BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING USING RIVA AND ARIS – PART 1, PROCESS ARCHITECTURE DEVELOPMENT: COMPARATIVE STUDY (7)

Business process modelling has been given great attention due to its crucial role in developing computer-based systems that support (and automate) organizational processes. In information systems; building the right process architecture is vital, since a poor division of organizational processes can lead to complex designs or incoherent structure. Moreover, process architecture acts as a big picture of what the organization does, and represents dynamic relationships between the existing processes, which in turn helps understand how the organization works (Ould, 2005). A number of process architecture methods are available, however, few studies focused on assessing these methods, and comparing some of them to find out how easy they are to be used in particular contexts, and whether they can be standardized. In a previous work for the author, ARIS was used to generate a process architecture diagram for academic libraries (Tbaishat, 2015). This paper discusses the derivation of a Process Architecture Diagram (PAD) using Riva method in detail; in contrast to the process architecture diagram developed using ARIS. The information system selected as an example for this comparative study is in the context of academic libraries, embedding various –generic - library processes. ARIS is more professional tool that can be used to support large organizational systems with clear division of processes, many users and less complicated architecture. The translation from ARIS process architecture to Riva\u27s PAD is not likely to be straightforward, since there are major differences between the two methods, and it will rely on the analyst\u27s ability of interpretation

Interactive notebooks for achieving learning outcomes in a graduate course: a pedagogical approach

Social network analysis involves delicate and sophisticated mathematical concepts which are abstract and challenging to acquire by traditional methods. Many studies show that female students perform poorly in computer science-related courses compared to male students. To address these issues, this research investigates the impact of employing a web-based interactive programming tool, Jupyter notebooks, on supporting deeper conceptual understanding and, therefore, better attainment levels of the course learning outcomes in a female setting. The work also highlights the overall experience and enjoyment this tool brought to the classroom. Document analysis and questionnaire were used as data collection methods. A mixed approach was applied, mid-term exam documents were investigated qualitatively, and the questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively. Our results showed that most students correctly perceived the learning outcomes and knowledge introduced within the Jupyter environment. Moreover, the interactive nature of Jupyter enhanced engagement and brought enjoyment to the learning experience

The Impact of Funding on Market Valuation in Technology Start-Up Firms: implication for open innovation

Do outside funds and increased access to capital have an effect on the market valuation of technology startup firms? Should entrepreneurs prioritize outside funding to increase the values of their firms? This research seeks to answer these important questions. Given the current lack of empirical-based assessment on this topic, a causal impact analysis was conducted to draw conclusions regarding the effect of different investment types and funding amounts on market valuation. Using the Crunchbase data platform, we conducted a study of 7,481 early-stage technology startups in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2000 to August 2022. To ensure an accurate and reliable evaluation of the impact of funding on market valuation in technology startups, we employed the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and various causal inference methods such as Shapley values analysis, Average Treatment Effect (ATE), and Conditional Average Treatment Effect (CATE). The findings suggest that there is a U-shaped relationship between the amount of capital raised and post-money valuation, indicating that while capital funding has an overall positive effect on market valuation, raising too much capital has a negative impact. Furthermore, we found evidence that private equity, Series B, and Series C rounds generate significant market valuation for early-stage technology companies. These results extend the current literature by highlighting the positive impact of capital funding and financing on market valuation. Policymakers can use these empirical results to make informed decisions about promoting higher investments into early-stage technology firms through venture capital financing from both the government and private sectors

Critical Analytical Insights of Palliative Care Process Modelling in a Regional Cancer Care

Palliative care services are rapidly evolving in cancer care organisations. In palliative care processes, administratives are involved without acknowledging that they may hinder rather than facilitate the path of palliative care in respect to cancer patients. Comprehending a palliative care organisation, without looking at current running processes is groundless. Therefore, a critical understanding of palliative care processes is necessary for improving respective cancer care systems. In this research palliative care Business Process Models (BPMs) have been developed to empower palliative care domain experts not only attaining a critical understanding of the currently running palliative care operations, but also in informing further required improvements with associated implications on cancer patients. Amongst the key outcomes of developing and analysing palliative BPMs in a cancer care organisation revealed identifying gaps, limitations, challenges, and opportunities to reflectively improve palliative care processes in cancer care centres. Finally, this research suggests further re-engineering of palliative care processes as reference models that may be instantiated in specific socio-cultural, person-centered, and other contextual settings aimed at improved qualitative palliative care for cancer patients

Critical Analysis of Palliative Homecare Using the i∗ Framework\u27s Strategic and Social Requirements Modelling Applied to a Cancer Care Organisation

Home Health Care (HHC) is an essential and critical part of palliative care and especially for terminal cancer patients. This research is aimed as a first attempt to align with the research gap in modelling the social requirements of palliative care processes and the HHC process in particular. Consequently, this research is a first attempt at developing an $\mathbf{i}^{\ast}$ framework visual goal-oriented and social requirements models of the HHC process of the domain of palliative care with a reflected application using a case study from a leading regional cancer centre in the Middle East, namely KHCC. Furthermore, this research has made it possible for palliative care domain experts in the HHC process and using the associated $\mathbf{i}^{\ast}$ framework strategic dependency and strategic rationale models to visually trace the most critical and strategic actors in the HHC process along with the highly interacting dependers and dependees. Finally, the HHC $\mathbf{i}^{\ast}$ strategic models contribute to bridging the gap between the world of palliative care requirements and their reflective computer-based information systems and $\mathbf{IoT}$ smart devices. Hence, this sheds light towards the realisation of the field of palliative care as being a “systems of systems” virtual organisation with the respective socio-technical systems involvement, for the best care of the palliative patient and especially terminal cancer patients. A further corollary of this research is the insufficiency and less representativeness of palliative care process models to utilise in guiding the development of the HHC $\mathbf{i}^{\ast}$ framework strategic models without linking to the full associated strategic and policy documents of palliative care

Improved Reptile Search Optimization Algorithm using Chaotic map and Simulated Annealing for Feature Selection in Medical Filed

The increased volume of medical datasets has produced high dimensional features, negatively affecting machine learning (ML) classifiers. In ML, the feature selection process is fundamental for selecting the most relevant features and reducing redundant and irrelevant ones. The optimization algorithms demonstrate its capability to solve feature selection problems. Reptile Search Algorithm (RSA) is a new nature-inspired optimization algorithm that stimulates Crocodiles’ encircling and hunting behavior. The unique search of the RSA algorithm obtains promising results compared to other optimization algorithms. However, when applied to high-dimensional feature selection problems, RSA suffers from population diversity and local optima limitations. An improved metaheuristic optimizer, namely the Improved Reptile Search Algorithm (IRSA), is proposed to overcome these limitations and adapt the RSA to solve the feature selection problem. Two main improvements adding value to the standard RSA; the first improvement is to apply the chaos theory at the initialization phase of RSA to enhance its exploration capabilities in the search space. The second improvement is to combine the Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm with the exploitation search to avoid the local optima problem. The IRSA performance was evaluated over 20 medical benchmark datasets from the UCI machine learning repository. Also, IRSA is compared with the standard RSA and state-of-the-art optimization algorithms, including Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Grasshopper Optimization algorithm (GOA) and Slime Mould Optimization (SMO). The evaluation metrics include the number of selected features, classification accuracy, fitness value, Wilcoxon statistical test (p-value), and convergence curve. Based on the results obtained, IRSA confirmed its superiority over the original RSA algorithm and other optimized algorithms on the majority of the medical datasets

OntoBioethics: A framework for the agile development of bioethics ontologies in pandemics, applied to COVID-19

Background: Few ontological attempts have been reported for conceptualizing the bioethics domain. In addition to limited scope representativeness and lack of robust methodological approaches in driving research design and evaluation of bioethics ontologies, no bioethics ontologies exist for pandemics and COVID-19. This research attempted to investigate whether studying the bioethics research literature, from the inception of bioethics research publications, facilitates developing highly agile, and representative computational bioethics ontology as a foundation for the automatic governance of bioethics processes in general and the COVID-19 pandemic in particular. Research Design: The iOntoBioethics agile research framework adopted the Design Science Research Methodology. Using systematic literature mapping, the search space resulted in 26,170 Scopus indexed bioethics articles, published since 1971. iOntoBioethics underwent two distinctive stages: (1) Manually Constructing Bioethics (MCB) ontology from selected bioethics sources, and (2) Automatically generating bioethics ontological topic models with all 26,170 sources and using special-purpose developed Text Mining and Machine-Learning (TM&ML) engine. Bioethics domain experts validated these ontologies, and further extended to construct and validate the Bioethics COVID-19 Pandemic Ontology. Results: Cross-validation of the MCB and TM&ML bioethics ontologies confirmed that the latter provided higher-level abstraction for bioethics entities with well-structured bioethics ontology class hierarchy compared to the MCB ontology. However, both bioethics ontologies were found to complement each other forming a highly comprehensive Bioethics Ontology with around 700 concepts and associations COVID-19 inclusive. Conclusion: The iOntoBioethics framework yielded the first agile, semi-automatically generated, literature-based, and domain experts validated General Bioethics and Bioethics Pandemic Ontologies Operable in COVID-19 context with readiness for automatic governance of bioethics processes. These ontologies will be regularly and semi-automatically enriched as iOntoBioethics is proposed as an open platform for scientific and healthcare communities, in their infancy COVID-19 learning stage. iOntoBioethics not only it contributes to better understanding of bioethics processes, but also serves as a bridge linking these processes to healthcare systems. Such big data analytics platform has the potential to automatically inform bioethics governance adherence given the plethora of developing bioethics and COVID-19 pandemic knowledge. Finally, iOntoBioethics contributes toward setting the first building block for forming the field of “Bioethics Informatics”

Reflections on the value and impact of library and information services:Part 3: towards an assessment culture

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine frameworks (such as scorecards) for ongoing library assessment and how business process modelling contributes in Part 3 of the series of viewpoint papers. Design/methodology/approach – Reviews the statistical data collection for strategic planning, and use of data analytics. Considers how to organise further value explorations. Compares macro-frameworks (balanced scorecard, values scorecard) and micro-frameworks for library assessment. Reviews the evidence on business process modelling/re-engineering initiatives. Describes how the Riva approach can be used to both derive a process architecture and to model individual processes. Findings – Data analytics requires collaboration among library services to develop reliable data sets and effective data visualisations for managers to use. Frameworks such as the balanced scorecard may be used to organise ongoing impact and performance evaluation. Queries that arise during ongoing library assessment may require a framework to formulate questions, and assemble evidence (qualitative and quantitative). Both macro- and micro-value frameworks are useful. Work on process modelling within libraries can help to develop an assessment culture, and the Riva approach provides both a process architecture and models of individual processes. Originality/value – Examines how to implement a library assessment culture through use of data analytics, value frameworks and business process modelling. </jats:sec