We have developed statistical techniques to improve the performance of document image search systems where the intermediate step of OCR based transcription is not used. Previous research in this area has largely focused on challenges pertaining to generation of small lexicons for processing handwritten documents and enhancement of poor quality…

Universities are increasingly looking into self-service systems with intelligent digital agents to supplement or replace labor-intensive services, such as academic counseling. The Open University of Hong Kong has developed an intelligent online system that instantly responds to enquiries about career development, learning modes, program/course…

In a neuroimaging study focusing on young bilinguals, we explored the brains of bilingual and monolingual babies across two age groups (younger 4-6 months, older 10-12 months), using fNIRS in a new event-related design, as babies processed linguistic phonetic (Native English, Non-Native Hindi) and nonlinguistic Tone stimuli. We found that phonetic…

With the rapid growth of the global information society, the concept of library has evolved to embrace all kinds of information collections, on all kinds of storage media, and using many different access methods. The users of today's information networks and digital libraries, no longer restricted by geographic or spatial boundaries, want to be…

Topic models like latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) provide a framework for analyzing large datasets where observations are collected into groups. Although topic modeling has been fruitfully applied to problems social science, biology, and computer vision, it has been most widely used to model datasets where documents are modeled as exchangeable…

Investigates an automatic method for Cross Language Information Retrieval (CLIR) that utilizes the multilingual Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus to translate Spanish natural-language queries into English. Results indicate that for Spanish, the UMLS Metathesaurus-based CLIR method is at least equivalent to if not better than…

Describes the MULINEX system that supports cross-lingual searching of the World Wide Web. Users can formulate queries, filter the search results and read documents by using their native language. Discusses dictionary-based query translation, multilingual document categorization, and automatic translation that supports French, German, and English.…

Presents abstracts of a session that discussed cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) on the World Wide Web. Topics include CLIR research in Chinese-English, German-English, and Japanese-English involving machine translation, semantic indexing, domain concepts, integrating new technologies, large-scale multilingual lexicons, and international…

Discussion of language barriers when using multilingual digital library collections on the Internet focuses on query translation and document translation in a Chinese-English information retrieval system called MTIR. Highlights include a bilingual dictionary; machine transliteration algorithm; design issues for document translation; HTML tags; and…

Discusses issues related to natural language processing, including theoretical developments; natural language understanding; tools and techniques; natural language text processing systems; abstracting; information extraction; information retrieval; interfaces; software; Internet, Web, and digital library applications; machine translation for…

In systems that support query-based searching, the presence of multilingual content affects the search technology and user interface components that support query formulation, document selection, and query refinement. A categorization-based selection model is described that is based on rapidly constructed word-by-word gloss translations. An…

The present guidelines, preliminary in character, are an attempt to facilitate the development and application of a standardized method of multilingual thesaurus construction and to reduce the number of arbitrary variations in thesaurus techniques. In the preparation of these guidelines the approach has been theoretical rather than practical.…

Presents abstracts of SIG Sessions. Highlights include digital collections; information retrieval methods; public interest/fair use; classification and indexing; electronic publication; funding; globalization; information technology projects; interface design; networking in developing countries; metadata; multilingual databases; networked…

Describes the development of the Korean system for submitting electronic theses and dissertations. Highlights include standards for document formats; format conversion and processing; full-text retrieval; and multilingual database and retrieval system issues. (LRW)

Discusses applications of hypermedia technology in university environments and describes Hyper-G, a hypermedia project being developed in Austria as a universal hypermedia system. Topics addressed include information retrieval and maintenance; connectivity; computer aided instruction; communication; computer supported collaborative work;…