Browsing by Subject "Systems analysis"

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Autonomous dynamic decision making in fuel cycle simulators using a game theoretic approach
(2018-12) Phathanapirom, Urairisa Birdy; Haas, Derek Anderson, 1981-; Leibowicz, Benjamin D.; Landsberger, Sheldon; Wilson, Paul
A novel methodology for optimizing nuclear fuel cycle transitions that captures interactions between a policy maker and electric utility company is presented. The methodology is demonstrated using a two-person general-sum sequential game with uncertainty that is implemented using a nuclear fuel cycle simulator capable of calculating a material- and technology-constrained material balance, coupled to a multi-objective optimization solver. The solver explicitly treats uncertainties using a stochastic programming approach with chance nodes depicted as a Nature player who moves randomly. The methodology is demonstrated through a Transition Game that features tradeoffs between investments in competing reprocessing and waste disposal technologies, dynamic reactor deployment responses to resolutions in reactor capital cost uncertainty, and the influence of capital subsidies on the future nuclear technology mix. Each player in the game uses a unique set of decision criteria to identify optimal near-term hedging strategies that consider all of Nature’s possible moves as well as the other player’s available decisions. These hedging strategies balance the exchange between the risk of immediate action and delay and maintain flexibility to allow for intelligent recourse decisions once uncertainties are resolved. Results from the Transition Game indicate that early transition to high-temperature gas-cooled reactors is preferred, with the option to abandon the transition following a learning period if capital costs are unfavorable. Under these conditions, transition to used fuel recycling in sodium-cooled fast reactors may be spurred by policy incentives under some certain decision criteria weightings. Otherwise, operating with a baseline set of decision criteria weightings, transition to a closed fuel is never observed when players hedge optimally against Nature’s moves. It is only when players have perfect information regarding Nature’s future moves will transition to a closed fuel be observed.
A systems analysis procedure for estimating the capacity of an airport: system definition, capacity definition and review of available models
(Council for Advanced Transportation Studies, 1975-10) Chambers, Edward V. III; Chmores, Tommy; Dunlay, William J., Jr; Gualda, Nicolau D. F.; McCullough, B. F.; Park, Chang-Ho; Zaniewski, John
This research memo presents results obtained during the period from July 1 through October 1, 1975, in research on a systems analysis procedure for estimating the capacity of an airport in which both airside and landside capacities are studied. A definition of the system is presented including the system boundaries and a description of the subsystems and components of the overall system. A review is made of available analytical models of airport components including air traffic control, runways, gates, passenger processing baggage claim, internal roadways, and parking lots. Also included is a discussion of previous concepts and definitions of capacity, a discussion of relevant units of capacity, and a proposed definition of capacity for the airport system as a whole as well as its subsystems and components.
Toward a storytelling systems analysis model : a situational analysis of three global crowdsourced documentary media projects
(2016-05) Moner, William Joseph; Strover, Sharon; Doty, Philip; Frick, Caroline; Stein, Laura; Straubhaar, Joseph
This study investigates three participatory documentary projects that emerged in the 2011 to 2012 time period. Each project utilized crowdsourcing to generate primary source material for their respective endeavors. The projects — Life in a Day (2011), One Day on Earth (2011), and 18 Days in Egypt (2012) — are analyzed through situational analysis, a qualitative analytical framework that builds from grounded theory method, social worlds/arenas theory, and actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the relationships between human actors, non-human actants, spatial and temporal components, and political economic factors within a situation. Using this method, I created a situational map for each documentary system, finding that each emerges from a distinct economic system where value is determined through different treatments of the “crowd” and its contributed media, data, and stories. Subsequently, using political economy of communication theory (Mosco, 2009) and the concepts of structuration, spatialization, and commodification, I identified several control mechanisms apparent in each of the projects. These control factors – commodity control, spatial control, and structural control – and their subcategories – content and labor control (commodity), technological, temporal, and circulatory control (spatial), and contractual and organizational control (structural) – draw from the analysis of three very different economic systems and storytelling intents. The study offers a preliminary framework for a participatory systems analysis approach to grapple with technological and economic concerns in shared media production spaces.