Change visualisation: Analysing the resource and timing differences between two event logs

With organisations facing significant challenges to remain competitive, Business Process Improvement (BPI) initiatives are often conducted to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their business processes, focussing on time, cost, and quality improvements. Event logs which contain a detailed record of business operations over a certain time period, recorded by an organisation's information systems, are the first step towards initiating evidence-based BPI activities. Given an (original) event log as a starting point, an approach to explore better ways to execute a business process was developed, resulting in an improved (perturbed) event log. Identifying the differences between the original event log and the perturbed event log can provide valuable insights, helping organisations to improve their processes. However, there is a lack of automated techniques and appropriate visualisations to detect the differences between two event logs. Therefore, this research aims to develop visualisation techniques to provide targeted analysis of resource reallocation and activity rescheduling. The differences between two event logs are first identified. The changes between the two event logs are conceptualised and realised with a number of visualisations. With the proposed visualisations, analysts are able to identify resource- and time-related changes that resulted in a cost reduction, and subsequently investigate and translate them into actionable items for BPI in practice. Ultimately, analysts can make use of this comparative information to initiate evidence-based BPI activities.     

An event-based notification approach for the delivery of patient medical information

Data sharing is pivotal in current medical practice so as to better treat patients by taking the best medical decisions, and to optimize healthcare costs by reducing the need to repeat unnecessary medical tests and by better managing healthcare structures. To improve the delivery of treatment outcomes and test results, the request-triggered retrieval of clinical documents provided by current Health Information Systems is not sufficient. The addition of a notification solution is necessary to inform users as soon as their clinical documents of interest have been produced so that they can retrieve them by means of the traditional Health Information Systems. In addition, this notification solution also has to implement the event-based information exchange patterns, which characterize the current attempts at integrating heterogeneous Health Information Systems in a seamless manner.This paper proposes an architecture for an effective asynchronous notification of clinical documents. Our intention is to bridge the gap between primary and secondary care, and between the clinical personnel and the administrators. The proposed solution is based on a publish/subscribe service, properly extended to allow us to jointly notify collections of correlated documents. Moreover, it has been implemented by means of a web service-based platform in accordance with the Web Service Notification specification so as to obtain a solution easy to integrate and manage. A systematic analysis has been carried out to assess the suitability of the implemented solution to satisfy the requirements for notifying medical documents, and to evaluate the notification latency in different use conditions.     

The Flexible Rare Event Sampling Harness System (FRESHS)

We present the software package FRESHS (http://www.freshs.org) for parallel simulation of rare events using sampling techniques from the ‘splitting’ family of methods. Initially, Forward Flux Sampling (FFS) and Stochastic Process Rare Event Sampling (SPRES) have been implemented. These two methods together make rare event sampling available for both quasi-static and full non-equilibrium regimes. Our framework provides a plugin system for software implementing the underlying physics of the system of interest. At present, example plugins exist for our framework to steer the popular MD packages GROMACS, LAMMPS and ESPResSo, but due to the simple interface of our plugin system, it is also easy to attach other simulation software or self-written code. Use of our framework does not require recompilation of the simulation program. The modular structure allows the flexible implementation of further sampling methods or physics engines and creates a basis for objective comparison of different sampling algorithms.     

The initial impact of EU ETS verification events on stock prices

This paper studies the impact of verified emissions publications in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) on the market value of participating companies. Using event study methodology on a unique sample of 368 listed companies, we show that verified emissions only resulted in statistically significant market responses when the carbon price was high and allowance scarcity was anticipated. The cross-section analysis of abnormal returns surrounding the publication of verified emissions shows that share prices decrease when actual emissions relative to allocated emissions increase. This negative relationship between allocation shortfalls and firm value is only significant for firms that are either carbon-intensive, compared to sector peers, or are less likely to pass through carbon-related costs in their product prices. The results suggest that although the EU ETS has been deemed unsuccessful so far due to over-allocation and low carbon price, shareholders initially perceived allowance holdings as value relevant. Our results highlight that a significant carbon market price and addressing pass-through costing are essential for successful future reforms of the EU ETS and other analogous carbon cap-and-trade systems implemented or planned worldwide.     

On-line life history calendar and sensitive topics: A pilot study

The use of the life history calendar (LHC) or the event history calendar as tools for collecting retrospective data has received increasing attention in many fields of social science and medicine. However, little research has examined the use of this method with web-based surveys. In this study, we adapted this method to an on-line setting to collect information about young adults' life histories, sexual behaviors, and substance use. We hypothesized that the LHC method would help respondents to date sensitive and non-sensitive events more precisely than when using a conventional questionnaire. We conducted an experimental design study comparing university students' responses to an on-line LHC and a conventional on-line question list. A test-retest design in which the respondents completed the survey again two weeks later was also applied to test the precision and reliability of the participants' dating of events. The results showed that whereas the numbers of sensitive and non-sensitive events were generally similar for the two on-line questionnaires, the responses obtained with the LHC were more consistent across the two administrations. Analyses of the respondents' on-line behavior while completing the LHC confirmed that respondents used the LHC's graphic interface to correct and reedit previous answers, thus decreasing data errors.     

nzCICS事件处理机制的应用

CICS的全称是Customer Information Control System,即客户信息控制系统,是大型机平台上一个非常重要的交易中间件,可以给客户提供联机事务处理和事务管理服务。CICS在电信,财税,金融等领域应用十分广泛,同样由于在联机事务处理方面的优异表现,CICS在银行领域更是备受推崇。因此,将探讨CICS的事件处理机制在行业中的应用。     

Combining stochastics and analytics for a fast Monte Carlo decay chain generator

Various Monte Carlo programs, developed either by small groups or widely available, have been used simulate decays of radioactive chains, from the original parent nucleus to the final stable isotopes. These chains include uranium, thorium, radon, and others, and generally have long-lived parent nuclei. Generating decays within these chains requires a certain amount of computing overhead related to simulating unnecessary decays, time-ordering the final results in post-processing, or both. We present a combination analytic/stochastic algorithm for creating a time-ordered set of decays with position and time correlations, and starting with an arbitrary source age. Thus the simulation costs are greatly reduced, while at the same time avoiding chronological post-processing. We discuss optimization methods within the approach to minimize calculation time, and extension of the algorithm to include various source types.     

0.18μm NMOS的重离子单粒子瞬态脉冲的仿真模拟

为了详细地了解纳米MOS电路中单粒子瞬变电荷收集机理,利用ISETCAD软件仿真二维模拟0.18μm NMOS的单粒子瞬态脉冲。通过进行三种不同的电路连接方式和不同的粒子注入位置的仿真,得到了一系列单粒子瞬态电流脉冲(SET)与时间的关系曲线。分析了不同电路连接方式和注入位置对SET的峰值和脉宽的影响。为下一步建立SET的精确模型进行SET效应的模拟做基础的研究。     

SOI CMOS SRAM单元单粒子翻转效应的模拟

为简单快速模拟静态随机存储器(SRAM)的单粒子效应,在二维器件数值模拟的基础上,以经典的双指数模型为原型,通过数值拟合得到了单粒子效应瞬态电流脉冲的表达式,考虑晶体管偏压对瞬态电流的影响,得到修正的瞬态电流表达式,将其带入电路模拟软件HSPICE中进行SRAM存储单元单粒子翻转效应的电路模拟,通过与实际单粒子实验结果的对比,验证了这种模拟方法的实用性。     

绸墙 柔软的建构实践

文章中的项目位于一功能发生置换的老工业园区内,设计的任务是将一栋废弃的三跨老厂房改造成为建筑设计工作室。基于对场地气质的把握、对现有施工条件的考量,我们在新工作室的建造实践中融入了对参数化技术的探索以及对建构传统的反思:中国特殊国情下的实践应可在另一侧面推动建筑师对建筑设计与建造逻辑的重新定义。