Complexity Theory Research Articles

Technologies of the future agro-industrial complex in the aspect of complexity theory

The article is devoted to the problem area of the Russian agro-industrial complex – the complexity of the emerging set of technologies. The focus is on complexity theory, implemented within the framework of synergetics. The range of issues discussed are includes: prerequisites for the formation of complexity theory in agricultural science; creation of a generalized concept of the agricultural technologies complexity; architecture of the complexity of production, processing and food technologies as a whole; features of the mathematical apparatus for modeling agro-industrial complex technological complexes; an emergent effect that arises from the interaction of heterogeneous technologies that have a common goal; designing the complexity of connected technologies; the pace of the combined technologies development; technological requirements for the output parameters of processes throughout the entire technological chain; features of the design of complex technologies with a quantitative assessment of their level of complexity; consideration of a complex technological system as an object of synergetics. Particular attention was paid to the dialectical development of complexes of modern innovative technologies as the theoretical basis for the entry of the Russian agro-industrial complex into the Sixth technological order.

‘Atawhai’: a primary care provider-led response to family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand

BackgroundAs a key determinant of ill-health, family violence is inadequately responded to within Aotearoa New Zealand health policy and practice. Without adequate system support, health professionals can often be unsure of what to do, or how to help. Developed in response to this system gap, ‘Atawhai’ aims to make it easier for primary care professionals to respond to family violence.MethodsUnderpinned by indigenous Māori customs, Atawhai combines complexity theory and participatory research methodologies to be responsive to the complexity involved in family violence. We worked with 14 primary care professionals across ten whakawhitiwhiti kōrero wānanga (meetings for deliberate dialogue) to identify and develop primary care system pathways and tools for responding to family violence. This paper focuses on the development of Atawhai through wānanga and observation methods. Methods used to capture change will be reported separately.FindingsAtawhai is a relational response to family violence, focused on developing a network of trusted relationships between health and social care professionals to support safe responses to those accessing care. This study identified four key health system pathways to responsiveness and developed associated tools to support health care responsiveness to family violence. We found the quality of relationships, both among professionals and with those accessing care, coupled with critical reflection on the systems and structures that shape policy and practice are essential in generating change within primary care settings.ConclusionsAtawhai is a unique health care response to family violence evidenced on empirical knowledge of primary care professionals. Our theoretical lens calls attention to parts of the system often obscured by current health care responses to family violence. Atawhai presents an opportunity to develop a grassroots-informed, long-term response to family violence that evolves in response to needs.

Consumers' adoption intention to Metaverse applications: An exploration through fsQCA approach

AbstractMetaverse is an emergent technology that facilitates consumer interaction and participation in various activities within an integrated virtual environment. Considering the Metaverse's swift growth, comprehension of the perspectives and inclinations of its prospective users is critical. Considering configuration and complexity theories, this article examines the causal patterns of factors and fragmented perspectives concerning using Metaverse applications (M‐apps). It does so by examining how functional (ease of use, privacy), social (interactivity, presence), and personality (locus of control, openness to experience) factors combine as causal configurations to describe consumer adoption (MTA). Hence, fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis is employed to empirically examine the proposed configurational model by analyzing a sample of 372 Chinese consumers of different M‐Apps. The notable MTA was determined to be explained under four distinct solutions with varying configurations of function, social, and personality in various combinations. The findings of this paper's complexity analysis constitute a scholarly and practical contribution to consumer acceptance of M‐apps, allowing for the customization of Metaverse functionality to meet every consumer's needs.

The impact of gamification on training, work engagement, and job satisfaction in banking

AbstractThis study contributes to the comparative analysis of outcomes between gamified and traditional training systems in the banking sector. On‐the‐job training is a vital aspect of the process of enhancing work performance within organizations. Thus, by employing a case‐based asymmetric configural approach rooted in nonlinear and contrarian case analysis, this research investigates the impact of gamified training on human resource development. A global empirical survey of 388 banking employees revealed that a combination of complexity theory and configural analysis provides valuable insights into the outcomes of both gamified and conventional training methods. In the face of increasing competition, banks are compelled to enhance their professionalism by boosting employee motivation. It becomes apparent that there is no straightforward, necessary and sufficient path available to guarantee high levels of engagement and job satisfaction. Notably, some of these results challenge the expectations of self‐determination theory (SDT), which posits the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs during training. These findings contribute to an enriched understanding of the nuanced application of complexity theory in the context of SDT research, particularly regarding the training and development of gamified systems for banking organizations and other service‐oriented sectors that can benefit from such innovative training approaches.

Toward A (Not The) Political Philosophy Of Populism: Democracy, Moral Dualism And Minimalst Theory In Christopher Lasch

Abstract I compare Christopher Lasch's thought to specific features that research in political science attributes to contemporary populism. Lasch openly favoured a historical form of populism but is rarely considered when current forms of populism are discussed. The research literature characterizes populism as superficially tied to democracy while undermining it, as committed to the moral binary of people and elites, and as intellectually “thin” because it does not engage with the complex theories that ground other ideologies. These characters make populism incoherent and inimical to democracy. Lasch manifests all three characters while connecting them to a sustained worldview. Humans’ awareness of death is the core feature that makes them rational, ethical and equal. Attempts to dilute that awareness are inimical to the equality at democracy's basis. Experts and professionals encourage this dilution by promising remedies and progress. Democracy depends on ordinary people who resist elites and their complex phraseologies.

Some New Results on Domination and Independent Dominating Set of Some Graphs

One area of graph theory that has been studied in great detail is dominance in graphs. Applications for dominating sets are numerous. In wireless networking, dominant sets are used to find effective paths inside ad hoc mobile networks. They have also been used in the creation of document summaries and safe electrical grid systems. A set <I>S</I>⊆<I>V</I> is said to be dominating set of <I>G</I> if for every <i>v </i>є <I>V</I>-<I>S</I> there exists a vertex <i>u</i> є <I>S</I> such that <i>uv</i> є <I>E</I>. The dominance number of <I>G</I>, represented by <i>γ</i>(<I>G</I>), is the lowest cardinality of vertices among the dominating set of <I>G</I>. A classic NP-complete decision problem in computational complexity theory determines whether, given a graph <I>G</I> and input <I>K</I>, <i>γ</i>(<I>G</I>) ≤ <I>K</I>. This is known as the dominating set issue. Consequently, it is thought that calculating <i>γ</i>(<I>G</I>) for each given graph <I>G</I> may not be possible to do with a feasible algorithm. In addition to efficient approximation tactics, there exist efficient exact techniques for various graph classes. If there are no neighboring vertices in a subset <I>S</I>, then <I>S</I>⊆<I>V</I> is an independent set. Additionally, the empty set and the subset with just one vertex are independent. An independent dominating set of <I>G</I> is a set <I>S</I> of vertices in a graph <I>G</I> that is both an independent and a dominating set of <I>G</I>. This paper's primary goal is to investigate the dominance and independent dominating set of many graphs, including the line graph, the alternate triangular belt graph, the bistar graph, the triangular snake graph, and others.

Counting Answers to Unions of Conjunctive Queries: Natural Tractability Criteria and Meta-Complexity

We study the problem of counting answers to unions of conjunctive queries (UCQs) under structural restrictions on the input query. Concretely, given a class C of UCQs, the problem #UCQ (C) provides as input a UCQ Ψ ∈ C and a database D and the problem is to compute the number of answers of Ψ in D. Chen and Mengel [PODS'16] have shown that for any recursively enumerable class C, the problem #UCQ (C) is either fixed-parameter tractable or hard for one of the parameterised complexity classes W[1] or #W[1]. However, their tractability criterion is unwieldy in the sense that, given any concrete class C of UCQs, it is not easy to determine how hard it is to count answers to queries in C. Moreover, given a single specific UCQ Ψ, it is not easy to determine how hard it is to count answers to Ψ. In this work, we address the question of finding a natural tractability criterion: The combined conjunctive query of a UCQ Ψ=φ 1 ∨ ... ∨ φ l is the conjunctive query ^ Ψ = φ_1 ∧ ... ∧ φ l . We show that under natural closure properties of C, the problem #UCQ (C) is fixed-parameter tractable if and only if the combined conjunctive queries of UCQs in C, and their contracts, have bounded treewidth. A contract of a conjunctive query is an augmented structure, taking into account how the quantified variables are connected to the free variables --- if all variables are free, then a conjunctive query is equal to its contract; in this special case the criterion for fixed-parameter tractability of #UCQ (C) thus simplifies to the combined queries having bounded treewidth. Finally, we give evidence that a closure property on C is necessary for obtaining a natural tractability criterion: We show that even for a single UCQ Ψ, the meta problem of deciding whether #UCQ (Ψ) can be solved in time O(|D| d ) is NP-hard for any fixed d ≥ 1. Moreover, we prove that a known exponential-time algorithm for solving the meta problem is optimal under assumptions from fine-grained complexity theory. As a corollary of our reduction, we also establish that approximating the Weisfeiler-Leman-Dimension of a UCQ is NP-hard.

Proactive and Collaborative Strategies to Boost Customer-Brand Engagement and Experience: A Complexity Theory Approach

The online grocery industry’s swift expansion and intense competition underscore the urgency to tackle sustainable business and cost issues while adapting to consumer trends requires higher prices for continued profit. Utilizing complexity theory, the present study aims to explore the impact of proactive and collaborative strategies on customer-brand engagement and experience, ultimately fostering an increased willingness to pay a premium. Accordingly, the results (n = 406) show that proactive customer orientation and value co-creation significantly increase the customer experience and foster higher levels of customer-brand engagement, ultimately increasing willingness to pay more. Notably, the mediation analysis reveals that customer-brand engagement serves as a mediating factor in the relationship between customer experience and the willingness to pay more. This study contributes to the online grocery shopping literature by integrating proactive and collaborative strategies and investigates customer experience and engagement through the lens of complexity theory.

SCTC: inference of developmental potential from single-cell transcriptional complexity.

Inferring the developmental potential of single cells from scRNA-Seq data and reconstructing the pseudo-temporal path of cell development are fundamental but challenging tasks in single-cell analysis. Although single-cell transcriptional diversity (SCTD) measured by the number of expressed genes per cell has been widely used as a hallmark of developmental potential, it may lead to incorrect estimation of differentiation states in some cases where gene expression does not decrease monotonously during the development process. In this study, we propose a novel metric called single-cell transcriptional complexity (SCTC), which draws on insights from the economic complexity theory and takes into account the sophisticated structure information of scRNA-Seq count matrix. We show that SCTC characterizes developmental potential more accurately than SCTD, especially in the early stages of development where cells typically have lower diversity but higher complexity than those in the later stages. Based on the SCTC, we provide an unsupervised method for accurate, robust, and transferable inference of single-cell pseudotime. Our findings suggest that the complexity emerging from the interplay between cells and genes determines the developmental potential, providing new insights into the understanding of biological development from the perspective of complexity theory.

Applying dynamic systems theory and complexity theory methods in psychotherapy research: A systematic literature review

Objective Dynamic systems theory and complexity theory (DST/CT) is a framework explaining how complex systems change and adapt over time. In psychotherapy, DST/CT can be used to understand how a person's mental and emotional state changes during therapy incorporating higher levels of complexity. This study aimed to systematically review the variability of DST/CT methods applied in psychotherapy research. Methods A primary studies search was conducted in the EBSCO and Web of Knowledge databases, extracting information about the analyzed DST/CT phenomena, employed mathematical methods to investigate these phenomena, descriptions of specified dynamic models, psychotherapy phenomena, and other information regarding studies with empirical data (e.g., measurement granularity). Results After screening 38,216 abstracts and 4,194 full texts, N = 41 studies published from 1990 to 2021 were identified. The employed methods typically included measures of dynamic complexity or chaoticity. Computational and simulation studies most often employed first-order ordinary differential equations and typically focused on describing the time evolution of client-therapist dyadic influences. Eligible studies with empirical data were usually based on case studies and focused on data with high time intensity of within-session dynamics. Conclusion This review provides a descriptive synthesis of the current state of the proliferation of DST/CT methods in the psychotherapy research field.

Understanding Travelers’ Motivations and Preferences Relating to Sustainable Behavior: Configural Analysis of Traveler Mindfulness

To complement industry-wide sustainability initiatives, this study aims to improve the understanding of traveler mindfulness. A holistic, case-based approach explores how traveler motivations and situational factors relate to mindfulness in a sustainability context. A sample of 510 recent travelers informs this study. Fuzzy set statistics test complexity theory tenants to examine the relationship between mindfulness and travelers’ motivations and preferences. Results support complexity theory tenants and show multiple paths relate to high mindfulness. Study results advance the understanding of traveler behavior by introducing a sustainability-focused mindfulness scale, advancing mindfulness studies with complexity theory and fuzzy set analysis, and offering insights to destination managers who target travelers with a sustainability mindset.

COVID-19 crisis – coping up strategies of companies to sustain in markets

PurposePandemics are frequent events, and the impact of each pandemic makes a strong and long-term effect on companies and markets. Given the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to investigate the crisis from a different perspective to know how companies have sustained growth in markets. The purpose of this paper is to understand how profit-oriented customer-centric companies (small, medium and large) have responded and adapted to COVID-19 crisis, using the complexity theory.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon the complexity theory, a humble attempt is made to develop theoretical propositions by conceptualizing companies as complex adaptive systems. The paper examines companies from three dimensions (i.e. internal mechanism, environment and coevolution).FindingsCompanies self-organize, emerge into new states and become adaptive to the changing environment. Companies create knowledge to understand the dynamic anatomy and design survival and growth strategies during and post COVID-19 era. Complex adaptive systems perspective provides companies with insights to deal with complex issues raised due to COVID-19 pandemic. They can handle the impact of pandemic efficiently with complex adaptive systems by developing and implementing appropriate strategies post-COVID-19.Originality/valueThe study reveals how companies evolve and emerge into as complex adaptive systems to adapt themselves to the highly dynamic environment, which are uncertain, unpredictable, nonlinear and multifaceted, in the context of COVID-19. Implications for theory and practice of viewing companies as complex adaptive systems and coevolving structures in the COVID-19 context are discussed.

Technology Emergence as a Structuring Process: A Complexity Theory Perspective on Blockchain

Drawing on complexity theory, we investigate the structuring processes and underlying mechanisms underpinning the emergence of a new technology. Empirically, we track the emergence of blockchain technology by examining international patents issued between 2009 and 2020. Our results indicate that technology emergence follows an evolutionary trajectory that progresses from disordered to structured interactions among the technological elements, culminating in the formation of a technological core that acts as a pole of attraction for further interactions and delineates boundaries within the technological domain. Technology structuring is fueled by what we term “technology fitness” and “self-reinforcing” mechanisms that progressively transform primitive structures into more complex, self-organized configurations. Our study offers a novel framework of technology emergence, highlighting how dispersed bits of technological knowledge gradually aggregate into complex structures that define the specific trajectory of a particular domain.

Antecedents of Sustainable Tourism Development in Sundarbans, Bangladesh with the Moderation of Political Instability and Mediation of Destination Resilience

ABSTRACT The study examines the antecedent of sustainable tourism development in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh context, using the influence of political instability as a moderator and destination resilience as a mediator. Social exchange theory and the complexity theory are underpinning theories. The study follows the positivism philosophy, quantitative method, and deductive approach. SmartPLS (4.0) analysed 339 responses using structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings evidenced that infrastructure development greatly affected destination resilience but had a negligible effect on sustainable tourism development. In contrast, place image and stakeholders’ integration had a negligible effect on destination resilience and sustainable tourism development, and political instability did not provide evidence of a moderating effect. Besides extending the applicability of the abovementioned theories, the study’s empirical findings will enhance the consciousness and proactivity among relevant stakeholders, tour operators, tourists, residents, businesses, policymakers and government regarding sustainable tourism and achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) through the tourism industry.

A complex transdisciplinary approach to achieve water sustainability: lessons from a case study in Morelia, Mexico

AbstractAlthough the theoretical–methodological complexity theory and transdisciplinary approach is increasingly accepted within sustainability science, its application at local-scale work with rural communities in the global south is still incipient and requires further research on its scope and limitations. The general objective of this work was to contribute to the knowledge on how a complexity and transdisciplinary approach applied to water problems at local scales can facilitate the process for water sustainability. The research took as study area the ejido of Coro Grande located in the municipality of Morelia, in the rural vicinity of Morelia City, capital of Michoacán State (Mexico). The theoretical–methodological scheme was based on the combination of the concepts of complexity–sustainability–transdisciplinarity to analyze the local water metabolism and generate actions to mitigate present and future water risk. The activities carried out involved a participatory diagnosis and the development of activities for the restoration of degraded environments with a double purpose: to generate conditions for the water sustainability of the system, and to promote the involvement of the population in a transdisciplinary research–action process. The results obtained show the effectiveness of the framework chosen to identify problems, achieve transformation in the short term, and improve both ecosystem functions and participation of the population in the solution of problems in the medium and long terms.

Creative practice, entanglements and complex emergence: Teaching in the arts

Creative practice inspires exploration, personal expression, and learning, and can be understood from a variety of perspectives. Traditionally, these perspectives have been through the process of learning where doing is important, and through the product of learning where practice has outcomes serving a diversity of purposes. In recognising these critical links between practice and learning, we consider this entanglement of process and product through complexity theory as more than binary opposites where the key ideas of ‘knower and knowledge’ helps to untangle a multiplicity of understandings. Identifying complexity practice as developmental, transactional, and organisational, we outline how in Australia, this complexity produces tension in schools as teachers grapple with developing arts process skills as a significant achievement themselves, the production of arts works as important outcomes of arts learning, and broader social outcomes as elements of change. In helping to make these interactions clear it is possible to see complexity as both enabling and constraining change, providing direction and focus for future creative practice in both teaching and learning.

Missing nurses cause missed care: is that it? Non-trivial configurations of reasons associated with missed care in Austrian hospitals – a qualitative comparative analysis

BackgroundErrors of omissions affect the quality of nursing care in hospitals. The Missed Nursing Care Model explains that the reasons for missed care are linked with 1) demand for patient care, 2) labor resource allocation, 3) material resource allocation, and 4) relationship and communication factors. Scientific evidence points to a lack of adequate nursing staffing as the most important factor triggering missed care. However, it remains unclear how the different theoretical reasons for missed care are interlinked with reports on missed care from the perspective of nurses in acute care settings. The aim of this study was to explore non-trivial configurations of reasons for missed care that are associated with missed care interventions from the perspective of nurses working in general units in Austrian hospitals.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted. Data collection was performed using the revised MISSCARE-Austria questionnaire. Our sample consisted of 401 nurses who provided complete data. Data were analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis. Configurational models of contextual factors, reasons for missed care, and missed nursing interventions were analyzed.ResultsIn our study contextual factors were not consistent precursors of the reasons for missed care. Missed care was consistently present when the demand for patient care was high. A lack of labor resources, in combination with the other known reasons for missed care, was consistently observed when missed care occurred. Different configurations of reasons were found to be non-trivially associated with different types and frequencies of missed care.ConclusionsTo understand the complexity of the causal mechanisms of missed care, complexity theory may be necessary. Accordingly, a theoretical framework that acknowledges that complex systems, such as missed care, are composed of multiple interacting causal components must be further developed to guide new methodical approaches to enlighten its causal mechanisms.

Why are social media users susceptible to health misinformation? A perspective from complexity theory

PurposeHealth misinformation on social media threatens public health. A critical question that sheds light on the propagation of health misinformation across social media platforms revolves around identifying the specific types of social media users susceptible to this issue. This study provides an initial insight into this matter by examining the underlying psychological mechanism that renders users susceptible to health misinformation.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, we developed an integrated model of susceptibility to health misinformation, drawing on the motivation-opportunity-ability theory and the elaboration likelihood model. We collected the data from a sample of 342 social media users in China. Furthermore, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was adopted to examine the proposed model and uncover the causal recipes associated with susceptibility to health misinformation.FindingsThe results indicated that there are three configural types of users that are susceptible to health misinformation: the health-consciousness core-driven type, the popularity-driven core type and the dual-driven type characterized by both high health consciousness and information popularity. Among these, high health-consciousness and the reliance on information popularity-based pathways emerge as pivotal factors influencing susceptibility to health misinformation.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the social media literature by identifying various psychological traits that lead to social media users’ susceptibility to health misinformation. Additionally, the study provides comprehensive guidance on how to mitigate the spread of health misinformation.

Time-Controlled Authentication Strategies for Molecular Information Transfer.

Modern cryptography based on computational complexity theory is mainly constructed with silicon-based circuits. As DNA nanotechnology penetrates the molecular domain, utilizing molecular cryptography for data access protection in the biomolecular domain becomes a unique approach to information security. However, building security devices and strategies with robust security and compatibility is still challenging. Here, this study reports a time-controlled molecular authentication strategy using DNAzyme and DNA strand displacement as the basic framework. A time limit exists for authorization and access, and this spontaneous shutdown design further protects secure access. Multiple hierarchical authentications, temporal Boolean logic authentication, and enzyme authentication strategies are constructed based on DNA networks'good compatibility and programmability. This study gives proof of concept for the detection and protection of bioinformation about single nucleotide variants and miRNA, highlighting their potential in biosensing and security protection.

A Mathematical Theory of Heartbeat

This article develops a novel mathematical theory of pacemaker operation using complexity theory and network science ideas. Specifically, the author claims that pacing is a byproduct of emergence of a self-synchronizing electrical network in humans (and animals) based on a fundamental property of feedback networks – aperiodicity. The exceptional resilience and reliability of the ordinary heartbeat may be due to the emergence of a self-organized network in the sinoatrial node and the particular property of aperiodic networks. Clinical studies should be performed to verify the model. Using simulation, we show that aperiodic synchronization arises almost naturally in random network structures due to the presence of many feedback loops with lengths that are relatively prime to each other. Furthermore, we show that nearly any random network of sufficient density “naturally” forms an aperiodic subset of nodes that synchronize to provide a reliable and resilient “clock” for regulating biological rhythms such as heartbeat.