This expanded second edition of the 2014 textbook features dedicated sections on action and observation, so that the reader can combine the use of the developed theoretical basis with practical guidelines for deployment. It also includes a focus on selection and use of a dedicated modeling paradigm – fuzzy cognitive mapping – to facilitate use of the proposed multi-methodology. The end goal of the text is a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to structuring and assessing complex problems,...

Whether you’re an academic or a practitioner, a sociologist, a manager, or an engineer, one can benefit from learning to think systemically. Problems (and messes) are everywhere and they’re getting more complicated every day. How we think about these problems determines whether or not we’ll be successful in understanding and addressing them. This book presents a novel way to think about problems (and messes) necessary to attack these always-present concerns. The approach draws from discipl...

In "It’s Not Too Late!” author Patrick Hester offers more than just a typical self-help book; it’s a personal journey shared with readers to empower them to achieve their goals and resolutions. Drawing from his experiences and struggles, Hester provides a comprehensive toolkit of exercises and strategies to guide readers toward success. Hester’s narrative is deeply rooted in authenticity as he candidly recounts his battle with addiction and the challenges he faced on the path to sobriety. ...

The lovable curmudgeon Hendrik Groen is back, and as funny and charming as ever in a new adventure with the Old-But-Not-Dead Club—perfect for fans of Frederik Backman and Graeme Simision.Everyone's favorite octogenarian and his pals are more determined than ever to wreak havoc and turn a twinkly eye on the brighter side of life.After a year spent mourning the death of his beloved friend Eefje, Hendrik may be older and a little more wobbly, but his youthful ...

In this #1 international bestseller, an old man who is young at heart proves that life doesn't stop once you enter a nursing home, perfect for fans of A Man Called Ove.Technically speaking, Hendrik Groen is elderly. But at age 83 and one quarter, this feisty curmudgeon has no plans to go out quietly. Bored of weak tea and potted geraniums, exasperated by the indignities of aging, Hendrik has decided to rebel.He begins writing an exposé: secretly re...

“Sometimes the best stories in the library aren’t found on its shelves; they’re walking through its doors and congregating by the reference desk. Sue Halpern knows this and mines the setting for comic and tragicomic gold.”—Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue! and The DeadbeatFrom journalist and author Sue Halpern comes a wry, observant look at contemporary life and its refugees. Halpern’s novel is an unforgettable tale of famil...

The bestselling author of The Debt to Pleasure and Capital returns with a chilling fable for our time.Ravaged by the Change, an island nation in a time very like our own has built the Wall—an enormous concrete barrier around its entire coastline. Joseph Kavanagh, a new Defender, has one task: to protect his section of the Wall from the Others, the desperate souls who are trapped amid the rising seas outside and are a constant threat. Failure will ...

This new edition provides an up-to-date coverage of important theoretical models in the scheduling literature as well as significant scheduling problems that occur in the real world. It again includes supplementary material in the form of slide-shows from industry and movies that show implementations of scheduling systems.The main structure of the book as per previous edition consists of three parts. The first part focuses on deterministic scheduling and the related combinatorial p...

A revelatory exploration of the hottest trend in technology and the dramatic impact it will have on the economy, science, and society at large.Which paint color is most likely to tell you that a used car is in good shape? How can officials identify the most dangerous New York City manholes before they explode? And how did Google searches predict the spread of the H1N1 flu outbreak?The key to answering these questions, and many more, is big data. “Big data” refers to our bur...

This book presents the details of the BONUS algorithm and its real world applications in areas like sensor placement in large scale drinking water networks, sensor placement in advanced power systems, water management in power systems, and capacity expansion of energy systems. A generalized method for stochastic nonlinear programming based on a sampling based approach for uncertainty analysis and statistical reweighting to obtain probability information is demonstrated in this book. Stocha...

Markov decision process (MDP) models are widely used for modeling sequential decision-making problems that arise in engineering, economics, computer science, and the social sciences. Many real-world problems modeled by MDPs have huge state and/or action spaces, giving an opening to the curse of dimensionality and so making practical solution of the resulting models intractable. In other cases, the system of interest is too complex to allow explicit specification of some of the MDP model pa...

Contents 11. 2. 2. Four Main Areas of Dispute 247 11. 2. 3. Summary . . . 248 11. 3. Making Sense of the Issues . . 248 11. 3. 1. Introduction . . . . 248 11. 3. 2. The Scientific Approach 248 11. 3. 3. Science and Matters of Society . 249 11. 3. 4. Summary . 251 11. 4. Tying It All Together . . . . 251 11. 4. 1. Introduction . . . . 251 11. 4. 2. A Unifying Framework 251 11. 4. 3. Critical Systems Thinking 253 11. 4. 4. Summary 254 11. 5. Conclusion 254 Questions . . . 255 REFERENCES . . ...