scholarly journals Future Design: Bequeathing Sustainable Natural Environments and Sustainable Societies to Future Generations

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuyoshi Saijo
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Future Design ◽  
Human Trait ◽  
Sustainable Societies

“Future Design,” a new movement among Japanese researchers and stakeholders, asks the following question: What types of social systems are necessary if we are to leave future generations sustainable environments and societies? Looking at the human activity impact on the global environment and society, I ask: Why is this society we live in generating a series of future failures that will cost future generations so much? I then argue that the source of such a society could be liberalism and that the market and democracy derived from it will not help avoid these future failures. To achieve this, one must design social systems that activate a human trait called futurability, where people experience an increase in happiness because of deciding and acting toward foregoing current benefits to enrich future generations. One method to study these is by employing “imaginary future generations”. Here, I present an overview of the theoretical background of this method, the results of relevant laboratory and field experiments, and the nature of relevant practical applications implemented in cooperation with several local governments.

Large qualitative models of complex chemical and bioengineering processes

1991 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 2107-2141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Dohnal
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Chemical Process ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Chemical Reactor ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Qualitative Model ◽  
Complex Chemical ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Qualitative Models ◽  
Decomposition Principle

Qualitative model is a theoretical background of commonsense. Complex qualitative models can have prohibitively many solutions (qualitative states). Therefore a qualitative analogy of such classical quantitative tools as e.g. the decomposition is developed. Practical applications of decomposition principle is nearly always ad hoc. Therefore two case studies are presented in details, a chemical process (mixer, chemical reactor, separator) and an anaerobic fermentor.

Development and Testing of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Pagano ◽  
Flavia Tauro ◽  
Salvatore Grimaldi ◽  
Maurizio Porfiri
Keyword(s):  
Particle Image Velocimetry ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Particle Image ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Surface Flow ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Natural Stream ◽  
Image Velocimetry ◽  
Scale Particle

Large scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV) is a nonintrusive environmental monitoring methodology that allows for continuous characterization of surface flows in natural catchments. Despite its promise, the implementation of LSPIV in natural environments is limited to areas accessible to human operators. In this work, we propose a novel experimental configuration that allows for unsupervised LSPIV over large water bodies. Specifically, we design, develop, and characterize a lightweight, low cost, and stable quadricopter hosting a digital acquisition system. An active gimbal maintains the camera lens orthogonal to the water surface, thus preventing severe image distortions. Field experiments are performed to characterize the vehicle and assess the feasibility of the approach. We demonstrate that the quadricopter can hover above an area of 1×1m2 for 4–5 minutes with a payload of 500g. Further, LSPIV measurements on a natural stream confirm that the methodology can be reliably used for surface flow studies.

scholarly journals The International School of Crystallography: an example of continuing education

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C1274-C1274
Author(s):  
Annalisa Guerri ◽  
Giovanna Scapin ◽  
Paola Spadon
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
International School ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Great Success ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Local Staff ◽  
School Teaching ◽  
Traditional Lectures ◽  
High Level

2014 has been declared by UNESCO the International Year of Crystallography. Following the declaration, many initiatives have flourished with the intent of spreading the science and culture of crystallography, since among the major objectives of the IYCr2014 are increase of public awareness on the science of crystallography, promotion of education and research in all fields of crystallography and fostering of international collaborations. The International School of Crystallography is an internationally recognized meeting that was started in 1974 by Prof. Riva di Sanseverino, with the similar goals of promoting high level crystallographic education, scientific exchanges and collaborations. In 2014 the school celebrates its 40th year of activity. During these forty years, courses have been held on many different topics addressing all aspects of crystallography, from crystal growth theory to practical applications in drug discovery to the use of cutting edge technologies; students and teachers have been brought together in an environment that fostered high level scientific discussions as well as unique interpersonal relationships. Many of the students moved on to become well known personality in the crystallographic community, while retaining collaborations and friendships started during the School. Through these years the School teaching methods have also evolved, taking advantage of the fast technological progress of the past 10 years or so. The School offers both traditional lectures and practical computer-based workshops, to guarantee the students not only a theoretical background, but also hands-on experiences on applied crystallography. The dedication of the organizers and lecturers, the unconditioned support of the local staff, and the unique location of the School have made it a great success and a very popular meeting for generations of crystallographers.

Family businesses: fertile environments for conflict

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Großmann ◽  
Arist Von Schlippe
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Business Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative study with a twofold focus: on highly escalated family business (FB) conflicts and on the interactions between conflicts and the failure of the company as FB. The authors devoted this paper to the question of how family-related conflicts are connected with the demise of FB. Conflicts constitute an essential part of every FB and may definitely have the power to superimpose the performance of the FB as well as the family life in a destructive way. Especially, highly escalated so called relationship conflicts can be seen as one reason for the failure of FB. Design/methodology/approach – The research aims at analysing the meaning of conflict in FB with respect to the failure of the FB. Therefore, the authors use an explorative case study approach. The study is based on a total of five case studies. As the authors use theory of social systems as a theoretical background, the authors focused in the analysis in all cases on patterns rather than on individual characteristics. Findings – As an essential part of the study the authors formulated eight hypotheses describing specific patterns of the conflict process as a communicative system. These hypotheses convey a comprehensible impression of the effects conflicts may have within FB and present a number of new facets of conflict dynamics and patterns of escalation in FB. Originality/value – In particular, the authors provide new insights into the dynamics of highly destructive forms of conflicts in FB and the relationship between family-related conflicts and the failure of FB. The authors also pave the way for future research that aim to develop a more holistic understanding about when and why the outcomes from family and business systems will conflict or be harmonious.

Corruption as distinct crime: the need to reconceptualise internal control on controlling bureaucratic occupational fraud

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ach Maulidi ◽  
Jake Ansell
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Internal Control ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Internal Controls ◽  
Financial Statement Fraud ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Occupational Fraud ◽  
Asset Protection ◽  
Control Framework

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide theoretical guidance that enables local governments to deal with occupational fraud. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative approach is used to examine the efficacy of the Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) internal control framework in tackling occupational fraud in local government. To achieve the goals, the authors performed a survey of the Indonesian auditor institutions. Findings It is not appropriate to argue that all types of local government fraud can be deterred by a single internal control. The study suggests that COSO internal controls are not effective for dealing with corruption cases. However, the authors do find the efficacy of those controls are obvious for controlling asset misappropriation and financial statement fraud. This result indicates that if the COSO internal control framework is only designed for routine financial control and asset protection, it significantly and negatively influences its efficacy to deal with occupational fraud. This study has both theoretical and managerial implications, discussed separately. Originality/value In the field of prevention, the authors cannot make generalised theories and approaches for dealing with occupational fraud. Whilst previous authors have offered fraud deterrents in terms of internal controls, they have failed to realise the need to understand their effectiveness for particular forms of fraud. This paper sheds light on the effectiveness of internal controls in achieving their goals. This has both practical applications and stimulates theoretical insights.

Social data collection and analyses

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-76
Author(s):  
Marie J. E. Charpentier ◽  
Marie Pelé ◽  
Julien P. Renoult ◽  
Cédric Sueur
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Information Diffusion ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Large Array ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Network Analyses ◽  
Analytical Tools

Sampling accurate and quantitative behavioural data requires the description of fine-grained patterns of social relationships and/or spatial associations, which is highly challenging, especially in natural environments. Although behavioural ecologists have tackled systematic studies on animals’ societies since the nineteenth century, new biologging technologies have the potential to revolutionise the sampling of animals’ social relationships. However, the tremendous quantity of data sampled and the diversity of biologgers (such as proximity loggers) currently available that allow the sampling of a large array of biological and physiological data bring new analytical challenges. The high spatiotemporal resolution of data needed when studying social processes, such as disease or information diffusion, requires new analytical tools, such as social network analyses, developed to analyse large data sets. The quantity and quality of the data now available on a large array of social systems bring undiscovered outputs, consistently opening new and exciting research avenues.

scholarly journals Location-Based Tracking Data and Customer Movement Pattern Analysis Using for Sustainable Fashion Business

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonghyuk Kim ◽  
Hyunwoo Hwangbo ◽  
Sung Jun Kim ◽  
Soyean Kim
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Movement Pattern ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Discrete Location ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Stay Time ◽  
Visual Merchandising

Retailers need accurate movement pattern analysis of human-tracking data to maximize the space performance of their stores and to improve the sustainability of their business. However, researchers struggle to precisely measure customers’ movement patterns and their relationships with sales. In this research, we adopt indoor positioning technology, including wireless sensor devices and fingerprinting techniques, to track customers’ movement patterns in a fashion retail store over four months. Specifically, we conducted three field experiments in three different timeframes. In each experiment, we rearranged one element of the visual merchandising display (VMD) to track and compare customer movement patterns before and after the rearrangement. For the analysis, we connected customers’ discrete location data to identify meaningful patterns in customers’ movements. We also used customers’ location and time information to match identified movement pattern data with sales data. After classifying individuals’ movements by time and sequences, we found that stay time in a particular zone had a greater impact on sales than the total stay time in the store. These results challenge previous findings in the literature that suggest that the longer customers stayed in a store, the more they purchase. Further, the results confirmed that effective store rearrangement could change not only customer movement patterns but also overall sales of store zones. This research can be a foundation for various practical applications of tracking data technologies.

scholarly journals Future Design as a Metacognitive Intervention for Presentism

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7552
Author(s):  
Yoshinori Nakagawa ◽  
Tatsuyoshi Saijo
Keyword(s):  
Reference Point ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Future Design ◽  
The Past ◽  
Present Generation ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
Metacognitive Intervention ◽  
Imaginary Future Generation

Many serious problems occur due to conflicts between the interests of the present generation and the welfare of future generations, and thus, the actions of the preset generation may be a consequence of presentism. Drawing on the theoretical framework of metacognition, the present study investigates how presentism can be overcome through future design interventions that incorporate an imaginary future generation setting. Four workshop participants were interviewed, and transcripts of the interviews were made. There were two major findings. First, we identified narratives in the responses of participants that suggest that metacognition was active during the workshops concerning the two cognitions governed by present and future selves. Second, the narratives identified above were classified into two categories, and the two corresponding roles of metacognition were identified: the monitoring and controlling function and the harmonizing function. The former is essential for the acquisition of identity as a future person; the latter is essential for reconciling this future identity with the identity of the person in the present. The present study proposes that future design is a tool that can be used to intervene in the metacognition of individuals concerning how one chooses a temporal reference point from which to view the past, present, and future of society rather than a tool to naively motivate individuals to care for future generations.

scholarly journals Exploring the Possibility of Linking and Incorporating Future Design in Backcasting and Scenario Planning

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9907
Author(s):  
Raja R. Timilsina ◽  
Yoshinori Nakagawa ◽  
Koji Kotani
Keyword(s):  
Scenario Planning ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Future Design ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
To Come ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Strategy Making

There are two approaches to future planning: backcasting and scenario planning. While some studies have attempted to relate and combine these two approaches, a future design (FD) approach has recently been advocated and researched. Given this state of affairs, the paper provides an overview of the FD approach and discusses the potential benefits of linking and incorporating it into backcasting and scenario planning by summarizing the main features of such benefits for future planning for sustainability. A feature of an FD is that it explicitly orients people’s ways of thinking in the current generation to be generative for not only their own future but also generations to come, as well as in designing a plan within a coherent timeframe by demonstrating the characteristics of being prospective and retrospective from the viewpoint of a different generation. Another feature of FD lies in strategy making through some visioning process and in redefining the boundary between what is controllable and what is uncontrollable by considering the perspectives of future generations. We consider this article as a concept paper for the special issue of “Designing Sustainable Future Societies,” building on a literature review and author’s conceptual framework. Thus, our ideas and concepts suggest some potential benefits from incorporating FD into backcasting and scenario planning, further inducing people to be future-oriented and/or sustainable in terms of strategy making. We finally demonstrate some examples of FD practices and illustrative ideas of FD incorporation, remarking on possible avenues for future research.

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