81,180 research outputs found
From Social Simulation to Integrative System Design
As the recent financial crisis showed, today there is a strong need to gain
"ecological perspective" of all relevant interactions in
socio-economic-techno-environmental systems. For this, we suggested to set-up a
network of Centers for integrative systems design, which shall be able to run
all potentially relevant scenarios, identify causality chains, explore feedback
and cascading effects for a number of model variants, and determine the
reliability of their implications (given the validity of the underlying
models). They will be able to detect possible negative side effect of policy
decisions, before they occur. The Centers belonging to this network of
Integrative Systems Design Centers would be focused on a particular field, but
they would be part of an attempt to eventually cover all relevant areas of
society and economy and integrate them within a "Living Earth Simulator". The
results of all research activities of such Centers would be turned into
informative input for political Decision Arenas. For example, Crisis
Observatories (for financial instabilities, shortages of resources,
environmental change, conflict, spreading of diseases, etc.) would be connected
with such Decision Arenas for the purpose of visualization, in order to make
complex interdependencies understandable to scientists, decision-makers, and
the general public.Comment: 34 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c
Research and Education in Computational Science and Engineering
Over the past two decades the field of computational science and engineering
(CSE) has penetrated both basic and applied research in academia, industry, and
laboratories to advance discovery, optimize systems, support decision-makers,
and educate the scientific and engineering workforce. Informed by centuries of
theory and experiment, CSE performs computational experiments to answer
questions that neither theory nor experiment alone is equipped to answer. CSE
provides scientists and engineers of all persuasions with algorithmic
inventions and software systems that transcend disciplines and scales. Carried
on a wave of digital technology, CSE brings the power of parallelism to bear on
troves of data. Mathematics-based advanced computing has become a prevalent
means of discovery and innovation in essentially all areas of science,
engineering, technology, and society; and the CSE community is at the core of
this transformation. However, a combination of disruptive
developments---including the architectural complexity of extreme-scale
computing, the data revolution that engulfs the planet, and the specialization
required to follow the applications to new frontiers---is redefining the scope
and reach of the CSE endeavor. This report describes the rapid expansion of CSE
and the challenges to sustaining its bold advances. The report also presents
strategies and directions for CSE research and education for the next decade.Comment: Major revision, to appear in SIAM Revie
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Potential applications of simulation modelling techniques in healthcare: lessons learned from aerospace and military
The Aerospace and Military areas are to do with complex missions and situations. Modelling and Simulation (M&S) has been applied in many areas of defence ranging from space sciences, satellite engineering to multi-warfare (air warfare, undersea warfare), air & missile defence, acquisition, tactical military trainings & exercises, national security analysis and strategic decision making & planning, etc. The application of simulation modelling techniques in healthcare would improve the provision of healthcare services; however, their application has been much relatively feeble in the healthcare sector as compared to the defence sector. This paper presents results from a systematic literature survey on applications of modelling simulation techniques in the Aerospace & Military. The knowledge gained or lessons learned from the survey were finally used to analyze the potential applications of the simulation modelling techniques to the healthcare sector. Results show that in the defence sector, Distributed Simulation has now become a widely adopted technique. However, System Dynamics (SD) and Discrete Event Simulation (DSE) have also gained relative attention. From this survey it becomes clear that various simulation modelling techniques are useful for specific purposes and have potential applications in the healthcare sector
6G White Paper on Machine Learning in Wireless Communication Networks
The focus of this white paper is on machine learning (ML) in wireless
communications. 6G wireless communication networks will be the backbone of the
digital transformation of societies by providing ubiquitous, reliable, and
near-instant wireless connectivity for humans and machines. Recent advances in
ML research has led enable a wide range of novel technologies such as
self-driving vehicles and voice assistants. Such innovation is possible as a
result of the availability of advanced ML models, large datasets, and high
computational power. On the other hand, the ever-increasing demand for
connectivity will require a lot of innovation in 6G wireless networks, and ML
tools will play a major role in solving problems in the wireless domain. In
this paper, we provide an overview of the vision of how ML will impact the
wireless communication systems. We first give an overview of the ML methods
that have the highest potential to be used in wireless networks. Then, we
discuss the problems that can be solved by using ML in various layers of the
network such as the physical layer, medium access layer, and application layer.
Zero-touch optimization of wireless networks using ML is another interesting
aspect that is discussed in this paper. Finally, at the end of each section,
important research questions that the section aims to answer are presented
Distributed Hybrid Simulation of the Internet of Things and Smart Territories
This paper deals with the use of hybrid simulation to build and compose
heterogeneous simulation scenarios that can be proficiently exploited to model
and represent the Internet of Things (IoT). Hybrid simulation is a methodology
that combines multiple modalities of modeling/simulation. Complex scenarios are
decomposed into simpler ones, each one being simulated through a specific
simulation strategy. All these simulation building blocks are then synchronized
and coordinated. This simulation methodology is an ideal one to represent IoT
setups, which are usually very demanding, due to the heterogeneity of possible
scenarios arising from the massive deployment of an enormous amount of sensors
and devices. We present a use case concerned with the distributed simulation of
smart territories, a novel view of decentralized geographical spaces that,
thanks to the use of IoT, builds ICT services to manage resources in a way that
is sustainable and not harmful to the environment. Three different simulation
models are combined together, namely, an adaptive agent-based parallel and
distributed simulator, an OMNeT++ based discrete event simulator and a
script-language simulator based on MATLAB. Results from a performance analysis
confirm the viability of using hybrid simulation to model complex IoT
scenarios.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1605.0487
Bayesian Nonstationary Spatial Modeling for Very Large Datasets
With the proliferation of modern high-resolution measuring instruments
mounted on satellites, planes, ground-based vehicles and monitoring stations, a
need has arisen for statistical methods suitable for the analysis of large
spatial datasets observed on large spatial domains. Statistical analyses of
such datasets provide two main challenges: First, traditional
spatial-statistical techniques are often unable to handle large numbers of
observations in a computationally feasible way. Second, for large and
heterogeneous spatial domains, it is often not appropriate to assume that a
process of interest is stationary over the entire domain.
We address the first challenge by using a model combining a low-rank
component, which allows for flexible modeling of medium-to-long-range
dependence via a set of spatial basis functions, with a tapered remainder
component, which allows for modeling of local dependence using a compactly
supported covariance function. Addressing the second challenge, we propose two
extensions to this model that result in increased flexibility: First, the model
is parameterized based on a nonstationary Matern covariance, where the
parameters vary smoothly across space. Second, in our fully Bayesian model, all
components and parameters are considered random, including the number,
locations, and shapes of the basis functions used in the low-rank component.
Using simulated data and a real-world dataset of high-resolution soil
measurements, we show that both extensions can result in substantial
improvements over the current state-of-the-art.Comment: 16 pages, 2 color figure
Enhancing Infrastructure Resilience Under Conditions of Incomplete Knowledge of Interdependencies
Today’s infrastructures — such as road, rail, gas, electricity and ICT — are highly interdependent, and may best be viewed
as multi-infrastructure systems. A key challenge in seeking to enhance the resilience of multi-infrastructure systems in
practice relates to the fact that many interdependencies may be unknown to the operators of these infrastructures.
How can we foster infrastructure resilience lacking complete knowledge of interdependencies? In addressing this
question, we conceptualize the situation of a hypothetical infrastructure operator faced with incomplete knowledge of
the interdependencies to which his infrastructure is exposed. Using a computer model which explicitly represents failure
propagations and cascades within a multi-infrastructure system, we seek to identify robust investment strategies on the part
of the operator to enhance infrastructure resilience.
Our results show that a strategy of constructing redundant interdependencies may be the most robust option for a
financially constrained infrastructure operator. These results are specific to the infrastructure configuration tested. However,
the developed model may be tailored to the conditions of real-world infrastructure operators faced with a similar dilemma,
ultimately helping to foster resilient infrastructures in an uncertain world
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