1. The document discusses the challenges of development in complex dynamic systems where there is uncertainty and many interacting social, ecological, technical, and political elements.
2. It argues that traditional technical or managerial solutions premised on stability and control often fail because they do not account for complexity, dynamism, and uncertainty.
3. The document proposes taking a dynamic systems approach that incorporates concepts from complexity science, resilience thinking, and sustainability science to understand different pathways and framings in development challenges over time.
The document analyzes water governance in coupled social-ecological systems in Namibia. It discusses how the social-ecological system in the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin has traditionally had a strong coupling between diverse livelihoods and variable natural conditions. However, political and economic changes are causing the system to transition. The concepts of resilience and governance in social-ecological systems are introduced, focusing on maintaining key functions and adapting to change through options and alternatives. Governance structures that foster resilience acknowledge uncertainty, include different knowledge types, and allow for locally developed solutions through polycentric and multilayered structures.
Lnc Alumni Group Water Presentation #2Julie Wright
Dr Wesley Schultz, Psychology Professor, California State University San Marcos, January 2009, Conservation PPT to Leadership North County Alumni Group
This document discusses different approaches to human ecology and their relation to disasters. It describes three main approaches: ecosystem approach, landscape approach, and perception approach.
The ecosystem approach focuses on biological organization and interactions between organisms and their environment. It recognizes humans as integral parts of ecosystems. The landscape approach takes an interdisciplinary view of both natural and human-built features, stakeholders, and external forces affecting an area. It facilitates inclusive risk assessment and planning.
The perception approach involves three stages - selection of information, organization of selected information into patterns based on proximity, similarity, or difference, and interpretation of organized information based on internal and external factors like personality, experience, and environmental cues.
This document discusses frameworks for enabling diverse policy approaches to sustainability and transformation. It distinguishes between "shocks" as transitory disturbances and "stresses" as enduring disturbances, and examines whether interventions aim to control tractable drivers or respond to intractable drivers. Different strategies are outlined for maintaining stability, building resilience, and transforming unsustainability. The document argues for clear conditions to support diverse policy repertoires for both sustaining sustainability and transforming unsustainable systems, with civil society playing a crucial role and pathways determined through democratic processes.
The document discusses approaches for making decisions about environmental management in an era of global change and uncertainty. It outlines how ecosystem services modeling can be used to analyze the impacts of different land use change scenarios on services, biodiversity, and economic returns. The analysis finds that agricultural expansion generally had larger negative effects than urban expansion, though urban development also generates costs from externalities.
TEDx Manchester: AI & The Future of WorkVolker Hirsch
TEDx Manchester talk on artificial intelligence (AI) and how the ascent of AI and robotics impacts our future work environments.
The video of the talk is now also available here: https://youtu.be/dRw4d2Si8LA
Melissa Leach - Imagining and negotiating pathways in an age of anxiety and i...STEPS Centre
Talk by Melissa Leach, STEPS Director, at the conference ‘Modelling Futures: Understanding risk and uncertainty’ on 28-30 September.
http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/1133
The document analyzes water governance in coupled social-ecological systems in Namibia. It discusses how the social-ecological system in the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin has traditionally had a strong coupling between diverse livelihoods and variable natural conditions. However, political and economic changes are causing the system to transition. The concepts of resilience and governance in social-ecological systems are introduced, focusing on maintaining key functions and adapting to change through options and alternatives. Governance structures that foster resilience acknowledge uncertainty, include different knowledge types, and allow for locally developed solutions through polycentric and multilayered structures.
Lnc Alumni Group Water Presentation #2Julie Wright
Dr Wesley Schultz, Psychology Professor, California State University San Marcos, January 2009, Conservation PPT to Leadership North County Alumni Group
This document discusses different approaches to human ecology and their relation to disasters. It describes three main approaches: ecosystem approach, landscape approach, and perception approach.
The ecosystem approach focuses on biological organization and interactions between organisms and their environment. It recognizes humans as integral parts of ecosystems. The landscape approach takes an interdisciplinary view of both natural and human-built features, stakeholders, and external forces affecting an area. It facilitates inclusive risk assessment and planning.
The perception approach involves three stages - selection of information, organization of selected information into patterns based on proximity, similarity, or difference, and interpretation of organized information based on internal and external factors like personality, experience, and environmental cues.
This document discusses frameworks for enabling diverse policy approaches to sustainability and transformation. It distinguishes between "shocks" as transitory disturbances and "stresses" as enduring disturbances, and examines whether interventions aim to control tractable drivers or respond to intractable drivers. Different strategies are outlined for maintaining stability, building resilience, and transforming unsustainability. The document argues for clear conditions to support diverse policy repertoires for both sustaining sustainability and transforming unsustainable systems, with civil society playing a crucial role and pathways determined through democratic processes.
The document discusses approaches for making decisions about environmental management in an era of global change and uncertainty. It outlines how ecosystem services modeling can be used to analyze the impacts of different land use change scenarios on services, biodiversity, and economic returns. The analysis finds that agricultural expansion generally had larger negative effects than urban expansion, though urban development also generates costs from externalities.
TEDx Manchester: AI & The Future of WorkVolker Hirsch
TEDx Manchester talk on artificial intelligence (AI) and how the ascent of AI and robotics impacts our future work environments.
The video of the talk is now also available here: https://youtu.be/dRw4d2Si8LA
Melissa Leach - Imagining and negotiating pathways in an age of anxiety and i...STEPS Centre
Talk by Melissa Leach, STEPS Director, at the conference ‘Modelling Futures: Understanding risk and uncertainty’ on 28-30 September.
http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/1133
Melissa Leach: Pathways to Sustainability: Environmental social science and ...STEPS Centre
From NESS 2011 (The 10th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference), June 2011.
Video at http://stockholmresilience.org/seminarandevents/otherseminars/ness2011/videoarchive.4.1f74f76413071d337c380005790.html
This document discusses pathways to sustainability from the perspective of the STEPS Centre. It notes the complexity of coupled social-ecological systems and the need to consider multiple narratives and pathways. The pathways approach seeks to understand how governance shapes which narratives dominate and become locked in, excluding alternatives. It advocates opening up discussions to recognize diverse values and goals and consider strategies beyond stability and control. The conference aims to discuss contesting and governing sustainability, framing and narratives, dynamics and transitions, and grounding concepts in diverse issues and contexts to inform Rio Plus 20 and beyond.
Presentation given by Lyla Mehta at World Water Week in Stockholm on August 21 2009, based STEPS Centre's projects. For more information see: http://www.steps-centre.org/index.html
Training module on vulnerability assessment (I)weADAPT
The document discusses social vulnerability analysis and linking poverty, livelihoods, and climate change. It provides definitions of vulnerability from various sources, including the IPCC definition. It explains that vulnerability to climate change involves exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, which can vary between social groups and over time. Understanding social determinants of vulnerability like gender, access, and decision making is important for effective adaptation. The document outlines approaches for conducting vulnerability assessments at various scales from the community to international levels.
What do we know about resilience and food security? – Most recent progress in...CIAT
1) The document discusses measuring resilience and evaluating resilience interventions, focusing on food security at the household level.
2) It reviews concepts of resilience from different disciplines and notes complications in defining and measuring resilience.
3) Key lessons are that resilience involves various capacities to handle shocks and stresses, and must be measured beyond direct impacts to capture intermediate outcomes over time.
Ian Scoones - Enabling plural pathways - uncertainty and responses to climate...STEPS Centre
Workshop on climate change and uncertainty from below and above, Delhi. http://steps-centre.org/2016/blog/climate-change-and-uncertainty-from-above-and-below/
Sustainability science aims to integrate knowledge from different disciplines to address complex environmental and social problems, in contrast to traditional science which focuses on individual disciplines. It emphasizes co-producing knowledge with stakeholders, addressing real-world problems, and finding holistic solutions through systems thinking. The document discusses challenges with traditional approaches and how sustainability science facilitates more interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research to better understand human-environment interactions.
The document discusses topics related to knowledge, complex systems, decisions under uncertainty, and risks. It covers how to understand and manage unpredictable change, knowledge production in chaotic systems, and tools for analyzing complex problems. The goal is to facilitate decision making on complex issues and discuss perspectives on uncertainty and risk that may be unfamiliar to non-scientists and decision makers.
The document discusses definitions and conceptualizations of resilience from various fields such as psychology, social sciences, and ecology. It provides several definitions of resilience focusing on the ability to adapt and recover from adversity. The document also discusses key factors that influence resilience at the individual and community level, including assets, social support, learning, and agency. Different models of resilience are described, including person-focused models that examine characteristics of resilient individuals, variable-focused models that study relationships between risks and resilience factors, and hybrid pathway models that combine both approaches.
This presentation was given at the 'Beyond Scaling Up: Pathways to Universal Access' workshop which was held at the Institute of Development Studies, Brighton on the 24-25 May, 2010. This event was co-sponsored by the Future Health Systems Research Programme Consortium and the STEPS Centre. Leach presented on a pathways approach.
The document discusses the development of an interdisciplinary sustainability program at Fairleigh Dickinson University. It describes how the curriculum draws from various disciplines like geology, meteorology, and economics to provide an integrated learning experience for students. Some challenges in developing the program included territoriality between departments and skepticism about climate change. The first courses for the new sustainability program were offered this semester.
Andy Stiring on The Dynamics of SustainabilitySTEPS Centre
Presentation given by Andy Stirling, STEPS Centre co-director and science director of SPRU at the ESRC / Environment Agency workshop on ‘Complexity Economics for Sustainability’ in Oxford on 28 November 2008.
Essay About Environmental Issues. Online assignment writing service.Amy Cruz
Writing an essay on environmental issues poses several challenges. It requires extensive research to understand the complex scientific concepts and interconnected nature of issues like climate change, deforestation, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Additionally, the writer must continuously update the essay with new findings and developments. Crafting a well-structured essay demands navigating a vast amount of data and opinions while communicating the urgency of the issues and potential solutions in an accessible way to engage readers. Addressing policy implications further increases the complexity. Despite these difficulties, taking on the important task of raising awareness about environmental degradation contributes to efforts for a sustainable future.
Gender mainstreaming and gender analysis in work addressing risk reduction: C...Oxfam GB
Understanding how gender relations shape women’s and men’s lives is critical to disaster risk reduction (DRR). This is because women’s and men’s different roles, responsibilities, and access to resources influence how each will be affected by different hazards, and how they will cope with and recover from disaster. This presentation contains a tool to examine capacities and vulnerabilities in or after a particular crisis or disaster, or in the context of long-term climate change. This presentation is part of Oxfam GB's Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction training pack available at www.oxfam.org.uk/genderdrrpack.
This document discusses scenario methodology for addressing uncertainty in complex systems. It begins by defining key terms like data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. It then discusses types of uncertainty like determinism, probability, and pure uncertainty. The document outlines the history and definitions of scenario methodology, providing examples of its use from the 1960s to present day. It describes the steps involved in constructing scenarios, including identifying issues and uncertainties, creating alternative scenarios, and assessing them. The document concludes by noting scenarios help bridge theory and practice, and must balance continuity and surprise to represent the range of possible outcomes.
This document outlines a variety of methods that can be used to scope issues broadly, focus on particularities in depth, and link relations and perspectives across contexts. It provides a repertoire of methods that can help appreciate alternative pathways, including interpretive, interactive, and group deliberative styles as well as techniques like critical literature reviews, in-depth case studies, discourse analysis, and participatory approaches.
Melissa Leach: Pathways to Sustainability: Environmental social science and ...STEPS Centre
From NESS 2011 (The 10th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference), June 2011.
Video at http://stockholmresilience.org/seminarandevents/otherseminars/ness2011/videoarchive.4.1f74f76413071d337c380005790.html
This document discusses pathways to sustainability from the perspective of the STEPS Centre. It notes the complexity of coupled social-ecological systems and the need to consider multiple narratives and pathways. The pathways approach seeks to understand how governance shapes which narratives dominate and become locked in, excluding alternatives. It advocates opening up discussions to recognize diverse values and goals and consider strategies beyond stability and control. The conference aims to discuss contesting and governing sustainability, framing and narratives, dynamics and transitions, and grounding concepts in diverse issues and contexts to inform Rio Plus 20 and beyond.
Presentation given by Lyla Mehta at World Water Week in Stockholm on August 21 2009, based STEPS Centre's projects. For more information see: http://www.steps-centre.org/index.html
Training module on vulnerability assessment (I)weADAPT
The document discusses social vulnerability analysis and linking poverty, livelihoods, and climate change. It provides definitions of vulnerability from various sources, including the IPCC definition. It explains that vulnerability to climate change involves exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, which can vary between social groups and over time. Understanding social determinants of vulnerability like gender, access, and decision making is important for effective adaptation. The document outlines approaches for conducting vulnerability assessments at various scales from the community to international levels.
What do we know about resilience and food security? – Most recent progress in...CIAT
1) The document discusses measuring resilience and evaluating resilience interventions, focusing on food security at the household level.
2) It reviews concepts of resilience from different disciplines and notes complications in defining and measuring resilience.
3) Key lessons are that resilience involves various capacities to handle shocks and stresses, and must be measured beyond direct impacts to capture intermediate outcomes over time.
Ian Scoones - Enabling plural pathways - uncertainty and responses to climate...STEPS Centre
Workshop on climate change and uncertainty from below and above, Delhi. http://steps-centre.org/2016/blog/climate-change-and-uncertainty-from-above-and-below/
Sustainability science aims to integrate knowledge from different disciplines to address complex environmental and social problems, in contrast to traditional science which focuses on individual disciplines. It emphasizes co-producing knowledge with stakeholders, addressing real-world problems, and finding holistic solutions through systems thinking. The document discusses challenges with traditional approaches and how sustainability science facilitates more interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research to better understand human-environment interactions.
The document discusses topics related to knowledge, complex systems, decisions under uncertainty, and risks. It covers how to understand and manage unpredictable change, knowledge production in chaotic systems, and tools for analyzing complex problems. The goal is to facilitate decision making on complex issues and discuss perspectives on uncertainty and risk that may be unfamiliar to non-scientists and decision makers.
The document discusses definitions and conceptualizations of resilience from various fields such as psychology, social sciences, and ecology. It provides several definitions of resilience focusing on the ability to adapt and recover from adversity. The document also discusses key factors that influence resilience at the individual and community level, including assets, social support, learning, and agency. Different models of resilience are described, including person-focused models that examine characteristics of resilient individuals, variable-focused models that study relationships between risks and resilience factors, and hybrid pathway models that combine both approaches.
This presentation was given at the 'Beyond Scaling Up: Pathways to Universal Access' workshop which was held at the Institute of Development Studies, Brighton on the 24-25 May, 2010. This event was co-sponsored by the Future Health Systems Research Programme Consortium and the STEPS Centre. Leach presented on a pathways approach.
The document discusses the development of an interdisciplinary sustainability program at Fairleigh Dickinson University. It describes how the curriculum draws from various disciplines like geology, meteorology, and economics to provide an integrated learning experience for students. Some challenges in developing the program included territoriality between departments and skepticism about climate change. The first courses for the new sustainability program were offered this semester.
Andy Stiring on The Dynamics of SustainabilitySTEPS Centre
Presentation given by Andy Stirling, STEPS Centre co-director and science director of SPRU at the ESRC / Environment Agency workshop on ‘Complexity Economics for Sustainability’ in Oxford on 28 November 2008.
Essay About Environmental Issues. Online assignment writing service.Amy Cruz
Writing an essay on environmental issues poses several challenges. It requires extensive research to understand the complex scientific concepts and interconnected nature of issues like climate change, deforestation, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Additionally, the writer must continuously update the essay with new findings and developments. Crafting a well-structured essay demands navigating a vast amount of data and opinions while communicating the urgency of the issues and potential solutions in an accessible way to engage readers. Addressing policy implications further increases the complexity. Despite these difficulties, taking on the important task of raising awareness about environmental degradation contributes to efforts for a sustainable future.
Gender mainstreaming and gender analysis in work addressing risk reduction: C...Oxfam GB
Understanding how gender relations shape women’s and men’s lives is critical to disaster risk reduction (DRR). This is because women’s and men’s different roles, responsibilities, and access to resources influence how each will be affected by different hazards, and how they will cope with and recover from disaster. This presentation contains a tool to examine capacities and vulnerabilities in or after a particular crisis or disaster, or in the context of long-term climate change. This presentation is part of Oxfam GB's Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction training pack available at www.oxfam.org.uk/genderdrrpack.
This document discusses scenario methodology for addressing uncertainty in complex systems. It begins by defining key terms like data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. It then discusses types of uncertainty like determinism, probability, and pure uncertainty. The document outlines the history and definitions of scenario methodology, providing examples of its use from the 1960s to present day. It describes the steps involved in constructing scenarios, including identifying issues and uncertainties, creating alternative scenarios, and assessing them. The document concludes by noting scenarios help bridge theory and practice, and must balance continuity and surprise to represent the range of possible outcomes.
Similar to Melissa Leach: Dynamic Sustainabilities: Taking complexity and uncertainty seriously in environment and development (20)
This document outlines a variety of methods that can be used to scope issues broadly, focus on particularities in depth, and link relations and perspectives across contexts. It provides a repertoire of methods that can help appreciate alternative pathways, including interpretive, interactive, and group deliberative styles as well as techniques like critical literature reviews, in-depth case studies, discourse analysis, and participatory approaches.
Coloniality in Transformation: decolonising methods for activist scholarship ...STEPS Centre
Presentation by Andy Stirling to 2021 Transformations to Sustainability conference session on '‘Philosophical Underpinnings’ in decolonizing research methods for transformation towards sustainability', 17th June 2021
Opening up the politics of justification in maths for policy: power and uncer...STEPS Centre
Presentation by Andy Stirling to conference of INET in collaboration with OECD on ‘Forecasting the Future for Sustainable Development: approaches to modelling and the science of prediction’. 16th June 2021
Discussion: The Future of the World is Mobile - Giorgia GiovannettiSTEPS Centre
By Giorgia Giovannetti, University of Firenze and Robert Schuman Centre, EUI. Given at EUI on 10 April 2019.
https://steps-centre.org/event/the-future-of-the-world-is-mobile-what-can-we-learn-from-pastoralists/
Interfacing pastoral movements and modern mobilitiesSTEPS Centre
By Michele Nori, PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty, Resilience) project. Given at EUI on 10 April 2019.
https://steps-centre.org/event/the-future-of-the-world-is-mobile-what-can-we-learn-from-pastoralists/
Reconceiving migration through the study of pastoral mobilitySTEPS Centre
By Natasha Maru, PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty, Resilience) project. Given at EUI on 10 April 2019.
https://steps-centre.org/event/the-future-of-the-world-is-mobile-what-can-we-learn-from-pastoralists/
Bringing moral economy into the study of land deals: reflections from MadagascarSTEPS Centre
19 March 2019, Institute of Development Studies
Seminar organised by the Resource Politics and Rural Futures Clusters, in association with the STEPS Centre’s PASTRES project
Speaker: Mathilde Gingembre
https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-mathilde-gingembre-bringing-moral-economy-into-the-study-of-land-deals-reflections-from-madagascar/
Agency and social-ecological system (SES) pathways: the Transformation Lab in...STEPS Centre
Presentation by J. Mario Siqueiros, February 2019, at a STEPS Seminar at the Institute of Development Studies.
More information: https://steps-centre.org/project/pathways-network/
From controlled transition to caring transformations - StirlingSTEPS Centre
This document discusses the differences between "controlling transitions" and "caring transformations" when addressing issues like climate change. It argues that ideas of control are part of the problem and that controlled transition does not equal real transformation. Caring for transformation instead of control could mean culturing transformation through myriad grassroots actions that challenge power and are driven by solidarity, values and hope rather than singular theories and top-down control. True transformation is shaped by unruly diversity rather than imposed order and expertise.
Systems, change and growth - Huff and BrockSTEPS Centre
Presentation from week 1 of the System Change HIVE that outlines big ideas about the environment and some criticisms of capitalism.
http://systemchangehive.org/
STEPS Annual Lecture 2017: Achim Steiner - Doomed to fail or bound to succeed...STEPS Centre
Achim Steiner, incoming UNDP director, gave the STEPS Annual lecture at the University of Sussex on 15 May 2017. Find out more: https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-annual-lecture-achim-steiner/
Andy Stirling - nexus methods (RGS 2016)STEPS Centre
This document discusses the concept of "nexus thinking" across multiple domains and topics. It makes several key points:
1) Nexus thinking spans across different silos and considers connections between domains like food, water, energy, climate, and development.
2) Framing of nexus issues applies at every level and transcends place, space, and scale. Different framings lead to different understandings and potential solutions.
3) Nexus thinking recognizes the entanglement of objective conditions and subjective actors, and highlights the role of power and politics in knowledge production.
Andy Stirling - STEPS Centre 'Pathways Methods'STEPS Centre
The document outlines the STEPS Centre 'Pathways Methods' for helping appreciate alternative pathways. It summarizes the methods as follows:
1. The methods aim to catalyze more open political space by broadening out discussions beyond incumbent 'pro-innovation' views and opening up consideration of marginalized interests and alternative pathways.
2. The methodology involves engaging actors, exploring narratives, characterizing dynamics, and revealing strategies through a repertoire of participatory and deliberative methods.
3. A case study applying these methods in Kenya found surprising optimism for alternative crops but farmer preference for local maize varieties, showing how the methods can surface plural perspectives on pathways.
This document provides an overview of a presentation given by Andy Stirling on 'Nexus Methods' at the ESRC Methods Festival. It discusses the complex and interconnected nature of issues related to the food-water-energy nexus. It notes that while there are many quantitative and qualitative methods that can be applied to nexus issues, they all involve subjective framings and no single method can capture the full complexity. The presentation advocates a reflexive approach that acknowledges the conditional nature of knowledge and assessment in this domain.
Suresh Rohilla - Climate change and sanitation, water resourcesSTEPS Centre
Workshop on climate change and uncertainty from below and above, Delhi. http://steps-centre.org/2016/blog/climate-change-and-uncertainty-from-above-and-below/
Suraje Dessai - Uncertainty from above and encounters in the middleSTEPS Centre
Workshop on climate change and uncertainty from below and above, Delhi. http://steps-centre.org/2016/blog/climate-change-and-uncertainty-from-above-and-below/
Sumetee Pahwa Gajjar - Uncertainty from withinSTEPS Centre
Workshop on climate change and uncertainty from below and above, Delhi. http://steps-centre.org/2016/blog/climate-change-and-uncertainty-from-above-and-below/
Shibaji Bose - Voices from below - a Photo Voice exploration in Indian sundar...STEPS Centre
Workshop on climate change and uncertainty from below and above, Delhi. http://steps-centre.org/2016/blog/climate-change-and-uncertainty-from-above-and-below/
"Choosing proper type of scaling", Olena SyrotaFwdays
Imagine an IoT processing system that is already quite mature and production-ready and for which client coverage is growing and scaling and performance aspects are life and death questions. The system has Redis, MongoDB, and stream processing based on ksqldb. In this talk, firstly, we will analyze scaling approaches and then select the proper ones for our system.
For the full video of this presentation, please visit: https://www.edge-ai-vision.com/2024/06/how-axelera-ai-uses-digital-compute-in-memory-to-deliver-fast-and-energy-efficient-computer-vision-a-presentation-from-axelera-ai/
Bram Verhoef, Head of Machine Learning at Axelera AI, presents the “How Axelera AI Uses Digital Compute-in-memory to Deliver Fast and Energy-efficient Computer Vision” tutorial at the May 2024 Embedded Vision Summit.
As artificial intelligence inference transitions from cloud environments to edge locations, computer vision applications achieve heightened responsiveness, reliability and privacy. This migration, however, introduces the challenge of operating within the stringent confines of resource constraints typical at the edge, including small form factors, low energy budgets and diminished memory and computational capacities. Axelera AI addresses these challenges through an innovative approach of performing digital computations within memory itself. This technique facilitates the realization of high-performance, energy-efficient and cost-effective computer vision capabilities at the thin and thick edge, extending the frontier of what is achievable with current technologies.
In this presentation, Verhoef unveils his company’s pioneering chip technology and demonstrates its capacity to deliver exceptional frames-per-second performance across a range of standard computer vision networks typical of applications in security, surveillance and the industrial sector. This shows that advanced computer vision can be accessible and efficient, even at the very edge of our technological ecosystem.
zkStudyClub - LatticeFold: A Lattice-based Folding Scheme and its Application...Alex Pruden
Folding is a recent technique for building efficient recursive SNARKs. Several elegant folding protocols have been proposed, such as Nova, Supernova, Hypernova, Protostar, and others. However, all of them rely on an additively homomorphic commitment scheme based on discrete log, and are therefore not post-quantum secure. In this work we present LatticeFold, the first lattice-based folding protocol based on the Module SIS problem. This folding protocol naturally leads to an efficient recursive lattice-based SNARK and an efficient PCD scheme. LatticeFold supports folding low-degree relations, such as R1CS, as well as high-degree relations, such as CCS. The key challenge is to construct a secure folding protocol that works with the Ajtai commitment scheme. The difficulty, is ensuring that extracted witnesses are low norm through many rounds of folding. We present a novel technique using the sumcheck protocol to ensure that extracted witnesses are always low norm no matter how many rounds of folding are used. Our evaluation of the final proof system suggests that it is as performant as Hypernova, while providing post-quantum security.
Paper Link: https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/257
Essentials of Automations: Exploring Attributes & Automation ParametersSafe Software
Building automations in FME Flow can save time, money, and help businesses scale by eliminating data silos and providing data to stakeholders in real-time. One essential component to orchestrating complex automations is the use of attributes & automation parameters (both formerly known as “keys”). In fact, it’s unlikely you’ll ever build an Automation without using these components, but what exactly are they?
Attributes & automation parameters enable the automation author to pass data values from one automation component to the next. During this webinar, our FME Flow Specialists will cover leveraging the three types of these output attributes & parameters in FME Flow: Event, Custom, and Automation. As a bonus, they’ll also be making use of the Split-Merge Block functionality.
You’ll leave this webinar with a better understanding of how to maximize the potential of automations by making use of attributes & automation parameters, with the ultimate goal of setting your enterprise integration workflows up on autopilot.
Conversational agents, or chatbots, are increasingly used to access all sorts of services using natural language. While open-domain chatbots - like ChatGPT - can converse on any topic, task-oriented chatbots - the focus of this paper - are designed for specific tasks, like booking a flight, obtaining customer support, or setting an appointment. Like any other software, task-oriented chatbots need to be properly tested, usually by defining and executing test scenarios (i.e., sequences of user-chatbot interactions). However, there is currently a lack of methods to quantify the completeness and strength of such test scenarios, which can lead to low-quality tests, and hence to buggy chatbots.
To fill this gap, we propose adapting mutation testing (MuT) for task-oriented chatbots. To this end, we introduce a set of mutation operators that emulate faults in chatbot designs, an architecture that enables MuT on chatbots built using heterogeneous technologies, and a practical realisation as an Eclipse plugin. Moreover, we evaluate the applicability, effectiveness and efficiency of our approach on open-source chatbots, with promising results.
Skybuffer SAM4U tool for SAP license adoptionTatiana Kojar
Manage and optimize your license adoption and consumption with SAM4U, an SAP free customer software asset management tool.
SAM4U, an SAP complimentary software asset management tool for customers, delivers a detailed and well-structured overview of license inventory and usage with a user-friendly interface. We offer a hosted, cost-effective, and performance-optimized SAM4U setup in the Skybuffer Cloud environment. You retain ownership of the system and data, while we manage the ABAP 7.58 infrastructure, ensuring fixed Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and exceptional services through the SAP Fiori interface.
For the full video of this presentation, please visit: https://www.edge-ai-vision.com/2024/06/temporal-event-neural-networks-a-more-efficient-alternative-to-the-transformer-a-presentation-from-brainchip/
Chris Jones, Director of Product Management at BrainChip , presents the “Temporal Event Neural Networks: A More Efficient Alternative to the Transformer” tutorial at the May 2024 Embedded Vision Summit.
The expansion of AI services necessitates enhanced computational capabilities on edge devices. Temporal Event Neural Networks (TENNs), developed by BrainChip, represent a novel and highly efficient state-space network. TENNs demonstrate exceptional proficiency in handling multi-dimensional streaming data, facilitating advancements in object detection, action recognition, speech enhancement and language model/sequence generation. Through the utilization of polynomial-based continuous convolutions, TENNs streamline models, expedite training processes and significantly diminish memory requirements, achieving notable reductions of up to 50x in parameters and 5,000x in energy consumption compared to prevailing methodologies like transformers.
Integration with BrainChip’s Akida neuromorphic hardware IP further enhances TENNs’ capabilities, enabling the realization of highly capable, portable and passively cooled edge devices. This presentation delves into the technical innovations underlying TENNs, presents real-world benchmarks, and elucidates how this cutting-edge approach is positioned to revolutionize edge AI across diverse applications.
HCL Notes und Domino Lizenzkostenreduzierung in der Welt von DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-und-domino-lizenzkostenreduzierung-in-der-welt-von-dlau/
DLAU und die Lizenzen nach dem CCB- und CCX-Modell sind für viele in der HCL-Community seit letztem Jahr ein heißes Thema. Als Notes- oder Domino-Kunde haben Sie vielleicht mit unerwartet hohen Benutzerzahlen und Lizenzgebühren zu kämpfen. Sie fragen sich vielleicht, wie diese neue Art der Lizenzierung funktioniert und welchen Nutzen sie Ihnen bringt. Vor allem wollen Sie sicherlich Ihr Budget einhalten und Kosten sparen, wo immer möglich. Das verstehen wir und wir möchten Ihnen dabei helfen!
Wir erklären Ihnen, wie Sie häufige Konfigurationsprobleme lösen können, die dazu führen können, dass mehr Benutzer gezählt werden als nötig, und wie Sie überflüssige oder ungenutzte Konten identifizieren und entfernen können, um Geld zu sparen. Es gibt auch einige Ansätze, die zu unnötigen Ausgaben führen können, z. B. wenn ein Personendokument anstelle eines Mail-Ins für geteilte Mailboxen verwendet wird. Wir zeigen Ihnen solche Fälle und deren Lösungen. Und natürlich erklären wir Ihnen das neue Lizenzmodell.
Nehmen Sie an diesem Webinar teil, bei dem HCL-Ambassador Marc Thomas und Gastredner Franz Walder Ihnen diese neue Welt näherbringen. Es vermittelt Ihnen die Tools und das Know-how, um den Überblick zu bewahren. Sie werden in der Lage sein, Ihre Kosten durch eine optimierte Domino-Konfiguration zu reduzieren und auch in Zukunft gering zu halten.
Diese Themen werden behandelt
- Reduzierung der Lizenzkosten durch Auffinden und Beheben von Fehlkonfigurationen und überflüssigen Konten
- Wie funktionieren CCB- und CCX-Lizenzen wirklich?
- Verstehen des DLAU-Tools und wie man es am besten nutzt
- Tipps für häufige Problembereiche, wie z. B. Team-Postfächer, Funktions-/Testbenutzer usw.
- Praxisbeispiele und Best Practices zum sofortigen Umsetzen
HCL Notes and Domino License Cost Reduction in the World of DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-and-domino-license-cost-reduction-in-the-world-of-dlau/
The introduction of DLAU and the CCB & CCX licensing model caused quite a stir in the HCL community. As a Notes and Domino customer, you may have faced challenges with unexpected user counts and license costs. You probably have questions on how this new licensing approach works and how to benefit from it. Most importantly, you likely have budget constraints and want to save money where possible. Don’t worry, we can help with all of this!
We’ll show you how to fix common misconfigurations that cause higher-than-expected user counts, and how to identify accounts which you can deactivate to save money. There are also frequent patterns that can cause unnecessary cost, like using a person document instead of a mail-in for shared mailboxes. We’ll provide examples and solutions for those as well. And naturally we’ll explain the new licensing model.
Join HCL Ambassador Marc Thomas in this webinar with a special guest appearance from Franz Walder. It will give you the tools and know-how to stay on top of what is going on with Domino licensing. You will be able lower your cost through an optimized configuration and keep it low going forward.
These topics will be covered
- Reducing license cost by finding and fixing misconfigurations and superfluous accounts
- How do CCB and CCX licenses really work?
- Understanding the DLAU tool and how to best utilize it
- Tips for common problem areas, like team mailboxes, functional/test users, etc
- Practical examples and best practices to implement right away
Ivanti’s Patch Tuesday breakdown goes beyond patching your applications and brings you the intelligence and guidance needed to prioritize where to focus your attention first. Catch early analysis on our Ivanti blog, then join industry expert Chris Goettl for the Patch Tuesday Webinar Event. There we’ll do a deep dive into each of the bulletins and give guidance on the risks associated with the newly-identified vulnerabilities.
Northern Engraving | Nameplate Manufacturing Process - 2024Northern Engraving
Manufacturing custom quality metal nameplates and badges involves several standard operations. Processes include sheet prep, lithography, screening, coating, punch press and inspection. All decoration is completed in the flat sheet with adhesive and tooling operations following. The possibilities for creating unique durable nameplates are endless. How will you create your brand identity? We can help!
Connector Corner: Seamlessly power UiPath Apps, GenAI with prebuilt connectorsDianaGray10
Join us to learn how UiPath Apps can directly and easily interact with prebuilt connectors via Integration Service--including Salesforce, ServiceNow, Open GenAI, and more.
The best part is you can achieve this without building a custom workflow! Say goodbye to the hassle of using separate automations to call APIs. By seamlessly integrating within App Studio, you can now easily streamline your workflow, while gaining direct access to our Connector Catalog of popular applications.
We’ll discuss and demo the benefits of UiPath Apps and connectors including:
Creating a compelling user experience for any software, without the limitations of APIs.
Accelerating the app creation process, saving time and effort
Enjoying high-performance CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operations, for
seamless data management.
Speakers:
Russell Alfeche, Technology Leader, RPA at qBotic and UiPath MVP
Charlie Greenberg, host
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift.pdfTosin Akinosho
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift
Overview
Dive into the world of anomaly detection on edge devices with our comprehensive hands-on tutorial. This SlideShare presentation will guide you through the entire process, from data collection and model training to edge deployment and real-time monitoring. Perfect for those looking to implement robust anomaly detection systems on resource-constrained IoT/edge devices.
Key Topics Covered
1. Introduction to Anomaly Detection
- Understand the fundamentals of anomaly detection and its importance in identifying unusual behavior or failures in systems.
2. Understanding Edge (IoT)
- Learn about edge computing and IoT, and how they enable real-time data processing and decision-making at the source.
3. What is ArgoCD?
- Discover ArgoCD, a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes, and its role in deploying applications on edge devices.
4. Deployment Using ArgoCD for Edge Devices
- Step-by-step guide on deploying anomaly detection models on edge devices using ArgoCD.
5. Introduction to Apache Kafka and S3
- Explore Apache Kafka for real-time data streaming and Amazon S3 for scalable storage solutions.
6. Viewing Kafka Messages in the Data Lake
- Learn how to view and analyze Kafka messages stored in a data lake for better insights.
7. What is Prometheus?
- Get to know Prometheus, an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit, and its application in monitoring edge devices.
8. Monitoring Application Metrics with Prometheus
- Detailed instructions on setting up Prometheus to monitor the performance and health of your anomaly detection system.
9. What is Camel K?
- Introduction to Camel K, a lightweight integration framework built on Apache Camel, designed for Kubernetes.
10. Configuring Camel K Integrations for Data Pipelines
- Learn how to configure Camel K for seamless data pipeline integrations in your anomaly detection workflow.
11. What is a Jupyter Notebook?
- Overview of Jupyter Notebooks, an open-source web application for creating and sharing documents with live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text.
12. Jupyter Notebooks with Code Examples
- Hands-on examples and code snippets in Jupyter Notebooks to help you implement and test anomaly detection models.
5th LF Energy Power Grid Model Meet-up SlidesDanBrown980551
5th Power Grid Model Meet-up
It is with great pleasure that we extend to you an invitation to the 5th Power Grid Model Meet-up, scheduled for 6th June 2024. This event will adopt a hybrid format, allowing participants to join us either through an online Mircosoft Teams session or in person at TU/e located at Den Dolech 2, Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet-up will be hosted by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), a research university specializing in engineering science & technology.
Power Grid Model
The global energy transition is placing new and unprecedented demands on Distribution System Operators (DSOs). Alongside upgrades to grid capacity, processes such as digitization, capacity optimization, and congestion management are becoming vital for delivering reliable services.
Power Grid Model is an open source project from Linux Foundation Energy and provides a calculation engine that is increasingly essential for DSOs. It offers a standards-based foundation enabling real-time power systems analysis, simulations of electrical power grids, and sophisticated what-if analysis. In addition, it enables in-depth studies and analysis of the electrical power grid’s behavior and performance. This comprehensive model incorporates essential factors such as power generation capacity, electrical losses, voltage levels, power flows, and system stability.
Power Grid Model is currently being applied in a wide variety of use cases, including grid planning, expansion, reliability, and congestion studies. It can also help in analyzing the impact of renewable energy integration, assessing the effects of disturbances or faults, and developing strategies for grid control and optimization.
What to expect
For the upcoming meetup we are organizing, we have an exciting lineup of activities planned:
-Insightful presentations covering two practical applications of the Power Grid Model.
-An update on the latest advancements in Power Grid -Model technology during the first and second quarters of 2024.
-An interactive brainstorming session to discuss and propose new feature requests.
-An opportunity to connect with fellow Power Grid Model enthusiasts and users.
JavaLand 2024: Application Development Green Masterplan
Melissa Leach: Dynamic Sustainabilities: Taking complexity and uncertainty seriously in environment and development
1. Dynamic Sustainabilities: Taking complexity and uncertainty seriously in environment and development Melissa Leach ESRC STEPS Centre, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex UKCDS Workshop May 12 2011
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7. Complexity and dynamism mean pathways cannot be expected to unfold in deterministic ways Dealing with incomplete knowledge : Uncertainty and surprise are inevitable Tailoring strategies and actions : Dynamics cannot always be controlled
8. unproblematic problematic unproblematic problematic knowledge about likelihoods knowledge about outcomes Dealing with incomplete knowledge Many contrasting aspects .... RISK AMBIGUITY UNCERTAINTY IGNORANCE
9. unproblematic problematic unproblematic problematic knowledge about likelihoods knowledge about outcomes Dealing with incomplete knowledge e.g. Avian influenza RISK AMBIGUITY UNCERTAINTY IGNORANCE ostensibly definitive quantitative probabilistic models of risk pandemic or not? impacts of veterinary controls? behaviour change in crisis? interplay in viral ecology / genetics immuno -compromisation ? define ‘outbreak’: distributional consequences? mortality / morbidity? vulnerable groups? economic costs? livelihoods impacts? new strains of the virus? unexpected transmission vectors? unanticipated health outcomes? complex social interactions? entirely novel pathogens?
10. unproblematic problematic unproblematic problematic knowledge about likelihoods knowledge about outcomes RISK UNCERTAINTY AMBIGUITY IGNORANCE decision rules aggregative analysis deliberative process political closure reductive modeling stochastic reasoning rules of thumb insurance ` evidence-basing agenda-setting horizon scanning transdisciplinarity liability law harm definitions indicators / metrics institutional remits Powerful pressures to ‘close down’ towards risk
11. unproblematic problematic unproblematic problematic knowledge about likelihoods knowledge about outcomes RISK UNCERTAINTY AMBIGUITY IGNORANCE uncertainty heuristics interval analysis sensitivity testing scenarios / backcasting interactive modeling mapping / Q-methods participatory deliberation reflexive research institutional learning adaptive management From closing-down to opening-up Various potential tools and methods... reductive aggregative models ALL INVOLVE INTERACTIVE MAPPING OF DIFFERENT UNDERSTANDINGS
12. STABILITY DURABILITY RESILIENCE ROBUSTNESS SUSTAINABILITY Shaping pathways to sustainability, doing development But sustainability is not one thing..... What is to be sustained (functions, values, services...) and who values these? From Knowledge to Ac tion Temporality of change – are changes seen as shocks or stresses? Potency of action – is the aim to control or respond to change?
13. shock (transient disruption) stress (enduring shift) control respond temporality of change style of action STABILITY Tailoring strategies and actions Multiple dynamics, often uncontrollable.... DURABILITY RESILIENCE ROBUSTNESS
14. shock (transient disruption) stress (enduring shift) control respond temporality of change style of action STABILITY Tailoring strategies and actions e.g. dealing with water resources in dryland India DURABILITY RESILIENCE ROBUSTNESS Control of short-term supply variability through dams, pumps and pipes Engineering solutions geared to long-term shifts in rainfall and hydrology (e.g. margins, reduced water levels) Adaptive responses and interventions geared to floods and droughts (e.g. crop mixes, mobility, water harvesting) ; local knowledge, culturally-embedded practices Response to long-term shifts in water supply and use (e.g. changes in land use, agricultural practices, livelihoods); variegated, flexible institutional and engineering arrangements
15. shock (against transient disruption) stress (agaInst enduring shift) control (change is internal to control system) response (change is external to control system) temporality of change potency of action STABILITY e.g. blueprint planning in development e.g. top-down engineering approaches in water management e.g. avian influenza: routine responses, institutionalised practices encoded in standard, global surveillance, early warning and rapid response routines Powerful pressures to ‘close down’ around planned equilibrium Need to be reflexive about the dynamics of power DURABILITY RESILIENCE ROBUSTNESS
16. shock (transient disruption) stress (enduring shift) temporality of change style of action control (tractable drivers ) respond (intractable drivers ) From closing-down to opening-up Some candidate styles of institution and intervention
17. shock (transient disruption) stress (enduring shift) control response temporality of change potency of action From closing-down to opening-up Broad reflection, reflexivity and humility are vital DURABILITY RESILIENCE ROBUSTNESS Reflection and Reflexivity engage stakeholders; address multiple goals and values; explore uncertainties; map ambiguities; maintain flexibility / diversity
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Editor's Notes
In our work we have drawn on and drawn together – and go beyond - a related set of ideas and approaches that draw in different ways on complexity science, and offer specific helpful concepts and modes of analysis for different fields of development. The last is particularly significant, and we would argue vital in a development context, drawing attention to the importance of both reflective traditions in analysis, and constructivist/reflexive ones drawn from other social science traditions.
The idea of pathways is useful in thinking about development, change, directions
But central to the pathways approach is the addition of a reflexive dimension, drawing on methodological constructivism in the social sciences. That is to recognise that there are multiple ways of understanding and representing a system; and that all analysis of a system involves framing. Framing involves not just choices about which elements to highlight, and how to bound the system, at what scale, but also subjective and value judgements. Such framings are produced by particular actors – whether different local people, scientific, policy or business actors, and co-constituted with their particular institutional, political and life settings.
Some applications of complexity science tools seek to apply these in a deterministic way; if we just understand the range of tipping points, we can plan for them But of course a fundamental implication of complexity and dynamics is that there are limits to knowability, and to control/planning. Taking complexity seriously means dealing with incomplete knowledge in situations where uncertainty and surprise are inevitable, and tailoring actions and strategies to situations where dynamics of change and their drivers are not always tractable to control. Will now go on to look at each of these and their implications in turn.
But what do we mean by incomplete knowledge? The top left hand quadrant defines risk in the strict sense of the term. This refers to a situation where there is confidence that probabilities can be calculated across a range of known outcomes. Under the strict definition of uncertainty (lower left quadrant), we can be confident in our characterisation of the different possible outcomes, but the available empirical information or analytical models do not present a definitive basis for assigning probabilities the rigorous approach is therefore to acknowledge the open nature of a variety of possible interpretations. Under the condition of ambiguity (upper right quadrant), Disagreements may exist, for instance, over the selection, partitioning, bounding, measurement, prioritisation or interpretation of outcomes. For instance in decisions over the right questions to pose in regulation: ‘is this safe?’, ‘sustainable?’, ‘sustainable enough?’, ‘acceptable?’ or ‘the most sustainable option?’. Similar ambiguities emerge when we are forced to compare ‘apples and oranges’. These might be qualitatively different forms of damage; impacts on different people (e.g. workers or the public; children or adults); or consequences over different time-frames (e.g. present or future generations) – in effect, questions over ‘contradictory certainties’ (Thompson and Warburton, 1985. Finally, there is the condition of ignorance (lower right quadrant) where ‘we don’t know what we don’t know’ (Wynne, 1992; 2002), we face the ever-present prospect of ‘surprise’ . where the parameters are not just contestable, but are acknowledged to be at least partly unknown, implying straightforward ignorance over the possibilities themselves.
Let us pick up the epidemics example and look at how different dimensions of incomplete knowledge are invoked in different narratives about avian flu – in the diagram, we could envisage different narratives and sub-narratives ‘clustering’ in different corners Much of the debate has been dominated by quantitative probabilistic models of risk. In 2005, for example, two models were presented in Nature (Ferguson et al, 20050 and Science (Longini et al, 2005) which together had a huge influence in framing the response as one that needed to be focused on containment at the source of the outbreak. But of course a wide range of uncertainties exist – from the big uncertainty (will a pandemic happen at all, and if so when?) to more specific uncertainties (about the impacts of veterinary control measures, about vaccination and drug efficacy, about behaviour change in situations of crisis and so on). Thus, for example, the interplay between viral ecology and genetics, transmission mechanisms (e.g. the role of wild birds or poultry, back-yard chickens or large factory units) and impacts (e.g. the consequences in immuno-compromised individuals and populations) are highly complex and contingent. There are also ambiguities: how do we define an ‘outbreak’, and its impacts and distributional effects? Outcomes defined in terms of potential impacts on human mortality globally - up to 150 million deaths in a major global pandemic, according to some estimates – contrast with those defined in relation to particular groups at risk – for example, women or children handling poultry. Surprise renders it intrinsically difficult to substantiate possible examples of ignorance ex ante . Yet possible surprises may plausibly be anticipated around the emergence of radically new strains of the virus, unexpected transmission mechanisms or unanticipated health outcomes, including those arising in complex interactions with other health/social conditions. Of course, there is always the broader possibility of the emergence of entirely novel pathogens; indeed over 70% of new infectious diseases affecting humans that have emerged over the last 30 years have emerged unexpectedly from non-human animal populations (Jones et al, 2008; Woolhouse and Gaunt, 2007).
Frequently, and around many issues, one can observe a process of ‘closing down’ towards this top-left-hand corner. The implications of system dynamics come to be treated in terms of risk, neglecting or underplaying these other dimensions of incomplete knowledge. Put another way, it is often risk-based narratives and the pathways they justify that come to dominate, over and above narratives that appreciate uncertainty, ambiguity, ignorance and their implications. Thus in the case of avian flu, we often see narratives which cast the problem in terms of risk predominating; these are the ones which are articulated by the major international agencies, and which drive outbreak-focused policy responses. Other dimensions of incomplete knowledge – despite their relevance to the problem – receive far less attention How does this happen? A number of political, procedural, and knowledge-related pressures appear to be at play., varying according to the issue and context, but with some general tendencies . Thus the institutional remits of organisations may encourage a move from ignorance to uncertainty: ruling out surprise. the institutional remits and organisational mandates of international agencies such as the WHO and FAO are simply not geared up to dealing with ignorance and surprise; the very existence and status of the agencies is interlocked with the idea that outbreaks and their effects can be known about and thus rendered amenable to management The use of particular indicators and definitions, and the use of particular legal frameworks, may assist this. Further techniques and strategies of governance in turn may lead uncertainty to be re-defined and treated as risk. These range from bureaucratic and planning procedures that rely on, and thus reinforce, an image of a calculable, manageable world, to particular techniques of modelling, reasoning and categorisation that render the world legible and calculable in risk-based terms. Moving up the right hand side of the diagram, further techniques and strategies of governance may be used to ‘tame’ ignorance and surprise into a more manageable range of possibilities, even if these end up as ‘apples and pears’, non-congruent possibilities. Practices such as drawing on (transdisciplinary) expertise, and setting agendas, and defining organisational mandates may be significant here. However, further pressures may act to narrow a range of possible outcomes (ambiguity) further, creating a set which can be clearly defined and dealt with as risk. Political closure, strategies of ordering (and exclusion), and processes of subjectification whereby people – whether supposed policy beneficiaries, or workers within an organistaion or agency, or others) come to internalise this possible range of outcomes as the appropriate set for consideration, are all relevant here. In the avian flu case, political closure was encouraged by political-economic interests in garnering support for a massive global response, and by aggregative forms of analysi. Claims about particular sorts of vulnerability, perhaps associated with the livelihoods or social positions of particular local groups, tend to disappear as mere ‘twitter’ amidst the dramatic figures about aggregate risk that garnered public, political and media attention. Thus, through a cluster of interlocking political, institutional and knowledge-power processes, the problem of avian flu tends to be treated in terms of risk, at the expense of uncertainty, ambiguity and ignorance.
Moving from knowledge to action, here we are talking about directing and shaping pathways to sustainability Butt recognising that sustainability is not just one thing ... Different goals Different dynamic properties
Actions aiming to promote sustainability involve assumptions about the nature, or ‘temporalities’, of changes – are these seen as short-term shocks or long-term stresses? In complex dynamic systems there may be multiple, interacting shocks and stresses in different system elements operating simultaneously. And the styles of actions that are envisaged. Is the aim to control the causes or drivers of change, or to respond to them? In complex, dynamic systems, it is likely that many changes and their drivers will be intractable or uncontrollable, rendering more conventional control-oriented management inappropriate. Instead, need responsive, adaptive management, aimed either at resilience (to shocks) or robustness (to shifts). Thus we might ask, within any given narrative: are intervention strategies aimed at exercising control in order to resist shocks (stability )? Or is there an acknowledgement that there may be limits to control, and thus that interventions should resist shocks in a more responsive fashion ( resilience )? In other circumstances, the system may be subject to important stresses, driving long run-shifts. In this case, interventions might attempt to control the potential changes – aiming at durabilit y. Alternatively, embracing both the limits to control and an openness to enduring shifts would suggest strategies aimed at robustness. These are important practical distinctions that are often elided or ignored in existing analysis for policy-making on sustainability.