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.

Experiential learning as a constraint-led process: an ecological dynamics perspective

In this paper we present key ideas for an ecological dynamics approach to learning that reveal the importance of learner–environment interactions to frame outdoor experiential learning.We propose that ecological dynamics provides a useful framework for understanding the interacting constraints of the learning process and for designing learning opportunities in outdoor experiential learning.

Impairment of simulated motorcycle riding performance under low dose alcohol

Crash statistics that include the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of vehicle operators reveal that crash involved motorcyclists are over represented at low BACs (e.g., ≤0.05%). This riding simulator study compared riding performance and hazard response under three low dose alcohol conditions (sober, 0.02% BAC, 0.05% BAC). Forty participants (20 novice, 20 experienced) completed simulated rides in urban and rural scenarios while responding to a safety-critical peripheral detection task (PDT). Results showed a significant increase in the standard deviation of lateral position in the urban scenario and PDT reaction time in the rural scenario under 0.05% BAC compared with zero alcohol. Participants were most likely to collide with an unexpected pedestrian in the urban scenario at 0.02% BAC, with novice participants at a greater relative risk than experienced riders. Novices chose to ride faster than experienced participants in the rural scenario regardless of BAC. Not all results were significant, emphasising the complex situation of the effects of low dose BAC on riding performance, which needs further research. The results of this simulator study provide some support for a legal BAC for motorcyclists below 0.05%.

An activity and resource advisory system for manufacturing process chains selection at the early stage of product development

Designers need to consider both the functional and production process requirements at the early stage of product development. A variety of the research works found in the literature has been proposed to assist designers in selecting the most viable manufacturing process chain. However, they do not provide any assistance for designers to evaluate the processes according to the particular circumstances of their company. This paper describes a framework of an Activity and Resource Advisory System (ARAS) that generates advice about the required activities and the possible resources for various manufacturing process chains. The system provides more insight, more flexibility, and a more holistic and suitable approach for designers to evaluate and then select the most viable manufacturing process chain at the early stage of product development.

Imagining in the spatial design process

This thesis aims to expand our understanding of imagining in the spatial design disciplines of architecture and interior design. More than three decades after Lawson’s statement, the matter of “what goes on in a designer’s head”, or imagining and mental problem solving remains just as mysterious and just as pertinent, possibly more so given the social and environmental challenges facing humankind. The lines on a page, the small perspective sketches, the connection of lines and scrawled notes and other clues help us understand what may be going on in the mind of the architect or designer. However, how designers know that space intimately before it is built is not greatly understood and articulated – even by designers themselves. There is a gap in the market in terms of informed exploration of the thinking that occurs during the design process, and how this is translated into physical outcomes. In other words, what do we see in our mind’s eye during the design process? This thesis explores design thinking and design process; what we ‘see’ when we draw, what we ‘see’ when we design.

Storyboard augmentation of process model grammars for stakeholder communication

Process models are often used to visualize and communicate workflows to involved stakeholders. Unfortunately, process modeling notations can be complex and need specific knowledge to be understood. Storyboards, as a visual language to illustrate workflows as sequences of images, provide natural visualization features that allow for better communication, to provide insight to people from non-process modelling expert domains. This paper proposes a visualization approach using a 3D virtual world environment to visualize storyboards for business process models. A prototype was built to present its applicability via generating output with examples of five major process model patterns and two non-trivial use cases. Illustrative results for the approach show the promise of using a 3D virtual world to visualize complex process models in an unambiguous and intuitive manner.

Do drinking and riding mix? Effects of legal doses of alcohol on balance ability in experienced motorcyclists

The appropriateness of applying drink driving legislation to motorcycle riding has been questioned as there may be fundamental differences in the effects of alcohol on these two activities. For example, while the distribution of blood alcohol content (BAC) levels among fatally injured male drivers compared to riders is similar, a greater proportion of motorcycle fatalities involve levels in the lower (0 to .10% BAC) range. Several psychomotor and higher-order cognitive skills underpinning riding performance appear to be significantly influenced by low levels of alcohol. For example, at low levels (.02 to .046% BAC), riders show significant increases in reaction time to hazardous stimuli, inattention to the riding task, performance errors such as leaving the roadway and a reduced ability to complete a timed course. It has been suggested that alcohol may redirect riders’ focus from higher-order cognitive skills to more physical skills such as maintaining balance. As part of a research program to investigate the potential benefits of introducing a zero, or reduced, BAC for all riders in Queensland regardless of their licence status, the effects of low doses of alcohol on balance ability were investigated in a laboratory setting. The static balance of ten experienced riders was measured while they performed either no secondary task, a visual search task, or a cognitive (arithmetic) task following the administration of alcohol (0; 0.02, and 0.05% BAC). Subjective ratings of intoxication and balance impairment increased in a dose-dependent manner; however, objective measures of static balance were negatively affected only at the .05% BAC dose. Performance on a concurrent secondary visual search task, but not a purely cognitive (arithmetic) task, improved postural stability across all BAC levels. Finally, the .05% BAC dose was associated with impaired performance on the cognitive (arithmetic) task, but not the visual search task, when participants were balancing, but neither task was impaired by alcohol when participants were standing on the floor. Implications for road safety and future ‘drink riding’ policy considerations are discussed.

Mainstreaming therapeutic jurisprudence and the adversarial paradigm—incommensurability and the possibility of a shared disciplinary matrix

Problem-solving courts appear to achieve outcomes that are not common in mainstream courts. There are increasing calls for the adoption of more therapeutic and problem-solving practices by mainstream judges in civil and criminal courts in a number of jurisdictions, most notably in the United States and Australia. Currently, a judge who sets out to exercise a significant therapeutic function is likely to be doing so in a specialist court or jurisdiction, outside the mainstream court system, and arguably, outside the adversarial paradigm itself. To some extent, this work is tolerated but marginalised. However, do therapeutic and problem-solving functions have the potential to help define, rather than simply complement, the role of judicial officers? The core question addressed in this thesis is whether the judicial role could evolve to be not just less adversarial, but fundamentally non-adversarial. In other words, could we see—or are we seeing—a juristic paradigm shift not just in the colloquial, casual sense of the word, but in the strong, worldview changing sense meant by Thomas Kuhn? This thesis examines the current relationship between adversarialism and therapeutic jurisprudence in the context of Kuhn’s conception of the transition from periods of ‘normal science’, through periods of anomaly and disciplinary crises to paradigm shifts. It considers whether therapeutic jurisprudence and adversarialism are incommensurable in the Kuhnian sense, and if so, what this means for the relationship between the two, and for the agenda to mainstream therapeutic jurisprudence. The thesis asserts that Kuhnian incommensurability is, in fact, a characteristic of the relationship between adversarialism and therapeutic jurisprudence, but that the possibility of a therapeutic paradigm shift in law can be reconciled with many adversarial and due process principles by relating this incommensurability to a broader disciplinary matrix.

Let's eat the captain! Thinking, feeling, doing : intercultural language learning through process drama

This research investigated the sustained use of process drama in a middle school foreign language classroom. The experience led to widespread learner engagement, a deeper contextualisation of the language as a socio-cultural practice, and a willingness to use the spoken and written language, regardless of limited proficiency. The drama required that language use be context and culture specific, contingent and multi-modal, which encouraged the beginner students to "mushfake" or improvise spoken and written text. Particularly important was the way the body was used through drama to express emotion, remember language and to illustrate the sociocultural context of its use.

Marital power process of Korean men married to foreign women : A qualitative study

This study explored how Korean men married to migrant women construct meaning around married life. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 10 men who had had been married to migrant women for ≥ 2 years. Data collection and analysis were performed concurrently using a grounded theory approach. The core category generated was the process of sustaining a family unit. The men came to understand the importance of a distribution of power within the family in sustaining the family unit. Constituting this process were four stages: recognizing an imbalance of power, relinquishing power, empowering, and fine-tuning the balance of power. This study provides important insight into the dynamics of marital power from men's point of view by demonstrating a link between the way people adjust to married life and the process by which married couples adjust through the distribution and redistribution of power.

Enabling open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data in Malaysian public universities : a legal and policy analysis

Numerous statements and declarations have been made over recent decades in support of open access to research data. The growing recognition of the importance of open access to research data has been accompanied by calls on public research funding agencies and universities to facilitate better access to publicly funded research data so that it can be re-used and redistributed as public goods. International and inter-governmental bodies such as the ICSU/CODATA, the OECD and the European Union are strong supporters of open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data. This thesis focuses on the research data created by university researchers in Malaysian public universities whose research activities are funded by the Federal Government of Malaysia. Malaysia, like many countries, has not yet formulated a policy on open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to develop a policy to support the objective of enabling open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data in Malaysian public universities. Policy development is very important if the objective of enabling open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data is to be successfully achieved. In developing the policy, this thesis identifies a myriad of legal impediments arising from intellectual property rights, confidentiality, privacy and national security laws, novelty requirements in patent law and lack of a legal duty to ensure data quality. Legal impediments such as these have the effect of restricting, obstructing, hindering or slowing down the objective of enabling open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data. A key focus in the formulation of the policy was the need to resolve the various legal impediments that have been identified. This thesis analyses the existing policies and guidelines of Malaysian public universities to ascertain to what extent the legal impediments have been resolved. An international perspective is adopted by making a comparative analysis of the policies of public research funding agencies and universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia to understand how they have dealt with the identified legal impediments. These countries have led the way in introducing policies which support open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data. As well as proposing a policy supporting open access to and re-use of publicly funded research data in Malaysian public universities, this thesis provides procedures for the implementation of the policy and guidelines for addressing the legal impediments to open access and re-use.

Process and catalysts for the methanation of oxides of carbon

The present invention is directed to catalysts for the conversion of oxides of carbon to methane and/or other hydrocarbons and to precursors of such catalysts. The catalyst precursors include one or more refractory oxides selected from the group consisting of rare earth oxides and rare earth contg. perovskites, the precursor including nickel or nickel cations sufficient for a catalyst obtainable by reducing the precursor to be capable of at least partially reducing an oxide of carbon to a hydrocarbon product. Processes for the prepn. of such catalysts and catalyst precursors are also disclosed, as are processes for the conversion of oxides of carbon to methane and/or other hydrocarbons. [on SciFinder(R)]

Knowledge inquiry in the construction management domain through structured research process and methodology

Construction works are project-based and interdisciplinary. Many construction management (CM) problems are ill defined. The knowledge required to address such problems is not readily available and mostly tacit in nature. Moreover, the researchers, especially the students in the higher education, often face difficulty in defining the research problem, adopting an appropriate research process and methodology for designing and validating their research. This paper describes a ‘Horseshoe’ research process approach and its application to address a research problem of extracting construction-relevant information from a building information model (BIM). It describes the different steps of the process for understanding a problem, formulating appropriate research question/s, defining different research tasks, including a methodology for developing, implementing and validating the research. It is argued that a structure research approach and the use of mixed research methods would provide a sound basis for research design and validation in order to make contribution to existing knowledge.

"You’ve modelled and now what?" : Exploring determinants of process model re-use

Business process modelling as a practice and research field has received great attention over recent years. Organizations invest significantly into process modelling in terms of training, tools, capabilities and resources. The return on this investment is a function of process model re-use, which we define as the recurring use of process models to support organizational work tasks. While prior research has examined re-use as a design principle, we explore re-use as a behaviour, because evidence suggest that analysts’ re-use of process models is indeed limited. In this paper we develop a two-stage conceptualization of the key object-, behaviour- and socioorganization-centric factors explaining process model re-use behaviour. We propose a theoretical model and detail implications for its operationalization and measurement. Our study can provide significant benefits to our understanding of process modelling and process model use as key practices in analysis and design.

"Ruby's Music Festival" : developing problem solving skills using online scenarios and creating opportunities to feed forward

One of the characteristics of good teaching is giving the highest quality feedback on student work but the term “feedback” is most commonly associated with summative assessment given by a teacher after work is completed. The student can often be a passive participant in the process. This article looks at the implementation of web based scenarios completed by students prior to summative assessment with the objective of improving legal problem solving skills. It examines the design process and the implementation of the problem solving activity and the approach to teaching and learning taken in the new law unit of which it is part. We argue that such activities are effective tools to feed forward and reflect on the implications for the effective teaching of law in higher education.