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This paper presents results from a research project on the behavior of complex systems after they experience disruptive events that impact their performance. As systems become more complex, the probability increases that they will exhibit emergent behavior that could lead to system failures or widespread and prolonged service interruptions. A complex adaptive system (CAS) approach is used to conceptualize a complex network system that has been impacted by disruptions and perturbations. A combination of network analysis and agent-based modeling is used to measure the performance of the system as it responds to disruptive events and restoration efforts. This system-level behavior is an emergent property of the complex network and represents system resilience. Various resilience measures are used to quantify system resilience and assess the effectiveness of strategies system owners employ to restore the system. We illustrate our techniques by characterizing a critical infrastructure system network as a CAS, and applying an agent-based simulation with an adaptive algorithm. C⃝ 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng

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Identifying and appropriately resolving system tradeoffs or effectively evaluating alternatives is a key deliverable of systems engineering. Without proper resolution, system performance is hindered, or suboptimal technologies are chosen. TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, offers tools and methods to identify and resolve tradeoffs (which it terms contradictions or conflicts). TRIZ recognizes that fundamental performance limits arise when one or more unresolved tradeoffs exist in a system. According to TRIZ, eliminating or reducing the effects of the conflicts is necessary to move to improved system performance. This paper presents a TRIZ Trade Study framework that is useful to identify system conflicts, both across alternatives and within a technology, and at various levels of requirements decomposition, to compare options and optimize how the system performs. The framework was developed to perform a trade study between alternative pharmaceutical production systems, and merges traditional trade study methodologies with classical TRIZ. Specifically, traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing development and manufacturing were traded against an emerging and proposed approach, QbD (Quality by Design). Given TRIZ is scalable and useful to a variety of systems, the application of the TRIZ Trade Study Framework is also broadly applicable across system scale and domains. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng