Information Retrieval List Digest 146 (January 12, 1993) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-146 IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 January 12, 1993 Volume X, Number 2 Issue 146 ********************************************************** I. NOTICES A. Meeting Announcements/Calls for Papers 1. Hypermedia '93 III. JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. National University of Singapore IV. PROJECT WORK C. Abstracts 1. IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts ********************************************************** I. NOTICES I.A.2. Fr: Hypermedia Konferenz Re: Hypermedia '93 Hypermedia '93 March 2 and 3, 1993 Zurich, Switzerland The Hypermedia '93 conference is the fourth in a series of successful Hypertext/Hypermedia conferences held in the German speaking part of Europe. The conference will be held under the auspices of the three national Information Technology Societies of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. It is organized by the Department of Computer Science of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland. Conference Chair Prof. H.P. Frei, ETH Zurich Local Arrangements Dr. Peter Schauble, ETH Zurich Madeleine Bernard, ETH Zurich Rita Jenny, ETH Zurich Silvia Wertli, ETH Zurich Conference Secretariat Madeleine Bernard, Departement Informatik, ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich phone: +41-1-254-7206 fax: +41-1-262-3973 VENUE: ETH Zentrum Raemistrasse 101 8092 Zurich The Conference will take place in the main building of ETH Zurich. When arriving at the airport, we recommend that you take the train to the main station of Zurich. CONFERENCE LANGUAGE: The official languages are German and English. The invited papers and some of the submitted papers will be presented in English. No translation will be provided. EXHIBITION AND POSTERS: During the conference, there will be an exhibition where selected companies will present their hypermedia products and projects. Furthermore, there are posters (extended abstracts) that will be presented to the audience on Tuesday, March 2, 1993 from 12.00 to 12.30. FOR YOUR HOTEL RESERVATION PLEASE CONTACT: Verkehrsverein Zurich Bahnhofbruecke 1 CH-8023 Zurich Switzerland phone: +41-1-211 40 00 fax: +41-1-212 01 41 FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: phone: +41-1-254-7206 fax: +41-1-262-3973 e-mail: hyper93@inf.ethz.ch ********************************************************** III. JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS III.1. Fr: Desai Narasimhalu Re: Job Offering: Nat'l. U. of Singapore Insitute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore is looking for a few experienced researchers in information retrieval. It has some interesting IR projects about to go online with large multinationals and the researchers hired will be working on these projects. Besides researchers, it is also looking for those with experience in developing IR systems and applications. All enquiries should be directed to Desai Narasimhalu at the following internet ID (desai@iss.nus.sg) ********************************************************** IV. PROJECT WORK IV.C.1. Fr: Susanne M. Humphrey Re: Selected 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 ADGNN-66792. AU ROLLANS, WILLIAM H. TI LIFE REVIEW OF THE ELDERLY: AN AUDIO-VISUAL APPROACH. IN University of Alberta (Canada) Ph.D. 1991, 135 pages. SO DAI V53(02), SecA, pp409. DE Education, Guidance and Counseling. Gerontology. Education, Technology. IS ISBN: 0-315-66792-3. AB A rationale for the production of audio-visual life reviews by elderly persons of moderate means is developed, and an instructional manual and demonstration videocassette, produced by the author, are included to encourage and assist persons, of any age, in the production of their own audio-visual life reviews. The term "life review," as used in this study, describes the process and the audio-visual product of assembling and recording, in sound and pictures, a person's collective memory and associated memorabilia so that these multi-sensory memories may be easily retrieved for enjoyment, historical information, conflict resolution and, most importantly, cognitive stimulation. This study is directed at the well-elderly, and not the disoriented, but the conclusion is drawn that the comprehensive orientation to reality that could result from the replay of an up-dated, video-taped life review could act as a potent prophylactic against confusion regarding self, and one's place in the "then" and "now." This is a study that is theoretical and phenomenological but one that could provide a basis for future research that could be quantitative. This writer concludes that sophisticated audio-visual life reviews can be completed by average elderly persons of moderate means and that completed life reviews could provide the basis for further research. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADGNN-66310. AU AUSTIN, JILL. TI INFLUENCE OF COST CONSCIOUSNESS AND HEURISTIC APPROACH ON ONLINE SEARCH PERFORMANCE. IN The University of Western Ontario (Canada) Ph.D. 1991, 249 pages. SO DAI V53(02), SecA, pp335. DE Information Science. Computer Science. IS ISBN: 0-315-66310-3. AB This research used an experimental approach to investigate the relationship between cost consciousness, heuristic approach and recall in online searching. It also investigated some of the characteristics of the searcher that would be expected to influence heuristic approach, including familiarity with the search topic, familiarity with the database and anxiety. A 2 x 2 factorial design was used, where the factors were experience (expert/novice) and presence or absence of a cost consciousness treatment. Forty subjects in all searched the same two search questions. A verbal protocol technique was used, whereby subjects verbalized their thoughts while conducting their searches. The verbalizations were audiotaped, transcribed, and integrated with a transaction log to give a complete log of the terminal session. Results indicate that the treatment was effective in eliciting feelings of cost consciousness and that searchers modified their behaviour in response to the treatment. The results further suggest that, under the conditions of this study, cost consciousness did not reduce either heuristic approach or recall attained. However, there is evidence that a greater heuristic approach resulted in higher recall. Two other findings of significance are that search performance was strongly influenced by the nature of the search question and that an experimental approach that used written information requests had a strong negative impact on search performance. The results suggest that heuristicity may be an important factor in search success. It appears that heuristic approach was influenced by the nature of the search question, but not by the experience level of the searcher. Cost consciousness did not have the effect hypothesized, that is, suppression of interactivity and information gathering behaviour. This result should be verified by conducting a similar experiment using more costly databases. There is evidence from this study that the low heuristic behaviour reported by other researchers may have been, in part, a result of the experimental designs used, which frequently employed a written search statement and denied the searcher interaction with the requestor. Finally, measurement of heuristicity proved problematic in this study, and it is recommended that further work be conducted to develop a good tool to measure this important phenomenon. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADGNN-66285. AU QIU, LIWEN. TI PROBABILISTIC MODELS OF SEARCH STATE AND PATH PATTERNS IN HYPERTEXT INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS. IN The University of Western Ontario (Canada) Ph.D. 1991, 166 pages. SO DAI V53(02), SecA, pp335. DE Information Science. Computer Science. IS ISBN: 0-315-66285-9. AB The objective of this research is to discover the search state and path patterns through which users retrieve information in hypertext systems. The Markov model is used to describe users' search behaviour. As determined by the log-linear model test, the second-order Markov model is the best model. Search patterns of different user groups were studied by comparing the corresponding transition probability matrices. The comparisons were made based on the following factors: gender, search experience, search task, and the user's academic background. The statistical tests revealed that there were significant differences among all the groups being compared. A three-way analysis of variance test was conducted to study the effects of gender, search task, and search experience on search option (analytical vs. browsing), as measured by the proportion of nodes reached through analytical searching. The search task factor influenced search option in that a general task caused more browsing and a specific task more analytical searching. Search experience alone did not affect the search option. There was a possible gender difference among high experience users, with males favouring analytical searching more than females. Two frequency distribution models were developed and tested to describe path patterns. Path length followed a shifted negative binomial distribution. The frequency of node visiting followed a Zipf distribution. The resulting probabilistic models can help us better understand users' search behaviour and the search process involved. They provide valuable information in evaluating a system's existing operation and in refining future design. They also provide a background for examination of systems via simulation studies. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG92-19329. AU LEE, CHEONG YOUNG. TI COMPUTATIONAL LEXICON: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH VERBS. IN Georgetown University Ph.D. 1991, 256 pages. SO DAI V53(02), SecA, pp481. DE Language, Linguistics. Computer Science. Education, Language and Literature. Artificial Intelligence. AB The recent development of the micro computer has brought a new stream of processing of natural language by computer, and computational linguistics becomes an important field to study the capabilities of computers for manipulating the data of language to determine the patterns underlying the variation and complexity of detail found in human language activity. This dissertation will be focused on systematic explanation of the complexity of syntactic and semantic features of English verbs occurring in English sentences by using the generative semantic model and the case grammar model. The syntactic features of English verb and adjective predicates are explained according to the types of complements, which are set in priority order. The semantic features of English verbs are explained according to their case frames with meanings, with the different meanings of each verb set in priority order. Chapter I describes the scope of the research, the generative semantic model, and the case grammar model. Chapter II deals with the syntactic properties of English verbs and their complements. It deals with the generative semantic model in which logical structure is expressed in terms of a central predicate and a series of related arguments. Chapter III discusses the semantic properties of English verbs. Three possible logical structures are examined such as one-place, two-place, and three-place predicates. Chapter IV examines the possibility of developing a computational dictionary for English verbs based on syntactic and semantic features, where the lexicon must be characterized, and the nature of meaning and reference must be cleared with the case frame. Ten verbs are tested with the computational features. Chapter V deals with the application of computational lexicon described in the previous chapter extensively to English verbs. 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