title: Evaluation and application of a semantic network partition.
abstract: Semantic networks (SNs) are excellent knowledge representation structures. However, large semantic networks are hard to comprehend. To overcome this difficulty, several methods of partitioning have been developed that rely on different mixes of structural and semantic methods. However, little has appeared in the literature concerning the question whether a partition of a semantic network creates subnetworks that agree with human insight. We address this issue by presenting a comparison between the results of an algorithmic partitioning method and a partition created by a group of experts. Subsequently, we show how a network partition can be used to generate various partial views of a semantic network, which facilitate user orientation. Examples from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) SN are used to demonstrate partial views.
authors.affiliation: Computer Science Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark 07102, USA. geller@homer.njit.edu
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.forename: Yehoshua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Perl
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Halper
authors.forename: Zong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Huanying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000145:classification; D004014:Dictionaries as Topic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012660:Semantics; D017432:Unified Medical Language System / Q000145:classification* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018875:Vocabulary, Controlled