Collapse Of System Research Articles

Examining the Impact of Religion on Civilization: Insights from Ibn Khaldun and Arnold Toynbee's Theories

This paper examines the impact of religion on civilization through the perspectives of two prominent scholars, Ibn Khaldun and Arnold Toynbee. The paper provides an overview of Toynbee's theory of comparative civilizations, highlighting his emphasis on the comparability of diverse societies and his rejection of the notion of inherent superiority or inferiority among civilizations. The paper also explores Ibn Khaldun's cyclical theory of the rise and fall of civilizations, which emphasizes the role of religion in shaping the fortunes of societies. This study utilizes a comparative methodology to analyze the viewpoints of Ibn Khaldun and Arnold Toynbee on the impact of religion on civilization. The work explores the perspectives of individuals on social unity, governing systems, and the development of culture. It utilizes knowledge from their writings and historical circumstances to clarify the complex connection between religion and human communities. The paper investigates the impact of religious beliefs on the rise and fall of civilizations, drawing on insights from both Toynbee and Ibn Khaldun. It examines how religion has influenced the development of civilizations, including its role in shaping cultural values, political structures, and economic systems. The paper also explores how religion has contributed to the decline of civilizations, including through religious conflicts and the erosion of social cohesion. Overall, the paper provides a comparative analysis of the role of religion in civilization and society, drawing on the insights of two influential scholars. It highlights the importance of understanding the complex interplay between religion and civilization, and how religious beliefs have shaped the fortunes of societies throughout history.

Formation of green strength in hydraulically bonded refractory castables at room temperature

A sufficient green strength of refractory castables is necessary to avoid damage during demoulding and heating up of refractory linings and prefabricated parts. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying the build-up of green strength in refractory castables. This work focuses on how green strength is formed within the matrix of PCE-dispersed and CA cement bonded refractory castables during their setting.Setting was monitored using several measuring methods, such as sonic velocity, amount of hydrate phases formed from CA cement, ζ-potential (stability resp. coagulation of the matrix suspension), porosity, and specific surface area and was linked to the corresponding increase of green strength of refractory castables during setting.Considered by time after adding water, the first stiffening of the refractory castables is related to the collapse of the rheological system of their matrix suspension (coagulation), resulting in a very low increase in green strength (apparent hardening). This stiffening occurs early if Ca-precipitates are formed together with molecules of the dispersing agent (Ca-PCE, PCE with short side chains) or if the amount of pore water is being reduced below a critical value (rheologically stable matrix due to dispersion of hydrate phases by PCE with long side chains). The major increase in green strength occurs when a significant amount of CA cement reacts to hydrate phases and, correspondingly, water is being bonded. This main increase in green strength may occur directly after stiffening (if CA cement is being hydrated quickly) or several hours after stiffening (if the hydration of CA cement is retarded).Regarding the green strength, the predominant factor influencing the build-up of green strength in refractory castables is the reduction of free water in the pores due to its bond in hydrate phases (reduction of a lubricating, interparticle water film). Minor influences are the reduction in porosity (volume expansion by hydration of CA cement), the increase in the specific surface area (hydrate phases are finer than the initial CA cement particles), and the entanglement of plate-like hydrate phases.

A Proactive Decision-Making Model for Evaluating the Reliability of Infrastructure Assets of a Railway System

Railway infrastructure is generally classified as either fixed or movable infrastructure assets. Failure in any of the assets could lead to the complete shutdown and disruption of the entire system, economic loss, inconvenience to passengers and the train operating company(s), and can sometimes result in death or injury in the event of the derailment of the rolling stock. Considering the importance of the railway infrastructure assets, it is only necessary to continuously explore their behavior, reliability, and safety. In this paper, a proactive multi-criteria decision-making model that is based on an interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy set and some reliability quantitative parameters has been proposed for the evaluation of the reliability of the infrastructure assets. Results from the evaluation show that the failure mode ‘Broken and defective rails’ has the most risk and reliability concerns. Hence, priority should be given to the failure mode to avoid a total system collapse.

A Christological Reflection on Akan Hamartiology and Reconciliation

Sin is a universal phenomenon observed across all societies, no matter their level of development. Each society prescribes moral conduct that prohibits sin and serves to regulate human behavior. Unfortunately, there is a growing tendency to trivialize sin in contemporary Akan (Ghanaian) society, leading to a proliferation of social vices. The erosion of moral values has resulted in a distortion of right and wrong which further exacerbates societal decay. This situation has generated a fresh scholarly interest in the doctrine of sin and how sinful humanity can be reconciled with the divine. For the Akan society of Ghana, such a discourse needs to explore the relationship between sin in African Traditional Religion (ATR) and Christianity because ATR still significantly influences many Akan/African Christians despite the unprecedented numerical growth of Christianity in Africa in recent decades. Through descriptive and comparative research methods, this study sought to understand the concept of sin—its origins, nature, consequences, and remedies—in both Christianity and Akan Traditional Religion. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the concept of sin in both Akan and biblical traditions. Following this, the subject of reconciliation in both traditions is explored. Lastly, the paper critiques aspects of the Akan doctrine of sin and provides a Christological direction for addressing the inadequacies of the Akan belief about sin and reconciliation. The paper contributes to African Christian hamartiology and Christology.

Application of Static Synchronous Compensator for Improvement of Power System Transient Stability

Transient stability is the power system’s ability to maintain synchronism when exposed to severe disturbances such as loss of generation, rapid load changes, transmission lines tripping, switching operations and faults. Transient instability causes cascading outages, system collapse and economical losses. This study employed static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) for power system transient stability improvement. The system’s steady state and transient responses were respectively modelled with Newton-Raphson power flow and modified-Euler linearized swing equations. A balanced three-phased short circuit fault was introduced on selected buses for transient stability analysis. The steady state and transient responses of the system were simulated with and without STATCOM. The critical fault clearing time (CFCT) was obtained from the generators’ swing curves. The IEEE 9-bus and 14-bus power networks were used as test cases. The voltage magnitudes of all buses in both networks fell within the specified 0.95 to 1.1 p.u. voltage limit with and without compensation. The total active line loss on IEEE 9-bus and 14-bus networks which were 4.641 and 13.514 MW without compensation reduced to 4.600 and 13.014 MW, respectively with STATCOM’s application. The total reactive line losses of both networks which were 92.160 and 31.393 MVAr without compensation decreased to 90.160 and 30.693 MVAr, respectively with STATCOM’ utilization. The CFCT for fault on bus 8 of the IEEE 9-bus system without compensation were 0.2100 and 0.2700 s for generators 2 and 3, respectively. The system’s stability was, however, extended beyond 0.2700 s due to compensation from STATCOM. In the case of IEEE 14-bus system, the CFCT for fault on bus 6 was 0.36364 s for generators 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively without compensation. The STATCOM inclusion, however, enhanced the system’s stability beyond 0.36366 s where all the four had lost synchronism. This work established that the use of STATCOM on the considered networks appropriately extended the CFCT such that the stability of the systems was not lost in the event of fault application via robust compensation of reactive power.

Catastrophic cascade of failures in interdependent hypergraphs.

The failures of individual agents can significantly impact the functionality of associated groups in interconnected systems. To reveal these impacts, we develop a threshold model to investigate cascading failures in double-layer hypergraphs with interlayer interdependence. We hypothesize that a hyperedge disintegrates when the proportion of failed nodes within it exceeds a threshold. Due to the interdependence between a node and its replica in the other layer, the disintegrations of these hyperedges could trigger a cascade of events, leading to an iterative collapse across these two layers. We find that double-layer hypergraphs undergo abrupt, discontinuous first-order phase transitions during systemic collapse regardless of the specific threshold value. Additionally, the connectivity measured by average cardinality and hyperdegree plays a crucial role in shaping system robustness. A higher average hyperdegree always strengthens system robustness. However, the relationship between system robustness and average cardinality exhibits non-monotonic behaviors. Specifically, both excessively small and large average cardinalities undermine system robustness. Furthermore, a higher threshold value can boost the system's robustness. In summary, our study provides valuable insights into cascading failure dynamics in double-layer hypergraphs and has practical implications for enhancing the robustness of complex interdependent systems across domains.

Policing, surveillance capitalism and the Great British love affair with crime drama in Happy Valley

Police and crime dramas are one of the most popular forms of TV entertainment in Britain. I first show that over the course of the past few decades, policing and surveillance has become more invasive than ever before. These phenomena are strongly tied to new forms of neo-liberalism and capitalism that encourage increasingly individualistic and fragmented societies. Yet, data shows that trust in the police is high, regardless of class background: Why might this be? I turn to depictions of surveillance and policing in British crime drama, in particular, the recently highly acclaimed Happy Valley. Whilst a well-written, heart-warming and satisfying TV series, I point to several themes that illustrate how British neo-liberal societal decay, policing and surveillance culture might be apparent. Police are presented as capable of filling the void left by the neo-liberal decimation of public services and the accompanying loneliness of intense individualism in poorer towns and cities.

In Defense of Society; Critical Analysis of the Idea of Social Collapse in Iran

In Defense of Society; Critical Analysis of the Idea of Social Collapse in Iran

Цивилизационно-элитологический подход: актуальная смена исследовательской оптики

The article substantiates that the civilizational-elitist approach develops a civilizational approach in the direction of analyzing the mechanisms and necessary prerequisites for the evolution, flourishing and decline of civilizations on a cultural and value basis and actualizes the problem of the quality of elites. He demands a multivariate and pluralistic understanding of world history, adequate to the modern stage of the development of the humanities, which allows us to move away from the Western understanding of civilization and its imperative universality. In modern social and political sciences, this makes it possible to use the concepts of the "civilizational matrix", "cultural and civilizational code", "sociocultural landscape", "state-civilization" to denote the cultural and civilizational originality and uniqueness of a country and a national state that has its own value and foundations the sustainable successful socioeconomic and political development of a particular region.

Risk Assessment of Banks and Financial Institutions under COVID-19 Crisis

Systemic risk refers to risks that have a broad and severe impact on the entire financial system or economic system. There are similarities in the definition of systemic risk in China and abroad, which usually refer to threats to the entire financial system or economic system, which can trigger a chain reaction and lead to a systemic collapse. In terms of characteristics and measurements, there may be some differences in views and methods at home and abroad. While foreign countries usually pay more attention to the interconnectedness of financial institutions, market liquidity, macroeconomic factors, etc., China may pay more attention to factors such as the stability of financial markets and the role of state-owned enterprises and governments in the economy. The shortcomings of systemic risk abroad may lie in the fact that the unique circumstances of some characteristic countries or regions are sometimes overlooked, because these factors are not universally applicable on a global scale. Due to its unique environment of large economic size, complex financial system, government intervention, and the influence of state-owned enterprises, the study of systemic risk is particularly important for China. This particular situation may require unique methods and metrics to measure and address risks to ensure the stability and sustainability of China's financial system. It is precisely in view of the lack of foreign research on China's specific context that it is of great significance to study the systemic risk of China's banking industry under China's financial system.

Surviving the Anthropocene: A Darwinian Guide

The fundamental theory of the survival of life on this planet is Darwinism. Darwinian evolution is about coping with change by changing, using what you have on hand to survive. The fuel for this process is evolutionary potential, which resides in preexisting variation. This preexisting variation allows living systems to move forward into an uncertain future. The biosphere is a complex evolutionary system that generates, stores, and uses its own potential to survive. This makes ecosystems robust, not fragile. That suggests we can use the biosphere without destroying it, but we need some guidelines. Those guidelines are embodied in the Four Laws of Biotics, which tell us how we can interact with the biosphere without endangering ourselves further. We can further improve humanity’s chances of survival as a technological species by (1) implementing the economics of well-being, (2) reducing population density by finding space in rural areas and revitalizing them into circularized economies, (3) regrowing sustainably by creating networks of cooperating circular economies, adding new modules when growth occurs, not consolidating into new densely populated and vulnerable urban centers, and (4) modifying social institutions to be responsive to the desires of the grassroots, even when those desires do not produce the expected outcomes. Darwinian principles provide humanity with a middle ground, a third way, between unattainable utopia and unacceptable apocalypse. We can alter our behavior now according to Darwinian principles, at great expense and difficulty, and extend or even improve upon the current state of the Anthropocene, or we can fail to act on our own behalf, experience a general collapse of technological society, and rebuild using those Darwinian principles to provide a more survivable future.

Analyzing the Development of Political Rights and Civil Liberties in Albania during the Country’s Democratic Transition: A Comparative Assessment from Freedom House Report Data

A nation's ability to develop directly correlates with the preservation of citizens' political rights and civil liberties. These elements are vital for national growth and development. The level of respect for these rights and liberties must, therefore, be examined to understand and assist in the progress of a nation. A primary source of analysis for this study is Freedom House reports, with a focus on two essential components of democracy: political rights and civil liberties. The study focuses on investigating democratization from the start of political reforms in Albania following the collapse of the communist system to this present day. These parameters are further divided into subgroups to provide more detailed analysis. By using the Freedom House index, the study aims to determine whether democratic characteristics in Albania have remained constant or undergone changes. The analysis incorporates developments in these dimensions during the transition, focusing specifically on minority groups, such as voting patterns, political pluralism, freedom of expression and associations, etc. Moreover, the study examines specific areas of concern in Albanian society, including corruption, the rule of law, and other important areas.
 
 Received: 19 February 2024 / Accepted: 15 March 2024 / Published: 23 March 2024

The end of tourism? Contemplations of collapse

PurposeThis viewpoint engages with Jem Bendell’s deep adaptation framework which was developed as a response to the threat of collapse. Proponents of deep adaptation argue that societal collapse is either likely, inevitable or already underway. The deep adaptation framework is employed as a tool to contemplate the necessary adaptation of tourism development and planning in a context of polycrisis leading to collapse.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual viewpoint article that is built on deductive analysis of recent events, reports and scientific findings. It employs the deep adaptation framework to analyse possible alternative tourism futures in the face of the threat of collapse.FindingsBendell’s framework included four aspects of response to the recognition of the threat of collapse: resilience, relinquishment, restoration and reconciliation. In this work, the deep adaptation framework is employed to analyse what a deep adaptation approach to tourism might offer for efforts in securing optimal social and ecological outcomes. Findings highlight damaging activities that we should relinquish, more resilient approaches that communities could encourage and restorative practices such as rewilding and pluriversal economies as protective measures. This work recommends a precautionary approach to transform tourism education, research and practice in order to secure better tourism futures.Originality/valueThis work is novel in engaging with the threat of future collapse and in using the deep adaptation framework to consider alternative tourism futures.

Comparative differences in maintaining membrane fluidity and remodeling cell wall between Glycine soja and Glycine max leaves under drought

Water shortage is one of the most important environmental factors limiting crop yield. In this study, we used wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. et Zucc.) and soybean (Glycinemax (L.) Merr.) seedlings as experimental materials, simulated drought stress using soil gravimetry, measured growth and physiological parameters, and analyzed differentially expressed genes and metabolites in the leaves of seedling by integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics techniques. The results indicate that under water deficit, Glycine soja maintained stable photosynthate by accumulating Mg2+, Fe3+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and B3+, and improved water absorption by increasing root growth. Notably, Glycine soja enhanced linoleic acid metabolism and plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP1) gene expression to maintain membrane fluidity, and increased pentose, glucuronate and galactose metabolism and thaumatin protein genes expression to remodel the cell wall, thereby increasing water-absorption to better tolerate to drought stress. In addition, it was found that secondary phenolic metabolism, such as phenylpropane biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis and ascobate and aldarate metabolism were weakened, resulting in the collapse of the antioxidant system, which was the main reason for the sensitivity of Glycine max to drought stress. These results provide new insights into plant adaptation to water deficit and offer a theoretical basis for breeding soybean varieties with drought tolerance.

JUSTICE THROUGH RETRIBUTIVISM IN ZHOU HAOHUI’S DEATH NOTICE

Chinese fiction has long explored the notion of retributive justice as the dominant mode of discussing socio-political issues in Chinese literature. Despite its significance, this topic has received limited scholarly attention. This article addresses this gap by analysing Zhou Haohui's novel Death Notice (2019), in which the protagonist navigates a lawless society, seeking to address the absence of justice through retributive means. Tension arises when he tries to punish the wrongdoers through retributive means to redress the lack of justice in the novel. Death Notice serves as a compelling commentary on contemporary issues in China, underscoring the urgent need for societal change. Using Goran Duus-Otterström’s retributive concepts as a lens, this paper examines Death Notice as a novel that unravels the weaknesses in the Chinese justice system. As the powerless continue to be oppressed, retributivism becomes increasingly appealing as the channel to seek justice due to its ability to accommodate the desire to seek justice. This article argues that the oppressed protagonist is acting as a retributivist to voice out the flaws in the justice system. It highlights the overlooked aspects of retributive justice in Chinese fiction and emphasises its significance as a tool for critique and the need for a more equitable society. By unravelling the complexities of justice through the protagonist's actions, this study contributes to our understanding of justice and its portrayal in Chinese literature.

Einige Bemerkungen zur Wirtschaft Siebenbürgens am Ende des Fürstentums und am Anfang des Großfürstentums

Transylvania between the Principality of Transylvania and the Grand Principality, as part of the Habsburg Empire suffered a series of economic experiences that led to a considerable extent to its economic as well as social and political decay and recovery. The small Principality on the edge of Central Europe has experienced appreciable changes in its status for two centuries, as well as in the economic perception of those who lived there and also of the other states. The 17th century was one marked both by rich periods from an economic point of view, but also by periods generating economic crisis, due to various natural cataclysms. It is a century of continuous balance between princely absolutism and the noble regime, between the enslavement process and the protection of free structures. Transylvania was hit by the economic crisis of the Habsburg Empire in the middle of the 18th century. The strategies to revitalize the Treasury through internal sources hit hard on the province's financial strength. The economic life of these 200 years is marked by the historic collapse of the guild system. The first who act to limit the monopoly of the guilds are the Princes of Transylvania. The forms of manufacturing production that appeared precisely in the important areas of the guild economy such as those of Sibiu or Braşov are also a significant, but insufficient factor, leading to the weakening of these corporations.

Effects of Battery Energy Storage Systems on the Frequency Stability of Weak Grids with a High-Share of Grid-Connected Converters

To achieve an energy sector independent from fossil fuels, a significant increase in the penetration of variable renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, is imperative. However, these sources lack the inertia provided by conventional thermo-electric power stations, which is essential for maintaining grid frequency stability. In this study, a grid resembling Madeira Island’s power generation mix was modeled using the Matlab/Simulink platform. The model included solar, wind, hydro, and thermo-electric generation to accurately represent the energy landscape of Madeira Island. Three scenarios were examined: one reflecting the current power generation on Madeira Island, a future scenario with a substantial rise in the percentage of photovoltaic (PV) generation, and the same future scenario but incorporating a battery energy storage system (BESS). Various analyses were conducted to assess the impact on frequency stability during a ground fault and rapid load/generation changes. In the future scenario without a BESS, the thermoelectric power plant generator desynchronized, leading to system collapse in several simulations. However, with the addition of a BESS, a significant improvement in frequency stability was observed. The thermoelectric power plant generator could return to a steady state after each disturbance. Furthermore, both the maximum frequency deviation and the absolute value of the Rate of Change of Frequency (ROCOF) were reduced, indicating enhanced system performance and stability.

Predicting the collapse process and tipping points for mutualistic and competitive networks with k-core method

Abstract Ecosystems generally have the self-adapting ability to resist various external pressures or disturbances, which is always called resilience. However, once the external disturbances exceed the tipping points of the system resilience, the consequences would be catastrophic, and eventually lead the ecosystem to complete collapse. We capture the collapse process of ecosystems represented by plant-pollinator networks with the k-core nested structural method, and find that a sufficiently weak interaction strength or a sufficiently large competition weight can cause the structure of the ecosystem to collapse from its smallest k-core towards its largest k-core. Then we give the tipping points of structure and dynamic collapse of the entire system from the one-dimensional dynamic function of the ecosystem. Our work provides an intuitive and precise description of the dynamic process of ecosystem collapse under multiple interactions, and provides theoretical insights for further avoiding the occurrence of ecosystem collapse.

Taxonomic and functional-trait metrics track recovery of demersal fish and shrimp communities following system collapse

Monitoring programs that integrate both structural and functional ecosystem components play integral roles in ecosystem management and conservation planning. In the early 1990’s, the marine ecosystem of the waters surrounding Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) underwent a regime shift. Several demersal and pelagic fish stocks collapsed simultaneously, and this had significant ecological and socioeconomic consequences. As this regime shift impacted numerous commercial and non-commercial species, assessments based on individual species would be insufficient. We explored a variety of metrics that capture different facets of diversity across multiple species to provide a more robust ecosystem assessment. These were species richness, evenness, community-weighted means of maximum body length and trophic level (i.e., the mean maximum body size or trophic level of the species present in a community), and functional dispersion (FDis). The objectives of this study were 1) to assess trends in community structure of the NL demersal community during the post-collapse period (1995-2018), 2) explore how the various community-level metrics differ or are redundant, and 3) investigate how these metrics are associated with important covariates. Several metrics were redundant and displayed strongly positive, temporal trends being consistent with expectations for a recovery encompassing the entire demersal community. In particular, unweighted community-weighted means of body length and trophic level displayed nearly equal temporal patterns, showing increasing trends throughout the study period which were most prominent in the northern study area and within a limited depth range at the upper shelf break. Corresponding biomass-weighted metrics were also correlated with each other but only showed similar increasing tendencies after the first decade. In contrast, species richness did not show any temporal increase. Evenness and biomass-weighted FDis showed similar temporal patterns, decreasing during the first decade followed by strong increases during subsequent years, patterns that were directly linked to variation in Northern shrimp and Atlantic cod biomass. This study demonstrates how a variety of community metrics can provide insight into different aspects of the post-collapse recovery of the demersal community and help us better understand the complexity of the changes the ecosystem is undergoing.

An Eternal gravitational collapse in f(R) theory of gravity and their astrophysical implications

The present investigation explores a novel facet of gravitational collapse, surpassing conventional notions of black holes and naked singularities. In this work, we explore a new aspects on the final fate of Gravitational Collapse of a stellar system within the framework of f(R) gravity and find the continued homogeneous gravitational collapse: an eternal collapsing phenomenon. The exact solutions of field equations have been obtained in an independent way by the parametrization of the expansion scalar (Θ) governed by the interior spherically symmetric FLRW metric. We impose the Darmois junction condition required for the smooth matching of the interior region to the Schwarzschild exterior metric across the boundary hypersurface of the star. The junction conditions demand that the pressure is non-vanishing at the boundary and is proportional to the non-linear terms of f(R) gravity, and the mass function m(t,r) is equal to Schwarzschild mass M. The eight massive stars, namely Westerhout49−2,BAT99−98,R136a1,R136a2,WR24,Pismis24−1, λ−Cephei, and β−CanisMajoris with their known astrophysical data (masses and radii) are used to estimate the numerical values of the model parameters which allows us to study the solutions numerically and graphically. Here we have discussed two f(R) gravity models describing the collapse phenomenon. The singularity analysis of models is discussed via the apparent horizon and we have shown that stars tend to collapse for an infinite co-moving time in order to attain the singularity (an eternal collapsing phenomenon). We have also shown that our models satisfy the energy conditions and stability requirements for stellar systems.