Abdominal surgery process modeling frameworkfor simulation using spreadsheets

We provide a continuation of the existing Activity Table Modeling methodology with a modu-lar spreadsheets simulation. The simulation model developed is comprised of 28 modelingelements for the abdominal surgery cycle process. The simulation of a two-week patientflow in an abdominal clinic with 75 beds demonstrates the applicability of the methodol-ogy. The simulation does not include macros, thus programming experience is not essentialfor replication or upgrading the model. Unlike the existing methods, the proposed solu-tion employs a modular approach for modeling the activities that ensures better readability,the possibility of easily upgrading the model with other activities, and its easy extensionand connectives with other similar models. We propose a first-in-first-served approach forsimulation of servicing multiple patients. The uncertain time duration of the activities ismodeled using the function “rand()”. The patients movements from one activity to the nextone is tracked with nested “if()” functions, thus allowing easy re-creation of the processwithout the need of complex programming

Healthcare process analysis and improvement at Department of abdominal surgery-University Medical Centre Ljubljana

Background: Healthcare processes in hospitals, likewise processes in companies or governmental organizations, may accumulate problems and obstacles over time, which consequently cause the processes to become ineffective. BPM (Business Process Management) is an approach to process modeling, improvement and automating, which has been used with great success for process improvement. Methods: This work was to examine the possibility of improving healthcare process by using BPM. To implement BPM ideas, a revised TAD (Tabular Application Development) methodology was developed, representing an important contribution to BPM. The first three phases of the TAD methodology were introduced in a step-bystep approach. The first phase deals with process identification, the second develops the “as-is” model, and the third phase discusses process improvement by developing a “to-be” model. Results: We found that (a) the Surgery process is efficient and well organized; (b) patient stay in the Department could be shortened; however for humane and social reasons the leadership prefers to leave the residence time as it is; (c) the process is associated with some time-consuming activities that are performed by other departments and represent the bottleneck of the process. Conclusions: The following were concluded (a) BPM proved to be a suitable approach for carrying out healthcare process improvement; (b) the revised TAD methodology showed to be consistent and efficient in performing BPM approach; (c) The Surgery process discussed was found to be an effective one and no changes or improvements are needed; (d) Concerning time-consuming activities, the leadership decided to discuss this problem with the management of the departments where the activities are executed

Flood response process knowledge of Lower Sava Valley communities in Slovenia

This paper focuses on the learning process of the flood-endangered communities in the Lower Sava Valley in Slovenia. In past five years, the communities faced several floods, which occurred because of the rain in central and northeast parts of Slovenia. Floods differed by their severity. On the first hand, the least harming caused only higher water levels of the major rivers, which cause isolation of couple of households. On the other hand, the most harming floods caused roadblocks, flooding the entire areas and communities. Hydrological and meteorological data, describing river dynamics and rainfall was gathered from the Slovenian Environment Agency database, while data describing the severity of the flood events from the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief database. To be able to simulate and assess floods` characteristics, we combined all gathered data into the singled database with the timeline of the flood events. We used data mining, process modeling and statistical methods to build up the simulation model, to compare simulation output with the real world data and to finally evaluate community learning process. Through the past floods, communities had the opportunity to learn about flood characteristics, how to properly react and protect the endangered property. We identified emerged tacit knowledge, which made possible some communities to reduce flood risk. We conducted preliminary semi-structured interviews with people who live in the flood-endangered areas to get the insight on the perception of the floods. Further, we designed fuzzy knowledge assessment system to evaluate which of the communities demonstrated the highest learning experience. We identified influence of the community knowledge on the response process and further try to optimize learning model, with the measures, extracted from the national strategic defense documents. The improved model revealed much higher self-reliance and flood resilience of the communities, when they are provided with more systematic learning about the floods and counter flood measures. Consequently, the whole flood response process workload significantly reduced according to the higher ability of the communities to resolve flood situation with no additional external support

The activity table as an agent-based modeling approach for optimizing patent exploitation processes

The focal idea of the paper is to model the Activity table in order to increase the efficiency of the intellectual property management. The modeling is done by looking into activities of individual agents (resources or entities). The article examines - in light of the review of related research literature - how the Activity table technique can be used when focusing on IP processes, especially in smaller companies. This technique may be a useful, comprehensive, holistic, but still relatively simple way for intellectual property protection processes’ improvement; allowing to find bottle-necks and ways to avoid them as well as to include a systematic element into processes usually riddled by informality and uncertainty. We highlight the steps and considerations needed to use the Activity table in the exploitation phase and especially on facilitating patent transfers. The article provides two concrete examples, showcasing the use of the Activity table

Knowledge Driven Community Self-reliance and Flood Resilience - Study of the Communities in the Lower Sava Valley, Slovenia

In this position paper, we focus on the learning issues of the flood-endangered communities, situated in the Lower Sava Valley. The main issue and position expose characteristics of the loosely coupled system in the context of learning and knowledge management. We detected learning anomalies within the assessed flood response system, which we selected as a research example of the loosely coupled system. Therefore, we conducted a statistical analysis of the flood data and designed a fuzzy knowledge evaluation system, to be able to grade community learning. Finally, we designed learning improvement mechanism that would significantly contribute to the flood response system effectiveness and higher community self-reliance and flood resilience

Ranking of business process simulation tools with DEX/QQ hierarchical decision model

The omnipresent need for optimisation requires constant improvements of companies’ business processes (BPs). Minimising the risk of inappropriate BP being implemented is usually performed by simulating the newly developed BP under various initial conditions and “what-if” scenarios. An effectual business process simulations software (BPSS) is a prerequisite for accurate analysis of an BP. Characterisation of an BPSS tool is a challenging task due to the complex selection criteria that includes quality of visual aspects, simulation capabilities, statistical facilities, quality reporting etc. Under such circumstances, making an optimal decision is challenging. Therefore, various decision support models are employed aiding the BPSS tool selection. The currently established decision support models are either proprietary or comprise only a limited subset of criteria, which affects their accuracy. Addressing this issue, this paper proposes a new hierarchical decision support model for ranking of BPSS based on their technical characteristics by employing DEX and qualitative to quantitative (QQ) methodology. Consequently, the decision expert feeds the required information in a systematic and user friendly manner. There are three significant contributions of the proposed approach. Firstly, the proposed hierarchical model is easily extendible for adding new criteria in the hierarchical structure. Secondly, a fully operational decision support system (DSS) tool that implements the proposed hierarchical model is presented. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed hierarchical model is assessed by comparing the resulting rankings of BPSS with respect to currently available results

Innovations in intellectual property rights management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate innovations in intellectual property rights (IPR) databases, techniques and software tools, with an emphasis on selected new developments and their contribution towards achieving advantages for IPR management (IPRM) and wider social benefits. Several industry buzzwords are addressed, such as IPR-linked open data (IPR LOD) databases, blockchain and IPR-related techniques, acknowledged for their contribution in moving towards artificial intelligence (AI) in IPRM. Design/methodology/approach The evaluation, following an original framework developed by the authors, is based on a literature review, web analysis and interviews carried out with some of the top experts from IPR-savvy multinational companies. Findings The paper presents the patent databases landscape, classifying patent offices according to the format of data provided and depicting the state-of-art in the IPR LOD. An examination of existing IPR tools shows that they are not yet fully developed, with limited usability for IPRM. After reviewing the techniques, it is clear that the current state-of-the-art is insufficient to fully address AI in IPR. Uses of blockchain in IPR show that they are yet to be fully exploited on a larger scale. Originality/value A critical analysis of IPR tools, techniques and blockchain allows for the state-of-art to be assessed, and for their current and potential value with regard to the development of the economy and wider society to be considered. The paper also provides a novel classification of patent offices and an original IPR-linked open data landscape

An exploration of high performance computing cloud contract for SMEs: a systematic literature review

Purpose High performance computing (HPC) is used to solve complex calculations that personal computing devices are unable to handle. HPC offers the potential for small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to engage in product innovation, service improvement and the optimization of resource allocation (Borstnar and Ilijas, 2019). However, the expensive infrastructure, maintenance costs and resource knowledge gaps that accompany the use of HPC can make it inaccessible to SMEs. By moving HPC to the cloud, SMEs can gain access to the infrastructure without the requirement of owning or maintaining it, but they will need to accept the terms and conditions of the cloud contract. This paper aims to improve how SMEs access HPC through the cloud by providing insights into the terms and conditions of HPC cloud contracts. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a systematic literature review by implementing a four-step approach. A comprehensive search was undertaken and results synthesized to enable this paper’s objectives to be met. Findings This paper proposes that SMEs could gain competitive advantage(s) by understanding their own needs and improving their contract negotiation abilities, service management skills and risk management abilities before accepting the terms and conditions of the cloud contract. Furthermore, a checklist, service-level agreement, easily ignored elements and risk areas are presented as guidance for SMEs when reviewing their HPC cloud contract(s). Originality/value While HPC cloud contracts are a niche research topic, it is one of the key factors influencing the ability of SMEs to access HPC through the cloud. It is, however, by no means a level playfield with SMEs at a distinct disadvantage because of not influencing the writing up of the HPC cloud contract. The added value of the paper is that it contributes to our overall understanding of the terms and conditions of HPC cloud contracts

Activity-to-Skills Framework in the Intellectual Property Big Data Era

With new technological advances such as the advent of big data, new opportunities are arising for companies. The dynamic nature of external environments is also causing the need to revise the necessary employees’ skills. This article focuses on exploring the data skills in the context of intellectual property (IP) processes. By combining the resource-based view with a process approach, we designed our novel activity-to-skills framework to identify data skills. We posit that data skills are nonhomogenous and are not singular occurrences. Subsequently, we extend the taxonomy of required data skills by defining five types of data skills, as well as deepening the understanding of how these skills are distributed within IP activities and interwoven with nondata skill types. IP data skills come to the forefront most in IP commercialization activities. We develop implications for innovation managers based on interviews with elite informants—prominent IP experts—seven of them heads of their respective IP departments

Challenges and Limitations of Pandemic Information Systems: A Literature Review

In this article, we investigate the role of information systems (IS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. By focusing on the limitations, challenges, and failures that IS faced as a consequence of swift and sometimes unsupported actions by organizations and governments, the aim of our study is to learn from these practices. IS and information technologies (IT), in general, played a pivotal role in mitigating the effects and consequences of the pandemic. Yet, rapid changes in their implementation amid crisis frequently led to unexpected or unwanted consequences. These triggered a deluge of heated debates in scientific literature. Combining cooccurrence analysis with narrative synthesis, we examine the recent research findings on IS/IT pandemic solutions. We identify a range of problems that can be traced to hasty introduction of new solutions. They often bring into question the actual benefits of introducing them and sometimes even raise serious questions about data safety and privacy. We show that common keywords and themes from this literature can be classified into five clusters and two groups. This classification reveals the effects of the pandemic on health, business, education, science, and technology, some of which are surprising