Generational advancement in sovereign nations: a qualitative study understanding the significance of knowledge infrastructure

Throughout history, socio-cultural and political movements have condemned indigenous peoples by advancing false rhetoric, half-truths, and equivocations championed as axiomatic principles. Foreign entities have massacred philosophies, traditions, and tribes while stealing ancestral lands that have yet to be recovered. This exploratory study examines the phenomenon of developing knowledge infrastructure within sovereign nations. A descriptive qualitative approach was used to answer the research question: To what extent, if at all, might knowledge infrastructure support generational advancement through learning and development programs within sovereign nations? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 Tribal citizens, community members, and employees who currently or have worked in business enterprises within sovereign nations in the United States. This study details the significance of knowledge infrastructure and proposes recommendations based on collective voices within sovereign nations

European Arctic Initiatives Compendium

Julkaistu versi

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Intention of Indigenous Entrepreneurs of Bangladesh

Globalization the technological revolution and the alleged climate crisis have brought about significant changes in the patterns of economic development experienced by humanity The evidence that human activities play an important role in environmental degradation is more evident Faced with this scenario of crises and uncertainties the economic sustainability of large corporations may be compromised by external issues over which societies have no control Much has been disclosed about the need for companies to seek the ability to generate value for the public in order to obtain higher levels of economic and environmental sustainability Within this perspective that corporations must be able to generate value and not just profits the present work is inserted The prospect that natural resources can be exploited in an exhaustive manner until they are exhausted in order to obtain maximum profits in business does not hold up corporate law increasingly turns to the need to develop its activities in a sustainable way both by economic and environmental bia

The emergence of sustainability culture and the sustainability practitioner

In this thesis, I propose that sustainability is a new emergent cultural phenomenon – a new “dreaming” - arising from our conscious and unconscious actions, our relationships and our connection to place. Such a culture of sustainability is essential to support the vision of a sustainable global society. I further propose that the way sustainability is practised, both personally and professionally, has significant potential for fostering the emergence of sustainability culture, and that a mature sustainability culture, in turn, will support our myriad actions towards sustainability. The above propositions have a significant caveat: emergence, as understood in complexity theory, is not predictable. The current unsustainable paradigm of global development is also an emergent phenomenon. Real sustainability is therefore not inevitable, simply because a vision has been articulated, and strategies and actions implemented. I also contend that as sustainability is holistic in conception, it requires a holistic approach to practice, in addition to the mechanistic prescriptions common to much contemporary sustainability practice. To move towards a holistic approach to practice requires a different type of practitioner from the conventional practitioner: more generalist than specialist, drawing on their “inner sustainability culture” when faced with complex sustainability problems, capable of working across scales, open to discovery of new patterns, and mindful of the degree of complexity in any practice setting. In recognition of the need for a new cultural paradigm of sustainability, and drawing on the concept of emergence as described by complexity theory, I have designed this research project to investigate the following four themes: 1. Culture as an emergent quality of complex adaptive socio-technical systems; 2. The connections between human action and emergent system qualities; 3. The prospects for the emergence of a culture of sustainability; and 4. The implications of emergent sustainability culture for the sustainability practitioner. In this thesis, I argue that we need a model of sustainability culture that accommodates the emergence phenomenon and new ways of emergence-based sustainability practice. I therefore propose an Emergence Model of Sustainability Culture to illustrate the relationship between sustainability, culture and the emergence phenomenon, and I articulate four Emergence Patterns for Sustainability Practice as a working framework for emergence-oriented sustainability practice across different generic practice settings in simple, complicated, complex and chaotic space. I hope that sustainability practitioners will find my Emergence Model and Emergence Patterns to be helpful in progressing to a more considered and deeper approach to sustainability practice than contemporary approaches, especially where sustainability problems are complex and difficult. In this way we may continue to develop a culture of sustainability as a new “dreaming” and the practice of sustainability will progress further to service humanity’s compelling need

The Intersections of Biological Diversity and Cultural Diversity: Towards Integration

There is an emerging recognition that the diversity of life comprises both biological and cultural diversity. In the past, however, it has been common to make divisions between nature and culture, arising partly out of a desire to control nature. The range of interconnections between biological and cultural diversity are reflected in the growing variety of environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged. In this article, we present ideas from a number of these sub-disciplines. We investigate four bridges linking both types of diversity (beliefs and worldviews, livelihoods and practices, knowledge bases and languages, and norms and institutions), seek to determine the common drivers of loss that exist, and suggest a novel and integrative path forwards. We recommend that future policy responses should target both biological and cultural diversity in a combined approach to conservation. The degree to which biological diversity is linked to cultural diversity is only beginning to be understood. But it is precisely as our knowledge is advancing that these complex systems are under threat. While conserving nature alongside human cultures presents unique challenges, we suggest that any hope for saving biological diversity is predicated on a concomitant effort to appreciate and protect cultural diversity