Complex adaptive system

About: Complex adaptive system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3190 publications have been published within this topic receiving 111947 citations. The topic is also known as: Complex adaptive system, CAS.

Global food safety as a complex adaptive system: Key concepts and future prospects

Abstract: Background Over the last few decades the food production, distribution and consumption chains have become complex as a result of globalisation and food travelling over large distances. The food supply chain is a multi-layered structure with multiple interactions across and within the hierarchical levels across the entire food system. As unwanted factors and food safety behaviours could lead to global food poisoning catastrophes, it is important to adopt a systems approach to gain a whole-system perspective of the global food system. Scope and approach In this review the importance of adopting a complex systems approach towards the global food system and a possible systems analysis method that would help capture this perspective are described. This study emphasizes the importance of adopting a proactive approach, starting with identifying the similarities between the characteristics of complex systems and the food system and the importance and benefits of adopting a whole system approach in the global food system. Key findings and conclusions Adopting a complex systems approach to the global food system is of paramount relevance as this would help further understand the interconnectivity of food systems and how multifaceted factors across systemic levels play a major role in achieving food safety. Using a systems analysis model such as the Systems-Theoretic Accident Models and Processes (STAMP) model provides the ability to tackle the limitations of event chain models and analyse the complex interactions among various components in the complex food system. It is the need of the hour to study food systems at micro and macro-levels and develop a model that would have the ability to identify food safety related issues across the global food system.

Complexity Theory as a Paradigm for the Dynamical Law-and-Society System: A Wake-Up Call for Legal Reductionism and the Modern Administrative State

Abstract: This article is the first in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. It builds the basic model of CAS and maps it onto legal systems, offering some suggestions for what it means in terms of legal institution and instrument design.

Multiple factors in second language acquisition: The CASP model

Abstract: We propose a new model of second language acquisition consisting of multiple interacting principles and inspired by work on complex adaptive systems. The model is referred to as CASP, short for complex adaptive system principles for second language acquisition. It is informed by a broad range of linguistic and psycholinguistic research and supported empirically by recent second language research studies based on a learner corpus. The novelty of our model lies in the definitions that we propose for a number of general and specific principles of learning, in the interactions that we demonstrate between them, in the predictions that we make and illustrate empirically, and in our integration of research findings from numerous areas of the language sciences. The result is a broadly based theory of SLA, which can potentially solve some of the traditional puzzles in this field, e.g., involving when transfer from an L1 does and does not occur.

The emergence of learning-teaching trajectories in education: a complex dynamic systems approach.

Abstract: In this article we shall focus on learning-teaching trajectories ='successful' as well as 'unsuccessful' ones - as emergent and dynamic phenomena resulting from the interactions in the entire educational context, in particular the interaction between students and teachers viewed as processes of intertwining self-, other- and co-regulation The article provides a review of the educational research literature on action regulation in learning and teaching, and interprets this literature in light of the theory of complex dynamic systems Based on this reinterpretation of the literature, two dynamic models are proposed, one focusing on the short-term dynamics of learning-teaching interactions as they take place in classrooms, the other focusing on the long-term dynamics of interactions in a network of variables encompassing concerns, evaluations, actions and action effects (such as learning) students and teachers The aim of presenting these models is to demonstrate, first, the possibility of transforming existing educational theory into dynamic models and, second, to provide some suggestions as to how such models can be used to further educational theory and practice

A complexity theory approach to IT-enabled services (IESs) and service innovation: Business analytics as an illustration of IES

Abstract: While firms view services as the main source of their revenue and competitive advantage, understanding of service and service innovation is limited. This lack of understanding is especially significant in IT-Enabled Services (IESs) and IES innovation. Much work is needed to understand the contemporary trend of integrating diverse material and social resources to address complex organizational and individual needs. This article proposes a novel framework for IES and IES innovation and develops propositions and implications for research and practice. This work draws upon the tenet of complexity theory and conceptualizes IES as complex adaptive systems (CAS), with such properties and behaviors as diverse adaptive elements, nonlinear interaction, self-organization, and adaptive learning, and IES innovation as a co-evolutionary process of variation, selection, and retention (VSR). The proposed framework is illustrated using business analytics (BA) as a new kind of decision support service (DSS) throughout this paper. Several propositions are developed. Finally, we present a discussion and implications.