The standard interpretation of the logical operators in a Boolean retrieval system is in general too strict. A standard Boolean query rarely comes close to retrieving all and only those documents which are relevant to the user. An AND query is often too narrow and an 0 R query is often too broad. The choice of the AND results in retrieving on the left end of a typical average recall-precision graph, while the choice of the OR results in retrieving on the right end, implying a tradeoff between precision and recall. This study basically examines various proposed schemes, the P-norm, Classical Fuzzy-Set, MMM, Paice and TIRS, which provide means to soften the interpretation of the logical operators, and thus to attain both high precision and high recall search performance. Each of the above schemes has shown great improvement over the standard Boolean scheme in terms of retrieval effectiveness. The differences in retrieval effectiveness between P-norm, Paice and MMM are shown to be relatively small. However, related performance results obtained gives evidence of the ranking: P-norm, Paice, MMM and then TIRS. This study employs the INNER PRODUCT function for computing the similarity between a document point and a query point in TIRS. There may be other choices of similarity functions for TIRS, but irrespective of the function used, the TIRS approach, having to deal with associated min-terms rather than the original query, is difficult to realize and involves far greater computational overhead than the other schemes. The P-norm scheme, being a distance-based approach, has greater intuitive appeal than the Paice or MMM scheme. However, in terms of computational overhead required of each scheme, both the Paice and MM M are superior to P-norm. The Paice and MMM schemes are essentially variations of the classical fuzzy-set scheme. Both perform much better than the classical fuzzy-set scheme in terms of retrieval effectiveness. / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Electrical Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

by Chan Shing Chi, Michael. / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves [112]-[114]

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 166-185).

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2004.

Thesis--University of Colorado.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pittsburgh, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 221-229).

Thesis--University of Colorado.

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The aim of this research project was to determine what the degree of usability is of a sample of online reservation systems of Cape Town hotels. The literature has indicated that the main aim of website usability is to make the engagement process with a website a more efficient and enjoyable experience. Researchers noted that well designed, high-quality websites, with grammatically accurate content, create a trustworthy online presence. User-friendly sites also attract far more traffic. Previous research has also shown that a loss of potential sales is possible due to users being unable to find what they want, if poor website design has been implemented. Loss of potential income through repeat visits is also a possibility, due to a negative user experience. The research instrument that was employed in this research is usability testing. It is a technique used to evaluate product development that incorporates user feedback in an attempt to create instruments and products that meet user needs, and to decrease costs. The research focused on Internet-based hotel reservation systems. Only the usability was measured. Both standard approaches were used in this research project, in a combined quantitative and qualitative research design. In conclusion, the purpose of this research was to determine the degree of usability of specified Cape Town hotel online reservation systems. The outcomes of this study indicated interesting patterns in that reservation systems met user requirements more often than expected. However, the figures of acceptability obtained were still below the generally accepted norms for usability. The amount of time spent to complete a booking also decreased, as users worked on more than one reservation system.