The Funnel of Game Design – An Adaptive Game Design Approach for Complex Systems

Background: In a world of ever-increasing complexity, organizations and people have an ever-increasing need for support systems that help them understand and shape the world around them. While simulation game design derived from the very idea to propose an instrument able to address complexity, seminal approaches dealt with a different level...

Participatory Design of Participatory Systems for Sustainable Collaboration: Exploring Its Potential in Transport and Logistics

Challenges involving economic, environmental, and societal aspects necessitate organisations in business networks to collaborate. The scientific problem central to this paper is the difficulty of building sustainable collaborations. The research question is how to support organisations in building sustainable collaborations in their business...

Enhancing the resilience of drinking water infrastructures

Long term uncertainties in combination with long lifetime of assets of drinking water infrastructures (DWIs) and changing expectations of stakeholders make strategic decisions in drinking water infrastructures (DWIs) complex. A framework with building blocks and design spaces was developed to support these decisions. Building blocks, divided in...

Collective dynamics and pattern formation in systems of communicating cells: Theory and Simulations

How a system of genetically identical biological cells organizes into spatially heterogeneous tissues is a central question in biology. Even when the molecular and genetic underpinnings of cell-cell interactions are known, how these lead to multicellular patterns is often poorly understood. Of particular interest are dynamic patterns such as...

Cellular Dialogues: Cell-Cell Communication through Diffusible Molecules Yields Dynamic Spatial Patterns

Cells form spatial patterns by coordinating their gene expressions. How a group of mesoscopic numbers (hundreds to thousands) of cells, without pre-existing morphogen gradients and spatial organization, self-organizes spatial patterns remains poorly understood. Of particular importance are dynamic spatial patterns such as spiral waves that...

Root-soil inter actions adaptation strategies of plants in response to soil water availability

We study the coupled action of water uptake and root development of maize in potting soil under greenhouse conditions. To this end, we apply subsurface irrigation strategies that are constant over weeks. We perform synchronous realtime measurements of the co-evolving soil moisture fields and root distributions. Will constant irrigation...

Exploring necessary conditions for standard success for complex systems

Many markets are characterized by increasing returns to adoption and, often, in such markets standards battles are fought (Suarez, 2004; Schilling 1998; Van de Kaa 2011). Literature on standards selection predominantly focuses on standards that are part of a new single product or system, such as the internet or a telecommunications network ...

A Scientific Foundation of Simulation Games for the Analysis and Design of Complex Systems

Background. The use of simulation games for complex systems analysis and design has been acknowledged about 50 years ago. However, articles do not combine all salient factors for successful simulation games, and often stem from a clear view of one particular field of science only. With combining multiple disciplines, connect analysis and...

Hydropolitics and Conflict Management in Transboundary River Basins

This thesis set out to develop methodologies that promote cooperation, peace and development instead of conflict and violence in transboundary water resources management. In particular, its objectives were the following: o To examine and understand the complexity of water systems and water conflict management o To investigate factors affecting...

Microgames for Situated Learning: A Case Study in Interdependent Planning

Background. Complex, dynamic systems require flexible workforces with skills and attitudes responding to the dynamic work environment. Traditional, formal classroom oriented learning approaches often do not sufficiently support the development of such skills and attitudes and do not provide situated learning activities. Aim and Method. We...

Can spatial form support urban ecosystem services: Representing patches and connectivity zones for bees using space syntax methodology

A designerly methodology for software development

This PhD researches the domain of industrial design engineering starting from the strong technological evolutions and changing economic, social and ecological needs. Our current products are not only build from hardware components, but are a complex mix of hardware, software and services (in different proportions). This complexity is needed to...

Using an agent-based model for analysing the robustness of a syngas cluster

Future price developments and availability of energy resources are uncertain. Therefore, developers of energy infrastructures will have to consider different scenarios in their planning. Moreover, the implementation of large infrastructures requires the cooperation of several actors, which adds to the uncertainty. In this paper we describe the...

System and Actor Perspectives on Sociotechnical Systems

This paper addresses the complexity of analyzing and designing sociotechnical systems: systems that involve both complex physical-technical systems and networks of interdependent actors. It is shown that, although a hard system perspective and an actor perspective differ greatly in terms of terminology, methods, and applicability, they also show...

Connectivity-oriented urban projects

This thesis is about connections in the built environment, networked connections for the mobility of people at the smallest scale of the urban realm: the pedestrian scale. It deals with applications of the new science of networks as a tool for observation and assessment of connectivity in the urban space. It explores networks theoretically...

KADAM knowledge-based assistant for diagnosis in aircraft maintenance: Final report

Under contract with the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR), the National Aerospace Laboratory NLR has investigated the feasibility of knowledge-based systems to assists ground crews in corrective maintenance of complex aircraft systems. For this feasibility study, the Fokker airconditioning system was chosen as a representative...