System Archetypes Research Articles

Using systems thinking to investigate the sustainability of digital fabrication projects in the humanitarian and development sector

Recently, designers have started using digital fabrication to create new solutions to meet global challenges. However, many technology projects in the humanitarian and development sector have been criticised for failing to deliver sustainable solutions. This study responds to these concerns by investigating the sustainability of digital fabrication projects in the humanitarian and development sector. A systems approach is used to synthesise knowledge from 14 digital fabrication projects in healthcare, education and water and sanitation. Causal loop diagrams are created to investigate the relationships between the drivers and barriers to sustainability. Several systems archetypes are also identified revealing potential leverage points for driving more sustainable solutions. The paper contextualises these findings by drawing on theories from participatory development and cosmopolitan localism. It concludes that digital fabrication presents an opportunity for more local and participatory design; however, sustainability is being undermined by a tendency to seek short-term solutions.

An overview of Fintech applications to solve the puzzle of health care funding: state-of-the-art in medical crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is emerging as an alternative form of funding for medical purposes, with capital being raised directly from a broader and more diverse audience of investors. In this paper, we have systematically researched and reviewed the literature on medical crowdfunding to determine how crowdfunding connects with the health care industry. The health care industry has been struggling to develop sustainable research and business models for economic systems and investors alike, especially in pharmaceuticals. The research results have revealed a wealth of evidence concerning the way crowdfunding is applied in real life. Patients and caregivers utilize web platform–based campaigns all over the world to fund their medical expenses, generally on a spot basis, using donation-based or even reward-based schemes, regardless of the health care system archetype (public, private insurance-based or hybrid). Academics have also focused on funding campaigns and the predictors of success (which range from social behaviour and environment to the basic demographics of the campaigners and their diseases) and on social and regulatory concerns, including heightened social inequality and stigma. While equity crowdfunding is disrupting the way many ventures/businesses seek capital in the market, our research indicates that there are no relevant or consistent data on the practice of medical equity crowdfunding in health care, apart from a few anecdotal cases.

Discovering dominant tumor immune archetypes in a pan-cancer census

Cancers display significant heterogeneity with respect to tissue of origin, driver mutations, and other features of the surrounding tissue. It is likely that individual tumors engage common patterns of the immune system-here "archetypes"-creating prototypical non-destructive tumor immune microenvironments (TMEs) and modulating tumor-targeting. To discover the dominant immune system archetypes, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Immunoprofiler Initiative (IPI) processed 364 individual tumors across 12 cancer types using standardized protocols. Computational clustering of flow cytometry and transcriptomic data obtained from cell sub-compartments uncovered dominant patterns of immune composition across cancers. These archetypes were profound insofar as they also differentiated tumors based upon unique immune and tumor gene-expression patterns. They also partitioned well-established classifications of tumor biology. The IPI resource provides a template for understanding cancer immunity as a collection of dominant patterns of immune organization and provides a rational path forward to learn how to modulate these to improve therapy.

Drifting the goals archetype: a systemic study

PurposeManagerial decision-making is an area of interest to both academia and practitioners. Researchers found that managers often fail to manage complex decision-making tasks and system thinkers assert that generic structures known as systems archetypes help them to a great deal in handling such situations. In this paper, it is demonstrated that decision makers resort to lowering of goal (quick-fix) in order to resolve the gap between the goal and current reality in the “drifting the goals” systems archetype.Design/methodology/approachA real-life case study is taken up to highlight the pitfalls of “drifting the goals” systems archetype for a decision situation in the Indian two-wheeler industry. System dynamics modeling is made use of to obtain the results.FindingsThe decision makers fail to realize the pitfall of lowering the goal to resolve the gap between the goal and current reality. It is seen that, irrespective of current less-than-desirable performance, managers adopting corrective actions other than lowering of goals perform better in the long run. Further, it is demonstrated that extending the boundary and experimentation results in designing a better service system and setting benchmarks.Practical implicationsThe best possible way to avoid the pitfall is to hold the vision and not lower the long term goal. The managers must be aware of the pitfalls beforehand.Originality/valueSystems thinking is important in complex decision-making tasks. Managers need to embrace long-term perspective in decision-making. This paper demonstrates the value of systems thinking in terms of a case study on the “drifting the goals” systems archetype.

A conceptual system dynamics model for cybersecurity assessment of connected and autonomous vehicles

Emerging Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) technology have a ubiquitous communication framework. It poses security challenges in the form of cyber-attacks, prompting rigorous cybersecurity measures. There is a lack of knowledge on the anticipated cause-effect relationships and mechanisms of CAVs cybersecurity and the possible system behaviour, especially the unintended consequences. Therefore, this study aims to develop a conceptual System Dynamics (SD) model to analyse cybersecurity in the complex, uncertain deployment of CAVs. Specifically, the SD model integrates six critical avenues and maps their respective parameters that either trigger or mitigate cyber-attacks in the operation of CAVs using a systematic theoretical approach. These six avenues are: i) CAVs communication framework, ii) secured physical access, iii) human factors, iv) CAVs penetration, v) regulatory laws and policy framework, and iv) trust—across the CAVs-industry and among the public.Based on the conceptual model, various system archetypes are analysed. “Fixes that Fail”, in which the upsurge in hacker capability is the unintended natural result of technology maturity, requires continuous efforts to combat it. The primary mitigation steps are human behaviour analysis, knowledge of motivations and characteristics of CAVs cyber-attackers, CAVs users and Original Equipment Manufacturers education. “Shifting the burden”, where policymakers counter the perceived cyber threats of hackers by updating legislation that also reduces CAVs adaptation by imitations, indicated the need for calculated regulatory and policy intervention. The “limits to success” triggered by CAVs penetration increase the defended hacks to establish regulatory laws, improve trust, and develop more human analysis. However, it may also open up caveats for cyber-crimes and alert that CAVs deployment to be alignment with the intended goals for enhancing cybersecurity. The proposed model can support decision-making and training and stimulate the roadmap towards an optimized, self-regulating, and resilient cyber-safe CAV system.

The Magmatic Architecture of Continental Flood Basalts I: Observations From the Deccan Traps

AbstractFlood basalts are some of the largest magmatic events in Earth history, with intrusion and eruption of millions of km3 of basaltic magma over a short time period (∼1–5 Ma). A typical continental flood basalt (CFB) is emplaced in hundreds of individual eruptive episodes lasting decades to centuries with lava flow volumes of 103–104 km3. These large volumes have logically led to CFB models invoking large magma reservoirs (–105 km3) within the crust or at Moho depth. Since there are currently no active CFB provinces, we must rely on observations of past CFBs with varying degrees of surface exposure to develop and test models. In the last few decades, significant improvements in geochronological, geochemical, paleomagnetic, volcanological, and paleo‐proxy measurements have provided high‐resolution constraints on CFB eruptive tempo ‐ the volume, duration, and frequency of individual eruptive episodes. Using the well‐studied Deccan Traps as an archetype for CFB systems, we compile multiple lines of evidence–geochronology, eruption tempo, dike spatial distribution, intrusive‐extrusive ratio, geochemical variations, and volcanological observations–to assess the viability of previous models. We find that the presence of just a few large crustal magma reservoirs is inconsistent with these constraints. Although observations from the Deccan Traps primarily motivate our model, we discuss constraints from other CFBs to illustrate that this conclusion may be broadly applicable for CFB magmatic systems in general.

Rydberg series of dark excitons and the conduction band spin-orbit splitting in monolayer WSe2

Strong Coulomb correlations together with multi-valley electronic bands in the presence of spin-orbit interaction are at the heart of studies of the rich physics of excitons in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD). Those archetypes of two-dimensional systems promise a design of new optoelectronic devices. In intrinsic TMD monolayers the basic, intravalley excitons, are formed by a hole from the top of the valence band and an electron either from the lower or upper spin-orbit-split conduction band subbands: one of these excitons is optically active, the second one is dark, although possibly observed under special conditions. Here we demonstrate the s-series of Rydberg dark exciton states in tungsten diselenide monolayer, which appears in addition to a conventional bright exciton series in photoluminescence spectra measured in high in-plane magnetic fields. The comparison of energy ladders of bright and dark Rydberg excitons is shown to be a method to experimentally evaluate one of the missing band parameters in TMD monolayers: the amplitude of the spin-orbit splitting of the conduction band.

Fixes that Fail: A system archetype for examining racialized structures within the food system.

Access to fresh and healthy food within a neighborhood has been identified as a social mechanism contributing to community health. Grounded in the understanding that challenges related to equity within a food system are both structural and systemic, our research demonstrates how systems thinking can further understandings of food system complexity. Within systems thinking, we provide an illustration of how system archetypes offer an analytic tool for examining complex community issues. We map semi-structured interview data from community stakeholders (N=22) to the "Fixes that Fail" system archetype to illuminate systemic challenges, such as incarceration and poverty, that structure food system inequity in urban communities. Within our research, the "Fixes that Fail" archetype provided a narrative interpretive tool for unveiling complexity within the food system and interdependencies with racialized systems such as criminal justice and labor markets. This system archetype provided an accessible approach for generating narratives about systemic complexity, the production of inequity through racialized forces, and opportunities for transformation.

DAMPAK PANDEMI COVID-19 TERHADAP PENGELUARAN PANGAN RUMAH TANGGA MISKIN PERKOTAAN: STUDI KASUS KELUARAHAN CIROYOM, KECAMATAN ANDIR, KOTA BANDUNG

The impact of the pandemic has reduced the amount of food consumption expenditure for poor families due to declining incomes and delays in government social protection. Poor families are threatened with food insecurity, because their access to food becomes limited when cash availability decreases. This study aims to analyze the causes and factors of poor families becoming more food insecure and to find out how poor families manage their food expenditure during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research design was carried out using a system thinking approach. The analysis of the system uses content analysis based on the system archetype. The validation stage of the system structure uses triangulation techniques based on data collection and the PRA approach through the trend change chart technique. The results show that food insecurity for poor families occurs due to the impact of the pandemic which causes access to food for poor families to be increasingly limited, which is characterized by decreased food consumption in terms of quantity and quality. The main factor that influences it is the level of income. The strategy to maintain their family's food consumption needs is to apply for a loan and switch to cheap food sources so that food quality does not decrease as much as the food consumption budget.

Abstract SY24-01: Spatiotemporal definitions of immune archetypes across cancer types

Abstract Cancers display significant heterogeneity with respect to tissue of origin, driver mutations and other features of the surrounding tissue. It is likely that persistent tumors differentially engage inherent patterns-here "Archetypes"-of the immune system, to both benefit from the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and to disengage tumor-targeting. To discover dominant immune system archetypes across diverse cancer types, we processed in an unbiased way 364 individual tumors across 12 cancer indications using standardized protocols. Computational clustering of flow cytometry and transcriptomic data obtained on cell sub compartments uncovered archetypes that exist across indications and are durable to increased granularity in higher dimensions. Immune composition-based archetypes differentiate tumors based upon the distribution of large unrelated collections of immune and tumor gene-expression patterns. Archetypes discovered this way also tie closely to well-established classifications of tumor biology. The resultant Immunoprofiler Initiative (IPI) resource provides a template for understanding cancer immunity as a collection of dominant patterns of immune infiltration and provides a rational path forward to study cancer immunity and learn how to modulate these patterns to improve therapy. Citation Format: Matthew F. Krummel. Spatiotemporal definitions of immune archetypes across cancer types [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr SY24-01.

A system dynamics approach for understanding community resilience to disaster risk.

The Western Cape is a dynamic province that is disaster-prone, particularly the vulnerable urban communities in and around its environs. Such communities are more vulnerable to wildfire, flooding, pandemic, natural and human-made hazards because of poverty and, consequently, poor living conditions such as overcrowding and non-understanding of community resilience. The inability of these communities to understand community resilience and withstand adversities affects the sustainability of initiatives to develop them. This study aims to identify the mechanisms influencing the level of understanding of community resilience in a vulnerable community and to contribute to the understanding of community resilience to disaster risk. Fieldwork was conducted in an informal settlement in South Africa. The research study was conducted in two cycles of data collection and analysis. Data in the form of observation notes, document analysis and interviews were analysed using grounded-theory principles. Ten inter-related variables or mechanisms emerged from the analysis. The theoretical model consists of four reinforcing (R) feedback loops (R1, R2, R3 and R4), respectively, which explain how the understanding of community resilience in the informal settlement maps on to the relative achievement systems archetype. Negative reinforcing behaviour would explain the lack of understanding of community resilience, while positive reinforcing behaviour indicates how an understanding of community resilience develops. In addition, the variable with the leverage to improve the mechanisms influencing the understanding of community resilience was found to be the ‘level of public education and awareness’. The theory of how these variables behave in context was represented as a qualitative system dynamics model.

Low research productivity: Transformation, institutional and leadership concern at a South African university

A key indicator of the academic worth, value and development of a university is its research capacity and publications. The universities of technologies (UoTs) that merged from former technikons have been poorly ranked due to low research performance. Hands have been pointed at the academics, some school of thought blamed the institutions, others pointed at the government agencies in charge of higher education policies, regulation, and restructuring. The aim of this paper is to examine empirically from the institutional point of view, reasons for low research output in the UoTs. A qualitative research approach was adopted by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 academic staff and a comprehensive focus group meeting among six academics from three faculties in the same UoT. Heavy workload, career ambiguity, poaching, staffing, sabbatical leave policy, large student numbers, unawareness of incentives, poor retention strategies, institutional history, understanding of research mandate, clarity of policies and procedures and poor time management emerged as the contributing factors to low research output in the UoT. According to the fourth dimension of systems archetype, the study contributes to knowledge by allowing a level of understanding into the problem under investigation. Strategic issues to be considered were suggested for the stakeholders as a way forward.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES: A BASIS FOR CURRICULUM REDESIGN

The education sector during the current pandemic has been greatly affected by the learning environment, management and administrative practices, and pedagogical aspects. Many schools around the world have made adjustments in their respective curricula to focus on what is essential during these trying times. The concept of school curriculum has been challenged to become more responsive to this large-scale universal undertaking. This paper explores curriculum development through the lens of the stimuli-response loop to show its dynamism. Furthermore, the researcher cites important cyclical models to picture how a curriculum develops and changes and integrates innovations during an organizational change. Finally, the researcher stitches the concepts of curriculum and organizational change through systems archetype in an attempt to suggest a model that would cater to such large-scale environmental movements like the current pandemic. KEYWORDS: Environmental Challenges, Responsive Curriculum, School Curriculum, School Organization, Systems Archetype

Лирико-философское начало в малом литературном жанре как детерминанта культуры

The author considers the formation of lyrical and philosophical beginning in literature as an internal determinant of the culture of the Russian people and proves that the lyrical feeling as a philosophical aspect of creativity, restoring the individual’s ability to perceive the world and self-cognition, is a succession factor. In the archetype of creativity the author finds the expression of the national identity of the Russian writer, accumulating cultural memory. The solution of socio-cultural problems, encoded in the system archetype — image — symbol, is illustrated on the example of Y. Bondarev’s miniatures. The author believes that the translation of spiritual values of life from the writer to the readerin the lyrical miniature is the antagonist of the loss of personal and national orientation in the technogenic world.

Etiology of Belief-behavior Systems and Hierarchies.

Introduction: In order to understand the well documented patterns of mental health, human learning, human behavior, and the mechanics of hierarchies such as academic institutions, political systems, and business organizations, one must discover the rules and pathways that cause those patterns. My Belief-Behavior Systems archetype is the first of its kind to reconcile the theories and insights from social sciences, political science, psychiatry, and evolutionary biology into a unifying paradigm which explains how socialization and human interactions evolved into the patterns we recognized today. More importantly is that this new contribution to our understanding of human behavior within hierarchies provides the key insights to guide the restoration and repair of our dysfunctional hierarchies which, unfortunately, all too often oppress, manipulate and exploit our humanity.

Modeling the Impacts of Urban Flood Risk Management on Social Inequality.

The exposure of urban populations to flooding is highly heterogeneous, with the negative impacts of flooding experienced disproportionately by the poor. In developing countries experiencing rapid urbanization and population growth a key distinction in the urban landscape is between planned development and unplanned, informal development, which often occurs on marginal, flood-prone land. Flood risk management in the context of informality is challenging, and may exacerbate existing social inequalities and entrench poverty. Here, we adapt an existing socio-hydrological model of human-flood interactions to account for a stratified urban society consisting of planned and informal settlements. In the first instance, we use the model to construct four system archetypes based on idealized scenarios of risk reduction and disaster recovery. We then perform a sensitivity analysis to examine the relative importance of the differential values of vulnerability, risk-aversion, and flood awareness in determining the relationship between flood risk management and social inequality. The model results suggest that reducing the vulnerability of informal communities to flooding plays an important role in reducing social inequality and enabling sustainable economic growth, even when the exposure to the flood hazard remains high. Conversely, our model shows that increasing risk aversion may accelerate the decline of informal communities by suppressing economic growth. On this basis, we argue for urban flood risk management which is rooted in pro-poor urban governance and planning agendas which recognize the legitimacy and permanence of informal communities in cities.

Analysing price volatility in agricultural value chains using systems thinking: A case study of the Indonesian chilli value chain

CONTEXTHigh price volatility in agricultural commodities can be a major issue for value chain actors exposed to its adverse economic impacts. Price volatility results from the interaction of multiple factors linked within dynamic and complex agricultural systems. Therefore, to address price volatility, the approach needs to be capable of analysing feedback that occurs in such complex systems. OBJECTIVEWe integrate a systems thinking approach and value chain analysis to overcome the constraint of other methods to explicitly describe and understand how system structure influences system behaviour observed in price volatility and the assessment of the consequences of ex-ante and ex-post policy interventions based on this understanding. METHODSThe proposed integrated approach involves the active participation of value chain actors and stakeholders to improve their understanding of the complex systems they operate within including the policy environment. The approach takes the Indonesian chilli value chain as a case study. We implemented the first two steps of systems thinking (i.e., articulating problems and formulating dynamic hypotheses). In the group model building processes, we developed causal loop diagrams to represent a dynamic hypothesis that explains the feedback loops that cause price oscillation behaviour and systems archetypes that identify potential intervention points. RESULTS and CONCLUSIONSThe integrated approach was able to link the Indonesian chilli value chain's system structure and the system behaviour observed in price volatility. The causal loop diagram clearly displays the feedback between production, market governance, consumption, and price. The diagram also portrays how these factors impact value chain actors' performance and the influence of time delays and random shocks on the entire value chain system. Limits to growth and shifting the burden archetypes were identified as critical leverage points in formulating fundamental policy interventions to address price volatility. SIGNIFICANCEThis study demonstrates the strengths of the proposed approach in developing a comprehensive dynamic qualitative model of a whole value chain system that influences the system behaviour, such as oscillation, which other modelling studies do not consider. The use of system archetypes to identify intervention points is another research contribution in that it improves value chain analysis. The results also highlight the benefits of participatory system dynamics modelling in enhancing the learning of value chain actors in anticipating the consequences of any actions or random shocks on the entire systems.

Female CEO Leadership: Viewing Global Strategy Through a Systems Archetype Lens

The world is experiencing unprecedented changes and the challenges global corporations face are reshaping what it means to lead in turbulent times. Few studies have sought to look at the experiences of female chief executive officers (CEOs) relative to how they strategize corporate transformation. This study is designed to advance the knowledge of how women appointed to CEO positions navigate the responsibility of managing failing conglomerates. While ample research shows situational factors that got women to their positions, there is little research that shows what keeps them there. The problem addressed is fundamental to the development of women for CEO succession in global corporations. The central question asked is, “What are the experiences of female CEOs in transforming downward performing corporations?” To frame the central question, a systems archetype is used as a diagnostic tool for understanding the complexities present within the business environment that affect strategy formulation and performance.

Critical review of system dynamics modelling applications for water resources planning and management

This paper systematically reviewed system dynamics applications in water resource management with respect to spatial factors, research aims, modelling sub-systems and model calibration and validation methods. Decision-making context, consideration of climate change, scenarios or management measures were also examined. Results showed that the critical conceptual system dynamics model development phases are often neglected with only 40% of reviewed articles developing causal loop diagrams, and only three studies identifying system archetypes. Most reviewed publications applied scenario-based approaches (82%) to evaluate the effectiveness of management measures, whilst a minority of studies (1.8%) considered water management optimisation. Structure behaviour and behaviour-pattern tests (52%) were mostly applied to evaluate the validity of the model structure and accuracy of the behaviour's pattern, though model validation was not conducted in 12% of the studies. Finally, an integrated system dynamics modelling framework was proposed, exploring opportunities for integration of system dynamics with other modelling tools based on the strengths and limitations of system dynamics modelling; this framework can be used to enhance the simulation and optimisation for future water resource management and planning in the context of climate change and socio-economic development. • 169 system dynamics applications in water resources management reviewed. • Conceptual system dynamics model development often neglected. • Scenario-based approaches more common than optimisation-based approaches for decision support. • Only 35% of studies designed to explore the climate change impacts. • System dynamics modelling framework for complex water resource management proposed.

An Empirical Study on System Dynamics Model for Sustainable Development of Air Traffic Control Units

Abstract With the rapid growth of flight volume, the contradiction between insufficient support capability of air traffic control (ATC) units and large demand for development ultimately hinders their sustainable and safe development. The article aims at the leverage point of the contradiction between supply and demand so as to provide scientific safety policies. Based on the system archetype “growth and underinvestment”, from the perspective of the feedback relationships between support capability, safety, and development, the causality of the dynamic factors of control, communication, navigation, and surveillance, as well as meteorology and information subsystems was studied. Then, a system dynamics model for the sustainable and safe development of ATC units was established. Taking the Tianjin ATC sub-bureau as an example, policy suggestions for sustainable and safe development were put forward according to the scenario simulation results.