Conceptual data retrieval from FDB Databases

FDB is a set theoretical model which allows the definition of multilingual databases and thesauri through a universal schema. One or more multilingual thesauri can be defined in the FDB model while the linking of each frame object (data record in terms of a traditional database) with the underlying thesauri can be implemented automatically. FDB offers administration utilities at both data and interface level, the definition of variable length objects, authority control etc. The purpose of this paper is to present the implementation of conceptual searching in any FDB database by using the information provided by one or more multilingual thesauri that have been already defined in the FDB model. Many different parameters can define the conceptual searching process in an FDB database. In this paper we firstly present briefly the FDB model, and proceed to present a) the search algorithms that exploit the information provided by the multilingual thesauri and implement conceptual searching in any FDB database, b) all the parameters that the user can define in order to determine the different search criteria.