Murray Browne - Böcker

The second edition of Understanding Search Engines follows the basic premise of the first edition by discussing many of the key design issues for building search engines and emphasizing the important role that applied mathematics can play in improving information retrieval. The authors discuss important data structures, algorithms, and software as well as user-centered issues such as interfaces, manual indexing, and document preparation. Readers will find that the second edition includes significant changes that bring the text up to date on current information retrieval methods. For example, the authors have added a completely new chapter on link-structure algorithms used in search engines such as Google, and the chapter on user interface has been rewritten to specifically focus on search engine usability. To reflect updates in the literature on information retrieval, the authors have added new recommendations for further reading and expanded the bibliography. In addition, the index has been updated and streamlined to make it more reader friendly.

The continual explosion of information technology and the need for better data collection and management methods has made data mining an even more relevant topic of study. Books on data mining tend to be either broad and introductory or focus on some very specific technical aspect of the field.This book is a series of seventeen edited “student-authored lectures” which explore in depth the core of data mining (classification, clustering and association rules) by offering overviews that include both analysis and insight.The initial chapters lay a framework of data mining techniques by explaining some of the basics such as applications of Bayes Theorem, similarity measures, and decision trees. Before focusing on the pillars of classification, clustering and association rules, the book also considers alternative candidates such as point estimation and genetic algorithms.The book's discussion of classification includes an introduction to decision tree algorithms, rule-based algorithms (a popular alternative to decision trees) and distance-based algorithms. Five of the lecture-chapters are devoted to the concept of clustering or unsupervised classification. The functionality of hierarchical and partitional clustering algorithms is also covered as well as the efficient and scalable clustering algorithms used in large databases. The concept of association rules in terms of basic algorithms, parallel and distributive algorithms and advanced measures that help determine the value of association rules are discussed. The final chapter discusses algorithms for spatial data mining.