Understanding the Contribution of the A4A Approach to Higher Education

This chapter aims to explore the actor-for-actor (A4A) logic supporting recent changes occurred within higher education institutions (HE), in light of the changes brought about by the recent digital revolution underway, partly accelerated by the recent Pandemic of COVID-19. The work starts from an analysis of recent advances in the literature on the theme of relationships between actors, and on a possible contribution coming from a systems perspective to identify what are the distinctive elements of a digital re-configuration of HE as inspired by A4A. The key elements of A4A are defined herein and applied to the new HE value proposal with evidence of aspects related to contents, conditions, opportunities, fulfilment, embeddedness, exchanges, self-feeding development. The HE Management can take advantage of the considerations set out here and also know how to look at mixed, perhaps modular, solutions that can respond to the changing needs of the varied users. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

System Dynamics Modeling for Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Food Supply Chains: A Case Study of Kenya and Rwanda

Disruptions in the food supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have destabilized the balance between production, supply, transport, distribution, and consumption. Consequently, these disruptions have affected food and nutritional security all over the world. This study proposes a framework for investigating the impact of COVID-19 on food supply chains, considering Eastern Africa as a focus region with Kenya and Rwanda as case studies. A systems thinking approach with three systemic components (food and nutrition, COVID-19 contagion, and human health) was applied. The contagion component was characterized by the susceptible, exposed, infected, recovered, and deceased (SEIRD) epidemiological modeling method. We then applied a causal loop diagram and stock and flow diagrams to map the links and interactions between variables from the contagion, health, and food supply chain components of the whole system. The results reveal that COVID-19 has adversely affected food and nutritional security in Eastern African countries. Key response measures to COVID-19 such as lockdowns, closure of borders, isolation, and quarantining have resulted in labor shortages, increased unemployment rates, loss of income, and the subsequent contraction of economies. The disruption of the food supply chain has negatively impacted the main pillars of food and nutrition security, which are availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability. We suggest direct food supply from local producers to the consuming communities to shorten the food supply chain and therefore enhance food self-sufficiency to reduce the severe effects of COVID-19 on food and nutrition security. Overall, our study provides a useful framework to help design better policies and build more resilient and inclusive food systems during COVID-19 and similar pandemics in the future.

Systematic review on ensuring the global food security and covid-19 pandemic resilient food systems: towards accomplishing sustainable development goals targets.

Covid-19, one of the most critical and widespread global pandemics, has resulted in extraordinary risk corollaries engulfing millions of people's lives and has caused an unprecedented economic downturn while amplifying food insecurity. A systematic review of 132 scientific communications was performed over a 15-year period, using articles from the ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases (2006-2021). In addition, 24 policy briefs, country papers, and publications from the UN, WHO, FAO, and OECD were cited. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of existing literature on the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on agricultural food systems, as well as potential strategies for building robust, resilient, and sustainable food systems to ensure global food security, safety, and endeavors regarding future global emergencies, as well as new research policies while achieving SDG targets. This would fill a research gap while also having long-term implications for health, agricultural, and food resilience policy development in a rapidly changing world. Covid-19 demonstrates how human, animal, and environmental health are all interconnected, emphasizing the need for one health legislation and a paradigm shift in planetary health. Furthermore, it identifies potential mechanisms for rebuilding better systems by shifting priorities toward policy coherence, innovative food system governance, re-engineering market access, and nexus thinking in the food system approach. According to our findings, the COVID-19 posed unavoidable impediments to achieving SDG targets for food security and household poverty.

Contemporary Hybrid Laboratory Pedagogy: Construction of a Simple Spectrophotometer with STEM Project-Based Learning to Introduce Systems Thinking Skills

Hands-on laboratory activities are a vital aspect of chemistry education that can help students strengthen their understanding of chemistry's core concepts and applications. Nevertheless, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students and teachers could not access laboratories. Thus, innovative pedagogical approaches are required to meet these challenges. The current study, therefore, examines the use of contemporary hybrid laboratory pedagogy to construct a simple spectrophotometer by implementing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning to introduce systems thinking skills and measure the effectiveness of improving attitude. A quantitative approach, with one group pre-post design, was employed in this study. The subjects were 33 chemistry students from a state university in Bandung, Indonesia. A simple Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) was chosen as the topic of an engineering project given to students. The project was implemented over fourteen meetings designed in a hybrid laboratory activity. The students' worksheets, questionnaires on students' attitudes toward systems thinking skills, and a questionnaire on student attitudes toward STEM-project-based learning were used as research instruments. Additionally, interviews with selected students further supported the quantitative data. Following the intervention, a RASCH: racking and stacking analysis revealed that two of the eight systems thinking skills indicators showed noticeable results. Other results uncovered that the student-made simple AAS had an accuracy of 95.3% compared to commercial AAS. This study also demonstrated that students had a negative attitude toward implementing STEM project-based learning. In contrast, students' attitudes towards systems thinking skills indicated positive results. Challenges and opportunities for further research are also discussed in this paper. © Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2022.

Analysis of 2021 COVID-19 Outbreak and Vaccination in Taiwan Using a Causal Loop Diagram Approach

After nearly COVID-19 pandemic-mitigation success of 2020, Taiwan experienced its first major domestic outbreak in mid-May, 2021. Taiwan entered a nation-wide level 3 epidemic warning, one step away from a potential national lockdown, on May 19, 2021. Systems thinking is an effective tool to help policymakers better understand the complex COVID-19 crisis. This chapter applies causal loop diagrams to depict the causal connections among different components of the COVID-19 infection and immunization system in Taiwan, including vaccine shortage and hesitancy, medical health resource, and prevention and control measures responding to the COVID-19 outbreak during 2021. First, we described temporal and spatial characteristics of 2021 outbreak and the implementation of control measures in response to this outbreak from Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center. Then, we used causal loop diagrams to illustrate the relationship between vaccination and infections how changes in one component potentially affecting the status of the immunization system during a COVID-19 outbreak. © TheEditor(s) (ifapplicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021, 2022.

Determinants of Food Waste in Cluj-Napoca (Romania): A Community-Based System Dynamics Approach.

This study identifies the most relevant causes of food waste according to the perceptions of key stakeholders in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Community-Based System Dynamics (CBSD), a qualitative approach, was used to reveal the determinants of food waste. CBSD was intended to encourage the system thinking of participants in the field of food waste. Consequently, CBSD helped us map and visualize the role of each identified cause in the system and the nature of their interactions. For the present study, four categories of stakeholders were involved: consumers, public administration, food waste business, and the NGO sector involved in food waste reduction. The result of each modeling session was a loop diagram of the main food waste determinants. A common perception reflected within each stakeholder group was that food waste could be minimized through upstream actions. The participants highlighted pro-environmental knowledge, awareness, and values as the prerequisites for fighting food waste. It was found that the lack of education and awareness of food waste directly impacted food waste generation. In addition, the role of education was underlined by participants as a contributor to changing individual and household practices, such as overbuying. The lack of connection between consumers and the food production process, coupled with consumerist practices and the rejection of 'ugly food', contributed to the decrease in the overall value people attributed to food. Governmental intervention, through legislation, was indicated by the CBSD participants as being key to increasing societal awareness and shaping the behavior of food chain actors. We concluded that food waste is a 'wicked problem' and the interlocking of the economic, social, political, and environmental spheres and the multitude of stakeholders' interests, values, and perceptions should be considered in designing sustainable solutions to combat food waste. Finally, this research testifies to the importance of engaging with diverse panels of stakeholders who, through the multitude of opinions and perspectives on the causes of food waste, can further create knowledge about the most appropriate ways to combat the food waste phenomenon.

The SEIR model incorporating asymptomatic cases, behavioral measures, and lockdowns: Lesson learned from the COVID-19 flow in Sweden.

The Sweden approach is unique in handling the COVID-19 flow, compared to other European countries. While other countries have practiced the full lockdowns, Sweden has practiced the lighter lockdowns or the partial lockdowns as public spaces such as cafes and restaurants are allowed to serve their customers subject to government recommendations. This study aims to develop an SEIR model for Sweden capturing important issues such as the roles of behavioral measures, partial lockdowns, and undocumented cases. The suggested SEIR model is probably the first SEIR model capturing the roles of behavioral measures, partial lockdowns, hospital preparedness, and asymptomatic cases for Sweden. The SEIR model can successfully reproduce similar main observed outputs, namely documented infected cases and documented death cases. This study finds that the effects of partial lockdowns effectively start 52 days after the first confirmed case. Again, behavioral measures and partial lockdowns reduce possible infected cases about 22% and 70% respectively. This study also suggests that the Sweden government should step up to the full lockdowns by conducting public closures so COVID-19 flow can be curtailed significantly. Likewise, owing to airborne transmission, protecting vulnerable people such as senior citizens should be prioritised.

Reconfiguring the service system for resilience: lessons learned in the higher education context

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic started a new era in understanding the topic of resilience and adaptability. The human society has not faced such a widespread global challenge until now. This paper aims to address a context change influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, using a case study in high education. While the character of the issues emerging is the same as in any other domain, in high education, the principles and consequences can be more directly studied and analyzed. Design/methodology/approach: This paper describes a framework to evaluate how the context of the tertiary education service has been disrupted and the influence on the adherence of the students to the educational process, via primary quantitative data collection. This paper tackles the problem of distinguishing the change in context and context change and the possibility of system reconfiguration. Findings: To properly face the evolving conditions induced by the pandemic, the education service system must be aligned to the imposed emergency situations, trying to "find” where the changes have emerged, i.e. what kind of reconfiguration is, whether it appears in the goals or in the service system itself. Furthermore, this study discusses how the findings can be valuable and applied to situations beyond the pandemic, in other cases of context disruption to highlight how general the service activities are within our reconfiguration approach. Originality/value: From a theoretical point of view, this work is in line with main assumptions of system thinking, by confirming several insights of service systems' behavior, even in a logic of B2B interactions (from the offer side);first in terms of openness and adaptation, in addition to readiness to change and – when and how – this change can occur. From a practical point of view, this paper's contribution is directed toward achieving the more successful change management process, as reached together by motivated partners working hard for a common final goal. Realizing that the pandemic has brought a completely new context of education, managers should focus now on monitoring all aspects of the education business, not only directly affected projects and processes. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Systemic Risk

Systemic risk is the name given to impacts that spread within and across systems and sectors (e.g. ecosystems, health, infrastructure and the food sector) via the movements of people, goods, capital and information within and across boundaries (e.g. regions, countries and continents). The spread of these impacts can lead to potentially existential consequences and system collapse across a range of time horizons. Globalization contributes to systemic risk affecting people worldwide. The impacts of climate change or COVID-19 show how the challenges of addressing systemic risk go beyond conventional risk management and governance. Critical system interdependencies, amplified by underlying vulnerabilities, highlight that there is a growing need to better understand cascading impacts, systemic risks and the possible political (governance) and societal responses. This includes improving our understanding of the root causes of systemic risk, both biophysical and socio-economic, and related information needs. Addressing contemporary challenges in terms of systemic risk requires integrating different systems perspectives and fostering system thinking, while implementing key intergovernmental agendas, such as the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals.

COVID-19 Impact on Tourism: The System Thinking Approach Applied to the Case of Portugal

This work applies systems theory and tools to build a flexible framework for sustainable tourism in Portugal due to the Covid-19 impacts. The objectives are (1) to explore the cause-effect relationships between and among the variables involved;(2) to develop a causal loop diagram that resumes the role of tourism stakeholders and (3) to identify policy directions to enhance Portuguese tourism. Tourism recovery in the country will depend mainly on interlinked factors of economic, social and health fields. Its complexity requires new approaches in tourism research, such as system thinking models and testing tools such as neural simulation. As well as statistical data and tourism official documents, a panel of European specialists has been used. The proposed approach is innovative as it helps the integration of tourism theory with other fields, and outlines policy solutions to the situation in Portugal which can be dynamically adapted. A qualitative analysis pointed out how crucial are the policy making activities (rebalancing measures) counteracting the causes and negative consequences of the problem.

Designing Legal Interfaces: Transforming the Digital Services of a Legal Aid Clinic

CJ Digital is the academic and procedural platform implemented by the Legal Aid Clinic (LAC) of a private University in Colombia. This technological platform seeks to transform the academic space where students of the School of Law continue their training process by giving legal advice to people in vulnerable situations with the support of a professor. With the dissemination of Covid-19, the LAC platform underwent an accelerated validation of its functionality, which revealed usability issues and opportunities for improvement. Among the problems was the difficulty in managing and visualizing case files and the academic management by advisors. The article presents a case study of a LAC platform based on the relation between design thinking and systems thinking approaches applied to interaction design and user experience (UX). System thinking was used to understand the dynamics related to consultations and cases of the areas and legal clinics of the LAC. Design thinking was used to understand the needs and motivations of students and advisors. Based on the findings, we developed a concept for the platform that integrates to main features a new architecture for shared folder management and the development of a procedural timeline. Also, some support functions were improved, such as auto-save, editable grading rubrics, notifications, a text editor, and space for coaching, tutorials, and FAQs. These functionalities can make CJ Digital a national and international reference in creating and deploying legal services. CJ Digital remains a platform for the management of internal processes between students and advisors. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Analyzing National Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic using STPA.

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has affected most aspects of human life, including the ways in which organizations are operating. Minimizing the spread of coronavirus and its economic consequences, and creating a new and safe lifestyle has now become the common goals of governments all over the world. Although governments have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing various rules while interacting with relevant organizations to provide health service, vaccine research, and production of essential items, the complexities in the interactions between various stakeholders have proved to be challenging to have efficient and timely outputs. When different stakeholders (i.e. governments, organizations, and the public) are interacting with each other, a systems thinking process needs to be applied to capture the nuances of the interactions and the subsequent emergent behavior to effectively contribute to the system output (i.e. a safer way of life). This paper applied a system-thinking-inspired process called System Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) to analyze the current response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis treated various stakeholders as a part of the system, and it focused on the interactions among different stakeholders (i.e. functional blocks) within the system - i.e. 'Government', 'Foreign Governments', 'Organizations', and 'General Public', as well as the interactions with 'W.H.O'. The STPA analysis found 236 potential Unsafe Control Actions (UCAs) (or unsafe interactions) among the stakeholder interactions, each of the UCAs was then further analyzed. In total 1440 causal factors of the UCAs were identified, and 2880 requirements were proposed to avoid such unsafe interactions.