Drug Terminology. A multilingual term database. The AVENTINUS project

T h is p ap er starts w ith a b r ie f o v era ll p resen ta tio n o f the A V E N T IN U S pro jec t, m ere ly a list o f th e d iffe ren t inc luded m o d u les and som e com m ents. T h en fo llow s a d iscu ss io n ab o u t d rug te rm i­ n o lo g y and fin a lly a d esc rip tio n o f th e desig n and im p lem en ta tio n o f a ta ilo red m u ltilingual drug te rm in o lo g y database in M S A ccess. T h e u sed tags and links are p resen ted and d iscussed and the in p u ttin g situa tion is described . T h en som e num erical deta ils o f th e datab ase and a short con ­ clu d in g rem ark are given. Project description T h e A V E N T IN U S Project* a im s a t su p p o rtin g an A d vanced In fo rm a tio n S ystem fo r M ultina­ tio n a l D ru g E nforcem ent. It is fu n d ed by th e E uropean U n io n in th e L in g u is tic E ng ineering (LE) P rog ram , and has several d ev e lo p m en t an d u se r partners. T he go al o f th e p ro jec t is to support d m g en fo rcem en t w ith m u ltilin g u a l lin g u is tic expertise. A V E N T IN U S w ill su p p o rt com m unica­ tio n b y p ro v id in g ling u is tic to o ls to o v erco m e language co m m u n ica tio n barrie rs. U sers should be ab le to access in fo rm ation a n d rece iv e resu lts o f search req u ests in th e ir ovra n a tiv e language, ev en i f th e in fo rm ation is d e riv ed fro m fo re ig n language sources. T h e lan g u ag es dea lt w ith in th e firs t p h ase are E ng lish , G erm an, S p an ish , an d Sw edish . A V E N T IN U S w ill p ro v id e m o d u les an d com ponen ts th a t can b e lin k ed to an d in teg ra ted into the u sers do m estic env ironm en ts. M o d u la rity and in teg ratab ility are th e m o st p ro m in en t features o f th e so ftw are so lu tions to b e p ro v id ed . T h e partic ip a tin g users are d o m estic p o lice o rgan isations and in te llig en ce ag en c ies and the Europ o l D ru g U n it (E D U ). In te re st fro m o th e r au tho rities h av e a lso b een n o ticed , though . ' For an exhaustive description of the project, see [THUR97] or take a look at our AVENTINUS web page at N O D A L ID A ; C openhagen , Jan u a ry 1998 13 T he d a ta to b e h an d led by A V E N T IN U S are o f sev era l types, th e m o s t im p o rtan t ones fo r A V E N T IN U S bein g tex tu a l data. T exts from o p e n s o u rc e s , m a in ly n ew sw ire tex ts an d in te r n a l c o m m u n ic a tio n tex ts , lik e p o lice reports , w ill be co n sid ered . A ccord ing to th e U se r R equ irem en ts R eport, tliere are tw o m a in scen ario s th a t sh o u ld be su p ­ ported , the In d e x in g (D a ta E n t iy ) S c e n a r io and th e R e tr ie v a l (A n a ly s is ) S ce n a rio . In the In d ex in g S cenario , u sers are con fro n ted w ith in co m in g tex ts from d iffe ren t sou rces (fax , te lex , e lec tron ic) in d iffe ren t languages. T h ey h av e to d ec id e w h e th e r a g iven in p u t te x t is re le ­ van t o r no t. A V E N T IN U S w ill support th is scenario b y p ro v id in g tran s la tio n su p p o rt too ls, and by p ro v id in g in fo rm atio n -u n d erstan d in g to o ls (ind ex in g , in fo rm a tio n ex traction). In the R etriev a l S cenario , search sup p o rt w ill co m p rise to o ls like n am e search (translite ra tion , s im ilarity o f n am es) o r te x t search b o th in s tru c tu red an d tex tua l da tabases. T ran sla tio n sup p o rt too ls w ill be re sp o n sib le to tran sla te th e search req u es ts as w ell as th e search resu lts (s tructu red o r tex tu a l) in to th e n a tiv e language o f th e searcher T o sup p o rt th e scenarios, A V E N T IN U S w ill p ro v id e d iffe ren t ty p e s o f co m ponen ts, such as T ra n s la t io n S u p p o r t , I n f o rm a t io n P ro c e s s in g S u p p o r t , and S e a rc h S u p p o r t . T he p ro jec t w ill have th ree ty p es o f tran s la tio n su p p o rt too ls. T erm Substitu tio n , T ra nsla tion M em o ry , and M a ch in e T ransla tion . A ll o f th em w ill b e ava ilab le as stand-alone to o ls accessing co m m o n lex ical reso u rces , and as com ponen ts to b e ca lled from standard W indow s ed ito rs such as W inW ord . T h ere w ill b e several com p o n en ts to p ro cess th e in co m in g tex ts , an d p ro v id e fu r­ th e r in fo rm a tio n fo r la te r re trieval, fo r in stan ce In fo rm a tio n E x tra c tio n and In d ex in g S earch S u p p o rt re fe rs to sev era l requ irem en ts, fo r in stan ce (i) req u es ts in n a tu ra l la n g u a g e , as w ell as in som e s tru c tu re d fo r m , (ii) req u es ts in a n a tive la n g u a g e in s tead o f th e fo re ig n lan ­ guages o f the d a tab ase to b e searched and (iii) q u ery exp a n sio n and n av ig a tio n p o ssib ilitie s in the area o f te x t search . S earch in b o th struc tu red d a tab ases an d in a tex tu a l ones w ill b e supported . T he co m p o n en ts to b e o ffe red com p rise the fo llow ing : N a m e Search , S earch in texts, an d S ea rch in s tru c tu re d da tabases. In o rd e r to su p p o rt th e A V E N T IN U S app lica tio n , th ree ty p es o f lin g u is­ tic reso u rces w ill b e se t u p w h ich have to do w ith b o th m u ltilin g u a l issues and d o m a in m o d e l­ ling: L ex ica l D a tabase, Thesaurus, and D o m a in M o d e l T h e arch itec tu re o f A V E N T IN U S fo llo w s tw o b as ic p rin c ip les . I t m u s t b e b ased o n co m p o n en ts th a t can b e in teg ra ted in a v ery flex ib le w ay in to th e ex is tin g sy stem env iro n m en ts o f th e users and it m u s t b e v ery f lex ib le in th e in te rac tio n o f th e in te rn a l com ponen ts. In m an y co m p o n en ts th e A V E N T IN U S fu n c tio n a lity m ay be ca lled fro m a s tan d ard te x t p ro cessin g system . T h e in ter­ face w ill b e av a ilab le o n several p la tfo rm s. A firs t v e rs io n o f the A V E N T IN U S d a ta p oo l, in c lu d in g te s t tex ts an d te rm in o lo g y , is im p le ­ m en ted , as a p o o l to c rea te reso u rces and te s t sp ec ifica tio n s. T he co m p le te system spec ifica tio n s 14 NOD ALIDA, Copenhagen, January 1998 h av e been w ritten and rev iew ed , so m e o f the A V E N T IN U S co m p o n en ts (transla tion m em ory , m ach in e transla tion) are o p era tio n a l an d a te st p la n is ava ilab le , w ith E u ro p o l as th e first te stin g env ironm ent.