There is much on-going effort to develop new methods for paring down complexity in decision support models (DSM). Many of these methods are so intricate and prone to bias introduction that they are rarely used. The first part of this work developed, tested, and evaluated a new methodology called Knockout (KO) for pruning unnecessary complexity from a Testbed DSM. Complexity is defined as the number of semantic nodes in the DSM. Unnecessary complexity is the maximum quantity of complexity that can be pruned without violating the requisite DSM fidelity. KO identifies all of the semantic nodes that make up the DSM, and determines their individual semantic contribution to DSM fidelity in a manner that avoids bias introduction. The node of least semantic significance to DSM fidelity is always pruned first. KO is shown to efficiently prune complexity from a Testbed DSM, pruning complexity by 36% while reducing fidelity by only 1%. Thus, the first result of this work is a new methodology to enable organizations to trade DSM fidelity for a reduction in DSM complexity. The second part of this work used KO to investigate the ratio of information nodes (parameters) to knowledge nodes (functions) as the complexity of a Testbed DSM was pruned. The a priori expectation was that this work would support one of two learning models in the literature: (1) the bottom-up model known as the Wisdom Hierarchy in which information is accumulated prior to the mental construction of knowledge, or (2) the top-down model known as the Reverse Knowledge Hierarchy in which knowledge is accumulated prior to the mental construction of information. But this work found that the baseline Testbed DSM (the full DSM prior to pruning) has nearly an equal number of information and knowledge nodes (188 to 191), and the ratio of information-to-knowledge remained within a few percent of unity as the DSM's complexity was decreased by successive pruning of the least-semantically-significant node. Thus, the second result of this work is a new model of human goal-driven learning in which information and knowledge accumulate simultaneously and contribute equally to model fidelity and complexity.

We used a divide-and-conquer algorithm to recursively solve the two-dimensional problem of protein folding of an HP sequence with the maximum number of H-H contacts. We derived both lower and upper bounds for the algorithmic complexity by using the newly introduced concept of multi-directional width-bounded geometric separator. We proved that for a grid graph G with n grid points P, there exists a balanced separator A subseteq P$ such that A has less than or equal to 1.02074 sqrt{n} points, and G-A has two disconnected subgraphs with less than or equal to {2over 3}n nodes on each subgraph. We also derive a 0.7555sqrt {n} lower bound for our balanced separator. Based on our multidirectional width-bounded geometric separator, we found that there is an O(n^{5.563sqrt{n}}) time algorithm for the 2D protein folding problem in the HP model. We also extended the upper bound results to rectangular and triangular lattices.

This article reviews and contrasts two approaches that water security researchers employ to advance understanding of the complexity of water-society policy challenges. A prevailing reductionist approach seeks to represent uncertainty through calculable risk, links national GDP tightly to hydro-climatological causes, and underplays diversity and politics in society. When adopted uncritically, this approach limits policy-makers to interventions that may reproduce inequalities, and that are too rigid to deal with future changes in society and climate. A second, more integrative, approach is found to address a range of uncertainties, explicitly recognise diversity in society and the environment, incorporate water resources that are less-easily controlled, and consider adaptive approaches to move beyond conventional supply-side prescriptions. The resultant policy recommendations are diverse, inclusive, and more likely to reach the marginalised in society, though they often encounter policy-uptake obstacles. The article concludes by defining a route towards more effective water security research and policy, which stresses analysis that matches the state of knowledge possessed, an expanded research agenda, and explicitly addresses inequities.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2014. / This thesis aims to provide a summary on computational approaches to solving the Compressed Sensing problem. The theoretical problem of solving systems of linear equations has long been investigated in academic literature. A relatively new field, Compressed Sensing is an application of such a problem. Specifically, with the ability to change the way in which we obtain and process signals. Under the assumption of sparse signals, Compressed Sensing is able to recover signals sampled at a rate much lower than that of the current Shannon/Nyquist sampling rate. The primary goal of this thesis, is to describe major algorithms currently used in the Compressed Sensing problem. This is done as a means to provide the reader with sufficient up to date knowledge on current approaches as well as their means of implementation, on central processing units (CPUs) and graphical processing units (GPUs), when considering computational concerns such as computational time, storage requirements and parallelisability.

The aesthetic response is a multifaceted and subtle behavior that ranges in magnitude from sublime to mundane. Few studies have investigated the more subtle, weak aesthetic responses to mundane scenes. But all aesthetic responses rely upon sensory-perceptual processes, which serve as a crucial first step in contemporary models of the aesthetic response. As such, understanding the roles of perceptual processes in aesthetic responses to the mundane provides insights into all aesthetic responses. Variation in the physical properties of aesthetic objects must cause such responses, but to understand the relationship, such physical properties must be quantified. Then, the mechanism can be determined. Here, I present the theoretical basis and reason for interest in such a test of mundane aesthetic responses in Chapter I. In Chapter II, I present metrics that quantify the physical properties of natural scenes, using computer-generated images that model the complexity of natural scenes to validate these measurement techniques. The methods presented in Chapter II are adapted to analyze the physical properties of natural scenes in Chapter III, extending the analysis to photographs and clarifying the relationship between the properties fractal dimension and spectral scaling decay rate. A behavioral study is presented in Chapter IV that investigates the extent that perceptual responses about complexity serve as an intermediary between aesthetic ratings and the physical properties of the images described in Chapters II and III. Chapter V summarizes the results of these studies and explores future directions. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished coauthored material.

Le concept de décloisonnement, est élaboré à partir d'une réflexion sur la complexité des enjeux culturels, notamment, lorsqu'une pluralité de cultures, coexiste et se confronte dans un espace commun. L'étude, le développement et la discussion du décloisonnement sont issus d’une généalogie de la culture et des cultures dans l'histoire des idées, notamment à travers les Sophistes, Las Casas, Montaigne, Rousseau, Volney et Lévi-Strauss et par une analyse historique des concepts de nomos, coutume, et civilisation. Le décloisonnement est bâti autour de trois pôles : décentrement, pluralité et hiérarchie affaiblie ou reconfigurée. La pertinence du concept est testée en regard des rencontres interculturelles et de leurs significations. A partir d'observations historiques, sociologiques et philosophiques, le décloisonnement est rattaché à un cloisonnement initial dans un équilibre sous tension constante et nécessaire. Aux principes absolus du couple ouverture/fermeture est substitué le décloisonnement/cloisonnement. Les dynamiques étudiées sont inévitablement antagonistes et complémentaires. Les tensions, apories et contradictions rencontrées conduisent à l'élaboration d'une triple balance des concepts et aspects trans- inter- et multi- culturels. La triple balance pose la nécessité d'un équilibre entre la pluralité intérieure et la transculturalité dans une perspective de dialogues et de rencontres. La notion conclusive de proximétrie pose la recherche nécessaire d'une mesure des distances culturelles, d'où procède un art délicat du discernement d'un équilibre dans le décloisonnement culturel. / The concept of Dis-closure is based on a reflection on the complexity of cultural confrontations in an intercultural space. The study, development and discussion of the concept of Dis-closure stem from a genealogy of culture in the history of ideas, notably through the Sophists, Las Casas, Montaigne, Rousseau, Volney and Lévi-Strauss and by a historical analysis of the concepts of nomos, custom, and civilization. The Dis-closure is built around three poles: decentralization, plurality and hierarchy weakened or reconfigured. The relevance of the concept is tested in a selection of different cultural fields. On the basis of historical, sociological and philosophical observations, the Dis-closure is related to an initial partitioning in an equilibrium under constant and necessary tension. The absolute principles of Openness / Closeness are substituted with Dis-closure / Closure. The dynamics studied are inevitably antagonistic and complementary. The tensions, aporias and contradictions encountered lead to the development of a triple balance of trans-, Inter- and Multi-cultural poles. The triple balance raises the need for an equilibrum between inner plurality and transculturality in a perspective of dialogues and encounters. The conclusive notion of proximetry poses the necessary search for a measure of cultural distances, their degrees and qualities, from which proceeds a delicate art of discerning a balance in a cultural Dis-closed context.

Contemporary views on the aesthetics of nature fall into two opposing schools of thought; the cognitive school where philosophers such as Allen Carlson believe that science can explain everything about the aesthetics of nature, and the non-cognitive where, for example, Arnold Berleant maintains that science is a sufficient though not a necessary condition for the aesthetic appreciation of nature. Berleant and others of his kind contend that an engaged multi-sensuous relationship with nature will manifest the required experience. Empathy with nature, specifically primal empathy is the focus of this research, but empathy can only be experienced from a phenomenological perspective. I have walked over two hundred miles in over 70 Florida state parks, including an autumn trip to Vermont and back. During this journey I came to experience a personal connection (empathy) with nature that I now believe is grounded in holism and a methodology of the sublime leading to the beautiful. The main conclusions derived from this research are: self-realized individuals will experience the connection I speak of more quickly than those who are not, and the genius nature artist through a creative act grounded in primal empathy can reveal the Ideas or Forms of nature to those who would otherwise never experience them. This research also concludes that empathy with nature, specifically primal empathy, is a new element that can reduce the cleft and help unify the two opposing views. / by Robert L.J. Axberg. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se pelo estudo dos principais designers de moda pertencentes à frente japonesa e belga na década de 1980, tais como: Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake e Martin Margiela a partir da Teoria da Complexidade, do pensador francês Edgar Morin. Tem como objetivo investigar a hipótese de que o trabalho de tais designers se estabeleceu de maneira complexa como uma força de ruptura ao questionar e subverter a moda então vigente e, sobretudo, influenciar os rumos da moda contemporânea. Para tanto, a pesquisa fundamenta-se na Teoria da Complexidade enquanto base teórica e metodológica para certificar a complexidade do trabalho destes designers, bem como a complexidade da própria moda. Parte-se da premissa de que a moda é uma ciência sistêmica, e como tal, deve ser abordada por uma visão plurilateral mediante ao agrupamento e correlação de diversas áreas e, respaldada pelo caráter de não especialização proposto pela Teoria da Complexidade, esta pesquisa perpassa por diferentes campos do conhecimento como a filosofia, sociologia, história, arte e design. Isto posto, propõe-se um estudo bibliográfico e a análise iconográfica dos designers mencionados, ainda de maneira interdisciplinar, em três vertentes distintas e complementares: ideias, tecnologia e forma; e o estudo de sua respectiva influência sobre a moda contemporânea / This research is characterized by the study of the main fashion designers from the Japanese and Belgian movements in the 1980s, including Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Martin Margiela, analyzed through the perspective of the Complexity Theory created by the French philosopher Edgar Morin. The objective of this study is to investigate the hypothesis that the work of these designers was based in a complex way as a force of rupture, questioning, subversion and influence to the contemporary fashion. For this, the research is based on the Complexity Theory with theoretical and methodological bases to certify the complexity in the career of these designers and also the complexity of fashion itself. It is based on the premise that fashion is a systemic science and should be approached by a plurilateral view through the grouping and correlation of several segments and, supported by the non-specialization profile proposed by Theory of Complexity, this research studies different areas of knowledge, including philosophy, sociology, history and design. The main proposal of this research is to trace a biographical study and an iconographic analysis of the designers in an interdisciplinary way with three distinct and complementary aspects: ideas, technology and form, and also study their respective influence on contemporary fashion.

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo maior a defesa pelo ensino de língua inglesa crítico e subjetificador, entendendo a subjetificação como dimensão da educação formal ainda carente de entendimentos e aplicações práticas uma vez que, tradicionalmente, as dimensões da qualificação e da socialização costumam ser mais enfatizadas em contextos formais de escolarização. Nesse sentido, a educação subjetificadora foi defendida como possibilidade de ruptura a ordens e funcionamentos sociais já existentes e previstos, bem como possibilidade de ressignificação e emancipação de sentidos e conteúdos habitualmente trabalhados na escola básica, que, por meio da crítica, promovam a agência, o exercício de cidadania participativa e a emergência de subjetividades mais condizentes com a natureza complexa dos sujeitos na contemporaneidade. Os horizontes aqui perseguidos foram idealizados e defendidos por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica em torno de questões associadas ao campo da educação crítica, dos múltiplos letramentos necessários e presentes na sociedade globalizada e tecnologizada, e do Letramento Crítico como epistemologia fundante do trabalho com linguagens, textos, e portanto, subjetividades e identidades presentes no cotidiano escolar. Os dados apresentados e debatidos ao longo dos capítulos originaram-se de um período de observação de aulas de inglês e conversas com alunos de uma turma de Ensino Médio de uma escola pública da Grande Vitória (ES), cujas interações aqui expostas se estabeleceram por meio de uma pesquisa-ação crítico-colaborativa culminando no desenvolvimento de uma proposta didática baseada nos princípios teóricos aqui defendidos. Tal proposta, desenvolvida junto ao docente colaborador desse estudo, visava um maior engajamento dos aprendizes daquele contexto diante da constatação de seu pouco envolvimento com as práticas de sala de aula, especialmente traduzido por atitudes indiferentes e pelo pouco investimento por parte dos mesmos na aprendizagem de língua inglesa, atitudes essas possivelmente influenciadas pelo discurso do fracasso ou da deficiência do ensino público, bem como pelo fenômeno da neoliberalização e suas subjetividades opressoras. A partir de noções Pós-modernas de sujeito e da linguagem, as questões aqui levantadas mostraram que a subjetificação pode ser um caminho para que aprendizes de língua inglesa se tornem mais conscientes dos lugares que ocupam na sociedade, bem como daqueles que desejam ocupar pelo investimento que fazem ou ao qual estão assujeitados pelas práticas escolares às quais estão expostos, e que, por vezes, não os representam. O debate aqui empreendido se inicia no Capítulo I discutindo a constituição do sujeito pela linguagem. O Capítulo II trata de noções relacionadas ao engajamento discente, enquanto que, no Capítulo III a proposta de intervenção baseada no Letramento Crítico é apresentada e discutida. No Capítulo IV, o processo subjetificador emergente da práxis científico-pedagógica é debatido, e por fim, reflexões sobre coletividade e responsabilidade emergentes da complexidade das relações e dos processos subjetificadores vivenciados pelos sujeitos aqui expostos concluem o estudo. / This work has as its main objective the case for a critical English education based on the notion of subjectification, discussed here as a dimension of formal education still lacking understanding and practical applications once, traditionally, the dimensions of qualification and socialization have usually been more emphasized in formal schooling contexts. In this sense, subjectification is defended as a possibility of rupture from already existing and predicted social orders and functionings, as well as the possibility of emancipation through the re-design of meanings and contents usually transmitted in basic school practices, which, through critique, should promote agency, the exercise of active citizenship and the emergence of subjectivities more consistent with the complex nature of subjects in contemporary times. The horizons pursued here are idealized and defended by means of bibliographical research around issues related to the field of critical education; the multiple literacies needed and present in the global and technological society we live in, and, Critical Literacy as a foundation epistemology for working with languages, and therefore, the subjectivities and identities present in school routines. The data presented and discussed throughout the chapters originated from a period of observation of English lessons and conversations with students of a public high school class in Grande Vitória (ES, Brazil), with whom interactions were established through a critical-collaborative action research project culminating in the development of lesson plans based on the theoretical principles defended here. This intervention, developed with the collaborator teacher of this study, aimed at increasing students engagement in the face of their lack of involvement with the classroom routines, indifferent attitudes and little investment in the learning of English; which, were possibly influenced by the discourse of failure or deficiency of public Brazilian education, as well as by the phenomenon of neoliberalization and its oppressive subjectivities. Stemming from Postmodern notions of the subject and language, the issues raised here have shown that subjectification can be an orientation for English-speaking learners to become more aware of the places they occupy in society as well as those they wish to occupy through the investment they make or which they are subject to by the school practices they are exposed to, which, many times, unfortunately, do not represent them. The debate carried out here begins, thus, in Chapter I, with a discussion on the constitution of the subject through language. Chapter II deals with notions related to student engagement, while in Chapter III the intervention plan based on Critical Literacy assumptions is presented and discussed. In Chapter IV the subjectification process emerging from the scientific-pedagogical praxis is debated, and finally, reflections on collectivity and responsibility emerging from the complexity of the relations and subjective processes experienced by the subjects here exposed conclude the study.

Essa tese apresenta como investigação norteadora porque o Brasil, mesmo tendo avançado em sua matriz industrial e alcançado altas taxas de crescimento no período 1930-1980, não conseguiu escapar da armadilha do subdesenvolvimento econômico. Para tentar vislumbrar alguns caminhos que potencialmente alargariam a discussão e compreensão do tema, recorre-se à perspectiva da Abordagem da Complexidade, combinada com a retomada das discussões teóricas promovidas por alguns dos autores conhecidos como pioneiros do desenvolvimento econômico. Desse modo, a novidade proposta por essa tese reside na perspectiva pela qual se discute o tema, e não ao tema propriamente dito, que foi e vem sendo amplamente discutido pela literatura. O objetivo é a realização de algumas discussões e ilações teóricas relativas à experiência brasileira no período, tendo sempre em mente a Abordagem da Complexidade e sua potencial contribuição para o alargamento do escopo de compreensão do tema. / This thesis presents as main question why Brazil, even having developed its industrial park and having achieved high rates of growth between 1930 and 1980, was unable to escape from the trap of economic underdevelopment. In order to list some ways that could potentially enrich the thinking and the understanding of the question, this inquiry is based on the perspective of Complexity thinking combined with the resumption of theoretical contributions of some authors known as economic development pioneers. Thus, the core of this thesis lies in the perspective by which accomplishes the theme discussion, not in the theme itself, which was and is being widely discussed by the literature. The aim is the achievement of some theoretical considerations and discussions about Brazilian experience in the period, always keeping in mind the Complexity thinking and its potential contribution to broaden the theme comprehension.