Systems Approach Research Articles

A simplex path integral and a simplex renormalization group for high-order interactions *

Modern theories of phase transitions and scale invariance are rooted in path integral formulation and renormalization groups (RGs). Despite the applicability of these approaches in simple systems with only pairwise interactions, they are less effective in complex systems with undecomposable high-order interactions (i.e. interactions among arbitrary sets of units). To precisely characterize the universality of high-order interacting systems, we propose a simplex path integral and a simplex RG (SRG) as the generalizations of classic approaches to arbitrary high-order and heterogeneous interactions. We first formalize the trajectories of units governed by high-order interactions to define path integrals on corresponding simplices based on a high-order propagator. Then, we develop a method to integrate out short-range high-order interactions in the momentum space, accompanied by a coarse graining procedure functioning on the simplex structure generated by high-order interactions. The proposed SRG, equipped with a divide-and-conquer framework, can deal with the absence of ergodicity arising from the sparse distribution of high-order interactions and can renormalize a system with intertwined high-order interactions at the p-order according to its properties at the q-order ( p⩽q ). The associated scaling relation and its corollaries provide support to differentiate among scale-invariant, weakly scale-invariant, and scale-dependent systems across different orders. We validate our theory in multi-order scale-invariance verification, topological invariance discovery, organizational structure identification, and information bottleneck analysis. These experiments demonstrate the capability of our theory to identify intrinsic statistical and topological properties of high-order interacting systems during system reduction.

Key Characteristics and Perception of Different Outbreak Surveillance Systems in Côte d'Ivoire: Cross-Sectional Survey Among Users.

Accurate and timely infectious disease surveillance is pivotal for effective public health responses. An important component of this is the disease surveillance tools used. Understanding views and experiences of users is crucial for informing policy decisions and ensuring the seamless functioning of surveillance systems. In this study, we aimed to assess the user perceptions of 3 disease surveillance tools used in Côte d'Ivoire, namely, MAGPI, District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2), and Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS), the latter was implemented in 2021 within a pilot scheme. We conducted interviews and a web-based survey distributed to users of the 3 surveillance tools. The survey assessed users' views of the surveillance tools' usefulness, ease of use, feelings toward the tool, conditions that may influence the use, and other characteristics. The descriptive analysis compared responses from SORMAS, MAGPI, and DHIS2 users, providing a comprehensive evaluation of their experiences. Among the 159 respondents who actively use one of the systems, MAGPI was the most widely used surveillance tool among respondents (n=127, 79.9%), followed by DHIS2 (n=108, 67.9%), and SORMAS (n=25, 15.7%). In terms of users' perceptions, SORMAS, despite its limited implementation, emerged as a tool that allows for data analysis and had the most comprehensive set of functionalities. DHIS2 was appreciated for its frequency of report provision, although users reported occasional IT system failures. MAGPI was recognized for its ease of use but was reported to lack certain functionalities offered by the other surveillance systems. This study offers valuable insights into the perceptions of disease surveillance tools users in Côte d'Ivoire. While all systems were positively regarded, each exhibited strengths and weaknesses addressing different needs and functionalities. Policy makers and health officials can use these findings to enhance existing tools or consider a unified approach for infectious disease surveillance systems. Understanding users' perspectives allows them to optimize the choice of surveillance tools, ultimately strengthening public health responses in Côte d'Ivoire and potentially serving as a model for other countries facing similar decisions in their health care systems.

New Paths for Public Governance: Literature Review, Content Analysis, and Conceptual Framework Proposal in an Integrative View

This article qualitatively investigates the new attributes necessary for leveling interagency relations in the public arena. Our approach focuses on political effectiveness, based on new roles for the State, for society, and for the market. As a result, institutional leadership gains centrality in the new context, moving from the procedural view to an approach of simultaneous and interdependent systems. The research aims to contribute to advancing of debates in the area by offering an analytical model that subsidizes the implementation of governance mechanisms aligned with contemporary public management.

Design of stochastic computational Levenberg Marquardt backpropagation-based technique to investigate temperature distribution of longitudinal moving porous fin

The improvement of thermal exchange is of utmost interest in a wide range of engineering areas. The current study focuses on thermal evaluation involving natural radiation and convection in a fractionally arranged moving longitudinal fin model placed under a magnetic field. We implement the Levenberg Marquardt backpropagation (LMB) algorithm for investigating an innovative use of stochastic numerical computation for analyzing the efficiency of the temperature distribution in a porous moving longitudinal fin. The datasets for LMB have been created using a shooting approach for dynamic systems with varying ranges of different parameters. The validation, testing, and training processes are used to simulate networks using the LMB approach for diverse scenarios of moving porous fin models. The reliability of results is assessed based on the regression measures, absolute error, error histograms, mean square error, and other metrics for fuller numerical modeling of the suggested LMB to investigate the thermal efficiency and effectiveness of porous moving fin.

A Cost-Effective Fault Diagnosis and Localization Approach for Utility-Scale PV Systems Using Limited Number of Sensors

A Cost-Effective Fault Diagnosis and Localization Approach for Utility-Scale PV Systems Using Limited Number of Sensors

Metamodern economy: Between war and peace

Man's economic activity and his worldview are closely interrelated, and this relationship has attracted the attention of philosophers and scientists for centuries. When making economic decisions, a person entered into relations of cooperation, collaboration and/or competition and even war. Since ancient times, war was used by man as a tool for resolving economic conflicts and achieving economic interests and evolved along with the development of socio-economic systems and the worldview of man himself. The economic worldview and socio-economic systems, in turn, evolve under the influence of the development of economic activity, philosophical knowledge, science and technology. In the development of mankind, we can distinguish eras of dominance of a certain philosophical paradigm (classicism, modernity, postmodernity, metamodernity), which determined the worldview of people, the “spirit of the times”, as well as their economic activities, the choice of tools for resolving economic conflicts and achieving economic interests, including characteristics and distinctive features of wars. Since in the modern global world of the metamodern era, military conflicts have a significant impact on the economic decisions of economic entities, identifying the distinctive features of modern wars in conjunction with the philosophy of metamodernism is relevant. The purpose of the study is to identify the distinctive characteristics of war as an economic instrument in each of the above-mentioned eras in conjunction with the dominant philosophical paradigm and the characteristics of the socio-economic systems of the parties to military conflicts, as well as to substantiate the key features of war in the modern metamodern era. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: a comparative historical and economic analysis of the wars of the eras of classicism, modernity, postmodernity, and metamodernity was be carried out; differences between them were identified according to a number of criteria. The relationship between the characteristics of wars and the dominant philosophical paradigm were identified. The role of war in the economy of metamodernity was determined. The research methodology was based on a synthesis of historical and economic methodology, a systemic economic approach, and comparative analysis, which determined the novelty of the research results: the rationale for the relationship of war as a tool for solving economic conflicts and/or realizing economic interests with the dominant philosophical paradigm.

Organizational structure of management of an international company

Aim. To identify the main directions and specific features of international company management, as well as to determine the structural criteria, distinguishing features and types of international corporations.Objectives. To consider different typologies of organizational structure of management of an international company; to characterize the main problems, strategies and specific features of personnel management of an international firm.Methods. The authors used modern methods. Methods: modern methodology of socio-economic research, including system and process approaches, method of comparative analysis, empirical and analytical methods.Results. The study of organizations with multinational composition has shown that the management of such a team requires consideration of several aspects. First, it is necessary to pay attention to the static aspect, i.e. specific features of the composition, structure and conditions of personnel formation. Secondly, it is advisable to consider the team in dynamics and analyze its development over time, from the moment of formation to disbandment. Thirdly, the management of a multinational team should take into account ethical aspects, which serve as the basis of the management system and combine static and dynamic perspectives.Conclusions. The authors found that the management system of an international company has a complex structure, regardless of the actual location of the business. The influence of such components as organizational strategy, life cycle, organizational culture, external environment and labor potential on the strategy of personnel management should also be taken into account.

The nature conservation-geopolitics complex: Bridging between conservation geopolitics and peace park discourses

Nature conservation strategies are affected by, as well as instruments of, geopolitics and interterritorial relations. This paper provides a conceptual framework that facilitates a systems-based analysis of the relationship between nature conservation and geopolitics. We compare and connect two prominent academic literatures relevant to this relationship: the peace parks and conservation geopolitics literatures. Whereas peace parks refer to an academic knowledge field, a social movement, and a territorialized conservation reality on the ground, conservation geopolitics refers to an academic discourse within critical geopolitics. We analyzed both academic literatures on four aspects: (i) the approach to nature conservation; (ii) the approach to interterritorial relations; (iii) the framing of the relationship between nature conservation and geopolitics; (iv) the actors involved. The former literature predominantly emphasizes cross-border integration, community development and nature conservation benefits. The latter predominantly highlights the more exclusionary, conflictive, and normative aspects of the relationship. The comparison highlights that the relationship between nature conservation and geopolitics can be best understood as a complex. Relational approaches, such as systems approaches, can uncover the intricacies of the nature conservation-geopolitics complex. We have laid the groundwork for such a systems approach by identifying four system components domains: the diversity of involved actors, the institutional framework, multiscale and historical dynamics, and the spatial-territorial context. A systems approach to the nature conservation-geopolitics complex provides a guiding framework for the examination of contemporary issues like the diverging agencies of various actors, trade-offs, and ethical dilemmas between nature conservation and geopolitical concerns.

Developing an intelligent and sustainable model to improve E-learning satisfaction based on the learner’s personality type: data mining approach in high education systems

Developing an intelligent and sustainable model to improve E-learning satisfaction based on the learner’s personality type: data mining approach in high education systems

Epidemiology of cardiometabolic health in Latin America and strategies to address disparities.

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), sociodemographic context, socioeconomic disparities and the high level of urbanization provide a unique entry point to reflect on the burden of cardiometabolic disease in the region. Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in LAC, precipitated by population growth and ageing together with a rapid increase in the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors, predominantly obesity and diabetes mellitus, over the past four decades. Strategies to address this growing cardiometabolic burden include both population-wide and individual-based initiatives tailored to the specific challenges faced by different LAC countries, which are heterogeneous. The implementation of public policies to reduce smoking and health system approaches to control hypertension are examples of scalable strategies. The challenges faced by LAC are also opportunities to foster innovative approaches to combat the high burden of cardiometabolic diseases such as implementing digital health interventions and team-based initiatives. This Review provides a summary of trends in the epidemiology of cardiometabolic diseases and their risk factors in LAC as well as context-specific disease determinants and potential solutions to improve cardiometabolic health in the region.

Addressing the sustainable urbanism paradox: tipping points for the operational reconciliation of dense and green morphologies

To improve biodiversity and human living conditions in the Anthropocene, urban forms must reconcile density with vegetation to meet the dual sustainability-liveability challenge. This paradox poses a dilemma for urban planners and is a critical research issue requiring comprehensive analyses. Multi-family residential housing holds the potential to achieve balanced density-greening, proximity ecosystem services and human-nature connectedness, but meeting such objectives relies on finding balanced morphologies and metrics at an operational scale. Analysing 11,593 plots in the Lyon metropolitan area (France) using a systemic approach, we identified critical tipping points in morphology and greening. Density explained only 6% of Plot Greening, while morphology and landscaping accounted for 94%. We identified an open-space ratio (unbuilt area/floor area) >0.3 as a morphological threshold to achieve sustainable green supply. Operational morphologies balancing density and greening were modelled and illustrated across building heights, providing guidelines for emerging regulatory tools in sustainable urban planning.

Scoping Review on Transitions in the Context of Pediatric Palliative Care.

Background: Children with complex and chronic conditions receiving palliative care will likely experience many transitions during their life and their treatments. Transition periods for children with life-limiting conditions and their families can be bewildering and highly anxiety-inducing. However, clinical observations seem to point to a more heterogenous care offer, including a lack or discontinuity of services, at the expense of their quality of life. Objective: This paper aims to establish a portrait of the existing literature and identify research gaps on the multiple transitions experienced by this population. Design: A scoping review is provided, following a PRISMA protocol. MEDLINE, PubMed and CINAHL were consulted. The search strategy is based on three key concepts: (1) palliative care/complex condition, (2) child/adolescent, and (3) transition. Articles were screened with the help of Covidence. Results: A total of 72 articles are included for analysis. The aimed population is either identified by age group or by medical status. Respondents are most often parents rather than the children themselves. Transitions include: reaching adulthood, changes in care environment, changes in medical status, and school integration. Conclusion: The discussion notices a definitional murkiness about transitions and highlights the fact that the multifaceted and complex nature of transition over time is largely ignored. New research should involve a diversity of participants and include children's voices. Recommendations include clearer concept definitions, health care policies that adopt an ecosystemic approach, and professional training in the systemic family approach in palliative care.

Identification of Risk Factors for Severe Younger and Older Driver Crashes in Massachusetts

Systemic safety analysis is a comprehensive and proactive approach to identifying and addressing high-risk roadway features and crash types that contribute to severe crashes. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation identified 14 emphasis areas for systemic improvement, including younger and older driver crashes. Research was undertaken to conduct separate comprehensive analyses of fatal and serious injury crashes involving younger and older drivers, using a systemic safety approach to develop risk factors and identify critical locations within the state. The study utilized crash, roadway, driver’s license, citation, healthy aging, and environmental justice data from various sources. Negative binomial regression models were developed to relate crash frequency with town-specific traffic, behavior, and site characteristics, considering exposure and spatial variance. The findings highlighted the significance of multiple risk factors contributing to severe crash frequency. For younger drivers, the presence of young drivers in the town, risk-taking behaviors such as unbelted and impaired driving, and infrastructure characteristics, particularly high-speed facilities and historically underinvested infrastructure, were key contributors to crash frequency. Older drivers’ crash frequency was influenced by the presence of older drivers, healthy aging indicators, risk-taking behaviors, and high-speed facilities. Based on the model results, risk scores were developed for each variable in the model and applied to each town. Towns were ranked using percentile ranking to classify them into primary and secondary risk categories. The towns identified in the primary risk category (18 towns in the top 5 percentiles) captured approximately 13.5% of severe younger driver crashes and 14.5% of severe older driver crashes.

Re-Engineering Nubi: A Design-Driven Approach to Cultural Sustainability in Korean Fashion/Textile Practice

This study delves into the realm of traditional Korean fashion/textile practice, known as traditional nubi and Tongyeong nubi (t/T nubi), and re-engineers it from a contemporary fashion perspective within the framework of cultural sustainability. Drawing upon the systemic design approach, the project employed specific activities to trace, decode, and reconfigure t/T nubi following the phases of exploration, reframing, creation, and catalyzation, aiming for innovative design in the contemporary fashion space. The paper emphasizes a holistic and iterative process, based on learning the practice of t/T nubi from artisans, understanding and recontextualizing the future envisaged for t/T nubi, and delivering creative outcomes. Utilizing the interpretative model of cultural sustainability through craft, the study also analyzed the outcomes, identifying impacts such as rethinking craft culture, decoding craft roots, and influencing craft culture. Striking a balance between safeguarding the practice and fostering creativity was challenging; however, the approach serves as a valuable reference for designers and/or artisans of traditional craft practice, bridging their knowledge and design thinking process with the enduring sustainability of this heritage craft. It also demonstrates the potential for designers to leverage traditional craft practices to drive innovation in design, production, and business.

The SABER School Feeding policy tool: a 10-year analysis of its use by countries in developing policies for their national school meals programs.

Since its launch in 2011, 59 governments have used the World Bank's Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) policy tool to design their national school-based health and nutrition programs. This tool guides governments to self-evaluate their education system policies against international benchmarks and identify actionable priorities to strengthen national programs. Thirty-two of the 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (65%) have undertaken a SABER review, and globally the approach has been adopted by 68% of the world's low-income countries and 54% of lower-middle-income countries. Analysis of 51 comparable SABER School Feeding surveys suggests that countries with longer established national school meals frameworks tend also to be more advanced in other policy areas, and vice versa. The SABER reviews consistently identify, perhaps predictably, that the weakest policy areas relate to program design, implementation and fiscal space. This analysis also found that the tool had an additional value in tracking the evolution of policies when implemented over several time points, and showed that policy areas become more advanced as national programs mature. These benefits of the tool are particularly relevant to the 98 countries that co-created the global School Meals Coalition in 2021. The Coalition member countries have the specific goal of enhancing coverage and support for the well-being of schoolchildren and adolescents affected by the school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SABER tool has the demonstrated potential to implement, accelerate and track changes in school meals policy and, since it has been previously used by 74% (31/42) of low- and lower-middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, is an already accepted element of the political economies of those countries and so has the potential to be deployed rapidly.

The Role of Public Relations in an Illiberal State: The Case of Russia

Drawing upon in-depth interviews with seasoned public relations practitioners, this study suggests that the field of public relations in Russia has gradually transformed over the last 30 years from being relatively independent to being largely subordinated to political and business elites. Failure to sustain the role of public relations as a driver of democratization has coincided with the overall decline of democratic institutions in the country. Current practices in the field primarily focus on promoting government and business interests and lack a systemic approach to developing relations with citizens to address social problems. This study, which focuses on the Russian context, contributes to the body of literature on business communications and international public relations by analyzing how a country’s sociopolitical and economic context can influence transformations within the field of public relations; in this case, evolving from being relatively independent to becoming subordinate to political and business elites.

Social work with Irish Travellers: Findings from a national evaluation

Summary This article reports on the findings from a national evaluation of a specialist, Irish, social work service for Traveller families and communities. It begins with an historical overview of the service which was established in the 1960s but which has evolved and developed over the past few decades at a time of changing patterns of Traveller lives and social and economic conditions. It was also a period when the role of social work was changing, most notably with the introduction of state regulation of the profession. The article then critically analyses national and international literature on the role of social workers with Travellers. It then describes the mixed research method used to evaluate the service. Findings The findings highlight various, sometimes competing perspectives on the social work role, drawn from administrative data, a survey of social workers interviews with social workers and Traveller representatives. These include views about how the social work role was viewed by social workers and Traveller representatives, informed by theories on anti-oppressive practice, systems approaches and forms of advocacy. Applications The article concludes with a discussion of ways in which the lessons learned from the evaluation can be used to further develop the social work service in ways that can enhance the lives of Travellers, through forms of continuous professional development and the created of a national policy and practice framework.

Regional innovation systems and entrepreneurial ecosystems: their value added to rethinking regional development policies

ABSTRACT Advances on the understanding the innovation process and phenomenon, principally coming from the regional innovation systems approach and from the theorization around the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems, have given an impulse to entrepreneurship promotion. The aim of this paper is two-fold. On the one hand, the first objective is to contextualize and clarify the concepts of regional innovation systems and entrepreneurial ecosystems that have been gaining a growing importance in terms of regional policy. It will also address their differences and complementarities, proposing an analytical filter to enhance their understanding, both theoretically and operationally. The second objective is to formulate a set of recommendations about the role both concepts bring to local and regional development strategies, opening the way for a set of public policy interventions.

Participatory and proactive: real-time rights-based recordkeeping governance for the alternative care of children

Purpose This study aims to make the case for real-time rights-based recordkeeping governance as a new foundation for the regulation and systemisation of multiple rights in recordkeeping for the Alternative Care of children and young people. Design/methodology/approach This article aims to make the case for real-time rights-based recordkeeping governance as a new foundation for the regulation and systemisation of multiple rights in recordkeeping for the Alternative Care of children and young people. It investigates this concept using the Australian context as a critical case study to highlight some of the current limitations in Australian Alternative Care systems in the way recordkeeping rights are represented in existing regulatory frameworks and monitored in practice. This paper will argue for the need for systemic transformations in child protection and information legislation and regulatory systems to better represent and enact alternative care recordkeeping rights. Findings This analysis of the legislative provisions for participation in recordkeeping and access to records of Care experiences against the Australian Charter of Lifelong Rights in Childhood Recordkeeping in Out-of-Home Care reveals a number of limitations. While the direct provision of rights to access records and the strengthening of principles of participation in some of the jurisdictions are welcome, it illustrates how the risk-oriented focus of the legislation on child protection investigations and substantiations encodes opaque recordkeeping practices and works against the provision of the full suite of childhood recordkeeping rights envisaged by the charter. Furthermore, without provisions for systemic and dynamic oversight, those with Care experiences are left to pursue individual outcomes against significant bureaucratic odds. Research limitations/implications In line with international recognition that active participation and proactive provision of rights are a protective factor, this article contends that governance frameworks need to be proactively designed to respect and enact recordkeeping rights, along with requiring mechanisms for real-time monitoring and oversight if the records problems of the past are not to be perpetuated. Practical implications The study’s proposal for the need for a real-time, rights-based recordkeeping governance seeks to address the systemic recordkeeping problems that have been identified in research and public inquiry related to Alternative Care systems in Australia as well as in the UK. Social implications Adopting a governance model that prioritises real-time, rights-based principles will ultimately impact how the Alternative Care system approaches records and their value in the processes of care. Originality/value Placing real-time rights-based governance at the foundation of a reimagining of the Alternative Care recordkeeping model offers the potential to create a system that places rights in recordkeeping and ethics of care at its core. This has highly transformative potential for the overall Alternative Care system and its relationship with children in out-of-home care.

Realising systemic justice-oriented reform in education in postcolonial contexts

Drawing on and responding to the articles in this special collection, this provocation makes the case that realising justice in education requires a focus on the processes and politics of justice-oriented reform in postcolonial, low- and middle-income counties (LMICs). In implementing reform, it is argued that it is crucial to take account of similarities and differences in context between LMICs. At the heart of reform must be a holistic, coherent and systemic approach at the level of the education system of the institution. Key priorities include reforming the curriculum, investing in educators as agents of change and developing endogenous system leadership that can drive justice-oriented reform. Here, however, it is necessary to engage with the politics of justice-oriented reform, including challenging global, neoliberal agendas, democratising the governance of education and engaging with popular struggles for social, epistemic, transitional and environmental justice.