Clarifies the nature of sequential operations and explores some research in the area that has implications for the instructional designer. (Author)

Discusses the development of the Smart Book, a device which simplifies access to information normally found in printed form, and describes its two distinct components--the reader unit containing computer equipment, display screen, and controls, and the ROM book pack containing the text of the book and program functions. Possible applications are…

Describes system design proposed by the Spelling Error Detection Correction Project (SPEEDCOP) at Chemical Abstracts Service. Highlights include principles of detection/correction system; spelling error detection (the dictionary, suffix normalization, bypassing specialized word classes, document-level frequency threshold); spelling error…

A study was undertaken to classify mechanically a document collection using the free-language words in titles and abstracts of physics research papers. Using a clustering algorithm, results were obtained which closely duplicated clusters obtained by previous experiments with citations. A brief comparison is made with a traditional manual…

A method for the least squares regression of one squared variable on a second squared variable when the relationship between the original variables is linear is given. The problem arises in multidimensional scaling algorithms. (Author/JKS)

Bond criticized the base-free measure of change proposed by Tucker, Damarin, and Messick by pointing to an incorrect derivation which is here viewed instead as a correct derivation entailing an inadequately specified assumption. Bond's revision leads to negatively biased estimates, whereas the original approach leads to unbiased estimates.…

Describes a test collection that was developed as a multi-purpose testbed for experiments on the Web in distributed information retrieval, hyperlink algorithms, and conventional ad hoc retrieval. Discusses inter-server connectivity, integrity of server holdings, inclusion of documents related to a wide spread of likely queries, and distribution of…

Discusses the use of text retrieval methods based on probabilistic models with Chinese language material, which are modeled on the Okapi information retrieval system. Topics include system architecture, test collections, weighting functions, and algorithms. (Author/LRW)

Presents a genetic relevance optimization process performed in an information retrieval system that uses genetic techniques for solving multimodal problems (niching) and query reformulation techniques. Explains that the niching technique allows the process to reach different relevance regions of the document space, and that query reformulations…

General algorithms are presented that can be used for optimizing matrix trace functions subject to certain constraints on the parameters. The parameter set that minimizes the majorizing function also decreases the matrix trace function, providing a monotonically convergent algorithm for minimizing the matrix trace function iteratively. (SLD)

Analyzes the computational complexity of optimal binary tree pruning for tree-structured vector quantization. Topics discussed include the combinatorial nature of the optimization problem; the complexity of optimal tree pruning; and finding a minimal size pruned tree. (11 references) (LRW)

It is shown that it is not easy to apply the EM algorithm to latent class models in the general case with equality constraints because a nonlinear equation has to be solved. A simpler condition is given in which the EM algorithm can be easily applied. (SLD)

Describes a string-searching algorithm for multiple patterns in a text string; explains the construction of a pattern-matching machine; presents a theoretical analysis and empirical evidence that supports the sublinearity of the algorithm; and compares this algorithm with the Boyer-Moore algorithm for a single pattern. (Contains 10 references.)…

Discusses the minimum average codeword length coding under the constraint that the codewords are monotonically nondecreasing in length. Bounds on the average length of an optimal monotonic code are derived, and sufficient conditions are given such that algorithms for optimal alphabetic codes can be used to find the optimal monotonic code. (six…