Development Of Complexity Theory Research Articles

Sand in Sculpture: Creatively Rewilding Ecologies of Health

Through this creative-relational inquiry, we pursue a radically new way of conceptualizing, researching, communicating, and practicing health and health care in contemporary times. We write to reimagine what an alternative paradigm that is at once humane, democratic, accessible, inclusive, generative, and resolutely open to diversity in its many forms might look and feel like. We begin by presenting the script of an autoethnographic film that explores health, creativity, and physical activity through an arts-based approach that incorporates moving image, spoken word, soundscape, music, and song. Next, we offer two responses to the film, which embody emotional and empathetic engagement, relational commitment, moral and ethical sensibility, and careful scholarly reflection to extend and develop our inquiry in innovative interdisciplinary directions. Finally, we draw on recent developments in complexity theory and environmental activism to propose a new way to understand and practice health care within complex ecologies of health.

Measuring the complexity of micro and nanostructured surfaces

Nanostructured surfaces usually exhibit complicated morphologies that cannot be described in terms of Euclidean geometry. Simultaneously, they do not constitute fully random noise fields to be characterized by simple stochastics and probability theory. In most cases, nanomorphologies consist of complicated mixtures of order and randomness, which should be described quantitatively if one aims to control their fabrication and properties. In this work, inspired by recent developments in complexity theory, we propose a method to measure nanomorphology complexity that is based on the deviation from the average symmetry of surfaces. We present the methodology for its calculation and the validation of its performance, using a series of synthetic surfaces where the proposed complexity measure obtains a maximum value at the most heterogeneous morphologies between the fully ordered and fully random cases. Additionally, we measure the complexity of experimental micro and nanostructured surfaces (polymeric and metallic), and demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method in quantifying the impact of processing conditions on their morphologies. Finally, we hint at the relationship between the complexity measure and the functional properties of surfaces.

Towards a contemporary social care 'prevention narrative' of principled complexity: An integrative literature review.

Prevention has become increasingly central in social care policy and commissioning strategies within the United Kingdom (UK). Commonly there is reliance on understandings borrowed from the sphere of public health, leaning on a prevention discourse characterised by the 'upstream and downstream' metaphor. Whilst framing both structural factors and responses to individual circumstances, the public health approach nonetheless suggests linearity in a cause and effect relationship. Social care and illness follow many trajectories and this conceptualisation of prevention may limit its effectiveness and scope in social care. Undertaken as part of a commissioned evaluation of the Social Services and Wellbeing Act (2014) Wales, a systematic integrative review was conducted to establish the key current debates within prevention work, and how prevention is conceptually framed, implemented and evaluated within the social care context. The databases Scopus, ASSIA, CINAHL and Social Care Online were initially searched in September 2019 resulting in 52 documents being incorporated for analysis. A further re-run of searches was run in March 2021, identifying a further 14 documents, thereby creating a total of 66. Predominantly, these were journal articles or research reports (n=53), with the remainder guidance or strategy documents, briefings or process evaluations (n=13). These were categorised by their primary theme and focus, as well as document format and research method before undergoing thematic analysis. This highlighted the continued prominence of three-tiered, linear public health narratives in the framing of prevention for social care, with prevention work often categorised and enacted with inconsistency. Common drivers for prevention activity continue to be cost reduction and reduced dependence on the care system in the future. Through exploring prevention for older people and caregivers, we argue for an approach to prevention aligning with the complexities of the social world surrounding it. Building on developments in complexity theory in social science and healthcare, we offer an alternative view of social care prevention guided by principles rooted in the everyday realities of communities, service users and caregivers.

COMPLEXITY THEORY IN MANAGEMENT

Complexity theory is an interesting complement to classic scientific theories. Although this topic is at the center of interest of a large group of researchers, there are only a few publications on this subject that can be found in Polish literature. The aim of this article is to fill this gap partially. Basic assumptions of complexity theory have been discussed. Examples of its applications in social and economic sciences as well as numerous applications in other areas have been analyzed. Particular attention was paid to the possibilities of practical application of elements of this theory in the management of complex business systems. The benefits resulting from the development of complexity theory were also shown

Научная революция в когнитивной науке в контексте развития теории сложности

Научная революция в когнитивной науке в контексте развития теории сложности

Complex issues, complex solutions: applying complexity theory in social work practice

High-profile service failures in social work have ensured that the demand that practitioner decision-making be both accurate and transparent has never been as vocal or persistent. Such expectations undermine both trust and legitimacy, and how best to respond represents perhaps the most challenging issue facing social work today. Of necessity, practitioners must make judgements in circumstances characterised by uncertainty and ambiguity, while the complexity of this undertaking is routinely cited as a confounding variable in efforts to generate and apply generalisable knowledge in a technical fashion. Here, we aim to utilise developments in complexity theory to elaborate on why this might be the case, but also what, practically, social work might do about it. In particular, we will respond to Eileen Munro suggestion that it is possible to differentiate areas of social work which can be proceduralised from those which should be judgement based. Utilising recent developments in complexity theory, we aim to explore whether this can be undertaken on the basis of a ‘complexity continuum’ which enables classification of roles and tasks on the basis of inherent certainty or uncertainty. In providing a reflexive account of the development and application of the continuum, however, the relationship between theory and practice is to some extent problematised. The findings demonstrate that although complexity theory can provide useful insights, it also has evident practical limitations. In turn, these limitations have implications for discussions regarding the real-world relevance of complexity theory, and for sociological theorising to social work more generally.

The Complexity of Symmetric Boolean Parity Holant Problems

For certain subclasses of NP, $\oplus$P, or #P characterized by local constraints, it is known that if there exist any problems within that subclass that are not polynomial time computable, then all the problems in the subclass are NP-complete, $\oplus$P-complete, or #P-complete. Such dichotomy results have been proved for characterizations such as constraint satisfaction problems and directed and undirected graph homomorphism problems, often with additional restrictions. Here we give a dichotomy result for the more expressive framework of Holant problems. For example, these additionally allow for the expression of matching problems, which have had pivotal roles in the development of complexity theory. As our main result we prove the dichotomy theorem that, for the class $\oplus$P, every set of symmetric Holant signatures of any arities that is not polynomial time computable is $\oplus$P-complete. The result exploits some special properties of the class $\oplus$P and characterizes four distinct tractable subclasses within $\oplus$P. It leaves open the corresponding questions for NP, $\#$P, and $\#_k$P for $k\neq 2$.

Applying complexity theory to New Zealand public policy: principles for practice

Interest in the development of complexity theory and its application to policy and social sciences has been accelerating over the last decade. Drawing on three pieces of recent New Zealand research, this article aims to provide an introduction to complexity theory for policy practitioners and researchers, highlighting principles of complexity theory relevant to improving policy practice and the positive impact of interventions.

Complexity and Relevance

If you examine the changing contexts in which the issue of ‘relevance’ has been posed in the profession, it becomes clear how earlier calls for relevance need to be reconfigured today. After reviewing arguments that show how explanatory/normative activity is intercoded, this essay explores how the accelerated pace of life, new densities of interdependence and a growing fragility of things supports the case for forging alliances between political science and recent developments in complexity theory in a number of allied fields.

Complexity and life

During the last two decades, a new understanding of life emerged at the forefront of science.The development of complexity theory, technically known as nonlinear dynamics, has allowed scientists and mathematicians to model the complexities of living systems in new ways that have yielded many important discoveries. In this article, the author reviews the basic concepts, current achievements and status of complexity theory from the perspective of the new understanding of biological life. Models and theories discussed include the theory of dissipative structures for nonlinear chemical systems, the application of bifurcation theory to genetic networks and cell differentiation, the study of the origin of biological form (morphology), a new approach to the understanding of developmental stability in embryology, and a model of the ‘origin of life’ and prebiotic evolution in tiny, membrane-bounded vesicles in the primeval oceans.

Complexity and Life

During the last two decades, a new understanding of life emerged at the forefront of science.The development of complexity theory, technically known as nonlinear dynamics, has allowed scientists and mathematicians to model the complexities of living systems in new ways that have yielded many important discoveries. In this article, the author reviews the basic concepts, current achievements and status of complexity theory from the perspective of the new understanding of biological life. Models and theories discussed include the theory of dissipative structures for nonlinear chemical systems, the application of bifurcation theory to genetic networks and cell differentiation, the study of the origin of biological form (morphology), a new approach to the understanding of developmental stability in embryology, and a model of the ‘origin of life’ and prebiotic evolution in tiny, membrane-bounded vesicles in the primeval oceans.

Beyond the Third Way: The Science of Complexity and the Politics of Choice

Focusing on the work of Anthony Giddens, this article reviews his vision of the Third Way and argues that it reflects a new and fundamental ‘complexity’ shift within the social sciences. His ability to partially recognise and integrate this shift into his thinking gives the Third Way much of its power and coherence. However, his unwillingness to accept the shift's full implications and his determination to find the one new way for the left blinds him to its more contingent and complex implications. By coming to terms with the development of complexity theory in the natural and social sciences, this article will attempt to go beyond the Third Way and argue that there is not one, two or three ways, but hundreds.

The Formation of the Self. Nietzsche and Complexity

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between the formation of the self and the worldly horizon within which this self achieves its meaning. Our inquiry takes place from two perspectives: the first derived from the Nietzschean analysis of how one becomes what one is; the other from current developments in complexity theory. This two-angled approach opens up different, yet related dimensions of a non-essentialist understanding of the self that is nonetheless neither arbitrary nor deterministic. Indeed, at the meeting point of these two perspectives on the self lies a conception of a dynamic, worldly self, whose identity is bound up with its appearance in a world shared with others. After examining this argument from the respective viewpoints offered by Nietzsche and complexity theory, the article concludes with a consideration of some of the political and ethical implications of representing our situatedness within a shared human domain as a condition for self-formation.

Participation as chaos: Lessons from the principles of complexity theory for democracy

Current organizational communication theorists and practitioners seek to remedy organizational ills by advancing democracy within the workplace. Specifically, organizational democracy has been introduced with a variety of goals in mind: improving representation, increasing job satisfaction, improving productivity, and reducing costs. Although democracy emerges in myriad forms, theorists are still uncertain as to how to involve employees in the process and produce observable results. In this article, recent developments in complexity theory are invoked to both illuminate and resolve problems on the perspective of workplace democracy. The article closes by showing how complexity theory concepts can be used to encourage democratic practices in organizations. Ultimately, complexity theory is used to shed light on the processes surrounding the considerable problem solving and experimentation required to implement democratic practices.

Extended network learning error: A new way of conceptualising chronic fatigue syndrome

The cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is controversial: psychological, hypothalamic and immune mechanisms have been proposed as well as the possibility of some form of interaction between these mechanisms. Patients' own conceptual models vary and sometimes adversely affect self-management. This paper suggests an interactional way of conceptualising CFS using developments in complexity theory (networks, parallel processing or connectionism). I propose that the neurological, immune and endocrine systems are pan of a single, self-regulatory, extended brain-body network. Furthermore, that CFS is caused by self-organisational change in this extended network created by normally adaptive error-sensitive learning rules that malfunction when physiological and psychological challenges coincide. This psychoneuroimniunoendocrinological model shows how previously proposed mechanisms could interact to cause CFS. explains the heterogeneity of the presentation of the disease, and provides a conceptual model that may be acceptable to patients but is also consistent with effective self-management.

Interactive and probabilistic proof-checking

The notion of efficient proof-checking has always been central to complexity theory, and it gave rise to the definition of the class NP. In the last 15 years there has been a number of exciting, unexpected and deep developments in complexity theory that exploited the notion of randomized and interactive proof-checking. Results developed along this line of research have diverse and powerful applications in complexity theory, cryptography, and the theory of approximation algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper we survey the main lines of developments in interactive and probabilistic proof-checking, with an emphasis on open questions.

Critical Issues: Researching Complexity

This essay suggests that recent developments in Complexity Theory have the potential to offer new insights to reader-response researchers. Presented as a rubric that collects theoretical understandings from a number of domains such as ecology, biology, neurology, immunology, psychology, education, sociology, economics, anthropology, & evolutionary theory, Complexity Theory is developed as an antidote to Enlightenment beliefs about Reason and the separation of knowledge from knowers. In addition to providing a brief discussion of what Complexity Theory suggests about mind, selfhood, intelligence, and practices of reading, the essay offers a brief discussion of the import of these reconceptualizations to reader-response researchers. It is concluded that developing more complex reader-response research practices will require both universities and university researchers to develop new commitments and practices.

Toward a Science of Qualities in Organizations

The development of complexity theory in the natural sciences is described, and summarized in six principles of complex emergent wholes. It is suggested that complexity theory is leading biology toward a science of qualities based on participation and intuition. It is argued on metaphorical and epistemological grounds that these principles which describe the emergence of complex wholes can be applied to social and organizational life. The six principles are then applied to qualitative and action research practice, with a particular reference to co-operative inquiry, in order to provide principles for good practice and theoretical support for the nature of valid inquiry processes.

Computational model theory: an overview

The computational complexity of a problem is the amount of resources, such as time or space, required by a machine that solves the problem. The descriptive complexity of problems is the complexity of describing problems in some logical formalism over finite structures. One of the exciting developments in complexity theory is the discovery of a very intimate connection between computational and descriptive complexity. It is this connection between complexity theory and finite-model theory that we term computational model theory. In this overview paper we offer one perspective on computational model theory. Two important observations underly our perspective: (1) while computational devices work on encodings of problems, logic is applied directly to the underlying mathematical structures, and this “mismatch” complicates the relationship between logic and complexity significantly, and (2) first-order logic has severely limited expressive power on finite structures, and one way to increase the limited expressive power of first-order logic is by adding fixpoint constructs. These observations motivated the introduction of two absract formalisms: that of finite-variable infinitary logic and that of relational machines. This paper is the story of how these formalisms are used in computational model theory and their interrelationship.

Complexities

This essay considers the interaction of architectural theory and recent scientific developments in complexity theory and the study of self-organising systems, beginning with a reading of biologist Stuart Kauffman's popular exposition of his own work and that of others in the field in At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity . Kauffman's book is seen to rehearse an undertheorised notion of a cosmic 'home' newly identified for humanity by science, arguing that evolutionary processes - including the origin of life itself - previously thought to be unimaginably unlikely or arbitrary are now understood as probable effects of the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos. Significantly, Kauffman repeatedly extends his project into other aspects of human endeavour, including technology and society. Making no claims regarding the science itself, this essay argues that the nostalgia for the 'home' made explicit in Kauffman's work renders such attempts at generalising complexity theory, potentially problematic. Kauffman, for example, indulges in a project of uncritical domestication which has its own history within architectural discourse, including Christopher Alexander's attempts to translate earlier discourse on self-organising systems into a comparably restorative architectural formula in the face of an increasingly technologised- and 'complex'- lifeworld. The figure of the cybernetic black box and a fictional 'black cloud' - both contemporaneous with modernist efforts to unite architecture and science- are introduced as complementary materialisations of fully integrated 'communicative organisms' postulated by cybernetics against a background of noise, confusion, and information overload. The essay concludes by proposing that these latter effects be theorised as constitutively unassimilable into any and all universalising gestures of integration and domestication, thereby holding architecture open to the full implications of discourses outside of itself, and vice versa.