<p>This thesis presents empirical research in the field of software development with a focus on handling semantic aspects. There is a general lack of empirical data in the field of software development. This makes it difficult for industry to choose an appropriate method for their particular needs. The lack of empirical data also makes it difficult to convey academic results to the industrial world.</p><p>This thesis tries to remedy this problem by presenting a number of empirical evaluations that have been conducted to evaluate some common approaches in the field of semantics handling. The evaluations have produced some interesting results, but their main contribution is the addition to the body of knowledge on how to perform empirical evaluations in software development. The evaluations presented in this thesis include a between-groups controlled experiment, industrial case studies and a full factorial design controlled experiment. The factorial design seems like the most promising approach to use when the number of factors that need to be controlled is high and the number of available test subjects is low. A factorial design has the power to evaluate more than one factor at a time and hence to gauge the effects from different factors on the output.</p><p>Another contribution of the thesis is the development of a method for handling semantic aspects in an industrial setting. A background investigation performed concludes that there seems to be a gap between what academia proposes and how industry handles semantics in the development process. The proposed method aims at bridging this gap. It is based on academic results but has reduced formalism to better suit industrial needs. The method is applicable in an industrial setting without interfering too much with the normal way of working, yet providing important benefits. This method is evaluated in the empirical studies along with other methods for handling semantics. In the area of semantic handling, further contributions of the thesis include a taxonomy for semantic handling methods as well as an improved understanding of the relation between semantic errors and the concept of contracts as a means of avoiding and handling these errors.</p>

This thesis presents empirical research in the field of software development with a focus on handling semantic aspects. There is a general lack of empirical data in the field of software development. This makes it difficult for industry to choose an appropriate method for their particular needs. The lack of empirical data also makes it difficult to convey academic results to the industrial world. This thesis tries to remedy this problem by presenting a number of empirical evaluations that have been conducted to evaluate some common approaches in the field of semantics handling. The evaluations have produced some interesting results, but their main contribution is the addition to the body of knowledge on how to perform empirical evaluations in software development. The evaluations presented in this thesis include a between-groups controlled experiment, industrial case studies and a full factorial design controlled experiment. The factorial design seems like the most promising approach to use when the number of factors that need to be controlled is high and the number of available test subjects is low. A factorial design has the power to evaluate more than one factor at a time and hence to gauge the effects from different factors on the output. Another contribution of the thesis is the development of a method for handling semantic aspects in an industrial setting. A background investigation performed concludes that there seems to be a gap between what academia proposes and how industry handles semantics in the development process. The proposed method aims at bridging this gap. It is based on academic results but has reduced formalism to better suit industrial needs. The method is applicable in an industrial setting without interfering too much with the normal way of working, yet providing important benefits. This method is evaluated in the empirical studies along with other methods for handling semantics. In the area of semantic handling, further contributions of the thesis include a taxonomy for semantic handling methods as well as an improved understanding of the relation between semantic errors and the concept of contracts as a means of avoiding and handling these errors.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:43:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 3052797 bytes, checksum: 5da04d0969960baeaa2f87486c8c84e1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-08 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research proposes a study of the syntactic- semantic dimensions of the lexical items that, syntactically, exercise a function of subject in journalistic titles. Still it investigates the configuration of verbal constructions, observing its pragmatic- ideological motivations subjacent to the journalistic context. Our investigation stars from the principle that, in the titles sentence type ( SVO- SV), for example Justice limits liberty of the supporters, the position of the subject is occupied by expressions that assume metonymically the paper of controller of the dynamic process expressed by the verb, as in these enunciates there are a kind of configuration of sense of the subject, as its main characteristic prototypical characteristic of agentivity is frequently dissociated. To the realization of the analysis, we constituted a corpus of 120 journalistic news published in two periodic from Pernambuco, through the years 2006, 20007 and 2008 and analyzed the expressions from the left side of the verb (process). To the discussion of the obtained results we proceeded, methodologically, as follows: we presented the occurrences number of the processes, taking into account the frequency of determined kind present in our corpus; we verified the participants actor, beneficiary, experiencer and teller, to verify in which way these participants represent the referred entity in the position of subject in a determined thematic area: politics, economy and urban life and, to finish, we categorized the representation of the first participant ( P1), that, syntactically, expresses the subject, according to Souza ( 2006, p. 165), as nominal syntagmas (SN) of two kinds: the lexical SN, having as a centre a noun, modified or not; the individualized SN ( SNi), subtype of SNL, that that has as a centre a being. To evidence such position, we fundament in the pretext of Systemic- Functional Linguistic of Halliday ( 1985), Halliday & Mathiessen ( 2004), Souza ( 2006) and Furtado da Cunha & Souza ( 2007). We observed that the nominal syntagmas (SNs) that occupy a position of subjects in the journalistic titles accomplish the most varied forms of representativity and that these syntagmas represent semantic-pragmatic behaviours determined by the thematic context. / Esta pesquisa propõe um estudo das dimensões sintático-semânticas dos itens lexicais que, sintaticamente, exercem a função de sujeito em títulos jornalísticos. Ainda investiga a configuração de construções verbais, observando suas motivações pragmático-ideológicas subjacentes ao contexto jornalístico. Nossa investigação parte do princípio de que, nos títulos do tipo oracional (SVO SV), por exemplo, Justiça limita liberdade dos torcedores, a posição de sujeito é ocupada por expressões que assumem metonimicamente o papel de controlador do processo dinâmico expresso pelo verbo, uma vez que nestes enunciados há uma certa reconfiguração de sentido do sujeito, pois sua principal característica prototípica de agentividade é freqüentemente desassociada. Para a realização das análises, constituímos um corpus de 120 títulos de notícias jornalísticas publicados em dois periódicos pernambucanos, ao longo dos anos 2006, 2007 e 2008 e analisamos as expressões ocupantes do lado esquerdo do verbo (processo). Para discussão dos resultados obtidos procedemos, metodologicamente, da seguinte forma: apresentamos o número de ocorrências dos processos, levando em conta a freqüência de determinado tipo presente em nosso corpus; verificamos os participantes ator, beneficiário, experienciador e dizente, a fim de averiguar de que forma esses participantes representam a entidade referida na posição de sujeito em determinada área temática: política, economia e vida urbana e, por fim, categorizamos a representação do primeiro participante (P1) que, sintaticamente, expressa o sujeito, conforme Souza (2006, p. 165), como sintagma nominal (SN) de dois tipos: o SN lexical (SNL), tendo como núcleo um substantivo, modificado ou não; o SN individualizado (SNi), subtipo do SNL, aquele que tem como núcleo um indivíduo. Para evidenciar tal posicionamento, fundamentamo-nos em pressupostos da Lingüística Sistêmico-Funcional de Halliday (1985), Halliday & Mathiessen (2004), Souza (2006) e Furtado da Cunha & Souza (2007). Constatamos que os sintagmas nominais (SNs) que ocupam a posição de sujeito nos títulos jornalísticos cumprem as mais variadas formas de representatividade e que esses sintagmas representam comportamentos semânticopragmáticos determinados pelo contexto temático.