77,918 research outputs found
Renormalization group analysis of the small-world network model
We study the small-world network model, which mimics the transition between
regular-lattice and random-lattice behavior in social networks of increasing
size. We contend that the model displays a normal continuous phase transition
with a divergent correlation length as the degree of randomness tends to zero.
We propose a real-space renormalization group transformation for the model and
demonstrate that the transformation is exact in the limit of large system size.
We use this result to calculate the exact value of the single critical exponent
for the system, and to derive the scaling form for the average number of
"degrees of separation" between two nodes on the network as a function of the
three independent variables. We confirm our results by extensive numerical
simulation.Comment: 4 pages including 3 postscript figure
Call for a corporate social conscience index
This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a widely used term to describe how large companies adopt practices and policies that curb the potential negative impacts their operations can have on the surrounding environment and the community in which they are based. But companiesâ claims of CSR behavior can be difficult to verify. This brief calls for the development of a âCorporate Social Conscience Indexâ as a mechanism for exerting some degree of transparency and accountability for CSR programs of large multinational companies. The author argues that by developing an index that provides insights to corporationsâ excessive, unproductive spending as well as their activities related to environmental sustainability, job creation, and supply chain transparency, consumers along with policy makers, employees and researchers would be able determine whether a corporation is truly practicing corporate social responsibility and pressure more corporations to adopt meaningful CSR programs
Locked nucleic acid: tighter is different
This viewpoint briefly reviews the impact of Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) oligonucleotides, first described in a ChemComm paper in 1998. A number of unique applications in oligonucleotide biotechnology have been made possible by the high binding affinity and specificity of LNA, and these provide the main focus of the viewpoint
\u3cb\u3e\u3cem\u3eThe Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals\u3c/em\u3e\u3c/b\u3e by Jane Mayer - Doubleday, 2008
Homelessness, empowerment and self-reliance in Scotland and Ireland: the impact of legal rights to housing for homeless people
AbstractThis paper explores the impact of legal rights to housing for homeless people, focusing on the capacity of such rights to âempowerâ those experiencing homelessness. Lukesâ (2005) three-dimensional view of power, complemented by Bourdieu's (1972) concept of âhabitusâ, is used to distinguish between conceptualisations of empowerment. A distinction is drawn between âtraditionalâ understandings of empowerment, which focus on people's capacity to realise their âsubjective interestsâ, and on understandings that foreground âreal interestsâ. These latter âradicalâ perspectives direct attention to people's âhabitusâ â their internalised dispositions to perceive situations and act in particular ways. Empirically, the paper draws on a qualitative comparison of approaches to homelessness in Scotland and Ireland. Whereas in Scotland virtually all those who are homeless now have a legal right to settled accommodation, Ireland has rejected such a âlegalisticâ approach, pursuing a consensus driven âsocial partnershipâ model. Based on primary research with national experts, service providers and homeless single men in both countries, it is argued that legal rights can effectively empower homeless people. These findings call into question popular and political understandings of the relationship between legal welfare rights and self-reliance.</jats:p
Future archaeologies : method and story.
This will be an account of an ongoing experiment called 'future archaeology'. Despite itâs name it's not strictly an archaeological experiment, since Iâm not an archaeologist. Nor is it strictly scientific, since Iâm not a natural scientist. However, it is an empirical experiment: it draws on evidence, it draws on artefacts, it has a method, and is theoretically grounded in critical social sciences, science studies, anthropology, and archaeological theory
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