Critical Analysis of Complex Systems Science and Mechanics

For many highly complex, ecological, physical and societal structures, the conventional hypotheses that underpin many theoretical and analytical frameworks are false. Complex systems research elucidates why and when such preconceptions are incorrect, as well as alternate paradigms for comprehending complex series characteristics. Complexity characteristics, the tradeoff between effectiveness and adaptation, the need of matching the complexities of networks to that of their surroundings, multiresolution assessment, and evolution are among the fundamental concepts of Complex Systems (CS) research introduced in this study. Instead of simulating particular dynamics, we concentrate on the general characteristics of systems. We didactically explain a theoretical and analytic strategy for comprehending and engaging with the complicated processes of our environment rather than giving a complete overview. This article requires just a middle school mathematics and science foundation in order to make it approachable to researchers from all disciplines, decision-makers from business, government, and charity, and anybody engaged in networks and civilization.

Review of Queer in Translation: Sexual Politics under Neoliberal Islam by Evren Savcı (Duke University Press)

Evren Savcı’s Queer in Translation presents an alternative, both in methodology and analysis, to the Orientalist analytical frameworks typical of Western scholars studying queer politics in Middle Eastern regions. Specifically, Savcı analyzes the rise of Turkey’s Adalet ve Kalınma Partisi (AKP; in English, the Justice and Development Party) to show how the AKP’s increased securitization and oppression of marginalized communities—including, but not limited to, Turkey’s LGBTQ community—is the result of the marriage of Islam and neoliberalism. Savci produces compelling case studies that reveal how Turkey’s weaponization of religion, morality, and capitalism serve to secure the nation against dissenting citizens. From the discourse surrounding the complicated murder of a gay Kurdish man, to unlikely solidarities between religious hijabi women and LGBTQ activists, and the public commons that became Gezi Park, Savci’s critical translation methods reveal how the language to construct and resist securitization in Turkey are far more nuanced than simple attribution to solely Islamist extremism or Western neoliberal influence.

How Teachers in Elementary Schools Evaluate Their Classroom Environments: An Evaluation of Functions of the Classroom Through an Environmental Approach

Understanding the educational environment and effectively regulating it in consistent with educational objectives is an important factor in facilitating teaching and a crucial ability for the teachers. Investigating the perception of 12 classroom teachers at four elementary schools about their classroom environment, this study aims to reveal the situation about their classroom environment, its effects, and the desired classroom environment in terms of the functions of the classroom environment. Two analytical frameworks, Classroom Functions Theory as well as Environmental Competence, are means to understand this topic. A semi-structured interview form and an observation form were used as data collection instruments. In the study, it was observed that the majority of teachers were able to evaluate the classroom environment, but they remained unsolved about how the classroom can be designed better. Besides, the teachers stated that their classroom environments performed social, symbolic identity, and task instrumentality functions in a limited way for various reasons while largely functioning the shelter and security. Finally, the teachers emphasized that their classes did not fulfill growth and pleasure functions and that most of their desires about the classroom environment were related to these functions.

Informality, innovation, and knowledge co-creation: characterising collaborative creativity and adaptation in rural development

This article characterises informal knowledge creation and co-creation between development and pastoralist actors, drawing on qualitative data gathered during an in-depth case study in Northern Kenya. Using thematic analysis, this article identifies three intersecting narratives: knowledge and exchange, barriers and drivers, and risk and uncertainty. These concepts are interpreted using wider literature on knowledge dynamics and co-creation to evaluate the suitability of existing analytical frameworks for further research on pastoralist development. The study results highlight the value of cross-cultural informal knowledge co-creation for pastoralist development, and the need for more robust future research.

Trading and Technology: An Information Systems Course Application

Financial markets today are highly computerized -- from software-driven order submission to price determination to straight-through clearing and settlement -- computer technology has displaced manual activities and streamlined functions throughout the trading value chain. The previous chapters examined microeconomic principles that underpin trading and price-setting, and finance theory that provides analytical frameworks for market outcomes. Our analysis introduces real market frictions and examines how transactions costs and heterogeneity among market participants makes market structure and tracing mechanism design crucial determinants of market outcomes and behavior. . In this chapter, we drill down further into the realities of a non-frictionless market in order to focus on how technology can enhance the efficiency of an actual marketplace. Challenging market design issues are encountered when developing and operating an actual trading facility, and as IT professionals know, the devil is in the details. The practical considerations in operating a market system successfully are the next topic this book addresses.

Examining the opportunities and challenges of the Kra Canal: a PESTELE/SWOT analysis

PurposeMuch literature considers future impacts of the Kra Canal on shipping times and on individual countries. In this paper, the authors consider the maritime business potential of the Kra Canal for companies, ports and countries.Design/methodology/approachBased on a combination of a review of the extant literature, quantitative data from relevant calculations and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with experts (n = 20) from four countries in the region, this paper contextualises the business potential of the Kra Canal through a PESTELE (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal and ethical) analysis before outlining a more targeted SWOT (strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to consider the potential for maritime business.FindingsThe PESTELE analysis reveals that there are a number of challenges related to the construction and possibility of the Kra Canal being built such as its impact on the political balance within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. The SWOT analysis shows that the potential of the Kra Canal for maritime business is significant, and that the strengths and opportunities of increased route possibilities and reduced sailing times outweigh any weaknesses and threats.Originality/valueMost studies into the Kra Canal focus on highly specific research targets or provide a particular perspective (e.g. historical). This paper, by drawing on two commonly used analytical frameworks, considers the canal for the first time from a wider context perspective as well as a specifically business one. Recommendations are made for policy makers and maritime businesses on the basis of the results.

Unearthing conscious intent in women’s everyday resistance to mining in Indonesia

Resistance to nickel mining in Sorowako, Indonesia has existed since the operation started taking land from farmers in the 1970s. However, in Sorowako and beyond, little is known about the gendered nature of everyday resistance to mining. We conducted a photovoice study with women from two Indigenous communities affected by the same mine to uncover conscious intent in everyday resistance. Some scholars call for abandoning intent and consciousness in analytical frameworks for everyday resistance, but by pairing photovoice with a conjunctural exercise, we found women’s awareness of how dispossession and exploitation for mining affects them and their responses to mining as rural Indigenous women. The participants used photovoice to show that their everyday acts, such as accessing forbidden land, intend to lessen their domination and better their conditions, a kind of quiet encroachment of the ordinary theorized by Bayat.

The EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility: A Next Phase in EU Socioeconomic Governance?

The European Semester (Semester) was implemented a decade ago. Ample research has addressed the Semester’s development, including some major changes in processes and content (Verdun & Zeitlin, 2018). The Covid-19 crisis seems to mark the next stage in the evolution of the Semester. It connects the Semester with the wider Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and links its country-specific recommendations to conditional financial support. Thus, the next stage of the Semester suggests a stronger and more deliberate interlinkage of different EU tools that jointly guide national socioeconomic policies. It should support both national public investment and reforms while focusing on meeting the EU priority of moving towards a climate-neutral, digitalized, and resilient Europe (De la Porte & Dagnis Jensen, 2021). This article addresses the question of what room the new-style Semester gives to the involvement of national-level actors, such as national parliaments. Therefore, it expands existing analytical frameworks in order to assess the RRF in connection to the Semester, focusing on the degree of obligation, enforcement, and centralisation. Jointly, this outlines the room the RRF gives to the participation of national actors in the Semester. The article concludes that although the national parliaments are not mentioned in the Regulation establishing the RRF, they could claim a role both in developing national plans for accessing financial support as well as in amending and approving reforms.

Paul and Sacred Space

This chapter analyses the terms with which Paul of Tarsus designates various sacred spaces—hieron, naos, eidoleion, ekklesia—in conversation with the archaeology of sacred spaces, research on the Pauline house churches, and with the help of theories of space, new materialism, and the sacred. The chapter starts with an introduction of the analytical frameworks and ends with ideas about ‘monumentalization’: that the social-structural relations between people in a sacred space tended to materialize over time into purpose-built buildings—hence the double meanings of synagogue, ekklesia, and hieron as designations both of assemblies and later of the buildings accommodating the respective assemblies. A central argument is that Paul’s letters constitute a special case in the development of the early Christian ekklesia and the parallel development of the synagogue, because in Paul’s time the temple in Jerusalem was still standing and was a self-evident part of his religious universe.

Four pillars of Luhmann’s analytical apparatus: Applications for communication research

By extending Andersen’s (2003) propositions, the current paper formalizes Luhmann’s four fundamental analytical frameworks and proposes a model that delineates the relations among them. That is, with the form analysis as the base framework, observation analysis is considered the social extension of form analysis as it involves the distinction observer / observed or ego / alter. Differentiation analysis is described as the factual extension of form as it distinguishes a system (this) and everything else (in its environment). Finally, semantic analysis is considered the temporal extension of form analysis as it focuses on the condensation of meaning over time. In addition, to overcome the abstractness of descriptions in the existing literature, this paper suggests the workable definitions that operationalize the analytical frames. Rich research examples are also presented to demonstrate the broad applicability of the four frameworks in communication research and their analytical gains. These theory-driven analytical frameworks are expected to provide meaningful connections between empirical data and theories, thereby enriching the field of communication research. In turn, more empirical applications will contribute to Luhmann’s systems theory by bringing in productive insights.