Network Inspection for Detecting Strategic Attacks

This article studies a problem of strategic network inspection, in which a defender (agency) is tasked with detecting the presence of multiple attacks in the network. An inspection strategy entails monitoring the network components, possibly in a randomized manner, using a given number of detectors. We formulate the network inspection problem $(\mathcal{P})$ as a large-scale bilevel optimization problem, in which the defender seeks to determine an inspection strategy with minimum number of detectors that ensures a target expected detection rate under worst-case attacks. We show that optimal solutions of $(\mathcal{P})$ can be obtained from the equilibria of a large-scale zero-sum game. Our equilibrium analysis involves both game-theoretic and combinatorial arguments, and leads to a computationally tractable approach to solve $(\mathcal{P})$. Firstly, we construct an approximate solution by utilizing solutions of minimum set cover (MSC) and maximum set packing (MSP) problems, and evaluate its detection performance. In fact, this construction generalizes some of the known results in network security games. Secondly, we leverage properties of the optimal detection rate to iteratively refine our MSC/MSP-based solution through a column generation procedure. Computational results on benchmark water networks demonstrate the scalability, performance, and operational feasibility of our approach. The results indicate that utilities can achieve a high level of protection in large-scale networks by strategically positioning a small number of detectors

Sensor placement for fault location identification in water networks: A minimum test cover approach

This paper focuses on the optimal sensor placement problem for the identification of pipe failure locations in large-scale urban water systems. The problem involves selecting the minimum number of sensors such that every pipe failure can be uniquely localized. This problem can be viewed as a minimum test cover (MTC) problem, which is NP-hard. We consider two approaches to obtain approximate solutions to this problem. In the first approach, we transform the MTC problem to a minimum set cover (MSC) problem and use the greedy algorithm that exploits the submodularity property of the MSC problem to compute the solution to the MTC problem. In the second approach, we develop a new \textit{augmented greedy} algorithm for solving the MTC problem. This approach does not require the transformation of the MTC to MSC. Our augmented greedy algorithm provides in a significant computational improvement while guaranteeing the same approximation ratio as the first approach. We propose several metrics to evaluate the performance of the sensor placement designs. Finally, we present detailed computational experiments for a number of real water distribution networks

Flexible Reconfiguration of Existing Urban Water Infrastructure Systems

This paper presents a practical methodology for the flexible reconfiguration of existing water distribution infrastructure, which is adaptive to the water utility constraints and facilitates in operational management for pressure and water loss control. The network topology is reconfigured into a star-like topology, where the center node is a connected subset of transmission mains, that provides connection to water sources, and the nodes are the subsystems that are connected to the sources through the center node. In the proposed approach, the system is first decomposed into the main and subsystems based on graph theory methods and then the network reconfiguration problem is approximated as a single-objective linear programming problem, which is efficiently solved using a standard solver. The performance and resiliency of the original and reconfigured systems are evaluated through direct and surrogate measures. The methodology is demonstrated using two large-scale water distribution systems, showing the flexibility of the proposed approach. The results highlight the benefits and disadvantages of network decentralization.MIT-Technion Fellowshi

Kris och sorg - Att möta barn ur ett barns perspektiv

Arbetet behandlar barns tankar och känslor kring kris och sorg, sett ur deras perspektiv. Även hur man enligt barnen ska möta dem då de befinner sig i en svår situation tas upp. Empiriinsamlingen genomfördes genom kvalitativa gruppintervjuer med barn i förskola och skola. Det som starkast framkom under arbetet var att barnen vill bli mötta på väldigt olika sätt. Detta innebär att man som pedagog måste vara öppen för olika reaktioner och ta sig tid att möta barnet samt våga bryta den vardagliga verksamheten