Computer model in the context of Blue Brain

Behavior informatics (BI) is the informatics of behaviors so as to obtain behavior intelligence and behavior insights. BI is a research method combining science and technology, specifically in the area of engineering. The purpose of BI includes analysis of current behaviors as well as the inference of future possible behaviors. This occurs through pattern recognition.

Different from applied behavior analysis from the psychological perspective, BI builds computational theories, systems and tools to qualitatively and quantitatively model, represent, analyze, and manage behaviors of individuals, groups and/or organizations.

A line source, as opposed to a point source, area source, or volume source, is a source of air, noise, water contamination or electromagnetic radiation that emanates from a linear (one-dimensional) geometry. The most prominent linear sources are roadway air pollution, aircraft air emissions, roadway noise, certain types of water pollution sources that emanate over a range of river extent rather than from a discrete point, elongated light tubes, certain dose models in medical physics and electromagnetic antennas. While point sources of pollution were studied since the late nineteenth century, linear sources did not receive much attention from scientists until the late 1960s, when environmental regulations for highways and airports began to emerge. At the same time, computers with the processing power to accommodate the data processing needs of the computer models required to tackle these one-dimensional sources became more available.

In addition, this era of the 1960s saw the first emergence of environmental scientists who spanned the disciplines required to accomplish these studies. For example, meteorologists, chemists, and computer scientists in the air pollution field were required to build complex models to address roadway air dispersion modeling. Prior to the 1960s, these specialities tended to work within their own disciplines, but with the advent of NEPA, the Clean Air Act, the Noise Control Act in the United States, and other seminal legislation, the era of multidisciplinary environmental science had begun.

In the oil and gas industry, reservoir modeling involves the construction of a computer model of a petroleum reservoir, for the purposes of improving estimation of reserves and making decisions regarding the development of the field, predicting future production, placing additional wells and evaluating alternative reservoir management scenarios.

A reservoir model represents the physical space of the reservoir by an array of discrete cells, delineated by a grid which may be regular or irregular. The array of cells is usually three-dimensional, although 1D and 2D models are sometimes used. Values for attributes such as porosity, permeability and water saturation are associated with each cell. The value of each attribute is implicitly deemed to apply uniformly throughout the volume of the reservoir represented by the cell.

Roadway air dispersion modeling is the study of air pollutant transport from a roadway or other linear emitter. Computer models are required to conduct this analysis, because of the complex variables involved, including vehicle emissions, vehicle speed, meteorology, and terrain geometry. Line source dispersion has been studied since at least the 1960s, when the regulatory framework in the United States began requiring quantitative analysis of the air pollution consequences of major roadway and airport projects. By the early 1970s this subset of atmospheric dispersion models was being applied to real-world cases of highway planning, even including some controversial court cases.

Reservoir simulation is an area of reservoir engineering in which computer models are used to predict the flow of fluids (typically, oil, water, and gas) through porous media.

The creation of models of oil fields and the implementation of calculations of field development on their basis is one of the main areas of activity of engineers and oil researchers. On the basis of geological and physical information about the properties of an oil, gas or gas condensate field, consideration of the capabilities of the systems and technologies for its development create quantitative ideas about the development of the field as a whole. A system of interrelated quantitative ideas about the development of a field is a model of its development, which consists of a reservoir model and a model of a field development process. Layer models and processes for extracting oil and gas from them are always clothed in a mathematical form, i.e. characterized by certain mathematical relationships. The main task of the engineer engaged in the calculation of the development of an oil field is to draw up a calculation model based on individual concepts derived from a geological-geophysical study of the field, as well as hydrodynamic studies of wells. Generally speaking, any combination of reservoir models and development process can be used in an oil field development model, as long as this combination most accurately reflects reservoir properties and processes. At the same time, the choice of a particular reservoir model may entail taking into account any additional features of the process model and vice versa.