  In this paper, we concentrate on object-related analysis in the field of
general ontology of reality as related to software engineering (e.g., UML
classes). Such a venture is similar to many studies in which researchers have
enhanced modeling through ontological analysis of the underlying paradigm of
UML models. We attempt to develop a conceptual model that consists of a
foundation of things that is supplemented with a second level of designated
objects. According to some researchers, the problem of the difference between
things and objects is one of the most decisive issues for the conception of
reality. In software engineering, objects serve two purposes: they promote
understanding of the real world and provide a practical basis for computer
implementation. The notion of object plays a central role in the
object-oriented approach, in which other notions are viewed by decomposing them
into objects and their relationships. This paper contributes to the
establishment of a broader understanding of the notion of object in conceptual
modeling based on things that are simultaneously machines. In this study, we
explored the underlying hypothesis of conceptual models (e.g., UML) to enhance
their ontological analysis by using the thing/machine (TM) model, which
presents the domain as thimacs. Following the philosophical distinction between
things and objects, we can specify modeling at two levels: the thinging stage
and the objectification stage. Objects are thimacs that control the
handleablity of their sub-parts when interacting with the outside of the object
(analogous to the body parts holding together in an assemblage when interacting
with the outside). The results promise a more refined modeling process to
develop a high-level description of the involved domain.
