Modeling and Simulation of Cascading Failures in Transportation Systems During Hurricane Evacuations

Effective and timely evacuation is critical in alleviating the impact of hurricanes. As such, evacuation models are often sought to support the preparedness of evacuations. One important task in the modeling process is to evaluate exogenous factors that cause transportation system capacity loss during evacuation. Typical factors include direct damage to the roadway network due to storm surge and cascading impacts because of other facilities failures. For example, power outage can lead to signal failure and subway suspension. This paper aims to develop a macroscopic simulation-based approach to study the capacity loss of the roadway network in evacuation due to signal loss as a consequence of power outage. In particular, to simulate the case in which traffic signals lose power, a capacity-reduction model from signalized intersections to unsignalized (all-way stop control) intersections was developed and calibrated using microscopic model created in SUMO and Synchro. We used the downtown Manhattan as a case study area and created a hypothetical power-grid network in terms of neighborhoods. Six scenarios were built to simulate power loss of different neighborhoods. The simulation results give insights on how cascading failures of power network affect roadway network and evacuation process

PDAN: Pyramid Dilated Attention Network for Action Detection

International audienceHandling long and complex temporal information is an important challenge for action detection tasks. This challenge is further aggravated by densely distributed actions in untrimmed videos. Previous action detection methods fail in selecting the key temporal information in long videos. To this end, we introduce the Dilated Attention Layer (DAL). Compared to previous temporal convolution layer, DAL allocates attentional weights to local frames in the kernel, which enables it to learn better local representation across time. Furthermore, we introduce Pyramid Dilated Attention Network (PDAN) which is built upon DAL. With the help of multiple DALs with different dilation rates, PDAN can model short-term and long-term temporal relations simultaneously by focusing on local segments at the level of low and high temporal receptive fields. This property enables PDAN to handle complex temporal relations between different action instances in long untrimmed videos. To corroborate the effectiveness and robustness of our method, we evaluate it on three densely annotated, multi-label datasets: MultiTHUMOS, Charades and Toyota Smarthome Untrimmed (TSU) dataset. PDAN is able to outperform previous state-of-the-art methods on all these datasets

Multimission Modular Spacecraft Ground Support Software System (MMS/GSSS) state-of-the-art computer systems/ compatibility study

The compatibility of the Multimission Modular Spacecraft (MMS) Ground Support Software System (GSSS), currently operational on a ModComp IV/35, with the VAX 11/780 system is discussed. The compatibility is examined in various key areas of the GSSS through the results of in depth testing performed on the VAX 11/780 and ModComp IV/35 systems. The compatibility of the GSSS with the ModComp CLASSIC is presented based upon projections from ModComp supplied literature

Reviews of recent publications

Culture and Theory Conley, Verena Andermatt, ed. Rethinking Technologies by Laurence M. Porter Leitch, Vincent B. Cultural Criticism, Literary Theory, Poststructuralism by Merry M. Pawlowski French Studies Bersani, Leo and Ulysse Dutoit. Arts of Impoverishment: Beckett, Rothko, Resnais by Thomas Trezise Boldt-Irons, Leslie Anne. On Bataille: Critical Essays by Walter A. Strauss Deleuze, Gilles. Negotiations. Trans. Martin Joughin by Charles J. Stivale Fisher, Dominique D. Staging of Language and Language(s) of the Stage: Mallarmé\u27s poëme critique and Artaud\u27s poetry-minus-text by Maryse Fauvel Goodall, Jane. Artaud and the Gnostic Drama by Claudine G. Fisher Lydon, Mary. Skirting the Issue: Essays in Literary Theory by Carol J. Murphy German Studies Barnouw, Dagmar. Critical Realism: History, Photography, and the Work of Siegfried Kracauer by Florence Martin Pfandl-Buchegger, Ingrid. David Lodge als Literaturkritiker, Theoretiker and Romanautor by Charles A. Grair Samuels, Clarise. Holocaust Visions: Surrealism and Existentialism in the Poetry of Paul Celan by Francis Michael Sharp Stefan, Verena. Shedding and Literally Dreaming. Shedding. Trans. Johanna Steigleder Moore and Beth E. Weckmueller; Literally Dreaming. Trans. Johanna Albert and Tobe Levin; Euphoria and Cacophony. Trans. and Afterword Tobe Levin by Miriam Frank Stern, J.P. The Dear Purchase: A Theme in German Modernism by Theodore Ziolkowski Russian Studies Berry, Ellen E. and Anesa Miller-Pogacer, eds. Re-Entering the Sign: Articulating New Russian Culture by Rolf Hellebust Erlich, Victor. Modernism and Revolution: Russian Literature in Transition by Henry Elbaum Hohne, Karen and Helen Wussow, eds. A Dialogue of Voices: Feminist Literary Theory and Bakhtin by Laura Beraha Masing-Delic, Irene. Abolishing Death: A Salvation Myth of Russian Twentieth-Century Literature by Rolf Hellebust Paperno, Irina and Joan Delaney Grossman, eds. Creating Life: The Aesthetic Utopia of Russian Modernism by Constantin V. Ponomareff Spanish Studies Cardenal, Ernesto. The Doubtful Strait. Trans. John Lyons by Juan Carlos Galeano Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Of Love and Other Demons by John Cussen Lindstrom, Naomi. Twentieth-Century Spanish American Fiction by Norma Helsper Meyer, Doris, Ed. Reinterpreting the Spanish American Essay: Women Writers of the 19th and 20th Centuries by Judy Maloof and Fernando Unzueta Nantell, Judith. The Poetry of Francisco Brines: The Deconstructive Effects of Languages by Anita M. Hart Taylor, Diana and Juan Villegas, Eds. Negotiating Performance: Gender, Sexuality, & Theatricality in Latin America by Anne M. Paser

Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence for Critical Infrastructures Security

Modern critical infrastructures comprise of many interconnected cyber and physical assets, and as such are large scale cyber-physical systems. Hence, the conventional approach of securing these infrastructures by addressing cyber security and physical security separately is no longer effective. Rather more integrated approaches that address the security of cyber and physical assets at the same time are required. This book presents integrated (i.e. cyber and physical) security approaches and technologies for the critical infrastructures that underpin our societies. Specifically, it introduces advanced techniques for threat detection, risk assessment and security information sharing, based on leading edge technologies like machine learning, security knowledge modelling, IoT security and distributed ledger infrastructures. Likewise, it presets how established security technologies like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), pen-testing, vulnerability assessment and security data analytics can be used in the context of integrated Critical Infrastructure Protection. The novel methods and techniques of the book are exemplified in case studies involving critical infrastructures in four industrial sectors, namely finance, healthcare, energy and communications. The peculiarities of critical infrastructure protection in each one of these sectors is discussed and addressed based on sector-specific solutions. The advent of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is expected to increase the cyber-physical nature of critical infrastructures as well as their interconnection in the scope of sectorial and cross-sector value chains. Therefore, the demand for solutions that foster the interplay between cyber and physical security, and enable Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence is likely to explode. In this book, we have shed light on the structure of such integrated security systems, as well as on the technologies that will underpin their operation. We hope that Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection stakeholders will find the book useful when planning their future security strategies

A distributed version of the NASA Engine Performance Program

Distributed NEPP, a version of the NASA Engine Performance Program, uses the original NEPP code but executes it in a distributed computer environment. Multiple workstations connected by a network increase the program's speed and, more importantly, the complexity of the cases it can handle in a reasonable time. Distributed NEPP uses the public domain software package, called Parallel Virtual Machine, allowing it to execute on clusters of machines containing many different architectures. It includes the capability to link with other computers, allowing them to process NEPP jobs in parallel. This paper discusses the design issues and granularity considerations that entered into programming Distributed NEPP and presents the results of timing runs