23 research outputs found

    Data Systems Fault Coping for Real-time Big Data Analytics Required Architectural Crucibles

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    This paper analyzes the properties and characteristics of unknown and unexpected faults introduced into information systems while processing Big Data in real-time. The authors hypothesize that there are new faults, and requirements for fault handling and propose an analytic model and architectural framework to assess and manage the faults and mitigate the risks of correlating or integrating otherwise uncorrelated Big Data, and to ensure the source pedigree, quality, set integrity, freshness, and validity of data being consumed. We argue that new architectures, methods, and tools for handling and analyzing Big Data systems functioning in real-time must design systems that address and mitigate concerns for faults resulting from real-time streaming processes while ensuring that variables such as synchronization, redundancy, and latency are addressed. This paper concludes that with improved designs, real-time Big Data systems may continuously deliver the value and benefits of streaming Big Data

    Toward a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems : enterprise architectures, competitive dynamics, firm performance & industrial co-evolution

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita.Includes bibliographical references (v. 4, p. 698-745).This dissertation contributes toward the building of a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems. In the process, it addresses a question that has been posed by evolutionary theorists in the economics and sociology literatures for decades: "Why do firms in the same industry vary systematically in performance over time?" Seeking a systematic explanation of a longitudinal phenomenon inevitably requires characterizing the evolution of the industrial ecosystem, as both the organization (firm) and its environment (industry, markets and institutions) are co-evolving. This question is therefore explored via a theoretical sample in three industrial ecosystems covering manufacturing and service sectors, with competitors from the US, Europe and Japan: commercial airplanes, motor vehicles and airlines. The research is based primarily on an in depth seven-year, multi-level, multi-method, field-based case study of both firms in the large commercial airplanes industry mixed duopoly as well as the key stakeholders in their extended enterprises (i.e. customers, suppliers, investors and employees). This field work is supplemented with historical comparative analysis in all three industries, as well as nonlinear dynamic simulation models developed to capture the essential mechanisms governing the evolution of business ecosystems.(cont.) A theoretical framework is developed which endogenously traces the co-evolution of firms and their industrial environments using their highest-level system properties of form, function and fitness (as reflected in the system sciences of morphology, physiology and ecology), and which embraces the evolutionary processes of variation, selection and retention. The framework captures the path-dependent evolution of heterogeneous populations of enterprise architectures engaged in symbiotic inter-species competition and posits the evolution of dominant designs in enterprise architectures that oscillate deterministically and chaotically between modular and integral states throughout an industry's life-cycle. Architectural innovation - at the extended enterprise level - is demonstrated to contribute to the failure of established firms, with causal mechanisms developed to explain tipping points.by Theodore F. Piepenbrock.Ph.D

    Collaboration and Conflict in Transnationally-Dispersed Zimbabwean Families

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    Approximately one quarter of Zimbabwean adults left their country of birth during the past twenty years. These sojourners are increasingly dispersed as tightening immigration regimes in preferred destinations and fluctuating global opportunities lead them to places with fewer historical links to Zimbabwe. This dispersive process fractures many families between multiple international locations. Nevertheless, the idea of family remains centrally important to diasporans, who work with relatives around the world to care for children and elders, to acquire important documents like passports, and to prepare for an eventual return home. Following from performative and relational theorizations of kinship, this dissertation argues that collaborative projects are crucibles in which families are forged and reconfigured. This exploration of how dispersion shapes family life deploys three analytical lenses: history, space and technology. Contemporary journeys are historically linked to a century of dispossession and labor-migration in Southern Africa. Colonial governments used onerous “bioinformational regimes” to subjugate Africans and profit from their labor. Today, former colonial powers deploy similar technologies against descendants of subjugated populations in order to restrict access to opportunity that was produced and spatialized through colonial processes. Concurrently, contemporary diasporans build on the “transferable skills” received from previous generations of sojourners. For instance, they use “spatial subterfuge” and “collaborative parenting” to create families of choice—families which may not conform to either indigenous ideals or immigration regimes. Each of the many places where diasporans live is imbued with unique structures of opportunity and oppression. These localized social and economic conditions powerfully influence migrant outcomes and shape how they are able to engage in family projects. People in wealthy countries like Canada and the UK have more economic power than relatives in South Africa or Botswana. Women also find more plentiful opportunities than their husbands and brothers, while younger diasporans tend to fare better than parents and elder siblings. Emergent economic differences may upset expectations about how money and power should be distributed in families. Such disjunctures—combined with the challenge of negotiating overwhelming family needs in the context of scarcity—often leads to conflict between relatives. Distance also results in “separate development” as family members in various locations develop individuated friendships, routines, experiences and even beliefs. These new dimensions of life may be poorly understood by loved ones far away. Today, internet-mediated communications technologies are enabling people in dispersed families to salvage some of this lost relational immediacy. Social media like Facebook enable a degree of passive, contextual monitoring; while group chats on platforms like WhatsApp allow multinational conversations to unfold much as they do over the course of a leisurely weekend visit. New discursive registers like the “meme” even allow pluralistic discussions about important questions of collective interest, as everyone with a claim on being “Zimbabwean” creatively weighs in on the meaning of this identity, and as Zimbabweans of various backgrounds who live in divergent spaces debate whether the spoils of migration are worth its dangers and sacrifices. This dissertation accordingly examines how families negotiate the marked challenges of prolonged separation and international dispersion, and how these efforts relate to negotiations of identity and belonging in the broader Zimbabwean diaspora. These interlinked questions of collaboration and conflict, continuity and change, proximity and distance are similarly important in many other migrant communities, as increasingly restrictive immigration regimes and the fluctuating global economy shape who is able to move and where they may settle

    In a creative healthy place? Situating Arts and Health within the discourse of ‘the devolution revolution’

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    This thesis explores the problematic relationship forged between the field of practice known as Arts and Health and discourse of the ‘devolution revolution’ (2016-2019). This was a period when key policy areas - pertaining to health, creativity and place - were ‘aligned’ by local government in an ongoing age of austerity. It examines the human geographies of Arts and Health through four case studies sited across Greater Manchester and North Wales, a region cojoined through the spatial imaginary of ‘The Northern Powerhouse’. The research begins by considering the impetus for devolution in the 1990s, before focussing attention on the English context of the first ever city and regional devolution deal struck between Manchester City leaders and HM Treasury in 2016. This was made conditional on budget reductions. The ‘pre-histories’ of the emergent category of Arts and Health are then examined across the post-war decades. The category of Arts and Health is navigated across its varied (re)imaginings, including those made recently which deny the field can be seen as the ‘natural cousin’ of austerity. The ways in which these diverse, often contradictory agendas, have come together is examined through grounded accounts of neoliberal policy as it is (re)produced in everyday situations. Reflexive, first person ethnographic accounts of four local contexts, in Llandudno, Prestatyn, Wigan and Central Manchester are presented to show how the field of Arts and Health is being interpreted and produced through certain affective ambiences and ‘atmospheres’. The research reveals that across this territory, similar values and common cultures are taking hold. These include the belief that local communities offer forums for collective action and decision-making (over and above those of national institutions) and that additional resources are not needed, merely a new mindset. The conclusion is drawn that, as much as the field of Arts and Health aims to enact forms of progressive social change, it is a field of practice that is also being shaped by forces exerted by a regressive political economy

    Друга міжнародна конференція зі сталого майбутнього: екологічні, технологічні, соціальні та економічні питання (ICSF 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна, 19-21 травня 2021 року

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    Second International Conference on Sustainable Futures: Environmental, Technological, Social and Economic Matters (ICSF 2021). Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, May 19-21, 2021.Друга міжнародна конференція зі сталого майбутнього: екологічні, технологічні, соціальні та економічні питання (ICSF 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна, 19-21 травня 2021 року

    Strategic Communication in Context: Theoretical Debates and Applied Research

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    Strategic communication is becoming more relevant in communication sciences, though it needs to deepen its reflective practices, especially considering its potential in a VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The capillary, holistic and result-oriented nature that portrays this scientific field has led to the imperative of expanding knowledge about the different approaches, methodologies and impacts in all kinds of organisations when strategic communication is applied. Therefore Strategic Communication in Context: Theoretical Debates and Applied Research assembles several studies and essays by renowned authors who explore the topic from different angles, thus testing the elasticity of the concept. Moreover, this group of authors represents various schools of thought and geographies, making this book particularly rich and cross-disciplinary.illustrato

    Resilience The 2nd International Workshop on Modelling of Physical Economic and Social Systems for Resilience Assessment

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    JRC Directorate E – Space, Security and Migration has organized the 2nd international workshop on Modelling of Physical, Economic and Social Systems for Resilience Assessment in Ispra that will consist in more than ten sessions for three days of full immersion into this topic. Interest in resilience has been rising rapidly during the last twenty years, both among policy makers and academia, as a response to increasing concern about the potential effect of shocks to individuals, civil infrastructure, regions, countries and social, economic and political institutions. The objective of the workshop is to bring together the scientific community and policy makers towards developing better policies and practices incorporating the element of resilience in various fields. This workshop has been organized in close collaboration with NIST and Colorado State University who organized in Washington on 19-21 October 2016 the 1st International workshop on the same subject. This is a follow-up of several similar events in this field. The JRC already organized a higher level event, the JRC-EPSC annual conference "Building a Resilient Europe in a Globalised World" in September 2015. These workshops aimed at identifying more strategic needs and provide an outlook of future actions. In addition, the JRC organized the first plenary session during the IDRC Davos 2016 conference entitled “Implementing resilience in a world of interconnectedness and emerging challenges” in which the JRC, NIST, Rotterdam city, the Dutch authorities and researchers from Japan presented their views and best practices on resilience implementation. Such an event constitutes an excellent opportunity for positioning JRC among the top institutions in resilience modelling with the capability to influence and steer the work of this community in close collaboration with recognized institutions around the globe.JRC.E.2-Technology Innovation in Securit

    Emotional intelligence training model for executive leadership in South Africa

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    Global leadership crises and increasing executive leadership failures necessitate a new approach to executive leadership development. Globalisation results in new leadership challenges that affect people, the planet and peace across the world. Critical issues include increasing extremism and terrorism, displaced migrants fleeing to stable countries, earth warming and economic decline. The role of the individual executive leader cannot be isolated from human development challenges. Various executive leadership failures and examples of unethical leadership practises, both internationally and in South Africa, place the focus on ethical governance and emotionally matured leadership development. This study follows a nexus, based on a three-stranded cordial link between human development, emotional intelligence and executive leadership. The central themes of the United Nations Human Development’s (UNDP) reports of 1990 to 2009 as well as the Post-United Nations Human Development Report of 2015 form a framework for evaluating the relationship between human development and executive leadership. Although economic growth is central to human development, the development of people through building human capabilities and active participation to improve their lives, are the main goals of the UNDP-2015. The role of executive leadership, leadership derailment and required executive proficiencies and attributes are investigated by evaluating traditional leadership theories and approaches as a lens for investigating leadership development. The positive effect of globalisation is that it affords new approaches and opportunities for executive leadership development. Emotional intelligence-based leadership, including the role of neuro-leadership, is evaluated and an integrative approach that involves the new paradigm of leadership as a response to human development challenges and globalisation is presented. The new paradigm of integrative leadership approaches includes empirical-based authentic leadership, shared leadership and gender-based leadership. The integrative leadership models of Hatala and Passmore are selected as a framework to propose a theoretical emotional intelligence leadership model for this study. New opportunities to develop emotionally intelligent executive leaders include technology-based training, iLeadership and eLeadership in an environment without boundaries. Time constraints are identified as a key obstacle for leadership development. Various training and executive coaching strategies are evaluated and proposed to accelerate leadership development. The link between human development and executive leadership development is proposed by collective leadership approaches towards Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) above entrepreneurial acumen and stakeholder involvement. A positivist approach based on quantitative research using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is used. The primary research problem is formulated to investigate the multidimensional and complex nature of factors that influence the success of developing emotionally intelligent executive leaders in South Africa. A conceptual theoretical model comprising of factors that influence Human Development and the perceived success of Emotional Intelligence Training is developed. A total of ten independent variables that influence the two mentioned dependent variables are identified. The proposed model and envisaged hypotheses are empirically tested. The study consists of a 73-itemed questionnaire with 360 participants. The sourced data are statically analysed by means of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to assess the discriminate validity of the research instrument and to confirm underlying dimensions of the constructs. Cronbach-alpha coefficients are calculated for each of the identified factors by using SEM. The significance of the hypothesised relationships in the revised model is tested. The value of this study’s contribution to the body of knowledge lies within the findings, the proposed Integrative Emotional Intelligence Leadership Model and recommendations for future research. The proposed model identifies practical training approaches to accelerate executive leadership against a background of serious leadership failures in South Africa

    Strategies for resource constrained South Asian mega-cities

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-329).This dissertation compares the responses of Dhaka, Bangladesh and Kolkata, India to the serious challenges posed by climate change, particularly in the water sector. Drawing on the theories of "adaptation as development" and cross-case analyses of ongoing planning initiatives in these two bellwether cities, this dissertation explores the factors that promote or hinder successful climate action. This work identifies practical, less resource-intensive adaptation strategies suited to the context of urban South Asia, where the findings suggest that, given the absence of dedicated adaptation planning at the city level, the most effective approaches are those that integrate both development and adaptation criteria. Resources allocated for local development can thus simultaneously address adaptation needs without substantial additional investments. Moreover, since such efforts are already part of ongoing planning initiatives, they obviate the need for more extensive "specialized adaptation" planning and technical expertise. These actions may thereby reduce the vulnerabilities of urban residents in these most threatened regions of the world. Drawing upon over ninety in-depth interviews, primary documents, firsthand observation, relevant scholarship, and three emblematic, developmentally oriented project case studies that address the cities' most urgent climate risks in water, flood and wetlands management, this research proposes a "contingent adaptation" approach as best-suited to such resource-constrained environments. Such an approach has the ability to overcome inherent local resource constraints, institutional limitations, while increasing the likelihood of adoption of adaptation-oriented projects. This work identifies several factors-among them, developing collaborative partnerships to bridge technical deficits, reforming local organizational structures to generate internal resources, and building political consensus for climate action-as essential for successful climate adaptation. This work seeks to provide a theoretical framework for effectively implementing adaptation-related local planning initiatives while building broader support for substantial climate action. Such contingent adaptation approaches may thereby provide a blueprint for immediate, proactive, and cost-effective practical applications in similar cities in South Asia and in comparable developing regions.by Madhu Chhanda Dutta-KoehlerPh.D
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