“Boundary-setting as a core activity in complex public systems”

Title: Boundary-setting as a core activity in complex public systems
Authors: Joanne Murphy & Mary Lee Rhodes

The definition of the boundary of a system is at the core of any systems approach (Midgley 2000; 2003). By defining boundaries we enable – and delimit – the range of outcomes sought and the actions and resources that can be brought to bear. In complex adaptive systems (CAS) analysis, the conceptualisaion and definition of boundaries is particularly challenging as they are constantly undergoing redefinition through agent action, interaction and entry/exit. (Rhodes et al 2011). The concept of ‘boundaries’ appears regularly in a wide range of literature around public management, administration, geopolitics, regeneration and organisational development. Discussions around boundaries focus on many things from concrete physical manifestations and barriers, to virtual interfaces between one organisational unit and another, or even entirely theoretical demarcations between different schools of thought (Kaboolian, 1998, Levi-Faur, 2004, Agranoff & McGuire, 2004).

However, managing ‘beyond’ such boundaries is a routinely recurring aspiration that transcends sectors and local concerns. Unsurprisingly then, there is an increasing understanding of the need to acknowledge and manage such boundaries (whether they be physical, social or organisational) within public management as a discipline (Currie et al 2007, Fitzsimmons and White, 1997, Murtagh, 2002). This paper explores the impact of boundaries on public management strategic decision-making in the sectors of urban regeneration and healthcare. In particular, it focuses on demarcations to physical space, communal identity and within professional relationships in these sectors.

The first section describes the research that gave rise to the paper and the cases examined. Next we briefly define what we mean by boundaries. We explore issues that have emerged from our analysis of urban regeneration and health care singularly, before looking at how the concept of boundaries is a recurrent concern across the sectors. The main contribution of the paper is an exploration of how a CAS lens can bring a new insight into the concept of boundaries and decision-making in the two sets of case studies. This discussion will concentrate on initial conditions, bifurcation and adaptation as key CAS factors in relation to boundaries. We conclude with a brief discussion on the benefits of a CAS lens to an analysis of boundaries in public management decision-making.
References:

Agranoff, R. and McGuire, M. (2003) Collaborative Public Management: Strategies for Local Government. Washington, DC: Georgetown Univ. Press.

Currie, G., Lockett, A. (2007) “A critique of transformational leadership: moral, professional & contingent dimensions of leadership within public services organizations”. Human Relations 60: 341-370.

Fitzsimmons and White, (1997) "Crossing boundaries: communication between professional groups", Journal of Management in Medicine, Vol. 11 Iss: 2, pp.96 – 101

Kaboolian, L. (1998) “The New Public Management: Challenging the Boundaries of the Management vs. Administration Debate” Public Administration Review Vol. 58, No. 3 pp.189-193

Levi-Faur D. and Vigoda-Gadot Eran (eds) (2004) International Public Policy and Management: Policy Learning Beyond Regional, Cultural and Political Boundaries, Marcel Dekker,
Midgley, G. (ed) (2003) Systems Thinking. London: Sage Publications

Midgley, G. (2000) Systemic Intervention: Philosophy, Methodology and Practice. New York, NY: Kluwer.

Murtagh, B. (2002). The Politics of Territory: Policy and Segregation in Northern Ireland. Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Rhodes, ML, Joanne Murphy, Jenny Muir, John Murray (2011) Public Management & Complexity Theory: Richer Decision Making in Irish Public Services, UK: Routledge

A Strain-Driven Morphotropic Phase Boundary in BiFeO3

Piezoelectric materials, which convert mechanical to electrical energy and vice versa, are typically characterized by the intimate coexistence of two phases across a morphotropic phase boundary. Electrically switching one to the other yields large electromechanical coupling coefficients. Driven by global environmental concerns, there is currently a strong push to discover practical lead-free piezoelectrics for device engineering. Using a combination of epitaxial growth techniques in conjunction with theoretical approaches, we show the formation of a morphotropic phase boundary through epitaxial constraint in lead-free piezoelectric bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) films. Electric field-dependent studies show that a tetragonal-like phase can be reversibly converted into a rhombohedral-like phase, accompanied by measurable displacements of the surface, making this new lead-free system of interest for probe-based data storage and actuator applications.

Influence of a Single Grain Boundary on Domain Wall Motion in Ferroelectrics

Epitaxial tetragonal 425 and 611 nm thick Pb(ZrTi)O (PZT) films are deposited by pulsed laser deposition on SrRuO-coated (100) SrTiO 24° tilt angle bicrystal substrates to create a single PZT grain boundary with a well-defined orientation. On either side of the bicrystal boundary, the films show square hysteresis loops and have dielectric permittivities of 456 and 576, with loss tangents of 0.010 and 0.015, respectively. Using piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), a decrease in the nonlinear piezoelectric response is observed in the vicinity (720-820 nm) of the grain boundary. This region represents the width over which the extrinsic contributions to the piezoelectric response (e.g., those associated with the domain density/configuration and/or the domain wall mobility) are influenced by the presence of the grain boundary. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images collected near and far from the grain boundary indicate a strong preference for (101)/(1-01) type domain walls at the grain boundary, whereas (011)/(01-1) and (101)/(1-01) are observed away from this region. It is proposed that the elastic strain field at the grain boundary interacts with the ferro-electric/elastic domain structure, stabilizing (101)/(1-01) rather than (011)/(01-1) type domain walls, which inhibits domain wall motion under applied field and decreases non-linearity. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Parental Disputes, Religious Upbringing and Welfare in English Law and the ECHR

This article assesses the position of English law concerning parental disputes about the religious upbringing of children. Despite the strong emphasis on both parents being able to direct their child’s religious upbringing, courts have interpreted the child’s welfare to restrict the exposure of the child to parental religious beliefs or practices in some circumstances: preserving the child’s future choice of religion, the physical integrity of the child, the child’s contact and relationship with both parents, the child’s educational choices, and the child’s relationship with both parents’ religious community. It is suggested that courts should have a wide understanding of welfare and should be wary to prohibit parents teaching their minority beliefs. This article also compares the position of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and suggests that, despite the stronger emphasis by the ECtHR on parental rights, English law is generally not that much at odds with the ECtHR.

Construction Disputes in Small to Medium Enterprises in Ireland during Recession: Identification of Critical Factors

Purpose - To identify the critical factors causing construction disputes in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland during the recent recession period of 2007 to 2013.
Design/Methodology/Approach - A mixed method approach incorporating a literature review, case studies and questionnaire survey, with results analysed using exploratory (data reduction) factor analysis.
Findings - The results indicate seven core critical factors which result in construction disputes in SMEs in Ireland during a recession: Payment and extras; Physical work conditions; Poor financial/legal practise; Changes to the agreed scope of works; Time overrun; Defects; and Requests for increase in speed of project and long-term defects.
Research Limitations/Implications - With Ireland emerging from the current economic recession and the prevalence of SMEs to the construction sector, it is essential to document the core critical factors of construction disputes which emerge within this particular segment of the built environment.
Practical Implications - To address the adversarial nature of the construction sector and the prevalence of SMEs, it is essential to identify and document the critical factors of construction disputes within this remit. It is envisaged that the results of this research will be acknowledged, and the recommendations adopted, by construction SMEs, particularly within Ireland, as they emerge from the economic recession.
Originality/Value - This paper fulfils a gap in knowledge with the emergence of the economic recession and the identification of critical factors of construction dispute within SMEs in the Irish construction industry.

Automotive waste heat recovery: Working fluid selection and related boundary conditions

This paper presents the rational for the selection of fluids for use in a model based study of sub and supercritical Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The study focuses on multiple vehicle heat sources and the potential of WHR ORC’s for its conversion into useful work. The work presented on fluid selection is generally applicable to any waste heat recovery system, either stationary or mobile and, with careful consideration, is also applicable to single heat sources. The fluid selection process presented reduces the number of potential fluids from over one hundred to a group of under twenty fluids for further refinement in a model based WHR ORC performance study. The selection process uses engineering judgement, legislation and, where applicable, health and safety as fluid selection or de-selection criteria. This paper also investigates and discusses the properties of specific ORC fluids with regard to their impact on the theoretical potential for delivering efficient WHR ORC work output. The paper concludes by looking at potential temperature and pressure WHR ORC limits with regard to fluid properties thereby assisting with the generation of WHR ORC simulation boundary conditions.

Influence of Boundary Conditions on the Low Velocity Impact Damage Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic Plates (ICTWS2014-0501)

No abstract available

When innovation fails: An institutional perspective of the (non)adoption of boundary spanning IT innovation

We combine the concepts of legitimacy, institutional (mis)alignments, strategic responses and organizing visions to develop a conceptual framework to analyse the adoption of innovations that span organisational fields. We apply the framework to examine a telehealth innovation connecting a public sector hospital-based eye clinic with private sector optometry practices. We find that while compromise strategies were successful in encouraging adoption within each field, the innovation ultimately failed as fields developed different organising visions which could not be reconciled. The findings suggest that institutional misalignments within and between fields interact to amplify their overall effect on the adoption of hybrid innovations.

An approach to determine the local boundary of small disturbance voltage stability region in a cut-set power space:基于微扰的割集电压稳定域局部边界求解方法

A new approach to determine the local boundary of voltage stability region in a cut-set power space (CVSR) is presented. Power flow tracing is first used to determine the generator-load pair most sensitive to each branch in the interface. The generator-load pairs are then used to realize accurate small disturbances by controlling the branch power flow in increasing and decreasing directions to obtain new equilibrium points around the initial equilibrium point. And, continuous power flow is used starting from such new points to get the corresponding critical points around the initial critical point on the CVSR boundary. Then a hyperplane cross the initial critical point can be calculated by solving a set of linear algebraic equations. Finally, the presented method is validated by some systems, including New England 39-bus system, IEEE 118-bus system, and EPRI-1000 bus system. It can be revealed that the method is computationally more efficient and has less approximation error. It provides a useful approach for power system online voltage stability monitoring and assessment. This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50707019), Special Fund of the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2009CB219701), Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of PR China (No. 200439), Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Development Program (No. 09JCZDJC25000), National Major Project of Scientific and Technical Supporting Programs of China During the 11th Five-year Plan Period (No. 2006BAJ03A06). ©2009 State Grid Electric Power Research Institute Press.