Technology and the built world

Model soups

Model soups is a machine learning technique introduced by Google Research in 2022 that averages the weights of several fine-tuned models, improving accuracy with no added inference cost.

Model transformation

Model transformation is a software engineering technique that automatically generates target models or text, such as Java code, from source models, standardized by the OMG's QVT specification.

Model tree (machine learning)

A model tree is a decision tree for regression whose leaves hold linear models, giving a piecewise linear predictor; the canonical algorithm is Quinlan's M5.

Model welfare

Model welfare is an emerging research area asking whether AI systems could have morally relevant experiences such as suffering, and how their wellbeing should be assessed and protected.

Model year

The model year (MY) of a motor vehicle is the year a manufacturer designates a specific vehicle version for marketing and regulatory purposes, often differing from the build year.

Model-agnostic meta-learning

Model-agnostic meta-learning (MAML) is a meta-learning algorithm, introduced by Chelsea Finn and colleagues in 2017, that trains initial parameters for fast adaptation to new tasks.

Model-based deep learning is a family of methods combining principled mathematical models with data-driven deep neural networks, applied in compressed sensing, digital communications, and super-resolution.

Model-based design

Model-based design (MBD) is a development process for embedded control systems in which a system model serves as an executable specification, supporting simulation, automatic code generation, and continuous verification.

Model-based offline RL

Model-based offline RL is a family of reinforcement learning algorithms that train policies from static datasets using a learned dynamics model with safeguards against model errors.

Model-based reinforcement learning

Model-based reinforcement learning (MBRL) is a reinforcement learning approach in which an agent learns a model of its environment, then uses it to plan or generate imagined training experience.

Model-based systems engineering

Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is the formalized application of modeling to system requirements, design, analysis, verification, and validation, using languages such as SysML and promoted by INCOSE's MBSE Initiative since 2007.

Model-based testing

Model-based testing (MBT) is a software testing method that derives test cases automatically from a behavioral model of a system and executes them against it.

Model-driven architecture

Model-driven architecture (MDA) is a software design approach spearheaded by the Object Management Group, adopted in 2001, that expresses software specifications as models and transforms them into platform-specific code.

Model-free reinforcement learning

Model-free reinforcement learning is a class of algorithms that learn a policy or value function directly from an agent's experience, without estimating a model of the environment's dynamics.

Model–view–controller

Model–view–controller, or MVC, is a software architectural pattern that separates an application into a model holding data and logic, a view, and a controller handling input.

Model–view–presenter

Model–view–presenter (MVP) is a software architectural pattern that separates a user interface into a model, view, and presenter, first described at Taligent in Mike Potel's 1996 paper.

Model–view–viewmodel

Model–view–viewmodel (MVVM), also called model-view-binder, is a UI architectural pattern that decouples interface code from business logic using model, view, and view model layers joined by data binding.

Modelica

Modelica is a free, object-oriented language for modeling large physical and cyber-physical systems through equations rather than assignment statements, standardized by the Modelica Association since 2000.

ModelNet

ModelNet is a dataset of 127,915 3D CAD models in 660 object categories, created by Princeton researchers; its ModelNet10 and ModelNet40 subsets became standard benchmarks for 3D object classification.

ModelScope

ModelScope is a model-and-dataset hosting platform and open-source machine-learning toolkit launched by Alibaba in mainland China in November 2022, positioned as China's counterpart to Hugging Face.

Modem

A modem, short for modulator-demodulator, is a device that converts digital data into transmittable signals and back, first developed in 1949 and commercialized by Bell Telephone in 1958.

Modena Cathedral

Modena Cathedral (Duomo di Modena) is a 12th-century Romanesque cathedral in Modena, Italy, begun in 1099 by Lanfranco and decorated by Wiligelmo, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

Modern aqueducts of Europe

Modern aqueducts of Europe are complex water-moving systems composed of pipes and canals, which historians studied in cities like Naples and Venice between 1800 and 1910.

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is the family of movements that arose from the late 19th century onward, breaking with historical styles in favor of steel, concrete, glass, and functional design.

Oct 26, 2026

Modern data stack

Modern data stack (MDS): modular, cloud-based tools for data ingestion, warehousing, transformation, BI, orchestration, observability, and governance. Built on ELT around cloud warehouses like Snowflake and Databricks; criticized as a marketing term amid tool sprawl and vendor consolidation.