An analysis of the question of the optimal depth of indexing in order to design an effective document retrieval system is presented. It is shown that some more fundamental questions about indexing and retrieval rather than indexing depth are central to the issue. (Author/MBR)

The major reasons which seem to be preventing operations research from achieving its potential and fulfilling the expectations of its proponents in library management are explored. (Author)

Recent mathematical descriptions of Bradford's distribution, and a new formulation that provides a more accurate estimation of the total number of papers and sources on a given scientific subject are presented. (Author/MBR)

Discusses the purpose of mathematical models and reviews the phases of the modeling process--defining performance, representing the problem, predicting performance, estimating parameters, defining optimization criterion, determining solution, and implementing results. Reviews of book-use, resource allocation, and library network models are…

Describes and discusses the relational organization of a bibliographical database, the notion of normal forms, relational languages, and the advantages of the relational approach to information retrieval. Twenty references are cited. (FM)

The outbreak of research on "anomalous water," or "polywater," from 1962 to 1974 provides an interesting opportunity for testing the epidemic theory of idea dissemination. (Author)

Goffman's epidemic theory is presented and compared to the contagion theory developed by Menzel. An attempt is made to compare the two models presented and examine their similarities and differences. The conclusion drawn is that the two models are very similar in their approach to understanding communication processes. (14 references) (Author/SJ)

Presents the concept of the average decision maker as a statistical entity with 10 essential properties, and defines the information state in terms of the decision maker's probability of choice of various courses of action. The implications for a generalized theory of information science are suggested. (33 references) (EAM)

Describes construction of citation network systems and some subsystems (time sequence network, cocitation network, couple network). Establishes structural modeling of these systems by means of system engineering. Explains and analyzes citation network systems. Includes graphs and charts. (JAK)

A model of word occurrences in documents is presented in the context of a model information system. (Author/PF)

A statistical description of a text retrieval system allows the derivation of a unique and measurable performance criterion that, in turn, may be used in discussing various parameters of systems performance. (Author/PF)

Compares and expands upon two approaches to dealing with fuzzy relational databases. The proposed similarity measure is based on a fuzzy Hausdorff distance and estimates the mismatch between two possibility distributions using a reduction process. The consequences of the reduction process on query evaluation are studied. (Author/EM)

Relations on a finite set V are viewed as weighted graphs. Using the language of graph theory, two methods of partitioning V are examined: selecting threshold values and applying them to a maximal weighted spanning forest, and using a parametric linear program to obtain a most adhesive partition. (Author/EM)

A generalized framework for developing analytical and conceptual relationships involving the flow of information has previously been suggested. This paper provides further refinement, rigor, and extension for some of the earlier relationships suggested. (12 references) (Author)

Examines factors that determine user charges based on query processing costs in numeric databases, and analyzes the problem of estimating such charges in advance. An approach to query cost estimation is presented which is based on the relational data model and the query optimization, cardinality estimation, and file design techniques developed in…