Eco‐Holonic 4.0 Circular Business Model to Conceptualize Sustainable Value Chain Towards Digital Transition

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a circular business model based on an Eco-Holonic Architecture, through the integration of circular economy and holonic principles. A conceptual model is developed to manage the complexity of integrating circular economy principles, digital transformation, and tools and frameworks for sustainability into business models. The proposed architecture is multilevel and multiscale in order to achieve the instantiation of the sustainable value chain in any territory. The architecture promotes the incorporation of circular economy and holonic principles into new circular business models. This integrated perspective of business model can support the design and upgrade of the manufacturing companies in their respective industrial sectors. The conceptual model proposed is based on activity theory that considers the interactions between technical and social systems and allows the mitigation of the metabolic rift that exists between natural and social metabolism. This study contributes to the existing literature on circular economy, circular business models and activity theory by considering holonic paradigm concerns, which have not been explored yet. This research also offers a unique holonic architecture of circular business model by considering different levels, relationships, dynamism and contextualization (territory) aspects

Digital Twin Technology

Digital twin technology is considered to be the core technology of realizing Cyber-Physical System (CPS). It is the simulation technology that integrates multidisciplinary, multiphysical quantity, multiscale and multi probability by making full use of physical model, sensor update, operation history and other data. It is the mapping technology for the whole lifecycle process of physical equipment in virtual space. It is the basic technology of Industrial 4.0. This chapter mainly introduces: (1) the generation of digital twin technology; (2) the definition and characteristics of digital twin technology; (3) the relationship between digital twin and digital thread; (4) the implementation of the product digital twin model; and (5) the research progress and application of digital twin research

Generating realistic scaled complex networks

Research on generative models is a central project in the emerging field of network science, and it studies how statistical patterns found in real networks could be generated by formal rules. Output from these generative models is then the basis for designing and evaluating computational methods on networks, and for verification and simulation studies. During the last two decades, a variety of models has been proposed with an ultimate goal of achieving comprehensive realism for the generated networks. In this study, we (a) introduce a new generator, termed ReCoN; (b) explore how ReCoN and some existing models can be fitted to an original network to produce a structurally similar replica, (c) use ReCoN to produce networks much larger than the original exemplar, and finally (d) discuss open problems and promising research directions. In a comparative experimental study, we find that ReCoN is often superior to many other state-of-the-art network generation methods. We argue that ReCoN is a scalable and effective tool for modeling a given network while preserving important properties at both micro- and macroscopic scales, and for scaling the exemplar data by orders of magnitude in size.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, extended version, a preliminary version of the paper was presented at the 5th International Workshop on Complex Networks and their Application

Proposing A Cyber-Physical Production Systems Framework Linking Factory Planning And Factory Operation

The challenges for industrial companies in the area of factory planning and operation are characterised on the one hand by permanently shortening product life cycles and increasing product diversity. Furthermore, the demand for ecologically sustainable processes is growing and the complexity of production systems is increasing due to higher product complexity. This results in a complex decision-making space for companies within factory planning and factory operation which is difficult to plan. The advancing digitalisation can bring a great opportunity here. Modelling and simulation can create greater transparency in the context of planning and operation, and processes can be designed to be ecologically sustainable and efficient. Currently, research approaches in the context of factory planning and operation are focussing on the application and use of digital methods and tools of the Digital Factory (DF). However, the application is limited to individual areas in factory planning or factory operation. For this reason, this paper focuses on the design of a framework that addresses both factory planning and factory operation aspects and links them through modelling and simulation. Cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) can help here by mapping the individual modules within planning and operation using individual agents in agent-based simulation (AB). By linking planning and real data, the processes from planning and operation can be taken into account. From this, insights gained from planning can be simulated in an early phase and subjected to optimisation during operation. The cycle-oriented CPPS can be used on an ongoing basis by preparing the generic building blocks on the planning and operational sides through structured data acquisition and implementing them in the real world with the help of decision support from the virtual world

Review of the Synergies Between Computational Modeling and Experimental Characterization of Materials Across Length Scales

With the increasing interplay between experimental and computational approaches at multiple length scales, new research directions are emerging in materials science and computational mechanics. Such cooperative interactions find many applications in the development, characterization and design of complex material systems. This manuscript provides a broad and comprehensive overview of recent trends where predictive modeling capabilities are developed in conjunction with experiments and advanced characterization to gain a greater insight into structure-properties relationships and study various physical phenomena and mechanisms. The focus of this review is on the intersections of multiscale materials experiments and modeling relevant to the materials mechanics community. After a general discussion on the perspective from various communities, the article focuses on the latest experimental and theoretical opportunities. Emphasis is given to the role of experiments in multiscale models, including insights into how computations can be used as discovery tools for materials engineering, rather than to "simply" support experimental work. This is illustrated by examples from several application areas on structural materials. This manuscript ends with a discussion on some problems and open scientific questions that are being explored in order to advance this relatively new field of research.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, review article accepted for publication in J. Mater. Sc

Synchronizing physical and digital factory: benefits and technical challenges

Abstract The Digital Twin is a representation of characteristics and behavior of a factory according to various levels of detail and the scope it addresses. Its full range of capabilities can be exploited when it is synchronized with the real world. Indeed, in this case, it can be used to mirror the real operating conditions for simulating the real-time behavior, and thus forecasting factory performances. However, we are still far from its large-scale diffusion. The purpose of this work is to analyze both the major challenges that still have to be faced and some potential solutions for each of the identified challenges

Multi-Agent Systems and Complex Networks: Review and Applications in Systems Engineering

Systems engineering is an ubiquitous discipline of Engineering overlapping industrial, chemical, mechanical, manufacturing, control, software, electrical, and civil engineering. It provides tools for dealing with the complexity and dynamics related to the optimisation of physical, natural, and virtual systems management. This paper presents a review of how multi-agent systems and complex networks theory are brought together to address systems engineering and management problems. The review also encompasses current and future research directions both for theoretical fundamentals and applications in the industry. This is made by considering trends such as mesoscale, multiscale, and multilayer networks along with the state-of-art analysis on network dynamics and intelligent networks. Critical and smart infrastructure, manufacturing processes, and supply chain networks are instances of research topics for which this literature review is highly relevant