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Abstracts and Presentations - Best Practices Conference - October 31, 2003 |
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(1) Presentation Title: Dynamic Modeling in Modern University: a Third Pillar of Education - Bruce M. Hannon
Abstract: It is no longer sufficient to graduate students who we have become highly literate and highly numerate. We must expand our mission to include the development of a systems understanding in our students. This is so for two main reasons: First, we are able now to teach such systems understanding. We have developed the individual computer and appropriate software for simply building simulations of
dynamic systems that can be tested against the functioning of their real system counterparts. Once confirmed as useful, these models can be easily expanded to represent systems of any degree of complexity. Second, we soon realized that once we can so model such systems, the next hurdle is the incorporation into this model all the appropriate spheres of information. One person is incapable of knowing all that is needed. Therefore the modeling process
must be fundamentally simple and easily grasped by people from all disciplines. Their knowledge of the problem at hand must be captured and the fidelity of that capture must be clearly evident to them. They must come to benefit directly by participating in
the system modeling process and indirectly by knowing that their knowledge has been fully and accurately assumed into the larger model. The process of modeling becomes an organizing device for expanding our understanding of systems. If the engineers and scientists can expand the view of their own mission beyond their current one, to facilitator of model building, they stand to become more than the great profession than they are now. They stand to reach
the level of philosophy, the highest realm of academe. They would teach the deep reasons for modeling and the practical methods of doing so.
Curriculum Vitae: Bruce M. Hannon
(2) Aplicación de la Sistemodinámica a la
Investigación: Fotolisis de Pulso de Drogas Antipsicóticas - Carmelo
Garcia, UPR-Humacao
Abstract: Las drogas antipsicóticas o
neurolépticas se usan primordialmente para el tratamiento de condiciones
del sistema nervioso central; como esquizofrenia, manía, ansiedad, demencia
y abuso de drogas ilegales. Los neurolépticos de mayor uso pertenecen a la
familia de antidepresivos tricíclicos (fenotiazinas, dibenzazepinas y
dibenzodiazepinas). Sin embargo, la mayoría de los derivados de estas
drogas producen serios efectos secundarios, incluyendo el síndrome
extraperitonal (EPS), diskenia tardativa, parkinsonismo, alergias y
fotosensibilización. Pequeños cambios en la estructura de estas drogas
influyen en su modo de acción, su potencia, el espectro y la severidad de
los efectos secundarios. El mecanismo a nivel molecular de la
fotosensibilización de los neurolépticos aún no se conoce, a pesar de que
al día de hoy existen cientos de miles de pacientes psiquiátricos
recibiendo este tratamiento. Estudios recientes de la fotólisis de
pulso de algunas fenotiazinas han demostrado que el estado triplete de los
derivados halogenados puede ser eficientemente inhibido por transferencia de
protones. La eficiencia de esta inhibición es bien sensitiva a la
estructura de la droga y parece correlacionar con su fototoxicidad..
Full Presentation: Web Presentation
Curriculum Vitae: Carmelo Garcia
(3) Modeling Carbon Budget in Nearshore
Marine Vegetated Ecosystems
Abstract: This project focuses on the
process of building a STELLA model for the C budget in a mangrove ecosystem.
The model presented is an example of a model that could be developed in the
classroom studying the marine environment. They are not finished products,
but work-in-progress requiring further definition and testing due to the
complexity and interactions in such dynamic environments. The long term goal
is to study and model global carbon cycles in other marine ecosystems like
coral reefs, seagrass beds, and incorporate environmental issues. The
central idea is that model building is in itself a valuable teaching tool.
In
order to build a model in dynamic and complex ecosystems a detailed analysis
and understanding of the processes that predominate is required. An
advantage of modeling is that it forces us to dissect a system into its
smallest parts and evaluate the significance of its components. It
helps us to find patterns and make predictions for outcomes. The model
should be tested and might give us an idea of what we can observe in
reality. It helps us to make inferences of a particular trend or behavior.
In the process, I would like to guide my students in building their own
STELLA models about marine ecosystems, and incorporate environmental hazards
to infer the ecosystem response and analyze possible changes in steady state
conditions.
I have been inspired by the degree of critical thinking that is necessary for the construction of a good model. I hope to inspire my students to build models using their own reasoning and research.
Full Presentation: Web Presentation
Curriculum Vitae: Deborah Padilla Hernández
(4) Exploring Delayed Dynamic Systems with STELLA - Elio Ramos, UPR- Humacao
Abstract: Delayed Dynamic Systems are mathematical modes to describe phenomena where there is a delay between cause and effect. Traditionally, the solution of these systems is only considered in advanced (graduate) mathematics courses in differential equations because they require specialized numerical and analytical methods. The simulation of a classic model of a delayed dynamic system is presented, namely the Mackey-Glass mode, for physiological control using the system dynamics approach. The systemic approach provides an intuitive view of the problem where the delay is simply represented as a feedback loop with a time delayed reservoir. Extensions to the classic Mackey-Glass model are presented; specifically, we explore the effect of a periodic modulation in the time delay parameter in the resulting dynamics of the system.
Full Presentation: Web Presentation
Curriculum Vitae: Elio Ramos
(5) System
Dynamics Applied to Science Education
- Joaquín Medín Molina, UPR
- Bayamón
Abstract: This
presentation considers some of the problems in the teaching of science that
the methodology of dynamic modeling can help to effectively address. System
dynamics modeling adds value to the educational experience by:
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eliciting the students’ mental models of through the construction of conceptual maps in the form of stock and flow diagrams
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being congenial with a workshop mode of teaching, centered in the learner and not in the teacher
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reducing the mathematical barriers to a rigorous study of complex and interesting systems
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providing generic models or so called archetypes that promote the transference of the learning in one domain to different domains
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integrating the computer and the brain in a synergism that builds up the capacity to construct and simulate formal models
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vindicating the centrality of time as a fundamental category to understand reality
A simple example is presented to illustrate the educational potential of dynamic modeling for the teaching of science at the undergraduate level. Some general remarks are included and exemplified regarding the thinking skills that constitute the dynamic modeling method.
Full Presentation: Web Presentation
Curriculum Vitae: Joaquín Medín Molina
(6) Modeling the Drag Force using STELLA in a Physics Laboratory Course - Marc D. Legault, UPR - Bayamón
Abstract: The STELLA software was used to model the fall of light conical objects where the drag force is not negligible compared to the force of gravity. During a three-hour period of a Physics Laboratory Course, the students were quickly introduced to the STELLA language and software. They then measured the fall time of a light conical object of relatively large cross-sectional area at initial heights of 0.25 m to 2.00 m at 0.25 m interval, and measured the fall time of a conical object of same area but different mass at an arbitrary initial height. Once the experimental data was gathered, the students proceeded to model their experimental data by following and executing a STELLA tutorial template with the professor as a guide and troubleshooter. They modeled the drag force using two hypotheses: Fd=-k v for laminar flow and Fd=-0.5 Ct ρ A v |v| for turbulent flow. The STELLA tutorial template and some student results are presented.
Full Presentation: Web Presentation
Curriculum Vitae: Marc Legault
(7) Using
STELLA as a Simulation Tool for Chemical Education - Noel
Motta, UPR - Río Piedras
Abstract: STELLA can generally be applied in three working scenarios: (1) when the temporal behavior of the system under study is known but the dynamics of its elements is fuzzy; (2) when there is no data available describing a given system nor the dynamics of its elements is known, and (3) when both the system and the interaction of its constituent elements are well known. This presentation shows how we used the third approach to implement STELLA as a pedagogical tool in the context of chemical education. We will simulate a chemical process and demonstrate its role for conceptual understanding in an active-learning environment.
Full Presentation: Web Presentation
Curriculum Vitae: Noel Motta