Global information infrastructures and computers are being developed very rapidly, and diversified massive information can be obtained through Internet. Access to necessary information and distributing generated information become easy owing to large quantity, high speed and globalization of sophisticated computers and communication technologies.
　Basic principles and architectures of the present information technologies remain same contrary to apparent development. It is the time to move to the new era of information based on new principles and innovative technologies resulting from "fundamental research of information and knowledge.

View full abstract

Considering the arising matter whether the principles and methods of terminology be extended to non-verbal representations or not, the fundamental discussions were made to clarify the characteristics of varieties of non-verbal representations. Special emphasis was put onto the iconic symbols, which came into use in the specialized communication. According to the degree of abstraction, several levels of non-verbal representation are identified. The defining requirements of "verbal" representations in the context of terminology was presented, which are; verbal representation consists of linear sequence of the elements of finite character set, connection between the elements are governed by the grammar of natural language, and a definite vocalization rule exists to convert the visual representations into phonetic representations. For the representations that do not fulfill above conditions, there exist difficulties in the application of conventional principles and methods of terminology.

View full abstract

In Japan, topic of terminology is seldom discussed in the context of language planning. However, terminology, including systematical neologism, standardization and compilation of science and technology terms, is not only an important component of corpus planning in typically developing countries. It also has often to do with status planning in bi- and multilingual societies. After a brief introduction of representative topics of language planning, we review the doctoral dissertation of E. Wuster, who is regarded as a "father" of terminology. As we see, his "theory" was first conceived as a kind of international language-planning program. He regarded different conceptual systems of terms as a hindrance of communication, which was to be eliminated. He proposed methods for compiling terminological collections, deciding on a unified conceptual system, and standardizing terms based on definitions of concepts with the help of national and international standardization bodies. He aimed at introducing one common international auxiliary language at last. This disputable final object of Wuster is rarely recalled today neither by those working for standardization nor those compiling terminology, not to mention computer application designers. Nevertheless, not few people follow the tenets and proposed practices without questioning their validity and applicability. Some ISO standards authorize them, too. Moreover, some authors assert that in case of terminology, a concept is language-independent and corresponds to one and only one term in each language, concluding that equivalents in different languages are also to match. The objective of Wuster's language planning is here asserted as the status quo. A statement of this kind is often found in technical writings in the last two decades, including manuals of terminological databases and proposals for data exchange format. Possible causes and consequences of this still need to be investigated. A review of some writings presented here reveals that social, political and economical factors are involved in the theory and methodology of terminology largely. Scientists and engineers dealing with the topic of terminology should therefore be aware of this interaction and examine the validity of asserted principles and the applicability of methodological proposals to their own purposes.

View full abstract

Ranking retrieval systems based on term frequencies present users a sequence of documents ranked in descending order of similarity between query and document. These systems come into use in online database retrieval or WWW search engines. Most preceding researches pointed out many advantages of ranking retrieval systems. Whether ranking by systems satisfy users or not, however, has not been examined. In this research, an experiment comparing the ranking by system with the ranking made by user on his relevance or utility judgement was carried out. From this result, existing ranking retrieval systems based on term frequencies have some problems in ranking. The conditions to be fulfilled in order that the system ranking should be similar to user ranking were identified. Under following four conditions, system ranking is different from user ranking.
　1) When various fields are covered by a database
　2) When record lengths in a database vary
　3) When many topics are treated in one record
　4) When vague query or keywords are used Ranking retrieval systems using only term frequencies are not enough to make ranking similar to ranking by user. These problems of the ranking retrieval systems may be attributed to the fact that the main part of the process is based on keywords that used at conventional Boolean retrieval. Ranking retrieval systems shall be improved by the use of some methods that can reflect user's information needs in addition to term frequencies.

View full abstract

　This paper reports an information retrieval system for Japanese bibliographic data based on Z39.50 protocol. The system consists of a client which can access to any other Z39.50 servers, and of a server which provides Japan/MARC data to any other Z39.50 clients. The server facilitates AND/OR operation between results-sets as well as basic retrieval such as AND, OR, and truncations. The client has a connection window which displays 15 servers, and a retrieval one which displays number of results and data of ones.

View full abstract

　This article, as our title indicates, aimed to introduce the Electronic Records Management and Metadata Description, by the ICA Committee on Electronic records. Since 1993,Committee is to undertake study and research, concerning the creation and archival processing of electronic records, and in April 1997,the result was published. The Committee declare following concept of "records", 'A records is recorded information produced or received in the initiation, conduct or completion of an institutional or industrial activity and that comprises content, context and structure sufficient to provide evidence of the activity regardless of the form or medium." And the distinctive of electronic records is that content is recorded on a medium and in symbols (binary digits) that needs a computer or similar technology to read and understand. So We accept that concept above mentioned.

View full abstract

A distributed material database system named Data-Free-Way (DFW) has been developed under the collaboration with four organizations which are National Research Institute for Metals (NRIM), Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) and Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST). The databases are built on the WWW sites of all four organizations and connected each other through the Internet. In addition, some other databases are developed to supplement DFW system by each organization with making the best use of their own advantage. The progress of system development is reported.

View full abstract

An information base system to support construction and exploration of an information space in metallurgy, especially in the domain of superalloys, was implemented. Information about materials development is, in most cases, obtained empirically. Use of natural language is, therefore, important to transmit such information. The developed system interprets technical papers on metallurgy and constructs information space semi-automatically. It consists of three sub-systems. The first retrieves information from incomplete keys by using thesaurus. Successful results were obtained by picking up all the idiomatic expressions appeared in the articles on the subject. The second sub-system, called METIS(MET allugy papers Intelligent Surveyors) adopts a naive natural language process. The heart of METIS is a packet of domain specific knowledge called KP (Knowledge Pieces) in which procedures for extracting and structuring technological information are embedded. METIS extracts technological information from technical papers on metallurgy written in a mark-up language. Products of METIS is a variety of summaries and surveys such as structured technical summary, as well as visualization of similarities, differences of relevant papers, and cause-effect relations. The third sub-system is called KE (Knowledge Editor) adopts both syntactic and semantic analysis technologies. In the system, domain knowledge is represented using an instance-oriented and script-based method. KE represents knowledge on metallurgy by a set of objects together with a set of relations between them. KE provides two interactive facilities for exploring into information space; one is the natural language query based on semantic understanding and the other is the navigation of the relations between objects.

View full abstract

　We developed an orienteering simulation game system using VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) and Java. The system displays a terrain, a compass and a map. A user of the system may explore a 3-D interactive terrain. When he/she turns around, the terrain's view and the compass synchronously move.
　An orienteering is a cross country navigation sport. An orienteer hastens to a goal via several check points with his/her map and compass as his/her guides. He/she needs training to recognize the relationship between a map and a terrain. Our system will improve his/her skill.
　VRML and Java are adopted for our system because of the followings. VRML may provide interactive 3-D objects and worlds. VRML has also Java application interfaces to realize more interactive worlds. Navigation features are provided by VRML browser, which may be plugged in WWW browser connected to Internet.

View full abstract

　Along with the expansion of the Internet the world-wide network has become a reality and informations from every country and in every language are shared. These informations are written in various languages and therefore multilingual display and retrieval possibilities are indispensable functions. According to this background, we believe that a database allowing casual users to retrieve this kind of information is necessary. This paper persents a multilingual full-text database accessible from any WWW browser and allowing display and input without any constraints related to the language environment of the user.

View full abstract

Few enterprises that introduced information technology can affirm that they achieved business performance by information technology, and it can say that a gap is formed between the enterprises. With the change in the Japanese management system, the reform of Human Resource Management is being shouted, and it can be said that it is upset by the organizational commitment, In this paper, the meaning of the organizational commitment in the advance of the information technology is examined through the literature research and IC framework. A member's character is shown by the IC framework that consists of 2 axis (the informatization index and the commitment index). Organizational commitment influenced productivity as a company with the development of informatization. Through the Japanese-American comparison, I point out the possibility that the member in IC framework of the type 4 is on the increase in Japan, and that type 3 is on the increase in the United States. To avoid increase in the type 4,Human Resource Management for high commitment as well as technical learning for informatization becomes necessary.

View full abstract

　Public Information and Document Legislative System is prepared to legislate by Japanese government in 1998.
　In this legislative system, Information and Document Transfer Process will be important in the actual operation phase. For this viewpoint, SGML^1,Electronic Document, Applications of CALS^2 and related process are discussed for the Public Information and Document Legislative System.
　The resalts of these discussions improve the effectiveness of the legislative system.

View full abstract

A new type of intellectual property right (sui generis right), providing a second layer of database protection, has been proposed by the European Union in their Database Directive and by the World Intellectual Property Organization for their Database Treaty. Possible impacts of this new legal protection under the sui generis right on the development of science is discussed. The proposal of the sui generis right has been motivated to protect databases that lack originality in the selection or arrangement of information therein even though substantial amounts of time, efforts, or financial investment are required for their acquisition or production. The proposed right would include, in addition, protection of data themselves from which the databases have been produced. Thus, any new legislation designed to establish the sui generis right would have potentially adverse effects on the conduct and, therefore, development of science. An alternative approach based on prohibition against misappropriation would be preferable, since this type of protection is compatible with both the public's interest and the producer's economic return. A practical way is discussed of establishing a principle of full and open access to data that are obtained by use of public funds, namely, of establishing a "common right" to scientific data or databases.

View full abstract