A formal definition of the Users View (UV) of the Graphical Object Query Language (GOQL)

In this paper we provide a brief formal definition of the Users View (UV) of the Graphical Object Query Language(GOQL). The UV provides a graphical representation for object-oriented database schemas and hides from end-users most of the perplexing details of the object-oriented database model, such as methods, hierarchies and relationships. In particular, the UV does not distinguish between methods, attributes and relationships, encapsulates the is-a hierarchy and utilises a number of desktop metaphors to present a graphical schema that is easy to be understood by end-users. Thus, the UV provides the environment, through which end-users, can pose ad-hoc queries through GOQL. We first give a brief formal definition of an object-oriented database schema in the GOQL model. This is given, by providing a formal definition of the basic element of such a schema, namely the class. The UV is then briefly formally defined as a mapping from a GOQL object-oriented database schema. Using this mapping, any object-oriented database schema can be translated into a graphical representation in the UV. The running example of the paper is used to demonstrate the mapping from the textual schema to the graphical schema of the UV. The formal definition of the UV will allow us, in the future, to formally define the graphical constructs of GOQL

Implementation of the GOQL language

The Graphical Object Query Language (GOQL) is a graphical query language that complies with the ODMG 3.0 standard and runs on top of the o2 DBMS. GOQL provides users with the User's View (UV) and the Folders Window (FW), which serve as the foundation upon which end-users pose ad-hoc queries. The UV is a graphical representation of any underlying ODMG scheme. Among its advantages is that it hides from end-users most of the perplexing details of the object-oriented database model, such as methods, hierarchies and relationships. To achieve this, the UV does not distinguish between methods, attributes and relationships, it encapsulates is-a hierarchies and it utilises a number of desktop metaphors whose semantics can be easily understood by end-users. The FW is a condensed version of the UV and provides the starting point for constructing queries. In this paper, we demonstrate the UV and the FW and discuss GOQL's system architecture, its various components and the way these components interact to generate the UV and the FW and to provide an ad hoc query construction mechanism. We also present the screen interface of the language

Experiences of revalidating the undergraduate and postgraduate courses within the information systems curricula at University of Westminster, UK

Information systems (IS) is the commonly accepted title for academic programs focusing on applied information technology provided by a range of Universities in the UK. The University of Westminster based in central London has successfully run BSc and MSc courses in IS for more than a decade. The courses underwent a major revision in 2002 focusing on subject content, construction of courses and teaching/learning strategies. We address the purpose of course reviews within the UK higher education (HE) environment, gives a rationale for our curriculum changes, describes the revalidated IS courses at both BSc and MSc levels including our teaching and assessment strategies, and comments on our progress to date

Study of sequential semileptonic decays of b hadrons produced at the Tevatron

We present a study of rates and kinematical properties of lepton pairs contained in central jets with transverse energy E_T > 15 GeV that are produced at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. We compare the data to a QCD prediction based on the HERWIG and QQ Monte Carlo generator programs.We find that the data are poorly described by the simulation, in which sequential semileptonic decays of single b quarks (b --> l c X with c --> l s X) are the major source of such lepton pairs.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures. Some typos were fixed in the text and bibliography. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Experiences of Revalidating the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Courses Within the Information Systems Curricula at University of Westminster, UK

Information Systems (IS) is probably the most frequently used name for a variety of academic programs focusing on applied information technology, whose curricula is available from a range of schools and university departments. For more than a decade we have successfully run at the University of Westminster, UK, BSc and MSc courses in IS, within our IS department of the Cavendish School of Computer Science. The major developments of curriculum design related to subject content, construction of courses and teaching/learning strategies, has triggered changes in our IS programs which were implemented through the IS course reviews in 2002. This paper addresses the purpose of course reviews within the UK Higher Education (HE) environment, gives a rationale for our curriculum changes, describes the revalidated IS courses at both BSc and MSc levels including our teaching and assessment strategies, and comments on our progress to date

Phenomenological study of the atypical heavy flavor production observed at the Fermilab Tevatron

We address known discrepancies between the heavy flavor properties of jets produced at the Tevatron collider and the prediction of conventional-QCD simulations. In this study, we entertain the possibility that these effects are real and due to new physics. We show that all anomalies can be simultaneously fitted by postulating the additional pair production of light bottom squarks with a 100% semileptonic branching fraction.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Determination of the Jet Energy Scale at the Collider Detector at Fermilab

A precise determination of the energy scale of jets at the Collider Detector at Fermilab at the Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ collider is described. Jets are used in many analyses to estimate the energies of partons resulting from the underlying physics process. Several correction factors are developed to estimate the original parton energy from the observed jet energy in the calorimeter. The jet energy response is compared between data and Monte Carlo simulation for various physics processes, and systematic uncertainties on the jet energy scale are determined. For jets with transverse momenta above 50 GeV the jet energy scale is determined with a 3% systematic uncertainty

Search for narrow resonances below the Upsilon mesons

We have investigated the invariant mass spectrum of dimuons collected by the CDF experiment during the 1992-1995 run of the Fermilab Tevatron collider to improve the limit on the existence of narrow resonances set by the experiments at the SPEAR e+e- collider. In the mass range 6.3-9.0 GeV/c^2, we derive 90% upper credible limits to the ratio of the production cross section times muonic branching fraction of possible narrow resonances to that of the Y(1S) meson. In this mass range, the average limit varies from 1.7 to 0.5%. This limit is much worse at the mass of 7.2 GeV/c^2 due to an excess of 250+-61 events with a width consistent with the detector resolution.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures. This version has some typos fixed in the text and bibliography. A reference was added in bibliography. Submitted to Phys. Rev. D With this last submission we provide the version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.