Thesaurus as a complex network

A thesaurus is one, out of many, possible representations of term (or word) connectivity. The terms of a thesaurus are seen as the nodes and their relationship as the links of a directed graph. The directionality of the links retains all the thesaurus information and allows the measurement of several quantities. This has lead to a new term classification according to the characteristics of the nodes, for example, nodes with no links in, no links out, etc. Using an electronic available thesaurus we have obtained the incoming and outgoing link distributions. While the incoming link distribution follows a stretched exponential function, the lower bound for the outgoing link distribution has the same envelope of the scientific paper citation distribution proposed by Albuquerque and Tsallis. However, a better fit is obtained by simpler function which is the solution of Ricatti's differential equation. We conjecture that this differential equation is the continuous limit of a stochastic growth model of the thesaurus network. We also propose a new manner to arrange a thesaurus using the ``inversion method''.Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of `Trends and Perspectives in Extensive and Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics', in honour of Constantino Tsallis' 60th birthday (submitted Physica A

ProThes: Thesaurus-based Meta-Search Engine for a Specific Application Domain

In this poster we introduce ProThes, a pilot meta-search engine (MSE) for a specific application domain. ProThes combines three approaches: meta-search, graphical user interface (GUI) for query specification, and thesaurus-based query techniques. ProThes attempts to employ domain-specific knowledge, which is represented by both a conceptual thesaurus and results ranking heuristics. Since the knowledge representation is separated from the MSE core, adjusting the system to a specific domain is trouble free. Thesaurus allows for manual query building and automatic query techniques. This poster outlines the overall system architecture, thesaurus representation format, and query operations. ProThes is implemented on J2EE platform as a Web service.The project was supported in part by the Russian Fund of Basic Research, grant # 03-07-90342

Assessing the impact of user interaction with thesaural knowledge structures: a quantitative analysis framework

Thesauri have been important information and knowledge organisation tools for more than three decades. The recent emergence and phenomenal growth of the World Wide Web has created new opportunities to introduce thesauri as information search and retrieval aids to end user communities. While the number of web-based and hypertextual thesauri continues to grow, few investigations have yet been carried out to evaluate how end-users, for whom all these efforts are ostensibly made, interact with and make use of thesauri for query building and expansion. The present paper reports a pilot study carried out to determine the extent to which a thesaurus-enhanced search interface to a web-based database aided end-users in their selection of search terms. The study also investigated the ways in which users interacted with the thesaurus structure, terms, and interface. Thesaurus-based searching and browsing behaviours adopted by users while interacting with the thesaurus-enhanced search interface were also examined

Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus: a new resource for investigating metaphor in names

The AHRC-funded ‘Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus’ project has traced the development of metaphor in English from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day using the unique evidence base of the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. The Historical Thesaurus organises the contents of the OED semantically, making it possible to see how vocabulary for any given concept has developed over time. One of the major outputs of the Mapping Metaphor project is the online Metaphor Map, which can be used to investigate metaphor in names and is freely available at: http://mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk/

Query Expansion of Zero-Hit Subject Searches: Using a Thesaurus in Conjunction with NLP Techniques

The focus of our study is zero-hit queries in keyword subject searches and the effort of increasing recall in these cases by reformulating and, then, expanding the initial queries using an external source of knowledge, namely a thesaurus. To this end, the objectives of this study are twofold. First, we perform the mapping of query terms to the thesaurus terms. Second, we use the matched terms to expand the user’s initial query by taking advantage of the thesaurus relations and implementing natural language processing (NLP) techniques. We report on the overall procedure and elaborate on key points and considerations of each step of the process

Designing a Semantically Rich Visual Iinterface for Cultural Digital Libraries Using the UNESCO Multilingual Thesaurus

This paper reports on the design of a visual user interface for the UNESCO digital portal. The interface makes use of the UNESCO multilingual thesaurus to provide visualized views of terms and their relationships and the way in which spaces associated with the thesaurus, the query and the results can be integrated into a single user interface.\u

Spoken Thesaurus: Sorrow

The Hindi Thesaurus addresses such questions in a series of lively, unscripted Hindi-medium conversations about groups of words of related meaning. Concentrating on selected mainstream words and phrases, we help you to broaden your active vocabulary by encountering styles of language appropriate for everyday speech. The conversations are between Rupert Snell (Hindi teacher and perpetual Hindi learner) and Neha Ladha (mother-tongue speaker of Hindi). Glossaries for each podcast can be read online or downloaded in PDF format. (Length: 7:49)Asian Studie

Spoken Thesaurus: Wisdom

The Hindi Thesaurus addresses such questions in a series of lively, unscripted Hindi-medium conversations about groups of words of related meaning. Concentrating on selected mainstream words and phrases, we help you to broaden your active vocabulary by encountering styles of language appropriate for everyday speech. The conversations are between Rupert Snell (Hindi teacher and perpetual Hindi learner) and Neha Ladha (mother-tongue speaker of Hindi). Glossaries for each podcast can be read online or downloaded in PDF format. (Length: 11:19)Asian Studie