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1
Pigalev, Alexander. "The Patterns of Conceptual Representation and the Symbolic Exchange: Marx’s Construal of Systemic Effects in New Contexts [In Eng. + Rus.]." Logos et Praxis, no. 4 (April 2020): 5–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.15688/lp.jvolsu.2020.4.1.
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The paper is devoted to historical and philosophical analysis of the patterns of conceptual representation in the theoretical models of scientific cognition which not only rely on Marx's construal of systemic effects, but also imply some new contexts. The umbrella term "systemic effects" implies a peculiar mode of action of whatever complex system that cannot be explained by referring to the theoretical model of the linear cause-effect relationships between the elements and should be interpreted as the consequence of a certain degree of complexity of the system itself. Marx did not develop the original idea of representation as an explicit and complete theory, but he introduced the methodology of the analysis of the systemic effects that can be applied to the analysis of representation to wide extent. It is pointed out that the scientific cognition issued the challenge of reliable representations for the object domain and they tended to take the shape of conceptual models. The representation, being generally the substitution of one entity for another, is considered as an aspect of pervasive social symbolization that occurs against a background of systemic effects in exactly the same way as the economic processes. It is concluded that just modified Marx's stance became essential for the consideration of the forms of abstractive thinking, the formation of concepts, and the representational models both in general and in respect to specific problems of epistemology and philosophy of science.
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Kordova, Sigal. "Developing systems thinking in a Project-Based Learning environment." International Journal of Engineering Education 2, no. 1 (June 15, 2020): 63–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijee.2.1.63-81.
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As science and engineering projects are becoming increasingly more complex, sophisticated, comprehensive and multidisciplinary, there is a growing need for systems thinking skills to ensure successful project management. Systems thinking plays a major role in the initiation, effective management, and in facilitating inter-organizational tasks. This research assesses the capacity for engineering systems thinking and its contribution in carrying out a multidisciplinary project. The research also reviews the cognitive process through which systems thinking skill is acquired. The study focused on a group of students who have completed their senior design projects in high-tech industry, while their plans were being integrated into existing larger projects in the respective industrial sites. The systems thinking skill of the students was examined according to a questionnaire for assessing the Capacity for Engineering Systems Thinking (CEST). Statistical analysis shows significant differences in the students capacity for systems thinking at the beginning and end of the work (p<0.001). This research demonstrates that systems thinking skills can be improved through awareness and involvement in multidisciplinary projects.
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Bilbokaitė, Renata. "COMPUTER BASED VISUALIZATION TEACHING CHEMISTRY: ANALYTICAL REVIEW OF VISUALIZATION TOOLS AND OBJECTS." GAMTAMOKSLINIS UGDYMAS / NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION 5, no. 2 (August 20, 2008): 7–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.48127/gu-nse/08.5.07a.
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Background There are lot of books that teachers use in teaching process, but books are still unable to represent difficult view and to enclose 3D features of object. To reduce this lack of information proceeding there can be used computer visualisation in the classrooms. Computer technologies can be essential tools for scientific teachers because of the extensive possibilities to show 3D representations. The teachers do not feel competent in knowledge of modern technology that is why they rarely use them in teaching process-es. Clear computer based visualization helps students to understand difficult concepts and this leads to comprehension in science education. The more concepts and laws of nature they will now the more quali-tative scientific education will be. The article is grounded on visual thinking and genetic structural model of intellect theories. According to these theories all things, if it is possible, should be visualised, because later it helps to create right mental models and perfect comprehension of objects. This research pretends to enclose computer based visualization tools and the mostly visualised objects in chemistry for the reason teachers could use them in chemistry lessons. The subject of research – the practice of possibilities of computer based visualization tools and objects in chemistry Aim – to enclose practice of possibilities of computer based visualization tools and objects in chemistry The research tasks: • To categorize tools of computer based visualization; • To analyze the practice of possibilities of categorized computer based visualization tools teach-ing chemistry; • To analyze - which objects are the mostly visualized teaching chemistry Methods. Scientific literature analysis, systemic structural analysis, reflection Results and conclusion: • All computer based visualization tools are important because of clear visualization and possibil-ity to see very small objects. • Computer programs are designed for concrete theme; it may be proportion to plans of chem-istry education. They are interactive; there are possibilities to subscribe them by internet. It must be installed to the personal computer. Internet programs are significant because of possibility to use them free having internet and installing needful software. Mostly all programs are verbal-ized in English language; this circumstances the good chemistry teachers’ knowledge of Eng-lish language. Pupils can use them independently for self – education, to deepen general knowledge of chemistry. • Molecules and their structures are the most visualized objects in chemistry education; it means that molecules are one of the most difficultly perceivable concepts. It is recommended to use visualization tools teaching about molecules. Key words: computer based visualization, visualization tools, visualization objects, teaching chemistry
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Xu, Shenghan, and Mark Rounds. "DuPont Model: A Tool Promotes System Thinking and Integration in Undergraduate Business Education." International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting 9, no. 1 (January 3, 2019): 38. http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijafr.v9i1.14199.
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The increasingly complex world of commerce has forced business schools to focus on preparing students for a new environment that requires systemic thinking, the ability to work in teams and the skill and motivation needed to respond to rapid change. Unfortunately, little has changed in how we educate future business leaders. In this paper we report the preliminary results of an attempt to increase under graduate students’ levels of cross-functional and systemic thinking using the DuPont model to integrate across the traditional functional areas of information systems and operations management). The model provides a valuable framework for educators, and can be used to display how typical functional-area tasks (e.g., determining capital structure) are related to firm-level outcomes (e.g., return on equity), and how decision making in one functional area (e.g., managing inventory) has a similar impact on firm-level outcomes as decisions made in other functional areas (e.g., managing cash).
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Weissenberger-Eibl, Marion, André Almeida, and Fanny Seus. "A Systems Thinking Approach to Corporate Strategy Development." Systems 7, no. 1 (March 12, 2019): 16. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/systems7010016.
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In an increasingly complex business environment, companies need to reassess their strategic choices on a regular basis. However, companies are struggling to collect and efficiently interpret the relevant information on their business environment. Whereas market information is often analyzed, influences from the broader environment (e.g., society) are often neglected. This paper argues that companies often lack a systemic approach to their strategy development process, and that environmental influences are only considered selectively. We suggest that companies themselves need to be seen as systems that are embedded in a complex environment. To develop a successful strategic orientation, a systematic screening of the environment must be coupled with a thorough analysis of the firm’s internal circumstances (e.g., competencies). Therefore, the paper proposes a holistic framework for conceiving companies as systems. Furthermore, we discuss how the scenario technique could support a systematic analysis of the company’s environment. The paper also aims to provide practical guidelines for managers and contributes to integrating a systems thinking approach into strategy development.
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Song, Yan. "Systemic project management." Journal of Project, Program & Portfolio Management 2, no. 2 (January 20, 2012): 78. http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/pppm.v2i2.2453.
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Traditional project management theories and best practices focus primarily on managing the triangular constraints of time, budget and scope (framed in terms of concrete outputs). It has proven valuable and successful in helping organisations to recognise, plan and execute changes to ongoing operations in a disciplined and repeatable manner. However, as the global economy and society continue to become more knowledge based and integrated, this simple industrial model has become increasingly inadequate and, if narrowly focused and pursued, harmful. As for all branches of human knowledge, the problem did not result from knowledge itself but from a misalignment between the complexity of the phenomena and their conceptual representation or knowledge. There have been numerous attempts to extend the industrial model to include additional dimensions of project complexity (Cicmil, et al. 2009). The vast majority of such efforts still suffer from the same root cause of the original model: the mechanical conception of project management as dealing with objective facts (e.g. schedule and budget) on one hand and subjective constituencies (e.g. sponsors and users) on the other. There is a lot of literature on both aspects, but very little integrating the two into a coherent whole. In the author's experience, this lack of integration between the objective and subjective aspects of project management has become the single most critical risk of project success and the greatest advancement opportunity in the profession. The author has spent more than a decade in managing and learning from large-scale projects in organisationally and culturally complex business environments. To cope with the vast complexities of real-life projects, he has had to 'borrow' knowledge and practices from many other fields to supplement traditional project management methods. Two such 'external' disciplines - systems thinking and leadership development - have proven particularly valuable. This case study describes a practitioner's perspective and technique for understanding and extending traditional project management to greater complexities that are typically encountered in an organisational setting. In this conception of and approach to project management, the practitioner (Self), the social environment (Organisation) and the professional responsibilities (Work) are treated as one integrated system. The dynamics of these relationships are shown to be the primary drivers of the health and success of the individual components, in contrast to the mechanical theories and practices of traditional project management. This new approach and associated set of methods is called 'systemic project management'. The case study is organised in the approximate chronological order in which the author developed, tested and expanded this new approach to project management, continuously learning and refining the methods through iterative integration of theory and practice. Part I summarises the core principles of systems thinking and leadership development as applied to project management; Part II lays out a step-by-step practice guide to aid project management professionals in defining, planning and executing a real-life project systemically; and Part III provides an example of how this method can be scaled up in a typical business organisation setting. Due to the length of this case study, only Part III is included in the current issue. Part I and II have already been published in the previous issue of this journal.
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Fernández-Fontecha, Almudena, Kay L. O’Halloran, Sabine Tan, and Peter Wignell. "A multimodal approach to visual thinking: the scientific sketchnote." Visual Communication 18, no. 1 (March 15, 2018): 5–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1470357218759808.
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There is a growing interest in the use of visual thinking techniques for promoting conceptual thinking in problem solving tasks as well as for reducing the complexity of ideas expressed in scientific and technical formats. The products of visual thinking, such as sketchnotes, graphics and diagrams, consist of ‘multimodal complexes’ that combine language, images, mathematical symbolism and various other semiotic resources. This article adopts a social semiotic perspective, more specifically a Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis approach, to study the underlying semiotic mechanisms through which visual thinking makes complex scientific content accessible. To illustrate the approach, the authors analyse the roles of language, images, and mathematical graphs and symbolism in four sketchnotes based on scientific literature in physics. The analysis reveals that through the process of resemiotization, where meanings are transformed from one semiotic system to another, the abstractness of specialized discourses such as physics and mathematics is reduced by multimodal strategies which include reformulating the content in terms of entities which participate in observable (i.e. tangible) processes and enhancing the reader/viewer’s engagement with the text. Moreover, the compositional arrangement creates clear stages in the development of the ideas and arguments that are presented. In this regard, visual thinking is a form of cultural communication through which abstract ideas are translated and explained using a multimodal outline or summary of essential parts by adapting resources (e.g. linguistic resources and mathematical graphs), using new resources (e.g. stick figures and other simple schematic drawings) and maintaining others from the original text (e.g. mathematical symbolic notation), resulting in a congruent (or concrete) depiction of abstract concepts and ideas for a non-specialist audience.
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Polovina, Nada. "Changes in parental thinking regarding the number of children in the transition period (1998-2009)." Zbornik Matice srpske za drustvene nauke, no. 131 (2010): 91–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/zmsdn1031091p.
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Theoretical background in our work is systemic approach (connection between processes of change in macro systemic/state and micro systemic/individual sphere of functioning), in particular the model developed by Stewart & Healy (1989), emphasizing the importance of linking the stage of individual development and social history. Based on these theoretical frames we conducted two isomorphous studies, implemented on two occasions (in 1998 and 2009) which marked two different transition stages in Serbia. Studies focused on the ways the parents (who already had at least one child under age 7) thought about family enlargement. The parents (N = 80 in the first study, N = 24 in the second one) belonged to the same generation (exposed to same socio-historical events), but became parents at different stages of the transition. Both studies used the same questionnaire (created for the first study) which included information such as: subjects' general data; family background (number of siblings, relationships between the siblings); personal/intimate aspects of actual parenthood; plans, wishes and obstacles to having more children. The results indicated that that the group of subjects who became parents at the end of the social crisis - postponed parenthood (avoiding the worst crisis) - had more children than the other one (1.71 compared to 1.65), and was more consistent in repeating the model of their own family of origin, and had a smaller gap between fertility wishes and planning of future parenting. .
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Sawchuk, Peter H. "‘Use-Value’ and the Re-thinking of Skills, Learning and the Labour Process." Journal of Industrial Relations 48, no. 5 (November 2006): 593–617. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185606070107.
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Reviewing multiple traditions of social analysis of work, skill and knowledge this article seeks to renew the possibility for a critical, integrated approach. Contextualizing and then criticizing the ongoing ‘up-skilling/de-skilling impasse’, I offer discussion of several alternative conceptual resources that may contribute to a more robust appreciation for learning and human development, potentially unified under a suggested ‘Use-Value Thesis’ on the labour/learning process. It is argued that recognizing ‘use-value’ sets the stage for a broader systemic understanding of the contradictory processes (e.g. up-skilling/de-skilling, engagement/alienation, co-operation/conflict) that occur simultaneously in all workplaces under capitalism, and in turn offers a means to more coherently assess the full range of human learning.
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Pich, Roberto Hofmeister. "Second Scholasticism and Black Slavery1 (Continuation and End)." Veritas (Porto Alegre) 65, no. 1 (May 15, 2020): 36662. http://dx.doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2020.1.36662.
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In order to systematically explore the normative treatment of black slavery by Second Scholastic thinkers, who usually place the problem within the broad discussion of moral conscience and, more narrowly, the nature and justice of trade and contracts, I propose two stations of research that may be helpful for future studies, especially concerning the study of Scholastic ideas in colonial Latin America. Beginning with the analysis of just titles for slavery and slavery trade proposed by Luis de Molina S.J. (1535–1600), I show how his accounts were critically reviewed by Diego de Avendaño S.J. (1594–1688), revealing basic features of Second Scholasticism’s normative thinking in Europe and the Americas. The normative knowledge provided by these two Scholastic intellectuals would be profoundly tested during the last decades of the 17th century, especially by authors who sharpened the systemic analysis and a rigorist moral assessment of every title of slavery and slaveholding, as well as the requirements of an ethics of restitution.
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Leeb, Robert, Claudia Keinrath, Doron Friedman, Christoph Guger, Reinhold Scherer, Christa Neuper, Maia Garau, et al. "Walking by Thinking: The Brainwaves Are Crucial, Not the Muscles!" Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 15, no. 5 (October 1, 2006): 500–514. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/pres.15.5.500.
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Healthy participants are able to move forward within a virtual environment (VE) by the imagination of foot movement. This is achieved by using a brain-computer interface (BCI) that transforms thought-modulated electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings into a control signal. A BCI establishes a communication channel between the human brain and the computer. The basic principle of the Graz-BCI is the detection and classification of motor-imagery-related EEG patterns, whereby the dynamics of sensorimotor rhythms are analyzed. A BCI is a closed-loop system and information is visually fed back to the user about the success or failure of an intended movement imagination. Feedback can be realized in different ways, from a simple moving bar graph to navigation in VEs. The goals of this work are twofold: first, to show the influence of different feedback types on the same task, and second, to demonstrate that it is possible to move through a VE (e.g., a virtual street) without any muscular activity, using only the imagination of foot movement. In the presented work, data from BCI feedback displayed on a conventional monitor are compared with data from BCI feedback in VE experiments with a head-mounted display (HMD) and in a high immersive projection environment (Cave). Results of three participants are reported to demonstrate the proof-of-concept. The data indicate that the type of feedback has an influence on the task performance, but not on the BCI classification accuracy. The participants achieved their best performances viewing feedback in the Cave. Furthermore the VE feedback provided motivation for the subjects.
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Ceppa, Clara, and Gian Paolo Marino. "Sustainable Logistic of Raw Materials Used by a Zootechnical Firm. Focus on CO2 Emission Reduction through the Creation of a Local Suppliers Network." Advanced Materials Research 779-780 (September 2013): 1785–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.779-780.1785.
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These are days in which words such as CO2 emissions, global warming, depletion of raw materials, climate change, etc. are terms that mean environmental and social concern to be solved for the whole world community. Nowadays, through a systemic planned management is luckily possible to improve, albeit in part, environmental criticisms in particular by acting on the efficiency of logistics flows of materials (input) of business processes. The positive benefits of systemic acting/thinking/designing are given substance thanks to a greater traceability of materials and packaging components and their suppliers, as well as a higher quality of the entire supply-chain and a significant reduction of CO2 emissions and logistics costs. The systemic methodology (here presented via a specific case study: an Italian zootechnical firm) promotes precisely this kind of management by creating new networks in which local companies/suppliers, geographically close one another, work together to achieve economic and environmental benefits both immediate and tangible. In the end, by putting into practice the systemic methodology, it is also fostered the best use of resources already on site and the promotion of the local economy by exploiting territorial potentialities.
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Kociatkiewicz, Jerzy, and Monika Kostera. "Stories from the end of the world: in search of plots for a failing system." Journal of Organizational Change Management 33, no. 1 (November 13, 2019): 66–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jocm-02-2019-0050.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider three types of stories: media, personal accounts and fiction, and look for plots depicting situations of fundamental shift in the framing and basic definitions of reality. The authors examine them from the point of view of their usefulness for developing creative responses to systemic change. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a narrative study in three stages, aimed at identifying strong plots pertaining to systemic change. The analyzed material came from three different sources of narratives (fiction, media and creative stories) and was approached by the use of two different narrative methods: symbolic interpretation and narrative collage. Findings Currently many voices are being raised that the authors are living in times of interregnum, a period in between working systems. There is also a mounting critique of the business school as an institution perpetuating dysfunctional ideologies, rather than enhancing critical and creative thinking. The authors propose that the humanities, and, in particular, learning from fiction (and science fiction) can offer a language to talk about major (systemic) change help and support learning about alternative organizational realities. Research limitations/implications The study pertains to discourse and narratives, not to material aspects of culture construction. Practical implications Today, there is a mounting critique of business schools and their role in society. Following Martin Parker’s call to transform them into schools of organizing, helping to develop and discuss different alternatives instead of reproducing the dominant model, the authors suggest that education should be based, to much larger extent than until now, on the humanities. The authors propose educational programmes including the study of fiction and film. Social implications The authors propose that the humanities (and the study of fiction) can equip society with a suitable language to discuss and problematize systemic change. Originality/value This paper adds to narrative social studies through providing an analysis of strong plots showing ways of coping with systemic collapse, and through an examination of these plots’ significance for organizational education, learning, and planning. The authors present an argument for the broader use of fiction as a sensemaking, teaching, and learning tool for managing organizations in volatile environments.
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Sibila Lebe, Sonja, and Igor Vrecko. "Systemic integration of holistic project- and hospitality management." Kybernetes 43, no. 3/4 (April 1, 2014): 363–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/k-02-2014-0028.
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Purpose – This conceptual paper aims to integrate and significantly extend past research cognitions from three different scientific fields: project management (PM), hospitality management (HM) and systems thinking (ST). As scarcely any scientific sources are available on these topics, this paper closes a gap in literature and invites to further research in this field. Special stress is given to the research of possible preventing or at least reducing of negative impacts/footprints of hospitality development to the social and physical environments. Design/methodology/approach – The authors present an overview of milestones in project- and HM development in Europe from the end of the Roman Empire till today. The main development stages are checked in view of SR and ST applications. Findings – This research is predominately theoretical, although it also presents several examples from practice that very clearly illustrate the need for merging the knowledge from these both (PM and HM) fields of expertise. The results of the evolution stages show that the development of both HM and PM has always been synchronic, and that PM has practically in all development stages been applied to HM, although this happened unconsciously and thus less effective than in other industries. Originality/value – The value of this research is an improved understanding of the need for merging the cognitions from HM and PM for more responsibility in further HM projects.
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Marino, Gian Paolo. "CO2 Emission Reduction through a Sustainable Local Suppliers Network of Raw Materials. Focus on a Delicatessen Shop." Applied Mechanics and Materials 378 (August 2013): 649–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.378.649.
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Global warming, CO2 emissions, depletion of raw materials, climate change, etc. represents the most pressing issues to be solved for the whole world community. Nowadays, through a systemic planned management is possible to improve, albeit in part, environmental criticisms in particular by acting on the efficiency of logistics flows of materials (input) of business processes. The positive benefits of systemic acting/thinking/designing are given substance thanks to a significant reduction of logistics costs, decrease of CO2 emissions and diminution of unnecessary movement of goods from large distances (which cause, among other things, the wastage of non-renewable energy resources), a greater traceability of materials and packaging components and their suppliers, as well as a higher quality of the entire supply-chain. The systemic methodology (here presented via a specific case study: an Italian delicatessen shop) promotes precisely this kind of management by creating synergistic and territorial clusters of small/medium enterprises (SMEs) in which local companies/suppliers, geographically close one another, work together to achieve economic and environmental benefits both immediate and tangible. In the end, by putting into practice the systemic methodology, it is also fostered the best use of resources already on site and the promotion of the local economy by exploiting territorial potentialities.
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Rousseau, David, Julie Billingham, and Javier Calvo-Amodio. "Systemic Semantics: A Systems Approach to Building Ontologies and Concept Maps." Systems 6, no. 3 (August 10, 2018): 32. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/systems6030032.
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The field of systemology does not yet have a standardised terminology; there are multiple glossaries and diverse perspectives even about the meanings of fundamental terms. This situation undermines researchers’ and practitioners’ ability to communicate clearly both within and outside their own specialist communities. Our perspective is that different vocabularies can in principle be reconciled by seeking more generalised definitions that reduce, in specialised contexts, to the nuanced meaning intended in those contexts. To this end, this paper lays the groundwork for a community effort to develop an ‘Ontology of Systemology’. In particular we argue that the standard methods for ontology development can be enhanced by drawing on systems thinking principles, and show via four examples how these can be applied for both domain-specific and upper ontologies. We then use this insight to derive a systemic and systematic framework for selecting and organising the terminology of systemology. The outcome of this paper is therefore twofold: We show the value in applying a systems perspective to ontology development in any discipline, and we provide a starting outline for an Ontology of Systemology. We suggest that both outcomes could help to make systems concepts more accessible to other lines of inquiry.
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AUGUSTINAITĖ, Dalia. "CHALLENGES OF INNOVATIVE ARCHITECTURE: EDUCATION AND PRACTICE." JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM 42, no. 1 (May 28, 2018): 63–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/jau.2018.1989.
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The article analyzes the concept of innovative architecture, which is significant in developing the anthropogenic environment, explains the structural and systemic components that form it and the relations between them. The research focuses on the Lithuanian culture and the educational system of its architecture schools as a means contributing to the development of innovative thinking skills. On this basis, it explains what advantages and disadvantages of the education system in the country reflect the present practice of innovative architecture. At the end of the article, considering the present situation, suggestions are made on how to improve the quality of the relationship between education and practice.
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Kioupi, Vasiliki, and Nikolaos Voulvoulis. "Education for Sustainable Development: A Systemic Framework for Connecting the SDGs to Educational Outcomes." Sustainability 11, no. 21 (November 2, 2019): 6104. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11216104.
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The UN 2030 agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envisions a future of inclusive equity, justice and prosperity within environmental limits, and places an important emphasis on education as stated in Goal 4. Education is acknowledged as a means for achieving the remaining Goals, with sustainability as a goal for education in target 4.7. However, the interconnectedness of the SDGs and the complexity of sustainability as a concept make it difficult to relate the SDGs to educational learning outcomes, with what Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aims to achieve, left in ambiguity. Using systems thinking, we developed a framework that redefines ESD as a tool that can deliver the transformation required for society to reach a sustainable state. Using the SDGs as end points for this state, and through a participatory approach, education stakeholders and learners work together to construct a common vision of sustainability, identify the competences needed, and develop appropriate pedagogies and learning strategies. The framework allows for the development of evaluation tools that can support educational institutions to monitor and manage their progress in transforming societies towards sustainability.
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Laplane, Lucie. "Leukemic Stem Cells Identities: A Philosophical Analysis." Blood 128, no. 22 (December 2, 2016): 5232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood.v128.22.5232.5232.
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Abstract What are leukemic stem cells (LSCs)? This is a biological, a semantic, and a philosophical question. Leukemic stem cells raise a number of questions for onco-hematologists in particular when it comes to their clinical relevance. What are their functions in the initiation and in the progression of the disease? How to identify them? How to target them without damaging the non-malignant hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)? Given that LSCs come from HSCs or progenitors, a semantic question arises: should we rather call them leukemic initiating cells? or leukemic propagating cells? As a philosopher, I approach all these biological and semantic issues with a slightly different perspective. Instead of asking what are LSCs, I will start by asking what kind of property is stemness. In previous work, I performed an analysis of the scientific literature on stem cells (including cancer stem cells) and framed a classification of their possible identities (Laplane, HUP 2016; reviewed in Clevers, Nature 2016):Categorical: stemness is a purely intrinsic property (e.g. of categorical property: the atomic number of chemical elements).Dispositional: stemness is an intrinsic property whose expression depends on extrinsic stimuli from the niche (e.g. of dispositional property: fragility).Relational: stemness is an extrinsic property that depends on a relationship between the cell and its environment; the microenvironment can induce stemness (e.g. of relational property: being the sister of someone).Systemic: stemness is an extrinsic property, maintained and controlled at the level of the system (e.g. of systemic properties: soccer positions that depend on the system of play) Here, I applied this framework to LSCs, in particular in acute myeloid leukemia. This analysis of the identity of stemness matters for onco-hematology because we cannot get rid of categorical, disposition, relational, and systemic properties in the same way. Thus, different therapeutic strategies will have different efficacy depending on the identity of LSCs. For example, targeting LSCs will be much more efficient if they are categorical or dispositional. Targeting the stem cell niche will be more efficient if they are dispositional or relational. But both strategies will lack efficiency if they are systemic. In such cases multi-drug treatments will predictably be more appropriate than targeted therapies. We think about properties as having fixed identities. This is how we study, learn, teach, and investigate biology, and more generally this is how we think. This typological thinking, inherited from Aristotle and Plato, applies well to normal hematopoiesis where most if not all reports describe stemness as a dispositional property. However, the progression of hematological malignancies, from clonal hematopoiesis and pre-malignant stages to chronic and acute leukemia, questions the relevance of this typological thinking in cancer. A first question is whether HSCs, pre-LSCs, and LSCs have the same identity. A second one is whether LSCs of different hematological malignancies and the LSCs in one patient all have the same identity. I will discuss cases of genetic and epigenetic alterations that suggest possible switches in stemness identity and their consequences for therapies. To conclude, I used a classical philosophical method developed in three steps: i- analysis of the scientific literature, ii- production of conceptual distinctions, iii- analysis of their consequences. I suggested the distinction between four stemness identities (categorical, dispositional, relational, systemic). HSCs fits the dispositional identity, suggesting that both LSCs-targeting and niche-targeting therapies could be efficient (provided that we can identity and target them properly). However, the identity of LSCs can differ from that of HSCs. Moreover, in contrast with HSCs that have one unique and stable identity, LSCs can be categorical, dispositional, relational, or systemic, and they can switch from one to another identity following particular genetic and epigenetic insults. This drastically complicates the therapeutic approaches and highlights the need to develop multiple therapies. References Laplane L, Cancer Stem Cells: Philosophy and Therapies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA), 2016. Clevers H, Cancer Therapy: Defining Stemness. Nature 2016; 534(7606): 176-177. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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Poce, Antonella, Francesca Amenduni, Carlo De Medio, Mara Valente, and Maria Rosaria Re. "Adopting Augmented Reality to Engage Higher Education Students in a Museum University Collection: the Experience at Roma Tre University." Information 10, no. 12 (November 28, 2019): 373. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/info10120373.
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University museums are powerful resource centres in higher education. In this context, the adoption of digital technologies can support personalised learning experience within the university museum. The aim of the present contribution is to present a case study carried out at the Department of Educational Sciences at Roma Tre University with a group of 14 master’s degree students. Students were involved in a 2-h workshop in which they were invited to test augmented reality technology through a web app for Android. At the end of the visit participants were required to fill in a questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended questions aimed at investigating their ideas on the exhibition and their critical thinking level. Students appreciated the exhibition, especially its multimodality. Most of the frequent themes identified in open-ended answers are related to critical and visual thinking. Despite the positive overall evaluation, there is still room for improvement, both in terms of technology and educational design.
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Lawrence, Roderick. "Transdisciplinary Responses to Children’s Health Challenges in the Context of Rapid Urbanization." Sustainability 11, no. 15 (July 29, 2019): 4097. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11154097.
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Urban transformations are complex, dynamic, and systemic societal phenomena that have many positive and negative consequences, including irreversible changes to land-use and loss of soil permeability, deforestation and accelerating losses of biodiversity, energy consumption and increasing volumes of green-house gas emissions, demographics and greater socio-economic inequalities, and accelerating incidences of non-communicable diseases. These omnipresent diseases (e.g., asthma, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes) have no cultural, geographical, or socio-economic boundaries and they impact all age groups including children and young adults. Local and national authorities North and South of the Equator, and international organizations and networks, have rarely responded effectively to children’s health challenges in the context of rapid urban development. The purpose of this article is to describe and illustrate more effective approaches. It proposes new ideas, founded on collective thinking involving several disciplines and professions, and new working methods, founded on collaboration with community associations in civil society. Both promote shared understandings about the complex, dynamic, systemic, and emergent nature of urban health risks for children. The article explains why transdisciplinary contributions should be distinguished from multi- and inter-disciplinary contributions, and it presents examples of participatory action research in the WHO European region about children’s health.
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Ryan-Johnson, William Patrick, Larson Curtis Wolfe, Christopher Roder Byron, Jacquelyn Kay Nagel, and Hao Zhang. "A Systems Approach of Topology Optimization for Bioinspired Material Structures Design Using Additive Manufacturing." Sustainability 13, no. 14 (July 18, 2021): 8013. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13148013.
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Bioinspired design has been applied in sustainable design (e.g., lightweight structures) to learn from nature and support material structure functionalities. Natural structures usually require modification in practice because they were evolved in natural environmental conditions that can be different from industrial applications. Topology optimization is a method to find the optimal design solution by considering the material external physical environment. Therefore, integrating topology optimization into bioinspired design can benefit sustainable material structure designers in meeting the purpose of using bioinspired concepts to find the optimal solution in the material functional environment. Current research in both sustainable design and materials science, however, has not led to a method to assist material structure designers to design structures with bioinspired concepts and use topology optimization to find the optimal solution. Systems thinking can seamlessly fill this gap and provide a systemic methodology to achieve this goal. The objective of this research is to develop a systems approach that incorporates topology optimization into bioinspired design, and simultaneously takes into consideration additive manufacturing processing conditions to ensure the material structure functionality. The method is demonstrated with three lightweight material structure designs: spiderweb, turtle shell, and maze. Environmental impact assessment and finite element analysis were conducted to evaluate the functionality and emissions of the designs. This research contributes to the sustainable design knowledge by providing an innovative systems thinking-based bioinspired design of material structures. In addition, the research results enhance materials knowledge with an understanding of mechanical properties of three material structures: turtle shell, spiderweb, and maze. This research systemically connects four disciplines, including bioinspired design, manufacturing, systems thinking, and lightweight structure materials.
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Lamanauskas, Vincentas. "DEFINITION OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EDUCATION SCIENCE TERMS." ŠVIETIMAS: POLITIKA, VADYBA, KOKYBĖ / EDUCATION POLICY, MANAGEMENT AND QUALITY 2, no. 2 (September 10, 2010): 4–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.48127/spvk-epmq/10.2.04a.
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In the latter years the main education terms became the point of rather active discussion. And it is natural, because over the last two decades education terminology expanded, a lot of new terms joined education sciences. On the one hand, such changes were caused by rapid education science development, abundant theoretical and empiric researches, on the other hand, after reestablishment of Lithuanian Independence, new possibilities opened to get acquainted with international practice, to adopt it to Lithuanian educational practice. In 2010, in Lithuania various discussions on educology terminology questions were initiated. This year, on February 11, Lithuanian Republic Education board and Vilnius Pedagogical University initiated the meeting of educology scientists on usage of educology terms in educology scientific publications, in pedagogic activity and educational documents. As practice showed, it is very difficult to find common decisions. Ambiguity, abundance of various synonymic terms became prominent in educology; the process of emergence of new terms is practically out of control, chaotic. Quite a big part of new terms are contradictory (e.g, development education, global and/or international education). It becomes unclear, what is the place of the main (axial) terms in the whole education terminology system, how the hierarchy of the whole term system is kept (or is it kept). Without attempting to go into exhaustive educology term analysis, we can give definitions of the main educology terms referring to systemic approach principle (Lamanauskas, 2004). Education – organized, expedient and purposeful life experience (knowledge, abilities and values) acquisition for life (cognition, consideration, acting) Education (enlightenment) - situational person (personality) and society’s orientation in current situation expansion in various aspects. Upbringing – education process when person’s moral is formed through interaction of values and abilities. Training – personality maturity guaranteeing parameters’ comprehensive, constant and systemic expansion and development. Teaching – education process when person’s intellect is formed through the interaction of knowledge and person’s abilities. In fact, there is no absolute agreement among educology specialists regarding the usage of terms. Such an agreement can hardly be reached, because the same terms in different contexts acquire different meanings and can be differently interpreted. Education, first of all, is a complex, diverse phenomenon. On the one hand, by education we seek that a person would acquire knowledge and abilities (intellect formation), on the other hand – could perceive the world of values (moral formation). Education, as a very complex system, features hierarchic structure and functional organisation. Changing easily any term or implementing a new one, we are trying, in fact, to change the system, very often not thinking about consequences. New terms matter cannot be end in itself. Education (enlightenment), obviously is multilevel, hierarchic, complex and developing social system requiring systemic attitude, systemic analysis, systemic research in general – in this case, on the education science terminology aspect. Key words: education terms, usage of terms, education science, definition.
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Glachet, Ophélie, and Mohamad El Haj. "Effects of Olfactory Stimulation on Past and Future Thinking in Alzheimer’s Disease." Chemical Senses 45, no. 4 (March 10, 2020): 313–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaa016.
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Abstract Several studies have demonstrated that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated not only with difficulty in remembering past events but also with a compromised ability to imagine future ones. Recent empirical research has also demonstrated that odor is an effective cue to alleviate difficulty in remembering past events in AD. We investigated whether odor exposure would help AD patients to imagine future events. To this end, we invited AD patients and control participants to evoke past and future events after odor exposure or without odor. Analysis showed that AD patients and control participants produced more specific and more emotional past and future events after odor exposure than without odor. However, odor exposure did not improve the retrieval time for future thinking in AD participants. This study is the first to demonstrate positive effects of odor exposure on the ability of AD patients to project themselves into the future.
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Seminatore, Irnerio. "Les relations internationales de l'après-guerre froide: une mutation globale." Études internationales 27, no. 3 (April 12, 2005): 603–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/703631ar.
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The author analyzes the post-Cold War international arena thoroughly, be delineating one by one Us different systemic, geopolitical, hegemonic, and strategic metamorphoses. The emergence of a fragmented transnational subsystem — the social component of the international System — has made this era fertile ground for third-wave conflicts, i.e. cultural conflicts or shocks between civilizations. The lack of any recognized leadership and the collective exercise of the system's governability may lead one to observe that armed violence is being waged by means other than those of major inter-state wars. In such a context, one may deduce that emphasis on the concept of collective security is working to the detriment of defence-minded thinking and to the benefit of strategies for active and very early conflict prevention. The entire realm of strategy is thus open to a wide-ranging, Worldwide arena. The main consequences have been an end to the old custodial arrangements of geopolitics, thereby transforming NATO in Europe, and a renewed activism in Asia, where the trend is towards creation of a specific security subsystem. These transformations of the international System have brought about metamorphoses in the notions of enemy, boundary, conflict, and power. Such changes also highlight the « rationality deficit » now affecting the System and the proliferation of the notion of « meaning », which is everywhere lacking in consistency. The shifting of the security dilemma to the subnational, internal level has accordingly resulted from the breakup of nations and the decolonization of empires. The author concludes that it may prove useful, even valuable, to try and identify the normative elements of the post-Cold War international System and to outline, however imperfectly, the new distribution of international power. The reader will also find afresh look at the doctrinal debate about international System theory and about the epistemology of the discipline that deals with it.
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Anibaldi, Renata, Julia Carins, and Sharyn Rundle-Thiele. "Eating Behaviors in Australian Military Personnel: Constructing a System of Interest for a Social Marketing Intervention." Social Marketing Quarterly 26, no. 3 (August 25, 2020): 229–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1524500420948487.
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Background: Eating behaviors are complex and have particular significance for military personnel who require sound nutrition to support health and physical fitness for job performance. Policies and guidelines for the provision of nutritionally appropriate food/drink on base and in the field do exist; however, many military personnel have poor dietary habits, and these habits are evident early in their career. Social marketing could assist in changing unhealthy eating behaviors of personnel through implementation of feasible interventions co-created with stakeholders that are valued by Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel. : The article reports the first phase of a systemic co-inquiry into unhealthy eating behaviors of military personnel. This study aimed to gain an initial framing of the problem situation and thus hypothesize a “system of interest” in which to conduct future work. Research questions What components (e.g., ideas, objects, attributes, activities) are perceived to be relevant for eating behaviors in military personnel? Do interrelationships and interconnections among components suggest how unhealthy eating behaviors may emerge? Are there places that suggest viable leverage points as opportunities for changing unhealthy eating behaviors through delivery of offerings that ADF personnel value? Program Design/Approach: This study was part of a systemic inquiry approach. Methods: Data for the study included document analysis and 14 semi-structured depth interviews with ADF stakeholders. Data were thematically analyzed to construct a system of interest in which to explore how eating behaviors emerge among personnel and ADF-controlled leverage points that can be used to increase healthy eating for ADF personnel through social marketing intervention. Results: The data analysis identified alternative systems of interest in which to explore how eating behaviors emerge among personnel. Demand and supply side leverage points were identified. On the supply side, the encouragement of patronage through menu innovation, investment in facilities, cooking skills training, and auditing provision were opportunities for social marketing intervention. On the demand side, education and training coupled with communications that challenge cultural and regulatory norms and link to military values were areas that programs seeking to increase healthy eating in ADF personnel could focus on. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: As an approach for addressing “wicked” problems, the application of systems thinking in social marketing has privileged an ontological concept of system as a metaphor for reality. This approach assists in expanding the focus of change beyond the individual to include factors in social, economic, and policy environments. By using systems thinking as an epistemological device, this article offers an approach that may be applied to overcome practical and philosophical limitations in the application of systems thinking. Recommendations for Research or Practice: Research on alternative methods for applying systems thinking is recommended to strengthen the potential of system approaches in the field of social marketing. Limitations: This study is part of a broader program, and its findings on the problem of unhealthy eating behaviors in ADF are preliminary. Limitations specific to the study include the possibility of “reductionism” in stakeholder identification and self-selection bias in participation.
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Hinrichs, Uta, Stefania Forlini, and Bridget Moynihan. "In defense of sandcastles: Research thinking through visualization in digital humanities." Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 34, Supplement_1 (October 29, 2018): i80—i99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqy051.
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Abstract Although recent research acknowledges the potential of visualization methods in digital humanities (DH), the predominant terminology used to describe visualizations (prototypes and tools) focuses on their use as a means to an end and, more importantly, as an instrument in the service of humanities research. We introduce the sandcastle as a metaphorical lens and provocative term to highlight visualization as a research process in its own right. We argue that building visualization sandcastles provides a holistic approach to cross-disciplinary knowledge generation that embraces visualization as (1) an aesthetic provocation to elicit critical insights, interpretation, speculation, and discussions within and beyond scholarly audiences, (2) a dynamic process wherein speculation and re-interpretation advance knowledge within all disciplines involved, and (3) a mediator of ideas and theories within and across disciplines. Our argument is grounded in critical theory, DH, design, human–computer interaction, and visualization, and based on our own research on an exceptional literary collection. We argue that considering visualizations as sandcastles foregrounds valuable insights into the roles of visualization as a mindset, methodology, and praxis within humanities research and beyond.
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Mainzer, Klaus. "Challenges of Complexity in the 21st Century. An Interdisciplinary Introduction." European Review 17, no. 2 (May 2009): 219–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1062798709000714.
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The theory of nonlinear complex systems has become a proven problem-solving approach in the natural sciences from cosmic and quantum systems to cellular organisms and the brain. Even in modern engineering science self-organizing systems are developed to manage complex networks and processes. It is now recognized that many of our ecological, social, economic, and political problems are also of a global, complex, and nonlinear nature. Modern evolutionary economics can be modelled in the framework of complex systems and nonlinear dynamics. Historically, evolutionary economics was inspired by Schumpeterian concepts of business cycles and innovation dynamics. What are the laws of sociodynamics? What can we learn from nonlinear dynamics for complexity management in social, economic, financial and political systems? Is self-organization an acceptable strategy to handle the complexity in firms, institutions and organizations? The world-wide crisis of financial markets and economies is a challenge for complexity research. Misleading concepts of linear thinking and mild randomness (e.g. Gaussian distributions of Brownian motion) must be overcome by new approaches of nonlinear mathematics (e.g. non-Gaussian distribution), modelling the wild randomness of turbulence at the stock markets. Systemic crises need systemic answers. Nevertheless, human cognitive capabilities are often overwhelmed by the complexity of nonlinear systems they are forced to manage. Traditional mathematical decision theory assumed perfect rationality of economic agents (homo oeconomicus). Herbert Simon, Nobel Prize laureate of economics and one of the leading pioneers of systems science and cognitive science, introduced the principle of bounded rationality. Therefore, we need new insights into the factual microeconomic behaviour of economic agents by methods of humanities, cognitive and social sciences, which are sometimes called ‘experimental economics’. Social and economic dynamics are interdisciplinary challenges of modern complexity research.
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Martinez, Fabien. "The syncretism of environmental and social responsibility with business economic performance." Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal 23, no. 6 (September 21, 2012): 597–614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14777831211262891.
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PurposeThe present conceptual study aims to discuss the integration of corporate social and environmental responsibility (ESR/CSR) into business strategies and operations. The objective is to propose a conceptual framework for synthesising pragmatic and constructionist theoretical discourses on ESR.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies the concept of syncretism – and inherent objective and subjective perspectives – to the field of ESR/CSR. A review of existing literature unfolds the construct of syncretism as a continuum integrating both systemic/pragmatic narratives and constructionist/ethnographic. The metabolism analogy is further discussed to stress the salience of ESR in determining the prospects for corporate sustainable development.FindingsThe achievement of syncretistic equilibrium is understood to occur at the intersection of constructionist and pragmatic epistemological influences. Existing research suggest that reducing or removing the external cost induced in industrial processes and exploiting marketing opportunities to signal positive ethicality of the firm are possible pathways for syncretistic equilibrium. The metabolism analogy is argued to abound with constructive implications on how businesses can provoke synergistic or symbiotic correlations between ESR and economic sustainability.Practical implicationsBy integrating constructionist and pragmatic narratives into one conceptual proposition, it is hoped that this paper can lead to a better understanding of the way societal responsibility appears to business managers and, through that insight, lead to improvement in practice. Examining the extent to which metabolic processes and the functioning of the business system inspire comparable challenges can offer supportive basis for contriving effective ESR integration strategies.Originality/valueBoth constructionist (e.g. individuals’ values) and systemic (e.g. business case for CSR) narratives have received considerable attention form scholars in the field of ESR/CSR, yet they have never been assembled into one conceptual proposition. Syncretism constitutes a new line of thinking for conceptualising the constructionist and pragmatic challenges related to the integration of ESR into business strategies and operations.
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Annerer-Walcher, Sonja, Christof Körner, Roger E. Beaty, and Mathias Benedek. "Eye behavior predicts susceptibility to visual distraction during internally directed cognition." Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 82, no. 7 (June 4, 2020): 3432–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02068-1.
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Abstract When we engage in internally directed cognition (e.g., planning or imagination), our eye behavior decouples from external stimuli and couples to internal representations (e.g., internal visualizations of ideas). Here, we investigated whether eye behavior predicts the susceptibility to visual distraction during internally directed cognition. To this end, participants performed a divergent thinking task, which required internally directed attention, and we measured distraction in terms of attention capture by unrelated images. We used multilevel mixed models to predict visual distraction by eye behavior right before distractor onset. In Study 1 (N = 38), visual distraction was predicted by increased saccade and blink rate, and higher pupil dilation. We replicated these findings in Study 2 using the same task, but with less predictable distractor onsets and a larger sample (N = 144). We also explored whether individual differences in susceptibility to visual distraction were related to cognitive ability and task performance. Taken together, variation in eye behavior was found to be a consistent predictor of visual distraction during internally directed cognition. This highlights the relevance of eye parameters as objective indicators of internal versus external attentional focus and distractibility during complex mental tasks.
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Apanovich, V. V., B. N. Bezdenezhnykh, V. V. Znakov, M. Sams, J. Jaaskelainen, and Y. I. Aleksandrov. "Differences of the brain activity in individual, competitive and cooperative behavior between subjects with analytic and holistic cognitive styles." Experimental Psychology (Russia) 9, no. 2 (2016): 5–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2016090202.
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To investigate specific features of systemic organization of behavior in individuals with analytic and holistic cognitive styles we presented a simple decision-making task to pairs of subjects who performed the same task in several modes of social interaction (independent, competition, and cooperation). We assumed that the modes of social interaction would reveal differences in the behavioral and EEG characteristics, related to the cognitive styles. The behavior timing and brain potentials were recorded in 78 participants. The response latencies and parameters of P300 in this task were found to be more variable in the group of participants with holistic thinking compared to analytic. The interaction mode-related differences were also more evident in the group of holistic thinkers. These results are discussed within the system-evolutionary view of brain bases of behavior. The study was supported by RFHR №14-26-18002; Academy of Finland, grant 273469. The study is performed within the research programme of one of the Leading Scientific Schools of Russian Federation “System Psychophysiology” (НШ-9808.2016.6).
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Evans, Graham. "A New Small State With a Powerful Neighbour: Namibia/South Africa Relations Since Independence." Journal of Modern African Studies 31, no. 1 (March 1993): 131–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x00011848.
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Namibiagained independence on 21 March 1990 after 106 years of colonial rule, first under Germany and then for 76 years under South Africa. As a consequence, throughout the greater part of the twentieth century the South West Africa/Namibia issue has been a constant item on the political and legal agendas of the international community, primary because of its ‘double-victim’ status as unwilling host to both imperial conquest andapartheid. Not unnaturally the independence process when it finally came, was widely hailed as a triumph for the United Nations and the ‘new political thinking’ that signalled the end of the cold war and the tentative (no more than that) beginnings of a ‘new world order’. Thus, sub-Sahara's last colony was also the first to proceed to self-determination unsullied by the need to define its existence in terms of superpower bipolarity. At the systemic level at least, the new state began with a virtual blank sheet, as well as a great deal of international goodwill and bonhomie.
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Delanty, Gerard. "The future of capitalism: Trends, scenarios and prospects for the future." Journal of Classical Sociology 19, no. 1 (January 30, 2019): 10–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468795x18810569.
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The article provides a framework for thinking about how the question of the future of capitalism might be addressed. One of the problems resides in the very definition of capitalism and of what its defining features consist of and whether we should be talking about ‘capitalist society’ or the ‘capitalist economy’ or some kind of post-capitalist condition. Following Polanyi, Castoriadis and Habermas, it is argued that capitalism and democracy together constitute the defining dynamics of modernity and that the resulting tensions will provide momentum for the main circuits of potential change. Five scenarios for looking at the future are discussed. These will form the main substance of the article: varieties of capitalism, systemic crises of capitalism, catastrophic collapse, low growth capitalism and post-capitalism. In conclusion, it is argued that there are various possibilities that can be understood in terms of transitions, breakdown or transformation, but a likely future trend will be less the end of capitalism than the harnessing of ‘super-capitalism’ and that there are limits to the accumulation of capital.
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Dobni, C. Brooke, Mark Klassen, and Drummond Sands. "Getting to clarity: new ways to think about strategy." Journal of Business Strategy 37, no. 5 (September 19, 2016): 12–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jbs-08-2015-0084.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer an opinion of current strategic thinking in North American organizations. By doing so, the paper presents a strategic model organizations can use that focuses on clarity. Design/methodology/approach The opinion and strategic framework was informed by authors’ research and consulting experiences over the past 10 years with leading companies across a variety of sectors. Findings Many organizations struggle with the strategic tradeoff between control, agility and risk and end up with complicated bureaucratic strategies. The strategic framework of clarity poses five questions that provides clear guidance for achieving focus. Practical implications Business leaders can apply the clarity framework to their existing strategic processes. By doing so, they can re-assess strategy and optimize their actions and outcomes to re-focus their strategic thinking in light of the new economy. Originality/value The paper offers a fresh perspective and opinion on strategy using familiar examples to executives. The clarity strategy framework provides executives with a simple but focused alternative to avoid strategic traps and learn from success and failure examples.
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Moreno Romero, Ana, Ángel Uruburu, Ajay K. Jain, Manuel Acevedo Ruiz, and Carlos F. Gómez Muñoz. "The Path towards Evolutionary—Teal Organizations: A Relationship Trigger on Collaborative Platforms." Sustainability 12, no. 23 (November 24, 2020): 9817. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12239817.
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The technological challenges of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, innovative inter-organizational network relations, integration in corporate strategies of sustainability challenges, or unsatisfactory levels of staff commitment stemming from complexity and related uncertainty are some of the main key issues that organizations have to face in the near future. In this context, the appearance of the ‘evolutionary organization’ model marks an important milestone in terms of a renewed identification of fundamental principles for organizations, arguably as an update or revision of systemic thinking. This model allows organizations, functioning as living beings, to be more agile and humanistic and better prepared to establish agile and trustworthy inter-organizational relationships. Collaborative platforms are possible from that ability to add value between organizations while also being closely aligned with the principles and values of evolutionary organizations. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how these (teal) organizations work with respect to their common principles of wholeness, evolutionary purpose, and self-management. In the end, the study intends to highlight relevant practical organizational aspects that can better facilitate the management of current and increasing complexity, as well as the transition to more humanistic-oriented organizations.
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O'Halloran, Kieran. "A posthumanist pedagogy using digital text analysis to enhance critical thinking in higher education." Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 35, no. 4 (November 8, 2019): 845–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqz060.
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Abstract I model a critical posthumanist pedagogy that uses text analysis software and is aimed at higher education students. A key purpose of the pedagogy is to help students enhance empathetic, critical and independent thinking. For their project assignment, the student chooses an unfamiliar campaign seeking to eliminate suffering and extend rights. They gather all texts from the campaign website into a corpus, which thus represents the campaign writ large. Then they use appropriate software to ascertain, efficiently and rigorously, common campaign concerns across this corpus. This puts students in a position to discern any significant concerns in the campaign corpus that are not addressed in text(s) supporting the status quo which the campaign opposes. Should significant omissions be found, students critically evaluate the status quo text(s) from the campaign’s perspective. Since this perspective derives from the student identifying (at least temporarily) with software generated data, it is a posthuman subjectivity. Engaging digitally and empathetically with a campaign’s data at scale for creation of a posthuman subjectivity can broaden awareness of disadvantage, discrimination, and suffering as well as expand horizons. Moreover, at the end of the assignment, the student is expected to formulate their own position vis-à-vis the previously unfamiliar campaign. Conditions have been created then for the student to enhance independent thinking too.
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Medina, Eden. "Rethinking algorithmic regulation." Kybernetes 44, no. 6/7 (June 1, 2015): 1005–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/k-02-2015-0052.
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Purpose – The history of cybernetics holds important lessons for how we approach present-day problems in such areas as algorithmic regulation and big data. The purpose of this paper is to position Project Cybersyn as a historical form of algorithmic regulation and use this historical case study as a thought experiment for thinking about ways to improve discussions of algorithmic regulation and big data today. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from the author’s extensive research on Cybersyn’s history to build an argument for how cybernetic history can enrich current discussions on algorithmic regulation and the use of big data for governance. Findings – The paper identifies five lessons from the Cybersyn history that point to current data challenges and suggests a way forward. These lessons are: first, the state matters; second, older technologies have value; third, privacy protection prevents abuse and preserves human freedom; fourth, algorithmic transparency is important; and finally, thinking in terms of socio-technical systems instead of technology fixes results in better uses of technology. Research limitations/implications – Project Cybersyn was a computer network built by the socialist government of Salvador Allende under the supervision of the British cybernetician Stafford Beer. It formed part of the government’s program for economic nationalization. Work on the project ended when a military coup brought the Allende government to an early end on September 11, 1973. Since we do not know how the system would have functioned in the long term, parts of the argument are necessarily speculative. Practical implications – The paper uses Cybersyn’s history to suggest ways that the Chilean experience with cybernetic thinking might enhance, improve, and highlight shortcomings in current discussions of algorithmic regulation. Originality/value – The paper provides an original argument that connects one of the most ambitious cybernetic projects in history to present day technological challenges in the area of algorithmic regulation.
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Wang, Yan, Yehia Taher, and Willem-Jan van den Heuvel. "Towards Smart Service Networks." International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector 7, no. 1 (January 2015): 38–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijisss.2015010103.
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Service Networks (SNs) are open systems accommodating the co-production of new knowledge and services through organic peer-to-peer interactions. Key to broad success of SNs in practice is their ability to foster and ensure a high performance. By performance we mean the joint effort of tremendous interdisciplinary collaboration, cooperation and coordination among the network participants. However, due to the heterogeneous background of such participants (i.e., business, technical, etc.), operational gaps are likely to appear in the end-to-end service provisioning process. Especially when there are performance anomalies, the SNs lack of traceability to find out the root cause, due to the confusions in the multi-disciplinary communication of SNs participants. To deal with such a problem, we propose a novel method of diagnosing SNs performance on the basis of a systems thinking mindset. By using our diagnostics, the SNs essence and performance are identified and modeled in both static and dynamic manners. The SNs performance can be tuned and optimized with improved traceability to the involved service operations.
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DENISOVA, ZARINA. "ASSOCIATIVITY AS A FORMATION SOURCE OF A MUSICAL COMPOSITION EDITING FORM OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY." Культурный код, no. 2021-2 (2021): 22–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.36945/2658-3852-2021-2-22-31.
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The object of the research in this article is associativity as a characteristic feature of 20th century art. The nature, the role of the association in the work of artistic thinking, the principles of its functioning are considered. The subject of the research is the editing form of a musical work of the second half of the 20th century. Particular attention in the article is paid to the consideration of such an important factor influencing the formation of a stable associative connection as repetition. At the same time, it is specified that repetition is caused by a specific life situation. This repetition forms a chain of associations that create an integral content space of a musical work. The work uses general scientific research methods in the framework of comparative and logical analysis, including generalizations and comparisons. The work is based on the analytical method and has a systemic interdisciplinary nature as well. In revealing the specifics of the installation form, the author of the article turns to the theory of compositional ellipsis V. Bobrovsky. The main conclusion of the study is that the importance of associativity in the work of Russian composers in the second half of the 20th century is increasing, reaching the status of a characteristic feature of artistic thinking. The process of expanding associativity manifested itself, in particular, in the emergence in musical creativity of a new type of form creation - editing. The analysis revealed the features inherent in the montage type of construction of a work of art. This is the dismemberment of thematic material, the syntactic isolation of thematic structures, the organization of the form «from the end», the internal unity of the mosaic structure, and others. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that for the first time associativity is considered as a source of montage shaping, in the choice of research methodology, as well as in the identification of special features of the composition, manifested in the conditions of montage drama.
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Nissen, Laura, Melissa M. Appleyard, Jeanne Enders, Cynthia Carmina Gómez, Andres Guzman, Sally Strand Mudiamu, and Sheila Mullooly. "A Public University Futures Collaboratory: A Case Study in Building Foresightfulness and Community." World Futures Review 12, no. 4 (December 2020): 337–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1946756720976709.
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What happens when a public university decides to construct a cross-disciplinary, cross-functional initiative to explore the future, build capacity to be more “future ready” and resilient, and serve as a resource for the university and broader community to help them do the same? This article presents a case study of a “Futures Collaboratory” launched at a Pacific Northwest public, urban university in the 2019 to 2020 academic year. The three intersecting goals of the effort were to: explore and cultivate interest and capacity among interested individuals across campus; develop institution-wide “foresightfulness” as a collective; and end the year in a position to make thoughtful, creative, and well-reasoned recommendations about being more future-facing as a university. The dual pandemics of Covid-19 and white supremacy proved to deepen the commitment to learn and practice futures thinking. A primary goal was to ensure that the university would benefit from efforts to democratize foresight activities while taking practical steps to navigate our own systemic volatility, uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity. This article discusses the effort, early work, disruptions, and risks during the Collaboratory’s first year, as well as the emergent reflections, opportunities, and recommendations prepared for university leadership. Special attention is paid to the consideration of equity and social justice in the future of higher education and the tools and resources needed by the sector to build liberatory futures.
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Przygodzki, Zbigniew. "State of Play and Sectoral Differentiation of Clusters in Visegrad Group Countries and in Germany in the Context of Increasing Competitiveness." Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe 15, no. 1 (July 4, 2012): 61–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10103-012-0004-z.
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In accordance with the definition by the European Commission regional competitiveness means the ability of companies, sectors and transnational groupings in the region exposed to international competition to generate sustainable and relatively high income and employment levels. Following this line of thinking, strengthening the potential of local economic operators and their environment should become the priority of economic policies of the governments. One among recognised mechanisms that back up enterprise potential is the organisation and fostering of the competitiveness of clusters. They are a specific case of economic networks based on cooperation and competitiveness which usually need targeted investment in order to be efficient in their operations. Cluster policy implemented by Western European countries is most often systemic, integrated between the central and the regional levels with the material scope of investment focusing on assisting innovation in clusters. From this perspective it is interesting to see the shape the policy takes in Central European countries after their economic transformation. We selected Visegrad Group countries as the subject of our analysis knowing that clusters have been known there since at least the end of 1990s. Although more than 10 years have passed the conclusions indicate that the policy is at its initial development stage and, differently from Western economies (Germany in our case), it hardly effects the innovation of national economies and regional systems of innovation.
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Romanychev, Viacheslav V. "Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for Government Relations Research in Political Science." RUDN Journal of Political Science 23, no. 3 (August 31, 2021): 479–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2313-1438-2021-23-3-479-494.
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The rethinking of public policy in response to a rapidly changing world and economic development predetermined the relevance of studying the GR-activities of companies in the 21st century. Due to the fact that business-government relations have an interdisciplinary nature, political scientists need an appropriate methodological toolkit for their thorough study. Most of GR research are narrowly focused, and, as a result, are ineffective, since analyzing GR activities within the framework of one methodological paradigm leaves the consideration of GR as a system and its embeddedness in the political structure behind the scenes. In this regard, the results obtained do not provide either researchers or policymakers with comprehensive information on effective policy-making. The purpose of this article is to try to find a systemic methodology, enabling political scientists to display, describe and analyze GR-activities with the end of putting the findings into practice in order to improve the efficiency of these activities. The author examines the main paradigms and metatheories used by political scientists and argues for synthesizing theoretical and methodological approaches into a unified methodological system for GR research. The author comes to the conclusion that changes in research approaches to political GR research and in the thinking of researchers could potentially help improve the quality and effectiveness of preparing and implementing public and corporate decisions.
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Paiva, José Carlos, José Paulo Leal, and Ricardo Queirós. "Fostering Programming Practice through Games." Information 11, no. 11 (October 24, 2020): 498. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/info11110498.
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Loss of motivation is one of the most prominent concerns in programming education as it negatively impacts time dedicated to practice, which is crucial for novice programmers. Of the distinct techniques introduced in the literature to engage students, gamification, is likely the most widely explored and fruitful. Game elements that intrinsically motivate students, such as graphical feedback and game-thinking, reveal more reliable long-term positive effects, but those involve significant development effort. This paper proposes a game-based assessment environment for programming challenges, built on top of a specialized framework, in which students develop a program to control the player, henceforth called Software Agent (SA). During the coding phase, students can resort to the graphical feedback demonstrating how the game unfolds to improve their programs and complete the proposed tasks. This environment also promotes competition through competitive evaluation and tournaments among SAs, optionally organized at the end by the teacher. Moreover, the validation of the effectiveness of Asura in increasing undergraduate students’ motivation and, consequently, the practice of programming is reported.
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Ellmann, Stephen. "Law in and Legitimacy South Africa." Law & Social Inquiry 20, no. 02 (1995): 407–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.1995.tb01068.x.
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This mticle examines whether anti-apartheid lawyering might have legitimized the South Afncan legal system by asking what black South Ahcans actually thought of that system. Perhaps surprisingly, blrcks, and in particular African, appear to have accorded the legal system a measure of legitimacy despite the oppression they often suffered at its hands. Three paradigms of African opinion are offered to help us understand the complex African response to the legal system: the conservatives, forbearing, mutely concerned with such issues as order and security, and perhaps disposed to be deferential to institutions of white authority; the speakers, fueled by faith in the truth or power of their speech, and welcoming the opportunity to be heard that courts could povide; and the activists, adamantly detennined to bnng down apartheid, and judgrng institutions and people by their conhibution to that goal. For men and women thinking in these ways, anti-apartheid lawyering probably did contribute to legitimizing the legal system and that system's ideals. But this partial legitimation of the legal system is, in the end, no came for regret; instead, it may have helped the new South Africa begin building a nation governed by law.
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Liu, Yong, Wu-yong Qian, and Jeffrey Forrest. "Grey dominance variable precision rough set model based on grey dominance relationship." Grey Systems: Theory and Application 4, no. 3 (October 28, 2014): 473–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/gs-08-2014-0027.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to construct a novel grey dominance variable precision rough model. Design/methodology/approach – To deal with the problems that the attribute values of the decision-making object are often not exact numbers but interval grey numbers, and the decision-making attributes satisfy a certain preference relationship in the decision-making information because of the complexity and uncertainty of the real world, the authors take advantage of the theoretical thinking of the grey systems, dominance rough set theory and variable precision rough set theory, and construct a novel dominance variable precision rough set model. On the basis of the thinking logic of grey systems, the authors first define the concepts of balance degree, dominance degree and inferior degree, and then the grey dominance relationship based on the comparison of interval grey numbers. Then the authors use the grey dominance relationship to substitute for the indiscernibility relationship of the variable precision rough set so that the grey dominance variable precision rough model is naturally utilized to reduce the system's attributes in order to derive the needed decision rules. At the end, the authors use a decision-making example of the radar target selection to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the novel model. Findings – The results show that the proposed model possesses certain fault tolerance ability and can well-realize decision rule extraction and knowledge discovery out of a given incomplete information system. Practical implications – The method exposed in the paper can be used to deal with the decision-making problems with the grey information, preference information and noise data. Originality/value – The paper succeeds in realizing both the grey decision-making information with preference information and noise data and the extraction of decision-making rules.
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Hoodbhoy, Pervez. "Pakistan’s Higher Education System—What went Wrong and How to Fix it." Pakistan Development Review 48, no. 4II (December 1, 2009): 581–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.30541/v48i4iipp.581-594.
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None of Pakistan’s 50+ public universities comes even close to being a university in the real sense of the word. Compared to universities in India and Iran, the quality of both teaching and research is far poorer. Most university “teaching” amounts to a mere dictation of notes which the teacher had copied down when he was a student in the same department, examinations are tests of memory, student indiscipline is rampant, and a large number of teachers commit academic fraud without ever getting punished. In some universities the actual number of teaching days in a year adds up to less than half the officially required number. Some campuses are run by gangs of hoodlums and harbour known criminals, while others have had Rangers with machine guns on continuous patrol for years on end. Common wisdom has always been that increased funding can solve all, or at least most, of the systemic problems that bedevil higher education in Pakistan. But Pakistan offers an instructive counterexample: a many-fold increase in university funding from 2002-2008 resulted in, at best, only marginal improvements in a few parts of the higher education sector. This violation of “commonsense” points to the need for some fresh thinking. The analysis of Pakistan’s higher education system divides naturally into three parts: consideration of the necessary background; understanding the meaning of university quality in the Pakistani context; and exploring the space of solutions.
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Romana, Fernando. "Lean Management Implementation in Small and Medium Sized Companies – A Success Case Study in a Manufacturing Process." Journal of Intercultural Management 13, no. 1 (March 1, 2021): 88–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/joim-2021-0004.
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Abstract Objective: The aim of this paper is to understand a production system of a forging and presses structure of a centenary factory in terms of a cultural change on the management approach. Methodology: The study was focused on many aspects such as the pieces production lead time, a time study of the setups, the Overall Equipment Effectiveness determination for the Computer Numeric Control machinery and an analysis of the production cells operational flow. Findings: For the aspects that were analysed during the study, the problems are identified, and the root causes determined. At the end of the assessment stage Lean tools and concepts for fixing the problems were proposed, like new rules for production planning, setups procedures, 5S toll usage and a Lean implementation plan that is adapted to the company. Value Added: The high industrial competitivity has dictated the development for this sector that – allied with the inconstant and unstable economic environment – makes the companies very vulnerable and highly dependent of the global market. This is a concern of special relevance for the Small and Medium Size companies that are increasingly adopting Lean solutions to continuously improve their operational value chain and the management approach, for a more systemic way of thinking. Recommendations: For some of the solutions an impact study with their implementation was made. An analysis of the success factors proposed in the literature that were verified during the assessment stage of the case study was performed as well.
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Janböcke, Sarah, and Susanne Zajitschek. "Anticipation Next: System-Sensitive Technology Development and Integration in Work Contexts." Information 12, no. 7 (June 29, 2021): 269. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/info12070269.
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When discussing future concerns within socio-technical systems in work contexts, we often find descriptions of missed technology development and integration. The experience of technology that fails whilst being integrated is often rooted in dysfunctional epistemological approaches within the research and development process. Thus, ultimately leading to sustainable technology-distrust in work contexts. This is true for organizations that integrate new technologies and for organizations that invent them. Organizations in which we find failed technology development and integrations are, in their very nature, social systems. Nowadays, those complex social systems act within an even more complex environment. This urges the development of new anticipation methods for technology development and integration. Gathering of and dealing with complex information in the described context is what we call Anticipation Next. This explorative work uses existing literature from the adjoining research fields of system theory, organizational theory, and socio-technical research to combine various concepts. We deliberately aim at a networked way of thinking in scientific contexts and thus combine multidisciplinary subject areas in one paper to present an innovative way to deal with multi-faceted problems in a human-centred way. We end with suggesting a conceptual framework that should be used in the very early stages of technology development and integration in work contexts.
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Yosrita, Efy, Rosida Nur Aziza, Rahma Farah Ningrum, and Givary Muhammad. "Denoising of EEG signal based on word imagination using ICA for artifact and noise removal on unspoken speech." Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 22, no. 1 (April 1, 2021): 83. http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijeecs.v22.i1.pp83-88.
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<span>The purpose of this research is to observe the effectiveness of independent component analysis (ICA) method for denoising raw EEG signals based on word imagination, which will be used for word classification on unspoken speech. The electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are signals that represent the electrical activities of the human brain when someone is doing activities, such as sleeping, thinking or other physical activities. EEG data based on the word imagination used for the research is accompanied by artifacts, that come from muscle movements, heartbeat, eye blink, voltage and so on. In previous studies, the ICA method has been widely used and effective for relieving physiological artifacts. Artifact to signal ratio (ASR) is used to measure the effectiveness of ICA in this study. If the ratio is getting larger, the ICA method is considered effective for clearing noise and artifacts from the EEG data. Based on the experiment, the obtained ASR values from 11 subjects on 14 electrodes amounted are within the range of 0,910 to 1,080. Thus, it can be concluded that ICA is effective for removing artifacts from EEG signals based on word imagination.</span>
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Shen, Yi. "Emerging scenarios of data infrastructure and novel concepts of digital libraries in intelligent infrastructure for human-centred communities: A qualitative research." Journal of Information Science 45, no. 5 (November 22, 2018): 691–704. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0165551518811459.
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This research investigated the strategic development of a large-scale transdisciplinary area, named intelligent infrastructure for human-centred communities, at Virginia Tech. Within such development, this study explored the future vision and anticipated scenarios of data infrastructure and digital libraries for smart community development. It draws upon the mixed-methods approach combining ethnographic participant observation, document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Grounded in socio-technical framework and rooted in empirical methods, this research produces results that augment design thinking and visioning practice for digital data libraries beyond traditional boundaries. The findings reveal the emerging scenarios around complex adaptive systems, intelligent data infrastructure and future digital libraries all in the context of building infrastructure for human-centred communities. Situated in this advancing reality, the results further discuss the next-generation data and information user experience, smart infrastructure data environment and future library capabilities. The article concludes that a smart library system, whether in its conceptual form of a ‘digital octopus’ or a ‘smart village data hub’ or an ‘intelligent virtual assistant’, will provide intelligence in data gathering, processing, summarising, communication and recommendations. By delivering unified and personalised data solutions, it will offer an end-to-end seamless experience for users throughout their journey of knowledge pursuit.