Search

Process mining offers a variety of techniques for analyzing process execution event logs. Although process discovery algorithms construct end-to-end process models, they often have difficulties dealing with the complexity of real-life event logs. Discovered models may contain either complex or over-generalized fragments, the interpretation of which is difficult, and can result in misleading insights. Detecting and visualizing behavioral patterns instead of creating model structures can reduce complexity and give more accurate insights into recorded behaviors. Unsupervised detection techniques, based on statistical properties of the log only, generate a multitude of patterns and lack domain context. Supervised pattern detection requires a domain expert to specify patterns manually and lacks the event log context. In this paper, we reconcile supervised and unsupervised pattern detection. We visualize the log and help users extract patterns of interest from the log or obtain patterns through unsupervised learning automatically. Pattern matches are visualized in the context of the event log (also showing concurrency and additional contextual information). Earlier patterns can be extended or modified based on the insights. This enables an interactive and iterative approach to identify complex and concrete behavioral patterns in event logs. We implemented our approach in the ProM framework and evaluated the tool using both the BPI Challenge 2012 log of a loan application process and an insurance claims log from a major Australian insurance company.

It is common for the observed behavior of a business process to differ from the behavior captured in its corresponding model, as workers devise workarounds to handle special circumstances, which over time become part of the norm. Process model repair methods help modelers to realign their models with the observed behavior as recorded in an event log. Given a process model and an event log, these methods produce a new process model that more closely matches the log, while resembling the original model as close as possible. Existing repair methods identify points in the process where the log deviates from the model, and fix these deviations by adding behavior to the model locally. In their quest for automation, these methods often add too much behavior to the model, so that the repaired model grossly over-generalizes the log. This paper advocates for an interactive and incremental approach to process model repair, where differences between the model and the log are visually displayed to the user, and the user repairs each difference manually based on the provided visual guidance. An empirical evaluation shows that the proposed method leads to repaired models that avoid the over-generalization pitfall of state-of-the-art automated repair methods.

Given a process model representing the expected behavior of a business process, and given an event log recording its actual execution, the problem of business process conformance checking is that of detecting and describing the differences between the process model and the event log. A desirable feature is to produce a minimal yet complete set of behavioral differences. Existing conformance checking techniques that achieve these properties do not scale up to real-life process models and event logs. This paper presents a technique that addresses this shortcoming by exploiting scalable automata-based techniques. A log is converted into a deterministic automaton in a lossless manner, the input process model is converted into another minimal automaton, and a minimal error- correcting synchronized product of the two automata is calculated using an admissible A* heuristic. The resulting automaton is used to extract alignments between traces produced by the model and traces in the log, or statements describing behavior observed in the log but not captured in the model. An evaluation based on real-life models and logs shows that the proposed technique significantly outperforms a state of the art technique for complete conformance checking.

Static analysis techniques can be used to analyse and simplify interfaces of enterprise systems, such as those from SAP, Oracle and FedEx, which becoming more prominent on the internet and vying for new systems integration and extension opportunities. Web services of enterprise systems are notoriously complex, having hundreds of parameters per operation, multiple levels of nesting, leading to ambiguities about valid invocations of operations. To derive valid invocations, which in turn assists service users with invoking services correctly, this paper focuses on a challenging aspect of static interface analysis, namely, the identification of service variants in operations, in which the parameters are subtypes of business entities involved in a service. To efficiently search for which combinations of parameters are for a valid invocation, we have proposed a Monte Carlo method, based on likelihood-free Bayesian sampling, to identify higher probability parameters spaces, from which to test prospective invocations. A significant performance boost was found by extending Monte Carlo sampling with Markov look-up, with validation using a simulated FedEx service interface, whose structural complexity exceeds many web services of enterprise systems available on the internet.

Today’s enterprises demand a high degree of compliance of business processes to meet diverse regulations and legislations. Several industrial studies have shown that compliance management is a daunting task, and organizations are still struggling and spending billions of dollars annually to ensure and prove their compliance. In this paper, we introduce a comprehensive compliance management framework with a main focus on design-time compliance management as a first step towards a preventive lifetime compliance support. The framework enables the automation of compliance-related activities that are amenable to automation, and therefore can significantly reduce the expenditures spent on compliance. It can help experts to carry out their work more efficiently, cut the time spent on tedious manual activities, and reduce potential human errors. An evident candidate compliance activity for automation is the compliance checking, which can be achieved by utilizing formal reasoning and verification techniques. However, formal languages are well known of their complexity as only versed users in mathematical theories and formal logics are able to use and understand them. However, this is generally not the case with business and compliance practitioners. Therefore, in the heart of the compliance management framework, we introduce the Compliance Request Language (CRL), which is formally grounded on temporal logic and enables the abstract pattern-based specification of compliance requirements. CRL constitutes a series of compliance patterns that spans three structural facets of business processes; control flow, employed resources and temporal perspectives. Furthermore, CRL supports the specification of compensations and non-monotonic requirements, which permit the relaxation of some compliance requirements to handle exceptional situations. An integrated tool suite has been developed as an instantiation artefact, and the validation of the approach is undertaken in several directions

Today’s enterprises demand a high degree of compliance of business processes to meet diverse regulations and legislations. Several industrial studies have shown that compliance management is a daunting task, and organizations are still struggling and spending billions of dollars annually to ensure and prove their compliance. In this paper, we introduce a comprehensive compliance management framework with a main focus on design-time compliance management as a first step towards a preventive lifetime compliance support. The framework enables the automation of compliance-related activities that are amenable to automation, and therefore can significantly reduce the expenditures spent on compliance. It can help experts to carry out their work more efficiently, cut the time spent on tedious manual activities, and reduce potential human errors. An evident candidate compliance activity for automation is the compliance checking, which can be achieved by utilizing formal reasoning and verification techniques. However, formal languages are well known of their complexity as only versed users in mathematical theories and formal logics are able to use and understand them. However, this is generally not the case with business and compliance practitioners. Therefore, in the heart of the compliance management framework, we introduce the Compliance Request Language (CRL), which is formally grounded on temporal logic and enables the abstract pattern-based specification of compliance requirements. CRL constitutes a series of compliance patterns that spans three structural facets of business processes; control flow, employed resources and temporal perspectives. Furthermore, CRL supports the specification of compensations and non-monotonic requirements, which permit the relaxation of some compliance requirements to handle exceptional situations. An integrated tool suite has been developed as an instantiation artefact, and the validation of the approach is undertaken in several directions

The gravitational radiation has been proposed a long time before, as an explanation for the observed relatively low spin frequencies of young neutron stars and of accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries as well. In the present work we studied the effects of the neutron star equation of state on the r-mode instability window of rotating neutron stars. Firstly, we employed a set of analytical solution of the Tolman-Oppemheimer-Volkoff equations with special emphasis on the Tolman VII solution. In particular, we tried to clarify the effects of the bulk neutron star properties (mass, radius, density distribution, crust size and elasticity) on the r-mode instability window. We found that the critical angular velocity $\Omega_c$ depends mainly on the neutron star radius. The effects of the gravitational mass and the mass distribution are almost negligible. Secondly, we studied the effect of the elasticity of the crust, via to the slippage factor $S$ and also the effect of the nuclear equation of state, via the slope parameter $L$, on the instability window. We found that the crust effects are more pronounced, compared to those originated from the equation of state. Moreover, we proposed simple analytical expressions which relate the macroscopic quantity $\Omega_c$ to the radius, the parameter $L$ and the factor ${\cal S}$. We also investigated the possibility to measure the radius of a neutron star and the factor ${\cal S}$ with the help of accurate measures of $\Omega_c$ and the neutron star temperature. Finally, we studied the effects of the mutual friction on the instability window and discussed the results in comparison with previous similar studies., Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

The gravitational radiation has been proposed a long time before, as an explanation for the observed relatively low spin frequencies of young neutron stars and of accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries as well. In the present work we studied the effects of the neutron star equation of state on the r-mode instability window of rotating neutron stars. Firstly, we employed a set of analytical solution of the Tolman-Oppemheimer-Volkoff equations with special emphasis on the Tolman VII solution. In particular, we tried to clarify the effects of the bulk neutron star properties (mass, radius, density distribution, crust size and elasticity) on the r-mode instability window. We found that the critical angular velocity $\Omega_c$ depends mainly on the neutron star radius. The effects of the gravitational mass and the mass distribution are almost negligible. Secondly, we studied the effect of the elasticity of the crust, via to the slippage factor $S$ and also the effect of the nuclear equation of state, via the slope parameter $L$, on the instability window. We found that the crust effects are more pronounced, compared to those originated from the equation of state. Moreover, we proposed simple analytical expressions which relate the macroscopic quantity $\Omega_c$ to the radius, the parameter $L$ and the factor ${\cal S}$. We also investigated the possibility to measure the radius of a neutron star and the factor ${\cal S}$ with the help of accurate measures of $\Omega_c$ and the neutron star temperature. Finally, we studied the effects of the mutual friction on the instability window and discussed the results in comparison with previous similar studies., Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

Item does not contain fulltext

Today’s enterprises demand a high degree of compliance of business processes to meet regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel I-III. To ensure continuous guaranteed compliance, compliance management should be considered during all phases of the business process lifecycle; from the analysis and design to deployment, monitoring and evaluation. This paper introduces an integrated business process compliance management framework that incorporates design-time verification and runtime monitoring approaches. The nutshell of the approach is the Compliance Request Language (CRL), which is a high-level pattern-based language for the abstract specification of compliance requirements. From CRL expressions, formal compliance rules can be automatically generated, thereby eliminating the need for business and compliance experts to learn and use complex low-level formal languages. Formalized compliance rules enable automated approaches to be used for the static verification and dynamic monitoring of business processes. An integrated prototypical tool-suite is developed as a proof-of-concept to help validating the applicability of the approaches, and validated by experiment with two real-life case studies.

Item does not contain fulltext

Item does not contain fulltext

Today’s enterprises demand a high degree of compliance of business processes to meet regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel I-III. To ensure continuous guaranteed compliance, compliance management should be considered during all phases of the business process lifecycle; from the analysis and design to deployment, monitoring and evaluation. This paper introduces an integrated business process compliance management framework that incorporates design-time verification and runtime monitoring approaches. The nutshell of the approach is the Compliance Request Language (CRL), which is a high-level pattern-based language for the abstract specification of compliance requirements. From CRL expressions, formal compliance rules can be automatically generated, thereby eliminating the need for business and compliance experts to learn and use complex low-level formal languages. Formalized compliance rules enable automated approaches to be used for the static verification and dynamic monitoring of business processes. An integrated prototypical tool-suite is developed as a proof-of-concept to help validating the applicability of the approaches, and validated by experiment with two real-life case studies.

Today’s business environment demands a high rate of compliance of service-enabled business processes with which enterprises are required to cope. Thus, a comprehensive compliance management framework is required such that compliance management must crosscut all the stages of the complete business process lifecycle, starting from the very early stages of business process design. Formalizing compliance requirements based on a formal foundation of an expressive logical language enables the application of associated verification and analysis tools to ensure the compliance. In this paper, we have conducted a comparative analysis between three languages that can be used as the formal foundation of business process compliance requirements, focusing on design-time phase. Two main families of languages have been identified, which are: the temporal and deontic families of logic. In particular, we have considered LTL, CTL and FCL. The comparative analysis is based on the capabilities and limitations of each language and a set of required identified features.

Today’s business environment demands a high degree of compliance of business processes with business rules, policies, regulations and laws. Compliance regulations, such Sarbanes-Oxley force enterprises to continuously review their business processes and service-enabled applications and ensure that they satisfy the set of relevant compliance constraints. Compliance management should be considered from the very early stages of the business process design. In this paper, a taxonomy of compliance constraints for business processes is introduced based on property specification patterns, where patterns can be used to facilitate the formal specification of compliance constraints. This taxonomy serves as the backbone of the root-cause analysis, which is conducted to reason about and eventually resolve design-time compliance violations. Based on the root-cause analysis, appropriate guidelines and instructions can be provided as remedies to alleviate design-time compliance deviations in service-enabled business processes.

Today’s business climate requires business processes to meet many compliance regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and to adhere to business partner contracts. In this paper, we report a comparative analysis between Linear Temporal Logic and Formal Contract logical languages, which have been successfully utilized in the literature as the formal basis of compliance requirements to enable their automatic verification.

Today’s business climate requires business processes to meet many compliance regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and to adhere to business partner contracts. In this paper, we report a comparative analysis between Linear Temporal Logic and Formal Contract logical languages, which have been successfully utilized in the literature as the formal basis of compliance requirements to enable their automatic verification.

Today’s business environment demands a high degree of compliance of business processes with business rules, policies, regulations and laws. Compliance regulations, such Sarbanes-Oxley force enterprises to continuously review their business processes and service-enabled applications and ensure that they satisfy the set of relevant compliance constraints. Compliance management should be considered from the very early stages of the business process design. In this paper, a taxonomy of compliance constraints for business processes is introduced based on property specification patterns, where patterns can be used to facilitate the formal specification of compliance constraints. This taxonomy serves as the backbone of the root-cause analysis, which is conducted to reason about and eventually resolve design-time compliance violations. Based on the root-cause analysis, appropriate guidelines and instructions can be provided as remedies to alleviate design-time compliance deviations in service-enabled business processes.

Today’s business climate demands business processes to meet many compliance regulations that require all enterprises to review their processes and ensure that they satisfy the set of relevant compliance requirements. Compliance management should be considered from the very early stages of business process design, thus achieving compliance by design. In this paper, we give a brief overview of an approach for managing business process compliance during design-time phase of business process lifecycle. We also discuss the roadmap for the key components and their relationship for a comprehensive design-time compliance support.

In an environment of constant change, driven by competition and innovation, a service can rarely remain stable - especially when it depends on other services to fulfill its functionality. However, uncontrolled changes can easily break the existing relationships between a service and its environment (its customers and providers). In this paper we present an approach that allows for the controlled evolution of a service by leveraging the loosely-coupled nature of the SOA paradigm. More specifically, we formalize the notion of contracts between interacting services that enable their independent evolution and we investigate under which criteria can changes to a contract-bound service, or even to the contract itself, be transparent to the environment of the service.

Dynamic Web content is increasing in popularity, and by its nature, is harder to scale than static content. As a result, dynamic web content delivery degrades more rapidly than static content under similar client request rates. Many techniques have been explored for effectively handling heavy Web request traffic. In this paper, we concentrate on dynamic content degradation, believing that it offers a good balance between minimizing total cost of ownership and maximizing scalability. We describe an algorithm for dynamic content degradation that is easily implementable on top of existing, mainstream web application architectures. The algorithm is based on measuring elapsed-time of content generation. We demonstrate the algorithm’s adaptability against two request traffic patterns, and explore behavioural changes when varying the algorithm's key parameters. We find our elapsed-time based algorithm is better at recognizing when the server is unloaded, that the supporting architecture limits the effectiveness of the algorithm and and that the algorithm must be configured pessimistically for best results under load.

The success of Web services in business relies on the discovery of Web services satisfying the needs of the service requester. In this paper we discuss the use of data mining in the service discovery process. We recommend a set of applications that can leverage problems concerned with the planning, development and maintenance of Web services.

Geolibraries containing large volumes of complex spatiotemporal data occur in a variety of application domains. Considerable effort has gone into the design of metadata standards to enable exchange and sharing of georeferenced data sets. Strategies for federating information stores have to deal with integration at several levels, syntax, structure as well as semantics. This paper describes a generic metamodel for geolibraries. It encompasses a conceptually partitioned view of the data space including metadata at various levels of a geolibrary. The model places particular emphasis on ontologies representing domain-dependent knowledge that exists within a research community to facilitate resource discovery and retrieval of information from heterogeneous data stores.