Proceedings of the International Conference on Energising the SDGs through Appropriate Technology and Governance

This volume presents the papers presented at the international conference on Energising the SDGs through appropriate technology and governance. Papers were presented in eight sessions. In addition, there was a keynote speech, a panel discussion, a workshop on Sustainability Compass and a lunch-time poster session. This compendium provides a summary of the event and includes original papers and posters delivered at the conference. These covered various themes, including climate action plan in UK and Japanese cities and their alignment with the SDGs; sustainable energy access; contribution of renewable energies, urban design and sustainable development goals, tools for evaluation and monitoring of progress with the SDGs, and innovations and business models for various services

Spationomy

This open access book is based on "Spationomy – Spatial Exploration of Economic Data", an interdisciplinary and international project in the frame of ERASMUS+ funded by the European Union. The project aims to exchange interdisciplinary knowledge in the fields of economics and geomatics. For the newly introduced courses, interdisciplinary learning materials have been developed by a team of lecturers from four different universities in three countries. In a first study block, students were taught methods from the two main research fields. Afterwards, the knowledge gained had to be applied in a project. For this international project, teams were formed, consisting of one student from each university participating in the project. The achieved results were presented in a summer school a few months later. At this event, more methodological knowledge was imparted to prepare students for a final simulation game about spatial and economic decision making. In a broader sense, the chapters will present the methodological background of the project, give case studies and show how visualisation and the simulation game works

Spationomy

This open access book is based on "Spationomy – Spatial Exploration of Economic Data", an interdisciplinary and international project in the frame of ERASMUS+ funded by the European Union. The project aims to exchange interdisciplinary knowledge in the fields of economics and geomatics. For the newly introduced courses, interdisciplinary learning materials have been developed by a team of lecturers from four different universities in three countries. In a first study block, students were taught methods from the two main research fields. Afterwards, the knowledge gained had to be applied in a project. For this international project, teams were formed, consisting of one student from each university participating in the project. The achieved results were presented in a summer school a few months later. At this event, more methodological knowledge was imparted to prepare students for a final simulation game about spatial and economic decision making. In a broader sense, the chapters will present the methodological background of the project, give case studies and show how visualisation and the simulation game works

Organisational phylogenesis : Developing and evaluating a memetic methodology.

This research evaluates the unorthodox proposition that organisational development proceeds through the Darwinian processes of variation, selection and inheritance acting upon a non-genetic replicating code. This new replicator represents the fundamental unit of cultural transmission and was termed by evolutionist, Richard Dawkins, as the meme. The memetic position re-introduces many often neglected, sometimes shunned, evolutionary arguments into social and organisational debate by providing a naturalistic and plausible hereditary element upon which socio-cultural adaptation operates. The popularity of the neologism 'meme' initially grew through rather ad-hoc non-scientific usage on the Internet. For some time, this geekish tendency has tarnished the idea of memetics and impeded serious academic investigation into the subject. A more rigorous philosophical treatment has been provided by Daniel Dennett who has argued that, while a science of memetic cladistics may be both desirable and feasible, it remains unlikely. On the other hand one of Dawkins' most famous critics, Mary Midgley, heralds dark forebodings that one-day memes may be given actual credence. The present study necessitated the adaptation of conventional genealogical and taxonomic methods, for novel application in confirming congruence between actual organisational phylogeny and hereditary traits. One specific requirement was to develop a means of identifying, capturing and codifying such traits as meme strips for phenetic analysis. In order to handle the computational complexity inherent in the phenetic reconstruction algorithms, proprietary software had to be produced. This was extensively tested upon meme strips generated through simulated evolution. Western Christian denominational families provided a source of empirical evidence and demonstrated that the methods could be successfully applied to real organisational forms. A theological phylogeny was reliably reconstructed thereby upholding the hypothesis of cultural descent with modification based on a memetic replication. Further support for the claim was made in conjunction with the rendering of a facilities management market landscape. More importantly however, the results coming from this research suggest that the potential for formulating a science of memetics may be significantly greater than in Dennett original consideration

The politics of cyberconflict: ethnoreligious conflicts in computer mediated environments

This thesis argues that it is important to distinguish between two different phenomena in cyberpolitical spaces: First of all, between ethnic or religious groups fighting over in cyberspace, as they do in real life (Ethnoreligious cyberconflict) and second, between a social movement and its antagonistic institution (Sociopolitical cyberconflict). These different kinds of cyberconflict can be explained in the context of international conflict analysis for ethnoreligious cyberconflict and social movement theory for sociopolitical cyberconflict, while keeping in mind that this takes place in a media environment by using media theory. By combining elements of these approaches and justifying the link to cyberconflict, it is possible to use them as a theoretical light to look at the environment of Cyberconflict (CC) and analysis of incidents of CC. Consequently, this work looks at the leading groups using the internet either as weapon or a resource against governments, while also looking at networks, international organisations and new social movements. Searching for a satisfactory theoretical framework, I propose the following parameters to be looked at while analysing cyberconflicts: 1. Environment of Conflict and Conflict Mapping (real and virtual). The world system generates an arborescent apparatus, which is haunted by lines of flight, emerging through underground networks connected horizontally and lacking a hierarchic centre (Deleuze and Guattari). The structure of the internet is ideal for network groups, (a global network with no central authority) has offered another experience of governance (no governance), time and space (compression), ideology (freedom of information and access to it), identity (multiplicity) and fundamentally an opposition to surveillance and control, boundaries and apparatuses. 2. Sociopolitical Cyberconflicts: The impact of ICTs on: a. Mobilising structures (network style of movements using the internet, participation, recruitment, tactics, goals), b. Framing Processes (issues, strategy, identity, the effect of the internet on these processes), c. Political opportunity structure (the internet as a component of this structure), d. hacktivism. 3. Ethnoreligious Cyberconflicts: a. Ethnic/religious affiliation, chauvinism, national identity, b. Discourses of inclusion and exclusion, c. Information warfare, the use of the internet as a weapon, propaganda and mobilisational resource d. Conflict resolution depends on legal, organisational framework, number of parties issues, distribution of power, values and beliefs. 4. The internet as a medium: a. Analysing discourses (representations of the world, constructions of social identities and social relations), b. Control of information, level of censorship, alternative sources, c. Wolsfeld: Political contest model among antagonists: the ability to initiate and control events, dominate political discourse, mobilise supporters, d. Media effects on policy (strategic, tactical, and representational)

Maritime expressions:a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors

This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britain’s maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised ‘Maritime Expressions’ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with ’A’, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of ‘maritime’ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according to their metaphorical strength and their transference from maritime usage into new registers and domains such as those of business, politics, sports and reportage etc. A revised model of metaphoricity is developed and a new category of figurative expression, the ‘resonator’, is proposed. Additionally, developing the work of Lakov and Johnson, Kovesces and others on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), a number of Maritime Conceptual Metaphors are identified and their cultural significance is discussed