Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems

Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems PDF Author: Lance H. Gunderson
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610913132
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Get Book

Book Description
Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began to look at conditions far from the steady state where instabilities can cause a system to shift into an entirely different regime of behavior, and where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses the theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems as well as the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of the new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems. The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order; it also presents a set of mathematical metaphors to describe and deepen the reader's understanding of the ideas being discussed. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and evaluate the propositions presented in the introductory chapters. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilienc. In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker.

Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems

Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems PDF Author: Lance H. Gunderson
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610913132
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Get Book

Book Description
Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began to look at conditions far from the steady state where instabilities can cause a system to shift into an entirely different regime of behavior, and where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses the theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems as well as the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of the new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems. The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order; it also presents a set of mathematical metaphors to describe and deepen the reader's understanding of the ideas being discussed. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and evaluate the propositions presented in the introductory chapters. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilienc. In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker.

Sustainable and Resilient Critical Infrastructure Systems

Sustainable and Resilient Critical Infrastructure Systems PDF Author: Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642114059
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book

Book Description
Sustainable and resilient critical infrastructure systems is an emerging paradigm in an evolving era of depleting assets in the midst of natural and man-made threats to provide a sustainable and high quality of life with optimized resources from social, economic, societal and environmental considerations. The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of civil and other interdependent infrastructure systems (electric power, energy, cyber-infrastructures, etc.) require inter- and multidisciplinary expertise required to engineer, monitor, and sustain these distributed large-scale complex adaptive infrastructure systems. This edited book is motivated by recent advances in simulation, modeling, sensing, communications/information, and intelligent and sustainable technologies that have resulted in the development of sophisticated methodologies and instruments to design, characterize, optimize, and evaluate critical infrastructure systems, their resilience, and their condition and the factors that cause their deterioration. Specific topics discussed in this book include, but are not limited to: optimal infrastructure investment allocation for sustainability, framework for manifestation of tacit critical infrastructure knowledge, interdependencies between energy and transportation systems for national long term planning, intelligent transportation infrastructure technologies, emergent research issues in infrastructure interdependence research, framework for assessing the resilience of infrastructure and economic systems, maintenance optimization for heterogeneous infrastructure systems, optimal emergency infrastructure inspection scheduling, and sustainable rehabilitation of deteriorated transportation infrastructure systems.

Critical Infrastructure System Security and Resiliency

Critical Infrastructure System Security and Resiliency PDF Author: Betty Biringer
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1466557508
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book

Book Description
Security protections for critical infrastructure nodes are intended to minimize the risks resulting from an initiating event, whether it is an intentional malevolent act or a natural hazard. With an emphasis on protecting an infrastructure's ability to perform its mission or function, Critical Infrastructure System Security and Resiliency presents a practical methodology for developing an effective protection system that can either prevent undesired events or mitigate the consequences of such events. Developed at Sandia National Labs, the authors’ analytical approach and methodology enables decision-makers and security experts to perform and utilize risk assessments in a manner that extends beyond the theoretical to practical application. These protocols leverage expertise in modeling dependencies—optimizing system resiliency for effective physical protection system design and consequence mitigation. The book begins by focusing on the design of protection strategies to enhance the robustness of the infrastructure components. The authors present risk assessment tools and necessary metrics to offer guidance to decision-makers in applying sometimes limited resources to reduce risk and ensure operational resiliency. Our critical infrastructure is vast and made up of many component parts. In many cases, it may not be practical or affordable to secure every infrastructure node. For years, experts—as a part of the risk assessment process—have tried to better identify and distinguish higher from lower risks through risk segmentation. In the second section of the book, the authors present examples to distinguish between high and low risks and corresponding protection measures. In some cases, protection measures do not prevent undesired events from occurring. In others, protection of all infrastructure components is not feasible. As such, this section describes how to evaluate and design resilience in these unique scenarios to manage costs while most effectively ensuring infrastructure system protection. With insight from the authors’ decades of experience, this book provides a high-level, practical analytical framework that public and private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure can use to better understand and evaluate infrastructure security strategies and policies. Strengthening the entire homeland security enterprise, the book presents a significant contribution to the science of critical infrastructure protection and resilience.

Complex Evolutionary Dynamics in Urban-Regional and Ecologic-Economic Systems

Complex Evolutionary Dynamics in Urban-Regional and Ecologic-Economic Systems PDF Author: J. Barkley Rosser
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441988289
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book

Book Description
Drawing on the middle chapters from the first edition of J. Barkley Rosser's seminal work, From Catastrophe to Chaos, this book presents an unusual perspective on economics and economic analysis. Current economic theory largely depends upon assuming that the world is fundamentally continuous. However, an increasing amount of economic research has been done using approaches that allow for discontinuities such as catastrophe theory, chaos theory, synergetics, and fractal geometry. The spread of such approaches across a variety of disciplines of thought has constituted a virtual intellectual revolution in recent years. This book reviews the applications of these approaches in various subdisciplines of economics and draws upon past economic thinkers to develop an integrated view of economics as a whole from the perspective of inherent discontinuity.

Urban Resilience for Emergency Response and Recovery

Urban Resilience for Emergency Response and Recovery PDF Author: Gian Paolo Cimellaro
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319306561
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 522

Get Book

Book Description
This book introduces the concepts of Resilience-Based Design (RBD) as an extension of Performance-Based Design. It provides readers with a range of cutting-edge methodologies for evaluating resilience and clarifies the difference between resilience, vulnerability and sustainability. Initially, the book focuses on describing the different types of uncertainty that arise in the context of resilience evaluation. This is followed by an entire chapter dedicated to the analytical and experimental recovery functions. Then, starting from the definition of resilience provided by MCEER, an extension of the methodology is provided that introduces the seven dimensions of Community Resilience, summarized in the acronym PEOPLES. They are: Population and Demographics, Environmental/Ecosystem, Organized Governmental Services, Physical infrastructures, Lifestyle and Community Competence, Economic Development, and Socio-Cultural Capital. For each dimension, components and subcomponents are defined and the related indices are provided. Underlining the importance of the physical infrastructure dimension, the book provides several examples of applications for transportation, hydraulic, gas and power networks. The problem of interdependencies and the domino effect is also taken into account during the analysis. One of the book’s closing chapters focuses on different methodologies for improving disaster preparedness and engineering mitigation strategies, while the last chapter describes the different computer platforms available on the market for evaluating Community Resilience. The book offers readers an extensive introduction to the concept of Resilience-Based Design, together with selected advanced applications for specialists. No prerequisite knowledge is needed in order to understand the book, and the Appendix offers valuable supplemental information on e.g. the probabilistic concepts. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for graduate students, young engineers and researchers who are interested in the topic, and can also be used as a supplementary text in graduate level Disaster Resilience courses.

A Framework of Human Systems Engineering

A Framework of Human Systems Engineering PDF Author: Holly A. H. Handley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119698774
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book

Book Description
Explores the breadth and versatility of Human Systems Engineering (HSE) practices and illustrates its value in system development A Framework of Human Systems Engineering: Applications and Case Studies offers a guide to identifying and improving methods to integrate human concerns into the conceptualization and design of systems. With contributions from a panel of noted experts on the topic, the book presents a series of Human Systems Engineering (HSE) applications on a wide range of topics: interface design, training requirements, personnel capabilities and limitations, and human task allocation. Each of the book's chapters present a case study of the application of HSE from different dimensions of socio-technical systems. The examples are organized using a socio-technical system framework to reference the applications across multiple system types and domains. These case studies are based in real-world examples and highlight the value of applying HSE to the broader engineering community. This important book: Includes a proven framework with case studies to different dimensions of practice, including domain, system type, and system maturity Contains the needed tools and methods in order to integrate human concerns within systems Encourages the use of Human Systems Engineering throughout the design process Provides examples that cross traditional system engineering sectors and identifies a diverse set of human engineering practices Written for systems engineers, human factors engineers, and HSI practitioners, A Framework of Human Systems Engineering: Applications and Case Studies provides the information needed for the better integration of human and systems and early resolution of issues based on human constraints and limitations.

Discontinuities in Ecosystems and Other Complex Systems

Discontinuities in Ecosystems and Other Complex Systems PDF Author: Craig R. Allen
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231144452
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book

Book Description
Following the publication of C. S. Holling's seminal work on the relationship between animal body mass patterns and scale-specific landscape structure, ecologists began to explore the theoretical and applied consequences of discontinuities in ecosystems and other complex systems. Are ecosystems and their components continuously distributed and do they adhere to scaling laws, or are they discontinuous and more complex than early models would have us believe? The resulting propositions over the structure of complex systems sparked an ongoing debate regarding the mechanisms generating discontinuities and the statistical methods used for their detection. This volume takes the view that ecosystems and other complex systems are inherently discontinuous and that such fields as ecology, economics, and urban studies greatly benefit from this paradigm shift. Contributors present evidence of the ubiquity of discontinuous distributions in ecological and social systems and how their analysis provides insight into complex phenomena. The book is divided into three sections. The first focuses on background material and contrasting views concerning the discontinuous organization of complex systems. The second discusses discontinuous patterns detected in a number of different systems and methods for detecting them, and the third touches on the potential significance of discontinuities in complex systems. Science is still dominated by a focus on power laws, but the contributors to this volume are convinced power laws often mask the interesting dynamics of systems and that those dynamics are best revealed by investigating deviations from assumed power law distributions. In 2008, a grand conference on resilience was held in Stockholm, hosting 600 participants from around the world. There are now three big centers established with resilience, the most recent one being the Stockholm Resilience Center, with others in Australia (an international coral reef center), Arizona State University's new sustainability center focusing on anthropology, and Canada's emerging social sciences and resilience center. Activity continues to flourish in Alaska, South Africa, and the Untied Kingdom, and a new center is forming in Uruguay.

The Law and Ecology of Pesticides and Pest Management

The Law and Ecology of Pesticides and Pest Management PDF Author: Mary Jane Angelo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317026179
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 365

Get Book

Book Description
Although concerns over the ecological impacts of pesticides gave rise to the environmental movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, since that time, pesticide use and its effects have been largely ignored by the law and by legal scholars. This book addresses this omission by providing a unique and serious treatment of the significance of pesticide issues in environmental law and takes an ecological perspective on the legal issues. Dealing with a wide range of questions relating to pests and pesticides, the book focuses primarily on agricultural pesticide use as the largest contaminator in the US. It also examines the legacy of past pesticide use and analyzes how recent developments in ecological science can inform the law and increase our understanding of ecology. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the book will be of interest to academics, lawyers, scientists and environmental and agricultural professionals.

Greening the Economy

Greening the Economy PDF Author: Robert B. Williams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136962409
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book

Book Description
Professor Bob Williams examines the essential elements that give ecosystems their durability. These key characteristics are: self-regulating cycles of key materials, a plentiful and durable energy source, an ability to adjust to changing circumstances, and the capacity for resiliency in the face of unpredictable disruptions. In separate chapters, each of these natural attributes are applied to our economy and 20 polices are recommended to shift our economy toward each of these objectives. The policies include marketable waste emission permits, a "carbon" tax, split-rate property taxation, environmental assurance bonds, a revamped home mortgage deduction, and an inheritance tax. These policies function to implement the principle of full-cost pricing in order to ensure market incentives that encourage environmentally temperate behaviour and decisions. This book will be of interest to students of Ecology and Economics, at undergraduate and postgraduate level alike, as well as anyone seeking an understanding of key ecological concepts that are critical to fully appreciating the role of natural capital in our economic affairs

New Advances in Information Systems and Technologies

New Advances in Information Systems and Technologies PDF Author: Álvaro Rocha
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319312324
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 1130

Get Book

Book Description
This book contains a selection of articles from The 2016 World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST'16), held between the 22nd and 24th of March at Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. WorldCIST is a global forum for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss recent results and innovations, current trends, professional experiences and challenges of modern Information Systems and Technologies research, together with their technological development and applications. The main topics covered are: Information and Knowledge Management; Organizational Models and Information Systems; Software and Systems Modeling; Software Systems, Architectures, Applications and Tools; Multimedia Systems and Applications; Computer Networks, Mobility and Pervasive Systems; Intelligent and Decision Support Systems; Big Data Analytics and Applications; Human-Computer Interaction; Health Informatics; Information Technologies in Education; Information Technologies in Radiocommunications.