Fred S. Roberts, Igor Sheremet\u00a0Co-Chairs<\/p>\n
Background: Resilience of Digitized Complex Systems
\n<\/b>Today\u2019s society has become dependent on complex systems, enabled by\u00a0increased digitization of\u00a0our world and the increasing availability of vast\u00a0amounts of data, that have had a great impact on virtually all facets of our lives\u00a0and our societies:\u00a0enabling our financial transactions, running our power grid,\u00a0underpinning our transportation\u00a0systems, empowering our health care,\u00a0supporting the rapid delivery of supplies and materials. Yet\u00a0these changes have\u00a0made us vulnerable to natural disasters, deliberate attacks, just plain errors. A\u00a0challenge is to develop ways to make our complex systems more\u00a0resilient. We\u00a0propose to continue\u00a0the work of the \u201cTask Group Advanced Mathematical Tools\u00a0for Data-Driven Applied System\u00a0Analysis\u201d to address this challenge through the\u00a0development and refinement of a toolkit of\u00a0advanced mathematical tools.<\/p>\n
Mathematical Tools to Enhance Resilience
\n<\/b>Modern technological and sociotechnological systems consist of numerous critical\u00a0infrastructures\u00a0that are strongly interconnected, which makes them vulnerable to\u00a0multiple chain or cascading\u00a0destructive impacts. Vast amounts of data need to be\u00a0taken into account in understanding the\u00a0performance of such infrastructures and their\u00a0interconnections, and understanding how to make\u00a0them resilient. Mathematical tools\u00a0can assist with this and in particular the Task Group will study\u00a0algorithms for\u00a0responding to a disruption that will enhance resilience, i.e., minimize the departure\u00a0from a previous state when things settle down after a disruption.<\/p>\n
Mathematical Tools to Design Resilient Systems
\n<\/b>In addition to helping us understand how to bring a system back to a normal state as\u00a0rapidly as\u00a0possible, mathematical methods can aid us in understanding how to design\u00a0systems so as to make\u00a0them more resilient in case of disruption. Modern complex\u00a0systems may include millions of\u00a0interconnected components (humans, devices,\u00a0buildings, etc.), so to design a system with a\u00a0predefined level of resiliency, it is\u00a0necessary to represent in some formal way a system\u2019s structure\u00a0and logic of operation,\u00a0and to develop an appropriate mathematical and algorithmic toolkit that\u00a0can provide\u00a0for efficient search for solutions over the extra-large volumes of data associated with\u00a0digitized systems in today\u2019s era of Big Data. This is a major goal of our proposed\u00a0renewed Task\u00a0Group.<\/p>\n
The Task Group\u2019s Approach<\/b>
\nIn the pages that follow, we describe the basic components of our approach.\u00a0This consists of taking\u00a0advantage of a multidisciplinary team, each bringing to\u00a0the dialogue their own mathematical expertise and tools (whether it be graphs\u00a0and networks,\u00a0simulation tools, or the theory of algorithmic decision making),\u00a0developing ways to share the tools,\u00a0and studying how to relate them to an\u00a0organizing component designed around a multiset-based\u00a0(