On Ontological Foundations of Conceptual Modelling

Failures in information systems development have frequently been attributed to the application of insufficient or faulty information systems development methods. Some of these methods are concerned with the creation of conceptual models, which are used for multiple purposes throughout the information systems development process. Criticism of conceptual modelling methods usually targets their lacking of theoretical foundations. In response to such criticism, various approaches towards theoretical foundations of conceptual modelling have been proposed. They can be differentiated by the reference disciplines they are drawing on. Though the relevance of the philosophical discipline ontology for data modelling had already been recognised in the late 1950s, approaches that have been built on ontology are a rather recent phenomenon. It was not before 1986 that Wand and Weber commenced working on an ontological foundation of conceptual modelling—drawing on the scientific ontology by Mario Bunge, thus later named Bunge-Wand- Weber (BWW) ontology. Twenty years after its inception, claims regarding the validity of theoretical foundations of conceptual modelling based on the BWW ontology have not been scrutinised yet. In an attempt to open up a debate, a critical review of the BWW ontology and its application in the context of theoretical foundations of conceptual modelling is being offered

Ontological Foundations of Conceptual Modelling Reconsidered: A Response

In their quest for theoretical foundations of conceptual modelling information systems researchers have turned to various disciplines for inspiration. However, the adaptation of theories, concepts, and vernaculars across disciplines has always proven to be difficult at least. In the debate paper “On Ontological Foundations of Conceptual Modelling” I have subjected the transposition of Mario Bunge’s ontology to an ontology for conceptual modelling (i.e., the so-called Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) ontology) to a critique. Six commentaries to the critique have been received. They are reviewed—not with the intention of a closing argument but rather with the intent to structure the debate, to clarify some misconceptions, and last but not least to encourage the curious reader to carry on with the debate beyond the scope of this issue of the SJIS

Data \u27 Information \u27 Knowledge? The Perspective of Media Philosophy on Knowledge and its Management

Within the last decade the notion of knowledge has gained increasing attention in information systems research. Yet despite this development the understanding of ‘knowledge’ is still immature. Recognizing this issue, researchers have turned their attention toward fundamental aspects of the notion of knowledge, drawing on disciplines which are most relevant for the study of knowledge, e.g., philosophy or sociology of knowledge. We draw on the discipline of media-philosophy and show how this can help to develop a sound understanding of knowledge and contribute to the ‘re-discovery’ of important forms of knowledge that so far have been neglected in information systems research

On the Adoption of Philosophical Presuppositions and their Implications for Theorising “Quality of Conceptual Models”

It has been claimed frequently that the importance of conceptual models for information systems development poses high demands on the quality of conceptual models. However, the notions “model” and “quality of conceptual models” remain vague. In this paper we illustrate how philosophical presuppositions affect the conceptualisation of “model” and “quality of conceptual models” respectively. Consequentially we argue that the analysis and critique of philosophical presuppositions should precede any theorising of the notions “model” and “quality of conceptual models”

Patterns-based Evaluation of Open Source BPM Systems: The Cases of jBPM, OpenWFE, and Enhydra Shark

In keeping with the proliferation of free software development initiatives and the increased interest in the business process management domain, many open source workflow and business process management systems have appeared during the last few years and are now under active development. This upsurge gives rise to two important questions: what are the capabilities of these systems? and how do they compare to each other and to their closed source counterparts? i.e. in other words what is the state-of-the-art in the area?. To gain an insight into the area, we have conducted an in-depth analysis of three of the major open source workflow management systems - jBPM, OpenWFE and Enhydra Shark, the results of which are reported here. This analysis is based on the workflow patterns framework and provides a continuation of the series of evaluations performed using the same framework on closed source systems, business process modeling languages and web-service composition standards. The results from evaluations of the three open source systems are compared with each other and also with the results from evaluations of three representative closed source systems - Staffware, WebSphere MQ and Oracle BPEL PM, documented in earlier works. The overall conclusion is that open source systems are targeted more toward developers rather than business analysts. They generally provide less support for the patterns than closed source systems, particularly with respect to the resource perspective which describes the various ways in which work is distributed amongst business users and managed through to completion

Coupling order release methods with autonomous control methods – an assessment of potentials by literature review and discrete event simulation

[EN] Production planning and control faces increasing uncertainty, dynamics and complexity. Autonomous control methods proved themselves as a promising approach for coping with these challenges. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the interaction between autonomous control and precedent functions of production planning and control. In particular, up to now previous research has paid no attention to the influence of order release methods on the efficiency of autonomous control methods. Thereby, many researchers over the last decades provided evidence that the order release function has great influence on the logistic objective achievement in conventional production systems. Therefore, this paper examines the influence of order release methods on the efficiency of autonomous control methods by both theoretic evaluation and discrete event simulation. The simulation results indicate an overall high influence. Moreover, the logistic performance differs considerably depending on the implemented order release methods and the combinations of order release methods with autonomous control methods. The findings highlight demand for further research in this field.This research was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under the reference number SCHO 540/26-1 “Methods for the interlinking of central planning and autonomous control in production”.Grundstein, S.; Schukraft, S.; Scholz-Reiter, B.; Freitag, M. (2015). Coupling order release methods with autonomous control methods – an assessment of potentials by literature review and discrete event simulation. International Journal of Production Management and Engineering. 3(1):43-56. https://doi.org/10.4995/ijpme.2015.3199SWORD435631Park, H.-S., & Tran, N.-H. (2012). An autonomous manufacturing system based on swarm of cognitive agents. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 31(3), 337-348. doi:10.1016/j.jmsy.2012.05.002Pinedo, M. L. (2008). Scheduling. theory, algorithms and systems. New York, USA: Springer.Rekersbrink, H. (2012). Methoden zum selbststeuernden Routing autonomer logistischer Objekte. (doctoral disserta-tion). Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany.Scholz-Reiter, B., Böse, F., Jagalski, T., & Windt, K. (2007a). Selbststeuerung in der betrieblichen Praxis. Ein Framework zur Auswahl der passenden Selbststeuerungsstrategie. Industrie Management, 23(3), 7-10.Scholz-Reiter, B., Freitag, M., de Beer, C., & Jagalski, T. (2006). The influence of production network's complexity on the performance of autonomous control methods. Proceedings of the 5th CIRP International Seminar on Computation in Manufacturing engineering, 317-320.Scholz-Reiter, B., Freitag, M., de Beer, C., & Jagalski, T. (2005b). Modelling and Analysis of Autonomous Shop Floor Control. Proceedings of 38th CIRP International Seminar on Manufacturing Systems, 16-18.Scholz-Reiter, B., & Scharke, H. (2000). Reaktive Planung. Industrie Management, 16(2), 21-26.Weng, M. X., Wu, Z., Qi, G., & Zheng, L. (2008). Multi-agent-based workload control for make-to-order manufacturing. International Journal of Production Research, 46(8), 2197-2213. doi:10.1080/00207540600969758Westphal, J. R. (2001). Komplexitätsmanagement in der Produktionslogistik - ein Ansatz zur flussorientierten Gestal-tung und Lenkung heterogener Produktionssysteme. Wiesbaden, Germany: Deutscher Universitäts Verlag.Wiendahl, H.-P. (Ed.). (1991). Anwendung der belastungsorientierten Auftragsfreigabe. Munich, Germany: Carl Hanser.Wiendahl, H.-P. (1997). Fertigungsregelung. Logistische Beherrschung von Fertigungsabläufen auf Basis des Trich-termodells. Munich, Germany: Carl Hanser.Wiendahl, H.-P. (Ed.). (2005). Betriebsorganisation für Ingenieure. Munich: Hanser.Wyssusek, B. (1999). Grundlagen der Systemanalyse. In Krallmann, H., Frank, H., & Gronau, N. (Eds.), Sytemanalyse im Unternehmen (pp. 19-43). Munich, Germany: Oldenbourg

Baseline parameters for rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM®) in healthy women undergoing elective caesarean delivery: A prospective observational study in Australia

Formal reference ranges for rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM®) in pregnancy have not been obtained in the recommended minimum sample size of 120. This prospective observational study aimed to establish baseline parameters in an Australian population of women undergoing elective caesarean delivery. The secondary aim was to compare these reference ranges with those from prior studies and the manufacturer.Women undergoing elective caesarean delivery at term were included if they were at term, with normal body mass index and had no conditions affecting coagulation. ROTEM® reference ranges were derived by calculating the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles for INTEM/EXTEM/FIBTEM amplitude at 5 minutes (A5), amplitude at 15 minutes (A15), coagulation time (CT), maximum clot firmness (MCF), and clot formation time (CFT).Of 202 women screened, 132 met the inclusion criteria, having a mean age of 32.7 ± 5.0 years and median body mass index of 23.8 kg/m (interquartile range 21.5-26.4). The reference ranges for selected ROTEM® parameters were as follows: FIBTEM A5 (13-28 mm), FIBTEM CT (40-74 s), FIBTEM MCF (16-34 mm), EXTEM A5 (39-66 mm), EXTEM CT (43-69 s), INTEM A5 (38-63 mm).ROTEM® reference ranges for women with uncomplicated term pregnancies were reported as per the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry. The FIBTEM MCF and FIBTEM/EXTEM/INTEM amplitudes were higher in comparison to the manufacturer's reference ranges for the non-obstetric population. The EXTEM CT was shorter than the non-obstetric reference ranges. These ranges show an increase in coagulability during normal pregnancy compared to the non-pregnant reference ranges