Static Hierarchies Research Articles

Poesis, God, and the Connectedness of All Beings

Abstract The article examines the significance of J. G. Herder's analogical thinking in the history of comparative practices. It shows how Herder's comparative method, of positing one phenomenon as another in its own singular and inimitable manner, emerges from his concept of God and nature as informed by Baruch Spinoza, as well as his study of scientific and cultural phenomena, including the active mechanisms of poesis as sensory perception. While Herder's concept of comparison and his analogical practices influenced prominent thinkers contemporary to him such as J.W. Goethe, the specificity of his comparative method has been overlooked by scholars past and present, such as Michel Foucault, as Herder's approach resists assimilation in histories of comparativism centered on nineteenth-century projects of comparison. Yet his outlook on the tension between difference and identity offers fresh insight into relations between distinct cultures and entities without effacing their particularity or placing them in static hierarchies. Herder's comparative method provides new perspectives on contemporary debates on the benefits of and dangers of historical analogies.

Mobility and Identity in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Mobility and Identity in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Thinking rhizomatically about communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage tourism in central-eastern Europe is part of a stale process of decades-long transition from centrally-planned to market-oriented societies. We deploy Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the ‘rhizome’ to disrupt understandings of static hierarchies between post/communist histories, places and peoples. Experiences and memories of communism between 1944 and 1991 together with current touring performances of communist remnants are heterogeneously connected in a multidirectional network. Via the rhizome we explore this network as shifting connectivity rather than a confined and permanent construct. Thus, locals' post/communist experiences are roots and shoots which associate with other elements of the past, and with tourists' heterogeneous performances of communist places. We, therefore, explain ambivalences towards communist heritage and simultaneous dis/inheritance through tourism in these places.

Toward autonomically composable and context-dependent access control specification through ensembles

Dynamicity and context dependence are some of the key properties of autonomic component systems that include a large spectrum of today’s modern smart systems. In these systems, components dynamically re-group themselves, interact and collaborate in an ad hoc fashion to collectively cope with situations in their environment. Though security and access control become the key concerns of these systems, the high degree of dynamicity and the potential open-endedness is incompatible with the traditional approaches to access control, which typically rely on static hierarchies of roles and a static assignment of roles. To address this problem, we formulate access control rules which allow for dynamic ad hoc collaboration at runtime and which follow the dynamicity and context dependence of the autonomic components. Based on our previous work with autonomic component ensembles, we show how the concepts of ensembles can be extended and exploited to define the access control rule to govern interactions in a system of autonomic components.

SplitStreams: A Visual Metaphor for Evolving Hierarchies.

The visualization of hierarchically structured data over time is an ongoing challenge and several approaches exist trying to solve it. Techniques such as animated or juxtaposed tree visualizations are not capable of providing a good overview of the time series and lack expressiveness in conveying changes over time. Nested streamgraphs provide a better understanding of the data evolution, but lack the clear outline of hierarchical structures at a given timestep. Furthermore, these approaches are often limited to static hierarchies or exclude complex hierarchical changes in the data, limiting their use cases. We propose a novel visual metaphor capable of providing a static overview of all hierarchical changes over time, as well as clearly outlining the hierarchical structure at each individual time step. Our method allows for smooth transitions between treemaps and nested streamgraphs, enabling the exploration of the trade-off between dynamic behavior and hierarchical structure. As our technique handles topological changes of all types, it is suitable for a wide range of applications. We demonstrate the utility of our method on several use cases, evaluate it with a user study, and provide its full source code.

The End of the Corporation

We are witnessing a quiet but quick transformation of corporate governance. The rise of digital technologies and social media are forcing companies to reconsider how they organize themselves and structure firm governance. What is interesting is that the corporate governance discussions haven't really changed that much. The focus is still on reducing managerial misbehavior and maximizing the value of shareholders (the stakeholders who are taking the most significant risk). And the mechanisms for achieving this are more transparency and more supervision. But framing corporate governance primarily in terms of shareholder value is incomplete and potentially misleading. It encourages box-ticking and conformity. Managers are often motivated to project an image of compliance, while continuing as before. More significantly, digital technologies are now turning the world upside down. It is a fascinating, but challenging, time for business. Industry boundaries are disappearing. Platform companies operate across multiple industries (transportation, finance, healthcare, food, etc.) and use networks to deliver new business models and disrupt incumbents. Social media empowers all the stakeholders and has transformed the meaning of transparency. We cannot think in terms of traditional corporate structures anymore. Their boundaries have become more fluid and porous. Traditional corporate organizations with their departments, business divisions, and hierarchical relationships between the different groups of stakeholders are changing as companies adapt to the digital environment. Companies are not static hierarchies anymore, but complex, dynamic ecosystems comprising diverse, interacting elements.

Structures generated in a multiagent system performing information fusion in peer-to-peer resource-constrained networks

There has recently been a major advance with respect to how information fusion is performed. Information fusion has gone from being conceived as a purely hierarchical procedure, as is the case of traditional military applications, to now being regarded collaboratively, as holonic fusion, which is better suited for civil applications and edge organizations. The above paradigm shift is being boosted as information fusion gains ground in different non-military areas, and human–computer and machine–machine communications, where holarchies, which are more flexible structures than ordinary, static hierarchies, become more widespread. This paper focuses on showing how holonic structures tend to be generated when there are constraints on resources (energy, available messages, time, etc.) for interactions based on a set of fully intercommunicating elements (peers) whose components fuse information as a means of optimizing the impact of vagueness and uncertainty present message exchanges. Holon formation is studied generically based on a multiagent system model, and an example of its possible operation is shown. Holonic structures have a series of advantages, such as adaptability, to sudden changes in the environment or its composition, are somewhat autonomous and are capable of cooperating in order to achieve a common goal. This can be useful when the shortage of resources prevents communications or when the system components start to fail.

Critical situation management utilizing IoT-based data resources through dynamic contextual role modeling and activation

New opportunities have been created for the management of critical situations utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT). However, one of the difficulties in providing services for critical situation management using IoT is that access will often be needed by users at the critical events, where access to data and resources is usually restricted by means of their normal roles. In Role-Based Access Control, these roles are organized in static hierarchies and users are authorized to play such roles in order to exercise their organizational functions. However, some of these roles cannot be organized in the same way in static hierarchies as the authorizations granted to such roles directly correspond to the dynamic contextual conditions (e.g., body sensors data). Users need to satisfy these conditions to exercise the functions of such dynamic contextual roles. These dynamic conditions can be effectively derived from the IoT devices in order to manage the critical situations. However, a large number of static roles and contextual conditions has led to the high administrative and processing overheads. In this paper, we present a formal approach to CAAC for dynamically specifying the contextual roles based on the relevant contextual conditions derived from information provided through IoT. We also introduce an ontology-based approach which models the dynamic contextual roles and its associated access control policies. We demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal by providing a walkthrough of the whole mechanism. We also carry out an experimental study on the performance of our approach compared to our previous approach.

Cryptographic Hierarchical Access Control for Dynamic Structures

A hierarchical key assignment scheme is a method to assign some private information and encryption keys to a set of classes in a partially ordered hierarchy, in such a way that the private information of a higher class can be used to derive the keys of all classes lower down in the hierarchy. Sometimes, it is necessary to make dynamic updates to the hierarchy, in order to implement an access control policy which evolves with time. All security models for hierarchical key assignment schemes have been designed to cope with static hierarchies and do not consider the issue of performing dynamic updates to the hierarchy. In this paper, we define the concept of hierarchical key assignment schemes supporting dynamic updates, formalizing the relative security model. In particular, we provide the notion of security with respect to key indistinguishability, by considering the dynamic changes to the hierarchy. Moreover, we show how to construct a hierarchical key assignment scheme supporting dynamic updates, by using as a building block a symmetric encryption scheme. The proposed construction is provably secure with respect to key indistinguishability, and provides efficient key derivation and updating procedures, while requiring each user to store only a single private key.

When does power disparity help or hurt group performance?

Power differences are ubiquitous in social settings. However, the question of whether groups with higher or lower power disparity achieve better performance has thus far received conflicting answers. To address this issue, we identify 3 underlying assumptions in the literature that may have led to these divergent findings, including a myopic focus on static hierarchies, an assumption that those at the top of hierarchies are competent at group tasks, and an assumption that equality is not possible. We employ a multimethod set of studies to examine these assumptions and to understand when power disparity will help or harm group performance. First, our agent-based simulation analyses show that by unpacking these common implicit assumptions in power research, we can explain earlier disparate findings--power disparity benefits group performance when it is dynamically aligned with the power holder's task competence, and harms group performance when held constant and/or is not aligned with task competence. Second, our empirical findings in both a field study of fraud investigation groups and a multiround laboratory study corroborate the simulation results. We thereby contribute to research on power by highlighting a dynamic understanding of power in groups and explaining how current implicit assumptions may lead to opposing findings.

Evaluate, Reorganize and Share: An Approach to Dynamically Organize Digital Hierarchies

We are overwhelmed and overloaded with the data deluge brought by the digital age. Hierarchies are pervasive cognitive patterns that allow us to reorganize data and reduce the dimensionality of the information space to manageable levels (e.g., filesystems and navigational menus). In spite of their widespread adoption, such hierarchies can be improved to cope with the present needs of data sharing and reuse. First, we seldom use mechanisms to evaluate how well they partition the information space. Second, we build static and content-driven hierarchies instead of dynamic and context-driven (i.e., task-driven) ones. Third, we use ad hoc and implicit hierarchization criteria, whereas they should be explicit and shareable. This paper discusses the problems related to the construction of hierarchies, and presents a conceptual framework to turn them into reconfigurable and shareable artifacts. Moreover, it explores how dynamically reconfigurable hierarchies can better cope with the multi-faceted nature of content, illustrating these principles through a tool that validates our proposal.

Making difference in medieval and early modern Iberia

In this engaging study Jean Dangler examines the way that ideas of difference were forged in four types of medieval Iberian discourse: muwashshah/jarcha poems from al-Andalus, Andalusi cutting poems, medical literature about the body, and portrayals of the monster. According to Dangler, these texts demonstrate the two fundamental precepts of medieval Iberian alterity: multifaceted subject formation and the embrace of contrasts and the negative. Medieval Iberia was a multicultural territory of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian societies. These communities had constant geographic, cultural, political, and economic contact with one another. Because medieval Iberia was not hierarchical and homogenous, medieval subjectivity was not always marked by essential qualities of character, but was mutable and shifting. The adverse was often esteemed in the making of meaning and the forging of the social order. Dangler explores how the four discourses she analyzes changed in the early modern period, from an acceptance of difference to more rigid concepts of subjectivity and the marginalization of difference. This shift accompanied the rise of the Castilian nation-state and its imposition of static hierarchies of value. This book will appeal to a broad range of medievalists. It makes an important contribution to the growing interest in medieval Iberia and offers a nuance understanding of medieval history and culture in general.

Dynamic hierarchies for business intelligence information retrieval

Information retrieval is a critical function in Business Intelligence (BI) applications. Most business intelligence applications today rely on traditional keyword searching for their primary retrieval mechanism. Keyword searching has been improved over the years via various advancements including indexing, storage optimisation, improved query processing, and advances in hardware. Nevertheless, it still has significant limitations. This paper presents an alternative mechanism for information retrieval, dubbed hierarchies, and describes how to develop such a system. Cognitive psychologists have found that recognition is typically superior to recall in information retrieval. The dynamic hierarchies that we develop: are based upon a recognition paradigm rather than a recall paradigm; can be constructed using low-cost hardware and software; overcome many of the limitations inherent in keyword searching and traditional static hierarchies.

The New Rank-and-File

Much has changed for workers in the years since Staughton and Alice Lynd's classic Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers was first published in 1973. The New Rank and File presents interviews with working-class organizers of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s who face the challenges of a new economy with the same determination and creativity shown by those profiled in the earlier book. Reflecting the increasing globalization of labor practices-and problems-The New Rank and File contains oral histories of workers in Guatemala, Palestine, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Canada, as well as the United States.In their narratives, rank-and-file workers from many different industries and workplaces reveal the specific incidents and pervasive injustices that triggered their activism. They discuss the frustrations they faced in attempting to effect change through traditional means, and the ways in which they have learned to advocate through innovation. In an incisive introduction, the Lynds set forth their distinctive perspective on the labor movement, with a focus on solidarity unionism: making decisions on the assumption that we all may be leaders at one time or another rather than relying on static hierarchies. Their insights, along with true stories told in the organizers' own words, contain much to inspire a new generation of workers and activists.Jim BrophyTony BudakAndrea CarneyChinese Staff and Workers' AssociationCoalition of University EmployeesBill DiPietroKay EisenhowerRich FeldmanThe Frente Autentico del TrabajoMarshall GanzMia GiuntaMartin GlabermanMayra GuillenThe Hebron Union of Workers and General Service PersonnelHugo HernandezMargaret KeithElly LearyEd MannCharlie McCollesterVirginia RomanVicky StarrGary StevensonMike StoutManuela Aju TambrizJames TrevathanTriState Conference on SteelMauricio VallejosWorkers for Ford in Mexico

The Ranking of Gods in Chinese Folk Religion

In the polytheistic religion of present day Taiwan, different deity cults compete for control over ritual territory, and for the allegiance of worshippers. Success or failure in this competition may result in a change in rank of the gods involved and the spread of their cults to new areas. Where the dynamic nature of this process has been noted, the question of ranking gods often partakes of a circular logic: Gods are popular because they are powerful and they are powerful because they are popular. Such an explanation fails to account for the reason why some gods change rank readily while others may remain fixed in static hierarchies.