bradford, Lotka, Mandelbrot, and Simon. (Forty references)…

Analyzes a large sample of spelling errors taken from free writing to assess how great a challenge such errors present for automatic checking and correction. Analysis of results reveals a high proportion of errors that match dictionary works, necessitating the use of the word in context to detect errors. (Author/LRW)

Reports on a controlled experiment that compared cloze procedure (human tendency to complete a familiar but not quite finished pattern) and comprehension quiz as measures of computer program understanding. Program comprehension measures, experimental materials, administration, and results are highlighted. Twenty-six references and sample questions…

Presents a methodology for extending string indexing from index display production to the provision of descriptor phrases for term proximity searching. Objectives of the extension are discussed, and an illustration of the use of an existing string indexing system for this purpose is given. (14 references) (CLB)

Demonstrates that hierarchical naming schemes--one with a single namespace and fixed root spread over all machines in a distributed system, and a second with total namespace composed of some aggregation of individual namespaces of each component system's filestores--can coexist in distributed computer systems. Combined system's design is…

Presents model of algorithm design (activity in software development) based on analysis of protocols of two subjects designing three convex hull algorithms. Automation methods, methods for studying algorithm design, role of discovery in problem solving, and comparison of different designs of case study according to model are highlighted.…

Discussion of research into information and text retrieval problems highlights the work with automatic natural language processing (NLP) that is reported in this issue. Topics discussed include the occurrences of nominal compounds; anaphoric references; discontinuous language constructs; automatic back-of-the-book indexing; and full-text analysis.…

Summarizes various linguistic approaches proposed for document analysis in information retrieval environments. Topics discussed include syntactic analysis; use of machine-readable dictionary information; knowledge base construction; the PLNLP English Grammar (PEG) system; phrase normalization; and statistical and syntactic phrase evaluation used…

Describes a generic software tool, Objective-C, that detects and corrects data inconsistency in databases. In this study, heterogeneous bibliographic information is integrated by using the message-object model to implement data abstraction methodologies. Citation translation problems are discussed and future directions for research are suggested.…

Presents a concept of end-user query language with facilities for expressing relationships between objects kept in a database. The idea of nesting these features in typical document query language is shown. Examples of usage of these new facilities are included. (Author/MBR)

Describes the Case Hierarchy, a model of the case system of unconstrained natural language, and ways in which the case system is specialized in a restricted domain. Results of a feasibility study which examined the utility of the Case Hierarchy and the Case Hierarchy Tool (an intelligent editor supporting the domain analysis process) are…

This description of the development of expert systems designed to solve management problems focuses on the issue of corporate divestment as an example. Software needs are discussed, and an example of a management expert system for divestment analysis at James Madison University is briefly described. (Author/LRW)

Examines general technical issues involved in placing latest computer systems, operable by end users in programer-free environment, at disposal of non-English-speaking users. User environment, classification of software products (token dependent, communications intensive, language dependent), approaches to bilingual software modification,…