16,532 research outputs found

    Design and development of a sustainability toolkit for simulation modeling and analysis

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    A simulation-based sustainability toolkit is developed in this research, in order to efficiently provide the capability of modeling and evaluating the sustainability related performance measures in systems of interest. As sustainability related issues, such as energy consumption, emissions, and waste generation are becoming a more integrated part of operational and long-term planning decisions, simulation modeling is needed to analyze the system performance not only from the traditional system performance measures such as productivity and efficiency, but also taking into account the environmental impacts within the studied system in order to aid in decision-making. This research introduces the concept and general methodology to develop such a sustainability toolkit for simulation and provides a prototype implementation of the toolkit using commercially available discrete event simulation software. In particular, toolkit modules have been developed for modeling and evaluating the sustainability aspects of transportation and logistics systems, industrial and manufacturing processes, and warehouse material handling systems. Furthermore, general sustainability toolkit modules are constructed to model other systems of interest. The toolkit contains a flexible framework which enables the simulation modeling and analysis of the sustainability related performance measures as easily as traditional system performance measures. The toolkit will enable the users to efficiently simulate complex systems taking into account system sustainability in an integrated decision-making process

    Cactus: Issues for Sustainable Simulation Software

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    The Cactus Framework is an open-source, modular, portable programming environment for the collaborative development and deployment of scientific applications using high-performance computing. Its roots reach back to 1996 at the National Center for Supercomputer Applications and the Albert Einstein Institute in Germany, where its development jumpstarted. Since then, the Cactus framework has witnessed major changes in hardware infrastructure as well as its own community. This paper describes its endurance through these past changes and, drawing upon lessons from its past, also discusses futureComment: submitted to the Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences 201

    Education for sustainable development: draft guidance for UK higher education providers, for consultation

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    SimGrid: a Sustained Effort for the Versatile Simulation of Large Scale Distributed Systems

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    In this paper we present Simgrid, a toolkit for the versatile simulation of large scale distributed systems, whose development effort has been sustained for the last fifteen years. Over this time period SimGrid has evolved from a one-laboratory project in the U.S. into a scientific instrument developed by an international collaboration. The keys to making this evolution possible have been securing of funding, improving the quality of the software, and increasing the user base. In this paper we describe how we have been able to make advances on all three fronts, on which we plan to intensify our efforts over the upcoming years.Comment: 4 pages, submission to WSSSPE'1

    Contested modelling

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    We suggest that the role and function of expert computational modelling in real-world decision-making needs scrutiny and practices need to change. We discuss some empirical and theory-based improvements to the coupling of the modelling process and the real world, including social and behavioural processes, which we have expressed as a set of questions that we believe need to be answered by all projects engaged in such modelling.  These are based on a systems analysis of four research initiatives, covering different scales and timeframes, and addressing the complexity of intervention in a sustainability context. Our proposed improvements require new approaches for analysing the relationship between a project’s models and its publics.  They reflect what we believe is a necessary and beneficial dialogue between the realms of expert scientific modelling and systems thinking.  This paper is an attempt to start that process, itself reflecting a robust dialogue between two practitioners sat within differing traditions, puzzling how to integrate perspectives and achieve wider participation in researching this problem space.&nbsp
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