The breakdown of the information model in multi-database systems

A database tries to present a faithful model of some body of information we can loosely call "reality" (even though the information might be historical, obsolete, fictional, speculative, or even erroneous). The model is constructed from whatever sorts of materials a particular data model provides, such as relations and attributes, or entities, attributes, and relationships. In this paper, we will build models using the materials provided by functional object models such as Iris [Fi]: objects, types, and functions. Functions collectively model the notions of attributes, relationships, and operations.