DEDS Simulation Model Development

In spite of its considerable intuitive appeal, an activity oriented perspective for model development has largely been ignored in the modeling and simulation community. Recently, however, the naturalness of the activity perspective provided the basis for the development, by the authors, of a comprehensive, flexible but descriptive conceptual modeling environment; namely, the ABCmod framework (ABCmod = Activity Based Conceptual modeling) [1, 2, 4]. A new world view called the Activity-Object World View has emerged from this previous work which facilitates the transformation of an ABCmod conceptual model into a simulation model. The key feature of this world view is that the activity is treated as an object in an object-oriented (OO) programming paradigm. The ABSmod/J package (ABSmod = Activity Based Simulation Modeling with Java) has been developed to create simulation models based on this world view and its features are outlined in this paper. Unlike traditional world views, the approach does not extract, and separately manage, the underlying events but rather retains their existence as integral parts of activity objects.

Several process modeling techniques have been used in simulation projects. However, most of these techniques provide little specific support to the programming. The main cause of this is the fact that these techniques were not developed with the same logic used in simulation models. From this issue, this paper presents an industrial application of a new conceptual modeling technique, named IDEF-SIM (Integrated Definition Methods -- Simulation) currently under development by the authors. This adapted IDEF uses logic elements present in techniques such as IDEF0 and IDEF3, but in a way that is similar to the process interpretation logic usually used in simulation projects. This way, it can be noticed an increase in the conceptual model's utility, which might facilitate the simulation model programming, verification and validation and the scenarios creation. Additionally, the paper presents the benefits of using IDEF-SIM to create the conceptual model of a Brazilian tech company manufacturing cell.

Religion and caste are often critically viewed by modernity for its rootedness in the traditional world view. In India, caste as an oppressive social organization has got its sanctity from Hinduism. Dalits are the worst victims of the caste system as advocated by Hinduism. Interestingly, in contemporary times, religion becomes a rallying point for many social and political struggles. In this context, the chapter explains how Ambedkar’s conception of religion and modernity is important in promoting the democratic, humanistic and rational world view by countering the caste system. Ambedkar overcomes the tradition–modernity dichotomy by arguing for a religion that stands for reason and righteous social life. By applying this criterion, he rejects Hinduism as a religion and endorses Buddhism. He reconstructs Buddhism as a humanistic religion that stands on rationality and morality. The chapter further argues that Ambedkar proposes an alternative modernity against colonial and Brahmanical modernity from a Dalit point of view. He adds a new dimension to the liberal–communitarian debate by mediating both traditions of western political philosophy from an indigenous perspective.

Effective management and control of modeling and simulation projects can provide significant savings in the development of large-scale, complex, multidisciplinary systems. With the evolution of the techniques of modeling, simulation and software engineering from "art to science", must come discipline. Discipline is the responsibility of the manager, and for him to effectively control the development of today's projects he must have a detailed understanding of the simulation software phased, cascading life-cycle. With this knowledge, the manager can develop an effective simulation methodology to attack the major cost problems of analysis, design, visibility, testing (verification/validation), standards, concurrent documentation, configuration management, reliability and quality control. To understand the software life-cycle, one must first understand that it is unlike any other product and thus an effective modeling and simulation methodology will require some techniques and mechanisms which differ from the classical management patterns.

The increasing capabilities and decreasing costs of the digital computer allow system developers to attack ever larger and more complex problems. Today's software manager must be experienced, adroit and prepared to handle the complexities and challenges of modern, large-scale, multidisciplinary systems development. The major concern of today's modeling practitioner is to foster the development and definition of a viable and disciplined life-cycle management methodology for the control of change. This methodology would include procedures for software cost estimation, control of time and resources, a means of verification/validation and procedures for proving that results are significant and correct.Effective management and control of modeling and simulation projects provides significant savings in the development of large-scale, complex, multidisciplinary systems. With the evolution of the techniques of modeling, simulation and software engineering from “art to science”, must come discipline. Discipline is the responsibility of the manager, and for him to effectively control the development of today's projects, he must have a detailed understanding of the simulation software phased, cascading lifecycle. With this knowledge, the management can develop an effective simulation methodology to attack the major cost problems of analysis, design, visibility, testing (verification/validation), standards, concurrent documentation, configuration management, reliability and quality control. To understand the software life-cycle, one must first understand that it is unlike any other product life-cycle and thus, an effective modeling and simulation methodology will require some techniques and mechanisms which differ from the classical management patterns.To fully support the establishment of a meaningful software development methodology,the management must define:1. a life-cycle description and understanding2. component activities, relationships, intexfaces and interactions3. a schedule and milestones to be met4. management principles, tools and techniques to help plan and control the projectAmong the conclusions that may be drawn from current activities in the software field are that software tools are needed for effective software management, development, control, and quantitative assessment of the modeling and simulation software processes.The panelists will discuss the problems they have encountered, the simulation life-cycle, and their experiences in the development of large-scale, multidisciplinary systems.

A legislação ambiental, freqüentemente, não está sendo respeitada por pequenos produtores rurais. Este trabalho busca entender as razões para este comportamento a partir da análise das representações sociais da natureza e do meio ambiente deste grupo social. Como resultado, constatamos que as representações sociais que formam a base da legislação ambiental não levaram em conta as necessidades básicas para a sobrevivência dos agricultores familiares. Tais necessidades apenas podem ser satisfeitas através do uso de áreas consideradas de alto valor para a preservação do meio natural. Embora os agricultores familiares já tenham incluído a visão oficial da natureza refletida na legislação ambiental no seu imaginário - formando representações sociais híbridas entre visões de mundo modernas e tradicionais - são as materialidades dos seus modos de vida que explicam as aparentes contradições nos seus atos. Desta forma, consideramos a análise das representações sociais uma ferramenta importante na identificação das razões que levam a violações da legislação, que por sua vez podem indicar conflitos ambientais duradouros entre estes grupos e o aparelho repressivo do Estado.

In a simulation project, a good conceptual model representation is critical for communicating conceptual models between stakeholders. A conceptual model describes the problem domain and model specifications. The description of the problem domain includes the objectives, inputs, outputs, content, assumptions and simplifications made in the model. The model specifications are used to specify the model's behavior. This article focuses on the representation of the model content (structure, boundary and level of detail) component of an agent-based simulation (ABS) model. For this, we propose the use of Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) from the Object Management Group. A Web-based visual modeling tool has been developed using JavaScript to demonstrate how BPMN can be used to represent an ABS conceptual model and how the tool translates the conceptual model into code ready for execution using Repast HPC.

Engaging stakeholders in policy making and supporting policy development with advanced information and communication technologies including policy simulation is currently high on the agenda of research. In order to involve stakeholders in providing their input to policy modeling via online means, simple techniques need to be employed such as scenario technique. Scenarios enable stakeholders to express their views in narrative text. At the other end of policy development, a frequently used approach to policy modeling is agent-based simulation. So far, effective support to transform narrative text input to formal simulation statements is not widely available. In this paper, we present a novel approach to support the transformation of narrative texts via conceptual modeling into formal simulation models. The approach also stores provenance information which is conveyed via annotations of texts to the conceptual model and further on to the simulation model. This way, traceability of information is provided, which contributes to better understanding and transparency, and therewith enables stakeholders and policy modelers to return to the sources that informed the conceptual and simulation model. In this paper, we present the consistent conceptual description (CCD) as conceptual modeling approach to bridge the gap between narrative texts and formal policy models. The CCD meta-model with the underlying vocabulary for describing policy contexts is detailed. A case study introduces the application of the approach in the Open Collaboration for Policy Modeling project.

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT The research focuses upon the development of a simulation conceptual modelling methodology for SCM applications (termed the ‘SCM2’). The originality of the SCM2 is that it combines a prescribed procedure for simulation conceptual modelling with supply chain domain-specific knowledge. This procedure is used to guide participants to create a non-software specific description of the simulation model to be developed, in the context of SCM applications. The SCM2 is presented as a series of seven phases, associated steps, who participates in each step, information needs and points of entry between steps. The SCM2 is entered when a client has a supply problem to be evaluated using a simulation approach. The supply problem is described in terms of the improvement(s) to be evaluated, for a given objective(s) within its supply setting. From this description, how each objective is to be measured and how each improvement is to be represented is determined. The interconnections between model components and the immediate supply setting are discriminated, model boundary formulated and level of detail designed. The output from the SCM2 is a documented and validated conceptual model. The need for a greater understanding of how to perform the conceptual modelling stage, as part of a simulation project, is shown to be of great significance and relevance. In particular the thesis argues that no methodologies exist that can guide participants in a simulation project through the process of creating a simulation conceptual model. A research methodological programme is designed to review existing modelling practice, form a specification for the methodology, develop an outline for the SCM2, detail the outline through refinement and application and a preliminary validation of the SCM2. The specification is formed to identify a set of requirements that the methodology should address. The methodology is developed to meet the specification by refining the outline design using two developmental cases of typical and complex supply chain problems. The outline design is founded on existing practice for conceptual modelling and identifies ten key concepts that have been synthesised by considering the design issues for each requirement identified in the specification. A major advance made by this thesis is a suggestion that the process of conceptual modelling could benefit from utilising domain knowledge provided by the Supply Chain Council SCOR model. It is demonstrated that using SCOR is a powerful way to enable a more focused and efficient procedure for conceptual modelling. The methodology incorporates the key concepts and aligns these with a general process for conceptual modelling. A preliminary validation with a different supply chain illustration demonstrates that the methodology is initially ‘feasible’ and has ‘utility’. Future testing is required in different industrial contexts with actual participants and an opportunity exists to extend the methodology into a web-based application tool.

Maintenance management plays a key role in many industries, as maintenance determines the availability of systems, influences their lifespan, impacts customer satisfaction, and as a result affects overall investment profitability. In this context, the aviation industry seeks models to improve efficiency. Researchers seek to provide conceptual models that help to shape the industry’s operations. Spare parts management plays a fundamental role in aviation, considering the predominance of planned maintenance. In this study, we analyzed the impact of the distribution network design for spare parts management and the fixed and dynamic planned maintenance intervals on the overall efficiency of an aircraft fleet. We present a conceptual model considering a variety of topics, such as distribution network design, that have been managed to a limited extent based on maintenance management. A simulation model was developed by applying the conceptual model for the aviation industry considering an aircraft fleet over its whole life cycle. The simulation model provides results concerning the impact of the distribution network, maintenance intervals, and other key factors on the efficiency of the aircraft fleet. The simulation enables a comparison of different distribution networks and maintenance strategies to decide which of them is the best fit for each spare part. The approach we propose enables companies and managers to make decisions informed by a centralized tool with all the relevant factors concerning the maintenance management of an aircraft fleet over its life cycle. As a result, managers are provided with a conceptual and simulation model for the assessment of future what-if scenarios based on aggregated databases from multiple sources without delays and with a dynamic vision of the relevant relationships between factors.

*† ‡ We develop an approach for estimating model parameters which result in the “best distribution fit” between experimental and simulation data. Best distribution fit means matching moments of experimental data to those of a simulation (and possibly matching a full probability distribution). This approach extends typical nonlinear least squares methods which identify parameters maximizing agreement between experimental points and computational simulation results. Several analytic formulations for the distribution matching problem are provided, along with results for solving test problems and comparisons of this parameter estimation technique with a deterministic least squares approach. I. Introduction Nonlinear models are frequently used to model physical phenomena, including engineering applications. In this paper, we refer to a nonlinear model very broadly: the output of the model is a nonlinear function of the parameters [Draper98]. Thus, nonlinear models can include systems of partial differential equations (PDEs). Some examples include CFD (computational fluid dynamics), groundwater flow, heat transport, etc. Nonlinear models also include functional approximations of uncertain data via regression or response surface models. In most cases, we have some type of simulation model which is a nonlinear model, so we use the term nonlinear model and simulation model interchangeably in this paper. In addition to a simulation model, we assume that we have experimental data which may be used to calibrate the model. The calibration often requires the solution of an optimization problem to determine the optimal parameter settings for the simulation model. In this paper, we are concerned with identifying model parameters which result in a “best fit” between experimental data and simulation results in a nondeterministic context. That is, instead of matching point estimates we are concerned with matching moments (e.g., mean or variance) between experimental and simulation data where the variability in the model output is due to parametric uncertainty. We develop an approach extending the typical nonlinear least squares formulation to allow for this distribution matching. Note that “parameters” may be parameters in an approximation model such as a regression model, or physics modeling parameters which are used in physical simulation models such as PDEs. We distinguish data from parameters: data are physical data which are input either to a regression or physical simulation. For example, in groundwater flow modeling, hydraulic conductivity is a parameter and data may include measured flow rates from well tests. In this paper, we denote parameters that will be calibrated as θ, and the independent input data (e.g., state variables, configuration data, boundary conditions) as x. We also assume that there are uncertain variables, denoted by u, that represent inherent variability or lack of exact knowledge influencing the simulation, but which we cannot observe. The effect of the uncertain variables is reflected in both the output variability of the nonlinear model and the experimental data, but we can only explicitly account for these uncertain variables in the simulation model. Thus, our simulation model, f,

As the field of health promotion grows, it is important to investigate new conceptual and theoretical models of health. To date, health promotion has relied primarily on theories and models from other fields. This limits the development of health promotion as a discipline. These limitations become apparent when health promotion programming is analyzed from three different “world views”: formism, mechanism, and organicism. The health promotion professional's “world view” affects the manner in which they plan programs. As a discipline, health promotion needs to move beyond the current dominance of the mechanistic world view to organismic or systemic thinking. In doing so, general systems theory provides a generic, contentless theoretical framework to guide newly developing health promotion programs.

The first part of this book has elaborated a critical interpretation of Galileo’s work as a defense of the Copernican system. The Galilean defense was obviously multifaceted insofar as it involved questions of observational and theoretical astronomy, of hermeneutical and meta-hermeneutical theology, of general-qualitative and quantitative-mathematical physics, and of philosophical methodology and epistemology. More importantly, Galileo’s defense was reasoned, critical, open-minded, fair-minded, and rational-minded; that is, it was focused on the critical examination of the arguments for and against Copernicus, guided by the concern to be aware of the opposite arguments, to appreciate them in their strength, but also to expose their flaws, and thus to select the conclusion justified by the better arguments. These features are reflected in the fact that before I gave an account of Galileo’s replies (Chapters 3-6), I gave a lengthy account (Chapters 1-2) of the anti-Copernican objections and the traditional world view on which they were based. Equally important, I have tried to show that the Galilean defense of Copernicus was largely cogent, effective, or insightful, although I have not equated this essential correctness with complete or perfect rightness.

Wright examines these churches' historical connections with the outside world and their newly cultivated interest in international politics. He argues that the clerical and missionary elite's vision of new internationalism was burdened by essentially Victorian ideas of the inherent superiority of Protestant Christianity, political democracy, and Anglo-Saxon race characteristics. Tensions between its traditional world view and the new realities of international and inter-racial relations eventually made this vision untenable. According to Wright, the Canadian churches of mainline Protestantism tried to find a middle ground. They relaxed the link between conversion and westernization and came to accept the legitimacy of indigenous churches in Asia and Africa. Although they ultimately stuck to their theme of Christian brotherhood and service, they confronted the theological challenges of reconciling Christianity with other belief systems and the intellectual revolution in the West. And, although they paid ritual respect to the League of Nations and collective security and accepted war in 1939 as necessary, they showed keen interest in disarmament. While the ambivalence of this middle ground had some tragic consequences, such as the incapacity of the Canadian Protestant leadership to lobby forcefully on behalf of either European Jewish refugees in the 1930s or Japanese- Canadians interred during World War II, there were successes in humanitarian, relief, and educational work abroad. The churches' activities also helped shape the international role of the Christian community and their eventual acceptance of both ethnic diversity and the developing nations' right to self-determination laid much of the groundwork for Canada's post-war approach to foreign aid and development.

Two cosmologies are compared with the focus on gravity and Lambda and the relationship between these opposite dynamic effects. The traditional World View has—by maintaining gravity and Lambda as opposites in conflict—burdened itself with the so called dark matter mystery. The other, the new cosmology, by incorporating an ancient principle made famous by Heraclitus, models gravity and Lambda as complimentary and nonconflicting effects. Remarkably, the two effects on the cosmic scale actually amplify each other. It is clearly shown how gravity pulls a galaxy cluster together, while Lambda simultaneously pushes it together. The dark matter mystery simply vanishes. Based on the essential difference in the treatment of gravity, a new picture of the universe emerges. While Conventional Cosmology struggles to explain the large scale structure, the New Cosmology the Dynamic Steady State Universe incorporates the universe's natural processes to achieve its natural arrangement—cosmic cellular structure. © 2010 Physics Essays Publication. DOI: 10.4006/1.3293983