A project on Information Retrieval

(At-least 15 pages)
Steps in Information Retrieval

1. Text Input (Section wise)

2. Sentence segmentation
3. Tokenization
4. Stopword removal
5. Stemming
6. Tf score calculation
7. Section wise different techniques will be used.
 Section A & C- K-mean Clustering
 Section B & D- Naïve Bayes Classifier
 Section E & G- K-mean Clustering
 Section F & H- Naïve Bayes Classifier

8. Sentence extraction

Section – A and C

Text Input:

The IOC opened a high-level investigation Thursday into what one top Olympic official
described as ``bribes'' paid by the Salt Lake City bid committee to help
secure the 2002 Winter Games.
International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch ordered a probe
into the scholarship payments made to relatives of IOC members in the lead-up to the vote for
the games.
``This is quite clearly a matter to investigate,'' IOC director general Francois Carrard
said.
The investigation will be led by Keba Mbaye of Senegal, a former World Court judge
who heads the IOC's commission dealing with legal and ethical issues.
``The president sent me a letter asking me to carry out an investigation and report to the
executive board,'' Mbaye said. ``We will start immediately.''
Salt Lake organizers have denied the bid committee's dlrs 500,000 ``humanitarian aid''
project was an effort to buy key IOC members' support in the four years between the IOC votes
on the 1998 and 2002 games.
Salt Lake lost to Nagano, Japan, in 1991, when the program was begun. It won a
landslide vote over Sion, Switzerland, for the 2002 Games in the 1995 vote.
 In that interim, the bid committee _ under the direction of former president Thomas
Welch _ spent nearly dlrs 400,000 on scholarships to 13 individuals _ six of them relatives of
IOC members, mostly from Africa.
``It's not wrong to say it's a bribe _ it is a bribe,'' said IOC executive board member
Marc Hodler, a Swiss lawyer who heads the oversight panel for the Salt Lake Olympics. ``It's a
bribe, yes.''
``I'm terribly sorry that even Salt Lake City _ by far the best place to hold the winter
games _ had to use certain methods in order to get the vote,'' he said. Hodler suggested that, in
different circumstances, there might have been grounds to consider taking the games away from
the Utah capital.
``Can we take the games away from Salt Lake City?'' he said. ``Does that make sense? I
can't propose it because in that case people will say Sion will get it free of charge. I'm a Swiss
and
Sion was No. 2 (in the vote).''
Pressed on the issue, he said, ``That's very difficult. I don't see anyone who could take
the games in three years and make it successful. Also, the chairman (of the Salt Lake committee)
has
changed and you might be punishing the wrong man.''
Asked if irregularities were common in the Olympic bidding process, Hodler said, ``I
had thought we had a very small percentage of (IOC) members exposed to such things.
Apparently
there are more.''
``I just came back from a Sion meeting and they're very proud people and said they can
do it without bribes,'' he said.
Following allegations of bribery and other influence peddling in previous Olympic
votes, the IOC assigned Hodler to draw up new rules and restrictions to weed out the possibility
of corruption.
``The rules are very clear: gifts should not be higher than dlrs 100,'' he said. ``If (the
Salt Lake scholarship fund) is a gift, that gift is irregular. If it would be connected with the
voting,
of course, it's corruption.''
As a result of the Salt Lake controversy, Hodler said he will propose that only the 11-
member IOC executive board and leaders of sports federations select Olympic cities _ rather than
the full IOC assembly.
Hodler said he pushed through a similar change when he was president of the
International Ski Federation, where, he said, ``there was also a lot of corruption.''
 Hodler said he would also propose that any IOC member found guilty of accepting
favors should be expelled from the organization.
The payments controversy is bound to overshadow the routine progress report which
the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) is scheduled to make to the IOC board this
weekend. SLOC president Frank Joklik and his team are scheduled to arrive Friday.
``It is clearly disappointing and this is an issue that can only be described as disruptive
at a critical time of importance for Salt Lake City,'' said John Krimsky, deputy secretary general
of the U.S. Olympic Committee. ``I would hope whatever the IOC and president Samaranch
decide, this is resolved quickly so people charged with organizing the games can get back to
business.''
Among those identified as receiving scholarship funds was Sonia Essomba, the
daughter of the late Rene Essomba of Cameroon. The elder Essomba, a prominent surgeon, was
the secretary general of the National Olympic Committees of Africa.
Joklik, in outlining an audit of the program for reporters Tuesday, refused to identify
the other IOC relatives who received scholarships.

Section – B and D

Text Input:

A Supreme Court known for its impatience with death row appeals surprisingly halted two
executions this week and is on track to issue four significant rulings on capital punishment by
summer.
One case asks the justices to ban the electric chair. Two focuses on a federal law aimed at
speeding up executions. The fourth asks whether a person can be sentenced to die by a jury
admittedly confused about a judge's instructions.
The four death-penalty cases represent an unusually high percentage of the court's still-growing
decision docket, which now totals 54.
I don't expect the court to scale back the states' use of capital punishment across the board, but
this may be a year when important guidelines are offered,'' said Steven Hawkins, executive
director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Our hope is the court will conclude that the time has come for the electric chair to be eliminated
as a means of execution,'' he said. None of the current nine justices is unalterably opposed to
capital punishment, as were some past justices.
But an hour before a Virginia death row inmate was to have died by lethal injection Thursday
night, the justices ordered the execution postponed and said they will fully review his case. At
issue is federal court access for state prisoners.
Two nights earlier, they had similarly halted an imminent Florida electrocution and agreed to use
that death row inmate's case to decide whether death in the electric chair amounts to
unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
Death row inmates in Arizona and Texas failed to win last-minute Supreme Court help this
week. Those two executions raised the year's total to 83, the most since 1954. Across the nation,
around
3,600 convicted killers await execution.
The dispute over continued use of the electric chair may prove dramatic in light of recent
experiences in Florida, where flames shot from one inmate's head, and another bled heavily
during his execution. But the immediate impact of anything the court decides will be limited
because only four states -- Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska -- require execution by
electrocution.
If the court were to ban all use of the electric chair, those states likely would switch to a more
common method such as lethal injection.
The justices are using two Virginia death row cases to clarify an expansive 1996 federal law, the
Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. The law sharply limited federal court access for
all defendants convicted in state courts.
At issue in Terry Williams' case is how much discretion Congress wanted federal judges to have
in reconsidering state courts' findings, particularly over the adequacy of the legal help a
defendant received.
Virginia death row inmate Michael Williams, who was scheduled to die Thursday, is challenging
a portion of the 1996 law that bars federal judges from conducting hearings if a state prisoner
``failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in state court proceedings.''
Michael Williams says lower courts wrongly applied that provision when denying him a federal
court hearing because state prosecutors' conduct deprived him of a meaningful hearing in state
court.
While both Virginia cases are narrowly focused, the court's decision in each could affect
hundreds of inmates nationwide.
In another Virginia case, Lonnie Weeks says he was condemned after a judge refused to tell
jurors they were not required to vote for death just because they had made a certain factual
finding. The
jury had told the judge it had not fully understood the sentencing instructions.
If the court's appetite for death penalty disputes is not yet satisfied, the justices could
agree -- as early as Monday -- to tackle a potential whopper. A pair of appeals from Nebraska
and Florida contend that keeping a convicted killer on death row for a long time -- decades after
his conviction and sentence -- amounts to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
Section – E and G

Text Input:

Iowa Republicans on Monday scheduled their precinct caucuses next Feb. 7 -- two weeks earlier
than planned -- and Democrats said they'll move to the same date.
The shift is aimed at fighting off a threat to the heavy attention the state gets in the
presidential campaign.
``I am confident that presidential candidates and political observers will focus their
attention and resources on the Iowa caucuses,'' Iowa Republican Chairman Kayne Robinson said
at a news conference.
Iowa Democratic Party spokesman John Del Cecato said Democrats have been
coordinating plans with Republicans, with national Democratic Party officials and with officials
in New Hampshire, which holds the leadoff primary election.
``Whatever happens, we want to keep Iowa first,'' Del Cecato said.
The announcement is the latest twist in a quadrennial battle over the campaign calendar.
By tradition, Iowa's precinct caucuses are the first delegate selection event, followed
eight days later by the New Hampshire primary.
In the last election cycle, Louisiana Republican officials held a delegate selection event
prior to Iowa, but got little attention from candidates and there were questions about vote-
counting.
The Louisiana GOP has decided to leapfrog again this year, and Robinson said Iowa
Republicans would adjust.
The issue is important in both Iowa and New Hampshire, because presidential candidates
devote huge time and attention campaigning in those relatively small states, and both parties
benefit.
The caucuses ``are a real genuine test of a presidential candidate's ability to connect with
the people of America,'' said Robinson. ``If you can survive in the crucible of hundreds of small
towns and cafes and homes and connect and meet people face to face, that's a very important
accomplishment for a candidate.''
ch are banned in Connecticut and Iowa.

The banking industry generally defends them, insisting that ATM fees are clearly
disclosed and are warranted for the 24-hour convenience ATMs give customers.
Section –F and H

Text Input:

An E. coli outbreak that sickened at least 6 people visiting a Maine ski resort has been traced to
contaminated ground beef produced at a Minnesota meat processing plant, authorities said
Monday.

``We have genetic fingerprints that link E. coli 0157:H7 in samples of the meat from
Rochester Meats to the patients in Maine who have become ill,'' said Beth Gaston, spokesman for
the Agriculture Department's food safety and inspection office.

``We're looking into whether or not other states may be involved as well,'' said Tom
Skinner, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rochester Meats Inc., of Rochester, Minn., last week recalled 170,780 pounds of product
-- the equivalent of one day's production.

The company supplies meat for restaurants and institutions across the United States.

Company officials said Monday they were unaware of any link between their product and
illnesses.

``USDA has not confirmed that with us,'' said Rochester Meats spokeswoman Joanne
Randen.

The recalled products include frozen ground beef patties, ground chuck patties, chopped
beefsteak, beef patties, meat for chili, beef patty mix and pure beef bulk.

The meat was produced Dec. 1 and sold in 10-, 15- and 20-pound packages. They are
marked with the Julian code 8335 and Establishment 8999 in the inspection mark.

Maine officials had a tally of seven E. coli illnesses but USDA did not have confirmation
that the seventh was a genetic match to the Rochester Meats outbreak, officials said.

The people became ill while visiting the Sunday River Ski Resort in Bethel, Maine, said
Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer, state epidemiologist for the Maine Department of Human Services.

The first illness was reported Feb. 11, and three people had to be hospitalized,
Gensheimer said. The entire group, which included four children, has since recovered.

It is possible that other people became ill but treated themselves instead of seeking
medical attention, Geinsheimer said.
 ``You always have to assume that in any scenario. . . one is probably only receiving
information on those who are seriously ill versus those who are mildly ill,'' Gensheimer said.

There are an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 cases of E. coli 0157:H7 infection in the United
States each year.

When ingested by humans, the E. coli bacterium can cause serious illness and sometimes
death, especially in children and the elderly. Symptoms include chills and bloody diarrhea.

The incident is the second meat outbreak in the country in recent months. Bil Mar Foods
in Zeeland, Mich. recalled 15 million pounds of hot dogs and deli meats in December because of
possible contamination with listeria.

Fifteen deaths and six miscarriages and stillbirths have been linked to the Bil Mar recall.