Ontologies for specifying and reconciling contexts of web services

This paper presents an ontology-based approach for the specification (using OWL-C as a definition language) and reconciliation (using ConWeS as a mediation tool) of contexts of Web services. Web services are independent components that can be triggered and composed for the satisfaction of user needs (e.g., hotel booking). Because Web services originate from different providers, their composition faces the obstacle of the context heterogeneity featuring these Web services. An unawareness of this context heterogeneity during Web services composition and execution results in a lack of the quality and relevancy of information that permits tracking the composition, monitoring the execution, and handling exceptions. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Risk Adjustment Under the Affordable Care Act: A Guide for Federal and State Regulators

Summarizes discussions from a conference about the consequences of the 2010 healthcare reform's risk adjustment provisions, design and implementation challenges, and the merits of various risk adjustment strategies. Recommends diagnostic risk measures

The transformative North Atlantic Treaty Organization: An alliance\u27s out-of-area policy and journey to Afghanistan

NATO was formed in 1949 to safeguard and promote stability for its members throughout the North Atlantic. Since its formation its members have sought to uphold its mission and objectives while expanding its agenda and engaging in a broad range of activities. These activities have included engagements that lay outside the traditional European boundaries of the Alliance. Historically, the member nations were unable to carry out an out-of-area policy due to disagreements between interests, ideologies, and viewpoints. The end of the Cold War signaled a shift in member nations\u27 attitudes and policy regarding out-of-area operations. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Alliance engaged in several missions and participated in its first out-of-area mission in Afghanistan. Through a dialogical analysis of NATO\u27s policy building upon rule-orientated constructivism, this thesis will explore NATO member nations\u27 shift in out-of-area policy and understand why NATO became involved in Afghanistan in 2001

Strategies in Mitigating Medicare/Medicaid Fraud Risk

In the fiscal year 2014, approximately 1,337 health care providers lost their provider license to Medicare/Medicaid fraud. Out of the 1,318 criminal convictions reported by the U.S. Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU), 395 (30%) were home health care aides who claimed to have rendered services not provided. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore licensed and certified home health care business managers\u27 strategies to mitigate Medicare/Medicaid fraud risk. A purposive sampling of 9 business managers and chief executive officers from 3 licensed and certified home health care businesses in Franklin County, Ohio participated in semistructured face-to-face interviews. Data from the interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to identify themes regarding Medicare/Medicaid fraud risk management strategies. Drawing from the Committee of Sponsoring Organization\u27s internal control framework and fraud management lifecycle theory, 5 themes emerged: the control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring activities. Findings from this study included maintenance of integrity and culture, training and educating both staff and clients about fraud reporting processes and the consequences of fraud, rotating staff on a regular basis, performing fraud risk assessments, implementing remote timekeeping and monitoring system, and compensating shift leaders to coordinate activities in the clients\u27 residences. The implication for positive social change includes reducing healthcare cost for all taxpayers through Medicare/Medicaid fraud reduction