A Multiscale Kinetic-Fluid Solver with Dynamic Localization of Kinetic Effects

This paper collects the efforts done in our previous works [P. Degond, S. Jin, L. Mieussens, A Smooth Transition Between Kinetic and Hydrodynamic Equations, J. Comp. Phys., 209 (2005) 665--694.],[P.Degond, G. Dimarco, L. Mieussens, A Moving Interface Method for Dynamic Kinetic-fluid Coupling, J. Comp. Phys., Vol. 227, pp. 1176-1208, (2007).],[P. Degond, J.G. Liu, L. Mieussens, Macroscopic Fluid Model with Localized Kinetic Upscaling Effects, SIAM Multi. Model. Sim. 5(3), 940--979 (2006)] to build a robust multiscale kinetic-fluid solver. Our scope is to efficiently solve fluid dynamic problems which present non equilibrium localized regions that can move, merge, appear or disappear in time. The main ingredients of the present work are the followings ones: a fluid model is solved in the whole domain together with a localized kinetic upscaling term that corrects the fluid model wherever it is necessary; this multiscale description of the flow is obtained by using a micro-macro decomposition of the distribution function [P. Degond, J.G. Liu, L. Mieussens, Macroscopic Fluid Model with Localized Kinetic Upscaling Effects, SIAM Multi. Model. Sim. 5(3), 940--979 (2006)]; the dynamic transition between fluid and kinetic descriptions is obtained by using a time and space dependent transition function; to efficiently define the breakdown conditions of fluid models we propose a new criterion based on the distribution function itself. Several numerical examples are presented to validate the method and measure its computational efficiency.Comment: 34 page

Working with Complexity: a Participatory Systems-Based Process for Planning and Evaluating Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services

Individuals working within the water, sanitation and hygiene for development (WASH) sector grapple daily with complex technical, social, economic, and environmental issues that often produce unexpected outcomes that are difficult to plan for and resolve. Here we propose a method we are calling the ‘Participatory Systems-based Planning and Evaluation Process’ (PS-PEP) that combines structural factor analysis and collaborative modeling to guide teams of practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders through a process of modeling and interpreting how factors systemically and dynamically influence sustained access to WASH services. The use and utility of the PS-PEP is demonstrated with a regional team of water committee members in the municipality of Jalapa, Nicaragua who participated in a two-day modeling workshop. Water committee members left the workshop with a clear set of action items for water service planning and management in Jalapa, informed by the analysis of systemic influences and dependencies between key service factors. In so doing, we find that the PS-PEP provides a powerful tool for WASH project or program planning, evaluation, management and policy, the continued use of which could offer unprecedented growth in understanding of WASH service complexity for a broad spectrum of service contexts

Understanding rural areas dynamics from a complex perspective. An application of Prospective Structural Analysis

The development of rural areas continues to be an international priority. The urgent need to fight poverty (mainly concentrated in rural areas) in developing countries, and the demand for increasing economic and social cohesion in developed countries, explain this priority on the political agendas of multilateral bodies, the EU and most other countries. When Development Economics was acknowledged as part of the social and economic theory in the 50’s, different theories and models have tried to explain the unevenness of development and the key elements or conditions that foster it. Traditional rural development programmes were characterised by the implementation of non coordinated, sectoral, horizontal and top-down policies and strategies. The lack of effectiveness and the failures prompted by these policies have propelled the development of new approaches. Territorial rural development is a policy approach embracing contributions from different theoretical frameworks that attempt to foster development strategies based on the consideration of territory as a social construction. Thus, the territory (including all the existing elements and its interactions) has become a key actor for development. However, most of these approaches contemplate rural world through simplistic and monodimensional analysis based on methodologies from single disciplines and on quantitative and/or qualitative morphological descriptions. The pretended multidisciplinarity, frequently ends up on an addition of mono-disciplinary analysis around the object of study. The objective of the present paper is to check the role different elements considered relevant for development by literature´s recent approaches play or can play in rural territories with a very different development situation, using techniques and tools that allow the analysis of rural areas from a complex perspective.territorial rural development, complexity, prospective structural analysis, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Modelling Organisational Factors Influencing Sustainable Development Implementation Performance in Higher Education Institutions: An Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) Approach

open access articleGlobally, higher education institutions (HEIs) have continued to record varied sustainable development (SD) implementation performances. This variance has been attributed to the presence of certain organisational factors. Whereas previous studies have successfully identified the factors influencing the SD implementation performance in HEIs, few studies have attempted to explore the relationship between these factors and the influence of such a relationship on the management of SD implementation in HEIs. This is the objective of this study. Understandably, an understanding of such relationships will facilitate the development of appropriate frameworks for managing SD implementation in HEIs. Relying on a case study of a South African University of Technology (SAUoT), this study elicits data through a focus group discussion session. An interpretative structural modelling (ISM) focus group protocol indicating extant pair-wise relationships between identified organisational factor categories was extensively discussed. The emergent data was recorded, transcribed verbatim and subsequently analysed. The findings suggest that communication was critical to the prevalence of other factors, hence indicating its centrality to the effective management of SD implementation in HEIs. These findings will guide implementing agents in HEIs towards developing appropriate strategies for communicating SD implementation strategies

Towards an advanced impact analysis of intangible resources in organisations

The paper refers to the discussion of measuring and assessing knowledge capital. In particular, the interconnectedness of the intangible resources in organizations is not well represented in the methodical approaches. Moreover, the identification of driver resources which is strongly connected with this question is far from being solved in a satisfactory manner. Therefore, this article reviews existing methods of the scenario analysis in view of the performance measurement discussion and contributes towards an advanced analysis of resources in organizations. --ADVIAN method,driver,impact analysis,intangible resource,knowledge capital,MICMAC method,performance measurement system

Indian awareness: can we see non-peoples as people?

We have not been able to see North American native peoples as human societies with culture and religion. Since Columbus\u27 suggestion that he had reached Eden or its outer proximity, native peoples have been looked upon as either more or less than human. As such they were either to be destroyed or assimilated (i.e, made human). Once placed on reserves, government and church cooperated to educate, civilize, and Christianize them. This inability to appreciate fully human societies with culture and religion raises at least three theological issues for the church: 1) the church\u27s relationship to the dominant culture; 2) the effect of the traditional method of doing theology upon the image of native peoples; and 3) the violation of \u27justification by grace through faith\u27 by the \u27educate, civilize, and Christianize\u27 approach

Derivation of Langevin Dynamics in a Nonzero Background Flow Field

We propose a derivation of a nonequilibrium Langevin dynamics for a large particle immersed in a background flow field. A single large particle is placed in an ideal gas heat bath composed of point particles that are distributed consistently with the background flow field and that interact with the large particle through elastic collisions. In the limit of small bath atom mass, the large particle dynamics converges in law to a stochastic dynamics. This derivation follows the ideas of [D. D\"urr, S. Goldstein, and J. L. Lebowitz, 1981 and 1983; P. Calderoni, D. D\"urr, and S. Kusuoka, 1989] and provides extensions to handle the nonzero background flow. The derived nonequilibrium Langevin dynamics is similar to the dynamics in [M. McPhie, et al., 2001]. Some numerical experiments illustrate the use of the obtained dynamic to simulate homogeneous liquid materials under flow.Comment: Minor revisions, refined discussion of the laminar bath approach and non-Hamiltonian dynamics approach in Section 2. 41 pages, 8 figure