Information Commons Issues and Trends: Voices From the Frontline

Attendees at this ACRL panel were invited to increase their understanding of Information Commons (IC) concepts, models, planning, implementation and assessment. The event was a discussion panel with IC leaders regarding models that their libraries were developing, evolutionary processes their ICs have undergone, challenges and successes in the past years, and what the future holds

A Baseline Model of Industry Evolution

The paper analyses some general dynamic properties of industries characterized by heterogeneous firms and continuing stochastic entry. After a brief critical assessment of some significant drawbacks of recent contributions to modeling of stochastic industrial dynamics, we propose a novel analytical apparatus able to derive some generic properties of the underlying competition process combining persistent technological heterogeneity, differential growth of individual firms and turnover. The basic model, we suggest, is indeed applicable with proper modifications to a large class of evolutionary processes, well beyond industrial dynamics.Evolution, Competition, Stochastic entry, Industrial dynamics, Evolutionary games

Adaptation problems experienced by international students in aspect of quality management

Regulation and problems of adaptation are considered in research in aspect of high-quality management. The object of research is foreign students. Adaptation challenges a person's sense of well-being. Research defines satisfaction as a global assessment of quality of human life. This assessment is based on criteria of the person. systems; in these conditions the development of effective mechanisms of adaptation in the unstable external environment is possible on the assumption of use of co-evolutionary - innovative processes. The recommendations about the creation on the basis of these processes of effective mechanisms of adaptation of social systems to instability conditions are developed. On the basis of a systematic approach in the article explores innovative models of behavior as a way of effective adaptation of social systems in an unstable environment, based on the principle of co-evolutionary innovation. It is shown that the modern period is characterized by the growth of the dynamics and complexity of the interaction of social systems; in these conditions, the development of effective adaptation mechanisms in an unstable environment can be provided the use of evolutionary processes and innovation. To evaluate the potential use of evolutionary processes and innovation to create effective mechanisms for the adaptation of social systems in an unstable environment

Evolutionary Economics: At the Crossroads of Biology and Physics

For almost a century, evolutionary economics has been based to a significant extent on analogies derived from biology. At the same time the discipline suffered from lack of analytical rigor. Recently, advances in thermodynamics and information theory have provided a new foundation for evolutionary studies in biology and economics alike. As a result, the body of studies in evolutionary economics that imports concepts from thermodynamics and information theory to develop new analogies is growing. This paper surveys recent trends in evolutionary economics at the crossroads of biology and physics, and argues to supplant analogies derived from either of the two disciplines. Albeit powerful means to crystallize thought about evolutionary processes in economic systems, analogies from biology have tended to plaster over the many differences between biological and economic processes that are essential to economic systems. Similarly, thermodynamics and information theory cannot provide a non-anthropocentric evaluation of economic processes. Yet, the concepts and measures available from physics can be used to improve our understanding of economic evolution if properly placed into the context of socioeconomic processes. The paper delineates the realm for non-analogy based applications of concepts from physics for the assessment of economic processes in light of discontinuities and emergent complexities

Landsliding and its multiscale influence on mountainscapes

Landsliding is a complex process that modifies mountainscapes worldwide. Its severe and sometimes long-lasting negative effects contrast with the less-documented positive effects on ecosystems, raising numerous questions about the dual role of landsliding, the feedbacks between biotic and geomorphic processes, and, ultimately, the ecological and evolutionary responses of organisms. We present a conceptual model in which feedbacks between biotic and geomorphic processes, landslides, and ecosystem attributes are hypothesized to drive the dynamics of mountain ecosystems at multiple scales. This model is used to integrate and synthesize a rich, but fragmented, body of literature generated in different disciplines, and to highlight the need for profitable collaborations between biologists and geoscientists. Such efforts should help identify attributes that contribute to the resilience of mountain ecosystems, and also should help in conservation, restoration, and hazard assessment. Given the sensitivity of mountains to land-use and global climate change, these endeavors are both relevant and timel

Cost-effective conservation of amphibian ecology and evolution

Habitat loss is the most important threat to species survival, and the efficient selection of priority areas is fundamental for good systematic conservation planning. Using amphibians as a conservation target, we designed an innovative assessment strategy, showing that prioritization models focused on functional, phylogenetic, and taxonomic diversity can include cost-effectiveness-based assessments of land values. We report new key conservation sites within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest hot spot, revealing a congruence of ecological and evolutionary patterns. We sug- gest payment for ecosystem services through environmental set-asides on private land, establishing potential trade- offs for ecological and evolutionary processes. Our findings introduce additional effective area-based conservation parameters that set new priorities for biodiversity assessment in the Atlantic Forest, validating the usefulness of a novel approach to cost-effectiveness-based assessments of conservation value for other species-rich regions

The evolution of moral rules in a model of indirect reciprocity with private assessment

Moral rules allow humans to cooperate by indirect reciprocity. Yet, it is not clear which moral rules best implement indirect reciprocity and are favoured by natural selection. Previous studies either considered only public assessment, where individuals are deemed good or bad by all others, or compared a subset of possible strategies. Here we fill this gap by identifying which rules are evolutionary stable strategies (ESS) among all possible moral rules while considering private assessment. We develop an analytical model describing the frequency of long-term cooperation, determining when a strategy can be invaded by another. We show that there are numerous ESSs in absence of errors, which however cease to exist when errors are present. We identify the underlying properties of cooperative ESSs. Overall, this paper provides a first exhaustive evolutionary invasion analysis of moral rules considering private assessment. Moreover, this model is extendable to incorporate higher-order rules and other processes