International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
Not a member yet
1073 research outputs found
Sort by
” The General Theory of Dynamics Systemicity” Part 7
No full text"The Bioethism paradigm" (acronym for Biology-Ethology, ecology - Humanism) fosters universal specificities relative to the complexity of Life's processing, which in form of open systems, appeared on Earth from biochemical components and survival proprieties within propitious physicochemical environmental forces (J.-J. Blanc 1996).For reference, the author’s past proceedings were developed - part after part since 2004 - as the structure and chapters of a “General Theory of Metadynamics Systemicity”. Its building blocks are being centered on the Universe diversity of x-dynamics: petadynamics teradynamics, gigadynamics’, metadynamics’, dynamics’, microdynamics’ and nanodynamics’ systemicity. The set of X-dynamics are, in physics, multipliers defined in powers of 1015 to 10-6, proceeding in increments of three orders of magnitude (10' or 1`000), such as: peta, giga, meta, kilo, micro, nano...The publication of these works is meant to support the acquisition of a large transdisciplinary understanding of the “x-dynamics’ systemicity world” that sustains the whole evolution of the Universe system’s components as well as those of living entities (things, objects, individuals), while perceiving and experiencing sets of forces and fluxes. This is why the theory of Systemicity emerged from synergies as applying the principles of “The Bioethism Transdisciplinary Paradigm of Universal Systems” down to ”Living systems” both having their specific temporal survival” that the author J.-J. Blanc developed since 1996.- “Systemicity” is a notion that surges from interrelation, interaction, intrication…within interdependent synergies. The systemicity of atomic and molecular cycles has made and sustains both cosmic systems and Life’s cycles on planet Earth along differential time periods (trillion of light-years to less than hours) and their specific retroactivity.- Intrication is the quantum entanglement of a physical phenomenon that occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently — instead, a quantum state may be given for the system as a whole, in other ways its metabolism status.- Measurements of physical properties such as position, momentum, spin, polarization, etc. performed on entangled particles are found to be appropriately correlated.The different parts of “X-dynamics Systemicity” are developed through a new “reading grid of natural structures and behaviors of entities, objects and things as adapting from “neighboring’” within “neighborhoods” (ecosystems) where they specifically cope with endogenous and exogenous events and forces inducing to the retroactive temporal restructuring of their structure and behavioral aptitudes (as in part 6).Neighboring is “to associate in a neighborly way, to communicate with, to live side by side with, and to overlook and look out. Biological molecule sequences, while neighboring, are participating in the structuring and the evolution of “cosmobjects”(JJB), organism, species and entities along their reproduction abilities. It infers nature and extent of selective forces, those driving the evolving shaping of atom sets and organism genes (mutations). In other words, as in this part 7, “survival means” possess diverse perception, memory and experience tools that empower their adaptability to the permanency of all things to happen and change, i.e.: they possess means as how to “give sense to things around from the interpretation of what’s they perceive. The choice of the sense given may be lethal or propitious to their surviving. In order to exist, both objects and living creatures expressions are replicating and evolve thanks to their perception and feeling survival tools within global, glocal and local areas (ecosystems) and by their natural structures and behavioral components which shape some form of sytemicity processes that sustain their survival. Resulting actions and gene mutations are permanently changing both the endogen milieu and external environmental ecosystems metabolism and components quality (e.g.: means used from vision interpreting [1]the formation of a move or a feeling driving to its systemicity result like fear; the gravity effect of two masses as sustaining a balanced equilibrium, flying away…).Subsequently, through ecosystems’ 3D multi-layers, from proto-organisms to humans, their individualities take on specific social traits and behavioral statuses that account for the diversity of species to get developed and/or to go extinct. For example, when the Earth became a "snowball" from a nearly total glaciation (-600 Mo/y), the survival of some neighboring bacteria and micro-organisms escaping the drastic extinction of most species, conversely perceiving ways of adaptation, boosted up an extraordinary explosion of marine species bearing quite new functions (- 545Mo/y), that then after volcanic holes progressively reheated areas of the planet and boosted some organisms population revivals from the systemicity of sets of interrelated metadynamics and their symbiotic outputs propitious with adaptation and evolution.The Universe’s global environment generates x-dynamics such as cosmic petadynamics (black holes? Black energy?), teradynamics, gigadynamics and metadynamics cycles... in form of systemic forces, fluxes and moves occur within immense gas and particles neighborhoods. Interrelated, they are some of the main physicochemical cosmic, galactic, stellar, planetary and terrestrial feedback synergies from which x-dynamics systemicity retroactions emerge (i.e. rock cycles). Sets of systemicity results make atoms and molecules to participate in the structuring of matter and cosmic objects (nebulae, baby stars, stars and planets, waters and rocks), within a molecular world that originated from and after the “Big Bang” a nd the role of aggregation.Furthermore, the physicochemical neighboring conditions for planet Earth to stabilize within the “Sun’s green belt” was a thermodynamics and environmental balanced state issued from the presence of the Moon’s mass aggregation at the right distance so as to become propitious for Life to “hatch” (gravity and tidal forces). Such favorable position, sustaining the Earth and Life’s evolution by the development of x-dynamic adaptive pathways, is in some sort of a synchronistic status with universal objects survival cycles, forces, fluxes, moves and matter that as “perceiving, giving sense and experiencing things” is highly evolving as to experiencing things” in several synergetic manners, (e.g. cosmic objects feeling, plants natural and emotional intelligence. . .). Perception tools are physicochemical and organic features treating signals- like neurons- or other microtubule as protein structures and links around brain networks. Microtubules are a component of the cytoskeleton[2], found throughout the cytoplasm. The microtubule can dynamically switch between growing and shrinking phases in this region (“search and capture model”), a matter of neighboring milieu.Life as a whole and living entities, while neighboring around, are confronted with gravitation, electromagnetism, chemical and physical phenomena, and particularly with temperature and the “thermodynamics of entropy”. Filtering their milieu symptoms and their environmental events signals, living creatures develop means of perception in ways their inner systems and organs such as the immune one, emotional brain with amygdala and reptilian area or vision with eyes are well fit drivers for supporting their survival behaviors.The neighboring areas (mille-feuille as 4D-networks) are diverse but concomitant producing forces and fluxes that are dynamical drivers within the diverse ecosystems. Their systemicity results from actions of coalescence, conjunction, co-evolution, convergence, symbiosis, percolation, phase transition or threshold output, neighborhood adaptation, etc. Universally, these actions and mechanisms concern atomic, molecular and physicochemical world’s permanently provoking feedback that drives the evolution of systemicity cycles and perception means. Because of the development of similarities in unrelated matters or organisms present in similar environments, a balanced equilibrium is necessary to sustain the whole of things to survive temporally. The disappearance of a link along a food chain completely disorganizes the ecosystem’s metabolism endangering its sustainability.Specific bonds and traits of structures and behaviors, as well as evolution trends for “surviving objects and living creatures” require a certain knowledge and a memory about actions-reactions (drivers) from ago-antagonistic signals and stimuli in order to give the propitious answer to an adaptation, then evolution of things. Issued from ecosystemic and socio-systemic metabolism and environmental statuses (geophysics, climate, predator preys networks of food chains…), these signals sustain things thanks to the x-dynamics systemic retroactivity results reigning about from the convergence of multi-symbiosis.A "Closer Look at Instincts", in animals, has the inherent tendency to engage spontaneously into particular pattern of behaviors. Examples of this include a dog shaking after it gets wet, a sea turtle seeking out the ocean after hatching, or a bird migrating before the winter season.This part of the theory, the 7th one, describes the major dynamics that symbiotically pilot “key drivers” that represent the general act of “symbiotic perception”. This act, occurring at the cosmos and biological objects levels, is inducing to different physicochemical interactions and laws (gravity…), prolonged down to the Earth major dynamic drivers that induce to its survival as well as survival specifications, adaptations and an immense evolution n of bushy Life’s species which hatched from water, oxygen, carbo dioxide, hydrogen and nitrogen…showing the four functions of such an happening: Proteins: Amino acids, protection of the body, Lipid: Fats, store energy and build up cell membrane, Carbohydrates: Sugar, provides physicochemical energy, Nucleic Acid: DNA, RNA, provide an organism the knowledge of basic functions and genetics functions.One may easily understand here that human sociology shows such the diversity of neighboring comportments and effects issued from these basic perception outfits, both being endogenous and exogenous. Observing then, that the various effects of systemicity are universally giving sense to what happens, driving the dynamics systemicity results at survival tools to induce to with adaptation and evolution necessities. Thanks to perception capacities (instinct, intelligence,) and a variety of memories (short, long term…) from which permanently emerge the symbiosis of differential qualities capable to give sense to things then to a survival timeline.
Slides for: Leadership and Systemic Innovation: Socio-Technical Systems, Ecological Systems, and Evolutionary Systems Design
No full textInnovation comprises an area of human activity that bridges disciplinary boundaries in epistemological domains as well as action frameworks in ontological domains. It involves a complex system composed of people, organizations, role structures, skills, and knowledge bases, in addition to the hardware produced in workshops and factories. This paper argues that Systemic Innovation, as an emerging field of praxis in its own right, provides an integral and actionable framework for the curation of human initiatives that span human, technological, environmental, and generational concerns with lifelong learning and creative design initiatives. To do this, the field draws on socio-technical systems theory (STS), the study of living systems and ecological system dynamics (including such areas of embodied action as permaculture), and evolutionary systems design (itself comprised of general evolution theory (GST), social systems design methodology (SSM), and lifelong and transformative learning praxes). How these frameworks are used to guide systemic innovation in service of life, increasingly robust and supportive living environments, and future-creating scenarios of systemic viability and thrivability is at the heart of the field of Systemic Innovation. This paper explores the principle outlines of this approach
The Introduction of 'British Values' Into Schools - Why Now?
No full textIn the UK in 2014, the government introduced a directive that ‘British Values’ were to be made a compulsory aspect of all State-funded education. This was mainly seen as a response to the controversial ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, whereby a number of Islamic schools in Birmingham were purported to be implementing a plan to systematically ‘radicalise’ their students. While a public inquiry found no evidence of such radicalisation, the accusation and the subsequent British Values directive sparked a number of debates in the media and in the public sphere on the place of religion and the role of the State in the formation of citizens and their identities. This paper argues that the media representations of these debates have been insufficiently penetrating, and the issue exposes deeper systemic problems in the history of the liberal democratic State and contemporary moral discourse. A historical investigation of how the British Values directive came to be introduced into schools is therefore provided, in order to expose why it came to be seen as a legitimate and necessary action. The paper has three objectives. First, it will outline the philosophical and conceptual approach taken to the historical investigation, building on a set of ideas introduced by Alistair MacIntyre concerning the loss of moral coherence in modern liberal democracies. Second, it will examine what light this philosophical approach throws on the contexts and conditions out of which the 2014 British Values initiative was born. Third, it will focus on two other discourses in British political theory, Realism and Multiculturalism, that appear to have emanated from those same contexts and conditions, and which attempt (with varying degrees of success) to move the situation forward. The paper will end with an open question about whether the teaching of British Values in schools is really the best way forward
Ethical Regulators and Super-Ethical Systems
No full textThe Good Regulator Theorem proved that every effective regulator of a system must be a model of that system, and the Law of Requisite Variety dictates the range of responses that an effective regulator must be capable of. However, having an internal model and a sufficient range of responses is insufficient to ensure effective regulation, let alone ethical regulation. And whereas being effective does not require being optimal, being ethical is absolute with respect to a particular ethical schema.This paper takes the Good Regulator Theorem, and unifies it with the Law of Requisite Variety and seven other requisites. The resulting Ethical Regulator Theorem has implications for designing and certifying explicitly ethical systems. It claims that the following nine requisites are necessary and sufficient for a cybernetic regulator to be effective and ethical:Truth is not just about information that the regulator receives as inputs or treats as facts, but also the reliability of any interpretations of such information. If the regulator’s information sources or interpretations are unreliable, and cannot be error-corrected, then the integrity of the system is in danger. And if the perceptions of the regulator can be manipulated, it can be tricked into making decisions that are ineffective or unethical.Variety in the range of possible actions must be as rich as the range of potential disturbances or situations. This is The Law of Requisite Variety.Predictability requires a model that can be used to select the actions that will give the best outcome. This is the Good Regulator Theorem.Purpose is expressed as unambiguously prioritized goals.Ethics are expressed as unambiguously prioritized values that have a higher priority than the goals for purpose. By always obeying the relevant highest priority ethical imperatives, the regulator is guaranteed to act ethically within the scope of the ethical schema. Because ethical schemas vary between legislative jurisdictions, they are handled as plug-ins.Intelligence must be applied to the previous five requisite types of information to select the most rational and effective ethical action from the set of possible actions.Influence is the existence of pathways to transmit the effects of the selected actions to the regulated system. This is not a property of the regulator itself, but a function of the connectivity relationships that span from the regulator’s outputs to elements of the regulated system and its environment.Integrity of the regulator and all its subsystems must be assured. Monitoring mechanisms must identify if an ethical imperative is violated and, if necessary, automatically notify the appropriate authorities, preserve evidence, and activate an ethical fail-safe mode.Transparency is defined by the Law of Ethical Transparency, which states “For a system to be truly ethical, it must be possible to prove retrospectively that it acted ethically with respect to the appropriate ethical schema.”Integrity and Transparency are codependent because we require integrity of transparency, and transparency of integrity.Because this theorem is independent of the ethics schema that is used, it provides a basis for systematically evaluating the adequacy of existing or proposed designs for systems that make decisions that can have ethical consequences; regardless of whether the systems are human, machines, or cyberanthropic hybrids.In addition, a new framework is proposed for classifying cybernetic systems, which highlights the existence of a possibility-space bifurcation in our future time-line, and the implementation of “super-ethical” systems is identified as an urgent moral imperative for the human race to avoid a technological dystopia. Concrete actions are proposed to steer our future towards a cyberanthropic utopia
FROM COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE TO BOUNDARY CRITIQUE: AN EXTENDED APPROACH
No full textIn the critical systems thinking (CST) literature, particularly in the theory of boundary critique, the process of marginalisation has been studied mainly taking into account those elements (issues, values, and agents) that are not fully included or excluded of a social design (Midgley, 2000). Taking this theory into account, this paper presents an extension of the theory of boundary critique by using elements of the social learning theory proposed by Wenger’s (1998, 2000, 2010b): Communities of Practice (CoP). In doing so, the proposal includes the idea of considering the marginalisation process as one described by different forms of participation and non-participation that build the participants identity and their concerns. To achieve this, this paper is organised as follows. The first section presents the main aspects of the CST research approach and the systemic intervention bases to establish the context of the discussions about marginalisation process. The second section presents the main aspects of the CoP framework. The third section presents the proposal of an extended version of the marginalisation process, applying some CoP concepts. We conclude by presenting a practical example of implementation of this extended approach and discussing the implications of this approach for CST research
A Cybernetic Approach for Changing Vehicular Circulation from Difficult to Smart in Cities of Developing Countries
No full textWe describe the partial results of a research in systems engineering for a specific socio-technical situation. It addresses the problem of urban circulation in Latin American cities not so technologically advanced. The rating of their circulation performance is very low, when travel times are considered, which produces big ecological, health and economic impacts. The problem is serious and it is still growing. The city traffic system is complex because of the large number of participants and because of the intricacies of their interrelationships. The difficulty of framing this research is observed in that it touches on five known thematic axes: Governance, Economy, Health, Ecology and Technology. The central idea to communicate is that the solution to the problem must be systemic. No feasible solutions will be obtained if the implemented actions are of trial-and-error nature, only technical or only social reductionist approaches, or copied from solutions designed for cities of different locations. The proposal is to gather the main city stakeholders at the systemic academic approach and to guide them consensually to the improvement process with tested and validated effective actions. Some of the difficulties that have been detected so far concern: describing the unstructured problem; setting up the soft systemic model and finding the feasibility conditions for the solution. After looking at the literature on the subject, outstanding scientific advances are found in the topics of the ecological automobile, the autonomous vehicle or the smart city, with proposals based on electromechanical, communications, and computing fields. They are taken into account for the project, but their expectation for been operative does not make them affordable for this case. Nevertheless, many autonomous vehicle details could be useful under a systemic view: what makes it operational is the information exchange with its environment. The synergetic operation of traffic in a congested city requires a proper information usage. In several studied cases, the urban infrastructure does not inform the driver about the restrictions, the driver does not take advantage of information to execute his actions and the traffic regulation does not profit of information to provide corrective actions. Moreover, punitive measures are privileged over preventive ones. Solving the congestion questions of these cities would only be possible if improving actions are also committed to the physical infrastructure, the traffic regulations and the respectful driving subsystems. For this reason, organizational transformation is imperative. Within the project, coordination between soft and hard system models is analyzed, aiming to carry out simulations of identified noteworthy conflict situations. And feasibility will be particularly taken into account before implementation through the agreement of the administrative, technical and social parties, based on the research work conducted at the systemic academic guide. The paper seeks to present the Systems Sciences as a theoretical and practical interdisciplinary science that enable certain solutions of the problematic situation on traffic congestion
Knowledge Mapping for Literature Reviews: A Science of Conceptual Systems Approach
No full textResearch for the purpose of understanding and explaining complex systems often includes a literature review. Regrettably, many students (and even some researchers) find literature reviews challenging for a number of reasons including the difficulty of synthesizing theoretical perspectives, maintaining the review’s relevance to the topic, and providing clear justification of the research project. This workshop is designed for professors, mentors, and managers who supervise literature reviews as well as the students and scholars who write them. In this workshop, participants will learn:How traditional approaches to literature reviews may lead to the confusion of students and the fragmentation of theoryKnowledge mapping (KM) techniques supporting easier and more effective teaching, mentoring, managing, and conducting, of literature reviewsA “science of conceptual systems” (SOCS) approach for demonstrating understanding, countering fragmentation, enabling more effective synthesis of theoretical perspectives, clarifying relevance to research project, and justifying researchWays for KM to dovetail with other approaches to managing and conducting literature reviewsHow this approach supports improvements in actionable understanding and accelerates advancement in any field of studyAvoiding deep philosophical discussion in favour of focusing on the operational “nuts and bolts,” this dynamic workshop includes individual and group exercises, short presentations, and conversations. Participants are encouraged to bring one or two theories which they find interesting or challenging. Due to the limited time available, those theories should be relatively concise – represented in a paragraph or two of text (a set of related propositions), or as a diagram (including concepts and connections). If you do not have a theory, one will be provided for you.This workshop begins with the understanding that approaches to conducting literature reviews are often systematic (following a specific path), while the theoretical perspectives resulting from those reviews have been unavoidably fragmented because we have lacked an understanding of what it means to have a systemic theoretical perspective of our real world systems. Without highly systemic theories, we are unable to deeply understand our natural systems or to optimize our designed systems.SOCS research shows that theories that are more systemic are more useful for creating and exchanging knowledge, understanding situations, making decisions, and reaching goals. Importantly, we can measure "how systemic" our theories are, thus providing a relatively objective path for improving the usefulness/effectiveness of our theories.By representing knowledge graphically as a KM, we can more easily evaluate the systemic structure of that knowledge. That perspective enables students, professors, and dissertation supervisors/mentors to easily identify strengths and weaknesses of theoretical perspectives. We can use those insights, in turn, to focus conversations for improving literature reviews and research, thus supporting more rapid advancements in the field.This approach has proved interesting to students and researchers, leading to a number of published papers. Additionally, this approach is especially useful for interdisciplinary projects as it supports the synthesis of theories within and between disciplines. Finally, it is worth considering the place of this systems based approach in the broader context of systems thinking, cybernetics, and related fields. As each field advances, and our understanding of systems becomes more systemic, we can expect this kind of literature review will lead to improvements in the organization of our field’s knowledge. That, in turn, may support improved accessibility of the systems literature, thus accelerating the advancement of our fields
From Mosaic to Systematic: Applying Systems Thinking to Water Resource Management
No full textEffective Water Resource Management (WRM) is a complex undertaking that requires a variety of solutions; including economic ones. Both supply-side and demand-side management approaches have been implemented with the goal of meeting the demands of multiple stakeholders while being constrained by challenges such as infrastructure inefficiencies, water source access issues, and short-termism/political expedience. While successes have been made on both the supply and demand side, there is doubt that either approach is sufficient on its own to promote effective, sustainable water resource management over the long-term. In light of this, it is natural to propose an amalgamation of the two. However, combining the approaches without considering 1) which variant is most appropriate or, importantly, 2) potential interaction effects between the two means the hybrid will be merely mosaic in nature. While such mosaic approaches do reflect a much needed diversity in solutions, they may run the risk of being suboptimal or, worse, counterproductive. Instead, a systems-based approach toward effective management is necessary.A complete systems approach includes an understanding of the goals and assumptions underwriting WRM. An important place to begin is with the concept of resilience. Water infrastructure managers want their systems to be resilient to stress and the recent crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, illustrates the perils of failing to meet such a goal. Furthermore, the economic strategies highlighted above are intended to make water systems more resilient. Given this role, it is critical to be clear about the definition of resilience, who the stakeholders in a resilient system are, and over what time scale resilience is measured. A systems-based approach to WRM should begin by minimizing conceptual uncertainty. In Part 1 of this paper, the authors canvas several resilience concepts and highlight some of the philosophical contentions that lie behind them. In Part 2, the authors review economic theory for both supply and demand-side approaches. In Part 3, the authors consider how these two strategies can be applied to WRM specifically; leveraging Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s concept of isomorphology to clarify the connection between general economic theory and its application to the management of water resources. The authors conclude with a summary of the major outcomes of this initial analysis and open questions to be addressed in future research
INTERPRETING RA MODELS OF NOTE-ONSET INTERACTIONS TO DISCERN AND EXPLAIN CLAVE DIRECTION
No full textReconstructability Analysis (RA) was used to generate and evaluate models of sequences of musical note onsets. These sequences were classified into four classes in three musical contexts based on a musical grammar akin to “harmony” but concerning the timing of note events. (Having emerged only in certain societies and from the cultural interactions between Yorùbá, various Angolan peoples, Iberians, and the native peoples of the pre-Columbian Americas, this musical grammar is found only in some of the musics of South America and the Caribbean.)A variety of search approaches and search criteria were used in the OCCAM 3 modeling engine, including BIC, AIC, and information, to extract classification information from rhythmic sequences. (‘Rhythm’ here refers to the timing of note events, not necessarily to any steady pulse, repetition, or percussive instrumentation.) The models discovered reflect trade-offs between complexity (degrees of freedom) and simplicity in how they prioritize some note-event interactions over others.These close to 10,800 randomly generated idealized patterns have a 16-dimensional input space and a four-dimensional output space (for a total of 20). By limiting the output classes to whether a certain clave direction was present or not, the search space dropped to 17 dimensions. Hence, it was paramount to develop search trade-offs. The approaches developed for traversing the search space efficiently are detailed in the paper. Interpretation of these models is compared with several criteria for clave-direction determination deduced from systematic observations of four master musicians (and from deep exposure to the underlying musical practice).BIC was found to be the most beneficial modeling criterion, with information second, and AIC third. The models discovered through RA provide insight into how clave direction arises in all possible rhythm sequences in that they highlight certain rhythmic schemata known to be strong indicators of clave direction while leaving out others as well as highlighting other rhythmic relationships for discerning clave direction that have been discovered through musicological (qualitative) means.In some cases, models considered in this study show trade-offs suggesting that sufficient musical insight may be gained by considering interactions of fewer note events. In other cases, the interpretation of clave through an analogue to algebraic elimination gains unexpected support through RA modeling.We thus demonstrate the ability of RA to model an intricate and culturally specific (not broadly accessible) musical construct in terms of discrete note events and their interactions in such a way as to mirror a human understanding of the corresponding musical practice
Including Generative Mechanisms in Project scheduling using Hybrid Simulation
No full textScheduling is central to the practice of project management and a topic of significant interest for the operations research and management science academic communities. However, a rigour-relevance gap has developed between the research and practice of scheduling that mirrors similar concerns current in management science. Closing this gap requires a more accommodative philosophy that can integrate both hard and soft factors in the construction of project schedules. This paper outlines one interpretation of how this can be achieved through the combination of discrete event simulation for schedule construction and system dynamics for variable resource productivity. An implementation was built in a readily available modelling environment and its scheduling capabilities tested. They compare well with published results for commercial project scheduling packages. The use of system dynamics in schedule construction allows for the inclusion of generative mechanisms, models that describe the process by which some observed phenomenon is produced. They are powerful tools for answering questions about why things happen the way they do, a type of question very relevant to practice
https://code.research.uts.edu.au/10660963/hybrid-simulation-scheduling-engin