Higher-Order Process Modeling: Product-Lining, Variability Modeling and Beyond

We present a graphical and dynamic framework for binding and execution of business) process models. It is tailored to integrate 1) ad hoc processes modeled graphically, 2) third party services discovered in the (Inter)net, and 3) (dynamically) synthesized process chains that solve situation-specific tasks, with the synthesis taking place not only at design time, but also at runtime. Key to our approach is the introduction of type-safe stacked second-order execution contexts that allow for higher-order process modeling. Tamed by our underlying strict service-oriented notion of abstraction, this approach is tailored also to be used by application experts with little technical knowledge: users can select, modify, construct and then pass (component) processes during process execution as if they were data. We illustrate the impact and essence of our framework along a concrete, realistic (business) process modeling scenario: the development of Springer's browser-based Online Conference Service (OCS). The most advanced feature of our new framework allows one to combine online synthesis with the integration of the synthesized process into the running application. This ability leads to a particularly flexible way of implementing self-adaption, and to a particularly concise and powerful way of achieving variability not only at design time, but also at runtime.Comment: In Proceedings Festschrift for Dave Schmidt, arXiv:1309.455

Ontology-based context-sensitive software security knowledge management modeling

The disconcerting increase in the number of security attacks on software calls for an imminent need for including secure development practices within the software development life cycle. The software security management system has received considerable attention lately and various efforts have been made in this direction. However, security is usually only considered in the early stages of the development of software. Thus, this leads to stating other vulnerabilities from a security perspective. Moreover, despite the abundance of security knowledge available online and in books, the systems that are being developed are seldom sufficiently secure. In this paper, we have highlighted the need for including application context sensitive modeling within a case-based software security management system. Furthermore, we have taken the context-driven and ontology-based frameworks and prioritized their attributes according to their weights which were achieved by using the Fuzzy AHP methodology

Revisiting CAUTI Prevention: A Multifaceted Approach using Lean Six Sigma

This project identified gaps in policy and processes to improve patient outcomes related to workflow in the catheter-associated urinary tract infection policy and process at a 400-bed hospital in southern California. Even with an evidence-based infection prevention bundle in place, the current process was not working, as demonstrated by high catheter-associated infection rates for the last two years. This project answers the question: Does the use of a comprehensive evaluation of the current policy and process using the Lean Six Sigma quality improvement model influence a reduction in infection rates in patients who have an internal urinary catheter over 15 weeks? Despite published consensus guidelines for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of catheter-associated urinary tract infections; a single, evidence-based approach to the reduction of urinary tract infection does not exist. Avoiding the placement of catheters and encouraging early removal are the most effective interventions to prevent infection. The outcomes of the project resulted in a decrease in infections and significant cost reduction for the organization related to patient days and fines. Implementation of teams, nurse-driven protocols, and the establishment of bi-annual staff education were successful interventions. Lean Six Sigma played a significant role in the recognition of practical strategies required to ensure the effective use of proven infection prevention and to decrease the burden of disease correlated with indwelling urinary catheterization

Modelling environmentally-mediated infectious diseases of humans: transmission dynamics of schistosomiasis in China.

Macroparasites of humans are sensitive to a variety of environmental variables, including temperature, rainfall and hydrology, yet current comprehension of these relationships is limited. Given the incomplete mechanistic understanding of environment-disease interactions, mathematical models that describe them have seldom included the effects of time-varying environmental processes on transmission dynamics and where they have been included, simple generic, periodic functions are usually used. Few examples exist where seasonal forcing functions describe the actual processes underlying the environmental drivers of disease dynamics. Transmission of human schistosomes, which involves multiple environmental stages, offers a model for applying our understanding of the environmental determinants of the viability, longevity, infectivity and mobility of these stages to controlling disease in diverse environments. Here, a mathematical model of schistosomiasis transmission is presented which incorporates the effects of environmental variables on transmission. Model dynamics are explored and several key extensions to the model are proposed