Modeling Business Process: Analysis of Goal-Oriented Approaches

A crucial management issue for most corporations is the effective design and implementation of their business process. However, existing approaches describe an enterprise in terms of activities and tasks view without offering sufficient guidance towards a process-centric description of the organization. Goals have long been recognized to be essential components involved in the business process. Business process engineering research has increasingly recognized the leading role played by goals in the business process. Such recognition has led to a whole stream of research on goaloriented approaches. The study of goal-oriented methodologies indicates that modeling of organizational goals constitutes a central activity of the business process. In this paper we advocate the use of goal-oriented approaches to business process modeling. Some systematic approaches to developing and documenting business processes on the basis of the explicit or implicit business objectives are discussed. From the representation view of model, the way that models are expressed is demonstrated

Model of Information Security Engineering Based on SSE-CMM

On the basis of the project thought of SSECMM, this paper presents a kind of information security engineering model based on SSE-CMM. And it expounds the concrete work at each stage in the course of security engineering in detail

Práticas em gerenciamento ágil de projetos

Com o ambiente de projetos atual cada vez mais competitivo, dinâmico e turbulento, abordagens tradicionais de gestão que sejam plan-driven estão se tornando menos eficazes e eficientes. Neste contexto, com clientes e consumidores cada vez mais exigentes, surge uma corrente de gestão ágil de projetos. Um dos objetivos deste trabalho é identificar quais são as práticas associadas à gestão ágil de projetos e agrupá-las em grandes categorias. Procurou-se também entender se existem diferenças na adoção de práticas ágeis em projetos executados em empresas de grande porte, e de pequeno/médio porte. Para tanto, foram estudadas três empresas, por meio da aplicação de um questionário, baseado nas práticas de gestão ágil identificadas na literatura. Observou -se que práticas e valores pregados pela corrente são generalizáveis para outras áreas (boa comunicação, foco no cliente, desenvolvimento de competências soft e hard, planejamento e controle), e por isso, mesmo empresas que não possuem o conceito implantado adota posturas consideradas “ágeis”. Dentre as práticas listadas, as três empresas analisadas são mais deficitárias na comunicação, e são mais “ágeis” na relação com o cliente. Embora o trabalho não tenha identificado diferenças significativas, em função de algumas de suas limitações, ele fornece alguns insights e sugestões de áreas dentro da gestão ágil de projetos que ainda podem ser explorado

Ultrasonic frogs show extraordinary sex differences in auditory frequency sensitivity

Acoustic communication plays an important role in the reproductive behavior of anurans. Males of concave-eared torrent frog (_Odorrana tormota_) have ultrasonic communication capacity 1, 2, but it is unknown whether females communicate with ultrasound. Here we show that _O. tormota_ exhibits great sex differences in the auditory frequency sensitivity. Acoustic playback experiments demonstrated that the male's advertisement calls evoke gravid females' positive phonotaxis and vocal responses, whereas ultrasonic components of the male's calls (frequencies above 20 kHz) do not elicit female phonotaxis or vocalization. The behavioral study was complemented by electrophysiological recordings from the auditory midbrain and by laser Doppler vibrometer measurements of the tympanic membrane's response to acoustic stimuli. These measurements revealed that females have an upper frequency limit up to 16 kHz (threshold 107 dB SPL) and no ultrasound sensitivity, unlike males which have an upper frequency limit of up to 35 kHz (87 dB SPL). Single units in the female auditory midbrain have the best excitatory frequencies (BEFs) peaked around 5 kHz, corresponding to the fundamental frequency (F0) of male's most calls, whereas the male auditory midbrain units have BEFs mostly above 8 kHz, largely consistent with the F0 of female courtship calls. Females have a frequency sensitive bandwidth (10 dB above threshold) ranged from 2 to 6 kHz, narrower than that males have (5-20 kHz). The velocity amplitude of the tympanic membranes peaked around 5 kHz in females, whereas 7 kHz in males. The results suggest that the frog species O. tormota is an example of a vertebrate, which demonstrates well phonotaxis and extraordinary sex differences in hearing

catena-Poly[[(acetato-κO)[4-(1H-pyrazol-3-yl)pyridine-κN 1]zinc]-μ-acetato-κ2 O:O′]

In the title compound, [Zn(CH3CO2)2(C8H7N3)]n, the ZnII atom is coordinated by one N atom from a 4-(1H-pyrazol-3-yl)pyridine ligand and three O atoms from two bridging and one terminal acetate ligands, forming a distorted tetra­hedral geometry. The bridging acetate ligands link the Zn atoms into a chain along [001]. N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds and π–π inter­actions between the pyridine and pyrazole rings [centroid–centroid distance = 3.927 (3) Å] connect the chains into a layer parallel to (011)

cis-4-(Tosyl­oxymeth­yl)cyclo­hexa­ne­carboxylic acid

The title compound, C15H20O5S, is an inter­mediate in the synthesis of novel amino­carboxylic acid derivatives. The cyclo­hexane ring exhibits a chair conformation. In the crystal structure, adjacent mol­ecules form dimers via O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Managing Uncertainty in Projects: A Review, Trends and Gaps

Nowadays an increasing number of projects are being developed in high complexity and uncertainty environment, requiring different approaches for project management: less rigid and more flexible. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a framework for managing uncertainties, through a systematic literature review. The developed framework, based on the contingency theory, suggests that approaches for uncertainty management are, in part, determined by the characteristics of the existing uncertainties. The responses for uncertainty can be driven by the cause or consequence of the uncertainties and those are chosen according to the ability to influence the cause, which is higher for internal uncertainties and lower for external uncertainties. The flexibility of the project management approach, in its turn, is impacted by the uncertainty degree.Nowadays an increasing number of projects are being developed in high complexity and uncertainty environment, requiring different approaches for project management: less rigid and more flexible. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a framework for managing uncertainties, through a systematic literature review. The developed framework, based on the contingency theory, suggests that approaches for uncertainty management are, in part, determined by the characteristics of the existing uncertainties. The responses for uncertainty can be driven by the cause or consequence of the uncertainties and those are chosen according to the ability to influence the cause, which is higher for internal uncertainties and lower for external uncertainties. The flexibility of the project management approach, in its turn, is impacted by the uncertainty degree

The evolution of floral deception in Epipactis veratrifolia (Orchidaceae): from indirect defense to pollination

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that floral deception has evolved in at least 7500 species of angiosperms, of which two thirds are orchids. Epipactis veratrifolia (Orchidaceae) is a model system of aphid mimicry as aphidophagous hoverflies lay eggs on false brood sites on their flowers. To understand the evolutionary ecology of floral deception, we investigated the pollination biology of E. veratrifolia across 10 populations in the Eastern Himalayas. We reconstructed the phylogeny of Epipactis and mapped the known pollination systems of previously studied species onto the tree. RESULTS: Some inflorescences of E. veratrifolia were so infested with aphids while they were still in bud that the some larvae of hoverflies developed to the third instar while flower buds opened. This indicated that adult female hoverflies were partly rewarded for oviposition. Although flowers failed to secrete nectar, they mimicked both alarm pheromones and aphid coloring of to attract female hoverflies as their exclusive pollinators. Phylogenetic mapping indicate that pollination by aphidophagous hoverflies is likely an ancestral condition in the genus Epipactis. We suggest that the biological interaction of aphid (prey), orchid (primary producer) and hoverfly (predator) may represent an intermediate stage between mutualism and deception in the evolution of pollination-by-deceit in E. veratrifolia. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses indicate that this intermediate stage may be used as a model system to interpret the origin of oviposition (brood site) mimicry in Epipactis. We propose the hypothesis that some deceptive pollination systems evolved directly from earlier (partly) mutualistic systems that maintained the fidelity of the original pollinator(s) even though rewards (nectar/ brood site) were lost

Insecticidal Activity of the Leaf and Stem Water Extract of Gelsemium elegans against Solenopsis invicta

A comprehensive green worker ants control method that can be used to replace traditional chemical synthetic insecticides. In this study, the leaves and stems of Gelsemium elegans were extracted with water as the solvent, and the bioactivity of G. elegans against worker ants was determined by the “water tube” method. The bioassay results of insecticidal activity showed that when the time was extended to the 10th day, the mortality of worker ants treated with G. elegans extract reached 55.00% (1/20 leaf extract), 46.67% (1/20 stem extract) and 45.00% (1 mg/kg koumine). And the behavioral impact test results showed that the aggregation rate was reduced to 56.67% (1/100 leaf extract), 60.00% (1/100 stem extract) and 60.00% (0.5 mg/kg koumine); the climbing rate was reduced to 60.00 % (1/100 leaf extract), 58.33% (1/100 stem extract) and 58.33% (0.5 mg/kg koumine). The effect on the walking ability of worker ants is obvious. The walking rate drops to 1.53cm/s (1/100 leaf extract), 1.60cm/s (1/100 stem extract) and 1.47cm/s (0.5 mg/kg koumine). Therefore, we conclude that the water extract of G. elegans can be used for long-term continuous control of worker ants, which can be used to replace traditional chemical synthetic insecticides

Human Bocavirus Infection, People’s Republic of China

A newly identified parvovirus, human bocavirus (HBoV), was found in 21 (8.3%) of 252 nasopharyngeal aspirates from hospitalized children with lower respiratory tract infection in Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China. Viral loads were 104 to 1010 copies/mL. Phylogenetic analysis of the VP1 gene showed a single genetic lineage of HBoV worldwide