I'm a beginner in English, and I'm writing a academic paper. Could someone please clarify if the use of word patterned function as a good synonym for modeling or simulated in the following sentence?
Aiming to test the reproducibility of the present modeling setup were patterned three realistic spills occurred in the region.
Firstly, I'd say no, patterned isn't really a good replacement here. Patterned indicates that you're copying something, but it does not indicate what you're doing with the copy. Modelled or simulated would both be better, but you could use either of those words along with patterened.
Second, the sentence structure is rather off. It took me a few read-throughs to understand it. I'd suggest switching it around a bit:
Aiming to test the reproducibility of the present modelling setup, we ran simulations patterned on three spills that had occurred in the region
This indicates that you ran simulations, and that the simulations were copied from - or patterned on - spills that had really occurred.
Other uses of patterned in a similar context could be:
Germany launched a blitzkrieg attack, patterned on their successful strike against Poland.
A new product was designed, patterned on the most successful products of the last ten years.
In each case, patterned indicates that the action taken was being copied from something else, but patterned by itself does not indicate what action is being taken.
Aiming to test the reproducibility of the present modeling setup were patterned three realistic spills occurred in the region.
Rewritten:
To test the reproducibility of this model's hypothesis, the patterns of three realistic spills that occurred in the region were used.
The tests were patterned on the realistic spills that occurred in the region.
oil spill patterns or [water in rivers] spill patterns or leakage spill patterns
To "pattern" something after something else, means to structure it based on the pattern of that thing -- which is to say, its outward form. Both "simulation" and "model" normally involve some kind of pattern reproduction, but do this with more fundamental elements or concepts.
For example, a meteorologist might use mathematical models (known formulas that describe air movement, pressure, precipitation, etc.) to create a hurricane simulation. To test the simulation, the meteorologist might check that it accurately reproduces the patterns of past real-world hurricanes, given the same starting conditions and other controls.
To put it another way: The models are the underlying data and mathematical structures that drive the simulation. The pattern is the output from the simulations. So when you model/simulate something you usually think about all the elements that make it work, but when you pattern something you simply copy its observed behavior.
All are valid scientific techniques, of course. Sometimes patterning is all a researcher can do, until the underlying elements are better understood.
