Unstructured English Queries: How Users Request Information

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Keene
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Query Languages ◽  
Boolean Logic ◽  
Information Industry ◽  
University Of Colorado ◽  
Needed Information ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
On Line ◽  
Express Information ◽  
The University

From the 1994 CAIS Conference: The Information Industry in Transition McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. May 25 - 27, 1994.Presented with the task of locating needed information in on-line, full-text documentation, users must express queries in the language of the retrieval system. Many of these query languages are based on Boolean logic or restricted natural language syntax, and users find it difficult to express information needs. Experiments conducted at the University of Colorado asked participants to enter English queries to locate information needed to solve problems ranging from very specific to very general ones. No restrictions were placed upon grammar or vocabulary. The collected queries were very short, telegraphic in style, used few verbs, and contained frequently occurring terms from stored vocabulary. There were no statistically significant differences in query contents based upon a participant's knowledge of the topic or English communication skills.

Integrated Energy Resource Management Systems: Meeting the Information Needs of Evolving Markets

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Tysseling ◽  
Michael E. Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Distribution Systems ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Energy Market ◽  
Information Industry ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
Complex Integration ◽  
Systems Requirements

From the 1994 CAIS Conference: The Information Industry in Transition McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. May 25 - 27, 1994.Advanced information systems requirements are identified to achieve energy market efficiencies sought by regulators and market participants. Natural gas and electric energy distribution systems dependencies on the increasingly complex integration of information relating to scheduling, dispatch and operations monitoring are discussed.

Fee for Service: The Experience of the University of Toronto Business Information Centre

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Whitmell
Keyword(s):  
Professional Associations ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Fee For Service ◽  
Information Industry ◽  
Information Centre ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Business Information ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
The University ◽  
Client Program

From the 1994 CAIS Conference: The Information Industry in Transition McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. May 25 - 27, 1994.Since 1990, the Business Information Centre at the University of Toronto Faculty of Management has operated a corporate client program which provides outsourcing and fee-based services for businesses. Its client base includes large and medium-sized corporations and professional associations. The revenues generated through this program are directed toward paying a large portion of the Business Information Centre's operating costs. This paper describes how the program was initiated, how it has attracted clientele and met their demands for information, and how the program has benefited the faculty and students at the Faculty of Management. The paper also considers the growing trend toward fee for service in public, academic, and government libraries.

scholarly journals Engineering the Future of Outreach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Dommermuth ◽  
Megan Welsh
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Campus Community ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
University Of Colorado ◽  
Student Information ◽  
The University ◽  
User Friendly

While academic libraries strive to meaningfully engage their campus communities, it can be hard to imagine new and creative outreach strategies. InfoMotion, a customized tricycle, is the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries’ “vehicle” to meet patrons where they are and embed ourselves in the campus community. InfoMotion was mobile and eye-catching, but it was cumbersome as we navigated campus pathways. The authors discuss their institutional context and describe an impactful partnership with engineering students to design an electric-assist system for InfoMotion. This collaboration resulted in a more user-friendly way for Libraries personnel to engage with the campus community, and helped the authors learn about student information needs while building relationships with engineering faculty and students.

Scanning Compressed Full Text Files

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn R. Watters ◽  
Matthew Young-Lai
Keyword(s):  
Full Text ◽  
Search Time ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Information Industry ◽  
Inverted File ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
On Line ◽  
Data Files ◽  
The Cost

From the 1994 CAIS Conference: The Information Industry in Transition McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. May 25 - 27, 1994.In this paper we discuss an application of compression, not with the overall goal of reducing disk space, but with the goal of extending the applicability of full text scan procedures to larger text files for use in on-line search environments. This paper presents an alternative to inverted file generation for access to full text data files of medium size, 50-200Mbytes, for which the cost of generating a full inverted file is not warranted. Full scan techniques, which are often useful in interactive situations for small files, become unacceptably slow for interactive sessions with files above 10 Mbytes and so the use of compression to reduce the quantity of data scanned is an attractive alternative. Furthermore, an index that can be used to reduce search time further to very acceptable 1-2 second times can be generated as a byproduct of the compression.

scholarly journals Learning assistant program

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Julia Ann Nord ◽  
Padmanabhan Seshaiyer ◽  
Mary Nelson ◽  
Claudette Davis ◽  
Mary Ewell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
External Funding ◽  
Timely Manner ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
University Of Colorado ◽  
Large Lecture ◽  
On Line ◽  
The University ◽  
Science Classes ◽  
Face Time ◽  
Large Lecture Classes

Following the model of the University of Colorado at Boulder Learning Assistant (LA) program, the College of Science (COS) at Mason began its own LA program in 2012. The program is a key segment of the STEM Accelerator program, and is a keystone for retaining students in COS and enabling them to graduate in a timely manner. COS STEM Accelerator has now supported over 300 undergraduate LA’s since it's inception through both internal and external funding. The LA program is very successful in increasing grades, engaging students in large lecture classes, enabling faculty to better utilize the ALT classroom, increasing retention in sciences and also increasing confidence and GPA’s for the undergraduate LA’s.  The cornerstones of the LA program are student mentoring by the faculty sponsor, a required seminar in pedagogical techniques, and face-to-face time with students in the classroom. This interactive presentation will include information about the program in COS. Faculty and students will demonstrate examples of how LA’s are integrated into different learning environments and across disciplines.  Examples will include LA’s in the ALT classroom, in large and small lectures, in lab, in orals, and on-line.  Disciplines include Biology, Chemistry, Forensic Science, Geography, Geology, Math and Physics.  Attendees will understand the program and it’s key concepts, discuss how an LA could work in their classroom and discipline, and understand how COS is working to enable your students to conquer their MATH and Mason Core Science classes.

The 1-MeV Electron Microscope Installation at the University of Colorado

1973 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 8-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mircea Fotino
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
National Institutes Of Health ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
University Of Colorado ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
The University ◽  
Research Resources

A new 1-MeV transmission electron microscope (Model JEM-1000) was installed at the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology of the University of Colorado in Boulder during the summer and fall of 1972 under the sponsorship of the Division of Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health. The installation was completed in October, 1972. It is installed primarily for the study of biological materials without many of the limitations hitherto unavoidable in standard transmission electron microscopy. Only the technical characteristics of the installation are briefly reviewed here. A more detailed discussion of the experimental program under way is being published elsewhere.

The Center for International Biomedical Communications Research

1966 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 142-146
Author(s):  
A. Kent ◽  
P. J. Vinken
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
English Language ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Biomedical Literature ◽  
Information Storage ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
University Of Pittsburgh ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Excerpta Medica Foundation

A joint center has been established by the University of Pittsburgh and the Excerpta Medica Foundation. The basic objective of the Center is to seek ways in which the health sciences community may achieve increasingly convenient and economical access to scientific findings. The research center will make use of facilities and resources of both participating institutions. Cooperating from the University of Pittsburgh will be the School of Medicine, the Computation and Data Processing Center, and the Knowledge Availability Systems (KAS) Center. The KAS Center is an interdisciplinary organization engaging in research, operations, and teaching in the information sciences.Excerpta Medica Foundation, which is the largest international medical abstracting service in the world, with offices in Amsterdam, New York, London, Milan, Tokyo and Buenos Aires, will draw on its permanent medical staff of 54 specialists in charge of the 35 abstracting journals and other reference works prepared and published by the Foundation, the 700 eminent clinicians and researchers represented on its International Editorial Boards, and the 6,000 physicians who participate in its abstracting programs throughout the world. Excerpta Medica will also make available to the Center its long experience in the field, as well as its extensive resources of medical information accumulated during the Foundation’s twenty years of existence. These consist of over 1,300,000 English-language _abstract of the world’s biomedical literature, indexes to its abstracting journals, and the microfilm library in which complete original texts of all the 3,000 primary biomedical journals, monitored by Excerpta Medica in Amsterdam are stored since 1960.The objectives of the program of the combined Center include: (1) establishing a firm base of user relevance data; (2) developing improved vocabulary control mechanisms; (3) developing means of determining confidence limits of vocabulary control mechanisms in terms of user relevance data; 4. developing and field testing of new or improved media for providing medical literature to users; 5. developing methods for determining the relationship between learning and relevance in medical information storage and retrieval systems’; and (6) exploring automatic methods for retrospective searching of the specialized indexes of Excerpta Medica.The priority projects to be undertaken by the Center are (1) the investigation of the information needs of medical scientists, and (2) the development of a highly detailed Master List of Biomedical Indexing Terms. Excerpta Medica has already been at work on the latter project for several years.

A Local Area Network for Medical Research; Planning, Realization and Experience

1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (01) ◽  
pp. 53-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Schosser ◽  
C. Weiss ◽  
K. Messmer
Keyword(s):  
Medical Research ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Local Area Network ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Test Installation ◽  
Cost Performance ◽  
The Public ◽  
On Line ◽  
The University

This report focusses on the planning and realization of an interdisciplinary local area network (LAN) for medical research at the University of Heidelberg. After a detailed requirements analysis, several networks were evaluated by means of a test installation, and a cost-performance analysis was carried out. At present, the LAN connects 45 (IBM-compatible) PCs, several heterogeneous mainframes (IBM, DEC and Siemens) and provides access to the public X.25 network and to wide-area networks for research (EARN, BITNET). The network supports application software that is frequently needed in medical research (word processing, statistics, graphics, literature databases and services, etc.). Compliance with existing “official” (e.g., IEEE 802.3) and “de facto” standards (e.g., PostScript) was considered to be extremely important for the selection of both hardware and software. Customized programs were developed to improve access control, user interface and on-line help. Wide acceptance of the LAN was achieved through extensive education and maintenance facilities, e.g., teaching courses, customized manuals and a hotline service. Since requirements of clinical routine differ substantially from medical research needs, two separate networks (with a gateway in between) are proposed as a solution to optimally satisfy the users’ demands.

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