Information retrieval (IR) aims at defining systems able to provide a fast and effective content-based access to a large amount of stored information. The aim of an IR system is to estimate the relevance of documents to users' information needs, expressed by means of a query. This is a very difficult and complex task, since it is pervaded with imprecision and uncertainty. Most of the existing IR systems offer a very simple model of IR, which privileges efficiency at the expense of effectiveness. A promising direction to increase the effectiveness of IR is to model the concept of "partially intrinsic" in the IR process and to make the systems adaptive, i.e. able to "learn" the user's concept of relevance. To this aim, the application of soft computing techniques can be of help to obtain greater flexibility in IR systems.

Information retrieval used to mean looking through thousands of strings of texts to find words or symbols that matched a user's query. Today, there are many models that help index and search more effectively so retrieval takes a lot less time. Information retrieval (IR) is often seen as a subfield of computer science and shares some modeling, applications, storage applications and techniques, as do other disciplines like artificial intelligence, database management, and parallel computing. This book introduces the topic of IR and how it differs from other computer science disciplines. A discussion of the history of modern IR is briefly presented, and the notation of IR as used in this book is defined. The complex notation of relevance is discussed. Some applications of IR is noted as well since IR has many practical uses today. Using information retrieval with fuzzy logic to search for software terms can help find software components and ultimately help increase the reuse of software. This is just one practical application of IR that is covered in this book. Some of the classical models of IR is presented as a contrast to extending the Boolean model. This includes a brief mention of the source of weights for the various models. In a typical retrieval environment, answers are either yes or no, i.e., on or off. On the other hand, fuzzy logic can bring in a "degree of" match, vs. a crisp, i.e., strict match. This, too, is looked at and explored in much detail, showing how it can be applied to information retrieval. Fuzzy logic is often times considered a soft computing application and this book explores how IR with fuzzy logic and its membership functions as weights can help indexing, querying, and matching. Since fuzzy set theory and logic is explored in IR systems, the explanation of where the fuzz is ensues. The concept of relevance feedback, including pseudorelevance feedback is explored for the various models of IR. For the extended Boolean model, the use of genetic algorithms for relevance feedback is delved into. The concept of query expansion is explored using rough set theory. Various term relationships is modeled and presented, and the model extended for fuzzy retrieval. An example using the UMLS terms is also presented. The model is also extended for term relationships beyond synonyms. Finally, this book looks at clustering, both crisp and fuzzy, to see how that can improve retrieval performance. An example is presented to illustrate the concepts.

This book presents recent studies on the application of Soft Computing techniques in information access on the World Wide Web. The book is divided in four parts reflecting the areas of research of the presented works such as Document Classification, Semantic Web, Web Information Retrieval and Web Applications. The text demonstrates that Web Information Retrieval is a stimulating area of research where Soft Computing technologies can be applied satisfactorily.

Class-tested and coherent, this textbook teaches classical and web information retrieval, including web search and the related areas of text classification and text clustering from basic concepts. It gives an up-to-date treatment of all aspects of the design and implementation of systems for gathering, indexing, and searching documents; methods for evaluating systems; and an introduction to the use of machine learning methods on text collections. All the important ideas are explained using examples and figures, making it perfect for introductory courses in information retrieval for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in computer science. Based on feedback from extensive classroom experience, the book has been carefully structured in order to make teaching more natural and effective. Slides and additional exercises (with solutions for lecturers) are also available through the book's supporting website to help course instructors prepare their lectures.

Search engines, with Google at the top, have become the most heavily used online service, with millions of searches performed every day and many remarkable capabilities. Soft Computing for Information Processing and Analysis includes reports from the front of soft computing in the internet industry and imparts knowledge and understanding of the significance of the field's accomplishments, new developments and future directions. This carefully edited book has evolved from presentations made by the participants of a meeting entitled "Fuzzy Logic and the Internet: Enhancing the Power of the Internet", organized by the Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC), University of California, Berkeley. It addresses the important topics of modern search engines such as fuzzy query, decision analysis and support systems, including articles about topics such as Web Intelligence, World Knowledge and Fuzzy Logic (by Lotfi A. Zadeh), perception based information processing, or web intelligence.

The growing presence of biologically-inspired processing has caused significant changes in data retrieval. With the ubiquity of these technologies, more effective and streamlined data processing techniques are available. Bio-Inspired Computing for Information Retrieval Applications is a key resource on the latest advances and research regarding current techniques that have evolved from biologically-inspired processes and its application to a variety of problems. Highlighting multidisciplinary studies on data processing, swarm-based clustering, and evolutionary computation, this publication is an ideal reference source for researchers, academics, professionals, students, and practitioners.

This book presents recent studies on the application of Soft Computing techniques in information access on the World Wide Web. The book is divided in four parts reflecting the areas of research of the presented works such as Document Classification, Semantic Web, Web Information Retrieval and Web Applications. The text demonstrates that Web Information Retrieval is a stimulating area of research where Soft Computing technologies can be applied satisfactorily.