Crafting theory to satisfy the requirements of systems science

Just as Lee, Briggs & Dennis (2014) showed that a rigorous conception of “explanation” leads to requirements for a positivist theory to satisfy, and just as Lee & Hovorka (2015) showed that a rigorous conception of “interpretation” leads to requirements for an interpretive theory to satisfy, we show that a rigorous conception of “systems” leads to certain requirements for a systems theory to satisfy. We apply basics of systems science in general, as well as basics of Luhmann’s (Luhmann, 1995; Moeller, 2006) systems perspective in particular. We illustrate these basics with empirical material from a case about the role of information technology in anti-money laundering. The example demonstrates that research in information systems, which has been informed by positivism, interpretivism, and design, can be additionally and beneficially informed by systems science – which, ironically, has been largely absent in information “systems” research

Rethinking biokinetics: a philosophical critique concerning the roles and responsibilities of practitioners and patients

The specialist responsible for providing prescribed exercise as a form of medicine to the South African population is the biokineticist. Biokinetics is a relatively new profession developed in response to empirical research supporting exercise as medicine. Although the role of the biokineticist is clearly defined by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), there is still confusion concerning this profession and its services. At present, the dominant medicalscientific and capitalist-economic discourses offer a narrowly mechanistic and instrumental understanding of the human body and its treatment, which contributes to this confusion. This dissertation proposes a new point of departure, enriched by historical and philosophical understandings of the human body, from which the biokineticist can begin to redefine him/herself. The study aims to shift biokinetics as a practice away from the reductionist and dehumanising influences of instrumentalist, scientific and neoliberal capitalist-economic discourses, and to restore to biokineticists, and their clients, the ability they need to interact as relatively autonomous individuals. The study draws on the ideas of Michel Foucault, specifically on his notions for ‘discipline’, ‘docility’, and ‘the care of the self’ (1991; 2005), as well as Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari and their ideas of ‘becoming’ and ‘rhizomatic thinking’ (1983; 1987); ultimately presenting a philosophically enriched, holistic representation of the human body. From here recommendations for best practice in contemporary biokinetics are suggested that encourage interactions and connections between the professional and his/her patients, which move beyond the mere physiological interpretations currently dominating health discourse

Prosperity and slums, a dynamic trajectory for positive development

This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 15th February 2019 until 23rd November 2020.Slums and their management are a phenomenon as old as cities. For Developing Region cities, slums present a challenge in maintaining inclusivity and sustainability, which the United Nations considers to be a fundamental human right and essential for fulfilling sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. On-going slum intervention approaches are inadequate in providing desired outcomes. Limitations involve overcoming negative perceptions with non-inclusive and ineffective approaches, and comprehensively understanding slums' complex social, spatial, and environmental dynamics. Interestingly, as illustrated in this thesis, slums and cities are linked through continuously evolving patterns of growth that are demographic and responsive to cities' structural vitality, which is focused on prosperity. Furthermore, there is potential to streamline slum improvement with that of cities and their prosperity, and for slums to contribute to such urban improvement endeavour when, however, what it means to prosper is clarified and detailed. This thesis recognises that definitions of slums, just like the strategies employed to address them in cities follow trends. It seeks to provide a comprehensive framework to define any slum as it exists in the city for effective intervention, and to re-formulate slums' roles, while managing them, in cities' broader progress through prosperity pursuit. The Slum Property Map (SPM) is proposed to provide an organised and rigorous way of comprehensively describing slums and developing a narrative that defines them and their existence in the city. It is developed as a non-exclusive, structured, dynamic framework and a reliable heuristic following on an integrated ontological and cognitive research and expansive literature analysis. The proposed theory for prosperity tries to simplify perceptions of the concept through an analytical synthesis of relevant theories. It shows how our existential pursuits with and within lived spaces through time can provide an operative view and a model for prosperity. Ultimately, the Slum-Prosperity Framework (SPF) is proposed as an actionable slum intervention framework, with assistive and conceptual tools for stakeholder implementation. It is conceived to help them identify and invest in most effective pathways for improvement and prosperity through streamlined, flexible, responsive (to comprehensively defined slum), and progressive actions. The SPF's development framework, while conceptual and approximate, with relevant expert validation provides a robust base for practical advancement, especially with institutional and expert collaboration. This thesis is motivated by the researcher's past experiences regarding slums and set to contribute to proactive and inclusive global urban improvement: for every challenge presented there can emerge novel and creative possibilities for engagement once the details of these challenges are closely examined and understood.Slums and their management are a phenomenon as old as cities. For Developing Region cities, slums present a challenge in maintaining inclusivity and sustainability, which the United Nations considers to be a fundamental human right and essential for fulfilling sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. On-going slum intervention approaches are inadequate in providing desired outcomes. Limitations involve overcoming negative perceptions with non-inclusive and ineffective approaches, and comprehensively understanding slums' complex social, spatial, and environmental dynamics. Interestingly, as illustrated in this thesis, slums and cities are linked through continuously evolving patterns of growth that are demographic and responsive to cities' structural vitality, which is focused on prosperity. Furthermore, there is potential to streamline slum improvement with that of cities and their prosperity, and for slums to contribute to such urban improvement endeavour when, however, what it means to prosper is clarified and detailed. This thesis recognises that definitions of slums, just like the strategies employed to address them in cities follow trends. It seeks to provide a comprehensive framework to define any slum as it exists in the city for effective intervention, and to re-formulate slums' roles, while managing them, in cities' broader progress through prosperity pursuit. The Slum Property Map (SPM) is proposed to provide an organised and rigorous way of comprehensively describing slums and developing a narrative that defines them and their existence in the city. It is developed as a non-exclusive, structured, dynamic framework and a reliable heuristic following on an integrated ontological and cognitive research and expansive literature analysis. The proposed theory for prosperity tries to simplify perceptions of the concept through an analytical synthesis of relevant theories. It shows how our existential pursuits with and within lived spaces through time can provide an operative view and a model for prosperity. Ultimately, the Slum-Prosperity Framework (SPF) is proposed as an actionable slum intervention framework, with assistive and conceptual tools for stakeholder implementation. It is conceived to help them identify and invest in most effective pathways for improvement and prosperity through streamlined, flexible, responsive (to comprehensively defined slum), and progressive actions. The SPF's development framework, while conceptual and approximate, with relevant expert validation provides a robust base for practical advancement, especially with institutional and expert collaboration. This thesis is motivated by the researcher's past experiences regarding slums and set to contribute to proactive and inclusive global urban improvement: for every challenge presented there can emerge novel and creative possibilities for engagement once the details of these challenges are closely examined and understood

Agnostic content ontology design patterns for a multi-domain ontology

This research project aims to solve the semantic heterogeneity problem. Semantic heterogeneity mimics cancer in that semantic heterogeneity unnecessarily consumes resources from its host, the enterprise, and may even affect lives. A number of authors report that semantic heterogeneity may cost a significant portion of an enterprise’s IT budget. Also, semantic heterogeneity hinders pharmaceutical and medical research by consuming valuable research funds. The RA-EKI architecture model comprises a multi-domain ontology, a cross-industry agnostic construct composed of rich axioms notably for data integration. A multi-domain ontology composed of axiomatized agnostic data model patterns would drive a cognitive data integration application system usable in any industry sector. This project’s objective is to elicit agnostic data model patterns here considered as content ontology design patterns. The first research question of this project pertains to the existence of agnostic patterns and their capacity to solve the semantic heterogeneity problem. Due to the theory-building role of this project, a qualitative research approach constitutes the appropriate manner to conduct its research. Contrary to theory testing quantitative methods that rely on well-established validation techniques to determine the reliability of the outcome of a given study, theorybuilding qualitative methods do not possess standardized techniques to ascertain the reliability of a study. The second research question inquires on a dual method theory-building approach that may demonstrate trustworthiness. The first method, a qualitative Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach induces the sought knowledge from 69 retained publications using a practical screen. The second method, a phenomenological research protocol elicits the agnostic concepts from semi-structured interviews involving 22 senior practitioners with 21 years in average of experience in conceptualization. The SLR retains a set of 89 agnostic concepts from 2009 through 2017. The phenomenological study in turn retains 83 agnostic concepts. During the synthesis stage for both studies, data saturation was calculated for each of the retained concepts at the point where the concepts have been selected for a second time. The quantification of data saturation constitutes an element of the trustworthiness’s transferability criterion. It can be argued that this effort of establishing the trustworthiness, i.e. credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability can be construed as extensive and this research track as promising. Data saturation for both studies has still not been reached. The assessment performed in the course of the establishment of trustworthiness of this project’s dual method qualitative research approach yields very interesting findings. Such findings include two sets of agnostic data model patterns obtained from research protocols using radically different data sources i.e. publications vs. experienced practitioners but with striking similarities. Further work is required using exactly the same protocols for each of the methods, expand the year range for the SLR and to recruit new co-researchers for the phenomenological protocol. This work will continue until these protocols do not elicit new theory material. At this point, new protocols for both methods will be designed and executed with the intent to measure theoretical saturation. For both methods, this entails in formulating new research questions that may, for example, focus on agnostic themes such as finance, infrastructure, relationships, classifications, etc. For this exploration project, the road ahead involves the design of new questionnaires for semi-structured interviews. This project will need to engage in new knowledge elicitation techniques such as focus groups. The project will definitely conduct other qualitative research methods such as research action for eliciting new knowledge and know-how from actual development and operation of an ontology-based cognitive application. Finally, a mixed methods qualitative-quantitative approach would prepare the transition toward theory testing method using hypothetico-deductive techniques

Risk Analysis for Smart Cities Urban Planners: Safety and Security in Public Spaces

Christopher Alexander in his famous writings "The Timeless Way of Building" and "A pattern language" defined a formal language for the description of a city. Alexander developed a generative grammar able to formally describe complex and articulated concepts of architecture and urban planning to define a common language that would facilitate both the participation of ordinary citizens and the collaboration between professionals in architectural and urban planning. In this research, a similar approach has been applied to let two domains communicate although they are very far in terms of lexicon, methodologies and objectives. These domains are urban planning, urban design and architecture, seen as the first domain both in terms of time and in terms of completeness of vision, and the one relating to the world of engineering, made by innumerable disciplines. In practice, there is a domain that defines the requirements and the overall vision (the first) and a domain (the second) which implements them with real infrastructures and systems. To put these two worlds seamlessly into communication, allowing the concepts of the first world to be translated into those of the second, Christopher Alexander’s idea has been followed by defining a common language. By applying Essence, the software engineering formal descriptive theory, using its customization rules, to the concept of a Smart City, a common language to completely trace the requirements at all levels has been defined. Since the focus was on risk analysis for safety and security in public spaces, existing risk models have been considered, evidencing a further gap also within the engineering world itself. Depending on the area being considered, risk management models have different and siloed approaches which ignore the interactions of one type of risk with the others. To allow effective communication between the two domains and within the engineering domain, a unified risk analysis framework has been developed. Then a framework (an ontology) capable of describing all the elements of a Smart City has been developed and combined with the common language to trace the requirements. Following the philosophy of the Vienna Circle, a creative process called Aufbau has then been defined to allow the generation of a detailed description of the Smart City, at any level, using the common language and the ontology above defined. Then, the risk analysis methodology has been applied to the city model produced by Aufbau. The research developed tools to apply such results to the entire life cycle of the Smart City. With these tools, it is possible to understand how much a given architectural, urban planning or urban design requirement is operational at a given moment. In this way, the narration can accurately describe how much the initial requirements set by architects, planners and urban designers and, above all, the values required by stakeholders, are satisfied, at any time. The impact of this research on urban planning is the ability to create a single model between the two worlds, leaving everyone free to express creativity and expertise in the appropriate forms but, at the same time, allowing both to fill the communication gap existing today. This new way of planning requires adequate IT tools and takes the form, from the engineering side, of harmonization of techniques already in use and greater clarity of objectives. On the side of architecture, urban planning and urban design, it is instead a powerful decision support tool, both in the planning and operational phases. This decision support tool for Urban Planning, based on the research results, is the starting point for the development of a meta-heuristic process using an evolutionary approach. Consequently, risk management, from Architecture/Urban Planning/Urban Design up to Engineering, in any phase of the Smart City’s life cycle, is seen as an “organism” that evolves.Christopher Alexander nei suoi famosi scritti "The Timeless Way of Building" e "A pattern language" ha definito un linguaggio formale per la descrizione di una città, sviluppando una grammatica in grado di descrivere formalmente concetti complessi e articolati di architettura e urbanistica, definendo un linguaggio comune per facilitare la partecipazione dei comuni cittadini e la collaborazione tra professionisti. In questa ricerca, un approccio simile è stato applicato per far dialogare due domini sebbene siano molto distanti in termini di lessico, metodologie e obiettivi. Essi sono l'urbanistica, l'urban design e l'architettura, visti come primo dominio sia in termini di tempo che di completezza di visione, e quello del mondo dell'ingegneria, con numerose discipline. In pratica, esiste un dominio che definisce i requisiti e la visione d'insieme (il primo) e un dominio (il secondo) che li implementa con infrastrutture e sistemi reali. Per metterli in perfetta comunicazione, permettendo di tradurre i concetti del primo in quelli del secondo, si è seguita l'idea di Alexander definendo un linguaggio. Applicando Essence, la teoria descrittiva formale dell'ingegneria del software al concetto di Smart City, è stato definito un linguaggio comune per tracciarne i requisiti a tutti i livelli. Essendo il focus l'analisi dei rischi per la sicurezza negli spazi pubblici, sono stati considerati i modelli di rischio esistenti, evidenziando un'ulteriore lacuna anche all'interno del mondo dell'ingegneria stessa. A seconda dell'area considerata, i modelli di gestione del rischio hanno approcci diversi e isolati che ignorano le interazioni di un tipo di rischio con gli altri. Per consentire una comunicazione efficace tra i due domini e all'interno del dominio dell'ingegneria, è stato sviluppato un quadro di analisi del rischio unificato. Quindi è stato sviluppato un framework (un'ontologia) in grado di descrivere tutti gli elementi di una Smart City e combinato con il linguaggio comune per tracciarne i requisiti. Seguendo la filosofia del Circolo di Vienna, è stato poi definito un processo creativo chiamato Aufbau per consentire la generazione di una descrizione dettagliata della Smart City, a qualsiasi livello, utilizzando il linguaggio comune e l'ontologia sopra definita. Infine, la metodologia dell'analisi del rischio è stata applicata al modello di città prodotto da Aufbau. La ricerca ha sviluppato strumenti per applicare tali risultati all'intero ciclo di vita della Smart City. Con questi strumenti è possibile capire quanto una data esigenza architettonica, urbanistica o urbanistica sia operativa in un dato momento. In questo modo, la narrazione può descrivere con precisione quanto i requisiti iniziali posti da architetti, pianificatori e urbanisti e, soprattutto, i valori richiesti dagli stakeholder, siano soddisfatti, in ogni momento. L'impatto di questa ricerca sull'urbanistica è la capacità di creare un modello unico tra i due mondi, lasciando ognuno libero di esprimere creatività e competenza nelle forme appropriate ma, allo stesso tempo, permettendo ad entrambi di colmare il gap comunicativo oggi esistente. Questo nuovo modo di progettare richiede strumenti informatici adeguati e si concretizza, dal lato ingegneristico, in un'armonizzazione delle tecniche già in uso e in una maggiore chiarezza degli obiettivi. Sul versante dell'architettura, dell'urbanistica e del disegno urbano, è invece un potente strumento di supporto alle decisioni, sia in fase progettuale che operativa. Questo strumento di supporto alle decisioni per la pianificazione urbana, basato sui risultati della ricerca, è il punto di partenza per lo sviluppo di un processo meta-euristico utilizzando un approccio evolutivo

Investigating the Nigerian Leadership Capability and its Impact in Development and Society

Despite Nigeria\u27s abundance of human and natural resources, after 57 years of independence, most Nigerians live in absolute poverty. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the extent to which the Nigerian leadership exercised leadership capability. The primary research question investigated leadership actions that facilitated or undermined development and good governance objectives. This study adopted critical thinking leadership framework, as developed by the author. The primary data used in this study came from Afrobarometer surveys, round 4, 5, and combined data round 6, which is an updated version of independent surveys administered between 1999 and 2016. Also, data from the Transparency International, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum were used to complement the Afrobarometer surveys. This study used descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, analysis of covariance, and multivariate analysis of covariance. Study results suggest Nigerian leadership exhibits self-centered attitudes toward development and good governance. Hence, the observed outcomes include poor government performance, weak economic management and governance, a high-level of ethical and financial corruption, and eroded public trust in government. It is an indication of a weak leadership capability and an absence of critical thinking leadership. This study recommends a change in the way the Nigerian government recruits top public servants if Nigeria seeks to curtail ethical and financial corruption and achieve its development objectives. This study is expected to contribute to positive social change by offering the Nigerian policymakers recommendations that are essential to address the issues associated with weak leadership capability among the Nigerian leadership

Geographic Information Systems and Science

Geographic information science (GISc) has established itself as a collaborative information-processing scheme that is increasing in popularity. Yet, this interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary system is still somewhat misunderstood. This book talks about some of the GISc domains encompassing students, researchers, and common users. Chapters focus on important aspects of GISc, keeping in mind the processing capability of GIS along with the mathematics and formulae involved in getting each solution. The book has one introductory and eight main chapters divided into five sections. The first section is more general and focuses on what GISc is and its relation to GIS and Geography, the second is about location analytics and modeling, the third on remote sensing data analysis, the fourth on big data and augmented reality, and, finally, the fifth looks over volunteered geographic information.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Crude oil theft, petrol-piracy and illegal trade in fuel:an enterprise-value chain perspective of energy-maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea (GoG) has developed into a global energy-maritime crime hotspot, with Nigeria being the epicentre of illegal oil-related maritime activities in the region. For several decades, scholars have sought to justify crude oil theft, petro-piracy and illegal fuel trade especially in the waters of Nigeria, in the context of greed-grievance. While that approach provides a basis for understanding the realities of illegal energy-maritime activities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, it does little to explain how the illicit activities have evolved into a global enterprise it is today, the dynamics of the business and the infrastructure that sustain the criminality. Against the backdrop of this limitation in existing theoretical underpinning of illegal energy-maritime activities in the GoG, this study adopts an enterprise-value chain model which, moving beyond the greed-grievance narrative, emphasises the primacy of both the enterprise and the marketplace (not players in the market) in explaining, and understanding the dynamics, complexities and persistence of crude oil theft, petro-piracy and illegal fuel trade in the GoG. The enterprise-value chain approach as adopted in the study, offers an advantage of interdisciplinary perspective, combining Smith’s enterprise theory of crime and Porter’s business management concept of value chain to understanding energy-maritime criminality in the GoG. The enterprise-value chain model sees the tripod of crude oil theft, petro-piracy and illegal trade in fuel as an organised crime; a well-structured economic activity whose business philosophy hinges on the provision of illegal goods and services. Such activities exist because the legitimate marketplace has limited capacity to meet the needs of potential customers. Within the enterprise-value chain framework, the study identifies, and analyses the dynamics of overlap, cooperation and conflict among the different players in the illegal energy-maritime industry as well as mutually beneficial relationships between formal and informal energy-maritime economies. Such an overlap is critical to understanding both the nature of the business and its sustaining value chain. The study concludes that current energy-maritime security architecture in the Gulf of Guinea does not capture the organised, enterprise nature of illicit offshore and onshore activities and its sustaining value chain, which highlights its inherent limitation viz-a-viz the region’s quest for energy-maritime security. There is therefore an urgent need to address this seeming gap as it determines significantly how the phenomenon is considered both for academic purposes and public policy. It is this obvious gap in both academic literature and policy on maritime security in the GoG that this study intends to fill. The study, in the context of its theoretical framework, develops a business approach to enhancing energy-maritime security in the GoG