IRLIST Digest December 12, 1990 Volume VII, Number 36 Issue 42 ********************************************************** I. NOTICES A. Meetings announcements/Calls for papers 1. Avignon '91: Natural Language Processing and Its Applications Avignon, France May 27-31, 1991 2. XI International Conference of the Chilean Computer Science Society Santiago de Chile October 15-18, 1991 B. Publications announcements 1. Bulletin Electronique LN/LN Electronic List 2. Internet/THENET Library Guide C. Miscellaneous 1. Graduate Program in Cognitive and Neural Systems (CNS) at Boston University IV. PROJECT WORK B. Bibliographies 1. Selected IR-related dissertation abstracts ********************************************************** I. NOTICES I.A.1. Fr: Jean Veronis Re: Avignon '91: Natural Language Processing and Its Applications Avignon, France May 27-31, 1991 CALL FOR PAPERS With over 3,000 attendees and visitors from some 30 countries, the 1990 10th Avignon International Workshop on Expert Systems and their Applications was the leading European event of the year in Artificial Intelligence. Avignon '91 will follow the tradition of the previous conferences by including a general conference on Expert Systems, as well as a series of specialized conferences dealing with specific fields of application. A specialized conference on "Natural Language Processing & its Applications" was held at Avignon '90, where it enjoyed enormous success, especially because it provided a platform for discussion among users, industrial companies, and researchers. The Natural Language conference will again be a part of Avignon'91, and will include papers, invited lectures, and panel sessions, tutorials, demonstrations, and an industrial forum on natural language. Topics Papers may cover either applications or techniques. For the first category (computer assisted translation, interfaces with databases, automatic indexing, etc.), authors should specify whether the nature of the application is specialized or general, as well as the degree to which the implementation has been realized. For technical or scientific papers, linguistic models (dialog, lexical representations, etc.) should be clearly distinguished from the computing techniques employed (automatic systems and problem-solving strategies for analysis or generation). Submission Authors should submit 7 copies of their papers before January 7, 1991 to the AVIGNON '91 general chairman: Jean-Claude Rault EC2 269-287, rue de la Garenne ; 92000 Nanterre ; France tel: 33 - 1 - 47.80.70.00 ; fax: 33 - 1 - 47.80.66.29 Paper should be 2000 to 5000 words (about 10 pages single-spaced). Each submission should contain the following information: title of paper; full name of all authors; complete address of first author (including telephone, fax number and e-mail address if available); abstract of 100-200 words; list of key-words. Each submission will be reviewed by at least three referees. Notifications of acceptance or rejection will be mailed after March 1, 1991. Program Committee Co-Chairs: Margaret King (ISSCO, Geneve) Marc Nossin (GSI-ERLI, Paris) ********** I.A.2. Fr: Ricardo Baeza Re: XI International Conference of the Chilean Computer Science Society Santiago de Chile October 15-18, 1991 Sponsored by: Universidad de Chile, CONICYT (Chilean NSF), and IEEE Computer Society. The XI International Conference of the Chilean Computer Science Society, SCCC, will be held in Santiago, Chile, from October 15 to 18, 1991. Papers presenting original research in Computer Science are being sought. Typical, but not exclusive, topics include: Algorithms Data Structures Artificial Intelligence Distributed Systems Computer Algebra Human-Computer Interaction Computer Architecture Office Automation Computer Graphics Operating Systems Databases Performance Evaluation Data Communications Programming Languages Data Security and Cryptography Software Engineering Program committee (partial list): * J. Balcazar (Polytechnic of Catalunya) * F. Bancilhon (Altair/INRIA, Paris, France) * M. Borges (Univ. Fed. Rio de Janeiro) * I. Casas (Univ. Catolica de Chile) * R. Finkel (Univ. of Kentucky) * H. Garcia-Molina (Princeton Univ.) * M. Langston (Univ. of Tennessee) * U. Manber (Chairman, Univ. of Arizona) * M. Robson (Australian National Univ.) Five copies of a extended abstract written in English, of at most ten typed pages, should be sent before May 1st, 1991, to the program committee chairman: Dr. Udi Manber E-mail: udi@cs.arizona.edu Dept. of Computer Science FAX: 1-(602) 621-4246 University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona 85721 U.S.A. Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by July 1st, 1991. The full versions of the accepted papers (camera-ready) must be written in English, and will be due by August 1st, 1991. The proceedings of the conference will be published by an International Publisher. Additional information can be obtained from the Chairman of the Organizing Commitee: Dr. Ricardo Baeza-Yates Phone: +56 2 92736 Depto. Ciencias de la Computacion E-mail: rbaeza@dcc.uchile.CL Universidad de Chile uunet!uchdcc!rbaeza (UUCP) Casilla 2777 rbaeza@uchcecvm (BITNET) Santiago FAX: +56 2 712799 CHILE TELEX: 243302 INGEN CL ********** I.B.1. Fr: Jean Veronis Re: Bulletin Electronique LN/ LN Electronic List Bulletin Electronique LN LN Electronic List Le bulletin electronique LN a pour LN is an international electronic but de favoriser la circulation distribution list for computa- d'informations a travers la commu- tional linguists. Its goal is to naute "Informatique Linguistique": disseminate calls for papers, con- appels a communication, annonces ference and seminar announcements, de conferences ou seminaires, requests for software, corpora, requetes specifiques concernant and various data, project descrip- logiciels, corpus et donnees tions, discussions on technical diverses, descriptions d'activites topics, etc. The list is primarily et de projets, discussions sur des French-speaking, but many items sujets techniques, etc. Le bulle- are circulated in English. It pro- tin est principalement franco- vides a forum for scholars working phone, mais de nombreuses informa- on French, but it is by no means tions sont retransmises sous leur restricted to this field. forme originale en anglais. Il constitue un forum pour les cher- The list is sponsored by the Asso- cheurs travaillant sur le Francais ciation for Computational Linguis- mais n'est en aucun cas restreint tics (ACL) and the Association for a ce seul champ d'etude. Computers and the Humanities (ACH). This joint sponsorship Le bulletin est parraine par reflects the fact that in addition l'Association for Computational to more traditional concerns, compu- Linguistics (ACL) et l'Association tational linguists have a growing for Computers and the Humanities interest in areas such as computa- (ACH). Ce double parrainage tional lexicography, study and use reflete l'interet croissant des of corpora, statistical models, linguistes informaticiens pour, a etc., which have been tradition- cote de domaines plus tradition- ally central to ACH. nels, des domaines tels que la lexicographie informatique, l'etude Currently the list consists et l'utilisation de corpus, les of over 140 members in Europe, modeles statistiques, etc., qui North America, and the Middle sont depuis longtemps centraux dans East. It is moderated by Jean l'ACH. Veronis (GRTC-CNRS, France and Vassar College, USA) and Pierre Le bulletin comporte a l'heure Zweigenbaum (DIAM-INSERM, France). actuelle plus de 140 abonnes en Europe, Amerique du Nord et Moyen- To join LN, send a message to Orient. Il est edite par Jean LISTSERV@FRMOP11.BITNET, contain- Veronis (GRTC-CNRS, France et ing only the following line: Vassar College, USA) et Pierre Zweigenbaum (DIAM-INSERM, France). SUBSCRIBE LN your name Vous pouvez vous abonner au Send messages to be transmitted on bulletin en envoyant un message the list to LN@FRMOP11.BITNET. compose de la seule ligne suivante a LISTSERV@FRMOP11.BITNET: In case of problems, send a mes- sage to one of the editors: SUBSCRIBE LN Prenom Nom Jean Veronis Vous pouvez transmettre des VERONIS@VASSAR.BITNET informations pour diffusion dans le bulletin en envoyant un message Pierre Zweigenbaum a LN@FRMOP11.BITNET. ZWEIG@FRSIM51.BITNET En cas de probleme, adressez-vous directement aux editeurs: Jean Veronis VERONIS@VASSAR.BITNET Pierre Zweigenbaum ZWEIG@FRSIM51.BITNET ********** I.B.2. Fr: Billy Barron Re: New release of Internet/THENET Library Guide Hi, The latest version of "UNT's Accessing On-line Bibliographic Databases" handout is now complete. It nows contains about 120 libraries, appendices on types of library software, and an appendix on TELNET/TN3270 escape keys. I received well over a hundred letters based on my request for information. I may have lost some library information in the shuffle (sorry if I did). Also, I did not have time to respond to all of the mail. If you had an important request that I didn't reply to, send me another message (note: a couple of people had invalid return addresses). Included at the end of this letter is the answer to some questions that have popped up on numerous occasions. Further discussion should take place on either the PACS-L mailing list or the COMP.MISC newsgroup. ================================================================= Billy Barron Bitnet : BILLY@UNTVAX VAX/Unix Systems Manager THENET : NTVAX::BILLY University of North Texas Internet : billy@vaxb.acs.unt.edu SPAN : UTSPAN::UTADNX::NTVAX::BILLY ================================================================= Some commonly asked questions: How do I acquire the files? The files are available on vaxb.acs.unt.edu via anonymous FTP. The files are: LIBRARIES.TXT - ASCII version LIBRARIES.PS - Postscript version LIBRARIES.WP5 - WordPrefect 5.1 source (transfer in binary mode) LIBRARIES.ADR - Numeric IP addresses of Internet libraries LIBRARIES.CONTACTS - Contacts for some of the Internet libraries NETWORKS.HLP - VMS help file source for a wide area networks help help topic, which includes a section on library systems. BITNET only users should use BITFTP to acquire the files. As an absolute last resort, the files may be requested via email (note: some networks such as UUCP may file size limits that may prohibit the transfer of these documents through electronic mail). Why is there UNT's guide and the Art St. George/Ron Larsen guide? Art St. George and I have some differences of opinion in the area of formatting and what should be included in an Internet library guide. Though I could just use the St. George guide, I need to format the information into a easy to use for novice computer users for my on-campus users. It is not much harder to provide it to the Internet at large and also gather my own information. Joe St. Sauver, the author of the VAXbook, on PACS-L put forth a rather good argument for the case that two guides are actually a benefical thing. Where do I send updates? Send all new information, updates, and deletions to BILLY@VAXB.ACS.UNT.EDU (more details on first page of guide). If you are using a TELNET/TN3270 package not listed in the appendix, please send me the information on it. Also, if you have instructions for a library software package not yet described, please send them to me and give me at least one example where it is in use. I had problems with the lines being longer than 80 characters (TEXT version). Any ideas? In past versions that was true. I *believe* the problem is fixed in this version. If not, then send mail to billy@vaxb.acs.unt.edu. The document appears to be all on one line for every paragraph (TEXT version). Any ideas? I'm clueless on this one. I have tested the document on MS-DOS and VMS. Neither system gives me the problem. The TEXT version is generated by Text Out in WordPrefect 5.1. If anybody out there runs into this problem, let me know. If you know a solution, then send me mail at billy@vaxb.acs.unt.edu. ********** I.C.1. Fr: caroly@@park.bu.edu Re: Graduate Program in Cognitive and Neural Systems (CNS) at Boston University *********************************************** * * * GRADUATE PROGRAM IN * * COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS (CNS) * * AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY * * * *********************************************** Gail A.Carpenter & Stephen Grossberg, Co-Directors The Boston University graduate program in Cognitive and Neural Systems offers comprehensive advanced training in the neural and computational principles, mechanisms, and architectures that underly human and animal behavior, and the application of neural network architectures to the solution of outstanding technological problems. Applications for Fall, 1991 admissions and financial aid are now being accepted for both the MA and PhD degree programs. To obtain a brochure describing the CNS Program and a set of application materials, write or telephone: Cognitive & Neural Systems Program Boston University 111 Cummington Street, Room 240 Boston, MA 02215 (617) 353-9481 or send a mailing address to: caroly@park.bu.edu Applications for admission and financial aid should be received by the Graduate School Admissions Office no later than January 15. Applicants are required to submit undergraduate (and, if applicable, graduate) transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores. The Advanced Test should be in the candidate's area of departmental specialization. GRE scores may be waived for MA candidates and, in exceptional cases, for PhD candidates, but absence of these scores may decrease an applicant's chances for admission and financial aid. Description of the CNS Program: The Cognitive and Neural Systems (CNS) Program provides advanced training and research experience for graduate students interested in the neural and computational principles, mechanisms, and architectures that underly human and animal behavior, and the application of neural network architectures to the solution of outstanding technological problems. Students are trained in a broad range of areas concerning cognitive and neural systems, including vision and image processing; speech and language understanding; adaptive pattern recognition; associative learning and long-term memory; cognitive information processing; self-organization; cooperative and competitive network dynamics and short-term memory; reinforcement, motivation, and attention; adaptive sensory-motor control and robotics; and biological rhythms; as well as the mathematical and computational methods needed to support advanced modeling research and applications. The CNS Program awards MA, PhD, and BA/MA degrees. The CNS Program embodies a number of unique features. Its core curriculum consists of eight interdisciplinary graduate courses each of which integrates the psychological, neurobiological, mathematical, and computational information needed to theoretically investigate fundamental issues concerning mind and brain processes and the applications of neural networks to technology. Each course is taught once a week in the evening to make the program available to qualified students, including working professionals, throughout the Boston area. Students develop a coherent area of expertise by designing a program that includes courses in areas such as Biology, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Psychology, in addition to courses in the CNS core curriculum. The CNS Program prepares Ph.D. students for thesis research with scientists in one of several Boston University research centers or groups, and with Boston-area scientists collaborating with these centers. The unit most closely linked to the Program is the Center for Adaptive Systems. The Center for Adaptive Systems is also part of the Boston Consortium for Behavioral and Neural Studies, a Boston-area multi-institutional Congressional Center of Excellence. Another multi-institutional Congressional Center of Excellence focussed at Boston University is the Center for the Study of Rhythmic Processes. Other research resources include distinguished research groups in dynamical systems within the mathematics department; in theoretical computer science within the Computer Science Department; in biophysics and computational physics within the Physics Department; in sensory robotics, biomedical engineering, computer and systems engineering, and neuromuscular research within the Engineering School; and in neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and neuropharmacology at the Medical School. ********************************************************** IV. PROJECTS IV.B.1. Fr: Susanne 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 ADG90-23796. AU CHEN, HSINCHUN. TI AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF ONLINE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS. IN New York University, Graduate School of Business Administration Ph.D. 1990, 244 pages. DE Computer Science. Information Science. AB In this thesis we adopt an artificial intelligence approach in investigating the online information retrieval activity and in studying the design of online information retrieval systems. Our initial approach was to investigate the interactions between the searcher and the retrieval system, and the searcher and the reference librarian. Our objective was to develop cognitive models of these processes that will provide a sound basis for incorporating search assistance into an online system. This research consisted of three stages: an empirical investigation stage, a system building stage, and a system testing stage. During the empirical investigation stage, we conducted two cognitive psychology based empirical studies observing the searcher/librarian and the searcher/system interactions. We have derived some important findings from these studies. Firstly, we have identified a taxonomy of misconceptions users have about the subject area, the system and the classification scheme. Secondly, we have developed five online search strategies. Thirdly, we have developed an empirically based process model for assisting searchers in refining their queries. At the system building stage, a blackboard architecture was adopted for our prototype system where the proposed capabilities (alleviating searcher's misconceptions, selecting appropriate search strategies, and refining searchers' queries) were incorporated. This system was created using Lisp and Flavors. After the prototype system development effort, a system testing stage followed. Our system was tested against an existing online catalog in a laboratory experiment. The test results showed that our system out-performed the existing online catalog in search recall and satisfaction level. Our research suggests a knowledge-based information retrieval system design. Armed with the appropriate search heuristics, the knowledge about the subject area and the classification scheme, and the query refinement mechanisms, we believe, information retrieval systems can become more responsive and intelligent, capable of providing interactive support of a variety of users. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG90-23112. AU CHOMICKI, JAN OSKAR. TI FUNCTIONAL DEDUCTIVE DATABASES: QUERY PROCESSING IN THE PRESENCE OF LIMITED FUNCTION SYMBOLS. IN Rutgers University The State U. of New Jersey (New Brunswick) Ph.D. 1990, 178 pages. DE Computer Science. AB We address the problem of storing and retrieving information about infinite, e.g. temporal, phenomena. By adopting the framework of deductive databases (logic programming), we move beyond the assumption, common to most of the current database technology, that databases are finite structures. However, we preserve the properties important for database users: termination of yes-no queries and finiteness of query answers by limiting our attention to functional deductive databases, a syntactically defined class of deductive databases. Intuitively, the occurrences of function symbols are limited to one component of all predicates. The only allowed function symbols are unary. Functional deductive databases have several applications in knowledge-base systems: temporal reasoning, planning and pathfinding. First, we provide several algorithms for yes-no query processing and other computational problems in functional deductive databases, and precisely characterize their computational complexity. Second, we present a formal framework for finite representation of infinite query answers. This representation is effectively computable and no more difficult to obtain than yes-no query answers. Third, we study a subclass of functional deductive databases for which polynominal time query processing can be guaranteed. Fourth, we present two alternative approaches to database-independent specification of infinite query answers. Finally, we show that stratified negation can be allowed in functional deductive databases without increasing the computational complexity of query processing. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG90-20669. AU COMLEKOGLU (ERYOLU), FATIH MEHMET. TI OPTIMIZING A TEXT RETRIEVAL SYSTEM UTILIZING N-GRAM INDEXING. IN The George Washington University D.Sc. 1990, 123 pages. DE Computer Science. Information Science. AB This dissertation presents an alternative to classical automated text retrieval methods, such as full text scanning, word indexing, and multiattribute retrieval. It explores a new approach to text retrieval that uses a finite number of word fragments, called n-grams. The dissertation classifies n-grams as overlapping or nonoverlapping and studies their distributions in a sample of English text, called the Brown corpus, and a list of 275,981 unique English words. The impact of n-gram size and the resulting n-gram distributions on the overall performance of an n-gram inverted text retrieval system is measured by implementing an experimental n-gram inverted text retrieval system. N-gram inverted systems are compared and contrasted on the basis of n-gram size and on the basis of overlapping and nonoverlapping n-grams, in accordance with text retrieval performance parameters defined as main and secondary memory utilization and average query response time. The dissertation concludes that, for certain n-grams, n-gram inverted text retrieval systems are unequivocally superior to classical word inversion techniques when the ability to respond to Variable Length 'Don't Care' (prefix, infix, and postfix) queries is a prominent factor in the design of a text retrieval system. It further concludes that there is no unique way of determining the optimum size of an n-gram when implementing an n-gram inverted text retrieval system. Rather, the study concludes that optimum n-gram size is highly dependent on the subjective judgment of the designer, especially with regard to trade-offs among three subjective decision parameters: availability of main memory, availability of secondary storage, and desired response time. ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send subscription requests to: LISTSERV@UCCVMA.BITNET Send submissions to IRLIST to: IR-L@UCCVMA.BITNET Editorial Staff: Clifford Lynch lynch@postgres.berkeley.edu calur@uccmvsa.bitnet Mary Engle engle@cmsa.berkeley.edu meeur@uccmvsa.bitnet Nancy Gusack ncgur@uccmvsa.bitnet The IRLIST Archives will be set up for anonymous FTP, and the address will be announced in future issues. These files are not to be sold or used for commercial purposes. Contact Mary Engle or Nancy Gusack for more information on IRLIST. The opinions expressed in IRLIST do not represent those of the editors or the University of California. Authors assume full responsibility for the contents of their submissions to IRLIST.