Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
IRList Digest Volume 2 Number 38
IRList Digest Thursday, 28 August 1986 Volume 2 : Issue 38
Today's Topics:
Query - How to improve retrieval speeds from disks under UNIX
Email - Change of address for L. Kerschberg
Announcement - Head librarian job, Stanford Math. & Comp. Sciences Library
Abstracts - Recent abstracts relating to retrieval
News addresses are ARPANET: fox%vt@csnet-relay.arpa BITNET: foxea@vtvax3.bitnet
CSNET: fox@vt UUCPNET: seismo!vtisr1!irlistrq
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 86 12:07:31 edt
From: seismo!mirror.TMC.COM!rs (Rich Salz)
Subject: Submission
I just posted this in the Usenet group net.unix-wizards; if you
think it's appropriate, can you please put it your next convenient
mailing? Thanks.
PS: You've been doing a real nice job as editor, thanks! One
suggestion, tho -- could you put the e-mail address of the
list just after, say, the Subject line summary? /r$
[Note: my mailer won't cooperate and I don't want to clobber
undigesters, so I hope what I am trying on this message will work. - Ed]
/* beginning of posted question */
We will probably be starting a research project in the area of
free-text retrieval. Looking around shows that our major bottleneck
is going to be how quickly we can read in large amounts of data
(eventually, in the Gigabyte range).
I'm asking the net for any hints and kinks people have used to increase
disk *read* throughput on Unix. We're at an exploratory phase, so I'm
open to any and all suggestions, from "increase the block size to 16K"
to "buy a Convex." For example, does anyone have any feel for what kind
of performance I can get if I open a raw disk on 4.[23]BSD and do
vread(2)'s? (I will probably not need the Unix filesystem structure.)
I know a great deal depends on the controller -- any word out there on
what's "best" and "fastest"? At the start of the project, the group
will be sharing the machine with the rest of the company, although they
will probably have one or two controllers and disks of their own. I
expect they'll need multiple controllers because of the need for
multiple simultaneous reads. The initial development machine will
probably be something like a Pyramid 98x or a Sequent 21000.
This brings me to my second question. The group may eventually move up
to a UTS-class machine in two years. Does anyone have any numbers on
the overall disk throughput of those class of machines? Or, what other
machines are good IO pumps?
Please reply to me, and I will summarize for the net.
Thanks,
/r$
Rich $alz {mit-eddie, ihnp4, wjh12, cca, cbosgd, seismo}!mirror!rs
Mirror Systems 2067 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140
Telephone: 617-661-0777 "Hi, mom!"
/* End of text from mirror:net.unix-wizar */
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 86 04:55:07 edt
From: ihnp4!akgua!usceast!kersch@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU
Subject: Larry Kerschberg's Address Change
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I want to inform you that as of September 1, 1986 I will be joining
the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia. My
surface mail address is given below:
Professor Larry Kerschberg
Department of Information Systems and Systems Engineering
George Mason University
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Phone: (703) 323-2713 (This phone number is the departmental number)
I can be reached via the UUCP net at
allegra!seismo!gmu90x!kersch
and on the ARPA net at
allegra!seismo!gmu90x!kersch@Berkeley.ARPA
Our family is leaving South Carolina on August 15, so please route all
mail to my new address as of that date.
When you plan to be in the Washington area, please give me a call so
we might set up a visit to George Mason. Access to GMU is best
through Dulles Airport.
Best regards,
Larry Kerschberg
[Note: Welcome to Virginia, Larry! I used to live in SC too. - Ed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 86 18:58:33 edt
From: PHYSICSLIB@SU-SIERRA.ARPA
Subject: [Henry E. Lowood <PHYSICSLIB@Sierra.Stanford.EDU>: Positon open]
FR: Henry Lowood, Stanford University
Would the IRList be willing to run this job posting? Ken Laws over at AIList
suggested that I try you.
Thanks.
[Note: sure, this is appropriate for IRList. - Ed]
Please pass on this message regarding the now vacant position of head librarian
in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences Library at Stanford University.
(For further information, Henry Lowood, 415-723-4342)
________________________________
Stanford University Libraries
Head Librarian and Bibliographer, Mathematical and Computer Sciences Library
The Stanford University Libraries seek a Head Librarian & Bibliographer to
direct the program of library service & collection management in the
Mathematical/Computer Sciences Library.
We require: an MLS or equivalent in training & experience; knowledge of
collection development principles & practices; effective supervisory skills;
ability to contribute to planning & implementing new & improved services for a
graduate research library; public service experience; experience providing
automated data & reference services; abililty to work effectively with faculty,
students, & staff; effective communication skills, both orally and in writing.
An academic degree in computer science, mathematics, or the physical sciences is
highly desirable.
Associate Librarian or Librarian rank ($31,000-$46,000). Send statement of
qualifications with full resume & names of three professional references to
Carolyn J. Henderson, Library Personnel Officer, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford CA 94305 by 10/15/86. Cite #291 on all correspondence pertaining to
this position. EOE/AA
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 86 19:02:14 edt
From: E1AR0002%SMUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: abstracts relating to retrieval
D MAG24 Optical Engineering\
%V 25\
%N 3\
%D MAR 1986
%H PA
%A Donald H. Kraft
%A Duncan A. Buell
%T Advances in a Bayesian Decision Model of User Stopping Behavior
for Scanning the Output of an Information Retrieval System
%J Proceedings of the Third BCS/ACM Symposium on Research
and Development in Information Retrieval
%P 421-433
%D 1984
%H TR84-021
%A Tadeusz Radecki
%T Probabilistic Methods for Ranking Search Output in Boolean Retrieval
Systems
%J LSU Computer Science Technical Report 84-021
%H TR84-022
%A Tadeusz Radecki
%T Document Ranking Methodology for Conventional Boolean Retrieval Systems
%J LSU Computer Science Technical Report 84-022
%H TR84-024
%A E. T. Lee
%T Similarity Retrieval for Pictorial Databases
%J LSU Computer Science Technical Report TR84-024
%H TR85-008
%A S. V. Nageswara Rao
%A S. S. Iyengar
%T A Comparative Study of Multiple Attribute Tree and Inverted Files
for Large Bibliographic Files
%J LSU Computer Science Technical Report TR85-008
%H TR85-009
%A S. V. Nageswara Rao
%A S. S. Iyengar
%T Attribute Ranking Problem in MAT Data Structure
%J LSU Computer Science Technical Report TR85-009
%H TR85-028
%A Sukhamay Kundu
%T A Theory of Multi-Relations for Uncertain Facts
%J LSU Computer Science Technical Report TR85-028
%H TR85-037
%A Cary G. deBessonet
%A George R. Cross
%T Distinguishing Legal Language-Types for Conceptual Retrieval
%J LSU Computer Science Technical Report TR85-037
%A M. Balaban
%T Knowledge Representation and Inferencing in a Musical Database
%R TR 85-11
%I State University of New York at Albany, Computer Science Department
%K frames AA25 AA14 T02
%A M. Balaban
%T The Generalized Concept Formalism - A Frame and Logic Based
Representation Model
%R TR 85-20
%I State University of New York at Albany, Computer Science Department
%K AA25 T02
%A Y. V. Silva-Filho
%T Multidimensional Search Trees as Indices of Files
%R No. 4
%I University of Kent at Canterbury
%D FEB 1981
%A John W. Lloyd
%T Optimal Partial-match Retrieval
%R Technical Report 80/3
%I Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne
%D September 1980
%P 14
%K partial match retrieval, file design, secondary key retrieval
%O also in BIT, vol.20, 1980
%X
This paper studies the design of a system to handle partial-match
queries from a file. A partial-match query is a specification of the value
of zero or more fields in a record. An answer to a query consists of a listing
of all records in a file satisfying the values specified.
Aho and Ullman have considered the case when the probability that a
field is specified in a query is independent of which other fields are
specified. We consider here the more realistic case where the independence
assumption is dropped. This leads to an optimisation problem more general
than that considered by Aho and Ullman. The major part of the paper is the
presentation of an efficient algorithm for solving this optimisation problem.
%A John W. Lloyd
%T Partial-match Retrieval for Dynamic Files
%R Technical Report 80/4
%I Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne
%D September 1980
%P ?
%K partial match retrieval, file design, secondary key retrieval
%A John W. Lloyd
%A Kotagiri Ramamohanarao
%T Partial-match Retrieval for Dynamic Files
%R Technical Report 81/5
%I Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne
%D September 1981
%P 18
%K partial-match retrieval, dynamic files, extendible hashing,
linear hashing, rao
%X
This paper studies file designs for answering partial-match queries
for dynamic files. A partial-match query is a specification of the
value of zero or more fields in a record. An answer to a query
consists of a listing of all records in the file satisfying the values
specified.
The main contribution is a general method whereby certain primary
key hashing schemes can be extended to partial-match retrieval schemes.
These partial-match retrieval designs can handle arbitrarily dynamic
files and can be optimized with respect to the number of page faults
required to answer a query.
We illustrate the method by considering in detail the extension of two
recent dynamic primary key hashing schemes.
%A John F. Doolan
%A Michael C. Flower
%A Bernard J. Marshall
%A Ian W. Turnbull
%T Titan User's Manual
%R Technical Report 85/7
%I Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne
%D September 1985
%P 89
%K partial match retrieval, interactive forms editor, PMR, IFE, MENU
%A John F. Doolan
%A Michael C. Flower
%A Bernard J. Marshall
%A Ian W. Turnbull
%T Titan Administrator's Manual
%R Technical Report 85/8
%I Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne
%D September 1985
%P 133
%K partial match retrieval, interactive forms editor, PMR, IFE, MENU
%A Rohan McColl
%A Ian W. Turnbull
%T Titan User's Tutorial
%R Technical Report 85/9
%I Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne
%D to appear
%P ?
%K partial match retrieval, interactive forms editor, PMR, IFE, MENU
%A Rohan McColl
%A Michael C. Flower
%T Tital Administrator's Tutorial
%R Technical Report 85/10
%I Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne
%D to appear
%P ?
%K partial match retrieval, interactive forms editor, PMR, IFE, MENU
------------------------------
END OF IRList Digest
********************
