An Interpretive Study of How Practitioners Use Entity-Relationship Modelling in a Ternary Relationship Situation

This paper discusses the use of interpretive research to learn about the practicality of entity-relationship modelling in ternary relationship situations. The findings can be compared with previous studies of novice modellers who used the same invented scenario. Previous research excluded the interaction between practitioners that would occur during a modelling session because novices were used to complete tasks in isolation. A team of experienced practitioners are shown to use entity-relationship modelling in a business context of social interaction about design. The interaction proves to be a key part of the modelling process. Practitioners \u27talk with the notation\u27 as well as using the notation to draw a diagram. The entity-relationship model constrains the social interaction because the model provides a way of talking about design. The practitioners use the model to talk about a normalized relational data structure in a way that undermines the idea of the entity-relationship model as an independent conceptual model. The findings show that theories from the field of linguistics explain why the model is used in this design-dependent way and suggest that this dependency may be inevitable. When the design conversation is about a normalized relational data structure there is no benefit to the practitioners from using a special notation for ternary relationships. On the contrary, the practitioner\u27s design dependence seems to enable them to expose aspects of a domain that do not make business sense. The wider implication is that interpretive research\u27s role is important in generating insights about the extent to which conceptual modelling is usable by practitioners. Interpretive research highlights the importance of being able to distinguish between ideas about conceptual modelling and ideas about how to apply modelling to practice

Analysis framework for the interaction between lean construction and building information modelling

Building with Building Information Modelling (BIM) changes design and production processes. But can BIM be used to support process changes designed according to lean production and lean construction principles? To begin to answer this question we provide a conceptual analysis of the interaction of lean construction and BIM for improving construction. This was investigated by compiling a detailed listing of lean construction principles and BIM functionalities which are relevant from this perspective. These were drawn from a detailed literature survey. A research framework for analysis of the interaction between lean and BIM was then compiled. The goal of the framework is to both guide and stimulate research; as such, the approach adopted up to this point is constructive. Ongoing research has identified 55 such interactions, the majority of which show positive synergy between the two

CLASSICAL LASSICAL AND BEHAVIOURAL FINANCE IN INVESTOR DECISION

Conceptual model of individual investor behavior presented in this paper aims to structure a part of the vast knowledge about investor behavior that is present in the finance field. The investment process could be seen as driven by dual mental processes (cognitive and affective) and the interplay between these systems contributes to bounded rational behavior manifested through various heuristics and biases. The investment decision is seen as a result of an interaction between the investor and the investment environmentinvestor behaviour; financial decisions making; cognitive modelling,;sentiments; market efficiency

An economic approach to collective management of endemic animal diseases

The control of animal diseases is an issue of particular interest in animal production chains. Because of their direct impact on production, animal diseases generate income shortfalls for farmers. In some cases, diseases may also have lead to human health problems and undermine market access conditions. Because of these potential negative impacts, some diseases are regulated. But for many communicable diseases, much latitude is given to individual control of the disease by farmers. In the case of a communicable disease, individual management therefore generates an externality, as individual decisions have an impact on the level of risk exposure of other farms to the disease. Thus, the collective result of individual management may differ from the collective expectations. This gap can be reduced by collective actions. The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for the study of collective management of animal diseases, which will provide management tools to collective managers of animal health. The development of this conceptual framework rests on three steps. We first discuss the means to model the individual decisions of farmer in regard to animal diseases. Then it should take into account the interaction between the epidemiology of the disease and the individual decisions of farmers, by the coupling of epidemiologic and economic models. Finally, collective management tools are introduced in these models in order to test incentives schemes for horizontal coordination. Finally, collective actions are introduced in these models, in order to test devices for horizontal coordination (management of prevalence between farms).Animal health economics - Micro modelling – Bio-economic modelling - endemic animal diseases, Animal health economics, Micro modelling, Bio-economic modelling, endemic animal diseases, Livestock Production/Industries,

Analysis Framework for the Interaction Between Lean Construction and Building Information Modelling

Building with Building Information Modelling (BIM) changes design and production processes. But can BIM be used to support process changes designed according to lean production and lean construction principles? To begin to answer this question we provide a conceptual analysis of the interaction of lean construction and BIM for improving construction. This was investigated by compiling a detailed listing of lean construction principles and BIM functionalities which are relevant from this perspective. These were drawn from a detailed literature survey. A research framework for analysis of the interaction between lean and BIM was then compiled. The goal of the framework is to both guide and stimulate research; as such, the approach adopted up to this point is constructive. Ongoing research has identified 55 such interactions, the majority of which show positive synergy between the two

Interaction-driven definition of e-business processes

Business-to-business interaction (B2Bi) is the next step for corporate IT [1]. Business relationships become increasingly dynamic, and new requirements emerge for data and process management. Standardisation initiatives are successfully targeting business ontology [4]. Still, business agility mainly depends on the flexibility of the business processes of a company. In the B2B space, traditional approaches to process modelling and management are inadequate. Today more than ever, traditional workflow management is crucial for the internal effectiveness of a company. Internal efficiency is a prerequisite for external agility. From both a technical and a business perspective, internal workflow management relies on specific assumptions in terms of resources involved in the process, as well as the process itself [2]. Level of control, availability, reliability, and cost stability are parameters that traditional process models and technology can almost take for granted. A single authority ruling on the process definition and the total control over process execution are also basic concepts for internal workflows. From a business perspective, a big upfront investment is put in the complete definition of process specifications. A different conceptual framework is required for the definition and management of e-business processes [3, 5]. The intrinsic capability to adapt to rapidly changing business requirements becomes crucial. The line of research explored in this paper derives from an approach to process modelling and management that explicitly targets the peculiarities and dynamics of B2Bi. In the model we propose, the upfront specification of the interaction logic of a company can be limited to partially specified processes and basic interaction rules. Specific information is then gathered from the observation of actual instances of business interaction, and used to refine and extend the initial model. In addition to the enforcement of explicit business requirement, the goal is to capture and leverage implicit operational knowledge. In the following sections, we present an overview of the methodology we are currently experimenting with for the inference of complex processes from business interaction flows. For our initial experiments, we focus on business messages compliant with the RosettaNet standard [4]

Multimodal Shared-Control Interaction for Mobile Robots in AAL Environments

This dissertation investigates the design, development and implementation of cognitively adequate, safe and robust, spatially-related, multimodal interaction between human operators and mobile robots in Ambient Assisted Living environments both from the theoretical and practical perspectives. By focusing on different aspects of the concept Interaction, the essential contribution of this dissertation is divided into three main research packages; namely, Formal Interaction, Spatial Interaction and Multimodal Interaction in AAL. As the principle package, in Formal Interaction, research effort is dedicated to developing a formal language based interaction modelling and management solution process and a unified dialogue modelling approach. This package aims to enable a robust, flexible, and context-sensitive, yet formally controllable and tractable interaction. This type of interaction can be used to support the interaction management of any complex interactive systems, including the ones covered in the other two research packages. In the second research package, Spatial Interaction, a general qualitative spatial knowledge based multi-level conceptual model is developed and proposed. The goal is to support a spatially-related interaction in human-robot collaborative navigation. With a model-based computational framework, the proposed conceptual model has been implemented and integrated into a practical interactive system which has been evaluated by empirical studies. It has been particularly tested with respect to a set of high-level and model-based conceptual strategies for resolving the frequent spatially-related communication problems in human-robot interaction. Last but not least, in Multimodal Interaction in AAL, attention is drawn to design, development and implementation of multimodal interaction for elderly persons. In this elderly-friendly scenario, ageing-related characteristics are carefully considered for an effective and efficient interaction. Moreover, a standard model based empirical framework for evaluating multimodal interaction is provided. This framework was especially applied to evaluate a minutely developed and systematically improved elderly-friendly multimodal interactive system through a series of empirical studies with groups of elderly persons

Geospatial Narratives and their Spatio-Temporal Dynamics: Commonsense Reasoning for High-level Analyses in Geographic Information Systems

The modelling, analysis, and visualisation of dynamic geospatial phenomena has been identified as a key developmental challenge for next-generation Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In this context, the envisaged paradigmatic extensions to contemporary foundational GIS technology raises fundamental questions concerning the ontological, formal representational, and (analytical) computational methods that would underlie their spatial information theoretic underpinnings. We present the conceptual overview and architecture for the development of high-level semantic and qualitative analytical capabilities for dynamic geospatial domains. Building on formal methods in the areas of commonsense reasoning, qualitative reasoning, spatial and temporal representation and reasoning, reasoning about actions and change, and computational models of narrative, we identify concrete theoretical and practical challenges that accrue in the context of formal reasoning about `space, events, actions, and change'. With this as a basis, and within the backdrop of an illustrated scenario involving the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban narratives, we address specific problems and solutions techniques chiefly involving `qualitative abstraction', `data integration and spatial consistency', and `practical geospatial abduction'. From a broad topical viewpoint, we propose that next-generation dynamic GIS technology demands a transdisciplinary scientific perspective that brings together Geography, Artificial Intelligence, and Cognitive Science. Keywords: artificial intelligence; cognitive systems; human-computer interaction; geographic information systems; spatio-temporal dynamics; computational models of narrative; geospatial analysis; geospatial modelling; ontology; qualitative spatial modelling and reasoning; spatial assistance systemsComment: ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (ISSN 2220-9964); Special Issue on: Geospatial Monitoring and Modelling of Environmental Change}. IJGI. Editor: Duccio Rocchini. (pre-print of article in press

Modelling Theory Communities in Science

This position paper presents a framework for modelling theory communities where theories interact as agents in a conceptual network. It starts with introducing the difficulties in integrating scientific theories by discussing some recent approaches, especially of structuralist theory of science. Theories might differ in reference, extension, scope, objectives, functions, architecture, language etc. To address these potential integration barriers, the paper employs a broad definition of "scientific theory", where a theory is a more or less complex description a describer puts forward in a context called science with the aim of making sense of the world. This definition opens up the agency dimension of theories: theories "do" something. They work on a - however ontologically interpreted - subject matter. They describe something, and most of them claim that their descriptions of this "something" are superior to those of others. For modelling purposes, the paper makes use of such description behaviour of scientific theories on two levels. The first is the level where theories describe the world in their terms. The second is a sub-case of the first: theories can of course describe the description behaviour of other theories concerning this world and compare with own description behaviour. From here, interaction and potential cooperation between theories could be potentially identified by each theory perspective individually. Generating inclusive theory communities and simulating their dynamics using an agent-based model means to implement theories as agents; to create an environment where the agents work as autonomous entities in a self-constituted universe of discourse; to observe what they do with this environment (they will try to apply their concepts, and instantiate their mechanisms of sense-making); and to let them mutually describe and analyse their behaviour and suggest areas for interaction. Some mechanisms for compatibility testing are discussed and the prototype of the model with preliminary applications is introduced.Simulating Science, Theory Interaction, Agent-Based Modelling, Theory Network

CaSPiS: A Calculus of Sessions, Pipelines and Services

Service-oriented computing is calling for novel computational models and languages with well disciplined primitives for client-server interaction, structured orchestration and unexpected events handling. We present CaSPiS, a process calculus where the conceptual abstractions of sessioning and pipelining play a central role for modelling service-oriented systems. CaSPiS sessions are two-sided, uniquely named and can be nested. CaSPiS pipelines permit orchestrating the flow of data produced by different sessions. The calculus is also equipped with operators for handling (unexpected) termination of the partner’s side of a session. Several examples are presented to provide evidence of the flexibility of the chosen set of primitives. One key contribution is a fully abstract encoding of Misra et al.’s orchestration language Orc. Another main result shows that in CaSPiS it is possible to program a “graceful termination” of nested sessions, which guarantees that no session is forced to hang forever after the loss of its partner