A hybrid approach to workflow modelling

The increase in Business Process Management projects in the past decade has seen an increase in demand for business process modelling techniques. A rapidly growing aspect of BPM is the use of workflow management systems to automate routine and sequential processes. Workflows tend to move away from traditional definitions of business processes can often be forced to fit a model which does not suit its nature. Existing process modelling tools tend to be biased to either the informational, behavioural or object oriented aspect of the workflow. Because of this, models can often miss important aspects of a workflow. As well as managing the relationship between the types of model it is important to consider who will be using it as process models are useful in various ways. This paper reports on a case study in a manufacturing company where users were surveyed to see which are the notation that are most common in modelling based on two main categories (behavioural and informational). Research outcomes showed that there is no prevailing set of standards used for either of these categories, whilst most user feel the need to use more than one approach to model their system at any given time

Hybrid process modelling within business process management projects

Business Process Management (BPM) is still an important research topic amongst both academics and businesses. The recent recession has forced businesses to focus on cost control and efficiency in order to better cope with the economic downturn. Many companies in this situation turn to BPM software as a means of improving their efficiency and costs by reducing aspects of the business such as process lead-times and material costs. In order to identify areas of the business and its processes which require changing the business will most likely adopt a method of modelling their business processes. Because of the large number of available techniques decision makers usually struggle to decide the best approach. Recent literature has also pointed out that prevalent modelling techniques are designed to serve one specific purpose and may not be capable of modelling the whole picture. The key relationship between the information systems and the human behaviour is one example of where existing techniques are biased towards opposite ends of the scale. This paper proposes the use of a hybrid modelling notation composed of multiple existing notations in order to bridge this. The hybrid notation was applied to a BPM project at a company in the construction industry and a case study conducted with its users

Mi vida/anda de un hilo pendiente

Le drame espagnol du Siècle d’Or aborde très fréquemment le thème de l’ascension et de la chute du privado, ou favori du roi : c’est le cas pour de nombreuses pièces de Juan Pérez de Montalbán. La présente étude se propose d’explorer la représentation de la précarité du favori dans l’œuvre du dramaturge, en portant une attention particulière aux apariencias emblématiques.Spanish drama of the Golden Age exploited with great frequency the theme of the rise and fall of the privado, or royal favourite. It is a theme that appears in many plays by Juan Pérez de Montalbán. This study explores the dramatist’s depiction of the precariousness of the favourite, with a special focus on emblematic discovery scenes.El drama español del Siglo de Oro cultivó con una frecuencia sorprendente el tema de la subida y caída del privado. Es un tema que aparece en muchas de las obras dramáticas de Juan Pérez de Montalbán. El análisis presente explora la representación de la precariedad del privado en la obra del dramaturgo con un enfoque especial en las apariencias dramáticas emblemáticas

SME Finance in Africa

This paper uses cross-country firm-level surveys to gauge access to financial services and the importance of financing constraints for African enterprises. We compare access to finance in Africa and other developing regions of the world, within Africa across countries, and across different groups of firms. We relate firms' access to finance to firm and banking system characteristics and discuss policy challenges

Shakespeare

If scholarship devoted to the influence of emblematics on Cervantes is a relatively new field, the same cannot be said for Shakespeare. The study of the debt owed by Shakespeare to emblem books began in earnest over a century ago with the publication of Henry Green's pioneering Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers: An Exposition of their Similarities of Thought and Expression. Preceded by a View of Emblem-Literature Down to A.D. 1616 (London: Trübner and Co., 1870). One constant in the approach of Shakespeare critics in their handling of possible emblematic influence is to urge caution and prudence when considering emblem literature as a possible source or influence on Shakespeare.Si la investigación dedicada a la influencia de la emblemática en Cervantes es un campo relativamente nuevo, no podemos decir lo mismo en relación a Shakespeare. El estudio de las deudas del dramaturgo con los libros de emblemas se remonta a más o menos un siglo, con la publicación del estudio pionero de Henry Green, Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers: An Exposition of their Similarities of Thought and Expression. Preceded by a View of Emblem-Literature Down to A.D. 1616 (Londres: Trübner and Co., 1870). Una constante del acercamiento de la crítica a este asunto siempre ha sido recomendar la mayor cautela y prudencia en la consideración de la literatura emblemática como fuente o influencia posible sobre los textos de Shakespeare

Cervantes

Si la intución de vincular a Shakespeare con el mundo de los emblemas fue rastreada por la crítica anglosajona desde antiguo, dando lugar a estudios extensos y minuciosos, no ha sido así con la obra de Cervantes. De hecho, no podemos hablar en rigor de unos primeros —y aún tímidos— análisis de este enlace hasta principios de los años ochenta del siglo pasado, y habrá que esperar a que acabe prácticamente el siglo para contar con una mínima bibliografía dedicada. Sin duda, la multiplicación de estudios coincide con el nuevo interés que gana en nuestro país la literatura de emblemas a impulsos de la Sociedad Española de Emblemática, de sus congresos y las publicaciones de sus miembros. Pero hay que destacar que, aún así, y hasta hoy, la figura de Cervantes se presenta escurridiza para la consolidación de esta bibliografía

New Evidence for an Old Controversy: Scattered Landholdings and Open Fields

We bring new evidence to bear on McCloskey's argument that farmers in the open fields reduced risk by scattering their land holdings. The new evidence is the grain output from a number of plots of land in two French villages, Onnaing and Quarouble, during the years 1701-1790. When combined with prices and wages, the output figures provide financial returns for each plot of land, and financial theory then allows us to construct land portfolios that minimize portfolio variance for a given mean return. The virtue of using returns (rather than simple output correlations) is that the returns take into account the price fluctuations farmers encountered. They also allow us to distinguish the benefits of scattering from those produced by crop diversification and they do so with greater accuracy than the output figures. In the end, the returns demonstrate that scattering of land holdings provided relatively little insurance. The real reduction in risk came not from scattering but from the diversification across crops inherent in the three-field system

The Emblematic Exemplum in Agustín Moreto y Cabaña and Other Golden Age Playwrights

Taking as a point of departure Juan de Horozco's definition: «las emblemas se pueden hazer con figuras solas, como es más ordinario o con figuras y letras que siruan de mote, y esto es, porque la emblema quanto más guardare las propiedades de la empresa tanto será mejor según yo entiendo y juzgara qualquiera» (f. 64v), this study analyzes the presence and function of dramatic emblems in the plays of Agustín Moreto y Cabaña and other Spanish Golden Age Dramatists. It postulates that the poetic images, derived in many instances from emblem books, function as exempla in order to comment on the dramatic situation. The dramatic emblems are divided into two main groups: «marked emblems and «unmarked emblems». KEYWORDS: Agustín de Moreto; argumentum emblematicum; dramatic emblems; exempla