Business process compliance checking – applying and evaluating a generic pattern matching approach for conceptual models in the financial sector

Given the strong increase in regulatory requirements for business processes the management of business process compliance becomes a more and more regarded field in IS research. Several methods have been developed to support compliance checking of conceptual models. However, their focus on distinct modeling languages and mostly linear (i.e., predecessor-successor related) compliance rules may hinder widespread adoption and application in practice. Furthermore, hardly any of them has been evaluated in a real-world setting. We address this issue by applying a generic pattern matching approach for conceptual models to business process compliance checking in the financial sector. It consists of a model query language, a search algorithm and a corresponding modelling tool prototype. It is (1) applicable for all graph-based conceptual modeling languages and (2) for different kinds of compliance rules. Furthermore, based on an applicability check, we (3) evaluate the approach in a financial industry project setting against its relevance for decision support of audit and compliance management tasks.     

Chaotic frequency scaling in a coupled oscillator model for free rhythmic actions

The question of how best to model rhythmic movements at self-selected amplitude-frequency combinations, and their variability, is a long-standing issue. This study presents a systematic analysis of a coupled oscillator system that has successfully accounted for the experimental result that humans' preferred oscillation frequencies closely correspond to the linear resonance frequencies of the biomechanical limb systems, a phenomenon known as resonance tuning or frequency scaling. The dynamics of the coupled oscillator model is explored by numerical integration in different areas of its parameter space, where a period doubling route to chaotic dynamics is discovered. It is shown that even in the regions of the parameter space with chaotic solutions, the model still effectively scales to the biomechanical oscillator's natural frequency. Hence, there is a solution providing for frequency scaling in the presence of chaotic variability. The implications of these results for interpreting variability as fundamentally stochastic or chaotic are discussed.     

Crystal: Integrating Structured Queries into a Tactic Language

We present the language CRStL (Control Rule Strategy Language, pronounce “crystal”) to formulate mathematical reasoning techniques as proof strategies in the context of the proof assistant Ωmega. The language is arranged in two levels, a query language to access mathematical knowledge maintained in development graphs, and a strategy language to annotate the results of these queries with further control information. The two-leveled structure of the language allows the specification of proof techniques in a declarative way. We present the syntax and semantics of CRStL and illustrate its use by examples.     

Uniform satisfiability problem for local temporal logics over Mazurkiewicz traces

We continue our study of the complexity of MSO-definable local temporal logics over concurrent systems that can be described by Mazurkiewicz traces. In previous papers, we showed that the satisfiability problem for any such logic is in PSPACE (provided the dependence alphabet is fixed, Gastin and Kuske (2003) [10]) and remains in PSPACE for all classical local temporal logics even if the dependence alphabet is part of the input, Gastin and Kuske (2007) [8]. In this paper, we consider the uniform satisfiability problem for arbitrary MSO-definable local temporal logics. For this problem, we prove multi-exponential lower and upper bounds that depend on the number of alternations of set quantifiers present in the chosen MSO-modalities.     

Stochastic Models for Pad Structure and Pad Conditioning Used in Chemical-Mechanical Polishing

Stochastic models are presented for the structure and conditioning of pads used in chemical-mechanical polishing of wafers. First the one-dimensional distribution function of surface depth in the case of a conditioned solid pad is described. Then, for characterizing the structure of a foamed pad, the theory of random closed sets is applied. An important distributional characteristic of a random closed set, the linear contact distribution function, yields the contribution to surface depth resulting from pores. As a special example the Boolean model is considered. This leads to a formula that describes the variability of the surface of a conditioned foamed pad after a certain time. Simulations and experimental data show a good agreement between theory and reality.     

Influence of particle elasticity in shear testers

Two dimensional simulations of non-cohesive granular matter in a biaxial shear tester are discussed. The effect of particle elasticity on the mechanical behavior is investigated using two complementary distinct element methods (DEM): Soft particle molecular dynamics simulations (Particle Flow Code, PFC) for elastic particles and contact dynamics simulations (CD) for the limit of perfectly rigid particles. As soon as the system dilates to form shear bands, it relaxes the elastic strains so that one finds the same stresses for rigid respectively elastic particles in steady state flow. The principal stresses in steady state flow are determined. They are proportional to each other, giving rise to an effective macroscopic friction coefficient which is about 10% smaller than the microscopic friction coefficient between the grains.     

Morphology, optical, and photoelectrochemical properties of electrodeposited nanocrystalline ZnO films sensitized with Cd x Zn1−x S nanoparticles

Nanocrystalline ITO/ZnO films formed by porous zinc oxide microplatelets 1–3 μm in size and 100–200 nm in thickness, which consist of 30–50 nm ZnO crystallites, were sensitized to visible light by Cd _x Zn_1?x S nanocrystals deposited using the method of successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR). The composition of Cd _x Zn_1?x S nanocrystals as well as the dependence between molar Cd(II) fraction in the films and the ratio of cadmium and zinc nitrate concentrations in solutions used for the SILAR procedure were determined by a combination of electron, Raman, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopies. The photovoltage observed at illumination of the ITO/ZnO/Cd _x Zn_1?x S heterostructures by white light (λ >400 nm) in aqueous Na₂S solution increases with a decrease of Cd(II) content proportionally to an increment in the conduction band potential of the Cd _x Zn_1?x S nanocrystals. The photocurrent density normalized to the light absorbance of the ITO/ZnO/Cd _x Zn_1?x S films increases by a factor of around four when the conduction band potential of Cd _x Zn_1?x S nanocrystals grows by 220 mV as a result of Cd(II) fraction changing from 1.0 to 0.62–0.67. The results show that Cd _x Zn_1?x S solid solutions are more advantageous sensitizers for the short-wavelength part of the sensitivity window of the liquid-junction solar cells (400–450 nm) than conventionally used cadmium sulfide.