Computer planning of stereotactic iodine-125 seed brachytherapy for recurrent malignant gliomas

At St Thomas' Hospital, we have developed a computer program on a Titan graphics supercomputer to plan the stereotactic implantation of iodine-125 seeds for the palliative treatment of recurrent malignant gliomas. Use of the Gill-Thomas-Cosman relocatable frame allows planning and surgery to be carried out at different hospitals on different days. Stereotactic computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) scans are performed and the images transferred to the planning computer. The head, tumour and frame fiducials are outlined on the relevant images, and a three-dimensional model generated. Structures which could interfere with the surgery or radiotherapy, such as major vessels, shunt tubing etc., can also be outlined and included in the display. Catheter target and entry points are set using a three-dimensional cursor controlled by a set of dials attached to the computer. The program calculates and displays the radiation dose distribution within the target volume for various catheter and seed arrangements. The CT co-ordinates of the fiducial rods are used to convert catheter co-ordinates from CT space to frame space and to calculate the catheter insertion angles and depths. The surgically implanted catheters are after-loaded the next day and the seeds left in place for between 4 and 6 days, giving a nominal dose of 50 Gy to the edge of the target volume. 25 patients have been treated so far.

Wind-energy based path planning for electric unmanned aerial vehicles using Markov Decision Processes

Exploiting wind-energy is one possible way to ex- tend flight duration for Unmanned Arial Vehicles. Wind-energy can also be used to minimise energy consumption for a planned path. In this paper, we consider uncertain time-varying wind fields and plan a path through them. A Gaussian distribution is used to determine uncertainty in the Time-varying wind fields. We use Markov Decision Process to plan a path based upon the uncertainty of Gaussian distribution. Simulation results that compare the direct line of flight between start and target point and our planned path for energy consumption and time of travel are presented. The result is a robust path using the most visited cell while sampling the Gaussian distribution of the wind field in each cell.

SOA for business networks - service delivery framework

The next generation of SOA needs to scale for flexible service consumption, beyond organizational boundaries and current B2B applications, into communities, eco-systems, and business networks. In the wider and, ultimately, global settings, new capabilities are needed so that business partners can efficiently and reliably enable, adapt, and expose services where they can be discovered, ordered, consumed, metered, and paid for, through new applications and opportunities, driven by third parties in the global "village". This trend is already underway, in different ways, through various early adopter market segments. For the small medium enterprises segment, Google, Intuit-Microsoft, and others have launched appstores, through which an open-ended array of hosted applications are sourced from the development community and procured as maketplace commondities. In the corporate sector, the marketplace model and business network hubs are being put in place on top of connectivity and network orchestration investments for capitalizing services as tradable assets, seen in banking/finance (e.g. American Express Intelligent Marketplace), logistics (e.g., the E2open hub), and the public sector (e.g., UK DirectGov whole-of-government citizen services delivery).

A requirements framework for semantic business process modelling

The emergence of semantic technologies to deal with the underlying meaning of things, instead of a purely syntactical representation, has led to new developments in various fields, including business process modeling. Inspired by artificial intelligence research, technologies for semantic Web services have been proposed and extended to process modeling. However, the applicablility of semantic Web services for semantic business processes is limited because business processes encompass wider requirements of business than Web services. In particular, processes are concerned with the composition of tasks, that is, in which order activities are carried out, regardless of their implementation details; resources assigned to carry out tasks, such as machinery, people, and goods; data exchange; and security and compliance concerns.

The GST Compliance Costs Of Nonprofit Organisations

On 2 December 1998, the Federal Government tabled their policy paper entitled Regulation Impact Statement for the Introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (RIS) in the House of Representatives. The Federal Government predicted that total gross GST compliance costs to Australian businesses in the first year of implementation would be approximately $1,912 million (or $1,195 per firm). Furthermore, it is estimated that the recurrent net compliance costs will be much lower at $131 per firm. Whilst the government made brief references to charitable organisations in their analysis, it stated that the compliance costs faced by nonprofits would, in substance, be no different to the compliance costs faced by businesses or government departments. This paper examines the RIS process in relation to nonprofit organisations in the context of recent taxation legislation affecting nonprofit organisations. It argues that the assumption that nonprofit compliance costs are similar to government and business costs is flawed and makes a case for the RIS process to be reformed to include more appropriate assessments of the impact of legislation on nonprofit enterprises.

Information technology and business value in a global economy : do information technology investments pay off in a developing economy?

Understanding the business value of IT has mostly been studied in developed countries, but because most investment in developing countries is derived from external sources, the influence of that investment on business value is likely to be different. We test this notion using a two-layer model. We examine the impact of IT investments on firm processes, and the relationship of these processes to firm performance in a developing country. Our findings suggest that investment in different areas of IT positively relates to improvements in intermediate business processes and these intermediate business processes positively relate to the overall financial performance of firms in a developing country.

Information technology resources,complementaries and capabilities : towards a deeper understanding of leveraging business value from IT

Organisations devote substantial resources to acquire information technology (IT), and explaining the important issue of how IT can affect performance has posed a significant challenge to information system (IS) researchers. Owing to the importance of expanding our understanding on how and where IT and IT-related resources impact organisational performance, this study investigates the differential effects of IT resources and IT-related capabilities, in the presence of platform-related complementarities, on business process performance. We test these relationships empirically via a field survey of 216 firms. The findings suggest that IT resources and IT-related capabilities explain variance in performance. Of interest is the finding that IT resources and IT-related capabilities ability to explain variance in business process is further enhanced by the presence of the platform-related complementarities. Our findings are largely consistent with the resource-based and complementarity arguments of sources of IT-related business value.

Information technology and business value: how complementary IT usage platform and capable resources explain IT business value variation

Understanding information technology’s (ITs) contribution to business value is an imperative issue, and while we have attempted to untangle the relationship between IT and business value with some success, our knowledge of specific factors leading to ITs contribution to business value still remains limited. In this paper we propose that complementing IT resources, by establishing a sound IT platform with capable organisational resources may aid in ITs ability to contribute to business value. We suggest that performance measurement of this contribution be undertaken at the business process level first, and then mapped through to firm level performance measurement to obtain a better understanding of the path of IT business value contribution.

Sourcing and evaluating IT business value in emerging economies : the case of the South Pacific Island Countries

Information Technology (IT) is an important resource that facilitates growth and development in both the developed and emerging economies. The increasing forces of globalization are creating a wider digital divide between the developed and emerging economies. The smaller emerging economies are the most venerable. Intense competition for IT resources means that these emerging economies would need to acquire a deeper understanding of how to source and evaluate their IT-related efforts. This effort would put these economies in a better position to source funding from various stakeholders. This research presents a complementary approach to securing better IT-related business value in organizations in the South Pacific Island countries – a case of emerging economies. Analysis of data collected from six South Pacific Island countries suggests that organizations that invest in IT and related complementaries are able to better their business processes. The data also suggest that improved business processes lead to overall business processes improvements.

Is your organizational culture fit for business process management?

All processes are modeled, all process metrics defined, all process support systems are set up; yet still, processes are not running smoothly and departmental silos are more present than ever. Both practitioners and academics tell the same story. A successful business process management (BPM) implementation goes beyond using the right methods and putting the right systems in place. In fact, an important success factor for BPM is establishing the right organizational culture, that is, a culture that supports the achievement and maintenance of efficient and effective business processes.

Challenges in the context-aware management of business processes : a multiple case study

Current conceptualizations of organizational processes consider them as internally optimized yet static systems. Still, turbulences in the contextual environment of a firm often lead to adaptation requirements that these processes are unable to fulfil. Based on a multiple case study of the core processes of two large organizations, we offer an extended conceptualisation of business processes as complex adaptive systems. This conceptualization can enable firms to optimise business processes by analysing operations in different contexts and by examining the complex interaction between external, contextual elements and internal agent schemata. From this analysis, we discuss how information technology can play a vital goal in achieving this goal by providing discovery, analysis, and automation support. We detail implications for research and practice.

ACE research briefing paper 002: learning and adaptation in the business creation process

This year marks the completion of data collection for year three (Wave 3) of the CAUSEE study. This report uses data from the first three years and focuses on the process of learning and adaptation in the business creation process. Most start-ups need to change their business model, their product, their marketing plan, their market or something else about the business to be successful. PayPal changed their product at least five times, moving from handheld security, to enterprise apps, to consumer apps, to a digital wallet, to payments between handhelds before finally stumbling on the model that made the a multi-billion dollar company revolving around email-based payments. PayPal is not alone and anecdotes abounds of start-ups changing direction: Sysmantec started as an artificial intelligence company, Apple started selling plans to build computers and Microsoft tried to peddle compilers before licensing an operating system out of New Mexico. To what extent do Australian new ventures change and adapt as their ideas and business develop? As a longitudinal study, CAUSEE was designed specifically to observe development in the venture creation process. In this research briefing paper, we compare development over time of randomly sampled Nascent Firms (NF) and Young Firms(YF), concentrating on the surviving cases. We also compare NFs with YFs at each yearly interval. The 'high potential' over sample is not used in this report.

Throwing out the baby (boomers) with the bathwater : corporate sagacity or business blunder

This paper will focus on the group of people who were born between 1946 and 1962 immediately after the Second World War when servicemen and women returned from the forces and started families. They have been named the baby boomers because of their numbers. In Australia it is estimated that there are four million baby boomers who are approaching retirement age. The paper raises the question of whether the attitudes we have about older workers need to change and mature. Evidence for questioning entrenched myths about older staff in the work force will be discussed.

Risky business : managing creative practice postgraduates through HDR programs

In Australia, as elsewhere, universities are being encouraged to grow their postgraduate research candidature base while at the same time there is increasing pressure on resources with which to manage the burgeoning groups. In this environment HDR supervision strategies are seen as increasingly important as research managers seek the best possible ‘fit’ for an applicant: the candidate who will provide a sound return on investment and demonstrate endurance in the pursuit of a timely completion. As research managers know, the admissions process can be a risky business. The process may be tested further in the context of the new models of doctoral cohort supervision that are being discussed in the higher degree research management sector. The focus of this paper is an examination of the results of investigations of two models of postgraduate cohort supervision in the creative arts Master of Arts research program at QUT with a view to identifying attributes that may be useful for the formation of cohort models of supervision in the doctoral area.