Relational-Applicative Approach to Subject Domain Granulation

The process of subject domain analysis and (conceptual) modeling is based on a fundamental assumption: that among all the objects under observation there are those considered as atomic from a particular perspective. From this point, several different directions of investigation arise: objects structure, objects relationships, objects behavior, objects interaction, and others. The fundamental question is what are the smallest pieces (granules) of information and ways of their combining to represent everything that is of interest about a subject domain. The aims of our research are twofold: to investigate the computational basis for information granules, including the relative aspect of atomicity, and to seek for ways to scaling the granularity appropriately. Our approach is to use a special kind of structure for applicative computational environment and to combine the applicative approach with relational ideas.