Partitioning to Support Auditing and Extending the UMLS

描述（由申请人提供）：UMLS是生物医学界的宝贵资源。然而，META的大小和复杂性可能会阻碍它的有用性。我们提出了一些分而治之的技术，这些技术可以简化审核和扩展META的任务。分而治之的方法将大量的项目分解成更易于管理的单元。在这项研究中，结果将是META的新分区。每个分区都将用于审计META。UMLS的语义网络（SN）不会将META划分为不相交的集合。我们首先创建一个精炼语义网络（RSN），它将META划分为不相交的概念集（范围）。从SN派生而来，RSN结合了交叉类型和纯语义类型，并在许多方面改进了UMLS，例如，它包含语义一致且（通常）范围较小的类型。除了RSN之外，还有另外三种新的分区技术将应用于区段：沿着关系相似度的维度进行分区；创建单根子组；并细分复杂的、多根的层次结构。每个分区（通常）都会暴露新的错误。我们建议对2006AA UMLS进行大规模审计，重点关注分区获得的小组。期望发现的错误类型包括：概念歧义和同义词，错误和缺失的IS-A和语义关系，不一致和不正确的分类和遗漏。我们将对UMLS的基因组成分进行强化审计。为此，我们将创建一个精炼基因组SN （RGSN）。我们将构建一个审计软件工具，它包含RSN和另外三个分区级别。计划对该工具进行正式评估，并对审计结果进行两级专家评估。最后，我们将重点关注基于RSN将新术语集成到UMLS中的问题。总之，我们将：1)创建RSN，将META划分为不相交的单元；2)设计了三种新的语义类型范围划分技术；3)审核小组概念；4)设计一个精细化的基因组SN (RGSN)，用于审计基因组概念；5)建立审核工具；设计和评估术语的集成技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The UMLS is an invaluable resource to the biomedical community. However, the Metathesaurus's (META's) size and complexity can hinder its usefulness. We propose a number of divide and conquer techniques that facilitate the tasks of auditing and extending the META. The divide and conquer approach breaks down a large collection of items into more manageable units. In this research, the outcome will be new partitions of the META. Each partition will be employed in auditing the META. The UMLS's Semantic Network (SN) does not partition the META into disjoint sets. We first create a Refined Semantic Network (RSN) that does partition the META into disjoint sets of concepts (extents). Derived from the SN, the RSN incorporates intersection types along with pure semantic types and improves the UMLS in a number of ways, e.g., it contains types with semantically uniform and (usually) smaller extents. In addition to the RSN, three additional, novel partitioning techniques will be applied to extents: Partition along the dimension of relationship similarity; create singly rooted subgroups; and subdivide tangled, multi-rooted hierarchies. Each partition will (normally) expose new errors. We propose a large scale audit of the 2006AA UMLS concentrating on small groups obtained by the partition. The kinds of errors expected to be uncovered include: concept ambiguity and synonymy, wrong and missing IS-A and semantic relationships, inconsistent and incorrect classifications and omissions. We will perform an enhanced audit of the genomic component of the UMLS. For this we will create a Refined Genomic SN (RGSN). We will build an auditing software tool that incorporates the RSN and the three additional levels of partitioning. A formal evaluation, with human subjects, of the tool and a two-level expert evaluation of the auditing results are planned. Finally we focus on the integration of new terminologies into the UMLS, based on the RSN. In summary we will: 1) Create the RSN that partitions META into disjoint units; 2) Design three new partitioning techniques for extents of semantic types; 3) Audit the concepts of small groups; 4) Design a Refined Genomic SN (RGSN) for auditing genomic concepts; 5) Build an auditing tool; 6) Design and evaluate an integration technique for terminologies.