Resource-based modeling and simulation of business processes

International audienceThe simulation-based analysis of business processes (BPs) is a key activity at various phases of the BP lifecycle, from the design phase, to predict the process behavior, down to the execution and improvement phases, to recover from possible performance downgrades and/or improve the process performance. The BP analysis is usually carried out taking as input the BP description in a given BP modeling language. This paper specifically addresses BPs described in BPMN (Business Process Model & Notation) and introduces an approach that exploits both model-driven principles and the DEVS (Discrete Event System Specification) formalism to first annotate the BPMN model with the allocation of task resources described in terms of performance and reliability properties and then transform the annotated BPMN model into a DEVS-based model, which can be eventually executed to get the analysis results of interest. The BPMN annotation is carried out by use of PyBPMN, a lightweight BPMN extension that allows business analysts to specify the allocation of task resources and their properties in terms of both time-related attributes and reliability attributes. The paper overviews the proposed approach and gives the details of the DEVS components that are used to model the behavior of the corresponding BPMN primitives

CUBES, the Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph: towards final design review

In the era of Extremely Large Telescopes, the current generation of 8-10m facilities are likely to remain competitive at ground-UV wavelengths for the foreseeable future. The Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) has been designed to provide high instrumental efficiency (> 37%) observations in the near UV (305-400 nm requirement, 300-420 nm goal) at a spectral resolving power of R > 20, 000 (with a lower-resolution, sky-limited mode of R ∼ 7, 000). With the design focusing on maximizing the instrument throughput (ensuring a Signal to Noise Ratio - SNR- ∼ 20 per spectral resolution element at 313 nm for U ∼ 17.5 mag objects in 1h of observations), it will offer new possibilities in many fields of astrophysics: i) access to key lines of stellar spectra (e.g. lighter elements, in particular Beryllium), extragalactic studies (e.g. circumgalactic medium of distant galaxies, cosmic UV background) and follow-up of explosive transients. We present the CUBES instrument design, currently in Phase-C and approaching the final design review, summarizing the hardware architecture and interfaces between the different subsystems as well as the relevant technical requirements. We describe the optical, mechanical, electrical design of the different subsystems (from the telescope adapter and support structure, through the main opto-mechanical path, including calibration unit, detector devices and cryostat control, main control electronics), detailing peculiar instrument functions like the Active Flexure Compensation (AFC). Furthermore, we outline the AIT/V concept and the main instrument operations giving an overview of its software ecosystem. Installation at the VLT is planned for 2028/2029 and first science operations in late 2029

Interface Management in Concurrent Engineering Facilities for Systems and Service Systems Engineering: A Model-based Approach

Concurrent engineering facilities (CEFs) are successfully used in the aeropsace sector to design systems and services that that fulfill the requirements. Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) enables the effective (i.e., unambiguous) communication in the collaborative activities within concurrent engineering and service systems engineering facilities. The advantages obtained by the MBSE approach can be further scaled up by an innovative approach that take into explicit account the representation of the inter-systems aspects, i.e., those aspects, namely interfacs, that stay in between the system, its sub-systems and external entities (other systems and organizations). Such an approach, briefly denoted as a Model-based Interface Engineering (MBIE), brings several benefits to the CEF activities. This paper illustrates the integration of the Interface Communication Modelling Language (ICML) into the existing MBSE methods for the CEF software framework VirSat, by identifying the business needs driving the use of MBIE approaches and showing example application scenarios

A Model transformation framework for the automated building of performance models from UML models

In order to effectively validate the performance of software systems throughout their development cycle it is necessary to continuously build performance models from software models and then use the obtained models to check whether the system is being developed according to its performance requirements. The model building activity is a critical and effort-consuming activity. Several approaches have been envisaged to endow software designers with tools that automatically build ready-to-evaluate performance models from software development models. One essential requirement of such tools, often disregarded by current approaches, is a high degree of interoperability with software development tools, which has the positive effect of reducing both the level of required expertise in performance theory and the burden of learning separate tools. This paper introduces a framework for transforming source software models into target performance models. The transformation requires a clear understanding of the abstract syntax and semantics of both the source and target models, which is obtained by use of metamodeling techniques for defining the abstract syntax of models, the interrelationships between model elements and the model transformation rules. In the paper case, the framework is applied to the transformation of source models of UML type into target models of LQN (layered queueing network) type. The proposed approach is founded on the precepts recently introduced by model-driven development (MDA) and makes use of the set of related standards (MOF, QVT, XMI). This allows to obtain a high degree of automation, so that interoperable model transformation tools can be implemented in a timely and efficient way, leading to improvements in terms of software designers' productivity and system quality

Structural and functional studies on TDP-43, a novel splicing regulator

TDP-43 is an RNA-binding protein with particular predilection for UG repeats that was shown to regulate transcription, to mediate mRNA stability and to inhibit splicing in the CFTR and Apo All genes.Recently, TDP-43 has been found to be the major disease protein in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Fronto-temporal Lobar dementia [ftld]. Objective of this thesis was to characterize the function of TDP-43 with in-vitro and in vivostudies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Resource-based Modeling and Simulation of Business Processes

The simulation-based analysis of business processes (BPs) is a key activity at various phases of the BP lifecycle. from the design phase, to predict the process behavior, down to the execution and improvement phases, to recover from possible performance downgrades and/or improve the process performance. The BP analysis is usually carried out taking as input the BP description in a given BP modeling language. This paper specifically addresses BPs described in BPMN (Business Process Model & Notation) and introduces an approach that exploits both model-driven principles and the DEVS (Discrete Event System Specification) formalism to first annotate the BPMN model with the allocation of task resources described in terms of performance and reliability properties and then transform the annotated BPMN model into a DEVS-based model, which can be eventually executed to get the analysis results of interest. The BPMN annotation is carried out by use of PyBPMN, a lightweight BPMN extension that allows business analysts to specify the allocation of task resources and their properties in terms of both time-related attributes and reliability attributes. The paper overviews the proposed approach and gives the details of the DEVS components that are used to model the behavior of the corresponding BPMN primitives

A BPMN extension for modeling non functional properties of business processes

Business Process Management (BPM) is an holistic approach for describing, analyzing, executing, managing and improving large enterprise business processes, which can be seen as collections of related tasks executed to accomplish well-defined goals. This paper introduces a notation for the description of a business process in terms of both functional and non-functional properties, specifically addressing the performance and reliability characterization of a business process. In the BPM context, the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is the de-facto standard for the high-level description of business processes. Unfortunately BPMN does not support the characterization of the business process in terms of non-functional properties such as performance and reliability. To overcome such limitation, this paper introduces PyBPMN (Performability-enabled BPMN), a lightweight BPMN extension for the specification of properties that address both performance and reliability. The proposed extension is based on an approach that exploits principles and standards introduced by the Model Driven Architecture (MDA), thus obtaining significant advantages in terms of easy customization and improved automation. The paper also presents an example application of the proposed extension to show how it enables the automated transformation of a business process model into a parameterized performance model whose execution gives insights about the process behavior

A Domain specific language for the definition of extended queueing network models

The use of design patterns and modular decomposition for the development of component-based software products brings significant improvements in terms of several quality attributes (e.g., reusability, reliability, maintainability). In addition, the modular design of interacting software components allows the foundation of a flexible Domain Specific Language (DSL) that acts as a model description language rather than a coding language, bringing significant savings in terms of development effort. This is particularly true in the field of simulation, in which the use of a common language both to represent and to simulate a given simulation model practically eliminates the need and the effort to fill the gap between the model specification and the simulator implementation. This paper introduces the design features of jEQN, a language for the specification and implementation of simulation models based on extended queueing networks. Details concerning the application of design patterns, modular decomposition and generic type parameters are also presented