Models for the modern power grid

This article reviews different kinds of models for the electric power grid that can be used to understand the modern power system, the smart grid. From the physical network to abstract energy markets, we identify in the literature different aspects that co-determine the spatio-temporal multilayer dynamics of power system. We start our review by showing how the generation, transmission and distribution characteristics of the traditional power grids are already subject to complex behaviour appearing as a result of the the interplay between dynamics of the nodes and topology, namely synchronisation and cascade effects. When dealing with smart grids, the system complexity increases even more: on top of the physical network of power lines and controllable sources of electricity, the modernisation brings information networks, renewable intermittent generation, market liberalisation, prosumers, among other aspects. In this case, we forecast a dynamical co-evolution of the smart grid and other kind of networked systems that cannot be understood isolated. This review compiles recent results that model electric power grids as complex systems, going beyond pure technological aspects. From this perspective, we then indicate possible ways to incorporate the diverse co-evolving systems into the smart grid model using, for example, network theory and multi-agent simulation.Comment: Submitted to EPJ-ST Power Grids, May 201

The complexity paradigm for studying human communication: a summary and integration of two fields

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 5). This popular quote from Hamlet might be recast for the field of communication as “There are more things in science than are dreamt of in our philosophies”. This article will review several new and strange ideas from complexity science about how the natural world is organized and how we can go about researching it. These strange ideas, (e.g., deterministic, but unpredictable systems) resonate with many communication phenomena that our field has traditionally had difficulty studying. By reviewing these areas, we hope to add a new, compelling and useful way to think about science that goes beyond the current dominant philosophy of science employed in communication. Though the concepts reviewed here are difficult and often appear at odds with the dominant paradigm; they are not. Instead, this approach will facilitate research on problems of communication process and interaction that the dominant paradigm has struggled to study. Specifically, this article explores the question of process research in communication by reviewing three major paradigms of science and then delving more deeply into the most recent: complexity science. The article provides a broad overview of many of the major ideas in complexity science and how these ideas can be used to study many of the most difficult questions in communication science. It concludes with suggestions going forward for incorporating complexity science into communication

Internationalisation of public services: a social network analysis of global ownership

Globalisation is a widely used but much contested concept. This contestation has a large variety of dimensions and on-going debates. One of the debates focuses on economic globalisation and a rebalancing of the relations between the private and public sector that is taking place during the last three decades. Neo-liberalism, dominant in the policy agenda of the leading world powers during this period of time, advocates the necessity of privatisation, including privatisation of public services. However, the international outcomes of privatisation policies associated with the promotion of market relations and private investments in the public sector have not been sufficiently examined in empirical research. Although globalisation debates refer to international regulation, competition and the concentration of capital, there is a paucity of detailed empirically focused study on patterns of ownership and what they mean to a changing international order, especially with respect to privatised utilities. The thesis opens up these themes in a focused way, analysing outcomes of water privatisation and electricity privatisation worldwide. It draws on a comprehensive database held by the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) that enables an empirically based analysis of arguments about the outcomes of utilities' privatisation in the light of the globalisation debate. The main methodology used as a basis for a critical assessment of theories of globalisation is social network analysis. The thesis is mostly concerned with the international aspects of the privatisation of public utilities. It begins by arguing that the privatisation of public services worldwide should be located within debates on globalisation. The thesis then presents a reinterpretation of main globalisation trends, specifically the processes related to the internationalisation of public services, as an emerging modern form of economic colonialism. To develop this argument the thesis comprises a variety of dimensions. First, three sets of debates are reviewed, globalisation, the internationalisation of capital and colonialism. In the course of this analysis attention is drawn to the concentration of economic power and the international dominance of three economic blocs - the North America, Western Europe and Japan. The second dimension of the thesis is the presentation of an analytic framework to analyse the recent developments of privatisation worldwide. Drawing on the achievements of social network analysis a methodology for examining the outcomes of privatisation in relation to ownership and the patterns of concentration that have emerged is developed. This part of the thesis transforms the research questions that arise from the examination of debates about globalisation and privatisation and related developments. Here a set of hypotheses is developed to examine the process of privatisation worldwide, with reference to the electricity and water sector. With this methodology outlined, the third dimension is present. In this section of the thesis particular explanatory dimensions of the process of globalisation are examined, specifically geography, culture, economy, and politics. Using SNA techniques that build on the first phase of the quantitative analysis which examines ownership concentration and identifies the presence of the star-like pattern of ownership in all studied sectors of public utilities, a rich vein of evidence of the key features of privatisation worldwide is presented. The broad themes of this analysis are then drawn together in an assessment section. This assessment shows that economic globalisation reflects economic asymmetries and is related to political status, and that historical links make a considerable impact on the global ownership structures that have emerged in public services after privatisation. A key conclusion is that public services are being transformed as part of global capitalist system and that under the cover of globalisation a particular form of economic colonialism is emerging - the neo-colonialism that is centred on a few major western economies: The United States, France and the United Kingdom

Design research as a variety of second-order Cybernetic practice

> Context • The relationship between design and science has shifted over recent decades. One bridge between the two is cybernetics, which offers perspectives on both in terms of their practice. From around 1980 onwards, drawing on ideas from cybernetics, Glanville has suggested that rather than apply science to design, it makes more sense to understand science as a form of design activity, reversing the more usual hierarchy between the two. I return to review this argument here, in the context of recent discussions in this journal regarding second-order science (SOS). > Problem • Despite numerous connections to practice, second-order cybernetics (SOC) has tended to be associated with theory. As a result, SOC is perceived as separate to the more tangible aspects of earlier cybernetics in a way that obscures both the continuity between the two and also current opportunities for developing the field. > Method • I review Glanville's understanding of design, and particularly his account of scientific research as a designlike activity, placing this within the context of the shifting relation between science and design during the development of SOC, with reference to the work of Rittel and Feyerabend. Through this, I summarise significant parallels and overlaps between SOC and the contemporary concerns of design research. > Results • I suggest that we can see design research not just as a field influenced by cybernetics but as a form of SOC practice even where cybernetics is not explicitly referenced. > Implications • Given this, design research offers much to cybernetics as an important example of SOC that is both outward looking and practice based. As such, it bridges the gap between SOC and the more tangible legacy of earlier cybernetics, while also suggesting connections to contemporary concerns in this journal with SOS in terms of researching research. > Constructivist content • By suggesting that we see design research as an example of SOC, I develop connections between constructivism and practice

So You Think You Can Model? A Guide to Building and Evaluating Archaeological Simulation Models of Dispersals

With the current surge of simulation studies in archaeology there is a growing concern for the lack of engagement and feedback between modellers and domain specialists. To facilitate this dialogue I present a compact guide to the simulation modelling process applied to a common research topic and the focus of this special issue of Human Biology—human dispersals. The process of developing a simulation is divided into nine steps grouped in three phases. The conceptual phase consists of identifying research questions (step 1) and finding the most suitable method (step 2), designing the general framework and the resolution of the simulation (step 3) and then by filling in that framework with the modelled entities and the rules of interactions (step 4). This is followed by the technical phase of coding and testing (step 5), parameterising the simulation (step 6) and running it (step 7). In the final phase the results of the simulation are analysed and re-contextualised (step 8) and the findings of the model are disseminated in publications and code repositories (step 9). Each step will be defined and characterised and then illustrated with examples of published human dispersals simulation studies. While not aiming to be a comprehensive textbookstyle guide to simulation, this overview of the process of modelling human dispersals should arm any non-modeller with enough understanding to evaluate the quality, strengths and weaknesses of any particular archaeological simulation and provide a starting point for further exploration of this common scientific tool

Technological innovation and complex systems in cities

Many solutions to the problems confronting cities involve the integration of systems of systems. The complexity of integrating diverse systems requires approaches that are adaptive and collaborative. This paper argues that these approaches can valuably draw on a range of emerging technologies, such as virtual representations, using the massive increase in available data from ubiquitous instrumentation. It contends that the interrelations in cities between different systems can be better explored, and decisions improved, through using this technology. A brief case study of some elements of IBM's Smarter Cities strategy, based on instrumentation, interconnection, and intelligence is presented. The company's Emergency Response System in Rio de Janeiro is provided as an example of the role technology can play in developing an integrated system of systems. This exploratory paper concludes that the new innovation technologies can contribute to effective approaches for dealing with emerging challenges in cities