Review on the Quality Attributes of an Integrated Simulation Software for Weapon Systems

This paper describes the quality attributes of an integrated simulation software for weapon systems named Advanced distributed simulation environment(AddSIM). AddSIM is developed as a key enabler for Defense Modeling & Simulation(M&S) systems which simulate battlefields and used for battle experiments, analyses, military exercises, training, etc. AddSIM shall provide a standard simulation framework of the next Defense M&S systems. Therefore AddSIM shall satisfy not only functional but also quality requirements such as availability, modifiability, performance, testability, usability, and others. AddSIM consists of operating softwares of hierarchical components including graphical user interface, simulation engines, and support services(natural environment model, math utility, etc.), and separated weapon system models executable on the operating softwares. The relation between software architectures and their quality attributes are summarized from previous works. And the AddSIM architecture and its achievements in the aspect of quality attributes are reviewed.

Width-Based Algorithms for Common Problems in Control, Planning and Reinforcement Learning

Width-based algorithms search for solutions through a general definition of state novelty. These algorithms have been shown to result in state-of-the-art performance in classical planning, and have been successfully applied to model-based and model-free settings where the dynamics of the problem are given through simulation engines. Width-based algorithms performance is understood theoretically through the notion of planning width, providing polynomial guarantees on their runtime and memory consumption. To facilitate synergies across research communities, this paper summarizes the area of width-based planning, and surveys current and future research directions.

Spearheading future omics analyses using dyngen, a multi-modal simulator of single cells

We present dyngen, a multi-modal simulation engine for studying dynamic cellular processes at single-cell resolution. dyngen is more flexible than current single-cell simulation engines, and allows better method development and benchmarking, thereby stimulating development and testing of computational methods. We demonstrate its potential for spearheading computational methods on three applications: aligning cell developmental trajectories, cell-specific regulatory network inference and estimation of RNA velocity.

Using artificial neural network and WebGL to algorithmically optimize window wall ratios of high-rise office buildings

By coupling parametric modeling, building performance simulation engines, and optimization algorithms, optimal design choices regarding predefined building performance objectives can be automatically obtained. This becomes an emerging research topic among scholars in the fields of architecture and built environment. However, it is not easy to apply this method to real building design projects, because of two main drawbacks: Building performance simulation is too time consuming, and the numerical visualization of final results is not intuitive for architects to make decisions. Therefore, this study tries to fill these two gaps by training an artificial neural network to replace simulation engines and developing a web application to speed up the 3D visualization of selected design choices. These two strategies are applied to optimize office towers’ window wall ratios in Hangzhou, China. Architects working on new design projects in that city can obtain the optimal group of window wall ratios for four facades in 2 s, faster than using simulation engines, which cost architects 2 weeks. Moreover, architects can also efficiently observe the appearance of design solutions with the web application. By improving its usability from these two aspects, this study significantly improves the applicability of algorithmic optimization for building design projects.

Open-Source Molecular Modeling Software in Chemical Engineering Focusing on the Molecular Simulation Design Framework

Molecular simulation has emerged as an important sub-field of chemical engineering, due in no small part to the leadership of Keith Gubbins. A characteristic of the chemical engineering molecular simulation community is the commitment to freely share simulation codes and other key software components required to perform a molecular simulation under open-source licenses and distribution on public repositories such as GitHub. Here we provide an overview of open-source molecular modeling software in Chemical Engineering, with focus on the Molecular Simulation Design Framework (MoSDeF). MoSDeF is an open-source Python software stack that enables facile use of multiple open-source molecular simulation engines, while at the same time ensuring maximum reproducibility.

dyngen: a multi-modal simulator for spearheading new single-cell omics analyses

We present dyngen, a novel, multi-modal simulation engine for studying dynamic cellular processes at single-cell resolution. dyngen is more flexible than current single-cell simulation engines, and allows better method development and benchmarking, thereby stimulating development and testing of novel computational methods. We demonstrate its potential for spearheading novel computational methods on three novel applications: aligning cell developmental trajectories, single-cell regulatory network inference and estimation of RNA velocity.

Using multiple engines in the Virtual Monte Carlo package

The Virtual Monte Carlo (VMC) package provides a unified interface to different detector simulation transport engines such as GEANT3 and GEANT4. It has been in production use in various experiments but so far the simulation of one event was restricted to the usage of a single chosen engine. We introduce here the possibility to mix multiple engines within the simulation of a single event. Depending on user conditions the simulation is partitioned among the chosen engines, for instance to profit from each of their advantages or specific capabilities. Such conditions can depend on phase space, geometry, particle type or an arbitrary combination. As a main achievement, this development allows for the implementation of fast simulation kernels at the VMC level which can be used stand-alone or together with full simulation engines. This capability is crucial to cope with largely increasing data expected in future LHC runs.

A Novel QCA based Compact Scan Flip-flop for Digital Design Testing

Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is an emerging technology used for computation at nano scale. It is an excellent alternative for the conventional CMOS technology. QCA provides us with low energy, high speed, faster switching speed and compact structures for logical circuits. Testing is the integral part of the design verification, scan flip-flop is used for device testing. It is used in processors for a built-in self-test. The objective of this paper is to design an optimized structure of a scan flip-flop which occupies less area and dissipates minimum energy compared to the previously designed architectures. The efficiency of the proposed structure is analyzed in terms of cell count, energy dissipation, and area occupied by the logical circuit. Proposed scan flip flop has a cell count of 32 and an energy dissipation of 0.0105 eV which is 20 % more efficient in terms of cell count and 29 % more efficient than the previous designs. The CAD tool, QCADesigner is used for design and simulation. Cells have a dimension of 18 nm in height and 18 nm in breadth and there is a distance of 2 nm between these cells. Bi-stable and coherence vector simulation engines are used in the tool for simulation.

General scores for accessibility and inequality measures in urban areas

In the last decades, the acceleration of urban growth has led to an unprecedented level of urban interactions and interdependence. This situation calls for a significant effort among the scientific community to come up with engaging and meaningful visualizations and accessible scenario simulation engines. The present paper gives a contribution in this direction by providing general methods to evaluate accessibility in cities based on public transportation data. Through the notion of isochrones, the accessibility quantities proposed measure the performance of transport systems at connecting places and people in urban systems. Then we introduce scores ranking cities according to their overall accessibility. We highlight significant inequalities in the distribution of these measures across the population, which are found to be strikingly similar across various urban environments. Our results are released through the interactive platform: www.citychrone.org , aimed at providing the community at large with a useful tool for awareness and decision-making.