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A grid information retrieval model has benefits for sharing resources and processing mass information, but cannot handle conceptual heterogeneity without integration of semantic information. The purpose of this research is to propose a concept‐based retrieval mechanism to catch the user's query intentions in a grid environment. This research re‐ranks documents over distributed data sources and evaluates performance based on the user judgment and processing time.

This research uses the ontology lookup service to build the concept set in the ontology and captures the user's query intentions as a means of query expansion for searching. The Globus toolkit is used to implement the grid service. The modification of the collection retrieval inference (CORI) algorithm is used for re‐ranking documents over distributed data sources.

The experiments demonstrate that this proposed approach successfully describes the user's query intentions evaluated by user judgment. For processing time, building a grid information retrieval model is a suitable strategy for the ontology‐based retrieval model.

Most current semantic grid models focus on construction of the semantic grid, and do not consider re‐ranking search results from distributed data sources. The significance of evaluation from the user's viewpoint is also ignored. This research proposes a method that captures the user's query intentions and re‐ranks documents in a grid based on the CORI algorithm. This proposed ontology‐based retrieval mechanism calculates the global relevance score of all documents in a grid and displays those documents with higher relevance to users.

This review reports on the current state and the potential of tools and systems designed to aid online searching, referred to here as online searching aids. Intermediary mechanisms are examined in terms of the two stage model, i.e. end‐user, intermediary, ‘raw database’, and different forms of user — system interaction are discussed. The evolution of the terminology of online searching aids is presented with special emphasis on the expert/non‐expert division. Terms defined include gateways, front‐end systems, intermediary systems and post‐processing. The alternative configurations that such systems can have and the approaches to the design of the user interface are discussed. The review then analyses the functions of online searching aids, i.e. logon procedures, access to hosts, help features, search formulation, query reformulation, database selection, uploading, downloading and post‐processing. Costs are then briefly examined. The review concludes by looking at future trends following recent developments in computer science and elsewhere. Distributed expert based information systems (debis), the standard generalised mark‐up language (SGML), the client‐server model, object‐orientation and parallel processing are expected to influence, if they have not done so already, the design and implementation of future online searching aids.

A recommendation system for an extended process of information retrieval in distributed information systems is proposed. This system is both a model of dynamic cognitive categorization processes and powerful real application useful for knowledge management. It utilizes an extension of fuzzy sets named evidence sets as the mathematical mechanisms to implement the categorization processes. It is a development of some aspects of Pask’s conversation theory. It is also an instance of the notion of linguistic‐based selected self‐organization here described, and as such it instantiates an open‐ended semiosis between distributed information systems and the communities of users they interact with. This means that the knowledge stored in distributed information resources adapts to the evolving semantic expectations of their users as these select the information they desire in conversation with the information resources. This way, this recommendation system establishes a mechanism for user‐driven knowledge self‐organization.

The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive literature review on the utilisation of intelligent agent technology in the library environment.

Research papers since 1990 on the use of various intelligent agent technologies in libraries are divided into two main application areas: digital library (DL), including agent‐based DL projects, multi‐agent architecture for DLs, intelligent agents for distributed heterogeneous information retrieval and agent support to information search process in DLs; and services in traditional libraries, including user interface for library information systems, automatic reference services and multi‐agent architecture for library services. For each paper on the topic, its new ideas or models, referred work, analyses, experiments, findings and conclusions are addressed.

The majority of the literature covers DLs and there have been fewer studies about services in traditional libraries. A variety of architecture, framework and models integrating agent technology in library systems or services are proposed, but only a few have been implemented in the practical environment. The application of agent technology is still at the research and experimentation stage. Agent technology has great potential in many areas in the library context; however it presents challenges to libraries that want to be involved in its adoption.

The survey has practical implications for libraries, librarians and computer professionals in developing projects that employ intelligent agent technology to meet end‐users' expectations as well as to improve information services within limited resources in library settings.

The paper provides a comprehensive survey on the development and research of intelligent agents in libraries in literature.

There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely held that less use is made of these databases than could or should be the case, and that one reason for this is that potential users find it difficult to identify which databases to search, to use the various command languages of the hosts and to construct the Boolean search statements required. This reasoning has stimulated a considerable amount of exploration and development work on the construction of search interfaces, to aid the inexperienced user to gain effective access to these databases. The aim of our paper is to review aspects of the design of such interfaces: to indicate the requirements that must be met if maximum aid is to be offered to the inexperienced searcher; to spell out the knowledge that must be incorporated in an interface if such aid is to be given; to describe some of the solutions that have been implemented in experimental and operational interfaces; and to discuss some of the problems encountered. The paper closes with an extensive bibliography of references relevant to online search aids, going well beyond the items explicitly mentioned in the text. An index to software appears after the bibliography at the end of the paper.

The purpose of this paper is to recommend a proposed systemic framework for enhancing the application scope of library automation systems.

Analysis of the differences leads to a discussion of the possibilities for integration. Applies related technological practices and standards which were developed for digital archives, and manages existing operational process in libraries and digital library/archives systems.

In order to integrate library and digital archives systems, the core of library systems should revolve around XML for the standard of cataloguing markup and operate with OAI‐PMH for union catalog and distributed retrieval.

Analyzes and proposes a framework on how to effectively integrate the standard technology of digital library/archives systems with library automation systems.

The increasing need to access and elaborate dynamic and heterogeneous information sources distributed over the Internet calls for new models and paradigms for application design and development. The mobile agent paradigm promotes the design of applications where agents roam through Internet sites to locally access and elaborate information and resources, possibly co‐operating with each other. Focuses on mobile agent co‐ordination, and presents the TuCSoN co‐ordination model for Internet applications based on mobile information agents. TuCSoN exploits a notion of local tuple‐based interaction space, called a tuple centre. A tuple centre is a tuple space enhanced with the capability of programming its behaviour in response to communication events. This enables properties to be embedded into the interaction space, and a mobile agent to be designed independently of the peculiarities of the information sources. Several issues critical to Internet applications can then be charged on tuple centres transparently to agents. The effectiveness of the TuCSoN model is first shown by means of an application example in the area of Internet information retrieval, then discussed in the context of workflow management and electronic commerce.

Materials for teaching, learning and research are moving into the digital sphere. This move is affecting scholarly communication, teaching and learning in the academic community in important ways. These are significant changes, operating at technical, service, organisational and cultural levels. In this paper we wish to examine some of these changes. However, our aims are modest: we will focus on technical developments and on some of the emerging services that these are making possible.

Biodiversity resources are inevitably digital and stored in a wide variety of formats by researchers or stakeholders. In Malaysia, although digitizing biodiversity data has long been stressed, the interoperability of the biodiversity data is still an issue that requires attention. This is because, when data are shared, the question of copyright occurs, creating a setback among researchers wanting to promote or share data through online presentations. To solve this, the aim is to present an approach to integrate data through wrapping of datasets stored in relational databases located on networked platforms.

The approach uses tools such as XML, PHP, ASP and HTML to integrate distributed databases in heterogeneous formats. Five current database integration systems were reviewed and all of them have common attributes such as query‐oriented, using a mediator‐based approach and integrating a structured data model. These common attributes were also adopted in the proposed solution. Distributed Generic Information Retrieval (DiGIR) was used as a model in designing the proposed solution.

A new database integration system was developed, which is user‐friendly and simple with common attributes found in current integration systems.

The proposed system is unique in that it allows biodiversity data sharing, through the integration of biodiversity databases, hence enabling scientists to share information and generate knowledge. It also solves copyright problems by suggesting distributed warehouses, giving data owners the benefit of having their database under their own jurisdiction. It meets the requirements of querying heterogeneous and remote biodiversity databases.

The rapidly emerging of Mobile Internet and the constantly increasing of wireless subscribers' number bring new opportunities and challenges to geographic information sharing and accessing. Current Web GISs, which are accessed by using connection based approaches, are very inefficient in fulfilling the requirements of GIS applications under open, dynamic, heterogeneous and distributed computing environments such as (Mobile) Internet. In this paper, we propose a new system for accessing and sharing distributed geographic information by using mobile agent and GML technologies, in which mobile agents are used to overcome the limitations of traditional distributed computing paradigms in (mobile) Internet context and GML is adopted as the common format for spatial information wrapping and mediation, while SVG is used as a web‐map publishing format that can be processed and displayed in Web browser. A prototype is implemented, which demonstrates the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.