In a resource constrained business world, strategic choices must be made on process improvement and service delivery. There are calls for more agile forms of enterprises and much effort is being directed at moving organizations from a complex landscape of disparate application systems to that of an integrated and flexible enterprise accessing complex systems landscapes through service oriented ...

We describe a heterogeneous simulation framework in which conventional simulation models and the DEVS (Discrete Event Systems Specification) models can be interoperable. The framework conceptually consists of three layers: the model layer, the DEVS layer, and the HLA (High Level Architecture) layer. The model layer has a collection of heterogeneous simulation models, such as DEVS, CSIM, SLAM, a...

A popular model class for studying musical pitch contour is the so-called combinatorial model of contour (Friedmann, 1985, 1987; Marvin & Laprade, 1987; Polansky & Bassein, 1992; Morris, 1993; Quinn, 1997,1999). This model incorporates relations between adjacent as well as non-adjacent notes. Having a formal mathematical representation of contour structure, this model allows for quantification ...

Many factory optimization problems, from inventory control to scheduling and reliability , can be formulated as continuous-time Markov decision processes. A primary goal in such problems is to nd a gain-optimal policy that minimizes the long-run average cost. This paper describes a new average-reward algorithm called SMART for nd-ing gain-optimal policies in continuous time semi-Markov decision...

Parallel simulation has not been widely accepted by the simulation practitioners due to the lack of language support and tools necessary for developing eecient parallel simulators. This paper describes the design of SPaDES (Structured Parallel Discrete-Event Simulation), a struc-tured parallel simulation workbench for developing portable simulation models, and a platform for designing experimen...

A number of enterprises are turning towards the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach for their systems due to the number of benefits it offers. A key enabling technology for the SOA-based approach is middleware, which comprises of reusable building blocks based on design patterns. These building blocks can be configured in numerous ways and the configuration options of a pattern can hav...

BACKGROUND Focusing on interprofessional relations in team performance to improve patient safety is an emerging priority in obstetrics. A review of the literature found little information on roles and teamwork in obstetric emergency training. Qualitative research was undertaken through a Clinical Simulation in Maternity programme which gives interprofessional rural clinicians the opportunity to...

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disorder that is characterized by dramatic premature aging and accelerated cardiovascular disease. HGPS is almost always caused by a de novo point mutation in the lamin A gene (LMNA) that activates a cryptic splice donor site, producing a truncated mutant protein termed "progerin." WT prelamin A is anchored to the nuclear envelope by...