Information Retrieval List Digest 086 (October 4, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-086 IRLIST Digest October 4, 1991 Volume VIII, Number 43 Issue 86 ********************************************************** I. NOTICES B. Publications Announcements 1. Journal of Ideas: Announcement & Call for Papers IV. PROJECT WORK C. Abstracts 1. IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts ********************************************************** I. NOTICES I.B.1. Fr: Elan Moritz Re: Journal of Ideas: Announcement & Call for Papers The Journal of Ideas started publication in 1990. Attached below are two files describing the scope of the Journal and some recent abstracts. We encourage submission of interdisciplinary papers that fall within the scope of the Journal. Requests for further details and subscription information should be forwarded to Elan Moritz, at the Institute for Memetic Research [internet e-mail: moritz@well.sf.ca.us]. JOURNAL OF IDEAS Published by: The Institute for Memetic Research PO Box 16327, Panama City, Florida 32406-1327 USA Manuscripts and information requests should be directed to Elan Moritz (E-mail: moritz@well.sf.ca.us) Editors: Elan Moritz; Patricia S. Smith Editorial Advisory Board: R. Wilburn Clouse, Vanderbilt U.; Peter Kiss, Sentar, Inc., Huntsville, AL. The Institute for Memetic Research, Matthew Witten, U. Texas System, Panama City Austin AIMS & SCOPE: The Journal of Ideas is an archival (print) forum dedicated to the dissemination of research results and discussion relating to the formation and spread of ideas in human and machine systems. Areas covered include: 1) dynamical and structural theories of idea and meme generation, mutation, combination, spread and dissolution, 2) knowledge generation, representation, and storage in living and artificial systems, 3) cognition and self-awareness in living and artificial systems 4) generalized theories of life, evolution, and ecology in biological, mechanical and electronic systems, 5) classical and quantum mechanical theories of brain/mind interactions, 6) human and machine creativity and, 7) results of experiments in the preceding areas. The Journal publishes research communications, critical reviews, short notes, book reviews, and relevant historical material. The Journal is geared to a diverse audience coming from classical disciplines such as physics, biology, evolutionary and ecological studies, psychology, anthropology, computer science, mathematics, and philosophy. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS PUBLISHED IN VOLUME 1 MEMETIC SCIENCE: I - Introduction: E. Moritz - The Institute for Memetic Research, FL Memetic Science is the name of a new field that deals with the quantitative analysis of cultural transfer. The units of cultural transfer are entities called "memes". In a nutshell, memes are to cultural and mental constructs as genes are to biological organisms. Examples of memes are ideas, tunes, fashions, and virtually any cultural and behavioral unit that gets copied with a certain degree of fidelity. It is argued that the understanding of memes is of similar importance and consequence as the understanding of processes involving DNA and RNA in molecular biology. This paper presents a rigorous foundation for discussion of memes and approaches to quantifying relevant aspects of meme genesis, interaction, mutation, growth, death and spreading processes. It is also argued in this paper that recombinant memetics is possible in complete analogy to recombinant DNA / genetic engineering. Special attention is paid to memes in written modern English. CULTURAL EVOLUTION: A BIOLOGIST'S VIEW: J. T. Bonner - Princeton University, NJ Culture is defined here as information transmitted from one individual to another by behavioral means. The evolution of culture is discussed in terms of selection of units of behavioral information defined as memes. The relationships of genes, memes, behavior and the role of individual and collective memory in cultural evolution are explored. Changes obtained via human cultural evolution are comparable in magnitude to changes resulting from millions of years of genetical evolution. GENERAL THEORY OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION: D. R. Brooks and D. A. McLennan - University of Toronto One approach to finding a unified theory of biology stems from perceptions that (1) the direction of time and history are important aspects of biological systems, (2) biological systems are highly non-linear, (3) biological systems are far from equilibrium, and that the historically-constrained nonequilibrium behavior of biological systems produces (4) hierarchical organization and (5) steady states that may act as local equilibria to such an extent that natural selection is expected to play an important role in explaining much of their short-term (micro-) evolutionary behavior. Internal production rules in biological systems require outside energy but are also highly insensitive to the conditions of the external environment from which the energy comes. This leads to the production of historically constrained, spontaneously stable, complex structure. Because the production rules are physically encoded in the structure of the system, biological systems are physical information systems, and their expected behavior over time follows a general entropic dynamic. The autonomy of the production rules leads to an explanation for the reality of natural selection that does not rely on analogy with human economic theory. The historical nature of the elements of diversity at any given time leads to an expectation that the details of responses to external evolutionary forces (such as natural selection, competition, geological changes) will be highly individualized. Hence, evolutionary regularities will tend to be highly generalized (macroevolutionary) or statistical in nature. THE METABOLIC ROOTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS: R. A. Wiley - BioBalance Services, FL Clinical research dealing with metabolic dysfunctions indicates that the evolution of disorders commonly referred to as psychogenic, mental, behavioral and stress-related is governed predominantly by intermediary metabolic activity. These dysfunctions, characterized by weak or poorly coupled interactions within Kreb's cycle and the Embden-Meyerhoff pathways, can be nutritionally countereffected thereby limiting and often eliminating the extent to which they are cognitively, affectively and behaviorally articulated. This research suggests that genetic factors and nutritional input are primary determinants of psychometabolic pathology. The implications of this research are profound, extend far beyond the domains of clinical psychology and medicine, and may go on to impact disciplines as diverse as psycholinguistics, sociobiology, criminology, cultural anthropology and zoology to mention only a few. The status of clinical research regarding the role of intermediary metabolism in shaping cognitive performance is reviewed in this article. A generic mathematical formalism of metabolic activity is developed, and a metric mapping metabolic activity into cognitive activity is proposed and discussed. THE GLOBAL INFORMATION CAPACITY OF A MACROSCOPIC SYSTEM: S. N. Salthe - Brooklyn College, CUNY, NY This paper attempts to sketch out in what way macroscopic information must be entropic. If this can be shown, a larger science, of infodynamics - the study of uncertainties, can subsume thermodynamics and information theory. It is crucial for these purposes that a finite observer be stipulated for all informational exchanges, and, in order to achieve the desired result, that observer must be located inside the supersystem that contains the object systems it interprets. MEMES AND CREATIONISM: H. K. Henson and A. L. - San Jose, CA This paper discusses the question of creationism and evolution theory in the context of memes. Several key questions are raised including the questions of why humans have beliefs at all, and why does belief in evolution excite substantial opposition. The authors address the competition of memes in the meme pool and propose the existence of meme 'receptor sites' responsible for strong maintenance of religious beliefs. ----- Journal of Ideas --------Volume 1 #1 ----------Abstracts ********************************************************** IV. PROJECT WORK IV.C.1. Fr: Susanne Humphrey Re: IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts The following are citations selected by title and abstract as being related to Information Retrieval (IR), resulting from a computer search, using BRS Information Technologies, of the Dissertation Abstracts Online database produced by University Microfilms International (UMI). Included are UMI order number, title, author, degree, year, institution; number of pages, one or more Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) subject descriptors chosen by the author, and abstract. Unless otherwise specified, paper or microform copies of dissertations may be ordered from University Microfilms International, Dissertation Copies, Post Office Box 1764, Ann Arbor, MI 48106; telephone for U.S. (except Michigan, Hawaii, Alaska): 1-800-521-3042, for Canada: 1-800-268-6090. Price lists and other ordering and shipping information are in the introduction to the published DAI. An alternate source for copies is sometimes provided. Dissertation titles and abstracts contained here are published with permission of University Microfilms International, publishers of Dissertation Abstracts International (copyright by University Microfilms International), and may not be reproduced without their prior permission. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG91-05585. AU KIM, KYUNG CHANG. TI QUERY PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES IN OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES. IN The University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. 1990, 313 pages. DE Computer Science. AB There has been little formal research in query processing in object-oriented databases. One reason is that a model for object-oriented queries has not been generally identified and accepted. Our research proposes an underlying query graph model for object-oriented databases, and examines three techniques that can be used to enhance query performance. To make concrete the query model, we identify a class of queries to be examined, and any query which can be expressed in the ORION object-oriented query language is then transformed into its query graph model. Given the query model, we then discuss how access plans are generated and identify graph traversal methods and alternative query evaluation algorithms. The first query performance enhancement technique proposed is indexing technique. To enhance performance during query evaluation, indexing techniques for object-oriented databases are proposed. The proposed indexing techniques are influenced by the fundamental object-oriented constructs. Extensive experiments to test the performance of the indexing techniques are reported. Our experimental results establish the effectiveness of the proposed indexing techniques. The next query performance enhancement technique proposed is query optimization. Query optimization heuristics are proposed to limit the number of access plans to be evaluated for possible execution. A cost model is formulated to assign a cost to each of the access plans under consideration and consequently to select the optimal access plan for actual evaluation. The model also determines the evaluation algorithms and the access paths to be used to process a query based on the selected access plan. Extensive experiments are conducted to test the effectiveness of the proposed heuristics. The third query performance enhancement technique proposed is parallelism. The use of parallelism to enhance performance during query evaluation is examined. We identify situations in which parallelism can be exploited in the query graph model. Experiments are then conducted to test the performance of parallel evaluation algorithms in evaluating queries as compared to their centralized versions. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG91-09439. AU MULLINS, PAUL MICHAEL. TI THE NETWORK USER INTERFACE SUBSTRATE (NUIS): A TASK-ORIENTED REFERENCE MODEL. IN University of Pittsburgh Ph.D. 1990, 330 pages. DE Computer Science. Information Science. Psychology, Industrial. AB A reference model for the design of user interfaces in an open network environment is described. The model is based on the consistent availability of an extensible set of tasks used to interact with applications in a network environment. The system is modeled in terms of internal and external architecture and the tasks supported. A layered, linguistic specification of the system provides a detailed model of the NUIS using stepwise refinement. The models provide a foundation for the research while the specification serves as a framework for the development of consistent user-application interfaces. The system architecture is described in terms of a cooperating set of Interface Modules which facilitate user actions in a computing network. The internal architecture of each Module is further described as a layered information processing system, capable of interpreting or translating tasks. Eighty-nine basic tasks have been identified based on a survey of the literature and a task-based cognitive model of the user as an information processing system. The task set was verified using a questionnaire to survey several expert users. The layered design is reflected in a Task-Protocol Specification of the system which begins with a description of the tasks and entities supported. The task description is then elaborated at the semantic and syntactic levels, resulting in a description of the system in terms of a Task Interaction Protocol at an intermediate, interaction level. The NUIS design is not dependent on a particular hardware or software platform and consideration was given to implementation in extant network environments. The system allows the use of multi-media interfaces and provides support for many interaction styles and techniques. Separation of the application from the interface varies from dialogue independence to close control. Several pragmatic issues are discussed with regard to a "proof of concept" prototype. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG91-10220. AU SWAMINATHAN-KISHORE-S. TI RA: A MEMORY ORGANIZATION TO MODEL THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. IN University of Massachusetts Ph.D. 1990, 369 pages. DE Computer Science. Information Science. AB This dissertation addresses the dichotomy between semantic and episodic knowledge by focusing on the evolution of scientific knowledge. Even timeless scientific knowledge about the nature of the world accrues only through discrete episodes, with each scientist building upon the work of his/her predecessors. Hence, a memory organization to model the knowledge of a scientific field should reflect not only the knowledge pertaining to the field, but also the knowledge pertaining to the evolution of the field. A computer program called RA is described: RA proposes a memory organization for scientific knowledge in terms of a representational idea called Research Schemas. Research Schemas view research papers, not as isolated pieces of text, but as related episodes that contribute to the growth of a scientific discipline. This memory organization is validated by showing that it supports a number of different capabilities: it enables RA to suggest new research directions, acquire new research schemas, retrieve papers that have similar research strategies, and generate both chronological and analogical summaries of research papers. A combination of these capabilities constitutes a framework for 'Computer-Aided Research.' The RA system also includes a learning technique to acquire new research schemas. While similarity-based techniques use multiple examples (and some form of encoded bias) and explanation-based techniques use a domain theory as the basis for generalization, there is no apparent basis for RA's generalization. An analysis of RA's learning strategy shows that the category structure of RA's world provides a basis for its generalization: RA generalizes instantiations into categories that are both associative and discriminative. Interestingly, this turns out to be precisely the property that characterizes basic-level categories that have been studied by psychologists. This dissertation explores the implication of this results to learning and knowledge representation. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG91-10319. AU KLAPPENBERGER, FRED ANTHONY. TI THE EFFECT OF DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE ON SEARCHING FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION IN A HYPERTEXT ENVIRONMENT. IN University of Maryland College Park Ph.D. 1990, 195 pages. DE Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Education, Reading. Education, Technology. AB Unlike papertext documents, hypertext documents (hyperdocuments) allow, and even encourage, readers to access information non-sequentially, according to their own styles and interests. This study examined the effect that familiarity with a domain of knowledge has on users' abilities to find specific information in a hypertext document concerned with that domain. Using a repeated measures design, a group of subjects with higher knowledge of computer sciences and another group of subjects with higher knowledge of psychology searched for answers to quest ions in hyperdocuments concerned with the knowledge domains in which they were familiar and with the knowledge domains in which they were not familiar. Treatments were counterbalanced to avoid problems of interpretation due to order effects. The study demonstrated that prior knowledge of a domain affected subjects' search efficiency of a hyperdocument in that domain: higher knowledge subjects used the index more effectively to access a greater percentage of relevant nodes than did lower knowledge subjects. Higher knowledge subjects also spent a smaller percentage of their time finding the correct answer than did lower knowledge subjects. It was also found that higher knowledge subjects answered more questions correctly than did lower knowledge subjects. The correlation reported in other studies between subjects' spatial visualization aptitude and their efficiently searching a hyperdocument was not supported in this study. The absence of confirmation may be attributed to the design of the hyperdocuments in this study which consisted of only two levels. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that designers of hypertext applications software and hyperdocuments expand the existing inventory of user aids to assist lower knowledge users' search for information in a hyperdocument. Specific recommendations include (a) provide the user with the ability to select nodes directly from semantic maps and (b) supplement word or phrase search functions with a thesaurus of synonyms and alternate terminology tailored to the discipline of the knowledge base. Finally, because index and node descriptions serve as declarative knowledge extenders for lower knowledge users, descriptions should be written especially clearly and accurately. ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send the subscription request SUB IR-L to: LISTSERV@UCCVMA.BITNET Send submissions to IRLIST to: IR-L@UCCVMA.BITNET Editorial Staff: Clifford Lynch lynch@postgres.berkeley.edu or calur@uccmvsa.bitnet Nancy Gusack ncgur@uccmvsa.bitnet Mary Engle engle@cmsa.berkeley.edu or meeur@uccmvsa.bitnet The IRLIST Archives will be set up for anonymous FTP, and the address will be announced in future issues. 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