Self-organizing Capacity Research Articles

Purposing: How Purpose Develops Self-Organizing Capacities

Self-organization and organic-like organization are gaining more traction during the last few years with different forms and organizing structures, offering a potential alternative to mainstream tr...

Guided self-organization and cortical plate formation in human brain organoids.

Three-dimensional cell culture models have either relied on the self-organizing properties of mammalian cells or used bioengineered constructs to arrange cells in an organ-like configuration. While self-organizing organoids excel at recapitulating early developmental events, bioengineered constructs reproducibly generate desired tissue architectures. Here, we combine these two approaches to reproducibly generate human forebrain tissue while maintaining its self-organizing capacity. We use poly(lactide-co-glycolide) copolymer (PLGA) fiber microfilaments as a floating scaffold to generate elongated embryoid bodies. Microfilament-engineered cerebral organoids (enCORs) display enhanced neuroectoderm formation and improved cortical development. Furthermore, reconstitution of the basement membrane leads to characteristic cortical tissue architecture, including formation of a polarized cortical plate and radial units. Thus, enCORs model the distinctive radial organization of the cerebral cortex and allow for the study of neuronal migration. Our data demonstrate that combining 3D cell culture with bioengineering can increase reproducibility and improve tissue architecture.

Endothelial basement membrane laminin 511 is essential for shear stress response.

Corrigendum15 May 2017free access Endothelial basement membrane laminin 511 is essential for shear stress response Jacopo Di Russo orcid.org/0000-0001-6731-9612 Search for more papers by this author Anna-Liisa Luik orcid.org/0000-0003-0389-5850 Search for more papers by this author Lema Yousif Search for more papers by this author Sigmund Budny Search for more papers by this author Hans Oberleithner Search for more papers by this author Verena Hofschröer Search for more papers by this author Juergen Klingauf Search for more papers by this author Ed van Bavel Search for more papers by this author Erik NTP Bakker Search for more papers by this author Per Hellstrand Search for more papers by this author Anirban Bhattachariya Search for more papers by this author Sebastian Albinsson Search for more papers by this author Frederic Pincet Search for more papers by this author Rupert Hallmann Search for more papers by this author Lydia M Sorokin orcid.org/0000-0001-7704-7921 Search for more papers by this author Jacopo Di Russo orcid.org/0000-0001-6731-9612 Search for more papers by this author Anna-Liisa Luik orcid.org/0000-0003-0389-5850 Search for more papers by this author Lema Yousif Search for more papers by this author Sigmund Budny Search for more papers by this author Hans Oberleithner Search for more papers by this author Verena Hofschröer Search for more papers by this author Juergen Klingauf Search for more papers by this author Ed van Bavel Search for more papers by this author Erik NTP Bakker Search for more papers by this author Per Hellstrand Search for more papers by this author Anirban Bhattachariya Search for more papers by this author Sebastian Albinsson Search for more papers by this author Frederic Pincet Search for more papers by this author Rupert Hallmann Search for more papers by this author Lydia M Sorokin orcid.org/0000-0001-7704-7921 Search for more papers by this author Author Information Jacopo Di Russo, Anna-Liisa Luik, Lema Yousif, Sigmund Budny, Hans Oberleithner, Verena Hofschröer, Juergen Klingauf, Ed Bavel, Erik NTP Bakker, Per Hellstrand, Anirban Bhattachariya, Sebastian Albinsson, Frederic Pincet, Rupert Hallmann and Lydia M Sorokin EMBO J (2017)36:1464-1464https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.201797000 This article corrects the following: Endothelial basement membrane laminin 511 is essential for shear stress response09 December 2016 ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InMendeleyWechatReddit Figures & Info Editorial Note J. Di Russo and L. Sorokin were co-authors on another recent paper on laminin 511 in endothelial junctions in leukocyte extravasation (Song et al, 2017). Song et al (2017) was not made available for assessment by the editors and referees of this journal. While there is no reuse of specific text or figures between the two papers, it was an oversight to omit the citation to Song et al (2017). L. Sorokin, J. Di Russo and the Faculty of Medicine of Münster University, represented by Mathias Herrmann, agree with this statement. References Song J, Zhang X, Buscher K, Wang Y, Wang H, Di Russo J, Li L, Lütke-Enking S, Zarbock A, Stadtmann A, Striewski P, Wirth B, Kuzmanov I, Wiendl H, Schulte D, Vestweber D, Sorokin L (2017) Endothelial basement membrane laminin 511 contributes to endothelial junctional tightness and thereby inhibits leukocyte transmigration. Cell Rep 18: 1256–1269CrossrefCASPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar Next ArticlePrevious Article Read MoreAbout the coverClose modalView large imageVolume 36,Issue 10,15 May 2017Cover: The balance of brain organoid differentiation. This drawing illustrates the remarkable self-organization capacity of cerebral organoids that allows them to recapitulate human brain development in vitro. The authors show that organizing centers induce the formation of dorsal and ventral progenitor zones separated by a defined boundary – like a yin-yang symbolizing the balance between distinct but complementary entities. Color code: Dark red = Cortical hem signaling center Red = Pax6 positive radial glia progenitors in the dorsal forebrain Magenta = TBR2 positive intermediate progenitor cells in the dorsal forebrain Yellow-green = GSX2 positive progenitors in the ventral forebrain Green = DLX2 progenitors and young neurons in the ventral forebrain Cyan = VGAT positive interneurons migrating from ventral to dorsal forebrain Purple = Excitatory neurons generated in the dorsal forebrain From Magdalena Renner, Madeline A Lancaster, Jürgen A Knoblich and colleagues: Self-organized developmental patterning and differentiation in cerebral organoids. For details, see the Article on p 1316, also highlighted by Dias and Guillemot on p 1299. Artwork by Beata Edyta Mierzwa, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Vienna, Austria; (beatascienceart.com). Volume 36Issue 1015 May 2017In this issue ReferencesRelatedDetailsLoading ...

Osteopontin attenuates aging-associated phenotypes of hematopoietic stem cells.

Corrigendum15 May 2017free access Osteopontin attenuates aging-associated phenotypes of hematopoietic stem cells Novella Guidi Novella Guidi Search for more papers by this author Mehmet Sacma Mehmet Sacma Search for more papers by this author Ludger Ständker Ludger Ständker Search for more papers by this author Karin Soller Karin Soller Search for more papers by this author Gina Marka Gina Marka Search for more papers by this author Karina Eiwen Karina Eiwen Search for more papers by this author Johannes M Weiss Johannes M Weiss Search for more papers by this author Frank Kirchhoff Frank Kirchhoff Search for more papers by this author Tanja Weil Tanja Weil Search for more papers by this author Jose A Cancelas Jose A Cancelas Search for more papers by this author Maria Carolina Florian Maria Carolina Florian Search for more papers by this author Hartmut Geiger Hartmut Geiger orcid.org/0000-0001-7314-9891 Search for more papers by this author Novella Guidi Novella Guidi Search for more papers by this author Mehmet Sacma Mehmet Sacma Search for more papers by this author Ludger Ständker Ludger Ständker Search for more papers by this author Karin Soller Karin Soller Search for more papers by this author Gina Marka Gina Marka Search for more papers by this author Karina Eiwen Karina Eiwen Search for more papers by this author Johannes M Weiss Johannes M Weiss Search for more papers by this author Frank Kirchhoff Frank Kirchhoff Search for more papers by this author Tanja Weil Tanja Weil Search for more papers by this author Jose A Cancelas Jose A Cancelas Search for more papers by this author Maria Carolina Florian Maria Carolina Florian Search for more papers by this author Hartmut Geiger Hartmut Geiger orcid.org/0000-0001-7314-9891 Search for more papers by this author Author Information Novella Guidi, Mehmet Sacma, Ludger Ständker, Karin Soller, Gina Marka, Karina Eiwen, Johannes M Weiss, Frank Kirchhoff, Tanja Weil, Jose A Cancelas, Maria Carolina Florian and Hartmut Geiger The EMBO Journal (2017)36:1463-1463https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.201796968 This article corrects the following: Osteopontin attenuates aging-associated phenotypes of hematopoietic stem cells02 March 2017 ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InMendeleyWechatReddit Figures & Info We have found that panel A in Figure 5 (subpanel Old + C) is mistakenly a duplication of panel H in Figure 4 (subpanel Old + FL). According to our inspection of the original data sets, this is due to a mistake during the assembly of the panels. We show here the amended correct images for Figure 5, panel A (Old + C). Figure 5.Figure 5A, with correct panel Old + C. Download figure Download PowerPoint The change does not affect the original conclusions presented. We apologize for this mistake. All authors approve of this correction. Related Source data for Figure 5A, panel Old + C. Red: AcH4K16; Green: tubulin; Blue: DAPI. Previous ArticleNext Article Read MoreAbout the coverClose modalView large imageVolume 36,Issue 10,15 May 2017Cover: The balance of brain organoid differentiation. This drawing illustrates the remarkable self-organization capacity of cerebral organoids that allows them to recapitulate human brain development in vitro. The authors show that organizing centers induce the formation of dorsal and ventral progenitor zones separated by a defined boundary – like a yin-yang symbolizing the balance between distinct but complementary entities. Color code: Dark red = Cortical hem signaling center Red = Pax6 positive radial glia progenitors in the dorsal forebrain Magenta = TBR2 positive intermediate progenitor cells in the dorsal forebrain Yellow-green = GSX2 positive progenitors in the ventral forebrain Green = DLX2 progenitors and young neurons in the ventral forebrain Cyan = VGAT positive interneurons migrating from ventral to dorsal forebrain Purple = Excitatory neurons generated in the dorsal forebrain From Magdalena Renner, Madeline A Lancaster, Jürgen A Knoblich and colleagues: Self-organized developmental patterning and differentiation in cerebral organoids. For details, see the Article on p 1316, also highlighted by Dias and Guillemot on p 1299. Artwork by Beata Edyta Mierzwa, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Vienna, Austria; (beatascienceart.com). Volume 36Issue 1015 May 2017In this issue FiguresRelatedDetailsLoading ...

Creativity and the lyric address

This paper sets out to understand ‘creativity’ as a term with a now-ubiquitous role in describing contradictory dimensions of affective life in neoliberal capitalism. It argues that creativity can be read contra its current meaning (that is, as the capacity for flexibility, agility and selforganisation), achieving both a critique of ‘creative thinking’ and a reorientation of creative practice. In order to trial alternative ways of reading creativity, I look to the lyric poetry of Claudia Rankine. I propose, following others before me, that creativity as a key concept for neoliberalism informs ideas about creative practices such as poetry; this in turn informs publishing, reading and teaching practices. The lyric poem, in its twentieth-century sense (as more or less synonymous with poetry itself), is an exemplary textual form for neoliberal creativity, and yet the lyric as a form betrays a far more complex set of relationships around author, text and reader than is often assumed.

Organic by-products for sustainable soil remediation -the effect of 3 different amendments on the degradation of diesel fuel in a tropical ultisol

In many tropical developing countries, economic incentives are small for soil remediation to take place. Such locations demand special strategies that are energy-efficient, locally adapted and economic. In situ technologies are appealing where energy and material costs are more limiting than the time factor. One potentially sustainable and economic way to enhance the self-organizing capacity of soil ecosystems is by applications of locally available organic by-products to stimulate the polluted ecosystem´s inherent capacity to heal by utilising the embodied energy of the organic pollutant itself, as an energy source for the necessary biochemical transformations. Tropical climate is favourable for biodegradation but many tropical soils are rich in clay which can inhibit the bioavailability of the pollutant and reduce biodegradation kinetics. A pilot scale experiment was performed in order to assess the capability of three amendments based on by-products; whey, pyroligneous acid and compost tea, to enhance degradation of diesel in ultisol. Biweekly applications of 6 mL whey kg-1 soilsignificantly increased the degradation rate but no positive effect on degradation was found of any of the other amendments.

Imperial Russia’s Civil Society, 1750–1917

A. S. Tumanova, Obshchestvennye organizatsii Rossii v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny (1914-fevral' 1917g.) (Public/Civic Organizations in Russia during World War I [1914-February 1917]). 327 pp., illus. Moscow: Rosspen, 2014. ISBN-13 978-5824319002. A. S. Tumanova, ed., Samoorganizatsiia rossiiskoi obshchestvennosti vposlednei treti XVIII--nachale XX v. (Self-Organization of the Russian Public from the Last Third of the 18th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century). 883 pp. Moscow: Rosspen, 2011. ISBN-13 978-5824315288. The two works under review--a compilation describing self-organization of society in imperial Russia from the 18th century through the beginning of the 20th century, which Anastasiia Tumanova has edited and to which she contributes four chapters, and Tumanova's monograph on Russian society during World War I--determine the strength and liveliness of civil society in imperial Russia. These works leave no doubt that the still influential view of pre-Soviet Russia as an agrarian backwater, whose populace was devoid of initiative and cowed by a capricious, authoritarian government, and the correlative theory that political repression precipitated the revolutions of 1917 must both be relegated to the dustbin. The publications under review document that the Russian government was paternalistic, intrusive, and often moved at a glacial pace. Still, sometimes the government moved with lightning speed, implementing the Great Reforms in the 1860s and 1870s and establishing the State Duma, the reformed State Council, and a modicum of civil rights in 1905-6. Moreover, and this is important, the imperial Russian government did allow Russian citizens space in which to manage their own affairs. Tumanova's two works, under review here, emphasize that Russian citizens had plenty of capacity for self-organization. The 1991 American compilation Between Tsar and People: Educated Society and the Quest for Public Identity in Late Imperial Russia provided introductory information on diverse voluntary and civic groups. (1) Tumanova's edited volume and her monograph are more detailed and, additionally, focus on the laws and legal aspects of establishing civic societies and maintaining them in imperial Russia. The compilation is an encyclopedic tome, synthesizing secondary sources and newly available archival evidence. Its 14 packed chapters analyze a myriad of voluntary societies and contain more than 20 pages listing voluntary societies. V. Ia. Grosul's chapter 1, Tumanovas chapter 2, and I. S. Rozental's chapter 6 recount that educated wealthy nobles, following familiarity with organizations in Western Europe, began to organize themselves into clubs in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These chapters and Tumanova's chapters 3 and 4 (proffering precise statistics), as well as her chapter 7, co-authored with Rozental', affirm that even though in Russia, as in Germany and Austria, societies had to be approved by the government, from the mid-19th-century clubs and societies of all kinds--philanthropic, literary and artistic, educational, leisure, nature, sports-related, devoted to gambling and to politics--proliferated astronomically among merchants and broad swaths of the rest of the population, including religious organizations and members of the imperial family. Tumanova's forte is legal analysis, and she reviews in detail how legislation affected the organization of societies and clubs (193-216). In particular, she emphasizes that the Temporary Regulation on Societies, issued by the tsar in March 1906, speeded up this process (209-16). The volume also vividly illustrates peasant involvement in voluntary societies. The Russian Empire was predominantly agrarian, and more than 80 percent of the population was listed under the rubric of peasant. However, the peasantry was very diverse and not inert. Although, until 1861, half the peasants were serfs, nonpersons who had no right to own property or sue in a court of law, peasants did so anyway. …

The Swarming of Mimesis. A review of William Connolly, Facing the Planetary: Entangled Humanism and the Politics of Swarming

The Swarming of Mimesis. A review of William Connolly, Facing the Planetary:Entangled Humanism and the Politics of Swarming Nidesh Lawtoo (bio) Connolly, William. Facing the Planetary: Entangled Humanism and the Politics of Swarming. Duke UP, 2017. Despite—or rather because of—the cosmic scope of William Connolly's latest book, Facing the Planetary does not propose a reflection on universal, transcendental ideas about what the planetary condition is, or should be. Nor does it encourage readers to advance to "the edge of the universe" (13) in search of alternative, habitable planets. It is rather from within a gravitational pull of immanent forces faithful to planet Earth that Connolly, in his singular and plural voice, invites us to explore "a series of attempts to face the planetary" (9) and to reevaluate the dicey entanglements of political, cultural, and natural processes that are currently giving new speed to the age of the "Anthropocene." Adopting the eagle-eyed perspective of a political theorist who remains true to the ancient vocation of this term (theory, from theaomai, to behold, and horaô, to see), Connolly aspires to make us see our fragile and beautiful planet from the temporal distance the Anthropocene imposes. He does so by plunging, with intellectual courage, theoretical sophistication, and deeply felt appreciation for the human and nonhuman forces that tie human destinies to what he calls "the planetary," by which he means "a series of temporal force fields, such as climate patterns, drought zones, the ocean conveyor system, species evolution, glacier flows, and hurricanes that exhibit self-organizing capacities to varying degrees and that impinge upon each other and human life in numerous ways" (4). The task of articulating the plural modalities in which self-organizing planetary processes impinge on human processes of becoming, while humans are simultaneously acting as aggressive geological forces on the planet, calls for an open, experimental, and transversal disciplinary approach. Swimming against mainstream academic tendencies that all too often still confine research to narrow territorial turfs, Connolly establishes much-needed "heterogeneous connections" that straddle the science/humanities divide. In particular, he draws on a "minor tradition of Western philosophy" (from Nietzsche to Whitehead, Foucault to Deleuze) "that resists dominant nature/culture and nonlife/life division" (97), while at the same time engaging with recent developments in the earth sciences, evolutionary biology, and the neurosciences. This cross-disciplinary assemblage allows him, in turn, to face a multitude of entangled (non)human problematics central to the contemporary condition as diverse as climate change, tectonic plates, the ocean-conveyor system, neoliberal capitalism, free will, consciousness, and different spiritual creeds by moving back and forth between macro- and micro-politics. "My aspiration here," he writes, "is to face the planetary while connecting that face to regional, racial, and urban issues with which it is imbricated" (33). Connolly's aspiration rests on a pluralist, materialist, and immanent ontology that will be familiar to readers of his latest books—Pluralism, A World of Becoming, and The Fragility of Things—and that continues to inform Facing the Planetary as well. At the most fundamental level, this political ontology is succinctly articulated in the opening affirmation that this book posits the "primacy of forces over forms" insofar as these human and nonhuman "forces . . . both enable and exceed a stability of forms" (6). For Connolly, then, there is an excessive, protean, and unpredictable power animating planetary forces that always threatens to disrupt the equilibrium of rational human forms. Creatively convoking advocates of an ontology of becoming to face the specific challenges of rapid human-induced climate change and its devastating effects (global warming, polar ice-cap melting, ocean acidification, rising-sea waters, hurricanes), Connolly posits an unstable world of immanence over a stable world of transcendence; the power of a material world that has been considered ontologically "false" in the past over intelligible ideal "Forms" that are currently proving illusory in the present; horizontal, rhizomatic assemblages over vertical unitary ideas; in short, forces over forms. While the ontological opposition could not be clearer, the agonistic (yet respectful) confrontation could not be more ancient—and contemporary. It is thus no wonder that Connolly does not open his book by proposing a stabilizing, unifying meta-theory...

Successful Geriatric Rehabilitation: Effects on Patients’ Outcome of a National Program to Improve Quality of Care, the SINGER Study

ObjectiveTo determine whether the implementation of a national program to improve quality of care in geriatric rehabilitation (GR) in the Netherlands improves successful GR in terms of independence in activities of daily living (ADL), discharge destination, and length of stay. DesignProspective longitudinal study, comparing 2 consecutive cohorts: at the start of implementation (n = 386) and at 1 year after implementation (n = 357) of this program. Setting/ParticipantsIncluded were 16 skilled nursing facilities, 743 patients (median age 80 years, interquartile range 72–85; 64.5% females) indicated for GR and their health care professionals (elderly care physicians, physiotherapists, and nursing staff). InterventionNational program to stimulate self-organizing capacity to develop integrated care to improve GR service delivery in 4 domains: alignment with patients’ (care) needs, care coordination, team cooperation, and quality of care. MeasurementsData on patients’ characteristics, functional outcomes at admission and discharge, length of stay, and discharge destination were collected via an online questionnaire sent to health care professionals. The primary outcome measure was successful rehabilitation defined as independence in ADL (Barthel Index ≥15), discharge home, and a short length of stay (lowest 25% per diagnostic group). Generalized estimating equation analysis was used to adjust for age, gender, and clustering effects in the total population and for the 2 largest diagnostic subgroups, traumatic injuries and stroke. ResultsIn the total population, at 1 year postimplementation there was 12% more ADL independence [odds ratio (OR) 1.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00–2.54]. Although successful rehabilitation (independence in ADL, discharge home, short length of stay) was similar in the 2 cohorts, patients with traumatic injuries were more successful 1 year postimplementation (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.01–2.54). In stroke patients, successful rehabilitation was similar between the cohorts, but with more independence in ADL in the follow-up cohort (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.09–3.63). ConclusionsThis study shows that 1-year after the implementation of the Dutch national program to improve quality of care there was more independence in ADL at discharge, but the combined outcome of successful GR (independence in ADL, discharge home, short length of stay) was only significantly improved in patients with traumatic injuries.

Self-Assembly of n-Shaped Rod–Coil Molecules into Thermoresponsive Nanoassemblies: Construction of Reversible Helical Nanofibers in Aqueous Environment

Amphiphilic coil–rod–coil molecules 1–3, consisting of an n-shaped rod building block and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) with a degree of polymerization of 5 linked through a biphenyl unit as the coil segment, were synthesized. Molecule 1 self-assembles into lamellar and hexagonal perforated layer structures, in the crystalline and liquid crystalline phases, respectively. Remarkably, molecule 2 incorporating lateral methyl groups between the rod and coil segments spontaneously self-organizes into hexagonal perforated layer and oblique columnar structures. The additional incorporation of a lateral butyl group at the center of the rod segment of molecule 2 generates molecule 3, which assumes an exclusively oblique columnar structure in the solid state. In aqueous solutions, molecule 1 self-assembles into fibrous aggregates, whereas molecules 2 and 3 exhibit a self-organizing capacity to form helical fibers. Additionally, circular dichroism (CD) experiments and atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements of molec...

Liquid planning, wiki-design—Learning from the Case Pispala

As the key aspects of theories of complex systems have been established, the premises for academic research on planning and on planning praxis still necessitates the development of novel planning tools and approaches to address inevitable urban self-organizing transformations. We have accepted that cities emerge from bottom up. However, planning methods simulating this emergence are still limited. Progress has been made in recent decades and many systemic, evolutionary, and computing based planning approaches have been proposed. The work here builds on these premises. Network theoretical, computational, and democracy discourses have proposed proxy or liquid approaches as for genuinely democratic forms of decision-making. More importantly, they enable information organization from bottom up in a digital platform. This process actually follows the very principles of self-organization of information in information or cognitive sciences: entropy decreases as the “bits” of information self-organize into coherent classes. These principles are also applicable in bottom-up planning. Hence, and to bring this discourse closer to the planning realm, I compared the conceptualized structures of Liquid Democracy, SIRN cognitive model and prior self-organizing planning proposals in a bottom-up planning experiment in Pispala neighborhood, Tampere, Finland. I evaluated its capacity for self-organization of information and hypothesized that the case provides a frame for a new self-organizing planning method. Based on this evaluation a structure for a digitalized Liquid Planning procedure is suggested and discussed.

A strategic approach to social sustainability – Part 2: a principle-based definition

The vast and growing array of concepts, methods and tools in the sustainability field imply a need for a structuring and coordinating framework, including a unifying and operational definition of sustainability. One attempt at such framework began over 25 years ago and is now widely known as the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. However, as with the larger sustainability field, the social dimension of this framework has been found to not be sufficiently science-based and operational and thus in need of further development. In this two-part series an attempt at a science-based, operational definition of social sustainability is presented. In part 1 a systems-based approach to the social system was presented, based on extensive literature studies as well as conceptual modelling sessions using the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development as the guiding structure. The focus of that study was on the essential aspects of the social system that need to be sustained, namely trust, common meaning, diversity, capacity for learning and capacity for self-organization. The aim of this second paper is to identify and present overriding mechanisms by which these aspects of the social system can be degraded, thereby finding exclusion criteria for re-design for sustainability. Further literature studies, conceptual modelling sessions and initial testing of this prototype with partners in academia, business and NGOs were performed. Based on the understanding of the essential aspects of the social system and the identified overriding mechanisms of degradation of these, a hypothesis for a definition of social sustainability by basic principles is presented. The proposed principles are that in a socially sustainable society, people are not subject to structural obstacles to: (1) health, (2) influence, (3) competence, (4) impartiality and (5) meaning-making. Overall, the two papers aim to provide a hypothesis for a definition of social sustainability, which is general enough to be applied irrespective of spatial and temporal constraints, but concrete enough to guide decision-making and monitoring. It is also a further development of the social dimension of the FSSD, which practitioners and researchers have requested for some time and can act as a support towards better integration of social sustainability in many other fields, e.g., sustainable product innovation, sustainable supply chain management, sustainable transport system development, and others.

A strategic approach to social sustainability – Part 1: exploring the social system

The vast and growing array of concepts, methods and tools in the sustainability field imply a need for a structuring and coordinating framework, including a unifying and operational definition of sustainability. One attempt at such framework began over 25 years ago and is now widely known as the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. However, as with the larger sustainability field, the social dimension of this framework has been found to not be sufficiently science-based and operational and thus in need of further development. In this two-part series an attempt at a science-based, operational definition of social sustainability is presented. In this paper (part one), a systems-based approach to the social system is presented, as a basis for presenting a zero-hypothesis of principles for social sustainability in part two. Extensive literature studies as well as conceptual modelling sessions were performed and the social system was examined from various angles – complex adaptive system studies, human needs theory and other social sciences, and insights from these fields were woven together. The whole work was structured and guided by the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. The focus of the study was on the essential aspects of the social system that need to be sustained (that cannot be systematically degraded) for it to be possible for people to meet their needs. These essential aspects were found to be trust, common meaning, diversity, capacity for learning and capacity for self-organization. Trust seems to be generally acknowledged to be the overriding aspect of a vital social system. A sense of common meaning is also stated by several authors as an important part of social capital and something that helps to keep a group or society together. Diversity is acknowledged as essential for resilience; in the human social system this can be interpreted as, e.g., diversity of personalities, ages, gender, skills. Capacity for learning and self-organization are also motivated from a resilience point of view by several authors. These results form a basis for the hypothesis for a definition of social sustainability presented in paper 2, which in turn is a step towards creating an enhanced support for strategic planning and innovation for sustainability.

Sustainable Plot-Based Urban Regeneration and Traditional Master Planning Practice in Glasgow

The failure of conventional, post-war development to bring about the housing-led regeneration of much of Glasgow’s vacant and derelict inner-city land has exacerbated the loss of middle-income households to car-dominated suburbs built on green-field sites. Plot-based urbanism offers an innovative approach to development, based on an urban structure made up of fine-grained elements, in the form of plots, capable of incremental development by a range of agencies. The historical and morphological study of traditional, pre-war masterplanning methods in Glasgow suggests that a typically disaggregated pattern of land subdivision remains of great relevance for development, and that the physical form and organisation of urban land may relate to the capacity for neighbourhood self-organisation. This study assists future masterplanning and investment in the regeneration of inner-city neighbourhoods by suggesting ways of making investment more informed, and the development process more responsive to urban change. We argue that the publicly-funded sector could take on the role of lead provider of development opportunity through the adoption of methods derived from traditional masterplanning processes, providing opportunities for small-scale house building, and thereby supporting resilient and adaptable communities in the sustainable reuse of vacant inner-city land.

Participatory Action-Research in a systemic framework for improving Social Innovation. The case study of Centro Audiovisual Don Bosco (UPS- Ecuador)

This paper stems from the need to respond to currently underway processes of knowledge management in the UPS. Knowledge management could be understood in terms of relationships between research and innovation. Research and innovation in their development processes produce tacit knowledge aimed at cultivating competences and capabilities into UPS community. A research-intervention project aims to define a model of social innovation supported by improving the nexus between research-teaching supported by ICT’s. To this scope, it’s necessary to get involved the stakeholders in a process of PAR-s. PAR-s is aimed at developing competences and capabilities into UPS community for responding to the growing social demand of innovation in education also supported by ICT’s. PAR-s is aimed to facilitate and monitor, through participative evaluation/planning methods and techniques, some innovative organizational/management processes in the Centro Audiovisual Don Bosco. This capacity for self-organization in UPS is embodied in organizational, managerial, improvement and in services aimed at matching the emerging educational challenges of the complexity in the social context. These processes are aimed at enhancing the supply and quality of services linking scientific production and hypermedia from the consistency with the social needs and the demands of education. In this direction, the social problem identified, has been re-configured as a research problem useful for planning the project of intervention.

Building resilient infrastructure in the face of climate change in African cities: Scope, potentiality and challenges

ABSTRACTThis article seeks to explain the capacity and limitations of African cities in building resilient infrastructure in the face of climate change. In this article, resilience means the ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organisation, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change. To expose the capacity and limitations of African cities in building resilient urban infrastructure, the article presents comparative case studies on contemporary experiences in Harare, Nairobi, Abuja, Cairo and Johannesburg relative to the Latin American and Asian cities where resilient infrastructure practices are in vogue. We conclude that most African cities exhibit critical bottlenecks towards emulating the Asian prototypes. Corruption is among the key explanations for the shortcomings of African cities in the delivery of resilient infrastructure and services. Corruption and non-participatory approaches prevailing in most cities have only courted resistance by citizens in the reimbursement of loans obtained from both international and local financial houses.

Pedagogical Problems of Effective Training of Specialists in International Virtualization of Economic Industry

The article outlines the main problems of modern higher education in terms of international virtualization industry. The authors developed a technique of formation of information and professional competence of the economic profile, which presented its basic components, we consider a system of pedagogical conditions that affects the level of formation. The essence of the competence approaches to the preparation of information at the high school in the framework of academic mobility, it was given the theoretical and experimental study of the essence of information and professional competence and its significance depending on the scope of activities; it was developed and scientifically grounded information competence-based education technology students at the high school; criteria and indicators to measure the level of information and professional competence of specialists and effectiveness were developed in the study of the technology of formation of students of the high school. The authors believe that enhancing the innovative pedagogical training of specialists of economic profile can be achieved by allocating as an independent integrative learning objectives the formation of bachelors and masters of information and professional competence, which is manifested in all competencies related to information aspect of knowledge, information and intellectual skills and capacity for reflexive self-organization in addressing educational and professional tasks and problems through the involvement of information resources. A necessary condition to achieve this goal in an educational institution is the introduction into the educational process special information competence-oriented learning technologies. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s4p17

Emergy-Based Sustainability Assessment for a Five-in-One Integrated Production System of Apple, Grass, Pig, Biogas, and Rainwater on the Loess Plateau, Northwest China

A five-in-one integrated production system (FIOIPS) was applied in the Weibei region of Shaanxi province, one of China’s major apple producing areas on the Loess Plateau. The FIOIPS comprises five linked organic subsystems, including apple, grass, pig, biogas, and rainwater. Despite being proposed as a cost-effective agroecosystem, the FIOIPS’s environmental sustainability and economic benefits remain unclear. In this study, we compared the FIOIPS with conventional (clean) tillage-based and grass-cultivation-in-orchard apple production systems commonly used in Weibei. Emergy flow and economic characteristics of the systems were analyzed by emergy and economic analysis using the emergy indices of transformity, renewability, emergy yield ratio, environmental loading ratio, emergy sustainability index, emergy exchange ratio, and feedback ratio of yield emergy. Although the FIOIPS has relatively low potential energy conversion efficiency and strong dependence on the inputs purchased from the market economy, it is superior to the other two systems regarding self-organizing capacity, renewable resource utilization efficiency, ecological environmental loading, economic benefits, and sustainability. From the perspectives of market economy and sustainability, the FIOIPS has promising applicability, feasibility and development potential for agricultural production on the Loess Plateau. Finally, disadvantages of the FIOIPS are discussed and possible solutions are provided for optimizing the integrated production system.

Indicators for self-organization potential in urban context

Self-organization is a basic mechanism by which complex urban systems organize themselves. This mechanism emerges from individual agents’ local interactions, often with unpredictable consequences at the regional level. These emergent patterns cannot be controlled by traditional hierarchical methods, but they can be steered and encouraged towards desirable goals. Self-organization is often used as an allegory for all ‘unplanned’ activity in cities. It is important to study the actual mechanisms of self-organization in cities to link the theory of self-organization to planning praxis. This work builds on ongoing work exploring novel complex planning tools and methods. Here I explore the key features of open dynamic systems identified in the literature as indicators of self-organizing capacity. I study their applicability in urban spatial planning, and propose three measurable characteristics for estimating the self-organization potential of urban activities. Flow reflects generic accessibility, and is measured using space syntax. Internal order refers to autonomously organizing entities, in this case the clustering tendencies of activities. Enriching rests upon increasing complexity and is measured as changes in degrees of entropy over time. The results indicate that (1) the study area meets the criteria for self-organization, and (2) these characteristics can be applied to discover nodes of higher potential for self-organization in a city.

A Study of the Self-Organizing Capacity on Computer Use in Rural Areas

In modern society, even if rural people are no longer strangers to computer, the problems concerning the serv- ice efficiency of Computer in rural areas and the Computer use education for peasants also arise accordingly. By combin- ing macro-level sampling questionnaire survey and micro-level observational interview with regular evaluation, this study places the interviewees from rural areas in the organizational system of Computer use education, to investigate the recog- nition and service condition of rural network Computer and sum up the various problems existing in the development of Computer in rural areas. According to the data obtained from continuous assessments, it makes analysis on the awareness and usage degree of media in different locations and at different times. This study shows that the Computer use education in rural areas presents a self-construal form with interpersonal communication oriented. For this, we should introduce a multiple organization structure, thereby to promote peasants' right of discourse in network Computer, so as to really pro- mote peasants' initiative and actual ability in participation in social development.