Search results for "Dynamic system"
showing 10 items of 38 documents
Criteria for validity of thermodynamic equations from non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations
2008
Abstract The assumption of local equilibrium is validated in four different systems where heat and mass are transported. Mass fluxes up to 13 kmol / m 2 s and temperature gradients up to 10 12 K / m were used. A two-component mixture, two vapor–liquid interfaces, a chemical reaction in a temperature gradient and gas adsorbed in zeolite were studied using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. In all cases, we verified that thermodynamic variables obeyed normal thermodynamic relations, with an accuracy better than 5%. The heat and mass fluxes, and the reaction rate were linearly related to the driving forces. Onsager's reciprocal relations were validated for two systems. Equipartiti…
Thermodynamics of small systems embedded in a reservoir: a detailed analysis of finite size effects
2012
International audience; We present a detailed study on the finite size scaling behaviour of thermodynamic properties for small systems of particles embedded in a reservoir. Previously, we derived that the leading finite size effects of thermodynamic properties for small systems scale with the inverse of the linear length of the small system, and we showed how this can be used to describe systems in the thermodynamic limit [Chem. Phys. Lett. 504, 199 (2011)]. This approach takes into account an effective surface energy, as a result of the non-periodic boundaries of the small embedded system. Deviations from the linear behaviour occur when the small system becomes very small, i.e. smaller tha…
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as an Emergent System: A Dynamic Systems Theory Perspective
2016
This paper sets out to present a novel construal of one of the notions of Vygotskian cultural-historical theory viz., zone of proximal development (ZPD) drawing upon dynamic systems theory. The principal thesis maintains that ZDP is an emergent and dynamic system which is engendered by a dialectical concatenation of psychogenesic and sociogenesic facets of human development over time. It is reasoned that Vygotskian cultural-historical theory of human development, by invoking dialectical logic, has transcended Cartesian substance dualism and in turn has proffered a monistic and process-anchored ontology for emerging becoming of human consciousness. Likewise, it is contended that dynamic syst…
Measuring something that cannot be grasped – Reflections about Methodology in Elicitation of Spoken Competence
2014
The focus of this article is on reflections about methodology and the methodical choices in empirical research into the role of consciousness in the acquisition of spoken competence in German as second or third foreign language. Seeing language as a complex, dynamic system, I want to show how learning fluctuates. I would like to demonstrate that there is a continuous fluctuation between nonlinearity and stability which depends on particular driving forces. These forces have to be captured by methods whose aim is to increase the certainty of data. These reflections were proved by a case that wants to demonstrate how a multi-methodical approach works in this direction.
Convergence Analysis of Distributed Set-Valued Information Systems
2016
This paper focuses on the convergence of information in distributed systems of agents communicating over a network. The information on which the convergence is sought is not rep- resented by real numbers, as often in the literature, rather by sets. The dynamics of the evolution of information across the net- work is accordingly described by set-valued iterative maps. While the study of convergence of set-valued iterative maps is highly complex in general, this paper focuses on Boolean maps, which are comprised of arbitrary combinations of unions, intersections, and complements of sets. For these important class of systems, we provide tools to study both global and local convergence. A distr…
The Complexity of Learner Agency
2012
Successful language learning depends crucially on the activity and initiative of the learner (van Lier 2008: 163). However, before a learner engages their agentic resources and chooses to exercise their agency in a particular learning context, they have to hold a personal sense of agency – a belief that their behaviour can make a difference to their learning in that setting. In this article, I examine the construct of learner agency through the lens of complexity theory. I attempt to show how a learner’s sense of agency emerges from the complex dynamic interaction of a range of components in multiple levels of context. Considering longitudinal data from a single case study of a tertiary-lev…
Variation and variability in L2 learning trajectories : Learning the Finnish existential construction
2022
Taking an onomasiological approach and a dynamic usage-based perspective, this study explores how four beginning L2 learners of Finnish develop in expressing existentiality (‘there is something somewhere’) before and after instruction. Data were collected weekly over a period of nine months and examined for conventionalized and non-conventionalized constructions that express existentiality. As expected from a dynamic usage-based perspective, both inter-individual variation and intra-individual variability were identified. The initial repertoires of two of the learners were quite variable, as they used several different non-conventionalized constructions before settling on more conventionali…
Towards a dynamic systems approach to the development of language and music - Theoretical foundations and methodological issues
2009
Music and language are considered as distinct auditory systems that serve different communicative uses. From the perspective of infants rather inexperienced with their native musical and linguistic systems, these differences are less apparent. One of the enduring puzzles related to human cognitive development is the question of how children acquire these complex systems with such effortlessness and speed, and how developmental change can be explained. Dynamic systems theory (DST) can make significant contributions to our understanding of cognitive development, and has already been successfully applied to first and second language development. By drawing together findings from various scient…
Deconstructing and reconstructing resilience: a dynamic network approach
2019
Resilience is still often viewed as a unitary personality construct that, as a kind of anti-nosological entity, protects individuals against stress-related mental problems. However, increasing evidence indicates that the maintenance of mental health in the face of adversity results from complex and dynamic processes of adaptation to stressors that involve the activation of several separable protective factors. Such resilience factors can reside at biological, psychological and social levels and may include stable predispositions (such as genotype or personality traits) and malleable properties, skills, capacities or external circumstances (such as gene expression patterns, emotion regulatio…
Dynamic properties of successful plural leadership configuration: An exploratory process-study
2023
Our article introduces an exploratory process study of successful plural leadership configuration in searching for alternative solutions to wicked problems. The study was executed within four educational organisations that solved challenging wicked problems arising from today’s changing contexts. We argue that plural leadership configuration is a dynamic process when people in diverse organisational positions, roles, and levels design profitable endeavours through their ideas and activities, bring about desirable outcomes within diverse conditions and outline the future. We searched for potential systemic patterns, characteristics, and structure within this dynamic process. To find these p…