A survey of simulation techniques in commerce and defence

Despite the developments in Modelling and Simulation (M&S) tools and techniques over the past years, there has been a gap in the M&S research and practice in healthcare on developing a toolkit to assist the modellers and simulation practitioners with selecting an appropriate set of techniques. This study is a preliminary step towards this goal. This paper presents some results from a systematic literature survey on applications of M&S in the commerce and defence domains that could inspire some improvements in the healthcare. Interim results show that in the commercial sector Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) has been the most widely used technique with System Dynamics (SD) in second place. However in the defence sector, SD has gained relatively more attention. SD has been found quite useful for qualitative and soft factors analysis. From both the surveys it becomes clear that there is a growing trend towards using hybrid M&S approaches

Evaluation of hydropower upgrade projects - a real options approach

When evaluating whether to refurbish existing hydropower plants or invest in a new power plant, there are two important aspects to take into consideration. These are the capacity chosen for the production facilities and the timing of the investment. This paper presents an investment decision support framework for hydropower producers with production facilities due for restoration. The producer can choose between refurbishing existing power plants and investing in a new production facility. A real options framework is proposed to support the investment decision. Using a case from Norsk Hydro ASA, a Norwegian hydropower producer, we employ the framework to evaluate the investment opportunities. Our main contribution is an approach that combines hydropower scheduling and real options valuation, and the results from our analysis suggest feasible investment strategies for Norsk Hydro ASA.Electricity price uncertainty; reservoir management; hydroelectric scheduling; investment under uncertainty; electricity markets

PICES Press, Vol. 11, No. 2, July 2003

Cover [pdf, 1.2 Mb] PICES Science Board and Governing Council hold their first joint meeting [pp. 1-3] [pdf, 0.2 Mb] 3rd International Zooplankton Production Symposium [pp. 4-7] [pdf, 0.6 Mb] The state of the eastern North Pacific entering spring 2003 [pp. 8-9] [pdf, 0.4 Mb] The state of the western North Pacific in 2002 [pp. 10-13] [pdf, 0.6 Mb] The Bering Sea: Current status and recent events [pp. 14-15] [pdf. 0.7 Mb] Patricia Livingston [pp. 16-19] [pdf. 0.5 Mb] Recent changes in the abundance of northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) off the Pacific Northwest, tracking a regime shift? [pp. 20-21] [pdf. 0.6 Mb] Developing new scientific programs in PICES [pp. 22-26] [pdf. 0.2 Mb] Report of the Yokohama 2003 MODEL Task Team Workshop to develop a marine ecosystem model of the North Pacific Ocean including pelagic fishes [pp. 27-29] [pdf. 0.5 Mb] 3rd PICES Workshop on the Okhotsk Sea and adjacent Areas [pp.30-31] [pdf. 0.4 Mb] Recent oceanographic and marine environmental studies at FERHRI [pp.32-34] [pdf. 0.4 Mb] Symposium Announcement [p. 35] [pdf. 0.3 Mb] PICES announcements [p. 36] [pdf. 0.3 Mb