# An Intelligent Retrieval Platform for Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data

Xiaorong Yang, Wensheng Wang, Qingtian Zeng, Nengfu Xie

► To cite this version:

Xiaorong Yang, Wensheng Wang, Qingtian Zeng, Nengfu Xie. An Intelligent Retrieval Platform for Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data. 4th Conference on Computer and Computing Technologies in Agriculture (CCTA), Oct 2010, Nanchang, China. pp.203-209, 10.1007/978-3-642-18333-1_24. hal-01559630

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# An Intelligent Retrieval Platform for Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data

Xiaorong Yang¹,*, Wensheng Wang¹,*, Qingtian Zeng², Nengfu Xie¹,.*

1. Agriculture Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agriculture sciences, Beijing, P. R. China

*Key Laboratory of Digital Agricultural Early-warning Technology (2006-2010), Ministry of Agriculture, The People's Republic of China

2. Shandong Science and Technology University, Shandong Province, P. R. China

**Abstract.** In the agricultural domain, the variety of data used by organizations is increasing rapidly. Also, there is an increasing demand for accessing these data. Now, the problem of the digital divide causes serious problems in manipulating the distributed information. Based on this condition, this paper presents the intelligent retrieval architecture of distributional agriculture science and technology data which focuses on research of the integration support technology, the concept extending retrieval technology based on agricultural ontology and the personalization retrieval technique based on the user model. In the experiment, the intelligent data application platform provided by the paper proves that the architecture is effective.

**Keywords:** Agriculture science and technology data, Data integration, Agriculture ontology, Intelligent retrieval

## 1. Introduction

With the development of computer and network technology, the amount of data which are collected, saved, processed and transmitted has grown rapidly. Many sharing and serving platforms of agriculture science and technology information are constructed by different departments throughout the country. But these platforms lack a unified plan and management in the important implementation techniques and storage
technology. The heterogeneity and dynamic distribution become basic features of
these systems at present. Particularly the heterogeneity in semantics results in data
sharing difficulty. An intelligent data application platform should be constructed to
make full use of different distributed heterogeneous data resources. The platform can
provide a public and unified data access interface of different distributed data sources
for users. Users needn't consider the problem of data extracting and data combining.
So the unified and high-efficiency access of data can be achieved.

2. The Architecture of the Intelligent Retrieval Platform of Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data

2.1 The Logical Architecture of the Intelligent Retrieval Platform of Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data

A traditional retrieval system of distributional agriculture science and technology data
includes distributional data integration module, data category module and data
retrieval module. To improve retrieval intelligence and satisfy users' individualized
need, the intelligent retrieval module and personalization service module are designed
based on the traditional retrieval architecture of distributional agriculture science and
technology data. The intelligent retrieval module uses domain ontology to support the
information retrieval based on different languages, synonyms and related information
resources. The personalization service module can record and mine users' historical
data to discovery users' interest. It can recommend information according to users'
interest. Fig 1 shows the logical architecture of the intelligent retrieval platform of
distributional agriculture science and technology data.
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>Fig 1: Intelligent Retrieval Logical Architecture of
Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data</figcaption></figure>

## 2.2 The Function Architecture of the Intelligent Retrieval Platform of Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data

According to the logical architecture the detailed function architecture of the intelligent retrieval platform of distributional agriculture science and technology data (Fig 2) is designed. The function architecture includes the management and retrieval of data sources layer, the central metadata mapping and intelligent retrieval layer and the system interface layer.

The management and retrieval of data sources layer consists of the node metadata management module and the web retrieval module. The node metadata management module manages bottom database sources and the web retrieval module can accept query parameters from upper layer, access database and return retrieval results.

The central metadata mapping and intelligent retrieval layer consists of the intelligent retrieval module, the central metadata mapping database and the central metadata manager. The intelligent retrieval module can accept query parameters from system interface. According to the central metadata mapping table it can find corresponding
data source and submit this query parameters to corresponding web retrieval module.
The central metadata manager can manage metadata and mapping relation between
metadata and data sources.

The system interface layer provides classification retrieval and keywords retrieval for users. The platform completes semantic extension for query condition which a user inputs and submits them to the bottom web retrieval module.

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Fig 2: Detailed Function Architecture of the Intelligent Retrieval Platform of Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data</figcaption></figure>

3. The Key Technology about Intelligent Retrieval of Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data

3.1 The Integration Supporting Technology of Distributional Agriculture Science and Technology Data

Integration and category are main function of the integration of distributional agriculture science and technology data. This study adopts middleware technology to solve the integration of distributed heterogeneous data. A middle layer is developed
between users and distributional agriculture science and technology data sources. It
can provide a unified data access interface for distributed heterogeneous data sources.
It also defines classification standards for data resources. Then the information is
classified and displayed to users (Song Lan et al. 2010). Fig 3 shows the logical
architecture of Integration and category of distributional agriculture science and
technology data. Because node administrators know more about node database, this
study adopts metadata technique to descript resources. Metadata of bottom resources
are described by node administrators. The middle layer uses the metadata to manage
different node data sources. It administers collectively the metadata of different node
database and sets up a unified metadata mapping table. So all heterogeneous database
can be operated as a simple database. The unified metadata mapping table can
organize and access heterogeneous network information resources (Li Jianhui. 2007)
(Song Xiaoyu et al. 2008). User layer establishes query performance according to the
information classification to submit it to the data integration layer. And the data
integration layer searches the classification mapping table and metadata mapping
table and locate the corresponding data source. This study presents own metadata
standard according to database structure based on Dublin metadata standard.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Fig 3: Logical Architecture of Integration and Category of</figcaption></figure>
## 3.2 The Concept Expansion Retrieval Technology Based on Domain Ontology

Domain ontology technology is adopted to standardize retrieval keywords in order to reach united comprehension to information between human and human or Machine. The concept-based retrieval technology can improve retrieval efficiency and speed. This study adopts description logic to establish domain ontology model and analyses the reasons of the heterogeneity among information systems from the angle of ontology. The semantic integration framework of the heterogeneous systems is established based on ontology mapping. Domain ontology can be set up in two methods (Cao Yukun et al. 2010). Semantic extension keywords set and some metadata set of node data sources inputted by node administrators are main domain ontology keywords. And the domain keywords extracted from the specialized websites are ancillary sources.

This study constructs ontology by using the graphical interfaces of the ontology edit tool Protégé. According to ontology rules, node administrators extend the keywords in the semantic dictionary from four properties of synonym, abbreviation, English language and Chinese pinyin. Thus a unified semantic dictionary is set up in the center database and becomes more and more abundant (Song Lan et al. 2009). It can improve the recall ratio of information retrieval. Then the center administrators delete repetitive and ambiguous words. The precision ratio of the platform can be implemented (Chen Lihua. 2010).

By semantic analysis of ontology concept and retrieval keywords, retrieval association and expansion are completed step by step. This technology supports synonym retrieval, information retrieval of different languages and recommendation of related information resources. For example, if a user inputs the keyword crop, Chinese and English information about crop can be searched and information about rice and wheat can be searched.
### 3.3 The Personalized Recommending Technology Based on User Model

User interest model is set up according to user's explicit demand and implicit demand. It maintains user's history behavior information and personal information. It provides different comprehension of same keywords from different users in depth and scope. User feedback process based on users' opinions makes retrieval service more accurate and friendly. User interest model can analyse a user's behavior and record and mine users' hidden interest. Because the user's interest changes, user interest model self-studies continuously to improve itself (Fei Hongxiao et al. 2009). The platform sets higher priority to the information which are often accessed by the user. user interest model can forecast a user's interest and demand to implement personal information retrieval and recommending. Firstly, this study implements the dynamic sort of information resources according to a user's interest. When a user accesses some information resources, the system records his behavior and analyses his interest in classified information resources. When the user retrieves information again, the data resources which are often accessed by him will be displayed ahead. Secondly, the system can customize personal fields of database. The fields can be defined as the language and words needed by a user in order to satisfy his usage pattern. Finally, the system can record information accessed by a user. The user can operate the accessed records and define if they are useful to him. By calculating the probability of the accessed information, the user's interest in information resources of some sort can be gotten.

## 4. Application Case

To evaluate the intelligent retrieval platform for distributional agriculture science and technology data, the platform is applied in the management of Tibet science and technology information resource. In Tibet, all kinds of information resources are saved in different database and websites. These systems don't communicate each other because of the independence in the design and deployment. By applying the intelligent retrieval technology, the platform integrates, maintains and shares the distributional agriculture science and technology data in Tibet. The platform provides a unified data access interface for distributed heterogeneous data sources. Through the interface users access the needed information conveniently and needn't consider the
problem of data extracting and data combining. Not only the information which meets
the inputted keywords can be searched, but also the information about the synonym,
English language and related information of the inputted keywords can be found. And
the information are displayed according to users' interest priority. The retrieval
intelligence and individualized service of the platform satisfy users' demand.

5. Conclusion

To integrate and share distributional heterogeneous agriculture science and
technology data, this study designs and implements the intelligent retrieval platform
for distributional agriculture science and technology data. This paper introduces the
logic and function architecture of the platform and the integration supporting
technology of distributional agriculture science and technology data, the concept
expansion retrieval technology based on domain ontology and the personalized
recommending technology based on user model. Finally, as an application case, the
platform has been applied to manage Tibet science and technology information
resource to verify the performance of the management platform.

Acknowledgements

The work is supported by the Academy of Science and Technology for Development
fund project “intelligent search-based Tibet science & technology information
resource sharing technology”, the National Science and Technology Major Project of
the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2009ZX03001-019-01),
and the special fund project for Basic Science Research Business Fee, AII (No.
2010-J-07).

References

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