Advancing Democracy One Tweet at a Time

This thesis takes a broad look how citizens use social media to foster political discussion, enhance political knowledge and engage in political participation in the United States. In this study, democracy is broken down into three empirically measurable components: political discussion, knowledge and participation. To begin, I provide an in-­‐depth review of past research examining the impact social media has on each element of democracy. In addition, I analyze data collected from a novel social media panel of 3,811 Twitter users by researchers from Louisiana State University (Davis et. al, 2017). From this, I measure the impact that Facebook and Twitter have had on political discussion, knowledge and participation. I found that Twitter users use both Twitter and Facebook in ways that foster political discussion and enhance political knowledge. The results indicates that Twitter users are in fact using social media to share political news, further enhancing these platforms’ democratic potential

Analyzing Stakeholders Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping

Stakeholder analysis was first explored as a methodology to assist business leaders with their strategic management functions. Stakeholder analysis has since expanded beyond the corporate arena. Stakeholders are a vital element in all complex systems problems; they are the customers, users, clients, suppliers, employees, regulators, and team members of a system. They fund a system, design it, build it, operate it, maintain it, and dispose of it. Each stakeholder contributes their own value-added perspective, as described by the systems principle known as complementarity. While many approaches exist for classifying and determining their attitudes, these approaches stop short of evaluating stakeholders in a holistic and dynamic manner. This paper closes this research gap by discussing an approach to managing stakeholders using fuzzy cognitive mapping, an approach which allows for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of stakeholders on a given problem. The developed approach extends previous work by the author to showcase how stakeholders may be mapped holistically and dynamically. © 2015 The Authors

Narrative Landscape

In addition to its utility, beauty, cleverness and cultural record, the design of the public landscape describes relationships of society to the natural environment and vice versa. The designed public landscape also expresses a dream, the embodiment of a vision of what society might be as well as what it is..

Attitudes and acceptance of South African urban consumers towards genetically modified white maize

The introduction of genetically modified (GM) food products to food markets around the world, has led to considerable controversy. In many cases consumer attitudes and perceptions of GM food products were revealed as fears, concern for, and avoidance of the new technology. The importance of GM foods in South Africa is increasing, even though the GM Food debate lags behind many other (often more developed) parts of the world. This paper investigates the knowledge, attitudes and acceptance of urban South African white-grain maize consumers regarding GM maize. Conjoint- and cluster analysis were used to develop clusters/market segments among the urban consumers of white maize. A range of additional questions was used to develop profiles of the identified market segments. These aspects covered demographics, GM knowledge aspects as well as GM attitude aspects. Four distinct clusters/market segments were identified with specific characteristics: "Anti-GM, Brand aware" cluster (35% of valid responses), "Brand unaware, Farmer sympathetic" cluster (20%), "GM consumer benefit, Brand aware" cluster (25%) and the "Brand aware, Pro-GM" cluster (20%). The most significant differences between the clusters were based on the consumers' attitudes towards GM food products.Consumer/Household Economics,

Colonel Blotto Games and Lancaster\u27s Equations: A Novel Military Modeling Combination

Military strategists face a difficult task when engaged in a battle against an adversarial force. They have to predict both what tactics their opponent will employ and the outcomes of any resultant conflicts in order to make the best decision about their actions. Game theory has been the dominant technique used by analysts to investigate the possible actions that an enemy will employ. Traditional game theory can be augmented by use of Lanchester equations, a set of differential equations used to determine the outcome of a conflict. This paper demonstrates a novel combination of game theory and Lanchester equations using Colonel Blotto games. Colonel Blotto games, which are one of the oldest applications of game theory to the military domain, look at the allocation of troops and resources when fighting across multiple areas of operation. This paper demonstrates that employing Lanchester equations within a game overcomes some of practical problems faced when applying game theory

The McQueeney Municipal Utility District Project: An Archaeological Reconnaissance

During late March, 1976, the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, conducted an archaeological reconnaissance in the vicinity of McQueeney, in Guadalupe County, Texas. This reconnaissance had been authorized by the McQueeney Municipal Utility District in connection with its plans for sewage lines and waste treatment facilities in the McQueeney area. Survey work was facilitated through contacts with URS Forrest and Cotton (project engineers) and with Mr. M. O. Stautzenberger, president of the utility district. We are grateful to Mr. Stautzenberger for providing the field team with a 1:300 aerial photograph of the project locality, and for making the necessary entry arrangements with local landowner

Why Are All the Softies in Europe? A Discussion of the Lack of Penetration of Soft OR in the US

Soft Operations Research (OR) methods are used for a variety of real-world problems due to their focus on qualitative or interpretative problem formulation and analysis. Analysts use Soft Systems Methodology for problem structuring, drama theory for understanding conflicts, and morphological analysis for decision support. These techniques have an advantage over their quantitative counterparts because they can be used to tame wicked problems. So why is the use of soft OR not widespread in the US? In this paper, we discuss the systems and forces in place that limit soft OR within the US\u27 higher education system and, by extension, the US\u27 OR labour market. We discuss the failed attempts to buck this trend and the consequences of continuing with the hard OR-focused status quo

Determining Stakeholder Influence Using Input-Output Modeling

Stakeholders are a vital element in all complex systems problems. They are customers, users, clients, suppliers, employees, and team members. They fund the system, design it, build it, operate it, use it, maintain it, and dispose of it. While many approaches exist for classifying and determining their attitudes, these approaches stop short of evaluating stakeholders in a holistic manner. This paper closes this research gap by developing the metric of stakeholder situation influence, a measure which allows for quantitative evaluation of stakeholder influence on a given problem. This measure is derived from Leontief Input-Output analysis. The developed approach extends previous work by the authors to showcase how stakeholders may be mapped holistically in a manner that serves to improve scenario situational awareness and support resource allocation decisions. © 2013 The Authors

Thinking Systemically About Complex Systems

As machine age problems have given way to systems age messes, the underlying complexity associated with understanding these situations has increased exponentially. Accordingly, the methods we use to address these situations must evolve as well. Unfortunately, many antiquated methods for dealing with situations remain prominent. Systems engineering, traditionally, is the practical application of procedural problem solving, typically geared toward the acquisition of large-scale systems. The underlying paradigm for solving these problems can be characterized as systematic thinking. While quite appropriate for machine age problems, this approach lacks the theoretical rigor to deal with systems age messes. Thus, a new paradigm of systemic thinking, conceptually founded in systems theory, is necessary. This paper briefly discusses systems engineering, contrasts it with systemic thinking, and introduces practical guidelines for the deployment of a systemic thinking paradigm. © 2013 The Authors

The Enterprise AID Methodology: Concepts

The Enterprise AID − for assessment, improvement, and design − methodology is a systems science-, operational test and evaluation-, and multicriteria decision analysis-based approach to design and deployment of performance measurement systems (PMSs) tailored to specific enterprises pursuing any or all of enterprise assessment, improvement, or design. Its two phases of design and deployment sprang from designers’ inductively generated and now prototyped response to a gap they recognized between performance measurement capabilities required by contemporary enterprises and those offered by contemporary PMSs. This paper illustrates key concepts underlying AID, while a companion document, The Enterprise AID methodology: Application, draws from a prototyping effort to identify value to be gained by stakeholders from PMSs designed and deployed with methodology application