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Unit of study_

CSYS5020: Interdependent Civil Systems

2024 unit information

Our modern day civil infrastructure includes transport networks, telecommunications, power systems, financial infrastructure and emergency services, all of which are growing more and more interconnected. Moreover, the behaviour of the modern infrastructure is not dependent only upon the behaviour of its parts: complex civil systems (such as modern power grids), communication and transport systems, megaprojects, social and eco-systems, generate rich interactions among the individual components with interdependencies across systems. This interdependent behaviour brings about significant new challenges associated with the design and management of complex systems. Cascading power failures, traffic disruptions, epidemic outbreaks, chronic diseases, financial market crashes, and ecosystem collapses are typical manifestations of these challenges, affecting the stability of modern society and civil infrastructure. This unit will develop an understanding of how interdependent systems perform under stress, how to improve resilience and how best to mitigate the effects of various kinds of component failure or human error, by more accurate analysis of interdependent cascades of failures across system boundaries. The studied topics will include dynamical analysis of complex interdependent networks, local and global measures of network structure and evolution, cascading failures, as well as predictive measures of catastrophic failure in complex adaptive systems, and the tools that enable planning for resilient infrastructure. This unit will equip future professionals with sufficient expertise and technical know-how for the design of efficient prevention and intervention policies, and robust crisis forecasting and management. This unit will equip future professionals with sufficient expertise and technical know-how for the design of efficient prevention and intervention policies, and robust crisis forecasting and management.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Computer Science

Code CSYS5020
Academic unit Computer Science
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None
Assumed knowledge:
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None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. use elementary and intermediate programming skills to analyse, understand and simulate the dynamics of complex systems
  • LO2. apply topological analysis to a particular complex system to critically understand its structure
  • LO3. efficiently use existing software tools (e.g., Cytoscape, Pajek ) in complex network analysis and evaluating topological resilience
  • LO4. develop scientific programming skills which can be applied in network analysis
  • LO5. develop understanding of the nature and dynamics of interdependent systems
  • LO6. understand and apply elementary game theory in networked systems to simulate their dynamics and cognitive decision making of the participating entities
  • LO7. understand, and successfully use in analysis, the concepts of percolation, cascading failures, robustness, resilience, and related concepts within the context of interdependent systems
  • LO8. design basic network structures that satisfy structural and functional criteria within given domains and contexts, and are resilient to random failures, and various types of targeted attacks and disturbances.

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2024
Normal evening Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2020
Normal evening Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2021
Normal evening Remote
Semester 1 2022
Normal evening Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2022
Normal evening Remote
Semester 1 2023
Normal evening Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2023
Normal evening Remote

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.