Midterm Flashcards by Catherine Destrempes

What is a system?

it is an interconnected set of element that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something

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What is a stock?

stock are element of the system that you can see, feel, count or measure at any given time

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What is a flow

it is an action that change the stock over time

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what is a dynamic equilibrium

when a loop/ inflow become equal to the outflow so it level does not change can also be encounter with balancing and reinforcing feedback loop

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what is a feedback loop

it is form when change in a stock affect the flow into or out of that same stock

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what is a discrapency

it is the gaps btw your actual and desired level of stock

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What are balancing feedback loop

they are goal seeking or stability seeking structure in system and are both source of stability and source of resistance to change

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What is a reinforcing feedback loop

it enhance whatever direction of change is impose on it

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what are competing balancing loop

two loop for 1 stock aiming at two diff goal

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what is shifting dominance

a system is compose of several feedback loop therefore shifting dominance occur when the loop dominating the system change changing teh system behavior

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Define resilience

it is a measure of a system ability to survive and persist within a variable environment. It is its ability to recover from perturbation and restore/repair itself. But there is always limits to resilience

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Define self-organisation

It is the capacityof a system to make its own structure more complex. The ability to structure themselves to create new structure to learn diversify and complexify

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What is hierarchie

The organization of system and sub system. Hierarchie system evolve from the buttom up. The purpose of the upper layer of the hierarchie is to serve the purpose of the lower layer

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What is suboptimization

It is when a sub system goal dominate at the expense of the total system goal

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what is a linear relationship

relationship btw 2 element in a system can be drawn on a graph with astraight line . It is a relationship with constant proportion

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What is a nonlinear relationship

It is a relationship in which the cause do not produce a proportional effect

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What is bounded rationality

Mean that people make quite reasonable decision based on the information they have. For example data could be a case of bounded rationality since your interpretation of the system is bound to this data

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Identify which of carbon in the atmosphere and plant uptake is the stock and the flow

Stock : carbon

Flow : plant uptake

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Identify which of barrel of water and leak in the barrel is the stock and the flow

stock= barrel of water 
flow= leak

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Identify which of soil and erosion is the stock and the flow

stock= soil
flow = erosion

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What are archetype

system structure that produce common pattern of problematic behvior

Name the 8 system trap

policy resistance , tragedy of the common, drift to low performance, escalation, success to the successful, shifting the burden to the intervenor, rule beating, seeking the wrong goal

define policy resistance and way to deal with it

occur when to goal of subsystem are different from one another . Therefore each actor try to pull the stock in the way of its own goal which result in a system that no one like but that everyone spend considerable effort in maintaining
To deal with it: you can bring all the actor together to find a new goal that is satifactory for everyone

define tragedy of the common and way to deal with it

come about when there is escalation or just simple growth in a commonly shared erodable env.
to deal with it:
- Educate and exhort= Use moral pressure to reduce the use of the common
-Privatize the common= link use with the impact
- Regulate the common = policies, permit , tax

define drift to low performance and way to deal with it

It is when system keep getting worse since the desired state od the system is influenced by the perceived state . Therefore allowing performance standard to be influenced by past performance especially if there is a negative bias in perceiving past performance set up a reinforcing feedback loop of eroding goald that sets a system drifthing toward low performance. Ex: People in india do see the problem with water provisionning since they only look back to bad year which make them say it is ok since better than last years To deal with it: - Keep standard absolute - Lets standard be enhanced by the best actual performance instead of being discourage by the worse

define escalation and way to deal with it

when the state of one stock is determine by trying to surpass the state of another stock (and vice versa) then there is a reinforcing feeback loop carrying the system into ab arm race. To deal with it : -Try not to get in it -Refuse to compete -Negociate a new system with balancing loop to control the escalation

define success to the successful and way to deal with it

this system trap is found whenever the winner of a competition receive as part of the reward the means to compete even more effectively in the futur To deal with it: -diversifying= which allow those who are losing to get out of the game and start another one -antitrust law= strict limitation on the fraction of the pie any one winner may win -Policy that level the playing field= removing some of the advantage of the stronger player or increasing the advantage of the weaker player - policy that give reward for success that do not bias the next round of competition

define shifting the burden to the intervenor and way to deal with it

it arise when a solution to a systemic problem reduce (or disguise) the symptom, but does nothing to solve the underlying problem To deal with it: -do get into it -be aware of the symptome relieving solution and focus on long term solution

define rule beating and way to deal with it

It is a behavior that give the apparance of obeing the rule or achieving the goal but that actually distort the system by getting around the intended rule To deal with it: Design or redesign rule to allow the creativity to be use in the direction of achieving the purpose of the rule

define seeking the wrong goal and way to deal with it

If the goal ( the indicator of satisfaction of the rule) are defined inacurrately or incompletely, the system may obediently work to produce a result that is not really intended or wanted To deal with it: - Specify indicator and goald tjat reflect the real welfare of the system

What are the 12 intervation point in a system (from less effective to most effective)

number, buffer, stock and flow structure, delay, balacing feedback loop , reinforcing feedback loop, information flow, rule, self-organisation, goal, paradigm, transcending paradigm

identify the type of feedback loop and the polarity of the present causal diagram: permafrost ->carbon->temperature->

reinforcing feedback loop | +++

identify the type of feedback loop and the polarity of the present causal diagram: plant growth->carbon->temperature->

balancing feedback loop | -++

identify the type of feedback loop and the polarity of the present causal diagram: climate change-> puffin pop-> tourism->harvesting ->back to puffin pop

Reinforcing feedback loop | -++-

identify the type of feedback loop and the polarity of the present causal diagram: hot and dry weather-> fire->fuel load->back to fire

Balancing feedback loop | +-+

Suppression of low crown fire event base on the knowlege of the period is an example of what

bounded rationality

Which intervention point was modified in the fire supression system

the delay for biomass accumulation was modified

Cod overfishing is an example of which system trap

tragedy of the common

The reduce fire even increasing the biomass accumulation is an example of which system trap

shifting the burden to the intervenor

The municipality of lac clair allow it citizen to fish 5 trout per day per household . Steve which love trout decide to by another house to be able to fish 10 trout a day . Which system trap do this represent

rule beating

The people of alberta don't have job because of the reduction in oil sand production. Therefore the government put more investment in IT job to increase the job market bu people from other proinve come and take advantage of theses job. Which system trap do this represent

Policy resistance

People in india have problem with water acess so rather then increasing the water holding capacity they build desalinization plan. Which system trap do this represent

seeking the wrong goal

India as lot of problem with water but people said that it is not asbad as a few year ago so it is find. Which system trap do this represent

drift to low performance

In India there is not restriction on the amount of water that one can use so people overuse it Which system trap do this represent

tragedy of the common

Riparian buffer minimum with is (10-15m) which intervation point do you think this fall in

rule, number, buffer, blancing feedback loop

which intervation point do you think this fall in : | Go vegan

stock and flow structure

which intervation point do you think this fall in : | don't be a fossil fool

stock and flow structure

which intervation point do you think this fall in : | use less paper

balancing feedback loop

which intervation point do you think this fall in : | 1.5 to stay alive

number and buffer

which intervation point do you think this fall in : | amazon forest not amazon prime

goal and reinforcing feedback loop

In the coastal rainforest in BC the enviromental group push there message to the people who reacted which created a shift in the company mindset which intervation point do you think this fall in :

paradigms