Section XVII – Appendix C – Using the NIH Specialist Lexicon

SimpleNLG comes with a default lexicon which covers the most common words in English. If this is inadequate, then SimpleNLG can be connected to the 300MB NIH Specialist Lexicon. The Specialist lexicon contains quite good coverage of general English vocabulary, as well as very detailed coverage of medical terminology.

To use the Specialist lexicon:

1. Download and unpack the latest version of lexAccess from http://lexsrv3.nlm.nih.gov/LexSysGroup/Projects/lexAccess/current/web/download.html. The "lite" version is fine, SimpleNLG does not need the full version.

2. Add the lexAccess jar file (in the lib directory of the unpacked download) as a library in your application.

3. In your code, create an NIHDBLexicon, specifying the lexical database in the constructor. The DB is in data\HSqlDb directory of the unpacked download. For example:

    static String DB_FILENAME = "C:\\NIHDB\\lexAccess2011\\data\\HSqlDb\\lexAccess2011.data";
    Lexicon lexicon = new NIHDBLexicon(DB_FILENAME);
   

Notes:

You must use the lexAccess version of the lexicon. Do not use main version in http://lexsrv3.nlm.nih.gov/LexSysGroup/Projects/lexicon/current/web/release/. This will not work!

If you use an old version of the lexicon, you may also need the lexCheck jar file. This can be obtained from http://lexsrv3.nlm.nih.gov/LexSysGroup/Projects/lexCheck/current/web/download.html

The copyright conditions of the Specialist lexicon state that it is in the public domain, but asks that its use be acknowledged.