Systems thinkers think About systems education under the April 2010 (volcanic ash) clouds of Austria

The fragmented nature of systems education with multiple traditions expressed in very different ways at different institutions with ultimate confusing effects on the community of learners (students, managers, policy makers, etc), led to a group of Systems Thinkers to discuss and create generic curricula for education and learning about systems for the generalist and specialist tracks. An active network of systems educators and stakeholders who can benefit from enhanced systems education in having to deal with complex issues, was also explored. In this presentation some guidelines for designing introductory and advanced courses will be discussed. The Introduction to Systemic Thinking and Practice course is intended as an introductory course for students from all disciplines. The Advanced Systemic Thinking and Practice course is intended as a more advanced course for students who are faced with complex issues that require a trans-disciplinary and integrated approach. The designs contain a set of key systems concepts and frameworks relevant to the appropriate level, along with some indicative tools and methods which will enable students to explore the concepts. The value of a Global Network of Systems Educators will also be discussed and how this network could help to fulfil the needs of managers, policy makers and society in general. An example will be given of how the integration of this network with the UQ-UNESCO/MAB Global Learning Laboratories NET could lead to more people (decision-and policy makers in Governments, managers, businesses, etc.) having the ability to practice systems thinking – all of these contributing to Systems Thinking becoming a more mainstream part of a sustainable society

Spatial Dynamic Modeling and Urban Land Use Transformation:

Assessing the economic impacts of urban land use transformation has become complex and acrimonious. Although community planners are beginning to comprehend the economic trade-offs inherent in transforming the urban fringe, they find it increasingly difficult to analyze and assess the trade-offs expediently and in ways that can influence local decisionmaking. New and sophisticated spatial modeling techniques are now being applied to urban systems that can quickly assess the probable spatial outcomes of given communal policies. Applying an economic impact assessment to the probable spatial patterns can provide to planners the tools needed to quickly assess scenarios for policy formation that will ultimately help inform decision makers. This paper focuses on the theoretical underpinnings and practical application of an economic impact analysis submodel developed within the Land use Evolution and Impact Assessment Modeling (LEAM) environment. The conceptual framework of LEAM is described, followed by an application of the model to the assessment of the cost of urban sprawl in Kane County, Illinois. The results show the effectiveness of spatially explicit modeling from a theoretical and a practical point of view. The agent-based approach of spatial dynamic modeling with a high spatial resolution allows for discerning the macro-level implications of micro-level behaviors. These phenomena are highlighted in the economic submodel in the discussion of the implications of land use change decisions on individual and communal costs; low-density development patterns favoring individual behaviors at the expense of the broader community.

Legislating for Air Quality Management: Reducing Theory to Practice

What does it mean to bootstrap a compiler, and why do it? This paper reports on the first bootstrapping of a full-scale EOO (Equation-based Object-Oriented) modeling language such as Modelica. Bootstrapping means that the compiler of a language can compile itself. However, the usual application area for the Modelica is modeling and simulation of complex physical systems. Fortunately it turns out that with some minor extensions, the Modelica language is well suited for the modeling of language semantics. We use the name MetaModelica for this slightly extended Modelica. This is a prerequisite for bootstrapping which requires that the language can be used to model and/or implement itself. The OpenModelica Compiler (OMC) has been written in this MetaModelica language. It originally supported only the standard Modelica language but has been gradually extended to also cover the MetaModelica language extensions. After substantial work, OMC is able to quickly compile itself and produces an executable with good performance. The benefits include a more extensible and maintainable compiler by introducing improved language constructs and a more powerful runtime that makes it easy to add functionality such as parser generators, debuggers, and profiling tools. Future work includes extracting and restructuring parts of OMC, making the compiler smaller and more modular and extensible. This will also make it easier to interface with OMC, making it possible to create more powerful and user-friendly OpenModelica-based tools. The compiler and its bootstrapping is a major effort -- it is currently about 330 000 lines of code, and the MetaModelica extensions are used routinely by approximately ten developers on a daily basis

Vulnerability assessments of pesticide leaching to groundwater

Pesticides may have adverse environmental effects if they are transported to groundwater and surface waters. The vulnerability of water resources to contamination of pesticides must therefore be evaluated. Different stakeholders, with different objectives and requirements, are interested in such vulnerability assessments. Various assessment methods have been developed in the past. For example, the vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide leaching may be evaluated by indices and overlay-based methods, by statistical analyses of monitoring data, or by using process-based models of pesticide fate. No single tool or methodology is likely to be appropriate for all end-users and stakeholders, since their suitability depends on the available data and the specific goals of the assessment. The overall purpose of this thesis was to develop tools, based on different process-based models of pesticide leaching that may be used in groundwater vulnerability assessments. Four different tools have been developed for end-users with varying goals and interests: (i) a tool based on the attenuation factor implemented in a GIS, where vulnerability maps are generated for the islands of Hawaii (U.S.A.), (ii) a simulation tool based on the MACRO model developed to support decision-makers at local authorities to assess potential risks of leaching of pesticides to groundwater following normal usage in drinking water abstraction districts, (iii) linked models of the soil root zone and groundwater to investigate leaching of the pesticide mecoprop to shallow and deep groundwater in fractured till, and (iv) a meta-model of the pesticide fate model MACRO developed for 'worst-case' groundwater vulnerability assessments in southern Sweden. The strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches are discussed

Measuring Sustainable Development: The Use of Computable General Equilibrium Models

This paper advocates computable general equilibrium models as a methodological tool that is particularly suitable for measuring the impacts of policy interference on the three dimensions of sustainable development, i.e. environmental quality, economic performance (gross efficiency) and equity. These dimensions are inherently intertwined and subject to trade-offs. Computable general equilibrium models can incorporate various important sustainable development indicators in a single consistent framework and allow for a systematic quantitative trade-off analysis. --computable general equilibrium modeling (CGE),sustainability impact assessment (SIA),sustainable development (SD)

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

Partnership for Sustainability: A Case Study of BAZ County

The purpose of the study is to present and discuss a project which can solve the environmental sustainability problems of companies involving students in their work. The project strengthen the partnership among the University of Miskolc and the companies operating in the region, enrich the knowledge of entrepreneurs, improve their environmental performance and help our students find jobs in the area. With the help of the communication targeted in the project sustainability can be integrated into the economic and enterprise policy of the region. In the study an attempt is made to create a new university-company partnership model in order to promote the practise of sustainability