The emergence of information systems: a communication-based theory

An information system is more than just the information technology; it is the system that emerges from the complex interactions and relationships between the information technology and the organization. However, what impact information technology has on an organization and how organizational structures and organizational change influence information technology remains an open question. We propose a theory to explain how communication structures emerge and adapt to environmental changes. We operationalize the interplay of information technology and organization as language communities whose members use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in the philosophy of language. In developing it as an emergent perspective, we argue that information systems are self-organizing and that control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself, to the members of the language community. Information technology influences the dynamics of this adaptation process as a fundamental constraint leading to perturbations for the information system. We demonstrate how this view is separated from the entanglement in practice perspective and show that this understanding has far-reaching consequences for developing, managing, and examining information systems

A survey of sequential and parallel implementation techniques for functional programming languages

This paper surveys sequential and parallel implementation techniques for functional programming languages, as well as optimizations that can improve their performance. Sequential implementations have evolved from simple interpreters to sophisticated super-combinator-based compilers, while most parallel implementations have explored a broad range of techniques. We analyze the purpose and function of each implementation technique and discuss the current state-of-the-art in functional language implementation

The formal specification of computer systems using Petri Nets.

With the introduction of formal specification of abstracted computer resources, both physical and logical, there is the possibility that a major step forward can be made toward developing a methodology for reducing the portability and reusability costs of computing system components. Still, the current methodology is only concerned with the static functional properties of resources and not their timing properties. This places limitations on the generality of the method. This study describes a way to formally specify the timing of computer systems by combining ideas of both semantic algebras and Petri Nets.http://archive.org/details/formalspecificat00karrLieutenant, Federal German NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Wearing frog hats and attempting walls: The processing of conceptual combination and coercion

This thesis is concerned with the mental representation and online processing of conceptual structure. In particular, it investigates two issues: First, it explores some of the processing mechanisms underlying the comprehension of conceptual combinations. Second, it explores some of the processing mechanisms underlying the production of coerced expressions. These two issues are investigated experimentally using a priming paradigm. Noun-noun combinations like dog scarf are common in everyday discourse but often have more than one interpretation. How do language users arrive at an interpretation of the relationship between the two nouns? The first half of the thesis reports four expression-picture matching experiments that used priming to investigate the influence of modifier and head constituents on the comprehension of novel ambiguous noun-noun combinations. Experiment 1 examined the effects of lexical repetition and semantic relation. Results showed reliable relation priming, regardless of whether the modifier or head was repeated between prime and target: Participants tended to choose target pictures involving the same relation as a preceding prime picture. Experiment 2 demonstrated significant relation priming when neither constituent was repeated. Experiment 3 showed significant relation priming when each picture contained both possible semantic relations, arguing against a possible visual-priming account of the effect. Experiment 4 showed that relation priming did not have an effect on the time taken to comprehend a combination. The findings are interpreted in light of competing models of conceptual combination. The second half of the thesis reports four experiments designed to investigate the effects of priming on the production of complement coercions like The author began the book. Recent work in lexical semantics has demonstrated that verbs such as begin and enjoy semantically select for event complements. Where such verbs occur with entity-denoting nouns (e.g., begin the book, enjoy the wine), the NP complement undergoes semantic type coercion, inducing a reference shift to the event associated with that NP. Using a combined picture-description/sentence completion task, participants were presented with pictures followed by sentence fragments which they were instructed to complete. Experiment 5 showed a reliable effect of Prime: Participants tended to produce a target description involving the same level of semantic specification as the preceding prime. Experiment 6 did not show fully significant priming in the absence of (coercing) verb overlap between prime and target. Experiment 7 revealed evidence of semantic and syntactic components to the priming effect. Experiment 8 showed no evidence for differing global and local contextual influences on priming. Taken together, the results of Experiments 5–8 are interpreted in terms of a model of language production based on Levelt, Roelofs, and Meyer (1999). Overall, this study offers insight into the representation and processing of conceptual structure in comprehension and production from a psycholinguistic perspective

Daughters of the Danaides: an orature on women on the operation of UK immigration control

This thesis investigates the operation of the United Kingdom immigration rules, taking as a focus their effect upon women. The manner in which the immigration rules prescribe, deter and forbid movement is highlighted. The institutional culture of the Immigration Service is posed as a twentieth century counterpart to British overseas administration of earlier centuries. This parallel illustrates how British government practice of dealing with other cultures takes a form which, both under imperial rule and current immigration legislation, consistently marginalises lived realities. Immigration control is seen as part of a continuum of a tradition of administration in which racial discrimination is an integral quality of working practice. The mystification of working practices nonetheless ensures denial of discrimination. The embodiment of universal categories and an independent appeal system within immigration control stand as ostensible safeguards against departure from an ideal of non-partisan operation, yet the opposite is pervasive. The categories of passenger inscribed within immigration rules are identified as a core element of control. These demand fulfilment of particular constructs of identities which are culturally and gender role specific. The inclusion of examples of women who are subject to the immigration rules illustrates the implications of the dichotomy between self-knowledge which is a lived reality (of for example a mother or wife), and the categorisation of those identities within rules and practice. Administrative categorisation is revealed as manufacturing identities which serve specific ideological, political or economic ends. The constructed identities become received knowledge of those categorised, and of different cultures, which has socio-political consequences. Not least of these consequences is generation of a self-fulfilling prophecy of those legislated against standing as justification for immigration control