An Epistemological Foundation of Concpetual Modeling

In a business environment, making the right decisions is vital for the success of a company. Making right decisions is inevitably bound to the availability and provision of relevant information. Information systems are supposed to be able to provide this information in an efficient way. Thus, within information systems development a detailed analysis of information supply and information demands has to prevail. Based on Szyperski’s information set and subset-model we will give an epistemological foundation of information modeling in general and show, why conceptual modeling in particular is capable of developing effective and efficient information systems. Furthermore, we derive conceptual modeling requirements based on our findings

Measuring the Loschmidt amplitude for finite-energy properties of the Fermi-Hubbard model on an ion-trap quantum computer

Calculating the equilibrium properties of condensed matter systems is one of the promising applications of near-term quantum computing. Recently, hybrid quantum-classical time-series algorithms have been proposed to efficiently extract these properties from a measurement of the Loschmidt amplitude $\langle \psi| e^{-i \hat H t}|\psi \rangle$ from initial states $|\psi\rangle$ and a time evolution under the Hamiltonian $\hat H$ up to short times $t$. In this work, we study the operation of this algorithm on a present-day quantum computer. Specifically, we measure the Loschmidt amplitude for the Fermi-Hubbard model on a $16$-site ladder geometry (32 orbitals) on the Quantinuum H2-1 trapped-ion device. We assess the effect of noise on the Loschmidt amplitude and implement algorithm-specific error mitigation techniques. By using a thus-motivated error model, we numerically analyze the influence of noise on the full operation of the quantum-classical algorithm by measuring expectation values of local observables at finite energies. Finally, we estimate the resources needed for scaling up the algorithm.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

From conceptual process models to running systems: A holistic approach for the configuration of enterprise system processes

This paper proposes a method which aims at increasing the efficiency of enterprise system implementations. First, we argue that existing process modeling languages that feature different degrees of abstraction for different user groups exist and are used for different purposes which makes it necessary to integrate them. We describe how to do this using the meta models of the involved languages. Second, we argue that an integrated process model based on the integrated meta model needs to be configurable and elaborate on the enabling mechanisms. We introduce a business example using SAP modeling techniques to illustrate the proposed method

Forging solidarity in the struggle over the North American Free Trade Agreement: Strategy and action for labor, nature, and capital.

Focusing on the struggle over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the substantive problem is to account for the unprecedented coalescence of environmental and labor movement organizations in opposition to the NAFTA and the extensive mobilization of corporate interests through the USA*NAFTA coalition in defense of the agreement. Integrating a historical analysis of the NAFTA-opposition with a network analysis of pro-NAFTA corporate leadership, the thesis examines the ways in which collective action networks and political strategy interact to shape mobilization capacity. A wide range of data informs this study. Extensive interviews with prominent leaders of key unions, environmental groups, and the coalitions forming the NAFTA-opposition inform an analysis of cooperation and conflict in the process of forging political alliances. Documents, ranging from congressional testimony to economic analyses, explicate the varying positions and language of support and opposition to the NAFTA. Using financial, subsidiary investment, Political Action Committee, board interlock, and membership affiliation data for federal Trade Advisory Committees and business policy-planning bodies, the determinants of leadership among a sample of 228 corporations in the USA\sp*NAFTA coalition are analyzed. The capacity for a labor-environmental alliance was facilitated by an increasingly dense network of ties among 'intervening' movement organizations and grassroots supporters committed to environmental justice and democratic unionism, whose solidarity was reinforced through resource interchanges and the creation of a common interpretive frame for opposing the NAFTA. Conversely, corporate political actors, being less constrained by information and resource networks, were governed by an inner core of corporate elite whose positions in leading business associations, policy planning bodies, and board interlocks enhanced their collective capacity to mobilize support for NAFTA across a complex and stratified universe of intercorporate relationships. This study invites us to reconsider theoretical assumptions about continuities in social movement goals, the role of class struggle in shaping the political project of market liberalization, and the circumstances under which leading corporate actors mobilize to secure the broader social conditions for capital accumulation.Ph.D.Environmental scienceHealth and Environmental SciencesLabor relationsPolitical scienceSocial SciencesSocial structureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/130227/2/9721970.pd