Cost-informed operational process support

The ability to steer business operations in alignment with the true origins of costs, and to be informed about this on a real-time basis, allows businesses to increase profitability. In most organisations however, high-level cost-based managerial decisions are still being made separately from process-related operational decisions. In this paper, we describe how process-related decisions at the operational level can be guided by cost considerations and how these cost-informed decision rules can be supported by a workflow management system. The paper presents the conceptual framework together with data requirements and technical challenges that need to be addressed to realise cost-informed workflow execution. The feasibility of our approach is demonstrated using a prototype implementation in the YAWL workflow environment.

YAWL4Industry : reflections on using YAWL for industry projects

The Yet Another Workflow Language (YAWL) language and environment has been used to prototype, verify, execute and analyse business processes in a wide variety of industrial domains, such as telephony, construction, supply chain, insurance services, medical environments, personnel management and the creative arts. These engagements offer the YAWL researcher community a great opportunity to validate our research findings within an industry setting, as well as discovery of possible enhancements from the end user perspective. This paper describes three such industry projects, discusses why YAWL was chosen and how it was used in each, and reacts on the insights gained along the way.

Usability extensions for the worklet service

The YAWL Worklet Service is an effective approach to facilitating dynamic flexibility and exception handling in workflow processes. Recent additions to the Service extend its capabilities through a programming interface that provides easier access to rules storage and evaluation, and an event server that notifies listening servers and applications when exceptions are detected, which together serve enhance the functionality and accessibility of the Service's features and expand its usability to new potential domains.

Editor 3.0: Redesigining the YAWL user interface

It has long been a concern that the wider uptake of the YAWL environment may have been hindered by the usability issues identified in the current Process Editor. As a consequence, it was decided that the Editor be completely rewritten to address those usability limitations. The result has been the implementation of a new YAWL Process Editor architecture that creates a clear separation between the User Interface component layer and the core processing back end, facilitating the redesign of the default user interface. This new architecture also supports the development of multiple User Interface front ends for specific contexts that take advantage of the core capabilities the new Editor architecture has to offer.

Cost-aware business process management: A research agenda

Organisations are constantly seeking cost-effective improvements for their business processes. Business process management (BPM) provides organisations with a range of methods, techniques and tools for analysing, managing, and optimising their business operations. However, BPM initiatives within organisations tend to focus on investigating time and resource utilisation inefficiencies, rather than directly on cost inefficiencies. As a result, high-level cost-based managerial decisions are still being made separately from process related decisions. This position paper describes a research agenda that envisages a holistic approach to managing the cost of business operations in a structured manner, by making an explicit link between cost and processes in all phases of the business process management life cycle. We discuss a number of research challenges that need to be addressed in order to realise such an approach as well as findings from some of the initial research outcomes. It is envisioned that the research outcomes will enable organisations to make operational and strategic decisions with confidence based on accurate and real-time cost information about their operations.

Spectroscopic correlation analysis of NMR-based metabonomics in exercise science

Spectroscopic studies of complex clinical fluids have led to the application of a more holistic approach to their chemical analysis becoming more popular and widely employed. The efficient and effective interpretation of multidimensional spectroscopic data relies on many chemometric techniques and one such group of tools is represented by so-called correlation analysis methods. Typical of these techniques are two-dimensional correlation analysis and statistical total correlation spectroscopy (STOCSY). Whilst the former has largely been applied to optical spectroscopic analysis, STOCSY was developed and has been applied almost exclusively to NMR metabonomic studies. Using a 1H NMR study of human blood plasma, from subjects recovering from exhaustive exercise trials, the basic concepts and applications of these techniques are examined. Typical information from their application to NMR-based metabonomics is presented and their value in aiding interpretation of NMR data obtained from biological systems is illustrated. Major energy metabolites are identified in the NMR spectra and the dynamics of their appearance and removal from plasma during exercise recovery are illustrated and discussed. The complementary nature of two-dimensional correlation analysis and statistical total correlation spectroscopy are highlighted.

Genus Umbravirus

The practical need to partition the world of viruses into distinguishable, universally agreed upon entities is the ultimate justification for developing a virus classification system. The Author of this Book is Andrew MQ King, Elliot Lefkowitz, Eric B. Carstens, Michael J. Adams Since 1971, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) operating on behalf of the world community of virologists has taken on the task of developing a single, universal taxonomic scheme for all viruses infecting animals (vertebrate, invertebrates, and protozoa), plants (higher plants and algae), fungi, bacteria, and archaea.

The Language : Rationale and Fundamentals

The Business Process Management domain has evolved at a dramatic pace over the past two decades and the notion of the business process has become a ubiquitous part of the modern business enterprise. Most organizations now view their operations in terms of business processes and manage these business processes in the same way as other corporate assets. In recent years, an increasingly broad range of generic technology has become available for automating business processes. This is part of a growing trend in the software engineering field throughout the past 40 years, where aspects of functionality that are potentially reusable on a widespread basis have coalesced into generic software components. Figure 2.1 illustrates this trend and shows how software systems have evolved from the monolithic applications of the 1960s developed in their entirety often by a single development team to today’s offerings that are based on the integration of a range of generic technologies with only a small component of the application actually being developed from scratch. In the 1990s, generic functionality for the automation of business processes first became commercially available in the form of workflow technology and subsequently evolved in the broader field of business process management systems (BPMS). This technology alleviated the necessity to develop process support within applications from scratch and provided a variety of off-the-shelf options on which these requirements could be based. The demand for this technology was significant and it is estimated that by 2000 there were well over 200 distinct workflow offerings in the market, each with a distinct conceptual foundation. Anticipating the difficulties that would be experienced by organizations seeking to utilize and integrate distinct workflow offerings, the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), an industry group formed to advance technology in this area, proposed a standard reference model for workflow technology with an express desire to seek a common platform for achieving workflow interoperation.

Postmodern Theory and the Choreography of Michael Clark

This study addresses two interrelated questions: Can postmodern ‘theory’ illuminate an understanding of Michael Clark’s work? and, a sub-question, In which ways, if at all, does Clark’s work demonstrate a postmodern sensibility? Chapter one, the introduction to this study, provides a ‘portrait’ of postmodernism, that is, it addresses the question What is postmodernism? Chapter two is a biography of Michael Clark. The seminal sections to this study, however, are chapters three and four. Here the author blends a discussion of a) subject matter, treatment and meanings in Clark’s choreography, b) journalistic criticisms of those features of his work, and c) postmodern theory. The outcome of these chapters is to demonstrate that Clark’s works do indeed require re-interpretation and re-evaluation, and to illustrate how these factors might be achieved.

Michael Kirby's challenge: Intellectual property, HIV/AIDS, and human rights

In July 2014, Melbourne hosted the 20th International AIDS Conference. The event opened, paying tribute to the late Dutch HIV/AIDS researcher Professor Joep Lange, with his image projected onto a screen, with the accompanying quotation: ‘If we can bring a bottle of Coke to every corner of Africa, we should be able to also deliver antiretroviral drugs.’

Indigenous gendered health perspectives

Indigenous gendered health perspectives. In O. Best & B. Fredericks (eds).Yatdjuligin: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nursing and Midwifery Care. Cambridge University Press: Melbourne, pp.74-86.

Scottish Football Association or Sweet Fanny Adams

Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma käsittelee kielisidonnaisen huumorin kääntämistä. Ennen itse kääntämisen käsittelyä täytyy kuitenkin määritellä mitä tarkoitetaan käsitteellä kielisidonnainen huumori . Aluksi käsitellään huumoria ja sen ominaisuuksia sekä huumorin ja kulttuuristen, fysiologisten ja sosiaalisten tekijöiden suhdetta. Huumori syntyy kun tietyt odotukset rikotaan, eli toimitaan joidenkin normien vastaisesti. Huumorin eräitä perusperiaatteita ovat ristiriitaisuus ja yhteensopimattomuus. Kielisidonnaisessa huumorissa ristiriitaisuus ja yhteensopimattomuus on havaittavissa kielen tasolla: kieltä käytetään tuottamaan moniselitteinen tai -mielinen koominen ilmaus. Sanaleikki, jossa käytetään yhtä sanaa jolla on yksi tai useampi merkitys, on tyypillinen esimerkki kielisidonnaisesta huumorista. Mutta kielisidonnainen huumori ei rajoitu pelkästään tämänkaltaisiin sanaleikkeihin (engl. pun), vaan kattaa käsitteenä laajemman valikoiman erilaisia kielisidonnaisen huumorin muotoja, esimerkiksi monimerkityksiset nimet, idiomaattisilla ilmauksilla tuotettu huumori, akrostikonit, kirjoituksen konventioita rikkomalla tuotettu huumori jne. Kielisidonnainen huumori on tutkielmassa luokiteltu ja määritelty omaksi huumorin alalajikseen. Kielisidonnaisen huumorin kielellinen monimerkityksisyys tekee sen kääntämisestä vaikeampaa kuin sellaisen tekstin, jossa kielen tasolla ei ilmene monimerkityksisyyttä. Tästä syystä kielisidonnainen huumori tarvitsee erilaisen käännösstrategian kuin esimerkiksi tieteellinen teksti. Seuraavaksi käydään aluksi läpi joitakin käännösteorian keskeisiä käsitteitä ja niiden suhdetta ja vaikutuksia kielisidonnaisen huumorin kääntämiseen. Sitten kuvataan kielisidonnaisen huumorin käännösprosessi, joka jakautuu kolmeen osaan: tunnistaminen, analyysi ja kääntäminen. Näiden kolmen pohjalta laaditaan kuuden eri käännösstrategian ryhmä. Kuusi eri päästrategiaa ovat käännössidonnaisen huumorikategorian säilyttäminen, kirjaimellinen käännös, muun tyylikeinon käyttäminen, kompensaatio, poisjättö ja toimitukselliset keinot. Strategiat käydään läpi deskriptiivisesti ja niiden käyttöä valaistaan esimerkkien avulla. Osa päästrategioista jakautuu alastrategioihin, jotka kuvaavat tarkemmin, minkälaisin keinoin lähtökielen kielisidonnainen käännösongelma voidaan siirtää kohdekieleen. Strategiat pyritään kuvaamaan siten, että ne voisivat olla avuksi käännettäessä minkä tahansa kieliparin välillä. Vaikka kuvatut käännösstrategiat käydään läpi deskriptiivisesti, on pyrkii tutkielma myös olemaan avuksi käytännön tilanteissa kielisidonnaista huumoria käännettäessä. Tätä varten on tutkielman lopussa annettu kuvaus yhden kielisidonnaisen huumoriongelman kääntämisprosessista. Yhdistämällä teoria käytäntöön kuvataan käännösprosessiesimerkissä yhden kielisidonnaisen huumoriongelman analyysi-ja kääntämisvaiheet. Tuloksena on viisi erilaista versiota samasta lähtötekstin käännösongelmasta. Tutkielma siis ensinnäkin määrittelee, mitä ja minkälaista on kielisidonnainen huumori sekä luokittelee sen. Toisekseen tutkielma kuvaa sen käännösprosessin ja määrittelee eri käännösstrategiat. Lisäksi esimerkin avulla esitellään eri käännösvaihtoehtoja. Avainsanat: kääntäminen, huumori, sanaleikki, kielisidonnainen