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Combining discrete event simulation and material flow analysis in a component-based approach to industrial environmental protection

Abstract While eco-balances and Material Flow Networks are common analysis tools of Environmental Management Information Systems (EMIS), discrete event simulation has not been used widely for this purpose. This paper argues in favour of combining discrete event simulation with material flow analysis to explore both the environmental and economic impact of business decisions. After a brief overview of core characteristics and benefits of discrete event simulation and material flow analysis using Material Flow Networks, a plug-in architecture for generating customized material flow simulators is presented. The benefits of this frameworks component-based structure are then discussed in terms of its practical application to the lithography stage of the semiconductor manufacturing process. A summary of the frameworks most significant characteristics and areas of application concludes the paper.

A framework for distributed simulation optimization

The system presented bridges the gap between three different research areas: discrete event simulation, heuristic optimization methods and distributed systems technology. Its goal is to provide a framework which supports an efficient implementation of simulation optimization projects, including heuristic optimum seeking procedures and parallel execution of experiments. It is written completely in Java and only uses components that are publicly available, including software libraries from academic institutions or the Java API from Sun Microsystems. The framework is well applicable for education and further research.

Combination of job oriented simulation with ecological material flow analysis as integrated analysis tool for business production processes

This paper outlines the application of a special Environmental Management Information System (EMIS) as combination of discrete event simulation with ecological material flow analysis for a selected production process. The software tool serves as decision aid for economic as well as ecological business problems. A combined view of the material flow as well as job-oriented view on an enterprise allows for a unified and efficient model building process. This contribution summarizes the underlying concepts and the experiences with the development and utilization of a suitable software tool following this integrated view and describes the concrete problems and solutions at the example of modeling a complex semiconductor fabrication.

Environmental Informatics as a New Discipline of Applied Computer Science

For many years, computer-based systems for processing environmental information have been developed in environmental protection and environmental research. A broad range of applications in environmental research and protection is covered by these systems, including monitoring and control, information management, data analysis, as well as planning and decision support. A new discipline, known as Environmental Informatics, is emerging which combines computer science topics such as data base systems, geographic information systems, modeling and simulation, computer graphics, user interface design, knowledge processing, and neural networks, with respect to their application to environmental problems.

Recent history and development of environmental information systems and databases in Germany

The topic of environmental protection has always been of great concern in Germany, the establishment of environmental data sources started in the 1970s. The development of environmental information system technology in Germany is outlined and two examples are given: the Environmental Planning and Information System (UMPLIS) and the Integrated Public Environmental Information System (UIS) Baden‐Wuerttemberg. Relevant German environmental data sources are discussed, such as Environmental Literature Database (ULIDAT), Environmental Research Projects Database (UFORDAT), and Environmental Law Databases (URDB), as well as the chemical databases which comprise environmental information – the BEILSTEIN database and the Landolt‐Boernstein database. The Information System for Environmental Chemicals with its four metadatabases – Metadatabase of Literature on Environmental Chemicals (DALI), Metadatabase of Online Databases for Environmental Chemicals (DADB), Metadatabase of CD‐ROMs for Environmental Chemicals (DACD), and the Metadatabase of Internet Resources (DAIN).

Combining sustainability criteria with discrete event simulation

This paper attempts to highlight shortcomings in the concept of sustainability and ways to make the concept more workable by presenting the development of an Environmental Management Information System (EMIS) as a combination of discrete event simulation and ecological material flow analysis for production processes. The motivation behind the focus on simulation techniques on one hand and on production processes on the other, is the understanding that the current metabolic rates of todays economies are beginning to affect the life-sustaining services of the earth. Dematerialization and resource efficiency are mandatory concepts in the coming decades, hence the production processes; simulation techniques are needed as existing systems cannot be easily changed to be experimented with. There is however a lack of simulation systems addressing sustainability as a whole. This paper intends to show ways on how to connect supposedly opposite factors and thus getting closer to the so called immeasurable: sustainability.

Time series prediction by multivariate next neighbor methods with application to zooplankton forecasts

In the context of non-linear dynamics, next neighbor prediction methods have been successfully applied to univariate time series. We generalize these methods, in particular, center-of-mass-prediction (COM-prediction) and local linear prediction (LL-prediction), to multivariate time series. The use of multivariate prediction techniques is especially interesting when time series are short but several variables have been measured simultaneously. These additional variables can sometimes supply information to perform good predictions that otherwise could only be obtained from longer time series. In contrast to non-local prediction methods, next neighbor techniques are applicable to non-stationary time series. This is particularly valuable for time series obtained under non-laboratory conditions, as in environmental science, where boundary conditions are not controllable. The application of our methods to the prediction of zooplankton data, collected in the German North Sea close to Helgoland island, turns out to be promising.

Anforderungen an interaktive Simulationssysteme für die Umweltanalyse

Der fruhe Einsatz des Computers im Bereich der Modellbildung und Simulation war auf die Programmierung und die Durchfuhrung der notwendigen Berechnungen bei den Simula- tionsexperimenten begrenzt. Erst mit der Entwicklung der interaktiven Simulationssysteme wurde diese Beschrankung uberwunden. Diese Systeme wollen dem Benutzer bei vielen Aktivitaten des Modellbildungs und Simulationsprozesses Unterstutzung bieten.

Review of Applied Informatics in Environmental Protection

An effective protection of our environment is highly dependent on precise information on environmental state and development. In this way, computer use in environmental agencies became more and more important. The state of environmental computing in practice is documented in the “Study on DP-Applications in the federal and state Environmental Offices” by the Environmental Federal Office of the F. R. G. (see /18/). It analyses the standard of environmental protection software on the basis of an empirical survey in more than 50 state agencies. The results of the study show on one hand a rapid increase of DP-activities in the environmental agencies during the last years and an intensified use of modern and powerful DP-concepts (such as interactive systems, data base systems, distributed processing with PC-networks or computer colored graphics). On the other hand, the introduction of overall concepts for the development of environmental DP-procedures in the sense of comprehensive, task oriented environmental information systems is still at the beginning. Scientific activities in environmental computing have been rather rare. Most of the environmental computer applications stem from practical projects or other scientific fields without participation of informatics. As a scientific application field for informatics, the environmental domain was only of very limited research interest, although already more than 10 years ago a first conference on this topic was held (see /10/). In the following years only few publications on this subject came out. Just recently an increasing research interest in environmental applications of informatics can be observed as shown by intensified publishing (see e.g. /17/ or /4/) and recent conferences (see /2/, /3/, /7/, /14/, /15/ or /16/).

Object-Oriented Specification of Models and Experiments in Traffic Simulation

We present a prototype version of a modelling and simulation system for environmental impact assessment in the field of traffic and logistics. This software system supports the user in modelling and simulating the environmental impact of various changes to traffic systems. The MOBILE system is designed as an open distributed system and is largely platform independent. The heart of the system is an extendable model base containing complementary and competitive models for the domain of transport and environment. The components of the open distributed MOBILE system communicate in a uniform way, not depending on the language in which the simulation models are written, but using the MOBILE Script Language (MSL).