Describes a system based on a probabilistic inference network retrieval model that was used to study the retrieval effectiveness benefits of combining types of document and query information that are found in typical commercial databases and information services. Multiple document representations, multiple index representations, and multiple query…

Suggests a new ranking scheme especially adapted for hypertext environments in order to produce more effective retrieval results and still use Boolean search strategies. Topics include Boolean ranking schemes; single-term indexing and term weighting; fuzzy set theory extension; and citation indexing. (64 references) (Author/LRW)

Describes a project that examined textual information available on the Internet and potential means of providing access to this information. Highlights include an overview of Internet resources, a profile of a document sample, description of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites, and an automated method of categorizing files. (MES)

Describes a database-filtering approach that combines citation, indexing, and productivity analyses as an effective tool for identifying journals that support multidisciplinary research and development, based on a study of biotechnology research and development. Cocitation analysis, including cocitation maps; subject heading profile analysis; and…

Describes the organization of the House of Commons Library which provides information, documentation, and research services to its members and outlines the history of the Parliamentary On-Line Information System (POLIS). The physical description of POLIS, indexing practices, users, and the Library's subject thesaurus are discussed. Eight…

Discusses cross-language, multilingual, and bilingual information retrieval on the Web; evaluates retrieval effectiveness of indexing and search strategies based on test collections from CLEF (Cross-Language Evaluation Forum) in English, French, German, and Italian; and suggests and evaluates database merging strategies. Appendices include…

Discusses suffix stripping algorithms used in information retrieval to cluster words derived from a common root under the same stem, and proposes a suffixing algorithm for French which uses grammatical categories to enhance the stemming process. An evaluation of the algorithm is discussed, and an analysis of errors is described. (17 references)…

Zipfian laws for frequency distributions of word pairs and longer phrases are derived from text sample analysis. From crossing of Zipfian curves, it is deduced that number of multi-word phrases that occur frequently in text is surprisingly small, of same order of magnitude as number of individual word-types. (8 references) (EJS)

Describes SAPHIRE, an experimental information retrieval system featuring concept-based automated indexing, natural language input, and relevance-based retrieval; and compares its retrieval effectiveness with other indexing approaches in a Boolean-based searching environment. Indexing in MEDLINE is described, and a test collection of AIDS…

The six papers that comprise this document deal with topics related to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and/or its online document retrieval system, NIOSHTIC. Specific subjects include: (1) a method to catalog multiple sources of NIOSH publications for dissemination; (2) an input rejection algorithm used to provide…