International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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Validating Models in Public Health Research
No full text<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-520092929 1073786111 9 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-134238209 -371195905 63 0 4129279 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:11.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> The application of systems method to the understanding of public health problems (e.g., alcohol and drug abuse, chronic disease, obesity, tobacco use, and violence) has grown considerably in the past decade. System methods are seen by many of their advocates within public health as complimenting traditional behavioral and epidemiological research methods, while others see them as a fundamentally different way of understanding and explaining public health problems. Those who see the methods as complimentary often use empirical data from studies employing traditional methods and statistical analysis to validate the output of simulation models. As in other fields of applied research in which modeling has become popular, this tendency to equate a model’s correspondence to data with the model corresponding to reality is especially pronounced when the goal of the modeling is to inform public policy. The present paper discusses the problems that arise when using data from an empirical study to assess the validity of a simulation model. It illustrates these problems through an examination of a specific example from the public health literature. The example demonstrates that, rather than empirical data being superior to the model, each is better considered as simply capturing a different aspect of a real-world system. Alternative means of assessing model usefulness are also discussed
Using Boundary games to analyse actor's interactions
No full textWhen standard codification methods are applied to the problem of analyzing actor interactions, both the sense and direction of the conversation are lost. As a way of dealing with this problem this paper proposes the use of the boundary games method (Velez-Castiblanco, 2011, 2012a) for the analysis of interactions. This method facilitates a description of actors’ actions in terms of the effects of their communicative expressions over the boundary, encompassing the assumptions considered relevant to the discussion. This method draws upon boundary critique theory and language pragmatics. Specifically, boundary games are underpinned in the Midgley and Ulrich boundary critique, Wittgenstein’s language games and the Sperber and Wilson relevance theory. It is argued that this method allows the identification of interaction patterns, actor intervention approaches, points of view that fuel the debate and the pivotal proposals that mediate these views. All of these factors allow us to represent sequences of events or trajectories for interactions. The data analyzed comes from observations of a top management team (Sura TMT) responsible for the corporate strategy of a Colombian multi-business firm, Suramericana S.A. The main purpose of this research is to understand the ways in which managerial knowledge is deployed in the management of a multi-business firm. The data were first analyzed through the grounded theory codification process in order to describe the parts of the system under study. The data then feeds the boundary games interactions analysis
A Relational Framework for Sustainability Science
No full textSince publication of a synthesis of Robert Rosen's relational theory in 2011, called R-thoery, considerable progress has been made in defining a general system framework that is both causally based and subject to analysis using category theory. This framework is based on hypothesized natural closure of Aristotle's four causes and implicit fifth level unity or organization of causal relations. The framework is based on holon relations described in the earlier work. In this paper I outline various representations of that framework showing that it is general to many known and practiced systems frameworks for understanding or managing complexity. These examples range from modern applications to anchient history. Based on these comparisons I propose that the causal structure of the R-theory holon does indeed represent a "General System Theory" as initially sought by Ludvig von Bertalanffy and implicitly in the work of Robert Rosen. I also suggest that it may be usefully applied in the emerging discipline of "Sustainability Science" which is seeking such a framework for integrating models of human and natural systems
USING REFLECTION AND STORYTELLING TO INFORM EVIDENCE-BASED DECISIONS
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to examine decision-making in project management, and the considerations which project managers need to take into account in order to make informed evidence-based decisions. The specific aim of this paper is to present an understanding of how project managers use experiences, recalled through reflection and facilitated by storytelling, to make decisions. The paper provides an insight into how project managers may utilize decision-making approaches to accommodate a balance between factual observation, other evidence, a project manager’s recollection and reconstruction of facts, and facts imbedded within experiences. The drive to embed formal, structured approaches to decision-making is discussed against a background of unstructured and informal interpretation of experiences. The research conducted by the author used an action research methodology to gather and analyze data through four interventions conducted with experienced project managers in Australia. The examination reveals that through reflecting on experiences relating to past projects, project managers make considered decisions. This approach to decision-making may be seen as paradoxical and interpreted as biased. Perhaps this is a valuable bias which may provide an opportunity to extend the premise of an evidence-based management approach where the aim is to reduce bias
Enhancing Lean Interventions through the use of Systems Thinking in the food production industry: a case in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria
No full textThis paper discusses how Lean Thinking (Lean), can be enhanced through the use of Systems Thinking (ST) tools and methodologies. Lean has emerged as a process improvement philosophy aiming to enhance value through identifying and eradicating waste through, inter alia, various tools. However, Lean tends to focus narrow stakeholder input, their views and their agendas, leaving out the impact of the operational process on the other relevant stakeholders that may be affected by the system. Such a narrow view has an impact on Lean implementation and adoption, and on its success in improving processes and sustaining changes. To address this gap, we argue for the use of Systemic Lean Intervention (SLI) by combining Lean and Systems tools, using a case of a commercial livestock farm in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. We suggest that SLI can assist in a wider acceptance of Lean improvements and we highlight constraints related to SLI including the autocratic leadership style and boundary rigidities, which hinder effective team play. Finally, it is noted that this approach would require time to be adopted and used in the particular context
Analysis of Hurst exponent and the fractal dimension of seismic activity occurred in the Cocos Plate, Mexico
No full textEarthquakes are a natural phenomenon of great interest, know and understand the processes and mechanisms that the generated is subject of research worldwide, and it is essential to develop models that allow in the future understanding their behavior and therefore predict their occurrence. The objective of this research is to analyze the dynamics of seismic activity occurred in the Cocos Plate - Mexico, through the evolution of the Hurst exponent and fractal dimension in 3D, in time series of seismic activity, taking the magnitude (M) as the main parameter. In the analysis is used the methodology for the development of earthquake prediction models developed under the systems approach designed by the authors. To define the time series of seismic activity, are considered first annual intervals to find the Hurst exponent of each year since 1988 (the year in which the database is consistent) until 2012, and then it accumulates the years to find again the Hurst exponent to see the cumulative evolution of it. In research, is analyzed the seismic activity occurred in the Cocos Plate in Mexico, in the period from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 2012. Analyses were performed following the methods proposed in this research, mainly considering that the Hurst exponent analysis provides the ability to find that the space-temporal behavior of the seismicity obey and/or can be described by parameters such as the dimension fractal and complex systems
TOWARDS THE COMPOSITION OF THE COMMUNITY SYSTEM IN THE POLITICAL PRACTICE OF TOURISM IN THE STATE OF HIDALGO, MEXICO
No full textIn Mexico, tourism is an activity that generates income, jobs, and the development of infrastructure. However, its importance lies in being a commercial activity prone to be planned in a production system to avoid undesirable impacts on the fields of interest for tourism, comprising the natural, social, and cultural systems. The composition of the participants in decision making is essential because it allows us to know how the resources must be combined to set up tourism activities within the principles of sustainability. In the definition of the players, the government keeps an important role in formulating public policies that affect the design, planning and operation of tourism activities and establishes a communication channel that expands or restricts the scope for action of the other players. Therefore, in this study we propose to define the community tourism system in the tourist practice of politics in the state of Hidalgo from the perspective of systemic with the intention of highlighting the aspects involved in planning this activity. The study identified three orientations and the communal system and its subsystems are presented in the tourism policy.  
General System Theory: Towards the Unification of Science
No full textThis paper questions two core assumptions pervading the field of General Systems Theory (GST) in order to preserve the ideal of the unity of science advocated by its founding fathers. The author claims that an ontology of levels based on unquestioned emergentist and materialist assumptions leads to a disunity of systems. A metaphysics is proposed to inform GST which is based not on logics but on the nature of reality in order to transcend four antinomies of thought and explain the unity of systems. It is claimed that reality is animated by an internal force that permeates the entire universe, an endless craving for being referred as the will. The will manifests in the universe in the form of substances which have a dialectical character and a pluralist personality. Besides the metaphysical law of the unity of opposites, the author postulates a set of ontological laws that regulate the manifestation of substances in the universe: individuation, continuity, linear gradation and recursivity.In addition, each substance constitutes a different kind of being. Together, all beings configure the ontological levels of reality that come into existence when the substance constituting a being is dominated by another substance. Furthermore, once substances come into existence in the form of beings, their craving for being is transformed into a will to immortality. However, since beings are nested unified totalities constituted by composite substances, this gives rise to an internal conflict between beings because they all have the same hunger for immortality. Fortunately, there is always a dominant substance that provides unity to the composite and a dominant being that directs the activity of the unified totality.Therefore, beings don’t live autonomous or independent lives but interact with other beings belonging to the same unified totality constituted by other substances. This explains the interaction between the ontological levels of reality. Moreover, beings display multiple forms of interaction. There are upward, downward, sideward and outward interactions between beings of the same or of a different kind, belonging to the same or to a different unified totality.Finally, it is claimed that the form of individuation of a being is shaped by the dominant being that directs the activity of the unified totality. 
Hybrid methodology for the diagnosis of a knee tumor prosthesis
No full textIn medical practice, it is common to find complex biological and engineering systems; which have multiple interactions with the environment and within themselves. Systems engineering deals with the study and understanding of reality. In order to implement or optimize complex systems it takes a transdisciplinary approach in which it integrates several disciplines in a synergic way. The concepts and methodologies of General Systems Theory may help medicine, to integrate social, psychological, economic, historical and anatomic factors causing a medical condition. If all factors are considered, it is possible to provide a complete treatment. Prosthetic systems used for the treatment of bone tumors are one example of complex systems. The systemic view helps identify the factors that cause unexpected behavior of the prosthesis, its subsystems changes and patient interaction with the prosthesis in daily life. Bone tumors adversely affect the health and physical integrity of patients who suffer them and, in severe cases, threaten the life of the patient. The anatomical region most often affected is the knee (over 50% of cases). One of the treatments listed in this condition is surgical removal of the tumor followed by reconstruction site affected by arthrodesis. Patients with arthrodesis can perform some demanding activities from the physical point of view (walking in uneven or slippery surfaces, up and down slopes, picking things up standing). However, they have limitations as to the function of the affected limb. Arthrodesis has the advantage of involving a lower cost and that it preserves the patient's anatomy, which is a better option from the emotional point of view. The National Rehabilitation Institute (INR, for its Spanish acronym) is one of the National Institutes of Health of the Mexican Federal Government. The INR has its own design of spacer and intramedullary nail for knee arthrodesis. The implant consists of a solid intramedullary nail of Ti-6Al-4V medical grade alloy, which is inserted through the medullary canal of the femur and tibia, two pin blockers for the femur and two pins for the tibia, and a cylindrical spacer standing on the site of the knee. Although the implant has been successful many times, the life of the implant is limited by pins loosening, which causes intense pain to the patients, negatively affecting their quality of life. This is because the loads on the pins are very high, so they sink into the bone beneath them. The use of Finite Element Analysis has shown that the location of the pins over the resection site plays an important role in the way the loads are distributed throughout the implant and the size of the resection influences the loads occurring on the pins. To achieve a comprehensive diagnosis of the prosthetic system various departments of the INR should work together: Bone Tumor Service, Biomechanics Laboratory and Quality of Life Department. To integrate the worldview of these areas a hybrid methodology (soft and hard systems) is implemented by developing an experimental design that involves a larger number of variables than the analysis described above. The methodology of Checkland and the Cybernetics Model are applied in order to evaluate the performance of the prosthesis and how it impacts the quality of life of patients
Roots of Sustainability in Ancient India
No full textArchaeology of the ancient civilization discovered in the Indus Valley region (now including the re-discovered course of the river Saraswati) suggests similarities with Vedic philosophy pre-dating the classical Vedic period. Linking proto-Vedic origins with Harrapan and pre-Harrapan culture makes sense as the "Aryan Invasion Theory" is increasingly discredited from lack of evidence, and as evidence of a relatively undisturbed proto-Vedic cultural succession in the Indus-Saraswati region builds. A tentative link should thus be made between Vedic philosophy, for which no exogenous cultural origin as been found, with the Indus-Saraswati civilizations, which reveal clear evidence lending to Vedic interpretation. Textual, Geophysical, archaeological, philosophical, and genetic evidence are consistent with origin and sustainable practice of prototypical Vedic holism in the Indus/Saraswati region from at least 3000BC until decline and/or dispersion of the culture from 1900BC to 600BC, probably due to climate and hydrological changes. The new timeline suggests an early practice of Vedic holism that appears to have been sustainable for a surprising length of time. We examine the possible basis of that holistic belief in terms of similarities between Vedic literature, images found on archaeological artefacts, and a recent systems theory of cyclical causation that also corresponds with Vedic thought. The collapse of this highly productive, influential, and yet peaceful civilization, which was apparently a centre of holistic belief, corresponds with a dramatic rise of dualistic thinking that spread widely along with the development of Abrahamic religions, both having strong influences on Greek philosophy and the development of modern science. Our present situation of proliferating technology in the absence of systemic comprehension of its impact on society and nature may thus be attributed to this dramatic pre-historical shift from holistic to dualistic thought. We conclude with recommending an international education and research agenda, applying modern system thinking to better understand the ancient concepts of holism. We also recommend much greater international attention to archaeology and other studies of the Indus/Saraswati region