Important characteristics of lexical databases and their applications in information retrieval and natural language processing are explained. An ongoing project using various machine-readable sources to build a lexical database is described, and detailed designs of individual entries with examples are included. (Contains 66 references.) (EAM)

Includes a report on a use study of the Excerpta Medica system. (PF)

Describes a study conducted to assess selected aspects of the utility of bibliographic data bases for the prospective National Fire Data Center. (PF)

A new method for concentrating keywords of a thesaurus, based on a mathematical study of the distribution of characters in a defined natural language. (Author/KP)

Analyzes different kinds of reformulations used in information retrieval systems where full text databases are accessed through natural language queries. Tests of these reformulations on large full text databases managed by the Syntactic and Probabilistic Indexing and Retrieval of Information in Texts (SPIRIT) system are described, and an expert…

Explains a new methodology for thesaurus design that is specifically geared for use by novice end-users, and describes a faceted hierarchical thesaurus organization which provides an economical information retrieval system in a corporate setting. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study that tested the effectiveness of a thesaurus as a search-aid in free text searching of a Finnish full text database. Linguistic and conceptual approaches are discussed; five search modes are explained; recall and precision are examined; and the use of proximity operators is discussed. (Contains 29 references.) (LRW)

A hypertext-based thesaurus is proposed as a navigational aid to the subject domain of a bibliographic database. Implementation of a hypertext version of the "Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors" with database linking strategies is discussed. (44 references) (EA)

Proposes a single underlying structure for the production of a variety of computer index displays, using a networking system which represents both concepts and links by nodes. Desirable characteristics of index displays are outlined, and algorithmic extraction of subnetworks for local use is discussed. References are included. (Author/BK)

Describes the principles and methodology of Warsaw Clearinghouse activity and its specialized bibliographic service for collecting, processing, and disseminating information on thesauri and related topics. An information retrieval system TEKLA, designed to improve clearinghouse service, is discussed. (Author/BK)

Describes a project that is developing an intelligent search intermediary to help users locate relevant passages in large full text databases. (The system automatically reformulates Boolean queries to improve search results and presents retrieved passages in decreasing order of estimated relevance.) The current status of the project and plans for…

Describes three major features of treatment of paradigmatic thesaural information in microcomputer-based concept network management system: use of simple graphic displays of thesaural or paradigmatic information (linktypes); use of thesaural information to generate indirect entries; capability of customizing index displays, including thesaural…

The current state of information retrieval (IR) evaluation is reviewed with criticisms directed at the available test collections and the research and evaluation methodologies used, including precision and recall rates for online searches and laboratory tests not including real users. Automatic text retrieval systems are also discussed. (32…

Describes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lexical Dictionary (NLD), a machine-aided indexing system used online at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI). The functions of NLD system components are described in detail, and production and quality benefits resulting from machine-aided indexing at CASI are…

Summarizes the findings of a recent study on the indexing practices used in the Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) database. Descriptors, or indexing terms, from the thesaurus are analyzed; searching implications are discussed; and the relationship between the classification code and the descriptors is examined. (Contains 21…