Model interoperability in building information modelling

The exchange of design models in the design and construction industry is evolving away from 2-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) and paper towards semantically-rich 3-dimensional digital models. This approach, known as Building Information Modelling (BIM), is anticipated to become the primary means of information exchange between the various parties involved in construction projects. From a technical perspective, the domain represents an interesting study in model-based interoperability, since the models are large and complex, and the industry is one in which collaboration is a vital part of business. In this paper, we present our experiences with issues of model-based interoperability in exchanging building information models between various tools, and in implementing tools which consume BIM models, particularly using the industry standard IFC data modelling format. We report on the successes and challenges in these endeavours, as the industry endeavours to move further towards fully digitised information exchange.     

Semantic interoperability in building design: Methods and tools

Semantic interoperability is a crucial element to make building information models understandable and model data sharable across multiple design disciplines and heterogeneous computer systems. This paper presents a new approach and its software implementation for the development of building design objects with semantics of interoperable information to support semantic interoperability in building designs. The novelty of the approach includes its incorporation of building design domain ontology, object-based CAD information modeling, and interoperability standard to make building information models and model data semantically interoperable. A set of methods are proposed to address the issues of object-based building information representation compliant with the Industrial Foundation Classes (IFC); extension of IFC models with the supplementary information; and semantic annotation of the interoperable and extensible information sets. The prototype implementation of these methods provides a set of Web-enabled software tools for effectively generating, managing, and reusing the semantically interoperable building objects in design applications of architectural CAD, structural analysis, and building code conformance checking.     

Network management: interoperability and information model

Interoperability is an essential and significant issue that constrains the original goals and functionality of integrated network management systems. This paper shows how this issue can be solved by using a common management information model and a common, management information exchange protocol. The paper also describes the general issues and a methodology for the construction of a management information model in a heterogeneous environment. By means of object-oriented techniques, a basic management information model is proposed. Based on this model, a general management information base can be built that will enhance the interoperability of network management systems.     

Dynamic aggregated building electricity load modeling and simulation

In order to support the growing interest in demand response modeling and analysis, there is a need for physical-based building load models. This work presents a new approach for simulating electrical power flow in buildings. The new approach handles the power flow capacity shortage in existing building simulation programs, which have been used for the past few decades by building energy communities. The suggested approach represents the building as a group of electrical networks, organized in hierarchical levels. On the top level, the user defines key parameters such as rated power and power factor of existing loads. The power cables are modeled by their equivalent PI model. Accurate simulation models are developed for solving the building network equations where building loads are integrated into building network. Smart meters are implemented at different locations for power quality and energy auditing. Two case studies of residential and commercial buildings are investigated to prove the capability of the introduced approach. A comparison with EnergyPlus, as verified building energy software, is introduced to prove the ability of the proposed Matlab-based model to evaluate the annual energy consumption of the building. All results show the accuracy and ability of the proposed approach for simulating the electrical power flow of the building and can be integrated with renewable and storage energy.     

Computer assisted customer churn management: State-of-the-art and future trends

A business incurs much higher charges when attempting to win new customers than to retain existing ones. As a result, much research has been invested into new ways of identifying those customers who have a high risk of churning. However, customer retention efforts have also been costing organisations large amounts of resource. In response to these issues, the next generation of churn management should focus on accuracy. A variety of churn management techniques have been developed as a response to the above requirements. The focus of this paper is to review some of the most popular technologies that have been identified in the literature for the development of a customer churn management platform. The advantages and disadvantages of the identified technologies are discussed, and a discussion on the future research directions is offered.     

基于多agent的供应链信息协调建模与仿真*

从核心制造企业的信息需求出发,采用基于多agent的供应链建模与仿真方法,研究在订单执行过程中,生产计划和采购计划等决策活动中的信息协调。利用面向agent的系统分析方法,提出了基于多agent的供应链信息协调框架模型,对其中的功能agent进行算法描述。结合Swarm平台构建了供应链仿真模型,对生产计划和采购计划等决策活动中的信息协调进行了模拟和分析,初步验证了模型的有效性。     

Building a portable data and information interoperability infrastructure-framework for a standard Taiwan Electronic Medical Record Template

Traditional electronic health record (EHR) data are produced from various hospital information systems. They could not have existed independently without an information system until the incarnation of XML technology. The interoperability of a healthcare system can be divided into two dimensions: functional interoperability and semantic interoperability. Currently, no single EHR standard exists that provides complete EHR interoperability. In order to establish a national EHR standard, we developed a set of local EHR templates. The Taiwan Electronic Medical Record Template (TMT) is a standard that aims to achieve semantic interoperability in EHR exchanges nationally. The TMT architecture is basically composed of forms, components, sections, and elements. Data stored in the elements which can be referenced by the code set, data type, and narrative block. The TMT was established with the following requirements in mind: (1) transformable to international standards; (2) having a minimal impact on the existing healthcare system; (3) easy to implement and deploy, and (4) compliant with Taiwan's current laws and regulations. The TMT provides a basis for building a portable, interoperable information infrastructure for EHR exchange in Taiwan.     

Integrating business process simulation and information system simulation for performance prediction

Business process (BP) designs and enterprise information system (IS) designs are often not well aligned. Missing alignment may result in performance problems at run-time, such as large process execution time or overloaded IS resources. The complex interrelations between BPs and ISs are not adequately understood and considered in development so far. Simulation is a promising approach to predict performance of both BP and IS designs. Based on prediction results, design alternatives can be compared and verified against requirements. Thus, BP and IS designs can be aligned to improve performance. In current simulation approaches, BP simulation and IS simulation are not adequately integrated. This results in limited prediction accuracy due to neglected interrelations between the BP and the IS in simulation. In this paper, we present the novel approach Integrated Business IT Impact Simulation (IntBIIS) to adequately reflect the mutual impact between BPs and ISs in simulation. Three types of mutual impact between BPs and ISs in terms of performance are specified. We discuss several solution alternatives to predict the impact of a BP on the performance of ISs and vice versa. It is argued that an integrated simulation of BPs and ISs is best suited to reflect their interrelations. We propose novel concepts for continuous modeling and integrated simulation. IntBIIS is implemented by extending the Palladio tool chain with BP simulation concepts. In a real-life case study with a BP and IS from practice, we validate the feasibility of IntBIIS and discuss the practicability of the corresponding tool support.     

Automatic design and planning of scaffolding systems using building information modeling

Considering their significant impact on construction projects, scaffolding as part of the temporary facilities category in construction must be thoroughly designed, planned, procured, and managed. The current practices in planning and managing scaffolding though is often manual and reactive, especially when a construction project is already underway. Widespread results are code compliance problems, inefficiency, and waste of procuring and managing material for scaffolding systems. We developed a rule-based system that automatically plans scaffolding systems for pro-active management in Building Information Modeling (BIM). The scope of the presented work is limited to traditional pipe and board scaffolding systems. A rule was prepared based on the current practice of planning and installing scaffolding systems. Our computational algorithms automatically recognize geometric and non-geometric conditions in building models and produce a scaffolding system design which a practitioner can use in the field. We implemented our automated scaffolding system for a commercially-available BIM software and tested it in a case study project. The system thoroughly identified the locations in need of scaffolding and generated the corresponding scaffolding design in BIM. Further results show, the proposed approach successfully generated a scaffolding system-loaded BIM model that can be utilized in communication, billing of materials, scheduling simulation, and as a benchmark for accurate field installation and performance measurement.     

PieBridge：一种按需可扩展的跨链架构

区块链由于其去中心、可溯源等特性,已被广泛应用于数字货币、供应链金融、智慧医疗等不同领域. 随着应用需求的不断拓宽,各独立区块链协作以构建更广泛价值互联网的需求日益增强,因而迫切需要研究跨链技术. 然而当前区块链生态规模不断扩大、丰富,异构/同构区块链间的互联互通需求也随之快速增长. 而现有跨链研究无法应对架构可扩展性与跨链需求多样性方面的挑战. 针对上述问题,基于“按需建域”的理念,提出一种按需可扩展的跨链架构PieBridge,并提出了一套4层跨链交互协议栈,解耦跨链传输、验证、事务与应用,满足不同跨链应用在隐私、安全、性能等方面的差异化需求. 同时实现了PieBridge原型系统,并通过建模分析与实验证明了PieBridge的可扩展性以及其对差异化跨链交互需求的灵活支持.

     

进路建立过程的时间有色petri网建模与仿真

计算机联锁软件作为计算机联锁系统的核心主控软件,可靠性和安全性需建立在好的安全模型之上,提出了采用时间有色Petri网对进路建立的具体过程进行形式化建模,时间戳可以得知联锁设备的精确动作时刻以及操作持续时间,通过CPN Tools进行编辑和仿真,以VC++6.0为开发环境完成代码编写进行验证,体现时间有色Petri网描述联锁系统逻辑和性能特性的特点,以便在软件开发初期尽早发现系统的设计错误或缺陷,突出采用时间有色Petri网建模的可靠性和安全性。     

基于火电机组性能计算的软件建模与仿真

以电厂热力系统为目标对象,对其特点进行相关分析。以电厂基本设备为最小组成单位,将热力系统划分成若干模块,然后基于此为不同单元构建了相应的仿真模块。融合组态技术以及面向目标的设计理念,设计了能够对火电机组热力性能进行数据处理的计算软件,该软件主要包括以下模块：一、原始数据输入模块;二、仿真计算模块;三、结果输出模块;四、数据管理模块等。设置图形组态环境,同时构建热力设备所对应的仿真模型,能够让软件获得包括可视化和可组态化在内的两大基本功能,如此一来,赋予软件良好的通用性,使其可以满足多个机组、多种状态下的相关计算。     

Care HPS: A high performance simulation tool for parallel and distributed agent-based modeling

Parallel and distributed simulation is a powerful tool for developing complex agent-based simulation. Complex simulations require parallel and distributed high performance computing solutions. It is necessary because their sequential solutions are not able to give answers in a feasible total execution time. Therefore, for the advance of computing science, it is important that High Performance Computing (HPC) techniques and solutions be proposed and studied. In literature, we can find some agent-based modeling and simulation tools that use HPC. However, none of these tools are designed to enable the HPC expert to be able to propose new techniques and solutions without great effort. In this paper, we introduce Care High Performance Simulation (HPS), which is a scientific instrument that enables researchers to: (1) develop techniques and solutions of high performance distributed simulations for agent-based models; and, (2) study, design and implement complex agent-based models that require HPC solutions. Care HPS was designed to easily and quickly develop new agent-based models. It was also designed to extend and implement new solutions for the main issues of parallel and distributed solutions such as: synchronization, communication, load and computing balancing, and partitioning algorithms. We conducted some experiments with the aim of showing the completeness and functionality of Care HPS. As a result, we show that Care HPS can be used as a scientific instrument for the advance of the agent-based parallel and distributed simulations field.     

ITSC 05: current issues and research trends

The IEEE held its eighth annual International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems 05 in Vienna, Austria. This was ITSC's first time in Europe and its first time as the annual conference of the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society. The conference featured over 200 papers and hosted approximately 300 attendees, representing 35 countries. Furthermore, it exemplified the extraordinary progress ITS theory and applications have made over the last decade toward improving transportation systems' safety, efficiency, and quality. In this paper, we review the topics covered at ITSC 05, providing a broad overview of the field's current research programs and projects.     

Towards a sustainable interoperability in networked enterprise information systems: Trends of knowledge and model-driven technology

In a turbulent world, global competition and the uncertainty of markets have led organizations and technology to evolve exponentially, surpassing the most imaginary scenarios predicted at the beginning of the digital manufacturing era, in the 1980s. Business paradigms have changed from a standalone vision into complex and collaborative ecosystems where enterprises break down organizational barriers to improve synergies with others and become more competitive. In this context, paired with networking and enterprise integration, enterprise information systems (EIS) interoperability gained utmost importance, ensuring an increasing productivity and efficiency thanks to a promise of more automated information exchange in networked enterprises scenarios. However, EIS are also becoming more dynamic. Interfaces that are valid today are outdated tomorrow, thus static interoperability enablers and communication software services are no longer the solution for the future. This paper is focused on the challenge of sustaining networked EIS interoperability, and takes up input from solid research initiatives in the areas of knowledge management and model driven development, to propose and discuss several research strategies and technological trends towards next EIS generation.