A framework to evaluate the viability of robotic process automation for business process activities

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technology for centralized automation of business processes. RPA automates user interaction with graphical user interfaces, whereby it promises efficiency gains and a reduction of human negligence during process execution. To harness these benefits, organizations face the challenge of classifying process activities as viable automation candidates for RPA. Therefore, this work aims to support practitioners in evaluating RPA automation candidates. We design a framework that consists of thirteen criteria grouped into five perspectives which offer different evaluation aspects. These criteria leverage a profound understanding of the process step. We demonstrate and evaluate the framework by applying it to a real-life data set.Comment: This is an accepted manuscript for the "RPA Forum" at the "Int. Conference on Business Process Management (BPM 2020)". The final authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_1

ETS Transcription Factors Control Transcription of EZH2 and Epigenetic Silencing of the Tumor Suppressor Gene Nkx3.1 in Prostate Cancer

ETS transcription factors regulate important signaling pathways involved in cell differentiation and development in many tissues and have emerged as important players in prostate cancer. However, the biological impact of ETS factors in prostate tumorigenesis is still debated.We performed an analysis of the ETS gene family using microarray data and real-time PCR in normal and tumor tissues along with functional studies in normal and cancer cell lines to understand the impact in prostate tumorigenesis and identify key targets of these transcription factors. We found frequent dysregulation of ETS genes with oncogenic (i.e., ERG and ESE1) and tumor suppressor (i.e., ESE3) properties in prostate tumors compared to normal prostate. Tumor subgroups (i.e., ERG(high), ESE1(high), ESE3(low) and NoETS tumors) were identified on the basis of their ETS expression status and showed distinct transcriptional and biological features. ERG(high) and ESE3(low) tumors had the most robust gene signatures with both distinct and overlapping features. Integrating genomic data with functional studies in multiple cell lines, we demonstrated that ERG and ESE3 controlled in opposite direction transcription of the Polycomb Group protein EZH2, a key gene in development, differentiation, stem cell biology and tumorigenesis. We further demonstrated that the prostate-specific tumor suppressor gene Nkx3.1 was controlled by ERG and ESE3 both directly and through induction of EZH2.These findings provide new insights into the role of the ETS transcriptional network in prostate tumorigenesis and uncover previously unrecognized links between aberrant expression of ETS factors, deregulation of epigenetic effectors and silencing of tumor suppressor genes. The link between aberrant ETS activity and epigenetic gene silencing may be relevant for the clinical management of prostate cancer and design of new therapeutic strategies

Clinical profile of patients with severe asthma

The article presents the results of the authors' trial involving 119 patients (aged 22 to 82 years) with severe bronchial asthma (BA) diagnosed according to the ERS/ATS guidelines (2014). Allergic asthma was diagnosed in 77% of patients. The study focused on house dust mites as the main allergens in the sensitization spectrum. A significant proportion of patients (82%) had uncontrolled course of the disease, and 76% suffered from airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. Markers of eosinophilic airway inflammation (nitric oxide in exhaled air and level of blood eosinophils above 150 cells per 1 µL) were found in 63% of patients. Good adherence to treatment (administration of more than 75% of the prescribed doses of drugs) was observed in 61% of patients. Among patients with severe asthma 27% were active smokers. Smokers demonstrated a decreased pulmonary function and a lower level of nitric oxide in exhaled air. Smokers were also less adherent to treatment with inhaled corticosteroids. Severe BA was combined with COPD in 37% of cases

Case inversion in Georgian: Syntactic properties and sentence processing

Skopeteas S, Fanselow G, Asatiani R. Case inversion in Georgian: Syntactic properties and sentence processing. In: Lamers M, De Swart P, eds. Case, Word Order, and Prominence. Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics. New York: Springer; 2011: 145-171.The morphological and syntactic facts from Georgian create a unique puzzle for the study of sentence processing. The word order is characterized by considerable freedom and case marking is not uni-directionally associated with -roles. This article presents a grammatical account of Georgian case marking and a study on incremental sentences processing. The empirical findings show that case is indeed a more reliable cue than word order in processing clauses with thematically ambiguous arguments. Furthermore, the obtained data suggest an asymmetry between dative experiencers and dative actors, such that only the revision of the thematic properties of the latter is associated with high processing cost

Towards an Understanding of Scaling the Software Robot Implementation

The implementation of software robots is based on the often time-consuming work carried out by the project team, which often leads to higher than expected costs and time delays. This can be made more efficient by scaling the extension of the robot’s functionalities. However, scaling can only take place once one has understood what can be scaled and to what extent. Therefore, based on an empirically illustrated theoretical conceptualization of scaling the software robot implementation, in this chapter we elaborate how scaling can be approached when implementing software robots