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At the start of the new millennium, mankind is challenged by a paradox: the greater the apparent knowledge becomes, the greater the uncertainty in understanding and predicting how the world works appears. This book presents the outline of a new basis of Systems Science and a methodology for its applications in complex environmental, economic, social, and technological systems.
List of contents
I General Aspects of Systems Science.- The Dynamics of Knowledge and Ignorance: Learning the New Systems Science.- Chaos, Computability, Determinism, and Freedom: A Critical Analysis from a System-Theoretic Point of View.- The Function of Systems Concepts - From Systems Theory to Systems Science.- Fuzzy Aspects of Systems Science.- II Biological Systems.- On the Phenomenon of Bimodality in Aggregation Pattern Dynamics.- Parameter Estimation in Nonlinear Systems with Dynamic Noise.- Spatial Pattern Formation in a Simple Model of Consumer-Resource System.- Scaling Laws for the Prey-Predator Interaction Rates.- Active Motion in Systems with Energy Supply.- Reconstruction of Human Liver Parenchyma with Computer Program.- III Ecological and Environmental Systems.- Recent Developments in System Ecology.- GIS-Based Catchment Modeling.- Hybrid Low Level Petri Nets in Environmental Modeling - Development Platform and Case Studies.- An Empirically Based Approach to Self-Organization in Forest Ecosystems.- Regional-Scale Groundwater Quality: Monitoring and Assessment Using Spatially Referenced Environmental Data.- Mathematical Aspects in the Modeling of Urban Environmental Quality.- Elaboration of Systems Hydroecological Monitoring of Aral Sea Basin.- Information Theoretic Measures for the Maturity of Ecosystems.- Semianalytical Spatial Ranges and Persistences of Non-Polar Chemical for Reaction-Diffusion Type Dynamics.- IV Technology and Risk Assessment.- The Uncertainties of Risk Communication in Knowledge Societies.- A Dynamic Account of Rational Decision Making under Uncertainty: The Case of Risk Assessment in Hazardous Technological Systems.- Assessing the Risk of Transgenic Crops - The Role of Scientific Belief Systems.- Evaluation Methodology for Fate and ExposureModels.- Quantitative Risk Assessment Applied to Fragmental Rockfall Hazard on a Rock Slope.- V Socio-Economic Systems.- On the Interrelation of Social, Economic and Ecological Systems - Theoretical Approaches and Policy Implications on the Feasibility of Comprehensive Sustainability.- Dynamic Modeling for Consensus Building in Complex Environmental and Investment Decision Making.- Multi-Agent Modeling of Resource Systems and Markets: Theoretical Considerations and Simulation Results.- Integration of Social and Ecological Processes in Quantitative Models for the Management of Water Systems.- Researching Alternative, Sustainable Agricultural Systems. A Modeling Approach by Examples from Denmark.- An Approach to Define Sustainable Development Indicators.- Modeling Sustainability - European and German Approaches.- Constructing Knowledge Landscapes Within the Framework of Geometrically Oriented Evolutionary Theories.- VI Psychological and Cognitive Systems.- Self-Organization of Cognitive and Interactional Processes.- Dynamics of Perceptual Representation.- Embodied Cognitive Science: Concepts, Methods and Implications for Psychology.- Changing Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors in Populations: Simulation Studies Based on Socio-Psychological Theories.- Vision as Computation, or: Does a Computer Vision System Really Assign Meaning to Images?.
Summary
At the start of the new millennium, mankind is challenged by a paradox: the greater the apparent knowledge becomes, the greater the uncertainty in understanding and predicting how the world works appears. This book presents the outline of a new basis of Systems Science and a methodology for its applications in complex environmental, economic, social, and technological systems.
