The canonical processes of a dramatized approach to information presentation

This paper describes the application “Carletto the spider” in terms of the mapping with the canonical processes of media production. “Carletto the spider” is a character-based guide to a historical site and implements the Dramatour approach for the design of drama-based interactive presentations. Dramatization makes presentations more engaging, thus improving the reception of the content by the user. The major technical issue of the approach is the segmentation of the presentation into audiovisual units that are edited on-the-fly in a way that guarantees dramatic continuity while adapting to the user response. We describe the workflow of the application and its mapping to the canonical processes of media production, envisaging possible standardizations for the application portability.     

Building a production planning process with an approach based on CIMOSA and workflow management systems

Nowadays, one of the major challenges for enterprises is to stay competitive in today's changing market environment. This can be supported by business process models which on one hand are consistent and adequate (requirement #1), and on the other hand can be enacted and operated in an easy, fast, straightforward and integrated way (requirement #2). The CIMOSA architecture provides the basis for business process modelling to fulfil both of the above requirements. It supports the creation of consistent process models and allows to identify almost all the information required for the development of a workflow model. These models can be implemented using one of the commercial workflow management systems. In this paper we present the methodology based on the CIMOSA architecture that we have developed to build a workflow model in ©Lotus Notes for the forecasting and production planning processes in a tiles manufacturing enterprise. The CIMOSA approach has also been used to design the necessary software applications for processing the information of the resulting workflow system.     

Multivariate statistical process control of an industrial fluidised-bed reactor

Multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) is a tool for the comprehensive monitoring of the performance of a manufacturing process. There is now a real need to demonstrate the applicability of MSPC to complex manufacturing processes and highlight the benefits that can be derived from its implementation. Alongside this, is the increasing interest in predicting quality or important chemical quality variables associated with product yield and production. This paper demonstrates the performance monitoring potential of MSPC and the predictive capability of canonical variates analysis and projection to latent structures by application to an industrial fluidised-bed reactor.     

Non-linear interactive media productions

Creating non-linear interactive media is a challenging task. In this paper, we summarise our findings with non-linear, interactive movie productions. We carry out this discussion based on experiences gathered during the development and evaluation of an authoring suite enabling the creation and testing of non-linear narratives. The paper shows how our workflow can be understood in terms of the canonical model of media production.     

三层虚拟工作流模型的非线性制造工艺多目标优化算法研究EI北大核心CSCD

时间、生产质量和成本是加工制造中相互制约的重要参数,平衡此参数使制造工艺最优是一个NP(Non-deterministic polynomial)难题,对此出现了许多优秀的调度方法.然而这些方法的优化对象均为线性工艺,对于普遍存在的非线性工艺却无法调度优化.针对此不足,本文以非线性工艺为优化对象提出了三层虚拟工作流模型Three-VMG(Three-virtual model graph)及其优化算法Three-OVMG(Three-optimal virtual model graph).该模型和算法首先建立非线性工作流,采用虚拟技术寻找虚拟结点进行重构,将其改造为虚拟线性工作流;其次结合工艺特点对模型进行分段,采用逆向分层串归约来实现段内最优解,采用累积最优解来衔接各段间的值;最后根据优化结果自顶向下完成各层资源的优化调度.实验表明,该过程较传统时间最小化优化调度算法具有显著的优化效果,其性能及可操作性也能满足工程要求.     

Semantic Mastering: content adaptation in the creative drama production workflow

In order to provide audiences with a proper universal multimedia experience, all classes of media consumption devices, from high definition displays to mobile media players, must receive a product that is not only adapted to their capabilities and usage environments, but also conveys the semantics and cinematography behind the narrative in an optimal way. This paper introduces a semantic video adaptation system that incorporates the media adaptation process in the center of the drama production process. Producers, directors and other creative staff instruct the semantic adaptation system using common cinematographic terminology and vocabulary, thereby seamlessly extending the drama production process into the realm of content adaptation. The multitude of production metadata obtained from various steps in the production process provides a valuable context of narrative semantics that is exploited by the adaptation process. As such, high definition imagery can be intelligently adapted to smaller resolutions while optimally fulfilling the filmmaker’s dramatic intentions with respect to the original narrative and obeying various rules of cinematographic grammar.     

Sustainability indicators for discrete manufacturing processes applied to grinding technology

As environmental and social awareness in production engineering rises, sustainability in discrete manufacturing processes has to be controlled better and enhanced. Sustainability indicators offer a simple and affordable solution for quickly assessing sustainability; however, they have been employed rarely on the process level. This study selects simple and relevant sustainability indicators and discusses different means of normalization. The sustainability indicators can be displayed as a performance profile, which is individual to each manufacturing process variant. In addition, the indicators can be simplified to one sustainability indicator through a utility analysis allowing for a quick comparison between different process variants. The whole procedure is executed with a grinding process case study. This work provides a straightforward method for evaluating sustainability of discrete manufacturing processes.     

A conceptual approach to modeling the procurement process of construction using petri-nets

One way to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement processes is to improve the timeliness of information flows between and among project participants. This can be achieved by condensing sequential processes into concurrent processes that are synchronized so their effectiveness and efficiency can be improved. Essentially existing processes (workflows) are re-designed so that savings in time and cost can be achieved. In order to identify and design the optimum workflow, it is important to have an effective modeling language to describe and simulate the actual operational process. Recently, Petri-Nets (PN) have been used in the manufacturing industry as a tool to analyze the concurrency of operations. Research results indicate that PNs are a useful tool for formalizing, simulating, and designing systems and processes that communicate with one another and need to be synchronized. This paper presents a simple introductory experiment to demonstrate how PNs can be used to simulate workflow in order to identify the optimum procurement process. Initial results from the experiments are reported in the paper.     

On verification of nested workflows with extra constraints: From theory to practice

Workflows are used to formally describe processes of various types such as business and manufacturing processes. One of the critical tasks of workflow management is automated discovery of possible flaws in the workflow – workflow verification. In this paper, we formalize the problem of workflow verification as the problem of verifying that there exists a feasible process for each task in the workflow. This problem is tractable for nested workflows that are the workflows with a hierarchical structure similar to hierarchical task networks in planning. However, we show that if extra synchronization, precedence, or causal constraints are added to the nested structure, the workflow verification problem becomes NP-complete. We present a workflow verification algorithm for nested workflows with extra constraints that is based on constraint satisfaction techniques and exploits an incremental temporal reasoning algorithm. We then experimentally demonstrate efficiency of the proposed techniques on randomly generated workflows with various structures and sizes. The paper is concluded by notes on exploiting the presented techniques in the application FlowOpt for modeling, optimizing, visualizing, and analyzing production workflows.     

Adventures in remediation: the making of Echo

Echo is a twenty-minute interactive multi-screen research drama which addresses the question of how we can overcome narcissism in a hypermediated age. This article outlines the search for the appropriate form for the final art work using the concept of remediation to explore how the piece developed for multi-platform distribution and exhibition, as an online screen media drama and as a work for gallery installation. In outlining the process of production, the article explores the poetics of multi-screen immersive gallery drama and split-screen drama, and discusses the new and remediated possibilities for these forms.     

Reconfigurable and transportable container-integrated production system

In this paper, the concept and the prototype realization of a novel reconfigurable small-footprint manufacturing system in a transportable container is presented. The containerized format enables transportation of the system to provide on-site manufacturing, enabling the benefits of localized service delivery without duplication of equipment at multiple locations.Three industrial product use cases with varying manufacturing and performance requirements were analysed. All of the use cases demanded highly customized products with high quality in low production volumes. Based on their requirements, a general system specification was derived and used to develop a concept for the container-integrated factory.A reconfigurable, modular manufacturing system is integral to the overall container concept. Production equipment was integrated in the form of interchangeable process modules, which can be quickly connected by standard utility supply and control interfaces. A modular and self-configuring control system provides assisted production workflow programming, while a modular process chain combining Additive Manufacturing, CNC milling, precision assembly and cleaning processes has been developed.A prototype of the container-integrated factory with reconfigurable process modules and control system has been established, with full functionality and feasibility of the system demonstrated.     

An innovative framework of collaborative-based workflow in Development Chain Management

Currently, most product development procedures have been characterized as unnecessarily complicated. To maintain a competitive edge and to simplify the procedures, joint efforts from different functional groups play such crucial role. Specifically, information from marketing, sales, engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing should be cross-referenced. In addition, adopting pre-defined workflows contributes to efficient collection of distributed information. Moreover, unlike traditional workflow, a collaborative-based workflow (CWF) in product development process boasts of complicated workflow forms with manifold views for a workflow execution. Traditional workflow solutions, for instance, can only transmit a workflow form through different actors. Such workflow solutions merely offer modeling approval-based workflow (AWF), such as drawing reviews or absence applications.     

Workflow mining: discovering process models from event logs

Contemporary workflow management systems are driven by explicit process models, i.e., a completely specified workflow design is required in order to enact a given workflow process. Creating a workflow design is a complicated time-consuming process and, typically, there are discrepancies between the actual workflow processes and the processes as perceived by the management. Therefore, we have developed techniques for discovering workflow models. The starting point for such techniques is a so-called "workflow log" containing information about the workflow process as it is actually being executed. We present a new algorithm to extract a process model from such a log and represent it in terms of a Petri net. However, we also demonstrate that it is not possible to discover arbitrary workflow processes. We explore a class of workflow processes that can be discovered. We show that the /spl alpha/-algorithm can successfully mine any workflow represented by a so-called SWF-net.     

Multi-phase integrated scheduling of hybrid tasks in cloud manufacturing environment

Cloud manufacturing paradigm aims at gathering distributed manufacturing resources and enterprises to serve for more customized production. Production order which involving several tasks can be taken by distributed suppliers collaboratively at lower cost. The cloud manufacturing platform is responsible for not only arranging reasonable priorities, suitable suppliers, and production processes to multiple orders, but also scheduling hybrid tasks from different orders to manufacturing resources. To maximize the production efficiency and balance the trade-off among different production orders, this paper studies multi-phase integrated scheduling of hybrid tasks in cloud manufacturing environment, which containing order priority assignment, supplier and production process selection, and production line scheduling. Five key objectives are taken into account to analyze the interconnections among different resources and production processes. Six representative multi-objective evolutionary algorithms are adopted to solve the integrated scheduling problem. Experimental results on six production cases show that integrated scheduling is more effective than the traditional step-by-step decision, leading to less production cost and time. In addition, a comparison among the six algorithms is carried out to determine the one best suited for the integrated scheduling problem in different circumstances.     

Enhancing Workflow Management in the Manufacturing Information System of a Small-Medium Enterprise: An Agent-Based Approach

One shortcoming of manufacturing information systems is their inability to integrate and to enhance different information and related functionalities, such as those found in workflow management. Software agents, once added as a new software layer to an existing system, can overcome this problem. Of the fields applying software agent technology, manufacturing, and especially workflow management, is perhaps the most promising for the development of distributed systems. This potential is reflected in the several ongoing research projects that focus on workflow management and share the final aim of integrating and coordinating plant and business activities.The approach presented in this paper can be regarded as an agent-based architecture applied to an existing workflow management system in order to manage new functionalities, e.g., customer relationship management in electronic commerce. This approach is particularly suitable for small medium enterprises with simple manufacturing information requirements and simple or nonexistent computer based workflow management.The model and some important features of system implementation, such as the knowledge modeling graphical user interface, the communication model, and a simple practical example of the architecture's use, are described.     

基于SOA的中小制造企业业务流程的集成

分析了传统的企业应用集成中存在的不足以及利用业务流程集成迭代解决这些问题的措施,提出并实现了一种基于面向服务体系架构(SOA)的中小制造企业业务流程集成架构,它支持企业内、外应用以及企业门户的业务流程集成,并充分利用了SOA和XML通信的最新技术.实践证明,该业务流程集成架构具有简单、实用、成本低和易推广等特点.     

CA-PLAN,a service-oriented workflow

Workflow management systems (WfMSs) are accepted worldwide due to their ability to model and control business processes. Previously, we defined an intra-organizational workflow specification model, Process LANguage (PLAN). PLAN, with associated tools, allowed a user to describe a graph specification for processes, artifacts, and participants in an organization. PLAN has been successfully implemented in Agentflow to support workflow (Agentflow) applications. PLAN, and most current WfMSs are designed to adopt a centralized architecture so that they can be applied to a single organization. However, in such a structure, participants in Agentflow applications in different organizations cannot serve each other with workflows. In this paper, a service-oriented cooperative workflow model, Cooperative Agentflow Process LANguage (CA-PLAN) is presented. CA-PLAN proposes a workflow component model to model inter-organizational processes. In CA-PLAN, an inter-organizational process is partitioned into several intra-organizational processes. Each workflow system inside an organization is modeled as an Integrated Workflow Component (IWC). Each IWC contains a process service interface, specifying process services provided by an organization, in conjunction with a remote process interface specifying what remote processes are used to refer to remote process services provided by other organizations, and intra-organizational processes. An IWC is a workflow node and participant. An inter-organizational process is made up of connections among these process services and remote processes with respect to different IWCs. In this paper, the related service techniques and supporting tools provided in Agentflow systems are presented.     

基于工作流的产品信息管理系统的设计

为解决制造型企业研发、生产、经营等活动中涉及的产品信息的管理、集成与共享问题,建立基于工作流的制造型企业产品信息管理系统。提出4种制造型企业的工作流单元模型,并借助电子仓库技术,建立以文件签入/签出为核心的产品信息管理的通用模型,提出产品信息集成化管理系统架构。实践表明,该系统能够实现制造型企业产品信息在企业内不同部门之间的集成和共享,同时能够支持产品全生命周期的信息管理。