Tools for modeling and simulating business processes - a comparative analysis

The purpose of this article is to compare selected tools for modeling and simulating business processes. The comparative study concerned Bizagi, Adonis, Bonita Studio and Visual Paradigm tools. The analysis has the aim to identify the best tool according to the criteria. The article explains the concepts related to business processes and analyzes the existing literature. Research scenarios containing evaluation criteria will be created for the analysis. The conducted research indicated that the best tool among the considered: Bizagi, Adonis, Bonita Studio, Visual Paradigm is Bizagi

Accountability and the fiscal responsibility provisions of the New Zealand Public Finance Act 1989

The recent Greek debt crisis highlighted the need for a robust fiscal policy regime. New Zealand's Public Finance Act 1989 establishes principles the government must take into account when setting its fiscal strategy, and imposes reporting requirements. These provisions are discussed, and analysed from the perspective of accountability theory. In particular, I use an accountability framework developed by Mark Bovens to consider the adequacy of six potential accountability forums. These forums are Parliament, the courts, the Treasury, the media, business groups, and the public via elections. It is concluded that each is relatively weak as a forum providing accountability for fiscal policy. Three possible amendments to New Zealand's fiscal responsibility regime are then considered. The first is to establish a new accountability forum: an independent fiscal commission, to provide fiscal reports and commentary. The second and third are amendments to the Act which may enhance existing accountability arrangements: a principle requiring consideration of intergenerational equity, and a fixed numerical target or limit for debt or spending. It is argued that the first two amendments should be adopted, while the last should not. This is primarily because a fixed target or limit would be bad policy. The paper concludes with further discussion of the related concept of transparency. It is argued that the Act is best viewed as an aide to transparency, rather than accountability, for fiscal policy. While Bovens' accountability framework is a useful exercise, the political and policy-focused nature of this area of the law makes rigid accountability inappropriate

Methane fluxes, microbial activities and community structures in a wet tundra of the Lena Delta

Wet tundra environments of the Arctic are natural sources of the climate relevant trace gas methane. The underlying biogeochemical processes are not yet well understood. The field investigations were carried out on the island Samoylov (N 72°, E 126°) located in the Lena Delta, Siberia. The study site represented an area of typical polygonal patterned grounds with ice-wedges, which were considered for analyses of methane fluxes, organic matter quality and microbial communities.The mean flux rate of the depression was 53.2 ± 8.7 mg CH4 m-2 d-1, whereas the mean flux rate of the dryer rim part of the polygon was 4.7 ± 2.5 CH4 m-2 d-1. The quantity of dissolved organic matter (DOM), which represents an important C pool for microbial communities, correlated significant with the total concentrations of phospholipid fatty acids and ether lipids (PLFA and PLEL) a measure for microbial biomass. Although permafrost soils represent a large carbon pool, it was shown, that the reduced quality of organic matter leads to a substrate limitation of the microbial metabolism. This is an important finding for modelling and calculating trace gas fluxes from permafrost environments, because the known models are consider only the total carbon amount.It can be concluded by the presented results firstly that microbial communities in permafrost environments are composed by members of all three domains of life at numbers comparable to temperate soil ecosystems and secondly that the permafrost microorganisms are well adapted to the extreme temperature gradient of their environment

On strings containing all subsets as substrings

AbstractLet Sπ be the length of a shortest sequence of positive integers which contains every Y ⊆{1,…,n} as a subsequence of |Y| consecutive terms. We give the following asymptotic estimation: (2πn)122n≲Sn≲(2π)2n. The upper bound is derived constructively

Intentionality and neuroscience

Most, if not all of us, are in practice mental realists: We explain and predict each other's actions by invoking the attribution of mental states. It is characteristic for many mental states to have intentional content, i.e. for thoughts, desires, intentions or emotions to be about dinner, meetings, sunshine, stock markets, elections, and so on. Intentional contents are assigned on the basis of a rational assessment of behavioral (and other) evidence. Many of us also wish to adhere to the notion that invoking intentional mental states does not imply having to commit to dualism, to a ghostly realm of minds and souls which exists over and above the physical world. Specifically, it is widely believed that the investigation of the brain is integral to explaining how the mind works, and that our mental states fundamentally depend on what happens in our brains. At the same time, it is not all that clear that matters of the mind are in any ontological or explanatory way identical to matters of the brain. Hence, it is prudent to neither adopt the notion that mental states are unrelated to the physical, nor that they can be reduced to the physical. Rather, a moderate position between dualism and reductionism is warranted. This book both gives a comprehensive account of the way explanation by mental state works and of how representational/intentional properties are related to matters of the brain, i.e. to matters described by physics, chemistry and biology. The former, which takes up the first part of the book, is rooted in major accounts of a scientific model of explanation by mental states as delineated by recent analytic philosophy, such as Davidson's, Dennett's, Cummins's or Fodor's. The latter, which takes up the second part, involves an inquiry into current empirical studies investigating matters of neural representation and the theoretical frameworks which – sometimes openly, sometimes tacitly – come with it. It not only yields a unified account of representation in cognitive and neuroscience, but also relates cognitive and neural representation to mental intentionality, and ultimately endorses the investigation of cognition by neuroscientific methods as a way of establishing a translation manual between mind and brain state descriptions. Specifically, recent “mindreading” or braincomputer-interface studies are considered as examples for this ongoing endeavor. Building on Quine's and Davidson's theories of interpretation, it is shown that such correlational studies in cognitive neuroscience satisfy their criteria for empirically specifying meaning by way of holistic truth theories, thereby producing localized translations. These translations are non-reductive, since they are bound to irreducible principles underlying the ascription of intentional content, but at the same time, they establish strong semantic bonds between mind and brain, honoring widely shared views about a strong constitutional link between brain and mind

Austrian economics without extreme apriorism: A critical reply

In this paper I will analyze and criticize Linsbichler’s recent proposition to interpret the fundamental axiom of Praxeology as analytic. I will first describe Linsbichler’s problem situation. I will then describe and criticize Linsbichler’s proposed solution to his problem; namely his interpretation of the fundamental axiom as analytic. I will argue that this idea does not fully utilize critical potentials that are available to improve the fundamental axiom. I will propose an alternative interpretation which I call the ‘critical interpretation’ that conserves the progressive aspects of Linsbichler’s proposal while eliminating undesirable ones

Role of locus coeruleus and amygdala projections to ventral subiculum in stress regulation

The hippocampal formation, and the ventral subiculum (vSub), constitute a central node in mediating the forebrain’s stress response, particularly to psychogenic stressors. The vSub regulates midbrain dopamine neuron population activity via its output to the nucleus accumbens (NAc)-pallidal-ventral tegmental area circuit, providing a potential functional link between stress and dopaminergic system. However, it is not known how appropriate vSub activity is generated in response to stress. The vSub receives projections from two stress-related inputs, locus coeruleus (LC) and basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA). In this study, direct LC innervation of the vSub and indirect input through the BLA was investigated as potential mediators of stress responses in the vSub. The effect of norepinephrine (NE) on single vSub neurons was examined using microiontophoresis combined with electrophysiological recording in anesthetized rats. The response to NE in the vSub was compared to the effect of electrical stimulation of the LC. Iontophoretic NE inhibited vSub neurons, while LC stimulation inhibited 16%, and activated 38% of neurons. Inhibition was mediated by alpha-2, whereas activation by beta-adrenergic receptors. Moreover, vSub neurons were activated by BLA stimulation, and LC pre-stimulation both potentiated and suppressed these responses in neuronal subpopulations. To examine the activation by stress, the effect of footshock on vSub neurons was tested. Footshock inhibited 13%, and activated 48% of neurons. Responses to footshock were correlated to LC stimulation-evoked responses in single neurons. Prazosin, an alpha-1 antagonist, reversed footshock-evoked inhibition, revealing an underlying activation. Inactivation of the BLA did not block LC stimulation- or footshock- evoked activation, while LC inactivation blocked both. To examine stress effects on vSub neurons involved in modulation of DA activity, a subpopulation of vSub neurons projecting to the NAc was identified using retrograde tracing. Restraint stress activated these neurons as measured by Fos expression. These results suggest that the LC NE system plays an important role in mediating responses to stress in the vSub. Stress-induced activation of the LC NE system evokes inhibition and activation in the vSub, both of which may contribute to stress adaptation. An imbalance of this system may lead to pathological stress responses in mental disorders