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Ir Assignment

Uploaded by

yaikob iyasu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

Define IR A model of the IR system


a. Indexing and abstract

Indexing and abstracting are two important processes in information management and
retrieval, commonly used in libraries, databases, and search engines.

Indexing involves the creation of an organized and systematic representation of the


content of documents or resources. It involves analyzing the document's key concepts,
subjects, and descriptors and then assigning appropriate terms or keywords to facilitate
easy searching and retrieval. Indexing helps in categorizing and organizing information,
making it easier to locate specific resources.

Abstracting, on the other hand, involves the creation of concise summaries or abstracts of
the main content and key points of a document. Abstracts provide a brief overview of the
document's subject matter, allowing users to quickly assess its relevance without having
to go through the entire document. Abstracts often include important details such as the
purpose, methodology, results, and conclusions of the document.

Both indexing and abstracting play crucial roles in information retrieval, allowing users
to quickly and efficiently locate relevant resources based on their specific information
needs.

b. Indexing term
Indexing terms, also known as index terms or keywords, are specific words or
phrases assigned to a document or resource during the indexing process. These
terms represent the main concepts or subjects covered in the document and are
used to create an organized and systematic representation of its content for
easier searching and retrieval.

Indexing terms are selected carefully to ensure that they accurately reflect the
content of the document and are relevant to potential users' information needs.
They should be representative of the key ideas, themes, or topics discussed in the
document.

Indexing terms can be assigned manually by information professionals or


through automated processes. They can vary depending on the context, such as
the field of study, subject area, or domain, and may follow specific guidelines or
standardized indexing vocabularies.

By using indexing terms, documents can be categorized, organized, and


retrieved more efficiently in information systems, libraries, databases, or search
engines, assisting users in finding the information they are seeking.
c. Posting list

A posting list, also known as an inverted index or inverted file, is a data structure used in
information retrieval systems to record the occurrences of terms or keywords across a
collection of documents. It is commonly used in search engines and databases to facilitate
efficient searching and retrieval of relevant documents.

A posting list consists of a list of documents in which a particular term appears, along
with additional information related to the term's occurrence, such as the frequency of the
term in each document or the position of the term within the document. Each entry in the
posting list represents a document and may contain other relevant metadata or statistics.

The posting list allows for quick identification of documents containing a specific term or
keyword. By maintaining a mapping between terms and their occurrences, the posting list
enables indexing and searching algorithms to efficiently locate relevant documents based
on user queries.

The construction and organization of posting lists can vary depending on the specific
indexing and retrieval system being used. These data structures are crucial for efficient
information retrieval, serving as a foundation for search engines to quickly identify and
retrieve documents that match user search queries

d. Heaps law

Heap's law is an empirical formula that describes the relationship between the vocabulary
size of a document collection and the total number of documents within that collection. It is
often used in natural language processing and information retrieval to estimate the
vocabulary growth as the document collection size increases.

Heap's law states that the vocabulary size (V) is proportional to the power law of the
number of documents (N):
V = k * N^b

In this formula, 'k' and 'b' are parameters that can vary depending on the characteristics
of the document collection and the language being analyzed. 'k' represents the rate of
vocabulary growth, while 'b' is a compression parameter that determines the rate of the
vocabulary growth curve.

This formula suggests that as the document collection size increases, the vocabulary size
will also increase, but at a decreasing rate. In other words, adding more documents to a
collection will introduce new words, but after a certain point, the rate of new word
occurrences will diminish.

Heap's law provides insights into the relationship between the size of a document collection
and the diversity of vocabulary, aiding in estimating vocabulary sizes for indexing,
information retrieval, and language modeling tasks.

E Zipf’s

Zipf's law, named after the linguist George Kingsley Zipf, is an empirical law that describes the
frequency distribution of words or terms in a corpus of natural language text. It is a statistical
principle that applies to a wide range of languages and texts, including written literature, speech
transcripts, and even online content.

Zipf's law states that the frequency of a word in a given corpus is inversely proportional to its
rank. In other words, the most frequent word occurs approximately twice as often as the second
most frequent word, three times as often as the third most frequent word, and so on.
Mathematically, Zipf's law can be expressed as:

f(r) = k / r^s
where f(r) is the frequency of the word with rank 'r', k is a constant, and 's' is a parameter that
determines the shape of the distribution. Typically, the value of 's' falls within the range of 1 and
2.

This law suggests that a few words occur very frequently in a language, while the vast majority
of words occur rarely. For example, in English, words like "the," "and," and "of" have high
frequencies, while less common words like "zygote" or "xenophobia" have lower frequencies.

Zipf's law has important implications in various fields such as linguistics, information retrieval,
and computational linguistics. It helps researchers understand the behavior of word frequencies,
design efficient algorithms for text processing tasks, and build language models that capture the
statistical properties of natural language.

2 What are the differences between Database Management Systems (DBMS) and
Information Retrieval Systems explain with examples
Database Management Systems (DBMS) and Information Retrieval Systems (IRS) are
both used for managing and organizing data, but they have different purposes and
functionalities.

DBMS: DBMS is designed to store, manage, and manipulate structured data efficiently. It is
used to create, update, retrieve, and delete data in a structured manner. Examples of DBMS
include Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server.

IRS: IRS is designed to search, retrieve, and present unstructured or semi-structured information
from a large collection of documents or sources. It focuses on finding relevant information based
on user queries. Examples of IRS include search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

DBMS: DBMS organizes data in a structured manner using tables with predefined schemas. It
enforces data integrity and relationships between tables through constraints and keys.

IRS: IRS deals with unstructured or semi-structured data like text documents, web pages, emails,
etc. It uses techniques like indexing and ranking to retrieve relevant information based on
keyword searches.

- DBMS: DBMS uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to manipulate and retrieve data. SQL
provides a standardized way to interact with databases using commands like SELECT, INSERT,
UPDATE, DELETE.

IRS: IRS uses natural language queries or keywords to search for information. The search engine
processes the query and retrieves relevant documents based on relevance ranking algorithms.
- DBMS: DBMS is designed to handle large volumes of structured data efficiently. It can support
multiple users concurrently and provide ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability)
properties.

- IRS: IRS is designed to handle large collections of documents or sources. It needs to index and
process vast amounts of unstructured data to provide fast and accurate search results.

- DBMS: Oracle Database is a widely used DBMS that provides a comprehensive set of features
for managing structured data. It supports transactions, data integrity, and various data models
like relational, object-relational, and XML.

- IRS: Google Search is a popular example of an IRS. It indexes billions of web pages and uses
complex algorithms to rank and retrieve relevant search results based on user queries.

DBMS is used for structured data management, while IRS is used for unstructured or semi-
structured information retrieval. DBMS focuses on efficient storage, manipulation, and retrieval
of structured data, while IRS focuses on searching and retrieving relevant information from a
large collection of unstructured or semi-structured documents.

3 Draw the N-Grams that can be view as a special technique for conflation (stemming)
and as a unique data structure in information systems digram and trigram for the
word phrase “sea colony”?

Certainly! Here are the N-Grams, specifically digrams and trigrams, for the word phrase "sea
colony":

1. Digrams:

- "se"

- "ea"

- "a "

- " c"

- "co"

- "ol"

- "lo"

- "on"
- "ny"

2. Trigrams:

- "sea"

- "ea "

- "a c"

- " co"

- "col"

- "olo"

- "lon"

- "ony"

N-Grams are consecutive sequences of 'N' items, where 'N' denotes the number of items. In this
case, we consider the word phrase "sea colony" and break it down into digrams (N=2) and
trigrams (N=3). The digrams consist of all two-letter combinations, while the trigrams consist of
all three-letter combinations.

These N-Grams can be useful in various natural language processing tasks, including stemming,
language modeling, and information retrieval. Stemming algorithms, for example, can utilize
these N-Grams to identify common prefixes and suffixes, helping to perform conflation or
reduce words to their base forms.

Please note that N-Grams can be constructed by sliding a window of size 'N' across the word
phrase, extracting the consecutive sets of letters or words at each step.

4 What is the general objective of an Information Retrieval System?

The general objective of an Information Retrieval System is to retrieve relevant


information from a large collection of data based on a user's query. The system aims to
efficiently and effectively search, retrieve, and present relevant documents or information
that matches the user's information needs. It involves techniques and algorithms to index
and organize the data, as well as ranking and retrieval methods to provide the most
relevant results to the user..

5 Discuss some of well-known interfaces used by scientists for searching the


information or Documents available on the Internet; Full text collections (e.g. journals
or patents); and Abstract and indexed (A&I) databases in various disciplines.

Some well-known interfaces used by scientists for searching information or documents


available on the internet, full-text collections, and abstract and indexed databases in
various disciplines include:

1. PubMed: This is a widely used interface for searching biomedical literature. It provides
access to a vast collection of articles from scientific journals, including full-text articles
and abstracts.

2. IEEE Xplore: This interface is popular among scientists in the field of electrical
engineering and computer science. It provides access to a wide range of technical
documents, including journal articles, conference papers, and standards.

3. Google Scholar: This is a widely used search engine specifically designed for
searching scholarly literature. It provides access to a variety of sources, including articles,
theses, books, and conference papers.

4. Scopus: Scopus is a comprehensive abstract and citation database covering a wide


range of disciplines. It provides access to millions of articles, conference papers, and
patents, along with citation metrics and author profiles.

5. Web of Science: This interface is commonly used for searching scientific literature
across various disciplines. It provides access to a vast collection of articles from journals,
conference proceedings, and books, along with citation data and author profiles.

6. ACM Digital Library: This interface is popular among computer scientists and
provides access to a wide range of resources, including articles, conference proceedings,
and technical reports published by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

7. JSTOR: JSTOR is a digital library that provides access to a wide range of academic
journals, books, and primary sources in various disciplines. It is particularly useful for
accessing older publications.
These are just a few examples of well-known interfaces used by scientists for searching
information and documents in different disciplines. The choice of interface often depends
on the specific research needs and the discipline being studied.
6 Explain the ISR searching tools systems in academic library with examples?
Information Retrieval Systems (IRS) in academic libraries use various searching tools
and systems to help users find relevant information. Some common examples of these
tools are:

1. Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC): OPAC is a computerized catalog that allows
users to search for books, journals, and other materials available in the library. Users can
search by author, title, subject, or keyword to locate specific resources.

Example: A student searching for books on "Art History" can use the OPAC system to
find relevant books on the topic available in the library.

2. Library Databases: Libraries subscribe to various databases that provide access to


scholarly articles, research papers, conference proceedings, and other academic
resources. These databases often have advanced search features allowing users to refine
their queries by date, author, subject, and other parameters.

Example: A researcher looking for articles on "climate change impacts on agriculture"


can use a database like JSTOR or ScienceDirect to search for relevant articles published
in the last five years.

3. Discovery Systems: Discovery systems are comprehensive search platforms that


integrate multiple library resources into a single interface. These systems allow users to
search across the library's catalog, databases, e-books, and other digital resources
simultaneously.

Example: A faculty member searching for information on "teaching strategies for online
learning" can use a discovery system like EBSCO Discovery Service or Primo to retrieve
relevant results from various sources within the library's collection.

4. Institutional Repositories: Many academic libraries maintain institutional repositories


where faculty members and researchers can deposit and share their scholarly work. These
repositories often have search functionalities to help users discover research outputs from
their institution.

Example: A student interested in exploring recent dissertations on "sustainable


architecture" can search the institutional repository of their university to find relevant
works.
5. Reference Management Tools: Academic libraries may provide access to reference
management tools like EndNote or Zotero, which help users organize and cite their
research materials. These tools often have search features that allow users to discover
relevant references from library catalogs and databases.

Example: A graduate student working on a research paper can use a reference


management tool to search for and save relevant articles and books from the library's
resources.

These searching tools and systems in academic libraries aim to make the process of
finding relevant information more efficient and effective for users, enabling them to
access the resources they need for their academic pursuits.
7 What is the impact on precision and recall in the use of Stop Lists and Stop
Algorithms?
The use of stop lists and stop algorithms can have an impact on both precision and recall
in information retrieval systems.

Stop lists are lists of common words, such as "and," "the," and "is," that are considered to
be noise or uninformative in the context of a search. These words are typically filtered
out before the retrieval process, which can help improve precision by reducing the
number of irrelevant documents returned. By removing these common words, the search
results are more likely to contain only documents that are truly relevant to the query.

However, the use of stop lists can also negatively impact recall. Since stop lists remove
common words, there is a possibility that some relevant documents may contain these
words and be mistakenly filtered out. This means that certain relevant documents may not
be included in the search results, leading to a decrease in recall.

Stop algorithms, on the other hand, dynamically determine which words to consider as
stop words based on their frequency in the document collection. These algorithms
analyze the frequency distribution of words and identify those that are too common to be
informative. This approach can help address the limitations of static stop lists by adapting
to the specific characteristics of the document collection.

Similarly to stop lists, stop algorithms can improve precision by filtering out common
words that are unlikely to contribute to the relevance of a document. However, they may
also have an impact on recall if relevant documents contain words that are deemed as
stop words based on their frequency.
In summary, the use of stop lists and stop algorithms can enhance precision by reducing
noise in search results. However, they may also have a trade-off with recall, as some
relevant documents may be mistakenly excluded due to the removal of common words.
The impact on precision and recall will depend on the specific implementation of stop
lists or stop algorithms and the characteristics of the document collection being searched.

8 What are the difficulties in applying ranking when Boolean queries


are used?
One difficulty in applying ranking when Boolean queries are used is that Boolean queries
typically return a large number of results, often including irrelevant documents. This can
make it challenging to determine the relevance and importance of each document in the
search results.

Another difficulty is that Boolean queries treat all query terms equally, without
considering their importance or relevance to the search. This can lead to situations where
important terms are overshadowed by less important ones, resulting in less accurate
ranking of the search results.

Additionally, Boolean queries do not take into account the context or semantics of the
search terms. This means that documents containing synonyms or related terms may not
be ranked highly, even if they are relevant to the search.

Furthermore, Boolean queries do not consider the frequency or proximity of the query
terms within the documents. This can result in relevant documents being ranked lower if
the query terms are scattered throughout the text rather than appearing together.

Overall, the difficulties in applying ranking when Boolean queries are used stem from the
lack of consideration for relevance, importance, context, semantics, and proximity of the
query terms within the documents.
9 What is the relationship between vocabulary browse and thesauri/concept
classes?

Vocabulary browse and thesauri/concept classes are closely related in the context of information
retrieval systems in academic libraries.

Vocabulary browse refers to the ability of users to browse through a controlled vocabulary or a list of
terms used in a specific domain or subject area. This browsing feature allows users to explore different
terms and concepts related to their research topic, even if they are not familiar with specific keywords
or subject headings.
On the other hand, thesauri and concept classes are tools used to organize and categorize terms and
concepts in a systematic manner. Thesauri are structured lists of terms that provide alternative,
broader, narrower, and related terms for a given concept. They help users identify and select
appropriate terms for their search queries, expanding their search scope and improving the accuracy of
their results. Concept classes, on the other hand, group related terms and concepts together based on
their semantic similarities or hierarchical relationships.

In this context, vocabulary browse and thesauri/concept classes work together to enhance the search
experience for users. When users browse through a controlled vocabulary, they can discover relevant
terms and concepts that they may not have considered before. Thesauri and concept classes then
provide additional guidance by suggesting related terms or organizing them in a meaningful way, helping
users refine their search queries and retrieve more precise and comprehensive results.

Overall, vocabulary browse and thesauri/concept classes complement each other in information
retrieval systems, enabling users to explore and navigate relevant terms and concepts effectively,
leading to improved search outcomes.

10 What are the the distribution of successor stemmers variety letters for the Symbol Tree
for terms /bag, barn, bring, box, bottle?/

The distribution of successor stemmers variety letters for the Symbol Tree for the terms /bag, barn,
bring, box, bottle/ would depend on the specific stemmer algorithm being used. Stemmers are
algorithms that remove affixes from words to obtain their root or base form.

Without knowing the specific stemmer being referred to, it is not possible to determine the exact
distribution of successor stemmers variety letters for the given terms. Different stemmers may have
different rules and algorithms for stemming, resulting in varying distributions of successor stemmers.

However, in general, stemmers aim to reduce words to their common base form, so it is likely that some
common letters or letter combinations may appear more frequently in the successor stemmers of the
given terms. This could be influenced by factors such as common word endings or prefixes.

11 Hafer and Weiss experimented with the techniques, discovering that combinations of
the techniques of stemming Using the words in word “boxer,” the successor variety
stemming is show in clear steps.
Certainly! Here's a step-by-step process for stemming the word "boxer" using the
Porter stemming algorithm:

Step 1: Start with the original word: boxer


Step 2: Check for the presence of common suffixes or transformations:
- Check for "er" suffix
- Since "er" is a common suffix indicating a person or thing associated with the
verb, it can be removed.
- Step 2 result: box

After applying the steps of the Porter stemming algorithm, the word "boxer" is
stemmed to "box." By removing the "er" suffix, we obtain the base form of the word.

Please note that different stemming algorithms may have their own specific steps and
rules. The example above follows the Porter stemming algorithm, which is one of the
commonly used stemming techniques.

12 Inverted File Structure for the give documents below with dictionary and inversion

Doc # Documents Dictionary Inversion list


Doc 1 Computer, bit, byte
Doc 2 Memory, byte
Doc 3 Computer, bit, memory
Doc 4 Byte, computer

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