Alternative Typology Research Articles

Hybrid Regimes and Political (Dis)Order

This paper studies the concept of “hybrid regimes”, not so much in defining and authenticating their functionality but, above all, to exhibit them as so-called “partial” constitutional concepts. Articulating the tensions, divergences, and antagonisms characteristic of these regimes, as well as highlighting the blurring boundaries between democratic systems and authoritarianism “with adjectives”, emphasizes the importance of the examined issues. The author introduces an alternative conceptualization and typology of hybrid regimes and a configurational approach. Instead of placing political regimes on a linear continuum – from authoritarianism to democracy – multidimensional solutions facilitating an alternative typology of the analyzed concepts have been exposed. The configuration approach, however, provides an analytically valuable way to evaluate and integrate hybrid regimes with other classification schemes. Such innovations, therefore, help alleviate conceptual confusion in the literature. Moreover, deepening the understanding of the concept of hybrid regimes, along with emphasizing its conceptual ambiguities and complexity – especially concerning the “politically correct” discourse on the current problems of fragile and politically unstable states – is necessary to better understand the complex and confusing nature of modern regimes of power frequently operating in the most politically unstable regions of the contemporary world.

Thin shell foundations: Quantification of embodied carbon reduction through materially efficient geometry

AbstractBuilding foundation systems are a significant but understudied contributor to embodied carbon emissions of the built environment, and typically use excess material in prismatic, bending-dominated typologies. This paper identifies and characterizes a promising pathway for reducing the embodied carbon associated with reinforced concrete shallow foundations through an alternative typology, thin shell foundations. The main focus is a quantification and comparison of the environmental impact of typical spread footings and materially efficient shell foundations. Validated analytical engineering equations are applied in a parametric design workflow for the same design load and soil bearing capacity. By iterating through this workflow systematically, insights are gained regarding the applicability of shell foundations to various building typologies and site conditions. Results show that for small column loads and weak soils, shells reduce embodied carbon by about half compared to spread footings. For high applied loads, shells significantly outperform their prismatic counterparts, reducing the environmental impact by almost two-thirds. Foundations are then considered within the context of a whole building structural frame to determine the potential downstream savings when multiple systems are optimized to reduce material use and mass. When floor slabs are shape-optimized in addition to using shell foundations, a building structural system can be constructed for nearly one-quarter of the embodied carbon of a typical system. To take advantage of these potential savings, a method for fabricating thin shell foundations, where earth is compacted and milled to create the formwork, is presented following a review of digital fabrication methods.

Generative Facade Elements Recommendation for Diyarbakır Traditional U Plan Type Residences

Genetic algorithm (GA) are based on the continuation of fitter ones’ lives considering the natural evolution. Data are coded as genes in the genetic algorithms. Optimal solutions can be achieved through the methods of crossing and mutation performed on these coded genes. Facade elements of the buildings with an architectural design in this study are independent of sustainability-related concerns, suggesting a great issue for the new buildings to be constructed in the traditional pattern. Accordingly, using the genetic algorithm method, proposals were presented for the new door and window typologies with genetic fitness for the architectural designing process of the buildings to be constructed in Suriçi Region, Diyarbakır, Turkey. Shape grammar, fractal and genetic algorithm, three generative designing systems, were used as the methods. Utilizing the genetic algorithm method, a field study was performed for the proposal of new door and window typologies with the fitness value. The field study was assessed through the plans and facade analyses regarding six Diyarbakır traditional houses with U plan type in Suriçi region of Diyarbakır. An identity card was created for the plan and facade data of the buildings and transferred to the table. Then, the door and window typologies of the exterior facade elements of each examined building were crossed within themselves with the GA method. As a result of the crossover, alternative joinery typologies with a total of 31 windows and 53 different door typologies with compatibility values were produced. Thus, the sustainability of the data of traditional joinery typologies for use in contemporary houses has been ensured. In conclusion, optimal alternative typologies were presented in regard to every chopping typology assessed with the genetic algorithm method. It is thought that this study should be a method that can be used in the production of exterior joinery typologies of contemporary houses to be built in many different cities of our country, especially in the historical texture. Thus, by using the GA method for the production of exterior joinery typologies of contemporary houses to be built in the region, different designers will be able to obtain various designs compatible with the traditional architectural texture while preserving their originality.

Digital Anti-Corruption Typology for Public Sector

Many digital anti-corruption tools have not performed well in practice due to their non-alignment with forms of corruption they are supposed to fight against, the persistence of corruption-enabling conditions, activities, and procedures where it occurs, public sector areas where it occurs, anti-corruption principles and conceptual aspects of corruption. This paper aims to fill this gap with an alternative typology of digital anti-corruption in the public sector that helps to decide what digital measures to apply to fight against specific forms of corruption or address specific corruption-enabling conditions within given areas, activities and procedures in the public sector. The main objective of this paper was to highlight anti-corruption typologies and propose an alternative typology for digital anti-corruption. The proposed typology integrates theoretical constructs from the typology of anti-corruption policies and the TASP framework augmented with digital technologies. It includes six main components: categories of digital technologies, forms of corruption, activities and procedures, public sector areas, anti-corruption principles, and conceptual aspects of corruption. The study developed a typology by adhering to the “good” typology blueprint, which involves limiting the scope, defining concepts, and synthesising findings. By scoping review methods, the study identified various digital anti-corruption technologies relevant to the public sector’s corruption and anti-corruption measures. The paper contributes to existing anti-corruption typologies by proposing a multi-dimensional typology focusing on digital anti-corruption that enhances anti-corruption measures. The typology prescribes effective digital anti-corruption solutions for different corruption scenarios like job appointment and promotion based on connections and inflating public payroll with names of non-existent workers. The typology will provide policymakers, adopters of technical solutions and managers of adopting organisations with information to improve the development, design, adoption, and use of digital anti-corruption in the public sector. The typology is grounded in research and policy literature and validated using real-life examples.

The Organizational Roots of State Capacity

How does state structure affect state capacity? The long-standing debate over centralization versus decentralization overlooks the broader organizational complexity of states and state bureaucracies. To address this problem, this article proposes an alternative typology of state organizational forms: nodal versus diffuse. Nodal forms concentrate decision-making power in a limited set of key actors at intermediary levels of the state hierarchy. Diffuse forms distribute decision-making power across many overlapping lines of authority. Nodal forms contribute to state capacity by combining the coordination advantages of centralization with the accountability and autonomy of decentralization, whereas diffuse forms make these processes more challenging. Empirically, this article compares two paradigmatic cases—China’s and India’s railway bureaucracies—to show how their nodal and diffuse forms, respectively, shape their ability to complete railway projects. These findings suggest that the organizational structure of state bureaucracies is an important yet underexplored factor underlying state capacity.

Study on Daylight Performance and Spatial Configuration of Low-cost Apartment Building in Indonesia through Computational Simulation

Daylight is one of the variables in measuring the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) of buildings. Optimizing daylighting in design will benefit the health of building occupants and also potentially contribute to energy saving. Most of the low-cost apartment buildings have a problem in providing daylight for the habitable space. This paper investigates the daylight performance of low-cost apartment buildings based on the space configuration. This study used two bed-rooms low-cost apartments (36 square meters) as a simulation model. Three building types used in this simulation are 1) The general typology, 2) The government typology, and 3) The alternative typology. This study used DIALux 9.1 software to simulate the daylight performance in a Low-cost apartment building. The simulation results are analysed and compared with the natural lighting standard for the building (SNI 03-6575-2001). The study shows that the alternative building type provides the best daylight performance in terms of an average levels of illuminance and distribution.

Four typologies for understanding local information

PurposeThis study aims to propose the four different typologies for understanding local information.Design/methodology/approachThis study applied a conceptual approach to analyze and clarify how the concept local information can be understood in wildly different ways. Furthermore, this study employed conceptual analysis of 36 studies. For the conceptual analysis, coding was applied to formulate and abstract four typologies for understanding local information with specific focus on the Thai cultural heritage setting.FindingsThe four different typologies include local information as an array of different interpretations as diverse meanings of local, local information as cultural heritage, local information as subject of information management and situated local information.Research limitations/implicationsThis study mainly focuses relevant typologies for understanding local information in the Thai context.Originality/valueThis study contributes and extends the literature in the local information field and the cultural heritage context. In addition, an eclectic strategy of using several alternative typologies for dealing with essentially contested concepts is suggested. This can be useful not only for supporting librarians working with local information but also in other practices dealing with broadly defined concepts.

Alternative typologies of case study theorizing: Causal explanation versus theory development as a classification dimension

Alternative typologies of case study theorizing: Causal explanation versus theory development as a classification dimension

Key Elements for a New Spanish Legal and Architectural Design of Adequate Housing for Seniors in a Pandemic Time

The provision of housing for the elderly in Spain has been approached from a public policy perspective to understand social housing and the allocation of specialized social services. The lockdowns in cities and the need to remain at home with social isolation and social distance has especially affected the most vulnerable groups, creating situations that widen the gap in the provision of adequate housing. Research is being carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Málaga, funded by European FEDER funds awarded by the Andalusian Regional Government (VIDA project), to analyze the main characteristics connected with “ideal” adequate housing for a vulnerable senior person living alone or in social isolation due to the quarantine period. In this study, we draw a line between the need for adequate housing, the chance to remodel, and the opportunity to propose new Spanish legal approaches from an architectural perspective within the scope of alternative typologies of housing. This article deals with the preliminary findings of the research connected to the architectural review, exploring key elements for senior housing design, and highlighting the need to approach the issue by proposing a new regulation.

Typology of Use of Plant Growth Regulators by Farmers in Wonorejo Village, Malang-Indonesia

In an effort to increase the growth of plants, in general, farmers use growth regulator substances such as auksin, giberelin, and cytokinin. In an effort to analyze the behavior of plant growth regulator (PGRs), the purpose of this research is to analyze the typology of plant growth regulator. The research design used is descriptive qualitative. The research informant is 10 a member of Organic Farmer Group of Sumber Urip-1 Wonorejo Village, Poncokusumo Subdistrict, Malang District. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling. Data collection methods used were in-depth interviews and participant observation. Data analysis used in this research is qualitative analysis by content analysis by using Interactive Model from Miles and Huberman. In this study, magna findings or concepts about the use of plant growth regulators will be analyzed based on the Social Movement Typology theory. Based on the results of the study can be concluded that the use of plant growth regulators included in Alternative Social Movement Typology.

The Ideological Dimensionality in the Middle Eastern and North African Constitutions: A New Era in the Evolution of Islamic Constitutionalism

The popular movements in 2011 led to many regime changes that resulted in amended or new constitutions in the Middle East and North Africa region. The constitutional debates concentrated mainly on the functions of the constitutions in authoritarian regimes, constitution-making processes, and the role of Islam during and after the uprisings. However, no research has analyzed the ideological dimensionality of the Middle Eastern and North African constitutions. By analyzing 19 newly enacted, drafted, and amended constitutions before and after the popular movements in the region, this article shows that the single ideological dimension in the constitutions can be defined by the openness of a state for liberal and modern values. This ideological dimension encompasses all the regional political debates on the political regime dynamics, the inclusion of rights and liberties, and the role of Islam. Besides offering an alternative typology for the constitutions in the region, this article also provides evidence for the beginning of the fourth phase of Islamic constitutionalism that merges the ideas of rule of law, which originates from democratic notions, and Islamic norms.

Design exploration of quantitative performance and geometry typology for indoor arena based on self-organizing map and multi-layered perceptron neural network

During the early design process, simulations allow numeric assessment and 3D models allow visual inspection for qualitative criteria. However, exploring different design alternatives based on both is challenging. To support the design exploration of quantitative performance and geometry typology of various design alternatives during the early design stages of indoor arenas, this paper proposed a novel design method of SOM-MLPNN by combing self-organizing map (SOM) and multi-layer perceptron neural network (MLPNN), based on the inspiration of local linear mapping based on self-organizing map (SOM-LLM). In SOM-LLM or SOM-MLPNN, the SOM can support designers to explore the whole design space according to geometry typologies and provides reference/labelled inputs for LLM/MLPNN to approximate multiple quantitative performance data for various design alternatives. Both SOM-LLM and SOM-MLPNN are applied and compared in a design of indoor arena. Besides the development of the method, original contributions include 1) proposing two operations (using a large size of SOM network and using a small amount of input data to train the SOM network) to save the computational time and increase the accuracy in data approximation and 2) proposing a series of data visualizations to interpret the results and support design explorations in different ways.

Typology of contract farming arrangements: a transaction cost perspective

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes an alternative typology of contract farming arrangements (CFA) based on transaction cost theory. To construct the typology, we first surveyed managers of agribusiness firms and contracted farmers in Zimbabwe to understand the provisions in their contracts, the motivations for their inclusion and the level of transaction attributes, particularly the sub-categories of asset specificity and uncertainty. We then developed a two-by-two matrix of contract types based on the interaction of transaction attributes. The results show that four contract types can be distinguished: total, group, lean and market contracts. Furthermore, CFAs that are misaligned with transaction attributes have problems of side-selling and inefficiency. Our new empirically based categorisation can help managers and policymakers to design CFAs that match with underlying transaction attributes, thus enhancing the stability and efficiency of CFAs.

Nahmanides’ typological interpretation of the encounter between Abram and Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18–20)

Many of Nahmanides’ typological interpretations are closely associated with rabbinic Midrash and with Rashi’s comments, themselves based on Midrash. An exceptional deviation from the interpretation of the Midrash and Rashi is found in Nahmanides’ typological commentary on the encounter between Abram and Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18–20). Nahmanides, like the Midrash and Rashi, explains the encounter as hinting to the future priestly services in the Temple. But while the Midrash and Rashi emphasize the bread and wine offerings of Melchizedek, these are omitted from Nahmanides’ commentary. The focus is shifted from Melchizedek’s actions and gifts to those of Abram. Thus Nahmanides’ interpretation offers an alternative typology to that of the rabbis and Rashi and he refrains from even mentioning their typological interpretation. The present article offers an explanation for this exception, in the light of anti-Christian polemic and the typological significance of Melchizedek and his offerings in the Christian interpretation.

Revising order or challenging the balance of military power? An alternative typology of revisionist and status-quo states

AbstractUnimensional accounts of revisionism – those that align states along a single continuum from supporting the status quo to seeking a complete overhaul of the international system – miss important variation between a desire to alter the balance of military power and a desire to alter other elements of international order. We propose a two-dimensional property space that generates four ideal types: status-quo actors, who are satisfied with both order and the distribution of power; reformist actors, who are fine with the current distribution of power but seek to change elements of order; positionalist actors, who see no reason to alter the international order but do aim to shift the distribution of power; and revolutionary actors, who want to overturn both international order and the distribution of capabilities. This framework helps make sense of a number of important debates about hegemony and international order, such as the possibility of revisionist hegemonic powers, controversies over the concept of ‘soft balancing’, and broader dynamics of international goods substitution during power transitions.

Immigrants and Poverty. The Role of Labour Market and Welfare State AccessEugster, BeatriceLondon/New York, ECPR Press/Rowman&Littlefield (2018), 259 p., ISBN 978‐1785522932

Book Review: Are immigrants poorer than natives? Which categories of immigrants are poorer? Do immigrants’ poverty patterns follow the traditional welfare state regime typology? Can institutions–particularly social rights in terms of access to welfare provision and the labour market–explain the variation in immigrants’ poverty levels? These are the fundamental questions that Beatrice Eugster analyses in her new book.

Characterizing outdoor recreation user groups: A typology of peri-urban recreationists in the Kromme Rijn area, the Netherlands

Increasing urbanization accompanied by a growing demand for recreational use of peri-urban green spaces is likely to cause land-use conflicts. The nature of these conflicts is subject to the heterogeneous preferences of outdoor recreationists. Although the importance of diversifying between recreational user groups has been acknowledged in the literature, most studies - and especially studies on landscape preferences - focus on specific user groups and are not operationalized for creating a recreationist typology. This study presents a typology on case-study level accounting for variations in landscape preferences, visitation behavior, and socio-demographic information. The typology is based on data originating from a structured questionnaire with a total of 200 respondents. It is constructed by employing two commonly used data-driven methods for typology development: PCA of preferences for landscape characteristics and cluster analysis of all data (landscape preferences, visitation behavior and socio-economic variables) to derive alternative typologies. Comparing the results of both types of analysis leads to a consistent picture of the main differences between three distinct outdoor recreation user groups which we refer to as ‘the convenience recreationist’, ‘the day tripper’ and ‘the culture/nature recreationist’. The first user group prefers convenient, short-term recreation, close to home. The second group is characterized by clear preferences for one-day recreational activities and destinations, while the last group is mainly defined by its strong interest in culture and nature. Our study identified large variations in outdoor recreation preferences and recreation needs between these three user groups. Understanding the heterogeneity of recreation preferences can help to articulate effective landscape management strategies, targeted to ensure the multi-functional character of peri-urban landscapes for different types of users.

Comparing methods of classifying life courses: sequence analysis and latent class analysis

We compare life course typology solutions generated by sequence analysis (SA) and latent class analysis (LCA). First, we construct an analytic protocol to arrive at typology solutions for both methodologies and present methods to compare the empirical quality of alternative typologies. We apply this protocol to develop and compare SA- and LCA-derived family-life typologies for women born between 1960 and 1964 in 15 European countries, using data from the Family and Fertility Survey. This paper contributes to the use of these classification techniques in four different ways. First, we present guidelines on how to establish the number of classes or clusters to use. Second, we show how to evaluate the stability of these clusters. Third, we provide a way to evaluate the validity of these clusters and finally, we provide for a formal heuristic to relate the stochastically defined latent classes to the distance-based clusters found with SA.

Refining success and dropout in massive open online courses based on the intention–behavior gap

In this paper we present an alternative typology for determining success and dropout in massive open online courses (MOOCs). This typology takes the perspectives of MOOC-takers into account and is based on the their intentions and subsequent behaviour. An explorative study using two MOOCs was carried out to test the applicability of the typology. Following the traditional approach based on course completion to identify educational success, success rates were 6.5 and 5.6%. The success rates from the perspectives of the MOOC-taker were 59 and 70%. These findings demonstrate that merely looking at course completion as a measure for success does not suffice in the context of MOOCs. This change in addressing MOOC success and dropout provides an alternative view and demonstrates the importance of MOOC-takers’ perspectives.

Definitional and Conceptual Muddling: Identifying the Positionality of Employee Engagement and Defining the Construct

Numerous entangled definitions, words, measurements, and frameworks have been proposed when referring to employee engagement, as well as other engagement typologies. Consequently, researchers have routinely drawn atheoretical conclusions about the meaning of employee engagement, limiting the applicability of employee engagement in theory building and practice. The focal point of our work was to detail an explicit definition of employee engagement and juxtapose our definition alongside several existing frameworks and definitions. First, we detail and position an operational definition of employee engagement ground in seminal literature. Second, we systematically examine the engagement literature, highlighting both dominant types of engagement and alternative typologies. Third, we conclude by making meaning for the human resource development field, distinguishing the use of employee engagement in the literature as an outcome, psychological state, and process, and synthesize our findings through a brief discussion of implications for research and practice.