Reference: Purcell, G. & Mar, D. SCOUT: Information Retrieval from Full-Text Medical Literature. Washington, D.C., 1992.
Abstract: SCOUT is an expert system designed to aid the practicing physician in searching a full-text database of biomedical literature for information in the domain of oncology. In the clinical setting, an information-retrieval system needs to provide only a few relevant documents that address a patient-specific query. SCOUT models the expertise of an oncologist and an information specialist in a probabilistic inference system; it applies expert heristics both in selecting the best source of information for a particular question and in developing an effective, source-specific search statement that retrieves only a minimal number of pertinent documents.
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