21,880 research outputs found
Configurational Information as Potentially Negative Entropy: The Triple Helix Model
Configurational information is generated when three or more sources of
variance interact. The variations not only disturb each other relationally, but
by selecting upon each other, they are also positioned in a configuration. A
configuration can be stabilized and/or globalized. Different stabilizations can
be considered as second-order variation, and globalization as a second-order
selection. The positive manifestations and the negative selections operate upon
one another by adding and reducing uncertainty, respectively. Reduction of
uncertainty in a configuration can be measured in bits of information. The
variables can also be considered as dimensions of the probabilistic entropy in
the system(s) under study. The configurational information then provides us
with a measure of synergy within a complex system. For example, the knowledge
base of an economy can be considered as such a synergy in the otherwise virtual
(that is, fourth) dimension of a regime
Robot Swarms in an Uncertain World: Controllable Adaptability
There is a belief that complexity and chaos are essential for adaptability.
But life deals with complexity every moment, without the chaos that engineers
fear so, by invoking goal-directed behaviour. Goals can be programmed. That is
why living organisms give us hope to achieve adaptability in robots. In this
paper a method for the description of a goal-directed, or programmed,
behaviour, interacting with uncertainty of environment, is described. We
suggest reducing the structural (goals, intentions) and stochastic components
(probability to realise the goal) of individual behaviour to random variables
with nominal values to apply probabilistic approach. This allowed us to use a
Normalized Entropy Index to detect the system state by estimating the
contribution of each agent to the group behaviour. The number of possible group
states is 27. We argue that adaptation has a limited number of possible paths
between these 27 states. Paths and states can be programmed so that after
adjustment to any particular case of task and conditions, adaptability will
never involve chaos. We suggest the application of the model to operation of
robots or other devices in remote and/or dangerous places.Comment: Journal web page & a lot of robotic related papers
www.ars-journal.co
Development of an Approach for Analyzing Supply Chain Complexity
Supply chains are faced with a rising complexity of products, structures, and processes. Because of the strong link between a supply chain’s complexity and its efficiency the supply chain complexity management becomes a major challenge of today’s business management. A two dimensional driver concept is introduced and explained to comprehend the major causes of a supply chains’ complexity. To map the effects of the drivers and to understand the different dimensions of complexity, a general complexity model is introduced. A supply chain complexity analysis approach is presented, to evaluate the initial situation and to provide the necessary information for deriving the right actions and strategies for the management of complexity within a supply chain.complexity; supply chain; variety; model
FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC STRUCTURE AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN REGIONAL ECONOMIES: A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
Regional economic structure is defined as the composition and patterns of various components of the regional economy such as: produc-tion, employment, consumption, trade, and gross regional product. Structur-al change is conceptualized as the change in relative importance of the aggregate indicators of the economy. The process of regional development and structural change are intertwined, implying as economic development takes place the strength and direction of intersectoral relationships change leading to shifts in the importance, direction and interaction of economic sectors such as: primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary and quinary sec-tors. The fundamental economic structure (FES) concept implies that selected characteristics of an economy will vary predictably with region size. The identification of FES leads to an improved understanding of the space-time evolution of regional economic activities at different geograph-ical scales. The FES based economic activities are predictable, stable and important. This paper reviews selected themes in manifesting an improved understanding of the relationship among intersectoral transactions and economic size leading to the identification of FES. The following four ques-tions are addressed in this paper: (1) What are the relationships among sector composition and structural change in the process of economic devel-opment? (2) What are the approaches utilized to study structural change analysis? (3) Can a methodology be developed to identify FES for regional economies? (4) Would the identification of FES manifest an improved con-ception of the taxonomy of economies?STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
External managers, family ownership and the scope of SME internationalization
SMEs are important to world business and the majority of SMEs are family firms. Yet some family SMEs are inert, local firms while others are dynamic and international. Do certain governance structures encourage the scale and scope of their internationalization? We jointly apply social capital and corporate governance theories to explain the scope of family SMEs internationalization, and find that professional managers externally recruited from outside the family are important, but only for lower levels of family ownership, suggesting synergistic combinations of ownership and management. It is the combination of external capital with external managers that really works
Can Synergy in Triple-Helix Relations be Quantified? A Review of the Development of the Triple-Helix Indicator
Triple-Helix arrangements of bi- and trilateral relations can be considered
as adaptive eco-systems. During the last decade, we have further developed a
Triple-Helix indicator of synergy as reduction of uncertainty in niches that
can be shaped among three or more distributions. Reduction of uncertainty can
be generated in correlations among distributions of relations, but this
(next-order) effect can be counterbalanced by uncertainty generated in the
relations. We first explain the indicator, and then review possible results
when this indicator is applied to (i) co-author networks of academic,
industrial, and governmental authors and (ii) synergies in the distributions of
firms over geographical addresses, technological classes, and industrial-size
classes for a number of nations. Co-variation is then considered as a measure
of relationship. The balance between globalizing and localizing dynamics can be
quantified. Too much synergy locally can also be considered as lock-in.
Tendencies are different for the globalizing knowledge dynamics versus locally
retaining wealth from knowledge in industrial innovations
Evolution of Supply Chain Collaboration: Implications for the Role of Knowledge
Increasingly, research across many disciplines has recognized the shortcomings of the traditional “integration prescription” for inter-organizational knowledge management. This research conducts several simulation experiments to study the effects of different rates of product change, different demand environments, and different economies of scale on the level of integration between firms at different levels in the supply chain. The underlying paradigm shifts from a static, steady state view to a dynamic, complex adaptive systems and knowledge-based view of supply chain networks. Several research propositions are presented that use the role of knowledge in the supply chain to provide predictive power for how supply chain collaborations or integration should evolve. Suggestions and implications are suggested for managerial and research purposes
Fidelity of optimally controlled quantum gates with randomly coupled multiparticle environments
This work studies the feasibility of optimal control of high-fidelity quantum
gates in a model of interacting two-level particles. One particle (the qubit)
serves as the quantum information processor, whose evolution is controlled by a
time-dependent external field. The other particles are not directly controlled
and serve as an effective environment, coupling to which is the source of
decoherence. The control objective is to generate target one-qubit gates in the
presence of strong environmentally-induced decoherence and under physically
motivated restrictions on the control field. It is found that interactions
among the environmental particles have a negligible effect on the gate fidelity
and require no additional adjustment of the control field. Another interesting
result is that optimally controlled quantum gates are remarkably robust to
random variations in qubit-environment and inter-environment coupling
strengths. These findings demonstrate the utility of optimal control for
management of quantum-information systems in a very precise and specific
manner, especially when the dynamics complexity is exacerbated by inherently
uncertain environmental coupling.Comment: tMOP LaTeX, 9 pages, 3 figures; Special issue of the Journal of
Modern Optics: 37th Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics,
2-6 January 200
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