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QND: A Scenario-Based Gaming System for Modeling Environmental Processes and Management Decisions

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Environmental Security and Environmental Management: The Role of Risk Assessment

Part of the book series: NATO Security through Science Series ((NASTC,volume 5))

Abstract

In this chapter, we introduce a generic environmental modeling system that has been developed using an object-oriented approach. The Questions and Decisions™ (QnD™) model system combines both number-based calculations and value-style judgments. It can integrate ideas and data that are well-studied with concepts that are estimated from expert knowledge and experience. A specific QnD version is constructed through conversations with stake-holders and decision-makers. The wishes of the stakeholders are created within the model using configurable objects designed to be quickly made and quickly altered through subsequent learning and iteration.

QnD-simulated ecosystems are represented by combinations of component, process, and data objects that are constructed through the use of XML-based input files. This design allows different ecosystem/habitat/organism/chemical combinations to be efficiently formed, simulated, and documented. The flexibility of the model is demonstrated through its non-spatial application to a terrestrial ecosystem (Kruger National Park, South Africa) and a spatial risk assessment application within an idealized US river system (as a demonstration for the US Army Corps of Engineers). Unlike traditional decision support systems that direct outputs at discipline-specific management, the model has been created as a game to stimulate discussions and analysis among managers, scientists, and stakeholders who are working increasingly closely within an adaptive management context.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, PO Box 110570, Gainesville, FL, 32611-0570, USA

    G.A. Kiker

  2. Institute for Water Research, Old Geology Building Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    N.A. Rivers-Moore

  3. Zama Environmental, PO Box 142752, Gainesville, FL, 32614-2752, USA

    M.K. Kiker

  4. Cambridge Environmental Inc., 58 Charles Street, Cambridge, MA, 02141, USA

    I. Linkov

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  1. G.A. Kiker
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  2. N.A. Rivers-Moore
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  3. M.K. Kiker
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  4. I. Linkov
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Benoit Morel  & Igor Linkov  & 

  2. Cambridge Environmental, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Igor Linkov

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Kiker, G., Rivers-Moore, N., Kiker, M., Linkov, I. (2006). QND: A Scenario-Based Gaming System for Modeling Environmental Processes and Management Decisions. In: Morel, B., Linkov, I. (eds) Environmental Security and Environmental Management: The Role of Risk Assessment. NATO Security through Science Series, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3893-3_11

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