With patient flow simulation models it is not only important to identify visible resources obvious for inclusion in the model, but before this, it is important to fully understand and structure the problem situation, grounding it in the reality of working lives and organizational structure, strategies and professional cultures. In this project we have used soft systems methodology (SSM) at the ...

Replacing a hard decision by a soft targets version including an attentional mechanism provides performance advantage and flexibility to solve classification tasks. In this paper, we modify the standard emphasized soft target method by proposing two new ideas, to avoid unnecessary updating and inappropriate definition of soft targets, in order to increase designs performance. Experimental resul...

Worldwide, soft regulation such as codes of conduct and benchmarks has been introduced to cope with the uncertain risks and benefits of nanotechnologies. However, it seems that these regulations are facing effectiveness problems. For instance, the European Commission's 2008 Nano Code of Conduct has not yet been implemented in the member states. Using the analytical framework of responsive regul...

Article history: Received 13 January 2014 Received in revised form 18 November 2014 Accepted 25 November 2014 Available online 22 December 2014 Prior studies on knowledge-sharing motivations mostly concentrate on discussing motivation in terms of level or amount, and thus, discussions regarding the quality of motivations, in terms of their levels of autonomy, are scarce. Additionally, while res...

For dealing with uncertainties researchers introduced the concept of soft sets. Georgiou et al. [10] defined several basic notions on soft θ-topology and they studied many properties of them. This paper continues the study of the theory of soft θ-topological spaces and presents for this theory new definitions, characterizations, and results concerning soft θ-boundary, soft θ-exterior, soft θ-ge...

1 Keynote speech at 1 International Conference on Semantics, Knowledge and Grid, Beijing, China, Nov.27-29, 2005. This work is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Project No.2003CB317000) and the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 70271007). Abstract In the human, society, interconnection environment and systems methodology perspectives, this paper answers th...

This paper examines the two extremes of hard and soft systems methodologies and discusses the merits of each approach. It then suggests how the better attributes of the two approaches can be realised with a third way combining the elements of both. The advent of more powerful computing technologies allows a more broadly based approach to decision processes than a strict algorithmic one. Areas o...

To succeed within the increasingly global context of their work environment, today’s IT professional needs to be equipped with both cutting-edge technical skills and a strong repertoire of “soft” skills. An important and often unrecognized soft skill is an appreciation of how various IT issues impact upon different peoples and what constitutes an acceptable professional practice in different so...

This paper links research and teaching through an applied Soft Systems Methodology case study. The case study focuses on the redevelopment of a Research and Professional Skills module to provide support for international postgraduate students through the use of formative feedback with the aim of increasing academic research skills and confidence. The stages of the Soft Systems Methodology were ...