A novel workflow management system for handling dynamic process adaptation and compliance

Modern enterprise organisations rely on dynamic processes. Generally these processes cannot be modelled once and executed repeatedly without change. Enterprise processes may evolve unpredictably according to situations that cannot always be prescribed. However, no mechanism exists to ensure an updated process does not violate any compliance requirements. Typical workflow processes may follow a process definition and execute several thousand instances using a workflow engine without any changes. This is suitable for routine business processes. However, when business processes need flexibility, adaptive features are needed. Updating processes may violate compliance requirements so automatic verification of compliance checking is necessary. The research work presented in this Thesis investigates the problem of current workflow technology in defining, managing and ensuring the specification and execution of business processes that are dynamic in nature, combined with policy standards throughout the process lifycle. The findings from the literature review and the system requirements are used to design the proposed system architecture. Since a two-tier reference process model is not sufficient as a basis for the reference model for an adaptive and compliance workflow management system, a three-tier process model is proposed. The major components of the architecture consist of process models, business rules and plugin modules. This architecture exhibits the concept of user adaptation with structural checks and dynamic adaptation with data-driven checks. A research prototype - Adaptive and Compliance Workflow Management System (ACWfMS) - was developed based on the proposed system architecture to implement core services of the system for testing and evaluation purposes. The ACWfMS enables the development of a workflow management tool to create or update the process models. It automatically validates compliance requirements and, in the case of violations, visual feedback is presented to the user. In addition, the architecture facilitates process migration to manage specific instances with modified definitions. A case study based on the postgraduate research process domain is discussed

TLAD 2010 Proceedings:8th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the eighth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2010), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2010 - the 27th International Information Systems Conference. TLAD 2010 is held on the 28th June at the beautiful Dudhope Castle at the Abertay University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.This year, the workshop includes an invited talk given by Richard Cooper (of the University of Glasgow) who will present a discussion and some results from the Database Disciplinary Commons which was held in the UK over the academic year. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will also present seven peer reviewed papers, and six refereed poster papers. Of the seven presented papers, three will be presented as full papers and four as short papers. These papers and posters cover a number of themes, including: approaches to teaching databases, e.g. group centered and problem based learning; use of novel case studies, e.g. forensics and XML data; techniques and approaches for improving teaching and student learning processes; assessment techniques, e.g. peer review; methods for improving students abilities to develop database queries and develop E-R diagrams; and e-learning platforms for supporting teaching and learning

MINERVA : Model drIveN and sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous improVement of business process & relAted tools

Organizations are facing several challenges nowadays, one of the most important ones being their ability to react quickly to changes either to their business process (BP) models or to the software implementing them. These changes can come from different sources: external requirements from partners or the market, or new internal requirements for the way that things are carried out by the defined BPs; they may also arise from improvement opportunities detected for the BPs defined, based on BPs execution monitoring and execution evaluation that is done by the organization, and/or its partners and customers. The increasing complexity of both BPs models and the software implementing them, requires the changes needed or the improvements to be carefully weighed against the impact their introduction will have; they ought also to be carried out in a systematic way to assure a successful development. Two key elements are to provide these requirements: the separation of BPs definition from their implementation to minimize the impact of changes in one to the other, and a process to introduce the changes or improvements in the existing BPs and/or software implementing them. Business Process Management (BPM) provides the means for guiding and supporting the modeling, implementation, deployment, execution and evaluation of BPs in an organization, based on the BP lifecycle. The realization of BPs by means of services provides the basis for separating their definition from the technologies implementing them and helps provide a better response to changes in either of the layers defined -definition and implementation of business processes- with minimum impact on the other. Modeling of both BP and services is a key aspect to support this vision, helping provide traceability between elements from one area to the other, so easing the analysis of the impact of changes, among other things. Models have proven to play an important role in the software development process, one of its key uses in the context of BP realization by means of services is that of designing services at a more abstract level than with specific technologies, also promoting reuse by separating services logic from its implementation. MINERVA: Model drIveN & sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous business process improVement & relAted tools is the framework that has been defined in this thesis work; it takes into account all the aspects mentioned, in which the SOC and MDD paradigms are applied to BPs focusing on their continuous improvement, extending an existing BP lifecycle with explicit execution measurement and improvement activities and elements. It is made up of three dimensions: i) conceptual, which defines the concepts that are managed throughout the framework. ii) methodological, which defines a methodology for service oriented development from BPs with automatic generation of SoaML service models from BPMN2 models, along with a continuous improvement process based on execution measurement of the occurrences of BPs in the organization to carry out the improvement effort. iii) tools support for the whole proposal based on several existing tools we have integrated, along with new ones we have developed. The proposals in MINERVA have been validated by means of an experiment and two case studies carried out in the context of real projects in two organizations, from which, as the main result of the applications performed, it can be concluded that MINERVA can be a useful and key guide for the continuous improvement of BPs realized by services and for the development of service oriented systems from BPs, with automatic generation of service models from BP models.Las organizaciones se enfrentan en la actualidad a varios retos, siendo uno de los más importantes su capacidad para reaccionar rápidamente a los cambios ya sea en sus modelos de procesos de negocio (PN) o en el software que los implementa. Estos cambios pueden provenir de distintas fuentes: requisitos externos de socios o del mercado, o nuevos requisitos internos para la forma en que las cosas se llevan a cabo por los PNs definidos; también pueden surgir de las oportunidades de mejora detectadas para los PNs definidos, en base al monitoreo y evaluación de la ejecución de los PNs llevada a cabo por la organización, y/o sus socios y clientes. La creciente complejidad de los modelos de PNs y del software que los implementa, requiere que los cambios o las mejoras sean sopesados cuidadosamente contra el impacto que su introducción tendrá; también deben llevarse a cabo de manera sistemática para asegurar un desarrollo exitoso. Dos elementos son clave para proveer estos requisitos: la separación de la definición de los PNs de su implementación, para minimizar el impacto de los cambios de uno en otro, y un proceso para introducir los cambios o mejoras en los PNs y/o en el software que los implementa. La Gestión de Procesos de Negocio (Business Process Management, BPM) proporciona los medios para guiar y apoyar el modelado, implementación, despliegue, ejecución y evaluación de PNs en una organización, basado en el ciclo de vida de PNs. La realización de PNs con servicios proporciona la base para la separación de su definición de las tecnologías para implementarlos, y ayuda a proporcionar una mejor respuesta a los cambios en cualquiera de las capas definidas -definición e implementación de procesos de negocio- con un impacto mínimo sobre la otra. El modelado de PNs y servicios es un aspecto clave para apoyar esta visión, ayudando a proveer trazabilidad entre los elementos de un área a la otra, por lo tanto facilitando el análisis del impacto de los cambios, entre otras cosas. Los modelos han demostrado jugar un papel importante en el proceso de desarrollo de software, uno de sus usos principales en el contexto de la realización de PNs con servicios es el de diseñar servicios a un nivel más abstracto que con tecnologías específicas, promoviendo la reutilización separando la lógica de los servicios de su implementacion. MINERVA: Model drIveN & sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous business process improVement & relAted tools es el marco que se ha definido en este trabajo de tesis, que toma en cuenta todos los aspectos mencionados, en el cual los paradigmas de Computación Orientada a Servicios (Service Oriented Computing, SOC) y Desarrollo Dirigido por Modelos (Model Driven Development, MDD) se aplican a los PNs con foco en su mejora continua, extendiendo un ciclo de vida PN existente con actividades y elementos explícitos para la medición de la ejecución y mejora de PNs. El marco se compone de tres dimensiones: i) conceptual, que define los conceptos que se manejan en todo el marco. ii) metodológica, que define una metodología para el desarrollo orientado a servicios desde PNs, con generación automática de modelos de servicio en SoaML desde modelos en BPMN2, junto con un proceso de mejora continua basado en la medición de la ejecución de las ocurrencias de los PNs en la organización para llevar a cabo el esfuerzo de mejora. iii) soporte de herramientas para la propuesta completa basado en la integracion de varias herramientas existentes, junto con otras nuevas que hemos desarrollado. Las propuestas de MINERVA han sido validadas por medio de un experimento y dos casos de estudio realizados en el marco de proyectos reales en dos organizaciones, de los cuales, como resultado principal de las aplicaciones realizadas, se puede concluir que MINERVA puede ser una guía útil y clave para la mejora continua de PNs realizados por servicios y para el desarrollo de sistemas orientados a servicios desde PNs, con generación automática de modelos de servicio a partir de modelos de PN

TLAD 2010 Proceedings:8th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the eighth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2010), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2010 - the 27th International Information Systems Conference. TLAD 2010 is held on the 28th June at the beautiful Dudhope Castle at the Abertay University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.This year, the workshop includes an invited talk given by Richard Cooper (of the University of Glasgow) who will present a discussion and some results from the Database Disciplinary Commons which was held in the UK over the academic year. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will also present seven peer reviewed papers, and six refereed poster papers. Of the seven presented papers, three will be presented as full papers and four as short papers. These papers and posters cover a number of themes, including: approaches to teaching databases, e.g. group centered and problem based learning; use of novel case studies, e.g. forensics and XML data; techniques and approaches for improving teaching and student learning processes; assessment techniques, e.g. peer review; methods for improving students abilities to develop database queries and develop E-R diagrams; and e-learning platforms for supporting teaching and learning

An Agent-Based Collaborative Approach to Graphing Causal Maps for Situation Formulation

We provide a background discussion of group support systems (GSS) research into aiding strategic management processes. GSS support for strategic management has been primarily focused on qualitative analysis and the communication processes surrounding strategic planning. While fully developed in common decision-support systems, powerful simulation modeling and quantitative analytical tools have been difficult to integrate into GSS system configurations because they require increased cognitive load and expert modeling support, a central problem now addressed by collaboration engineering. A conceptual and functional bridge is needed to integrate the qualitative and quantitative approaches, reduce cognitive load, and provide modeling support that does not require experts. Acar’s analytical causal mapping is introduced as a structured method for situational formulation and analysis of unstructured strategic problems. This form of causal mapping includes specific processes and analytical approaches offering cognitive modeling support for problem formulation. Its computational capabilities provide support for Systems Thinking approaches in a system easy to learn and use. Using the methodological template of the design science paradigm, we contribute a prototype system for the development and simulation of causal maps that uses RePast 2.0, a Java agent-based modeling (ABM) and simulation library

UNDERSTANDING STAKEHOLDERS PERCEPTION TOWARDS HUMAN-WILDLIFE INTERACTION AND CONFLICT IN A TIGER LANDSCAPE-COMPLEX OF INDIA

Human-population of the earth exceeding 6 billion and growing at an estimates rate of 1.2% per year (US census Bureau, 2002) will lead to increase in human-wildlife encounters. Attacks on humans are perhaps the least understood of these encounters, but the most interesting and emotionally connected to people (Quigley Howard 2005). The main aim of the study if to understand stakeholders’ perception towards human-wildlife interaction and conflicts in Corbett National park, India. We used a standardized IRB (Institutional Review Board) approved questionnaire to survey 315 household from 15 villages lying within and around Corbett National Park of India using snow-ball technique and stratified random sampling technique.. We also surveyed and analyzed the head of the village, snow-ball technique and stratified random technique survey differently. We used multivariate regression analysis to understand the data obtained from questionnaire survey. Later, we also designed a conceptual model to understand factors influencing human-wildlife interaction; and an empirical model to identify factors affecting human-wildlife conflicts. The results of the study identified that most of the encounters with wildlife occurred while collecting timber or grass from forests. Wild pigs, elephants and cheetal are the species mainly responsible for crop-loss in our study area. Majority of the stakeholders were engaged in timber and grass collection from forested area. Multivariate regression results suggests that stakeholders whose farms were located far from highway, had good fencing and who had better socio-economic status faced least threat from wildlife with respect to crop-loss, livestock loss and human-life loss/injury. The simulation results of dynamic system experiment suggests that habitat loss and poaching play a very significant role in tiger population and its future. The study concludes that a holistic multi-disciplinary conservation approach is needed to address the increasing conflict issues in India. More emphases should be given on community based-conservation strategies and policies. Watch-towers, pits, solar-powered fencing are the best and most effective ways to keep wildlife away from damaging crops and killing livestock. Sustainable development and better higher education is the key to conserving tigers in India

Big Data in the construction industry: A review of present status, opportunities, and future trends

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd The ability to process large amounts of data and to extract useful insights from data has revolutionised society. This phenomenon—dubbed as Big Data—has applications for a wide assortment of industries, including the construction industry. The construction industry already deals with large volumes of heterogeneous data; which is expected to increase exponentially as technologies such as sensor networks and the Internet of Things are commoditised. In this paper, we present a detailed survey of the literature, investigating the application of Big Data techniques in the construction industry. We reviewed related works published in the databases of American Association of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and Elsevier Science Direct Digital Library. While the application of data analytics in the construction industry is not new, the adoption of Big Data technologies in this industry remains at a nascent stage and lags the broad uptake of these technologies in other fields. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no comprehensive survey of Big Data techniques in the context of the construction industry. This paper fills the void and presents a wide-ranging interdisciplinary review of literature of fields such as statistics, data mining and warehousing, machine learning, and Big Data Analytics in the context of the construction industry. We discuss the current state of adoption of Big Data in the construction industry and discuss the future potential of such technologies across the multiple domain-specific sub-areas of the construction industry. We also propose open issues and directions for future work along with potential pitfalls associated with Big Data adoption in the industry