The increasing importance being placed on software measurement has lead to an increased amount of research developing new software measures. Given the importance of object-oriented development techniques, one specific area where this has occurred is cohesion measurement in object-oriented systems. However, despite a very interesting body of work, there is little understanding of the motivation and empirical hypotheses behind many of these new measures. It is often difficult to determine how such measures relate to one another and for which application they can be used. As a consequence, it is very difficult for practitioners and researchers to obtain a clear picture of the state-of-the-art in order to select or define cohesion measures for object-oriented systems. This situation is addressed and clarified through several different activities. First, a standardized terminology and formalism for expressing measures is provided which ensures that all measures using it are expressed in a f...

The metrics suite for object-oriented design put forward by Chidamber and Kemerer [8] is partly evaluated by applying principles of measurement theory. Using the object coupling measure (CBO) as an example, it is shown that failing to establish a sound empirical relation system can lead to deficiencies of software metrics. Similarly, for the object-oriented cohesion measure (LCOM) it is pointed out that the issue of empirical testing the representation condition must not be ignored, even if other validation principles are carefully obeyed. As a by-product, an alternative formulation for LCOM is proposed. Index Terms Software Measurement, Coupling Metrics, Cohesion Metrics, Object-Orientation,Validation Copyright Notice This paper has been published in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 4, April 1996. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new coll...

Technology in the field of digital media generates huge amounts of non-textual information, audio, video, and images, along with more familiar textual information. The potential for exchange and retrieval of information is vast and daunting. The key problem in achieving efficient and userfriendly retrieval is the development of a search mechanism to guarantee delivery of minimal irrelevant information (high precision) while insuring relevant information is not overlooked (high recall). The traditional solution employs keyword-based search. The only documents retrieved are

Metrics are essential in object-oriented software engineering for several reasons, among which quality assessment and improvement of development team productivity. While the mathematical nature of metrics calls for clear definitions, frequently there exist many contradicting definitions of the same metric depending on the implementation language. We suggest to express and define metrics using a languageindependent metamodel based on graphs. This graph-based approach allows for an unambiguous definition of generic object-oriented metrics and higher-order metrics. We also report on some prototype tools that implement these ideas.

The advent of extremely powerful home PCs and the growth of the Internet have made the appearance of multimedia documents a common sight in the computer world. In the world of unstructured data composed of images and other media types, classification often comes at the price of countless hours of manual labor. This research aims to present a scalable system capable of examining images and accurately classifying the image based on its visual content. When retrieving images based on a user's query, the system will yields a minimal amount of irrelevant information (high precision) and insure a maximum amount of relevant information (high recall).

Knowledge management research focuses on the development of concepts, methods, and tools supporting the management of human knowledge. The main objective of this paper is to survey some of the basic concepts that have been used in computer science for the representation of knowledge and summarize some of their advantages and drawbacks. A secondary objective is to relate these techniques to information sciences theory and practice. The survey classifies the concepts used for knowledge representation into four broad ontological categories. Static ontology describes static aspects of the world, i.e., what things exist, their attributes and relationships. A dynamic ontology, on the other hand, describes the changing aspects of the world in terms of states, state transitions and processes. Intentional ontology encompasses the world of things agents believe in, want, prove or disprove, and argue about. Social ontology covers social settings, agents, positions, roles, authority, permanent org...

This Dissertation is dedicated to my father and mother--A. Baqui Khan, and Lutfe Ara Begum, who helped me grow into the person I am today and who have been "with me " in every sense in all phases of this Ph.D. journey. ii Acknowledgements All praises to almighty God, most gracious and most merciful, who allowed me to write this dissertation. He made me fortunate enough to be associated with so many competent and intellectually stimulating individuals who have guided me at every stage of my Ph.D. First, and foremost, I would like to thank Dennis McLeod, my research advisor and "mentor, " for his excellent guidance and encouragement throughout my research, and for his friendship during my years as a graduate student. His high standards of scholarship and intellectual integrity, as well as his openness and flexibility, contributed substantially to the understanding of the complex intersection of information retrieval, databases, and artificial intelligence which is presented in this dissertation. I was extremely fortunate to work under his supervision for my Ph.D.

Abstract: Information systems in organisations are built to assist human actors to engage in goaldirected work activity. There is a certain traditional approach to information system design which has become crystallised in the standard Information Engineering Methodologies that are widely promulgated by practitioners, consultants and educators. We argue that this traditional approach is informed by a particular theory about the nature of human goal-directed action which emphasises the role of mental representation and deliberation as mediators of action. This theory of action has recently been criticised for its inability to explain the fluid, unreflective, real-time action characteristic of skilled routine activity. An alternative theory stressing action as a direct response to situations in structured environments has emerged. This paper reports our attempts to theorise an alternative to the traditional conception of information systems, which we call ‘situated information systems’, and to embody it in an analysis and design methodology based explicitly on this situational theory of action. We also report a system design case in which we applied the methodology in a commercial organisation. The methodology proved effective for identifying enhancements to the company’s operational systems and particularly for understanding the nature of existing problems. The case also resulted in several enhancements of the methodology and clarifications of the theory.

Chidamber and Kemerer (C&K) outlined some initial proposals for language-independent OO design metrics in [10]. This suite is expanded on in [11] and the metrics were tested on systems developed in C++ and Smalltalk?. The six metrics making up the C&K suite can be criticised for a number of reasons. This does not make them bad metrics; on the contrary the C&K work represents one of the most thorough treatments of the subject at the current time. However, the authors explicitly state, "…there is no reason to believe that the proposed metrics will be found to be comprehensive, and further work could result in additions, changes and possible deletions from this suite". This analysis will serve to make other researchers and practitioners aware of some of the problems that may arise from using these measures. As a by-product, the axioms of E. Weyuker [29] come under scrutiny in terms of their applicability to object-orientated metrics. 1.

Current modelling approaches often purport to be based on a strong theoretical underpinning but, in fact, contain many ill-defined concepts or even contradictions leading to potential misinterpretation. Although much modelling in object-oriented contexts is focussed on the use of the Unified Modelling Language (UML), this paper presents a technology-agnostic approach that analyses the basic concepts of structural models and modelling in software engineering, using an approach based on representation theory. We examine the different kinds of interpretive mappings (either isotypical, prototypical or metatypical) that are required in order to trace model entities back to the SUS (subject under study) entities that they represent. The difference between forward- and backward-looking models is also explained, as are issues relating to the appropriate definition of modelling languages in general based on representation theory. The need for product and process integration in methodologies is then addressed, leading to the conclusion that a mesh of verbal plus nominal nodes is necessary in any methodology metamodel. Finally, the need for a common, cross-cutting modelling infrastructure is established, and a solution proposed in the form of an ontologically universal modelling language, OOLang. Examples of the application of these theoretical analyses to the suite of OMG products (particularly SPEM, UML and MOF) are given throughout, with the hope that awareness of the importance of a better modelling infrastructure can be developed.