Index File Research Articles

Application of a general database manager in a clinical medical librarian program.

The morning report reference file was automated at the Stollerman Library because the manual system was time-intensive to maintain and cumbersome to search. A general database management system (DBMS) was chosen so that it could be used in the future for other data management functions in the library. DBMS features that should be examined before use with a bibliographic application include size limitations, data entry forms, data types, search options, index files, sort options, report generation, query and programming languages, command and/or menu files, file interaction, interface with other software, and documentation. Desired requirements for this application are discussed. It is noted that a general database manager probably will not meet all of the desired requirements. For some bibliographic applications, software specifically designed for bibliographic information management and retrieval should be used. A database for the purposes of searching the morning report reference file and producing a weekly reference list and a yearly index was developed using CONDOR 3. The structure of the database is described, and examples of the reports are given. The system has been in operation since December 1984 and has been well-received by staff and patrons.

The Fermilab accelerator control system database

Analog and digital signals from hardware in the field need to be transformed into user understandable information for display, monitoring, and control purposes at a Fermilab accelerator control console. The necessary information to do this translation is the basis of the information stored in the Fermilab Central VAX 11/785 database. The translation information must be retrieved with relatively little overhead via our own in-house network called ACNET. The limited address space of the PDP 11/34s used for driving the display and control consoles requires that a minimal amount of code reside in the console machines for database requests. Also the manner in which display applications tend to use information requires large packed arrays of information for as many as twenty or more devices in a single network request for a given console. An overview of the simple logical schema using the existing VAX/VMS indexed file organization is given. Also given is an overview of the attributes Fermilab has found necessary, through years of experience, for the display, monitor, and control of a hardware device. A description of the Central VAX 11/785 server process used to retrieve and pack information for the consoles along with a brief description of the console routines used for requesting information from the database is presented. Finally a discussion is given of the utility routines available for writing an application that can update the database or even generate special reports.

Principle of codification for quick comparisons with the entire biomolecule databanks and associated programs in FORTRAN 77.

We propose a new method for homology search of nucleic acids or proteins in databanks. All the possible subsequences of a specific length in a sequence are converted into a code and stored in an indexed file (hash-coding). This preliminary work of codifying an entire bank is rather long but it enables an immediate access to all the sequence fragments of a given type. With our method a strict homology pattern of twenty nucleotides can be found for example in the Los Alamos bank (GENBANK) in less than 2 seconds. We can also use this data storage to considerably speed up the non-strict homology search programs and to write a program to help in the selection of nucleic acid hybridization probes.

A program package for major-element data handling and CIPW norm calculation

The package comprises a set of interactive and interrelated FORTRAN-77 programs to compile the data of major-element whole-rock chemical analysis on igneous rocks, calculate the corresponding CIPW norm and manage them in different formats (tabular form: graphic form: X− Y, triangular, and histogram plots). The data are stored in an index file containing a number of keys with sample-name as the main key. The keys have extreme advantage for fast data accessing and comparative studies. The package has been used successfully for compiling over 1800 bulk chemical analyses of igneous rocks from Mexican volcanic belt (MVB).

The Critical Role of the OA Manager

Office automation (OA) technology has evolved from word processing to integrated office automation systems that add sophisticated services (e.g., system-wide file indexes, electronic mail, access to corporate data bases) to the traditional base of word processing and spreadsheet applications. However, the potential benefits of OA technology will only be realized if it is managed effectively. Hence, the need for an OA manager is established.

Non-busy access system for bubble memory chips

Non-busy access (NBA) bubble memory systems to improve request throughput by the use of a shortest access time first (SATF) request scheduling algorithm are considered for on-chip cache organized 4 Mb bubble memory chips. The NBA bubble memory system consists of multiple bubble memory units, each of which is realized by adding a marker RAM, an address switch and a data buffer to a conventional bubble memory unit for request queuing. Computer simulation results proved that the NBA bubble memory system can serve more than 900 requests a second, while the average response time is held to less than 16.5 ms. It is concluded that the NBA bubble memories for application to database index files can have several tens of times higher throughput performance than the conventional bubble or magnetic disk memories.

Authex: printed index production

In spite of a few problems, the reviewer feels this is a “super software package” that should be considered for purchase by every library. It is designed to prepare vertical file indexes, current awareness reports, newspaper indexes, special collections catalogues and bibliographies. Authex is reasonably priced, well written and extremely flexible.

Retrieval with dBase II

Librarians using dBase II will be familiar with its retrieval problems, particularly from complex fields. dBase II has two commands for searching: locate acts sequentially on the main file and so can take a long time, depending on the size of the file. FIND requires that an inverted index file be set up, which it then searches quickly.

Documentatie Waarom En Waar Haal Ik Ze Vandaan ?

A technical translator needs documentation to acquire knowledge of a certain specialised field and to keep that knowledge up to date. Even the most specialised dictionaries often fall short, since the development of technology is per definition ahead of any efforts to lay it down on paper. This is why it is necessary for the translator regularly to consult specialised literature. Not only does he so encounter the correct, and latest, terminology, he also gets acquainted with a particular style or way of expressing oneself customary in the relevant field. All this is bound to improve the quality of his translations. Many technical or scientific journals contain advertisements which are an almost inexhaustible source of information for the translator. The advertisers describe their products, the performances of these products and their ranges of application. A wealth of the most up-to-date specialised terminology is freely available here. There are many possibilites for recording and storing the terms thus found. The simplest one is the card index file. If the translator has access to equipment for storage of data in an electronic memory the range of possibilities is considerably widened. Electronically stored knowledge of this type may later be used to form part of a program for computer aided translation.

Design of a patient index file with cross-reference diagnostic facilities

A program was developed to allow a patient index file to be stored on computer. There are cross reference facilities allowing access to diagnostic indexes. Up to 800 patients' records can be stored on a file and a new file is started each year. Records can be updated or appended at any time and files can be duplicated to provide back up copies. The main drawback at present is response time and ways in which this may be improved are discussed.

The AWA URICA System and TULIPS: its application at the University of Tasmania Library

Discusses the University of Tasmania Library's use of the Amalgamated Wireless (Australia) URICA turnkey system having a library software package running on their MICRODATA range of computers. The completely integrated design offers an online realtime system but allows customer specified modifications. The package modules cover enquiry (retrieval) including public access catalogues, cataloguing, acquisitions, circulation control and serials control. The library uses a REALITY 8000 with 384KB of memory, 2×150 MB disks and 27 VDUs The system handles bibliographic and non‐bibliographic files and index files used as authority files, such as the Title Authority File (TAF) supported by a KEY file of words from titles — some examples are given. Although MARC coding is not used at input the system uses the punctuation to create the MARC format. Communications links to a wide range of nodes are planned from TULIPS especially to the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN). The library uses cataloguing data supplied by Blackwell's North America. There are 5 figures relating to the system No references An Appendix gives brief details of other applications of the AWA URICA system

Two-level indexing in solution of linear equation megasystems

The finite element method leads in numerous applications to extremely large (20,000–50,000 equations) banded linear equation systems with symmetric coefficient matrix. An efficient FORTRAN program for solution of such equation megasystems, developed for Control Data computers, Cyber 70 and Cyber 170 series, utilizes two-level indexing of disc files. Basic program features, timing characteristics and an example are discussed in the paper.

Searching the History of the Health Sciences

The paper discusses major indexing tools which can be used for questions in the History of the Health Sciences. NLM's HISTLINE database is described and compared with DIALOG'S America: History and Life (File 38), Historical Abstracts (File 39), the Biography Master Index (File 88), and The Wellcome Institute's Current Work in the History of Medicine. The scope and organization of thcsc tools is explained and compared. Techniques for searching by subject and by personal name are compared. Sample searches are included to illustrate the differences and similarities.

Computer programs in histopathology record keeping.

Increasing work loads, changes in the nature of data obtained from biopsies, and the use of laboratory statistics in determining financial provision for pathological services combine to enhance the value of computer generated results and indexing in histopathology. The system described here depends on an indexed file system using the Basic Plus-2 language with a PDP-11 computer and SNOP. Error traps are included. The system is designed for secretarial use, SNOP coding being carried out by medical staff.

On the design of one-level indexed sequential files

We consider in this paper the optimal design of one-level indexed sequential files. The main emphasis is on the case where the request probabilities are not equal for all records. The results are obtained using a continuous approximation of the key values, and they are, thus, asymptotic in the nature.

Data management for the International Registry of Reproductive Pathology using SNOMED coding and computerization.

The International Registry of Reproductive Pathology contains more than 19,000 case records. It is indexed with the aid of Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) codes and the MUMPS-11 interactive computer language. A package of programs was developed to maintain an index file of cases in the collection and to produce for each species a printed list of case numbers for every combination of topography, morphology and etiology. The printed disease data from the computer are in English with corresponding SNOMED code numbers and relevant case numbers.

Contemporary Cybernetics

BIOMEDICAL CYBERNETICS The University of Illinois (U.S.A.) anatomic path‐ology natural language dictionary, called LEXICON, has evolved over a nine‐year period through several organizations and updates to its present form. It is the result of scanning over one million words of narrative text from tissue examination request forms and surgical pathology reports. The text is passed into individual words which are looked up in LEXICON and flagged by action codes which determine usage in constructing a KWIC index file and an on‐line database retrievable by keywords.

Toward an integral multi-file on-line bibliographic database

The work described represented an attempt to lay the basis for an integral multi-file bibliographic database and, in particular, to derive a common retrieval vocabulary for data bases received from many different sources in a single carrier language. The creation of an experimental database of some 44 000 references with abstracts, as originally announced in NASA STAR during 1973 and 1974, is described. This data base could be searched either by the classical controlled voca bulary technique or by means of an improved natural language technique using terms in the titles and/or abstracts, or any combination of these. This improved technique was based on three discrete aspects: the development of an index file of uniterms from the natural language by means of an iterative, machine-aided procedure; the incorporation of meaningful phrases culled from the same source; and the derivation of an RT-analogue, on the basis of statistical term association, called Associated Concepts. The experimental database was submitted to a comparative evaluation of controlled and natural language retrieval performance by an external group directed by Prof. Cyril Cleverdon and com prising expert documentalists from several large European information centres with long experience of on-line search ing ; the results of this evaluation are reported.

Profile of a dictionary compiled from scanning over one million words of surgical pathology narrative text

An anatomic pathology natural language dictionary (LEXICON) has evolved over a nine-year period, a result of scanning over one million words of narrative text from tissue examination request forms and surgical pathology reports. The text is parsed into individual words which are looked up in LEXICON and flagged by action codes which determine usage in constructing a KWIC index file and an on-line database retrievable by keywords. The LEXICON now resides on an IBM 370 168 system and has survived several transfers between computer systems. An update program is used after each batch of narrative text is scanned to modify LEXICON. LEXICON now contains 24,228 medical and nonmedical terms, 24.8% are errors (misspellings), 45.9% are keywords retrievable on and off line, 52.2% of the words are cross-referenced to a supplementary word. A preliminary study shows that many of the “nonmedical” terms in LEXICON carry significant medical information, and that there is considerable overlap of medical words among LEXICON, SNOMED, and ICDA-8. Our LEXICON appears to be an intermediate step in the process of evolving an algorithm capable of “understanding” medical narrative text.

Sequential vs. random retrieval of a large indexed file

An indexed sequential (IS) file allows both sequential and random retrieval of its records. When a large IS file is stored in a disk pack with one assembly that must seek different cylinders to retrieve records, the total seek times will become a primary concern for choosing file access methods. While sequential retrieval requires some additional time for sorting the input keys, it may gain considerable reduction in seek times as the access arm does not move in and out to access different records. Once a sorting (internal or external) algorithm is chosen, the time can be estimated as sorting techniques are well developed and documented. In this paper, the average total seek times for both sequential and random retrieval of the file are derived. The result can be used to facilitate a tradeoff study between the two retrieval methods for a particular application.