A grid computing framework for commercial simulation packages

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.An increased need for collaborative research among different organizations, together with continuing advances in communication technology and computer hardware, has facilitated the development of distributed systems that can provide users non-trivial access to geographically dispersed computing resources (processors, storage, applications, data, instruments, etc.) that are administered in multiple computer domains. The term grid computing or grids is popularly used to refer to such distributed systems. A broader definition of grid computing includes the use of computing resources within an organization for running organization-specific applications. This research is in the context of using grid computing within an enterprise to maximize the use of available hardware and software resources for processing enterprise applications. Large scale scientific simulations have traditionally been the primary benefactor of grid computing. The application of this technology to simulation in industry has, however, been negligible. This research investigates how grid technology can be effectively exploited by simulation practitioners using Windows-based commercially available simulation packages to model simulations in industry. These packages are commonly referred to as Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Simulation Packages (CSPs). The study identifies several higher level grid services that could be potentially used to support the practise of simulation in industry. It proposes a grid computing framework to investigate these services in the context of CSP-based simulations. This framework is called the CSP-Grid Computing (CSP-GC) Framework. Each identified higher level grid service in this framework is referred to as a CSP-specific service. A total of six case studies are presented to experimentally evaluate how grid computing technologies can be used together with unmodified simulation packages to support some of the CSP-specific services. The contribution of this thesis is the CSP-GC framework that identifies how simulation practise in industry may benefit from the use of grid technology. A further contribution is the recognition of specific grid computing software (grid middleware) that can possibly be used together with existing CSPs to provide grid support. With its focus on end-users and end-user tools, it is intended that this research will encourage wider adoption of grid computing in the workplace and that simulation users will derive benefit from using this technology

Spatial Modeling using Agents

Simulation is a decision support technique that is often used to represent systems of interest and to experiment with them. Multi-Agent Simulation (MAS) is increasingly being used for modeling systems that comprise of autonomous and interacting system components. In such systems, the interactions among the underlying system components may be dependent on their spatial characteristics (e.g., dimension and location in three-dimensional space). The work presented in this paper describes an agent-based approach to spatial modeling through the use of a case study in container loading. The contribution of this paper is the demonstration of the feasibility of using MAS for spatial, proximity-based modeling, wherein not only agent behavior but also their physical dimension and their location in the three dimensional space are key considerations

EVOLUTION OF IS RESEARCH BASED ON LITERATURE PUBLISHED IN TWO LEADING IS JOURNALS - EJIS AND MISQ

There is growing interest amongst IS academics and scholars in studying the evolution of IS research. Scholarly literature published in top-ranking IS journals provide a pertinent source for this exploratory study. However, the list of journals selected for such a study should ideally be representative of publication outlets from different regions of the world. Thus, in the research on IS evolution presented in this paper, the authors’ selection of the two leading IS journals – EJIS and MISQ – is motivated by their conscious attempt to chart the evolution of IS research in both European and North American contexts. Towards this end, the paper employs co-citation analysis to identify prominent articles, authors and journals being referenced to by the citing EJIS and MISQ authors; it utilises extended citation data (e.g., keywords and article abstracts) to recognise frequently occurring noun phrases in the citing articles. The contribution of this paper is the methodological study of the evolution of IS research based on a comparative co-citation analysis of journals. The limitation of the paper is its underlying dataset that presently comprises of only two journals

Serious games for sustainable development

Sustainable development (SD) is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the subsequent generations to cater to their future needs (Brundtland, 1987). An ecologically balanced environment, long-term economic well-being, and social equity are commonly regarded as the triple bottom line (TBL) of SD. Effective management of the TBL requires the adoption of SD practices (Pope, Annandale, & Morrison- Saunders, 2004). The concepts of SD and the TBL have emerged as a major focus for the society because of factors such as the depletion of natural resources, changes in demographics, and a push toward a more equitable society. To achieve the goals of TBL, we will need the right attitude and managerial skills to examine these challenges holistically (Savitz, 2006), and the adoption of courses and degrees focusing on SD will play an important role in the curriculum of intermediate and higher education (Cotton, Warren, Maiboroda, & Bailey, 2007). The focus of this review is the use of serious games (SGs), designed with a primary purpose other than pure entertainment, as a tool to teach SD

Supporting simulation in industry through the application of grid computing

An increased need for collaborative research, together with continuing advances in communication technology and computer hardware, has facilitated the development of distributed systems that can provide users access to geographically dispersed computing resources that are administered in multiple computer domains. The term grid computing, or grids, is popularly used to refer to such distributed systems. Simulation is characterized by the need to run multiple sets of computationally intensive experiments. Large scale scientific simulations have traditionally been the primary benefactor of grid computing. The application of this technology to simulation in industry has, however, been negligible. This research investigates how grid technology can be effectively exploited by users to model simulations in industry. It introduces our desktop grid, WinGrid, and presents a case study conducted at a leading European investment bank. Results indicate that grid computing does indeed hold promise for simulation in industry

Application and support for high-performance simulation

types: Editorial CommentHigh performance simulation that supports sophisticated simulation experimentation and optimization can require non-trivial amounts of computing power. Advanced distributed computing techniques and systems found in areas such as High Performance Computing (HPC), High Throughput Computing (HTC), grid computing, cloud computing and e-Infrastructures are needed to provide effectively the computing power needed for the high performance simulation of large and complex models. In simulation there has been a long tradition of translating and adopting advances in distributed computing as shown by contributions from the parallel and distributed simulation community. This special issue brings together a contemporary collection of work showcasing original research in the advancement of simulation theory and practice with distributed computing. This special issue is divided into two parts. This first part focuses on research pertaining to high performance simulation that support a range of applications including the study of epidemics, social networks, urban mobility and real-time embedded and cyber-physical systems. Compared to other simulation techniques agent-based modeling and simulation is relatively new; however, it is increasingly being used to study large-scale problems. Agent-based simulations present challenges for high performance simulation as they can be complex and computationally demanding, and it is therefore not surprising that this special issue includes several articles on the high performance simulation of such systems.Research Councils U

Analysing trade-offs in container loading: Combining load plan construction heuristics with agent-based simulation

This is the accepted version of the following article: Analysing Trade-offs in Container Loading: Combining Load Plan Construction Heuristics with Agent-based Simulation. International Transactions in Operational Research, 20(4): 471-491which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/itor.12017/abstractIn this paper we describe two operations research techniques, cutting and packing optimisation (CPO) and simulation, and present a multi-methodology approach for analysing the trade-offs between loading efficiency and various important practical considerations in relation to the cargo, such as its stability, fragility or possible cross-contamination between different types of items over time. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by considering a situation where the items to be loaded have differing degrees of perishability and where badly deteriorated items can affect those in their immediate vicinity (e.g. through the spread of mould). Our approach uses the output of the CPO algorithms to create agents that simulate the spread of mould through proximity-based interactions between the agents. The results show the trade-offs involved in container utilisation and the propagation of mould, without evidence of any correlation between them. The contribution of this research is the methodology and the feasibility study

A game-based approach towards facilitating decision making for perishable products: an example of blood supply chain

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Expert Systems with Applications. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Expert Systems with Applications, Volume 41, Issue 9, July 2014, Pages 4043–4059 doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2013.12.038Supply chains for perishable items consist of products with a fixed shelf life and limited production/collection; managing them requires competent decision-making. With the objective of placing the learners in the position of decision-makers, we propose the Blood Supply Chain Game which simulates the supply chain of blood units from donors to patients based on a real case study modeling the UK blood supply chain. The Excel-based game is an abstraction of the technical complex simulation model providing a more appropriate learning environment. This paper presents the game’s background, its mathematical formulations, example teaching scenarios and the learners’ evaluation. The game aims to translate qualitative aspects of a sensitive supply chain into quantitative economic consequences by presenting a process analysis and suggesting solutions for the patient’s benefit in a cost effective manner, trying to synchronize blood demand and supply and maximize the value of the whole supply chain. This innovative approach will be instructive for students and healthcare service professionals

High-performance simulation and simulation methodologies

types: Editorial CommentThe realization of high performance simulation necessitates sophisticated simulation experimentation and optimization; this often requires non-trivial amounts of computing power. Distributed computing techniques and systems found in areas such as High Performance Computing (HPC), High Throughput Computing (HTC), e-infrastructures, grid and cloud computing can provide the required computing capacity for the execution of large and complex simulations. This extends the long tradition of adopting advances in distributed computing in simulation as evidenced by contributions from the parallel and distributed simulation community. There has arguably been a recent acceleration of innovation in distributed computing tools and techniques. This special issue presents the opportunity to showcase recent research that is assimilating these new advances in simulation. This special issue brings together a contemporary collection of work showcasing original research in the advancement of simulation theory and practice with distributed computing. This special issue has two parts. The first part (published in the preceding issue of the journal) included seven studies in high performance simulation that support applications including the study of epidemics, social networks, urban mobility and real-time embedded and cyber-physical systems. This second part focuses on original research in high performance simulation that supports a range of methods including DEVS, Petri nets and DES. Of the four papers for this issue, the manuscript by Bergero, et al. (2013), which was submitted, reviewed and accepted for the special issue, was published in an earlier issue of SIMULATION as the author requested early publication.Research Councils U

Business Intelligence in NHS WALES

The paper investigates the challenges of implementing Business Intelligence (BI) in NHS Wales. The study is informed by extant literature, a modified Delphi approach that draws on the knowledge of ten expert panelists from the NHS/Welsh public sector, and from the extensive industry experience of one of the authors of this study. Our adapted Delphi methodology lends itself to supporting the nature of this research since it not only structures a group communication process to explore and seek consensus on specific aspects of BI implementation in NHS Wales, but it also identifies the mean priority accorded by our expert panel to approximately eighty BI-related questions. The specific findings are presented under the following six headings – tools, resources, data, business drivers, business process needs and business service needs. The findings, in general, highlight that the existing BI services in NHS Wales are not presently supporting the delivery of evidence-based business decisions