Terry Elliotts’ Blog

• The Green Changemakers: Industrial Ecology as Systems Thinking and Practice

  tags: no_tag

  • Industrial ecology
    • Never heard of this before. Perhaps there is an emerging field like this in education–educational ecology? - post by tellio
  • • A system is a set of elements inter-relating in a structured way.
    • The elements are perceived as a whole with a purpose.
    • The elements interact within defined boundaries.
      
    • A system’s behavior cannot be predicted by analysis of its individual elements.
    • The properties of a system emerge from the interaction of its elements and are distinct from their properties as separate pieces.
    • The behavior of the system results from the interaction of the elements and between the system and its environment. (System + Environment of System = A Larger System )
    • The definition of the elements and the setting of system boundaries are subjective actions. So the assumptions of the definers or observers of any system must be made explicit.
    • Modify these for educational leadership analysis of browser extension use at WKU. - post by tellio
  • systems practice
    • http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/ethics_and_the_environment/v008/8.1rosenthal.html - post by tellio
  • In this time of complex and rapid change, systems thinking has immediate, pragmatic value for companies and agencies of any size.
    • Justification for systems thinking in business life. - post by tellio
  • Understanding that we construct a system from a particular point of view is crucial to working with systems thinking
    • I would be interested in finding out whether or not this industrial ecology is ultimately tied to natural ecology and as such ultimately limited by and within natural systems. Isn’t Mother Nature’s the final point of view? Until we can to planetscaping, I have to think so. - post by tellio
  • 1. Managers in a mini-mill company are interested in such elements as the reliability of supply and costs of recycled scrap, technological breakthroughs that increase strength and durability, and process changes that lower emissions. For them, the purpose of the system may be to build a competitive edge for recycled steel.

    2. Managers in an auto company, on the other hand, may define a system focused on materials selection that enables them to weigh the relative environmental, production, and cost factors of steel, aluminum, and plastic. They may choose design for environment or life-cycle analysis tools to gain competitive advantage for their product designs.

    • Is niche a description of viewpoint? Fascinating. Apply to literature and critical stances. - post by tellio
  • In transportation, an industrial ecologist would support short-term enhancements in automobile design through such tools as Design for Environment (DFE). The basic question would be: How can we optimize trade-offs to reduce energy use and pollution in the production process as well as during use of the product?

    At another level, an industrial ecologist might ask, how can we transform small vehicle design to capture levels of efficiency and freedom from pollution not possible within the internal combustion model. Rocky Mountain Institute’s Hypercar and hybrid electric vehicles are examples.

    At a still broader level, an industrial ecologist (possibly in public policy or a competing business) would ask, how can we design integrated transportation systems to move people with highest resource efficiency and lowest possible pollution? How can telecommunications, urban planning, and design of work patterns reduce the number of trips and distance traveled.

    • Excellent questions here and ones that can and should be adapted to higher education especially the one about using telecommunications to reduce the number of trips. - post by tellio

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Seth Roberts reports on an eye-bugging dietary cancer protocol if it is to believed.

Flaxseed Oil Used to Treat Cancer The Budwig protocol is the food treatment and cure for cancer and other major debilitating diseases created by Dr. Johanna Budwig. It was designed for use with extremely ill and wasted cancer patients who had been sent home by their doctors to die. These were patients so ill that many were unable to take any food at all in the beginning, and had to be initially treated with enemas. The protocol is so simple that it can be tailored to fit whatever situation is encountered, from use with someone at death’s door to use as a preventative and part of a healthy lifestyle.

There are only two essential foods in the protocol, flax oil and cottage cheese or some other sulphurated protein such as yogurt or kefir. The oil provides electron-rich fats, and the cottage cheese provides the sulphurated protein to bind with the oil and render it water soluble. In this state, the oil is able to carry immense amounts of oxygen straight into the cells. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygen rich environment.

From Natural News. Yeah, the explanation (”electron-rich fats”) is absurd, but the general empirical idea (the use of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese to cure cancer) is of course very important. It isn’t complicated why flaxseed oil might be highly beneficial: Our diets used to provide much more omega-3 than they now do; flaxseed oil, high in omega-3, reduces the deficiency. The idea that cottage cheese makes flaxseed oil more digestible is also very interesting.

Seth’s blog » Blog Archive » Flaxseed Oil Used to Treat Cancer

Tags: dietcancer protocol omega-3

http://moultriecreek.us/family/?p=1391

I am a member of the Western’s first educational leadership doctoral cohort. I have taken it upon myself to share this tool with my cohort-mates in a series of informal, “Technology Friday” meetings on campus. One of the benefits from my recent Zotero presentation was the comment from my cohort classmate, Kevin Thomas. He remarked, “This would be perfect for a P.I.E. grant.” I believe that is tool will help us afford new synergies.

The new doctorate will and should provide a different kind of leverage as the University pushes toward its global mission. As the first cohort, we have taken on the added responsibility of making sure that the cohort members who follow have all the tools they need to excel as educational leaders. Zotero is a natural match. We will need leaders who are skilled in the ways of gathering, sharing, and presenting online information. A vote of confidence in this project is a vote for the new doctoral program. I am already heavily invested in using Zotero for my dissertation and I think this grant would serve the larger purpose of helping others do so as well.

I am using Zotero in my general education English 300 classes. My digital natives take to it very readily. Those of us who came of age in the era of 3X5 cards and the perils of the MLA style manual need to cross this bridge to online research. We don’t need to throw off our hard earned knowledge, but we do to need help our students bridge the gap as well. The tools are there and can be used in conjunction with old school ways to provide an even richer world for our students. As our teaching staff average age falls, more new faculty expect to continue to improve their professional, instructional, and technological competence . Zotero is one way to leverage this expectation.

Online research skills go hand in hand with employability in our current job market. Any skill that gives our students an edge in this ecomonic downturn should be worth teaching. As research becomes more collaborative, tools like Zotero will become ubiquitous. We might as well get started integrating them into our classes so that they can use them in their jobs.

Research is used every time we ask a question. Academic research needs to follow protocols that insure that the knowledge we create is as true as we know how to make it. Any improvement in gathering, organizing, and presenting that research represents a net gain in our capacity as a university.

ABlogAbout

Other presenters were much more on top of things. Images that were touching (living through a natural disaster), topical images (learning for non-profits), images that were thought-provoking (three religions co-existing in Jerusalem). Mine? Well, I leave you to try to find the story line in my slides. I did come up with one, but it was a stretch.

At any rate, the actual presentation went very well, due mostly in part to my experience as a performer. I was funny where I could not be deep. In the end, I was quite excited about the possibilities.

First-timers should know a few things:

1. 20 seconds is longer than you think if you don’t know what you are talking about.
2. 20 seconds is shorter than you think if you are very excited about the topic.
3. images are powerful and memorable - choose wisely.
4. you can tell a very detailed story in 20 slides with 20 images.
5. at 6:40 you can keep the attention of your audience - again, use your time wisely, for they will be paying attention.
6. remember to breathe

Estimated value of U.S. economic growth lost due to the global credit crisis : $2,000,000,000,000 (see page 35)

Portion of U.S. subprime mortgage buyers since 2003 who might have qualified for a prime mortgage : 3/5

Number of times that speakers at the Republican National Convention said the word “economy” : 31

Number of times they referred to President Bush by name : 1

Minimum number of reporters who traveled to Wasilla, Alaska, in the two weeks following Sarah Palin’s selection as VP : 90

Estimated number of votes that Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement swung to Barack Obama’s primary campaign : 1,015,559

Amount that corporate donors to both conventions have spent lobbying Congress since 2005 : $1,316,151,129

Minimum amount the U.S. government has paid contractors in the Middle East since 2003 : $8,200,000,000

Total value of federal small-business contracts obtained by Blackwater between 2005 and 2007 : $110,000,000

Percentage of former terrorist groups worldwide that stopped operating because of military force used against them : 7

Percentage that stopped because they had achieved their stated goals : 10

Percentage of Afghans who say they would support a coalition government that included the Taliban : 54

Chances that an Israeli Arab says he or she would rather live in Israel than anywhere else : 3 in 4

Average number of religions practiced in each world nation : 32

Estimated number in Papua New Guinea, which has the most : 648

Percentage of U.S. doctors who think God has the power to cure a fatally injured patient : 20

Chance that a U.S. conservative today believes church leaders should be involved in politics : 1 in 2

Chances in 2004 : 7 in 10

Percentage of Americans in 2006 who were “not at all” confident that President Bush had won reelection “fair and square” : 32

Minimum number of Brazilians running for political office this year under the name “Obama” : 5

Date on which the U.S. must leave its only South American military installation, by order of Ecuador, its host : 11/12/09

Date on which Playgirl magazine will become an online-only publication : 11/18/08

Amount that Paris Hilton’s parents have donated to John McCain’s campaign : $4,600

Amount the co-founder of the gay-dating Web site Manhunt has : $2,300

Number of registered users on AshleyMadison.com, a site for people who “want to explore the new infidelity” : 2,540,000

Number of scenes of or references to sex between a married couple shown during an average week of NBC programming : 1

Number showing or referencing adultery or sex with minors, respectively : 1, 1

Chances that a U.S. woman who gives birth is unmarried at the time : 2 in 5

Minimum number of children in the United States who have at least one parent in the country illegally : 5,100,000

Average number of new federal crimes that Congress creates each year : 56

Chance that a 411 call in the United States is handled by a federal prisoner : 1 in 136

Number of marijuana plants found under cultivation inside Miami’s Mall of the Americas in August : 360

Average number of hours per week that an American and a Chinese person, respectively, spend shopping : 4, 10

Number of the 77 applications to protest during the Beijing Olympics this summer that were denied : 1

Number that were withdrawn by the petitioners or suspended for incorrect paperwork : 76

Number of South Koreans pardoned by the country’s president on August 15 : 341,864

Total votes cast online last fall to decide which Thanksgiving turkeys President Bush should pardon : 27,726

Margin by which U.S. dog owners favor John McCain over Barack Obama : 43-34

Margin by which Americans would rather watch football with Obama than with McCain : 50-47

Number of free tattoos of Obama’s face given out so far by a body artist in Moore, Okla. : 300

It is well known that a jostled string tends to become knotted; yet the factors governing the “spontaneous” formation of various knots are unclear. We performed experiments in which a string was tumbled inside a box and found that complex knots often form within seconds.

Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string — PNAS

Well…this certainly explains a lot.  And it makes me wonder about the Faustian bargain we are making in education with data mining. 

Bigger systems are more complex and more resistant to this type of static understanding of learning especially personal, student-level learning.  I think the radical re-organization needed to take advantage of the datamining structures and their affordances will never be adopted.  Cannot be adopted because the current system, like our banking system, while bankrupt is considered to big to fail. 
 
Too bad.

Tags: datamining, knot theory, dynamic systems, static systems