Analyzes recent developments in the problem of processing queries expressed as Boolean expressions, shows that the concept of threshold values resolves the problems inherent with relevance weights, and explores possible evaluation mechanisms for document retrieval based on fuzzy set theory. Sixteen references are listed. (FM)

A series of five batches of twenty searches were carried out in a three year span of the INSPEC data base by the 31 Company's Information Retrieval Service. The same queries were processed manually in the corresponding volumes of Science Abstracts and comparison of the output of each search method exposed reasons for the failures. Emphasis is laid…

An information retrieval system was developed using technical word occurrences as a basis for classification. A set of words, designated a vocabulary, was selected from the middle range of frequency listing of words occurring in an experimental sample of 94 documents. The selection produced 115 non-function words with technical definition that did…

QUEST is an interactive conversational Programming System (CPS) that was developed to serve as a conversational interface between a searcher of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) files and the North Carolina Science and Technology Research Center's Inverted File Search Program (STRC-IVS). This paper describes QUEST: its costs,…

Examines through a series of mathematical models (theorems, descriptions, and examples), properties and operations on inverted files, which are used in an information retrieval system based on thesaurus with weighted descriptors. (CWM)

Analyzes the use of weights to denote a query representation and/or the indexing of a document as a generalization of a Boolean retrieval system. Criteria are given for the functions used to evaluate the relevance of the records to a specific query and a new evaluation approach is suggested. (CWM)

Presents a new method of document retrieval based on the fundamental operations of fuzzy set theory. Basic notions are introduced. Then the syntax and semantics of the proposed language for document retrieval is given, and an algorithm allocating documents to particular queries is described and its properties are discussed. (Author/CWM)

The purpose of this guide is to give an up-to-date presentation of the information service offered by the documentation center at the Royal Institute of Technology (RIT) and to facilitate the utilization of the service. The guide gives a general account of the multidisciplinary computerized current awareness service (SDI) and a detailed…

Describes preliminary investigation of the use of International Computers Limited's Distributed Array Processor (DAP) for parallel searching of large serial files of documents. DAP hardware and software, test collections, measurement of DAP performance, search algorithms, experimental results, and DAP suitability for interactive searching are…

The program is a general purpose information retrieval program which can be used with a file of fixed format documents. Designed to be used by noncomputer personnel, the program provides flexibility in search requests and output format, which enable it to satisfy users' requests for information promptly and inexpensively. To insure easy adaptation…

The direct-chaining technique of hash coding is generalized in a manner that is useful for storing records on the basis of non-unique search keys. Two hash functions are used, a process implying a tree structure. Two models, one involving unique and the other non-unique keys, are presented. (7 references) (Author/KE)

The ERIC and LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts) databases are compared through a literature review and the analysis of an online search on a topic in librarianship. ERIC emphasizes education and includes serials, monographs, collections, and research reports for their coverage of some aspect of education. LISA is dedicated to topics…

As the fourteenth report in a series describing research in automatic information storage and retrieval, this document covers work carried out on the SMART project for approximately one year (summer 1967 to summer 1968). The document is divided into four main parts: (1) SMART systems design, (2) analysis and search experiments, (3) user feedback…

This report discusses an experimental inquiry into the nature and use of context data. The objective is to explore the implications of a system incorporating context data and, ultimately, to test the utility of context data for meeting the needs of users of information systems. The result of this inquiry has been the establishment of a context…

The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre is concerned with the retrieval, evaluation, synthesis, and dissemination of structural data obtained by diffraction methods. This paper describes the use of a computer-based file system of both bibliographic information and numeric data to produce a compendium of interatomic distances. (10 references)…