An Introductory Course in Modeling Dynamic Chemical and Ecological Systems

将开发一门动态系统建模入门课程，特别强调化学和生态问题。目标学生群体将是一年级和二年级的社会科学和人文专业学生，但不排除高年级学生和感兴趣的理科专业学生。人们的注意力将集中在复杂系统行为的显著方面，而不是强调建模中使用的数学方法和技术，如使用商业软件Stella II构建的模型。有关化学反应的相对简单的模型将用于介绍复杂系统动力学的基本特征。然后，在中等难度的情况下，将涵盖生态和人口利益问题。“决定论混沌”的起源和行为将用化学和生态学的例子来处理。在课程的最后三分之一，学生们将分组(或单独)开发自己的模型，每个模型都与当前感兴趣的特定问题有关，最好是在学生主要学术兴趣的领域。将为一些优秀的学生提供机会，让他们使用不太“用户友好”的软件，如ODEPACK，来处理涉及“刚性”微分方程的模型。本课程的最后一个练习将是张贴式练习，个人和小组将向班上其他成员和来宾展示他们的项目模型。本课程的主要目的将是促进学生对复杂关系网络的功能类型的洞察力的发展，从而促进对重要自然系统的洞察，并产生对建模技术的力量和局限性的欣赏。

An introductory course in modeling of dynamic systems, with special emphasis on chemical and ecological problems, will be developed. The target student population will be first- and second-year social-science and humanities students, but upper-division students and interested science majors will not be excluded. Rather than placing emphasis on mathematical methods and techniques used in modeling, attention will be centered on salient aspects of complex-system behavior as illustrated by models constructed using the commercially-available software-package STELLA II. Relatively straight-forward models dealing with chemical reactions will be used to introduce fundamental features of complex-system dynamics. Problems of ecological and demographic interest, at moderate level of difficulty, will then be covered. The origin and behavior of "deterministic chaos" will be treated using examples from both chemistry and ecology. In the last third of the course, students will work in small groups (or individually) developing their own models, each related to a specific problem of current interest, preferably in fields of the students' major academic interest. Opportunity will be provided for some outstanding students to use less "user-friendly" software such as ODEPACK to deal with models involving "stiff" differential equations. The last exercise of the course will be a poster-session, at which individuals and groups will present their project-models to other members of the class, and to guests. The main aims of the course will be to facilitate development of the students' insight with respect to types of functioning to be expected of complex networks of relationships, and therefore in important natural systems, and also to engender an appreciation of the power and limitations of modeling techniques.