The end of History or the end of Democracy? National identity and the future of the nation‐state

Two alternative scenarios on the future of the nation state are presented in order to discuss the concepts of national identity as well as of political system legitimacy. At the core is the question to what extent the nation state will become obsolescent if not obsolete as a function of international interdependence. Fukuyama considers national identity a cultural phenomenon alien to democracy as the ultimate form of government. Guéhenno, in contrast, believes that the erosion of the nation state and of national identity will bring about the end of democracy. The disagreement rests on the assumption whether the political systems will be able to retain their autonomy allowing them to maintain or expand individual liberty and collective freedom.     

“Beyond Frontiers of Traditional Project Management”: The Concept of “Project Management Second Order (PM-2)” as an Approach of Evolutionary Management

Fundamental changes in sciences offer new perspectives for the management of complexity. Increased complexity in society, economics, and technology requires a new and suitable organization and management. What are the consequences and results for project management? That is the theme of this article. First of all it will given a short introduction to project management, which will be later called “traditional project management” or “project management 1st order (PM-1).” Then, the challenges by the fundamental changes in sciences and the increased complexity in society, economics, and technology will be discussed. It will state that traditional project management cannot solve these challenges. The widespread working-themes and results of the research program “Beyond Frontiers of Traditional Project Management” as an answer to these challenges will be presented at a glance. Subsequently, it will discuss some selected results of the research program:

• The principle-definition and foundation of “Evolution of 1st and 2nd Order.”

• The Evolution of 1st Order and the impact on Project Management methods and processes.

• Evolution of 2nd Order and the Grand Evolutionary Systems Theory (GEST) of E. Laszlo as also the impact on Project Management methods and processes.

• Management of crisis: turn a change to advantage or risk-assurance?

Thereafter, the concept of “Project Management Second Order (PM-2)” is presented as a highlighted result of the research program, as a new paradigm in project management, and as an answer to the challenges, described earlier will be explained in detail. Finally, a real example of transfer evolutionary and self-organizational management principles in a real project life will be demonstrated.     

Ecosystems and society: Implications for sustainable development

Human systems are interacting with, and dependent on, the global ecosystem. These complex interconnected systems have to obey natural laws and system laws in order to remain viable in the long‐term. “Sustainable development” therefore has to adhere to certain principles and constraints which derive partially from physical conditions, partially from principles of (evolving) ecosystems, partially from principles applying to human systems with conscious actors and normative standards. Although “sustainable development” constrains the spectrum of permissible processes, it does not define a final steady state. The development process must be guided by reference to an ethical principle and to the balanced satisfaction of the basic orientors resulting from a system's interaction with its environment. The systems perspective required encompasses a wide range of scientific disciplines, for which a comprehensive bibliography is provided.     

The Sociology of Complex Systems: An Overview of Actor-System-Dynamics Theory

This article illustrates the important scientific role that a systems approach might play within the social sciences and humanities, above all through its contribution to a common language, shared conceptualizations, and theoretical integration in the face of the extreme (and growing) fragmentation among the social sciences (and between the social sciences and the natural sciences). The article outlines a systems theoretic approach, actor-system-dynamics (ASD), whose authors have strived to re-establish systems theorizing in the social sciences (after a period of marginalization since the late 1960s). This is done, in part, by showing how key social science concepts are readily incorporated and applied in social system analysis.     

Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Energy and Wind-Power Utilization

Wind-mills were widely used for grinding corn in the last century in Hungary. The use of solar energy for water heating, taking a bath, shower, and drying crops has had a tradition for a long time. This article presents in what proportion the two types of energy are disposable in the course of the year, how this difference between the simultaneous disposability of the two types of sources of energy changes depending on seasons, and by what a diffusion and variance in a month, a part of a day, or an hour the examined parameters can be characterized.     

Central Nervous System Complications of Sickle Cell Disease in Children: An Overview

Complications involving the central nervous system are among the most devastating manifestations of sickle cell disease. Although overt stroke occurs in 1 in 10 children with Hemoglobin SS, “silent cerebral infarcts” are even more frequent. Both are associated with significant neuropsychological deficits. The end result of these effects on the CNS often is diminished school performance. The use of transcranial Doppler ultrasonography screening allows the identification of patients at high risk for clinical stroke as well as stroke prevention by chronic transfusion. However, definitive prophylaxis and treatment for most CNS complications of sickle cell disease have yet to be determined.     

Many-body potential for nitrogen in α-iron

N atom is one of the most frequent foreign interstitial atoms in α-iron along with C atoms. The Fe–C potential has been well-developed and can reproduce many significant interactions of C with point defects present in α-iron. However, there exists no satisfactory Fe–N potential to describe the interactions of N with point defects. Here, we develop a many-body potential for N in α-iron. The potential parameters are determined by fitting to ab initio data, which includes energetics, configurations, and relaxations of Fe atoms close to N atom. This potential successfully describes the interactions of Fe–N across a wide range of defect environments. The potential employs the embedded atom method form and hence is appropriate for large-scale molecular dynamics simulation.     

De/geneticizing Caste: Population Genetic Research in South Asia

Recent years have witnessed a number of population genetics studies aiming to explore the ‘genetic profile’ of the South Asian population and of the caste system. This paper examines four genetic studies and their mass media representations, and discusses interviews with leading historians and social scientists whose work has focused on issues of the caste system. Similar to earlier commentators—from colonial scholars and administrators to Hindu reformers and nationalists—who provided different explanations for the origin of the caste system, recent genetic studies have offered conflicting inferences on the nature of castes and tribes of the subcontinent. These studies, the way they were received on the subcontinent, and assayed by historians of caste, tell a story about agendas of geneticization competing with forces of resistance. On the one hand, they signal a new interest in the debate about the relationship between caste and ‘ethnicity’; on the other hand, they are used selectively by different social groups to strengthen their own political agendas, are denied cognitive validity by historians of caste, and never reach a consensus about the history of caste formation.     

The relation of the conceptual self to recent and distant autobiographical memories

Based on the self-memory system model (SMS; Conway, Singer, & Tagini, 2004) of autobiographical memory, this study uses a large sample of young and middle-aged adults to investigate the relation between individuals’ current self-characteristics and the content of both their earliest childhood memory and a recent memory. In the first session, participants’ current self-characteristics were assessed. In the second session, individuals provided a written narrative of their earliest childhood memory and a more recent memory (within-participants design) and rated the self themes present in each memory. In keeping with the SMS model, findings show that current self-characteristics were reflected in individuals’ memories. As predicted, however, recent memories were more frequently linked to current self-characteristics than were earliest memories. All six current self-characteristics predicted the inclusion of these themes in recent memories, but only four self-characteristics were associated with memory themes in earliest memories. The relation between current self-characteristics and memory themes did not differ across young and middle-aged adults, suggesting developmental stability in these relations. Findings provide general support for the SMS model but also suggest possibilities for its extension and refinement.