Grand Challenges in Discrete Event Logistics Systems

With the experience of dealing with systems as complex as wafer fabrication plants as well as aerospace spare parts logistics networks, I would consider the following four factors as the greatest contemporary challenges for Discrete Event Logistics Systems: (i) Domain-specific characteristics of Discrete Event Logistic Systems, (ii) Cycle time for model generation and model maintenance, (iii) Involvement of humans in operating such systems, (iv) The difficulty of quantifying the value generated by decision-support software for managing and optimising such systems

Panel on future challenges in modeling methodology

This panel paper presents the views of six researchers and practitioners of simulation modeling. Collectively we attempt to address a range of key future challenges to modeling methodology. It is hoped that the views of this paper, and the presentations made by the panelists at the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference will raise awareness and stimulate further discussion on the future of modeling methodology in areas such as modeling problems in business applications, human factors and geographically dispersed networks; rapid model development and maintenance; legacy modeling approaches; markup languages; virtual interactive process design and simulation; standards; and Grid computing

A Novel in situ Trigger Combination Method

Searches for rare physics processes using particle detectors in high-luminosity colliding hadronic beam environments require the use of multi-level trigger systems to reject colossal background rates in real time. In analyses like the search for the Higgs boson, there is a need to maximize the signal acceptance by combining multiple different trigger chains when forming the offline data sample. In such statistically limited searches, datasets are often amassed over periods of several years, during which the trigger characteristics evolve and system performance can vary significantly. Reliable production cross-section measurements and upper limits must take into account a detailed understanding of the effective trigger inefficiency for every selected candidate event. We present as an example the complex situation of three trigger chains, based on missing energy and jet energy, that were combined in the context of the search for the Higgs (H) boson produced in association with a $W$ boson at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). We briefly review the existing techniques for combining triggers, namely the inclusion, division, and exclusion methods. We introduce and describe a novel fourth in situ method whereby, for each candidate event, only the trigger chain with the highest a priori probability of selecting the event is considered. We compare the inclusion and novel in situ methods for signal event yields in the CDF $WH$ search. This new combination method, by virtue of its scalability to large numbers of differing trigger chains and insensitivity to correlations between triggers, will benefit future long-running collider experiments, including those currently operating on the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables, accepted by Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research

10102 Executive Summary -- Grand Challenges for Discrete Event Logistics Systems

In March 2010, the Dagstuhl Seminar 10102 explored the grand challenges confronting research and practice in the domain of discrete event logistics systems. This Executive Summary describes the process of the seminar and discusses the key conclusions regarding grand challenges for research and practice. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar are put together in the online proceedings

10102 Abstracts Collection -- Grand Challenges for Discrete Event Logistics Systems

From 03/08/2010 to 03/12/2010, the Dagstuhl Seminar 10102 ``Grand Challenges for Discrete Event Logistics Systems\u27\u27 was held in Schloss Dagstuhl~--~Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

A comparison of CMB- and HLA-based approaches to type I interoperability reference model problems for COTS-based distributed simulation

Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) simulation packages (CSPs) are software used by many simulation modellers to build and experiment with models of various systems in domains such as manufacturing, health, logistics and commerce. COTS distributed simulation deals with the interoperation of CSPs and their models. Such interoperability has been classified into six interoperability reference models. As part of an on-going standardisation effort, this paper introduces the COTS Simulation Package Emulator, a proposed benchmark that can be used to investigate Type I interoperability problems in COTS distributed simulation. To demonstrate its use, two approaches to this form of interoperability are discussed, an implementation of the CMB conservative algorithm, an example of a so-called “light” approach, and an implementation of the HLA TAR algorithm, an example of a so-called “heavy” approach. Results from experimentation over four federation topologies are presented and it is shown the HLA approach out performs the CMB approach in almost all cases. The paper concludes that the CSPE benchmark is a valid basis from which the most efficient approach to Type I interoperability problems for COTS distributed simulation can be discovered

Accessing the Longitudinally Polarized Photon Content of the Proton

We investigate the QED Compton process (QEDCS) in longitudinally polarized lepton-proton scattering both in the elastic and inelastic channels and show that the cross section can be expressed in terms of the polarized equivalent photon distribution of the proton. We provide the necessary kinematical constraints to extract the polarized photon content of the proton using this process at HERMES, COMPASS and eRHIC. We also discuss the suppression of the major background process coming from virtual Compton scattering. We point out that such an experiment can give valuable information on $g_1(x_B, Q^2)$ in the small $x_B$, broad $Q^2$ region at the future polarized collider eRHIC and especially in the lower $Q^2$, medium $x_B$ region in fixed target experiments.Comment: Version to appear in PR

Facilitating the analysis of a UK national blood service supply chain using distributed simulation

In an attempt to investigate blood unit ordering policies, researchers have created a discrete-event model of the UK National Blood Service (NBS) supply chain in the Southampton area of the UK. The model has been created using Simul8, a commercial-off-the-shelf discrete-event simulation package (CSP). However, as more hospitals were added to the model, it was discovered that the length of time needed to perform a single simulation severely increased. It has been claimed that distributed simulation, a technique that uses the resources of many computers to execute a simulation model, can reduce simulation runtime. Further, an emerging standardized approach exists that supports distributed simulation with CSPs. These CSP Interoperability (CSPI) standards are compatible with the IEEE 1516 standard The High Level Architecture, the defacto interoperability standard for distributed simulation. To investigate if distributed simulation can reduce the execution time of NBS supply chain simulation, this paper presents experiences of creating a distributed version of the CSP Simul8 according to the CSPI/HLA standards. It shows that the distributed version of the simulation does indeed run faster when the model reaches a certain size. Further, we argue that understanding the relationship of model features is key to performance. This is illustrated by experimentation with two different protocols implementations (using Time Advance Request (TAR) and Next Event Request (NER)). Our contribution is therefore the demonstration that distributed simulation is a useful technique in the timely execution of supply chains of this type and that careful analysis of model features can further increase performance

Towards testing a two-Higgs-doublet model with maximal CP symmetry at the LHC: construction of a Monte Carlo event generator

A Monte Carlo event generator is constructed for a two-Higgs-doublet model with maximal CP symmetry, the MCPM. The model contains five physical Higgs bosons; the $\rho'$, behaving similarly to the standard-model Higgs boson, two extra neutral bosons $h'$ and $h"$, and a charged pair $H^\pm$. The special feature of the MCPM is that, concerning the Yukawa couplings, the bosons $h'$, $h"$ and $H^\pm$ couple directly only to the second generation fermions but with strengths given by the third-generation-fermion masses. Our event generator allows the simulation of the Drell-Yan-type production processes of $h'$, $h"$ and $H^\pm$ in proton-proton collisions at LHC energies. Also the subsequent leptonic decays of these bosons into the $\mu^+ \mu^-$, $\mu^+ \nu_\mu$ and $\mu^- \bar \nu_\mu$ channels are studied as well as the dominant background processes. We estimate the integrated luminosities needed in $p p$ collisions at center-of-mass energies of 8 TeV and 14 TeV for significant observations of the Higgs bosons $h'$, $h"$ and $H^\pm$ in these muonic channels

Forward pi^0 Production and Associated Transverse Energy Flow in Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Deep-inelastic positron-proton interactions at low values of Bjorken-x down to x \approx 4.10^-5 which give rise to high transverse momentum pi^0 mesons are studied with the H1 experiment at HERA. The inclusive cross section for pi^0 mesons produced at small angles with respect to the proton remnant (the forward region) is presented as a function of the transverse momentum and energy of the pi^0 and of the four-momentum transfer Q^2 and Bjorken-x. Measurements are also presented of the transverse energy flow in events containing a forward pi^0 meson. Hadronic final state calculations based on QCD models implementing different parton evolution schemes are confronted with the data.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures and 3 table