2,494 research outputs found
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]
Service-oriented modeling for e-business applications components
The emerging trends for e-business engineering revolve
around specialisation and cooperation. Successful
companies focus on their core competences, and rely on a
network of business partners for the support services
required to compose a comprehensive offer for their
customers. Modulariy is crucial for a flexible e-business
infrastructure, but related requirements seldom reflect on
the design and operational models of business
information systems.
Software components are widely used for the
implementation of e-business applications, with proved
benefits in terms of system development and maintenance.
We propose a service-oriented componentisation of ebusiness
systems as a way to close the gap with the
business models they support. Blurring the distinction
between external services and internal capabilities, we
propose a homogeneous model for the definition of ebusiness
applications components. After a brief
discussion on the foundational aspects of the approach,
we present the process-based technique we adopted for
component modelling. We then present an infrastructure
compliant with the model proposed that we built on top of
an EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) platform
Modelling electronic service systems using UML
This paper presents a profile for modelling systems of electronic
services using UML. Electronic services encapsulate business services,
an organisational unit focused on delivering benefit to a consumer,
to enhance communication, coordination and information management.
Our profile is based on a formal, workflow-oriented description of electronic
services that is abstracted from particular implementation technologies.
Resulting models provide the basis for a formal analysis to verify
behavioural properties of services. The models can also relate services to
management components, including workflow managers and Electronic
Service Management Systems (ESMSs), a novel concept drawn from experience
of HP Service Composer and DySCo (Dynamic Service Composer),
providing the starting point for integration and implementation
tasks. Their UML basis and platform-independent nature is consistent
with a Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) development strategy, appropriate
to the challenge of developing electronic service systems using
heterogeneous technology, and incorporating legacy systems
An architectural model for electronic services
In addition to producing a pervasive standard and atechnology framework, the Web Service initiative hasprompted businesses to re-examine their service deliverychannels. Back-end systems are already in place tocapture business knowledge and manage operationalstrategies and procedures. Web Services enable access tosuch systems, as well as basic orchestration. Theinfrastructure is in place to recreate the business-levelnotion of an electronic service. However, the gap betweentechnology-oriented and business-oriented models forservices is still considerable.In this paper, we outline a model for electronic servicesas defined by the FRESCO project. The model constitutesan architectural blueprint of the technical and businessinfrastructure for an electronic service. The focus is onthe provisional aspects of electronic services
WEB service interfaces for inter-organisational business processes an infrastructure for automated reconciliation
For the majority of front-end e-business systems, the assumption of a coherent and homogeneous set of interfaces is highly unrealistic. Problems start in the back-end, with systems characterised by a heterogeneous mix of applications and business processes. Integration can be complex and expensive, as systems evolve more in accordance with business needs than with technical architectures. E-business systems are faced with the challenge to give a coherent image of a diversified reality. Web services make business interfaces more efficient, but effectiveness is a business requirement of at least comparable importance. We propose a technique for automatic reconciliation of the Web service interfaces involved in inter-organisational business processes. The working assumption is that the Web service front-end of each company is represented by a set of WSDL and WSCL interfaces. The result of our reconciliation method is a common interface that all the parties can effectively enforce. Indications are also given on ways to adapt individual interfaces to the common one. The technique was embodied in a prototype that we also present
Effective potential at finite temperature in a constant hypermagnetic field: Ring diagrams in the Standard Model
We study the symmetry breaking phenomenon in the standard model during the
electroweak phase transition in the presence of a constant hypermagnetic field.
We compute the finite temperature effective potential up to the contribution of
ring diagrams in the weak field, high temperature limit and show that under
these conditions, the phase transition becomes stronger first order.Comment: 15 pages, 8 Postscript figure
Real-time Chern-Simons term for hypermagnetic fields
If non-vanishing chemical potentials are assigned to chiral fermions, then a
Chern-Simons term is induced for the corresponding gauge fields. In thermal
equilibrium anomalous processes adjust the chemical potentials such that the
coefficient of the Chern-Simons term vanishes, but it has been argued that
there are non-equilibrium epochs in cosmology where this is not the case and
that, consequently, certain fermionic number densities and large-scale
(hypermagnetic) field strengths get coupled to each other. We generalise the
Chern-Simons term to a real-time situation relevant for dynamical
considerations, by deriving the anomalous Hard Thermal Loop effective action
for the hypermagnetic fields, write down the corresponding equations of motion,
and discuss some exponentially growing solutions thereof.Comment: 13 page
In vitro inhibitory effect of two commercial probiotics on chromogenic actinomycetes
Black extrinsic discoloration is a common clinical and aesthetic problem. This study aims to evaluate the potential in vitro antagonistic activity of two commercial probiotics, Streptococcus salivarius M18 and Lactobacillus reuteri ProDentis, against microorganisms associated with black stains
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