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ByJoao Castro, Nirav Shah, Robb WirthlinProfessors Magee, Moses, WhitneyESD.342 Advanced Systems Architecture16 May 2006INTRODUCTIONWIKIPEDIAI. System descriptionsA. Stimulus, main actors, stakeholders / System Extent (bounB. Sources of Needs and RequirementsC. System extent (Boundary and Quantities)D. Mission statements, explicit if it exists or “reasonably II. System historical background and evolutionA. History of each version fieldedB. Important changes in system architectural structure, defiC. Its size, scale, network metrics or other descriptors oveIII. Assessment of system effectiveness over time including A. Related to system characteristics like flexibility, complENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICAI. System descriptionsA. Stimulus, main actors, stakeholders / System Extent (bounB. Sources of Needs and RequirementsC. System extent (Boundary and Quantities)D. Mission statements, explicit if it exists or “reasonably II. System historical background and evolutionA. History of each version fieldedB. Important changes in system architectural structure, defiC. Its size, scale, network metrics or other descriptors oveIII. Assessment of system effectiveness over time including A. Related to system characteristics like flexibility, complSUBWAY NETWORKSI. System descriptionsA. Stimulus, main actors, stakeholders / System Extent (bounB. Sources of Needs and RequirementsC. System extent (Boundary and Quantities)D. Mission statements, explicit if it exists or “reasonably II. System historical background and evolutionA. History of each version fieldedB. Its size, scale, network metrics or other descriptors oveIII. Assessment of system effectiveness over time including A. Related to system characteristics like flexibility, complINFORMATION NETWORK ANALYSISSUBWAY SYSTEM ANALYSISCOMBINED ANALYSISCONCLUSIONSReflections and comparisons (what worked and didn’t)Analogies to other systems or kinds of systemsWhat did you learn by doing this projectWhat aspects of the topic area did you find strong or weak, SummaryAPPENDIX A: BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTESAPPENDIX B - WIKIPEDIA TESTBEDAPPENDIX C - MATLAB SCRIPTSAPPENDIX D – PATH LENGTH IN WIKIPEDIAAPPENDIX E – PATH LENGTH COMPARISONSAPPENDIX F – CIRCLE OF KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURECENTRALIZED AND DECENTRALIZED SYSTEM STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION By Joao Castro, Nirav Shah, Robb Wirthlin Professors Magee, Moses, Whitney ESD.342 Advanced Systems Architecture 16 May 2006 1INTRODUCTION There are many kinds of systems that exhibit similar properties, but have hidden underpinnings that fundamentally differ the way they operate. The purpose of this project is to attempt to learn something fundamental about the structure of systems and the structure of the organization that controls or develops them. When a task is too complex to be carried out by a single person, a team, company or organization is put in place in order to, collaboratively, carry it out. These groups establish rules and procedures in a formal or informal way. Besides the skills of its members, the structure of an organization has a great impact on the success it has. Our hypothesis is that systems that are structured or centrally designed are different than those that are unstructured or emerge in an evolutionary fashion. Our approach to analyze this issue was to observe transportation networks and knowledge networks using network analysis tools and compare results to determine if any specific behavior emerged. We focused on systems that are a result of centralized and decentralized organizations in two very different categories: knowledge and transportation. This was done to allow us to compare and control results in the comparison that are only characteristic of a single category. Knowledge networks are established by the relationships between different topics of factual record, interest or research. Encyclopedias are an example of this, since they try to map out as much of the knowledge space as possible for reference by readers. In this work we studied in detail the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Wikipedia. We also did some research on other potential sources for this category, such as Encyclopedia Britannica online, Mathworld and Encarta [1]. The following table summarizes some of the key aspects of all these systems and organizations: Wikipedia Mathworld Encyclopedia Britannica Online E. B. Encarta Established 2001 1995 1768 1994 1993 Entries 1 million articles, 340 million words 12527 articles 31,550 pages in 32 volumes 65,000 articles 120,000 articles, 55 million words; CD-ROM 41000 articles, standard 68000 articles, premiumContributors 1 million 1 4000 4000 Not available Stability (rate of change) High Med Yearly annual update edition Medium Medium Accessibility Free Free Purchase Memberships Memberships Peer Review Little; becoming more frequent Yes Yes Yes Yes Ease of change Easy Changes solicited; reviewed; credit given Hard Hard Changes solicited; reviewed; no credit given Depth of “knowledge” Shallow Mixed Deep (Macropedia) Mixed Mixed Table 1: List of various information networks [1] 2Transportations networks have become integral parts of the public transit infrastructure of almost every major industrialized city in the world. Broadly speaking, the systems can be thought of as a set of interconnected networks providing different modes of transportation to the inhabitants of city. For example, in Boston, the city consists of a subway, commuter rail, busses and commuter boats and ferries. The focus of this study is the subway or ‘metro’ portion of larger multi-mode network. A typical subway network consists of several stations distributed throughout an urban area connected by a network of lines. To qualify as subway these lines should be located underground. Many systems however have above ground (e.g. green line in Boston) and elevated portions as well. For the purposes of this paper, systems that are largely underground are considered subways. Data was gathered in the forms maps of the subway systems. We studied six networks with the following properties: Year Started Number of Stations km of track Planned vs. Evolved London [2] 1863 275 415 Evolved Beijing [3] 1965 138 197.7 Planned Boston [4] 1897 120 101.5 Evolved Berlin [3, 5] 1902 170 144.2 Evolved Moscow [6] 1935 171 278.3 Planned Tokyo [7] 1927 240 290 Planned Table 2: Transportation networks [3, 6-9] For both types of system we found examples of


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