• Repository

Qualitative Models

The models presented here can be downloaded by clicking on their name, and analysed and simulated using the Garp3 workbench for qualitative models. The models are more or less ordered by complexity (the top models are the least complex).

• Example Models
  • Tree & Shade
  • Population Behaviour
  • Communicating Vessels
  • Communicating Vessels (v2)
  • Heating and Boiling
  • Heating and Boiling (v2)
• Models accompanying publications
  • Ants' Garden (version January 2007)
  • Ecological Informatics 2009 (Qualitative models of ecological systems)

Example models

• Tree & Shade
  The tree and shade model simulates a growing tree which casts a shadow on the ground. This is a model that despite its simplicity illustrates many essential details relevant to QR models.
• Population Behaviour
  This set of five simple models describes the behaviour of a single population. The main goal of these models is to familiarise the reader with the different types of building blocks involved. The ideas presented in these models form the basis for complex models such as the Cerrado Succession Hypothesis (Salles & Bredeweg, 2003) and the Ants' Garden (Bredeweg & Salles, 2005).
• Communicating Vessels
  This is one of the most famous examples in the QR literature (see e.g. Weld & de Kleer, 1990; Forbus, 1984; Kuipers, 1984). Models of communicating vessels have been used to illustrate problems and solutions concerning many elementary issues in QR. A fourth scenario has been added which explicitly includes the container heights (2009).
• Communicating Vessels (Version 2)
  This model is an augmentation of the first version of the communicating vessels model. Details have changed such that the model generates a full envisionment. A full envisionment is a state graph which contains all the possible situations which are plausible for the system.
• Heating and Boiling
  This is a typical example from Physics, focussing on issues related to area of thermodynamics. The model describes the heating of an open container with a liquid by a stove. The stove is modelled as an exogenous influence.
• Heating and Boiling (Version 2)
  Instead of viewing the heat source as an exogenous influence (modelled as an agent), the heater is now part of the system and may exchange heat with other objects when it is hotter than those objects. The heat flow thus depends on the heat difference between the stove and the container.

Models accompanying publications

• Ants' Garden (version January 2007)
  In January 2007, we developed an improved version of the Ants' garden model (Salles et al., 2006). This latest version of the model is fully implemented in the new Garp3 workbench (Bredeweg and Salles, 2009). Also included is a small single population model, which includes parts of the building blocks from which the Ants' Garden model was established.
  • Bredeweg, B., Salles, P. 2009. Mediating conceptual knowledge using qualitative reasoning. In: Jørgensen, S.V., Chon, T-S., Recknagel, F.A. (eds.), Handbook of Ecological Modelling and Informatics, Wit Press, Southampton, UK, pp. 351-398.
  • Salles, P., Bredeweg, B. and Bensusan, N. 2006. The ants' garden: Qualitative models of complex interactions between populations. Ecological Modelling, 194(1-3), 90-101
• Ecological Informatics 2009 (Qualitative models of ecological systems)
  The advanced expert models listed here are described in the special issue of the International Journal Ecological Informatics on Qualitative models of ecological systems (Volume 4, Issues 5-6, Pages 261-412, 2009), edited by Bert Bredeweg and Paulo Salles. The papers presented in this special issue result from the NaturNet-Redime (NNR) project; a project co-funded by the European Commission within the 6th Framework (STREP, FP6, EU project, no. 004074).
  • Cioaca, E., Linnebank, F.E., Bredeweg, B. and Salles, P., 2009. A qualitative reasoning model of algal bloom in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR), Ecological Informatics 4(5-6), 282-298. (Model)
  • Noble, R.A.A., Bredeweg, B., Linnebank, F.E., Salles, P. and Cowx, I.G., 2009. A qualitative model of limiting factors for a salmon life cycle in the context of river rehabilitation, Ecological Informatics 4(5-6), 299-319. (Model)
  • Nakova, E., Linnebank, F.E., Bredeweg, B., Salles, P. and Uzunov, Y., 2009. The River Mesta Case Study: A qualitative model of dissolved oxygen and sustainable development in aquatic ecosystems, Ecological Informatics 4(5-6), 339-357. (Model)
  • Nuttle, T., Salles, P., Bredeweg, B. and Neumann, M., 2009. Representing and managing uncertainty in qualitative ecological models, Ecological Informatics 4(5-6), 358-366. (Model)
  • Zitek, A., Schmutz, S., Preis, S., Salles, P., Bredeweg, B. and Muhar, S., 2009. Evaluating the potential of Qualitative Reasoning models to contribute to sustainable catchment management, Ecological Informatics 4(5-6), 381-395. (Model)

The models on this page require Garp3 1.4.10.