Systemic intervention

This paper describes the practice of systemic intervention, emphasizing (1) the need to explore stakeholder values and boundaries for analysis; (2) responses to the challenges of marginalization processes; and (3) a wide, pluralistic range of methods from the systems literature and beyond to create a flexible and responsive systemic action research practice. After presenting an outline of systemic intervention, the author discusses several other well-tested systems approaches with a view to identifying their potential for further supporting systemic intervention practice, and action research more generally. Two practical examples of systemic intervention are provided to illustrate the arguments

The celebrity factory: new modes of fashion entrepreneurship

The aim of the paper is to analyze the contribution of celebrity culture to the re-shaping of the fashion industry, distancing from an oppositional view while embracing a systemic one, where celebrity is considered a fundamental engine of the contemporary cultural production of fashion and a global consumerist culture. The scope of our paper tries to overcome the endorsement point of view to address the relationship between celebrity and fashion as a two-way relationship which is re-wiring the fashion industry. The paper will explore the multiple manifestations of the so-called celebrity brand labels, from Kim Kardashian to Victoria Beckham

The Touristic Local Systems as a means to re-balance territorial differences in Sicily

The Italian new law (n.135/2001) about the re-organization of touristic activities of Regions has contributed to re-think all the resources related to touristic valorisation in a systemic view point. In fact according to the new approach, the Local Touristic System (STL in Italian law) regards not only the naturalistic and the cultural resources and the hotels but also the economic and services activities that can related to tourism. Although Sicilian Region has not instituted its official STL, in our paper we will try to define the STL in Sicily in a particular point of view. In fact we will consider not only the touristic areas but also the areas less developed, because the systemic approach allows us to use the touristic activities as a factor of territorial re-balance instead of territorial polarization. We also will consider the principal touristic port related to the STL, according the point of view of an integration among ports and its surrounding areas. So the ports become a door to the inner areas full of naturalistic and cultural resources.

The Risks of Financial Institutions

Over the last twenty years, the consensus view of systemic risk in the financial system that emerged in response to the banking crises of the 1930s and before has lost much of its relevance. This view held that the main systemic problem is runs on solvent banks leading to bank panics. But financial crises of the last two decades have not fit the mold. A new consensus has yet to emerge, but financial institutions and regulators have considerably broadened their assessment of the risks facing financial institutions. The dramatic rise of modern risk management has changed how the risks of financial institutions are measured and how these institutions are managed. However, modern risk management is not without weaknesses that will have to be addressed.

THE IMPLICATION OF FUNCTIONAL THEORY IN TEACHING READING A DESCRIPTIVE TEXT FOR MIDDLE AGE STUDENTS (Functional Communication Activities in Language Teaching)

Functional theory views language as means of communication. So, communicative competence is the goal of language teaching. One of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systemic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language, combining these into a more fully communicative view. Teaching language as communication focuses on the ability to use language for different purposes. In this article the writer focused on functional communication activities in language teaching. The aim of this article is to know the implementation of functional communication activities in teaching reading a descriptive text for middle age students

What do network theory and endogenous risk theory have to say about the effects of central counterparties on systemic stability?

Central counterparties (CCPs) alter the connectivity structure of financial institutions (FIs), and therefore the transmission of shocks. What does network theory have to say about the effects of CCPs on systemic stability, and how do different CCP structures (e.g. one vs multiple CCPs) alter systemic risk from a solvability point of view? CCPs not only alter the direct interconnection of FIs through their balance sheets, they also affect FIs and the links between them indirectly through prices. Prices are endogenous and are not only determined by the actions of the FIs, but they in turn constitute imperatives for FIs to act through marking-to-market and risk-sensitive constraints, both natural ingredients of CCPs. Could such feedback effects from CCPs amplify market movements and financial stress?

"Language at Work: Analysing Language Use in Work, Education, Medical and Museum Contexts", Edited by Helen de Silva Joyce Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2016, pp. 277

The reviewed volume "Language at Work" explores the language used in a variety of workplace contexts ranging from call centres through secondary schools and hospitals to museums. Written, spoken and/or multimodal texts are analysed, with a view to investigating how professionals communicate with their colleagues, costumers, students, patients or visitors. The majority of the thirteen contributions concern private or public contexts in Australia. Eleven of them draw on the theoretical framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The book consists of four parts. Part 1 refers to three different workplace contexts, Part 2 to education contexts, Part 3 to medical contexts and Part 4 to museum contexts

DSS DESIGN--A SYSTEMIC VIEW OF DECISION SUPPORT

Current DSS research is rather fragmentary, and typically myopic--it centers either on the decision situation which DSS support, or on DSS tools or generators. In this paper we adopt a comprehensive view of DSS emphasizing their systemic nature. This entails identifying the links among the five aspects that classically characterize a system: 1, the environment, i.e., decision situations and access patterns; 2. the function (within this environment), i.e., types and levels of decision support; 3. the functional components that make it up, i.e., dialog, data, and model management; 4. the arrangement, i.e., the linkages among the components and the assignment of functions to modules; and 5. the resources consumed, i.e., hardware, software, human skills, and data. The systemic view provides a concrete framework for the effective design of DSS, and serves as a basis for accumulating DSS research results.Information Systems Working Papers Serie