Download or read book Thinking in Complexity written by Klaus Mainzer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the first edition sold out in less than a year, we now present the revised second edition of Mainzer's popular book. The theory of nonlinear complex systems has become a successful problem-solving approach in the natural sciences from laser physics, quantum chaos, and meteorology to computer simulations of cell growth in biology. It is now recognized that many of our social, ecological, and political problems are also of a global, complex, and nonlinear nature. And one of the most exciting contemporary topics is the idea that even the human mind is governed largely by the nonlinear dynamics of complex systems. In this wide-ranging but concise treatment, Prof. Mainzer discusses, in a nontechnical language, the common framework behind these endeavors. Emphasis is given to the evolution of new structures in natural and cultural systems and we see clearly how the new integrative approach can give insights not available from traditional reductionistic methods.
Download or read book Growing Wings on the Way written by Rosalind Armson and published by Triarchy Press. This book was released on 2011-05-31 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about dealing with messes. Sometimes known as 'wicked problems', messes (or messy situations) are fairly easy to spot:it's hard to know where to startwe can't define them everything seems to connect to everything else and depends on something else having been done first we get in a muddle thinking about them we often try to ignore some aspect/s of themwhen we finally do something about them, they usually get worse they're so entangled that our first mistake is usually to try and fix them as we would fix a simple problem.
Download or read book Complexity Thinking in Physical Education written by Alan Ovens and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title focuses on complexity thinking in the context of physical education, enabling fresh ways of thinking about research, teaching, curriculum and learning. Written by a team of leading international physical education scholars, the book highlights how the considerable theoretical promise of complexity can be reflected in the actual policies, pedagogies and practices of physical education.
Download or read book Complexity Thinking for Peacebuilding Practice and Evaluation written by Emery Brusset and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-28 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers the design, evaluation, and learning for international interventions aiming to promote peace. More specifically, it reconceptualises this space by critically analysing mainstream approaches – presenting both conceptual and empirical content. This volume offers a variety of original and insightful contributions to the debates grappling with the adoption of complexity thinking. Insights from Complexity Thinking for Peacebuilding Practice and Evaluation addresses the core dilemma that practitioners have to confront: how to function in situations that are fast changing and complex, when equipped with tools designed for neither? How do we reconcile the tension between the use of linear causal logic and the dynamic political transitions that interventions are meant to assist? Readers will be given a rare opportunity to superimpose the latest conceptual innovations with the latest case study applications and from a diverse spectrum of organisational vantage points. This provides the myriad practitioners and consultants in this space with invaluable insights as to how to improve their trade craft, while ensuring policy makers and the accompanying research/academic industry have clearer guidance and innovative thinking. This edited volume provides critically innovative offerings for the audiences that make up this broad area’s practitioners, researchers/academics/educators, and consultants, as well as policy makers.
Download or read book Complexity Thinking in Translation Studies written by Kobus Marais and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-26 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume highlights a range of perspectives on the ways in which complexity thinking might be applied in translation studies, focusing in particular on methods to achieve this. The book introduces the topic with a brief overview of the history and conceptualization of complexity thinking. The volume then frames complexity theory through a variety of lenses, including translation and society, interpreting studies, and Bible translation, to feature case studies in which complexity thinking has successfully been or might be applied within translation studies. Using complexity thinking in translation studies as a jumping off point from which to consider the broader implications of implementing quantitative approaches in qualitative research in the humanities, this volume is key reading for graduate students and scholars in translation studies, cultural studies, semiotics, and development studies.
Download or read book New Thinking in Complexity for the Social Sciences and Humanities written by Ton Jörg and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The underlying idea and motive for the book is that the notion of complexity may humanize the social sciences, may conceive the complex human being as more human, and turn reality as assumed in our doing social science into a more complex, that is a richer reality for all. The main focus of this book is on new thinking in complexity, with complexity to be taken as derived from the Latin word complexus: ‘that which is interwoven.’ The trans-disciplinary approach advocated here will be trans-disciplinary in two ways: firstly, by going beyond the separate disciplines within the fields of both natural sciences and social sciences, and, secondly, by going beyond the separate cultures of the natural sciences and of the social sciences and humanities.
Download or read book Think Complexity written by Allen B. Downey and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2012-02-23 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expand your Python skills by working with data structures and algorithms in a refreshing context—through an eye-opening exploration of complexity science. Whether you’re an intermediate-level Python programmer or a student of computational modeling, you’ll delve into examples of complex systems through a series of exercises, case studies, and easy-to-understand explanations. You’ll work with graphs, algorithm analysis, scale-free networks, and cellular automata, using advanced features that make Python such a powerful language. Ideal as a text for courses on Python programming and algorithms, Think Complexity will also help self-learners gain valuable experience with topics and ideas they might not encounter otherwise. Work with NumPy arrays and SciPy methods, basic signal processing and Fast Fourier Transform, and hash tables Study abstract models of complex physical systems, including power laws, fractals and pink noise, and Turing machines Get starter code and solutions to help you re-implement and extend original experiments in complexity Explore the philosophy of science, including the nature of scientific laws, theory choice, realism and instrumentalism, and other topics Examine case studies of complex systems submitted by students and readers
Download or read book Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity written by Michael C. Jackson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the winner of the INCOSE Pioneer Award 2022 The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity, and spread across traditional boundaries. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually inadequate and risk exacerbating the original issues. Leaders of international bodies such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO and WHO — and of major business, public sector, charitable, and professional organizations — have all declared that systems thinking is an essential leadership skill for managing the complexity of the economic, social and environmental issues that confront decision makers. Systems thinking must be implemented more generally, and on a wider scale, to address these issues. An evaluation of different systems methodologies suggests that they concentrate on different aspects of complexity. To be in the best position to deal with complexity, decision makers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches and learn how to employ them in combination. This is called critical systems thinking. Making use of over 25 case studies, the book offers an account of the development of systems thinking and of major efforts to apply the approach in real-world interventions. Further, it encourages the widespread use of critical systems practice as a means of ensuring responsible leadership in a complex world. The INCOSE Pioneer Award is presented to someone who, by their achievements in the engineering of systems, has contributed uniquely to major products or outcomes enhancing society or meeting its needs. The criteria may apply to a single outstanding outcome or a lifetime of significant achievements in effecting successful systems. Comments on a previous version of the book: Russ Ackoff: ‘the book is the best overview of the field I have seen’ JP van Gigch: ‘Jackson does a masterful job. The book is lucid ...well written and eminently readable’ Professional Manager (Journal of the Chartered Management Institute): ‘Provides an excellent guide and introduction to systems thinking for students of management’
Download or read book Empirical Paradox Complexity Thinking and Generating New Kinds of Knowledge written by Paolo Grigolini and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-06-05 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is another world war inevitable? The answer is a resounding “yes” if we continue to think in terms of “either/or” outcomes. Adversaries think in such terms, you either get what you want, or you do not. Can a different way of thinking produce a different outcome? This book shows that the consistency demanded by the linear, logical either/or thinking is disrupted by paradox, whose resolution forces a consequent decision: war or peace, with no middle ground. If this were the only way of thinking then a person would be either a protagonist or an antagonist, but a person can be both, either, or neither; this opens the door to novel solutions. This is “both/and” thinking, which the book shows can be achieved by a dynamic resolution of paradox. Thus, a basically selfish individual can also be a hero; a consequence of the complexity of being human.
Download or read book Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences written by David Byrne and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-01-04 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chaos and complexity are the new buzz words in both science and contemporary society. The ideas they represent have enormous implications for the way we understand and engage with the world. Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences introduces students to the central ideas which surround the chaos/complexity theories. It discusses key concepts before using them as a way of investigating the nature of social research. By applying them to such familiar topics as urban studies, education and health, David Byrne allows readers new to the subject to appreciate the contribution which complexity theory can make to social research and to illuminating the crucial social issues of our day.
Download or read book Embracing Complexity written by Jean G. Boulton and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical. It compares differing approaches, and also provides a historical perspective, showing how such thinking has been around since the beginning of civilisation. It emphasises the difference between a complexity worldview and the dominant mechanical worldview that underpins much of current management practice. It defines the complexity worldview as recognising the world is interconnected, shaped by history and the particularities of context. The comparison of the differing approaches to modelling complexity is unique in its depth and accessibility. The second part of the book uses this lens of complexity to explore issues in the fields of management, strategy, economics, and international development. It also explores how to facilitate others to recognise the implications of adopting a complex rather than a mechanical worldview and suggests methods of research to explore systemic, path-dependent emergent aspects of situations. The authors of this book span both science and management, academia and practice, thus the explanations of science are authoritative and yet the examples of changing how you live and work in the world are real and accessible. The aim of the book is to bring alive what complexity is all about and to illustrate the importance of loosening the grip of a modernist worldview with its hope for prediction, certainty and control.
Download or read book Systems Thinking written by Jamshid Gharajedaghi and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Systems Thinking, Third Edition combines systems theory and interactive design to provide an operational methodology for defining problems and designing solutions in an environment increasingly characterized by chaos and complexity. This new edition has been updated to include all new chapters on self-organizing systems as well as holistic, operational, and design thinking. The book covers recent crises in financial systems and job markets, the housing bubble, and environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking. A companion website is available at interactdesign.com. This volume is ideal for senior executives as well as for chief information/operating officers and other executives charged with systems management and process improvement. It may also be a helpful resource for IT/MBA students and academics. - Four NEW chapters on self-organizing systems, holistic thinking, operational thinking, and design thinking - Covers the recent crises in financial systems and job markets globally, the housing bubble, and the environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking - Companion website to accompany the book is available at interactdesign.com
Download or read book Exploring the Implications of Complexity Thinking for Translation Studies written by Kobus Marais and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-12-27 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the Implications of Complexity Thinking for Translation Studies considers the new link between translation studies and complexity thinking. Edited by leading scholars in this emerging field, the collection builds on and expands work done in complexity thinking in translation studies over the past decade. In this volume, the contributors address a variety of implications that this new approach holds for key concepts in Translation Studies such as source vs. target texts, translational units, authorship, translatorship, for research topics including translation data, machine translation, communities of practice, and for research methods such as constraints and the emergence of trajectories. The various chapters provide valuable information as to how research methods informed by complexity thinking can be applied in translation studies. Presenting theoretical and methodological contributions as well as case studies, this volume is of interest to advanced students, academics, and researchers in translation and interpreting studies, literary studies, and related areas.
Download or read book Computational Complexity written by Sanjeev Arora and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-20 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New and classical results in computational complexity, including interactive proofs, PCP, derandomization, and quantum computation. Ideal for graduate students.
Download or read book Performing Complexity Building Foundations for the Practice of Complex Thinking written by Ana Teixeira de Melo and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-04-28 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the face of growing challenges, we need modes of thinking that allow us to not only grasp complexity but also perform it. In this book, the author approaches complexity from the standpoint of a relational worldview. The author recasts complex thinking as a mode of coupling between an observer and the world. Further, she explores the process and outcome of that coupling, namely, meaningful information that may have transformative effects and impact the management of change in the ‘real world’. The author presents a new framework for operationalising complex thinking in a set of dimensions and properties through which it may be enacted. This framework may inform the development and coordination of new tools and strategies to support the practice and evaluation of complex thinking across a variety of domains. Intended for a wide interdisciplinary audience of academics, practitioners and policymakers alike, the book is an invitation to pursue inter- and transdisciplinary dialogues and collaborations.
Download or read book Complexity Thinking Science in the Age of Alternative Truths written by Cornelis Pieter Pieters and published by Austin Macauley Publishers. This book was released on 2024-04-26 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many scholars agree that we are currently living in post-ideological times, and that the role of religion and social ideology has become increasingly limited as a means to organise society. Some even talk of a ‘post-truth’ era, as truth itself has become suspect, and public debate has become infected with terms such as ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative truths.’ In fact, in many scientific areas the notions of truth, objectivity and fact are being questioned, and are often even considered instruments that aim to perpetuate relationships of power of elites. This book aims to take a position in these debates by looking at the often-implicit associations behind truth, objectivity, and fact. By taking a complexity-informed, dialectical approach, a more encompassing understanding of these concepts can be developed, that both respects the formidable achievements of science, while being sensitive to the critique that has been raised, most notably by postmodern thought.
Download or read book Complexity Thinking and China s Demography Within and Beyond Mainland China written by Armando Aliu and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
