Word Abbreviation Research Articles

In Memoriam: E. Ross Stuckless

In Memoriam:E. Ross Stuckless Susan Murad Murad, S. (2014). In memoriam: E. Ross Stuckless. American Annals of the Deaf, 159(4), 315–316. Dr. E. Ross Stuckless, longtime faculty member of Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf, died July 21 in Connecticut, at age 80. Dr. Stuckless, whose younger brother was deaf, was the first hearing faculty member hired at NTID. He started in September 1967 after serving as coordinator of the University of Pittsburgh’s doctoral program in the education of deaf students. He also had served as an instructor at the American School for the Deaf, West Hartford, CT, and instructor and psychologist at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, in Pittsburgh. Click for larger view View full resolution In many ways, Dr. Stuckless was responsible for helping to make the case for the existence of NTID. In 1963, he investigated the occupational functioning level of young deaf adults in six states; the study showed that individuals who were deaf were not getting adequate training and were generally underemployed. This research contributed to the surge of interest and concern in Congress and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare that helped lead to NTID’s founding. Dr. Stuckless served RIT/NTID for 33 years, first as director of research and training, then as director of integrative research. In December 1992 he became special assistant to the director of NTID, and in January 1995 he returned to the faculty, where he served until his retirement in 2000. “Ross had an innate ability to envision how technology could benefit deaf and hard of hearing people,” said Gerald Walter, a friend and former colleague at RIT/NTID. “People would come to his office and talk about an idea, and before they left, Ross would have moved the idea into a plan of action.” Some of Dr. Stuckless’s early research focused on the application of programmed instruction, and later, on computer-assisted instruction in educating deaf students. He was the author of numerous publications, including Educational Interpreting for Deaf Students (1989) and Assessment of the Written Language of Deaf Studies (with C. H. Marks, 1996). “He will be remembered for his foresight in connecting technology to advance education for deaf and hard of hearing students,” said Walter. “When e-mail was first developed, Ross saw its potential as a communication tool for deaf people. He predicted that text messaging would take the concept even further, and envisioned speech-to-text technology that eventually was developed as C-Print here on the RIT/NTID campus and is now used worldwide.” “Ross was a terrific associate and huge innovator in deaf education,” RIT/NTID professor Michael Stinson said. “In the early 1980s, Ross pioneered at NTID the development of real-time speech-to-text technology as a means of communication access for deaf and hard of hearing students in mainstream RIT classrooms. This technology—Communication Access Real-Time Translation (i.e., CART)—was the first-ever effort to provide a speech-to-text service as an accommodation, one that is now provided all over the world. In the late 1980s, Ross suggested that a computer-assisted word abbreviation system on a computer with a standard keyboard could be the basis for a different [End Page 315] speech-to-text service that is easier to learn to use than CART. This suggestion was a key idea in the development of the C-Print speech-to-text service that NTID uses today.” Dr. Stuckless earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Toronto, a master’s at Gallaudet College, and his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. He is survived by his sons Randy (Sue), E. Ross “Rusty,” and Evan, and stepdaughter Melinda (Mike) Smith, as well as 11 grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Lois, and second wife, Carol, a former RIT/NTID employee. A memorial service was held on September 19 in the Schmitt Interfaith Center at RIT. [End Page 316] Susan Murad Communications, Marketing, and Multimedia Services National Technical Institute for the Deaf Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY Copyright © 2014 Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf...

The Types of Expression and Meanings of Calligraphy Appearing in Modern Fashion

The purpose of this study was to analyze the types and meanings of calligraphy presented in modern fashion design. Calligraphy refers to beautiful handwriting or fine penmanship in the West, and handwriting with brushstrokes in the East. The expression patterns being used at present can be divided into three categories. Legible calligraphy is focused on readability more than embellishment. Decorative calligraphy places its importance on decoration at the expense of practicality. The third type, harmonious calligraphy, pursues decorativeness and legibility at the same time. Each of these types of calligraphy is expressed in modern fashion with its own purpose: calligraphy for conveying emotional messages, calligraphy as a special brand image, and calligraphy as an expression of formativeness. The first, calligraphy for conveying emotional messages, is used with characters that are familiar to the public. Calligraphy of this type delivers messages confined emotionally to the conscious world, harmonizing calligraphy with words, or expressing readability filled with purity and delight. Second, calligraphy as a special brand image refers to transmitting a distinctive brand image from other companies through employment of a design motive or pattern by expressing the brand logos or names of designers. Third, calligraphy as a expression of formativeness has the function of shaping expressions as motives or patterns, avoiding meanings of words or phrases. It can be represented by the abbreviation or modification of words, or arranging words in different shapes, harmonizing the words with the clothing construction and atmosphere of the other images. Keywords: calligraphy, letter, message, brand logo

MULTI-STAGE TECHNIQUE 'PAKS' FOR MULTIPLE CRITERIA DECISION AIDING

This paper describes a new multi-stage technique PAKS (the abbreviation of Russian words: Consequent Aggregation of Classified Situations) for sorting multi-attribute objects by a group. Based on decision maker preferences, this technique provides a hierarchical aggregation of a large number of initial attributes into a smaller number of criteria, thus reducing the dimension of the attribute space progressively, using various tools of verbal decision analysis. The consequent aggregation of attributes allows generating manifold lists of composite criteria with numerical and/or verbal scales, finding and analyzing the most preferable solution of a decision problem. The technique was applied to evaluate efficiency of R&D projects, which were assessed by several experts on many qualitative criteria and subsidized by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

The second step towards international society

Just one year ago, I congratulated the changes happened to the Journal of Korean Academy of Conservative Dentistry, the official journal of the Korean Academy of Conservative Dentistry. From the first issue of volume 37 in March 2012, we changed the journal name to Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics (RDE; Restor Dent Endod, standardized abbreviation of the journal suggested by the List of Title Word Abbreviation). We adopted a new and fresh design. At about the same time, RDE was indexed on KoreaMed (http://www.koreamed.org) and KoreaMed Synapse (http://synapse.koreamed.org). Its full text pdf files can be tracked and downloaded from the journal homepage (www.rde.ac) and the KoreaMed Synapse. We have published all the articles in English from the 3rd issue of Volume 37. These changes were the first step of the RDE towards the international society. The changes were initiated by the leadership of former president Professor Seung-Ho Baek, and were succeeded by the present president Professor Sung-Kyo Kim. On the first day of 2010, we initiated internationalization of the official journal of the Korean Academy of Conservative Dentistry. We organized a working committee for internationalization of RDE, opened our English journal homepage (www.rde.ac), invited foreign experts as Editorial Members and reviewers, and improved the editorial system. Within a year from the first step, we have achieved a great success for international communication. RDE is now proud to participate in PubMed and PubMed Central (PMC). RDE has platforms for world-wide communication. PMC is a free digital database of full-text literature in biomedical and life science, which was developed as an online archive of biomedical journal articles by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Now, RDE is fully covered by KoreaMed, Synapse, KoMCI, CrossRef, Google Scholar, PubMed, and PMC. RDE must have been on the second step towards international society. We are renewing the editorial process and the journal homepage for convenience of the foreign contributors. We hope RDE to be known world-wide by dentists and researchers. We hope RDE contribute to the oral health care of mankind. I really appreciate the members of the working committee devoting themselves to improving RDE. I also appreciate the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE) and XMLink leading RDE to PMC. Additionally, I would like to express my appreciation to the board members, the president, and all the members of KACD for their support for our journal. Byeong-Hoon Cho, Editor-in-Chief Vol. 38, No. 1, 2013

The Effect Of The Internet And Mobile Phones On The Habit Of Teacher Candidates’ Using Turkish Language As Written Language

In this study, it is aimed to reveal whether the habit of teacher candidates’ using mobile phones and the internet has a negative effect on writing Turkish texts. In accordance with this purpose, the data collected via surveys from 405 teacher candidates, it was determined that students preferred mobile phone short text messages in written communication rather than chat and e-mail. Students stated that they used Turkish word abbreviations in chat, e-mail and short mobile phone texts. They also expressed some justifications as a result that using abbreviations is time saving, even though they do not write the entire word, the reader will understand what is written and they also think that writing entire word is more difficult. According to the data gained from the same survey, the majority of the students do not use a word or word abbreviation from another language in electronic media correspondence. The rate of male students using spelling and obeying punctuation rules is higher than the rate of female students while writing e-mail.

The medium makes the message: Effects of cues on students’ lecture notes

Previous work has shown that students’ notes often fail to record key facts and concepts. The relatively recent widespread adoption of PowerPoint slides and handouts might now help students to record key issues, but only if they can recognize the cues that identify these. 238 note-sets were taken from first-year students attending four lectures using copy paper. In each lecture four separate possible cues were identified: a slide, a statement, a discussion and an ‘interactive window’ (a short problem-solving session embedded in the lecture). Notes were analysed for word counts, abbreviations, note-taking styles and quality of content. Word counts showed non-normal distributions; most students recorded relatively few words but some recorded more than double the modal number. Word counts and the quality of notes were significantly related in three of the four lectures. Most note-sets had no abbreviations and showed a simple linear layout (without, for example, concept maps or new diagrams). Interactive windows produced higher-quality notes than discussions or statements. Hence different cues produce different notes, and lecturers should consider the effects of their lecturing cues on the notes their students will record.

Un estudio sobre los cambios lingüísticos del español escrito en las charlas informales por internet

La comunicación por Internet ha aumentado mucho en los últimos años. Sin embargo, principalmente en las charlas informales (salas de chat), se constatan cambios en la ortografía de varias palabras. Para este estudio, se recogieron textos de salas de chat en español durante cuatro meses y se analizaron los cambios ortográficos intencionales. Las modificaciones encontradas ocurren principalmente por dos motivos: creatividad de los usuarios y necesidad de rápida comunicación. La consecuencia es básicamente el uso de grafías iguales para un mismo fonema y la abreviación o simplificación de palabras. Así, esas nuevas formas usadas en la escrita informal por Internet pueden resultar confusas, de ahí que sea importante enseñarles a los estudiantes de Español como Lengua Extranjera algunas características de esa nueva escritura, para que tengan condiciones de comunicarse en las charlas informales con mayor efectividad.

Rosemarie Morgan replies

Rosemarie Morgan replies: Rosemarie Morgan I hope I can clarify, to William Greenslade's satisfaction, some of the points made in my review. Rosemarie Morgan finds much to object to in my title Thomas Hardy's 'Facts' Notebook. Well yes! Most scholars would object. The 1882 Notebook title is Hardy's (not Greenslade's) and it is "Facts, from Newspapers, Histories, Biographies, & other Chronicles—(mainly Local)." Not only has Greenslade re-stated Hardy's title and made it Thomas Hardy's 'Facts' Notebook but the abbreviation of Hardy's words misrepresents the material content (Greenslade dates it 1883 but I am relying on Millgate's1882). But given Greenslade's bewilderment over these issues perhaps I should elaborate on my concerns. First is that the Notebook's authentic title, "Facts, from Newspapers, Histories, Biographies, & other Chronicles—(mainly Local)," accurately represents the material content: that is, a compendium of extracts, snippets, and jottings from secondary sources not, as the unqualified "Facts" title misleadingly indicates, primary sources. Second, Greenslade's truncation of Hardy's own title might be regarded as simply unprofessional if it didn't reflect the various other liberties he has taken with his subject. It is noteworthy, by the way, that, prior to his editorship, scholars have managed to work on Hardy's 1882 Notebook for many years despite Greenslade's claim that it remained neglected, forgotten, in the Dorset County Museum, ever since Hardy's death. This is not only untrue but Greenslade unwittingly confirms the untruth by naming nine scholars who have cited the Notebook in their publications. More to the point, no scholar, to date, has attempted to sensationalize its contents—broadcasting it to the media as "reshaping Hardy's imaginative and fictional worlds," as "moving Hardy into a completely new direction," as being "full of juicy details"—and other grandiose claims. Unfortunately for the world of Hardy scholarship, Greenslade's "Facts" title plays into this sensationalism with some degree of success since it leads instantly, in the uncertain but intelligent public mind (for just how does a notebook reshape someone's world?), to questions and doubts concerning plagiarism and copyright violations. In his introduction Greenslade tactically exploits this kind of doubt and uncertainty to cast slurs on Hardy's motivation and epistemology. Private note-taking from assorted sources, such as maintaining commonplace books, has engaged writers since time began. And "private" is the operative word. To many writers note-taking of this kind is both selective and interpretive and thus constitutes an intensely personal transaction with the self—even, in the manner of a diary, an "extension" of the self. Predictably, Hardy, in line with other public figures, felt urged to destroy many of his personal notebooks and papers. That the 1882 Notebook escaped the flames and that Greenslade is [End Page 403] allowed the very special privilege of editing it for publication should, surely, command gratitude and respect? So yes, I am disturbed. I am made distinctly uneasy by Greenslade's insinuating tone—and it was primarily his tone which commanded my attention—implying that these "Facts" (the word is persistently hammered at the reader) have been somehow tampered with, by Hardy. How? Why? Because he scratches them out, from time to time, or amends them, or cuts them? Of courseHardy makes deletions, erasures and excisions in his 1882 Notebook. Wouldn't an editor, of all people, be the first to understand the psychoanalytic aesthetics of this (and hasn't this particular editor ever set eyes on a Hardy manuscript with all its cross-hatched deletions and scissored leaves?). Inevitably, such deletions present problems for editors. Understood. But do they point to some kind of illicit meddling with the sources? Indeed, would the question even arise, let alone be insinuated into a scholarly work— "why did Hardy go to such lengths to obscure some of his sources?"—if the editorial mind were not prone to sensation-mongering? Editors are a privileged race. They are entrusted with literary works in order to place them in the public domain. Greenslade has his own method, however. Mostly interrogative. He subjects his reader to several pages of editorial speculation—leading questions about the hidden motives for Hardy's deletions...

Structure and mnemonics in computer and command languages

Payne and Green have proposed the Task Action Grammar (TAG) as a formalism for the evaluation of command language organization. TAG is a competence model of command language organization which emphasizes the structural organization of the command language. That is, a group of commands all with the same form but differing values is predicted to be easier to use than one where each command of the group has a unique pattern of values. From the first, Payne and Green (1983, 1984) two level organization of TAG. The four test command languages they used were: “structure and mnemonics”; “structure only”; “mnemonics only”; and a version of the EMACS editor command language. The subject's recall performance for any of the first three languages was better than for the fourth. The original experiment was replicated at the University of Waterloo to gain a better view of user's capabilities for command language usage. At Waterloo a fifth language was added to the testing, “neither structure nor mnemonics” to complete the 2×2 block design. Contrary to the original results, n the replication, the structural factor was not a significant factor. In fact, the structure only language, the EMACS variant and the language with neither structure nor mnemonics were not significantly different. Considering only the languages with structure, the use of word abbreviation as mnemonic appears to be more effective than the use of graphical symbols. As TAG depends on the explanation of the importance of structure, this finding raises questions as to its utility. A categorization exercise given to the Waterloo subjects gave the only result which showed any influence of the structure factor. If TAG does provide a performance model of command languages, it appears to have much less influence on the user's performance than some types of mnemonics. The EMACS variant has more complex organization than any other of the test languages. The test results do not show that the subjects were able to use the clues provided. Payne and Green (1984, 1986), Carroll (1982) and Dixon (1987) have suggested possible explanations for this poor recall, but the current work leaves the question unresolved.

Stratégies d'abréviation de mots français

Summary : Abbreviation strategies for French words. Subjects were required to create fixed-length abbreviations of French words, the structure of these words being experimentally controlled. Il was found lhat consonants were used in the abbreviations more systematically than were vowels, and that leftmost letters were employed more systematically than were rightmost letters. It was also found that the initial letters of syllables and of morphemes, when these letters were vowels, were used according to rather surprising strategies, that call for cautious interpretation. However, an advantage for the initial letters of syllables was clearly found when these letters were consonants. Key words : writing, word, abbreviation.

Features of word omission and abbreviation in telexes

Telexes play an important and increasing role in business correspondence but have received very little attention in Business English textbooks, or ESP research work. This article examines two features of telex, word omission and word abbreviation, and shows that in these two aspects the telex differs from other abbreviated texts, notably the telegram.

The development of a standardized, computer-based abbreviation algorithm

Abstract Based upon three simple assumptions about the information-conveying properties of consonants, vowels, syllables and the relative positions of letters and letter groups within parent words, a prototype abbreviation-generating algorithm was constructed. It was reasoned, based on previous studies (Streeter et al. 1980, Reber 1976) and because of the invariant rules which are fundamental to the algorithm, that abbreviations produced by the algorithm should be more readily decoded than naturally produced, popular abbreviations. Experiment I revealed that popular abbreviations were more easily reconstructed than were their rule-based counterparts, although the margin was reliable only for abbreviations of parent words of relatively long letter length. Results of experiment II demonstrated that when feedback was provided to the subject following each reconstruction, accuracy in decoding the algorithm abbreviations improved with practice. No improvement was observed for subjects who were not provided kno...

Facilitating the learning of medical terminology through the use of effective mediation strategies: a model for the teaching of technical vocabulary.

A common problem encountered by a teacher who is working with hearing-impaired students on vocabulary development is a seemingly continuous inclass confusion over the specific term which is being discussed at any given moment. After significant experimentation with a variety of media forms, a system has been developed for the purpose of providing instructional support for the learning of medical terminology at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Slides and flashcards have been produced to assist with inclass activities and out-of-class study of approximately 4,000 medical word elements (prefixes, roots, suffixes), terms, and abbreviations. Each slide and card contains a term, diacritical marks, definition, and body system symbol. Slides are produced using a two-color split frame method with the term and diacritical marks on top in red and the definition and body system symbol on the bottom in blue. Slides are used with a random access projector and a red/blue/ clear filter wheel, allowing for immediate visual display of term only, definition only, or both. Each student is provided with a set of flashcards, produced from the same art work as the slides, with the definition printed on the back of each card. The use of these materials has increased student comprehension scores while simultaneously decreasing student learning time. It is proposed that this process might be successfully employed to assist in the learning of vocabulary in other technical areas.

Some studies of word abbreviation behavior.

Some studies of word abbreviation behavior.

"Geolog System" for Computer and Manual Analysis of Geologic Data from Porphyry and Other Deposits

The Geolog System is a computer-oriented method of recording geological field observations, primarily from drill holes, in porphyry-type and other mineral deposits. The System also facilitates manual analysis and interpretation of the data.Data are compiled on GEOLOG, an 80-column format describing principal zone (cap, supergene, hypogene, fresh rock, fault), interval, rock type, fractures, alteration mineral assemblages, limonites, and ore mineral assemblages. Prescribed headings on GEOLOG are keyed to logical word abbreviations and simple codes to give concise, consistent, and readable descriptions. Because column names are easily modified and various codes and scales are available, GEOLOG is flexible; it therefore facilitates description of many types of deposit, accommodating a variety of logging techniques that may emphasize theoretical examination, routine survey, or rapid reconnaissance. Collecting data with Geolog System appears better than existing or standard logging techniques because information is recorded to be: keypunched directly; retrieved readily; consistent with respect to routine description of presence or absence of particular features; specific by use of prescribed headings, codes and scales; related to an existing porphyry deposit model. Time and effort involved in collecting drill data on GEOLOG are comparable to common logging procedures.Interpretation of the large amount of complex data on GEOLOG is aided by using a computer to provide manipulation of data and appropriate output. Because GEOLOG is keyed to recently published models of porphyry deposits that show ore location with respect to zoning of mode and degree of dispersion of mineralization, alteration mineral assemblages, and ore mineral assemblages, application of the System has important future use in predicting ore locations from even preliminary data.

Is Assist Legit?

To the Editor.— I was much impressed by your editorial on assisted circulation in myocardial infarction. There is no doubt that the circulatory assistor is a valuable addition to the medical armamentarium (a great new metaphor, isn't it?). But I must take strong exception to the term assist. This abbreviation of words through nounization of verbs has crept into the language insidiously after editors began referring to a rejected manuscript as a reject. It was easy after that to call an accepted manuscript an accept and a revision a revise. And there was nothing to stop such aberrancies of abridgement as construct for construction, surround for surroundings, retrieve for retrieval, and prevent for prevention. Surely, editorials inThe Journalshould not aid and abet the perpetuation of this pernicious trend. The circulatory assist may be a great achieve, but as a term it is not legit.

A Typology of Shortening Devices

N THE THIRD CONTRIBUTION to this journal in which Baum deals with acronyms,' he asserts that technical term loses its usefulness if its sense is not sharply demarcated.2 He was particularly concerned with the use of the word acronym to cover what are frequently labeled blends or portmanteau forms of the sort illustrated by motel for 'motor hotel' or brunch for 'breakfast and lunch.' He also tried to suggest different orders of acronyms, depending upon how much of the original was retained in the shortened form. This article goes beyond Baum's observations (although surely it must be seen as part of the same intent) in reconsidering the entire range of devices used for compression of one or another sort. Since it has been objected that the word abbreviation does not normally cover all of the phenomena relevant to this general field, we shall avoid it. At the same time, an overview of the field may provide some perspective on the regular historical sequence so frequently followed as well as on the changing nature of the linguistic system itself, which now allows certain previously intermediate steps to be bypassed in favor of the final resultant. Let us turn then first to the general typology, a synchronic consideration, before aiming at historical perspective, a diachronic consideration. All shortenings may be considered in accordance with the particular medium which is compressed. Thus, one may have phonological shortening, orthographical shortening, or both. This point perhaps deserves a short digression, since the lack of recognition of this fact reflects a fundamental weakness in American linguistics, from the Bloomfieldian to the postBloomfieldian period. The same lack of insight of the synchronic structure of communicative systems led to the long-standing bickering between the historical linguists operating as synchronicists on the one hand, and traditional philologists, teachers, and old-fashioned grammarians on the other. It

Jean Buridan's De Motibus Animalium.

O UR EDITION of Buridan's De motibus animalium has been prepared from the only two manuscript versions of the work known to be extant: Cod. Vat. lat. 2162, folios 164vb-167r and MS Amploniana (Erfurt) Q 325, folios 132a-137ra. These two manuscripts will be indicated hereafter as V and A, respectively. Unhappily, V is incomplete. It breaks off abruptly at the conclusion of Chapter V at the bottom of folio 167ra. Folio 168 contains only a brief medical prescription and several out-sized letters P indiscriminately placed and evidently executed for pleasure by a hand different from that which transcribed V. The hiatus is particularly regrettable as V is written in an unusually clear and careful cursive script by an English hand of the late fourteenth century. On the other hand, A, although complete, is written in a crabbed and difficult cursive French hand of the same period. It contains hastily made corrections and deletions and employs extreme, often eccentric, word abbreviations. Although we are thankful for the completeness of A, we cannot help but feel some slight uneasiness about Chapters VI and VII, which it was necessary to transcribe from A alone without the benefit of cross-referral to V. So far as the establishment of the first five chapters of our text is concerned, V and A were given equal weight. Such divergences as were observed between the two manuscripts were relatively minor, and, generally speaking, the two were found to be mutually complementary. But at least one discrepancy appears worthy of special note. The title of Buridan's work in V is given as De motu animalium, while it is titled De motibus animalium in A. This is not too extraordinary, however, as the De motu, or De motibus, is known to have had a curious and mixed tradition of transmission.l For the reason that A alone is complete we have decided to employ its title, De motibus animalium, rather than the title given in V. We can only hope that no confusion will ensue concerning the variant titling of V.

A proposal for a uniform nomenclature in bacterial genetics.

The current proposal is an outgrowth of its predecessors, developed by the present authors in consultation with colleagues in other laboratories and in other countries. The basic system has proven convenient to use in the laboratory and has greatly facilitated understanding and communication among many laboratories in the intervening years; increasing use of the system also speaks for its practicality. Thus this proposal does not intend to present a rigid, ‘official’, frozen system of nomenclature. The system is bound to evolve as knowledge advances in the future. The present communication is aimed at making widely available the proposal as developed to date. Comments, suggestions, and additions are welcome. The aims of the present proposal are: uniformity; a unique designation for each strain ; convenience for typing, editing, printing, record-keeping, and information retrieval ; and adaptability, simplicity, clarity, and comprehension by workers in all areas of biology; adaptability to new developments in the foreseeable future. The proposal takes the form of a set of guiding principles for dealing with categories where usage can be clearly defined; application to specific situations is left to each individual worker. The standardized system of genetic symbols is designed to serve the following purposes : (I) To distinguish clearly between symbols representing the genotype of a bacterial strain, and abbreviations of words which describe phenotypic properties. (2) To provide a uniform set of symbols for genetic loci, mutant alleles and mutation 1963).

Flexible abbreviation of words in a computer language

An increasing number of computer programs are designed to accept and translate a symbolic, English-like language which facilitates communication between the user and the computer. A common feature of such programs is a pre-determined vocabulary of expressions for specifying the input to the program. This note describes a generalized technique for permitting flexible abbreviation of such expressions in order to further simplify the task of writing source programs.