This research explores how individuals make sense of their own lived experiences of health through the sharing of their stories and how the collectively shared meaning can be used to identify core values fundamental to sustaining a flourishing Canadian health care system. This study considers health care to be a complex system with inherent unpredictability where ideas for values-based sustainability must be given freedom to emerge. At the Kelowna Dialogue on Health, 29 individuals with diverse health care experiences and perspectives participated in a one-day Appreciative Inquiry (AI) conversation. During the seven-hour dialogue, the affirmative topics of compassion, collaboration, and personal responsibility emerged and a full AI 4-D cycle of discovery, dream, design, and destiny was performed. The delivery of these affirmative topics into actionable ideas that will be communicated in the public sphere through digital media will hopefully empower the participants, both health care providers and recipients, to strive for personalized compassionate health care

Many who study complex systems believe that the complexity we observe in the world around us is frequently the product of a large number of interactions between components following a simple rule. However, the task of discerning the rule governing the evolution of any given system is often quite difficult, requiring intuition, guesswork, and a great deal of expertise in that domain. To circumvent this issue, researchers have considered the inverse problem where one searches among many candidate rules to reveal those producing interesting behavior. This approach has its own challenges because the search space grows exponentially and interesting behavior is rare and difficult to rigorously define. Therefore, the contribution of this work includes tools and techniques for searching for dimer automaton rules that exhibit self-organization (the transformation of disorder into structure in the absence of centralized control). Dimer automata are simple, discrete, asynchronous rewriting systems that operate over the edges of an arbitrary graph. Specifically, these contributions include a number of novel, surprising, and useful applications of dimer automata, practical methods for measuring self-organization, advanced techniques for searching for dimer automaton rules, and two efficient GPU parallelizations of dimer automata to make searching and simulation more tractable. / Ph. D.

There is a potential as well as a growing interest amongst researchers to utilise simulation in optimising maintenance systems. The state of the art in simulation-based optimisation of maintenance was established by systematically classifying the published literature and outlining main trends in modelling and optimising maintenance systems. In general, approaches to optimise maintenance varied significantly in the literature. Overall, these studies highlight the need for a framework that unifies the approach to optimising maintenance systems. Framework requirements were established through two main sources of published research. Surveys on maintenance simulation optimisation were examined to document comments on the approaches authors follow while optimising maintenance systems. In addition, advanced and future maintenance strategies were documented to ensure it can be accommodated in the proposed framework. The proposed framework was developed using a standard flowchart tool due to its familiarity and ability to depict decision structures clearly. It provides a systematic methodology that details the steps required to connect the simulation model to an optimisation engine. Not only it provides guidance in terms of formulating the optimal problem for the maintenance system at hand but it also provides support and assistance in defining the optimisation scope and investigating applicable maintenance strategies. Additionally, it considers current issues relating to maintenance systems both in research and in practice such as uncertainty, complexity and multi-objective optimisation. The proposed framework cannot be applied using existing approaches for modelling maintenance. Existing modelling approaches using simulation have a number of limitations: The maintenance system is modelled separately from other inter-related systems such as production and spare parts logistics. In addition, these approaches are used to model one maintenance strategy only. A novel approach for modelling maintenance using Discrete Event Simulation is proposed. The proposed approach enables the modelling of interactions amongst various maintenance strategies and their effects on the assets in non-identical multi-unit systems. Using the proposed framework and modelling approach, simulation-based optimisation was conducted on an academic case and two industrial cases that are varied in terms of sector, size, number of manufacturing processes and level of maintenance documentation. Following the structured framework enabled discussing and selecting the suitable optimisation scope and applicable maintenance strategies as well as formulating a customised optimal problem for each case. The results of the study suggest that over-looking the optimisation of maintenance strategies may lead to sub-optimal solutions. In addition, this research provides insights for non-conflicting objectives in maintenance systems.

The analysis of large disordered complex networks has recently received enormous attention motivated by both academic and commercial interest. The most important results in this discipline have come from the analysis of stochastic models which mimic the growth and evolution of real networks as they change over time. The purpose of this thesis is to introduce various novel processes which dictate the development of a network on a small scale, and use techniques learned from statistical physics to derive the dynamical and structural properties of the network on the macroscopic scale. We introduce each model as a set of mechanisms determining how a network changes over a small period in time, from these rules we derive several topological properties of the network after many iterations, most notably the degree distribution. 1. In the rst mechanism, nodes are introduced and linked to older nodes in the network in such a way as to create triangles and maintain a high level of clustering. The mechanism resembles the growth of a citation network and we demonstrate analytically that the mechanism introduced su ces to explain the power-law form commonly found in citation distributions. 2. The second mechanism involves edge rewiring processes - detaching one end of an edge and reattaching it, either to a random node anywhere in the network or to one selected locally. 3. We analyse a variety of processes based around a novel fragmentation mechanism. 4. The nal model concerns the problem of nding the electrical resistance across a network. The network grows as a random tree, as it grows the distribution of resistance converges towards a steady state solution. We nd an application of the relatively recent concept of a random Fibonacci sequence in deriving the rate of convergence of the mean.

<p align="justify">Ce travail consiste à étudier des systèmes constitués par un grand nombre de grains, auxquels de l’énergie cinétique est fournie, et à étudier leurs similarités et leurs différences avec des fluides traditionnels. Je me concentre principalement sur la nature de non-équilibre de ces fluides granulaires, en montrant que, même si les méthodes de méchanique statistique y sont applicables, leurs propriétés sont très différentes de celles de systèmes à l’équilibre ou proches de l’équilibre :</p> <ul><li>Les fluides granulaires présentent des phénomènes de transport qui n’ont pas d’équivalent dans des fluides moléculaires, tels qu’un couplage spécifique entre flux de chaleur et gradient de densité. <li>Leur distribution de vitesse est en général différente de la distribution de Maxwell-Boltzmann, et présente une surpopulation pour les grandes vitesses. <li>Dans le cas de mélanges, différentes espèces de grains sont en général caractérisées par des énergies cinétiques différentes, i.e. ces systèmes sont sujet à une non-equipartition de leur énergie. <li>Ces fluides ont tendance à former des inhomogénéités spatiales spontanément. Cette propriété est illustrée en étudiant l’expérience du Demon de Maxwell appliquée aux systèmes granulaires.</ul> <p align="justify">Chacune de ces particularités est discutée en détail dans des chapitres distincts, où l’on applique différentes méthodes de méchanique statistique (équation de Boltzmann, transition de phase, mean field models…) et où l’on vérifie les prédictions théoriques par simulations numériques (MD, Monte Carlo…).</p>

Tourism does not operate in a predictable and mechanistic environment and is influenced by unpredictable circumstances. Influences include underlying values and perceptions keeping the system unpredictable and dynamic. Tourism that utilises natural resources is exposed to the additional unpredictability of natural changes and activities and/or decisions of other stakeholders. Tourism research generally adopts reductionist approaches and has not effectively understood tourism as a stakeholder within a complex system of stakeholders. Reductionist approaches have led to interpretations of sustainable tourism development being highly focused and sector specific limiting understanding of the complex systems in which tourism operates and resulting in narrow perspectives. To understand underlying elements influencing the system, a new paradigm is required.

Any computation is facilitated by some physical process, and the observable quantities of any physical process can be viewed as a computation. These close ties suggest that the study of what universal computers are capable of may lead to additional insight about the physical universe, and vice versa. In his thesis, we explore three lines of research that are linked to this central theme. The first partition shows how notions of non-computability and undecidability eventually led to evidence of emergence, the concept that even if a ‘theory of everything’ governing all microscopic interactions were discovered, the understanding of macroscopic order is likely to require additional insights. The second partition proposes a physically motivated model of computation that relates quantum complexity, quantum optimal control, and Riemannian geometry. Thus insights in any one of these disciplines could also lead to insights in the others. The remainder of this partition explores a simple application of these relations. The final partition proposes a model of quantum computation that generalizes measurement based computation to continuous variables. We outline its optical implementation, whereby any computation can be performed by single mode measurements on a resource state that can be prepared by passing a collection of squeezed states through a beamsplitter network.

The use of terms such as “Engineering Systems”, “System of systems” and others have been coming into greater use over the past decade to denote systems of importance but with implied higher complexity than for the term systems alone. This paper searches for a useful taxonomy or classification scheme for complex Systems. There are two aspects to this problem: 1) distinguishing between Engineering Systems (the term we use) and other Systems, and 2) differentiating among Engineering Systems. Engineering Systems are found to be differentiated from other complex systems by being human-designed and having both significant human complexity as well as significant technical complexity. As far as differentiating among various engineering systems, it is suggested that functional type is the most useful attribute for classification differentiation. Information, energy, value and mass acted upon by various processes are the foundation concepts underlying the technical types. / Engineering Systems Division and Mechanical Engineering, Center for Innovation in Product Development

In view of the fact that a same complex phenomenon can be approached by different conceptual frameworks, it is natural to inquire on the possibility to find connections between different types of quantities, such as topological, dynamical, statistical or thermodynamical, characterizing the same system. The present work is built on the idea that this line of approach can provide interesting insights on possible universal principles governing complex phenomena. In Chapter I we introduce concepts and tools of dynamical systems and thermodynamics as applied in macroscopic scale description as well as, for a later use, a number of selected representative models. In Chapter II we briefly present the elements of the theory of Markov processes describing a large class of stochastic process and also introduce some important concepts on the probabilistic description of deterministic systems. This chapter ends with a thermodynamic formulation accounting for the evolution of the entropy under the effect of stochastic fluctuations. In Chapter III, after introducing the main concepts and recent advances in network theory, we provide a connection between dynamical systems and network theory, which shows how universal structural properties of evolving networks can arise from deterministic dynamics. More specifically, we show explicitly the relation between the connectivity patterns of these networks and the indicators of the underlying dynamics, such as the local Lyapunov exponents. Our analysis is applied to representative models of chaotic maps, chaotic flows and is finally extended to stochastic processes. In Chapter IV we address the inverse problem, namely, processes whose dynamics is determined, in part, by the structure of the network in which they are embedded. In particular, we focus on systems of particles diffusing on a lattice and reacting instantaneously upon encountering each other. We study the role of the topology, the degree of synchronicity of motion and the reaction mechanism on the efficiency of the process. This lead us to identify a common generic mechanism responsible for the behavior of the efficiency, as a function of the control parameters. Finally, in Chapter V we study the connection between the topology and the thermodynamic properties of reaction networks, with focus on the entropy production and the system’s efficiency at nonequilibrium steady states. We also explore the connection between dynamic and thermodynamic properties of nonlinear feedbacks, as well as the response properties of reaction networks against both deterministic and stochastic external perturbations. We address networks of varying topologies, from regular lattices to complex structures./Le présent travail s’inscrit dans le domaine de recherche sur les systèmes complexes. Différentes approches, basées des systèmes dynamiques, de la thermodynamique des systèmes hors d’équilibre, de la physique statistique et, plus récemment, de la théorie des réseaux, sont combinés afin d’explorer des liens entre différentes types de grandeurs qui caractérisent certaines classes de comportements complexes. Dans le Chapitre I nous introduisons les principaux concepts et outils de systèmes dynamiques et de thermodynamique. Dans le Chapitre II nous présentons premièrement des éléments de la théorie de processus de Markov, ainsi que les concepts à la base de la description probabiliste des systèmes déterministes. Nous finissons le chapitre en proposant une formulation thermodynamique qui décrit l’évolution de l’entropie hors d’équilibre, soumis à l’influence de fluctuations stochastiques. Dans le Chapitre III nous introduisons les concepts de base en théorie des réseaux, ainsi qu’un résumé générale des progrès récents dans le domaine. Nous établissons ensuite une connexion entre la théorie des systèmes dynamiques et la théorie de réseaux. Celle-ci permet d’approfondir la compréhension des mécanismes responsables de l’émergence des propriétés structurelles dans des réseaux crées par des lois dynamiques déterministes. En particulier, nous mettons en évidence la relation entre des motifs de connectivité de ce type de réseaux et des indicateurs de la dynamique sous-jacente, tel que des exposant de Lyapounov locaux. Notre analyse est illustrée par des applications et des flots chaotiques et étendue à des processus stochastiques. Dans le Chapitre IV nous étudions le problème complémentaire, à savoir, celui de processus dont la dynamique est déterminée, en partie, par la structure du réseau dans lequel elle se déroule. Plus précisément, nous nous concentrons sur le cas de systèmes de particules réactives, diffusent au travers d’un réseau et réagissant instantanément lorsqu’un rencontre se produit entre elles. Nous étudions le rôle de la topologie, du degré de synchronicité des mouvements et aussi celui du mécanisme de réaction sur l’efficacité du processus. Dans les différents modèles étudiés, nous identifions un mécanisme générique commun, responsable du comportement de l’efficacité comme fonction des paramètres de contrôle. Enfin, dans le Chapitre V nous abordons la connexion entre la topologie et les propriétés thermodynamiques des réseaux de réactions, en analysant le comportement local et global de la production d’entropie et l’efficacité du système dans des état stationnaires de non-équilibre. Nous explorons aussi la connexion entre la dynamique et les propriétés de boucles de rétroaction non linéaires, ainsi que les propriétés de réponse des réseaux de réaction à des perturbations stochastiques et déterministes externes. Nous considérons le cas de réseaux à caractère régulier aussi bien que celui de réseaux complexes.

Humanity is facing a series of challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, decreasing availability of cheap fossil fuel energy and social inequality that, when taken together, constitute a sustainability crisis. Agricultural systems are vitally important for the survival of humanity and must be moved towards greater sustainability. In Vietnam, the challenges facing the agriculture sector are immediate and pressing. These challenges include the need to improve the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers, improve food safety and protect already heavily burdened ecosystems. In response to these challenges, a number of alternative agriculture approaches, including safe vegetable production and organic farming have emerged. While the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not permitted in certified organic agriculture, the requirements for safe vegetable production are not nearly as stringent. Chemical fertilizers and some low toxicity pesticides are allowed in safe vegetable production as long as pesticide residues are below proscribed limits. This research assesses the contributions that safe vegetable production and organic agriculture are making to the development of more sustainable agroecosystems in Vietnam. Organic production is still in early stages of development, with the majority of the projects directed towards production for export. Safe vegetables in contrast are produced primarily for the domestic market and demand is driven by consumer concerns over excessive pesticide use in conventional vegetable production. A sustainability assessment that explores the effect that safe vegetable production is having on eight major criteria for sustainability is applied in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City. Research methods included semi-structured interviews and group discussions with safe vegetable farmers together with interviews of other key actors from the agricultural sector in Vietnam. Along with the goal of protecting human health, farmers are interested in safe vegetable production because of improved economic returns made possible by reduced inputs and greater market access. While safe vegetable production is contributing to greater agroecosystem sustainability, further improvements are needed in some areas, specifically in the use of agrochemicals. There are encouraging signs in relation to pesticides, with some farmers reducing their pesticide use and moving towards less-toxic pesticides. Further movement towards sustainability could be fostered by a shift to the use of pesticides only as a last resort, a further shift from chemical to organic fertilizers, and improved capacity of farmers to experiment with and adapt safe vegetable production techniques.