Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the ISSS - 2018 Corvallis, OR, USA

INTERPRETING RA MODELS OF NOTE-ONSET INTERACTIONS TO DISCERN AND EXPLAIN CLAVE DIRECTION

Mehmet Vurkaç — 2019-09-02

Reconstructability 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.

MICE TOURISM NETWORK TOPOLOGY AS AN INNOVATION IN THE COMPLEMENTARITY OF AN SSM APPLICATION

Isaias Badillo-Piña — 2019-09-15

Socio-Technical systems are characterized by complexity, turbulence, and the diversity of points of view on how to deal with problem situations. However, they can be explored by the observer as learning systems.

This research establishes the problem situations that have avoided the viability of MICE Tourism in Mexico, such as legacy aspects, the missing relationships with the academia, and the lack of benefits for society. This was done by using the first three stages of Soft System Methodology (qualitative approach) and the Network Science tools (network analysis). The argument to use these tools is that they were developed to study, characterize and modelling the dynamic of complex systems. The approaches complement each other to enrich the diagnosis of the system.

The conception of the MICE tourism network is based on the relationships (links) between the elements (nodes) that interact in the system. This MICE tourism network is composed by 43 nodes and, at least, every node has six links with its neighbors, yielding 406 links. It means that the communication throughout the network is spreading, so that if more nodes are added to this network, the number of links will grow faster.

TECHNOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE COMPETENCES FOR ENTREPRENEURS: A KEY FACTOR TO BOOST THE NUMBER OF SCIENCE-BASED STARTUPS

Sara Noemi Castiglioni — 2018-08-29

This article explores how the development of technological surveillance competences in entrepreneurs can foster the increase in number of startups based on hard sciences and disruptive technologies rather than internet-based applications in Argentina. This analysis was done from an empirical perspective, using secondary sources of information and interviews with experts of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Argentina, academic directors of entrepreneurial programs and entrepreneurs. The article is structured as follows: initially, a startup's database analysis was performed based on the report of Tecnolatinas Research and venture capital databases. As a result, emerged the low percentage of science- based startups in Argentina and Latin America compared with the internet-based ones. A list of the most relevant science-based startups from Argentina was developed.

Several factors emerged as possible contributors to the situation: i) level of interaction between Academia and entrepreneurs; ii) level of Technological Surveillance training of entrepreneurs; iii) level of Technology transference from Academia to entrepreneurial ecosystems and; iv) level of interdisciplinarity inside Academia. Among all of the surveyed factors, the level of Technology Surveillance training of entrepreneurs was considered very relevant for being considered strategic. A research of the main programs and courses about entrepreneurship in Argentina was conducted, showing the absence of the technological surveillance subject in almost all of them. Finally, a set of findings are discussed and presented together with potential areas for further considerations and implementation.

Systemic Integration of Space Integrations in Mexico

Cirilo Gabino Leon Vega — 2019-09-14

The construction of a space launch base in Mexico, has as its objective the spatial technological development through a systemic method which consists of three stages within which there are five phases and within them there are eight sub phases; This method allowed determining the following results: Detection of the problem; make the diagnosis; the solution proposal, and the planning to achieve the objective.

The limitation of this work is that it cannot be guaranteed that there will be technological spatial development since it is the responsibility of the Mexican State to implement the corresponding policies to thus achieve it. The originality of this article is that it is treated with a deductive approach, and we find that there is no technological development in the country and it is essential to have it for integral growth.

HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INNOVATION FOR MEXICAN LODGING THROUGH AUTOPOIESIS AND SELF-ORGANISATION

Juan Enrique Nuñez-Ríos — 2018-05-16

In the context of the Mexican hospitality sector, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are considered important agents given their participation in the generation of jobs and new business relations, nevertheless their closure rate in the first two years of operation is high. In addition, these companies face structural problems that limit their capabilities to attenuate the variety of the environment and, simultaneously, improve their operations. This paper, presents a proposal through the complementarity between the Soft Systems Methodology and the Viable System Model to build a structure that allows the human capital management to influence a state of self-organisation based on precepts of the Autopoiesis Theory. As a result, a model that integrates self-regulation, autonomy and learning to support self-management of human capital was obtained to adapt continuously to its current context.

INNOVATION IN SERVICES: A VIABLE SYSTEM MODEL DESIGN FOR TOURIST MSMES INTEGRATION IN MÉXICO

Jacqueline Yvette Sánchez-García — 2018-05-16

In the context of micro, small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (MSMEs), flexibility and heterogeneity can be characteristics that add value to them. However, the lack of integration to treat, both its operation as the environment, makes it difficult to understand the various problems to which they are exposed. The previous, stresses the need for these human activity systems to coexist in a changing environment, an organisation that seeks to its operation and maintenance. In this regard, this work takes up the concept of complementarity from the perspective of Systems Science. In this sense, complementarity refers to the beneficial adaptation of the heterogeneous capabilities of tourism companies and to contribute to the innovation of their services to achieve the basic objective of a living system, that is to say, to survive and evolve with its environment. The Soft Systems Methodology and the Viable System Model were used, obtaining, as a result, a construct that proposes to order and amplify the internal variety, allowing to counteract the external variety.

Process View for Active and Healthy Aging

Gerhard Chroust — 2019-09-15

Active and Healthy Aging (AHA) is one of the growing concerns and aims of a sustainable society and thus a focus of the European Union. The adoption of a process view and the analysis of the processes to be performed has brought about numerous advantages to business organizations and industrial enterprizes. Advantages range from clarity, understandability, and teachability to increased efficiency due to assessment and measurements of quality and capability.

The basic idea of the process view is to describe necessary activities on an abstract level (i.e. as activity types) and organize these abstracted activities (together with abstracted work products) in a process model. Individual processes are derived (instantiated) from the process model to be enacted.

In this paper we investigate, as a continuation of (Chroust, 2017) and (Chroust and Aumayr, 2017), the challenge of applying a process view to health support for elderly persons ("AHA", Active and Healthy Aging (univ.Torino, 2016)) and identify the differences from classical applications (software engineering, office automation, business intelligence, ...).

We will turn our special attention to activities which can be designed to be performed by a Senior himself/herself, by helpers from different professions, and by machines (computers) of varying capability and diversity. The variability of the capability of elderly people obviously has to be taken into account by the support system by providing alternative implementations of the same support activity task depending on the capability of an individual Senior.

A discussion about the possibilities to assess the quality of AHA-processes and their support by a Model Interpreter closes the paper.

A successful use of systems approaches in cross-disciplinary healthcare improvement

Gary Robert Smith — 2019-09-15

UK Healthcare is facing many different trends: a changing demographic of an ageing and ‘frail’ population; increasing numbers of the population living with at least two long term conditions; improvements in medical care and interventions which can treat a larger number of conditions; continued budget pressures and raising expectations. Healthcare is a complex socio-technical system, and to identify and devise interventions with clear net benefits is a challenge: we see a classic ‘wicked problem’. The outcome from three INCOSE-facilitated multi-disciplinary workshops was a coherent prioritised work programme, with buy-in from all stakeholders, and traceable back to original issues and opportunities. This presentation will explain the context, the engagement from INCOSE, the nature of the workshops and techniques applied, and the outcomes. The developed programme supports the Shropshire and Telford NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP). Arguably the biggest ongoing challenge remains handling complexity and coherence across multiple stakeholder perspectives.

Attempts in co-relating the theory of Tree of Life, Taichi Yin-Yang Five Elements Trinity i±1 system, Traditional Chinese Medicine Differential Diagnosis-cure Process, Schemas Theory, Relational science, DSRP theory, Five Aggregates of Human Mind System by Buddha, and Cognitive Process of Consciousness

Thomas Sui Leung WONG — 2019-09-02

“Tree of Life” is a term and concept that appeared in different ancient cultures. The one that is being investigated is the Hermetic version of Tree of Life, Qabalah, as illustrated by SpiritScienceCentral.com with 10 spheres or “planes” of creation which are individually called Sephira. General Systems Theories have progressively developed with the aim of understanding the general fundamental components and relationships of knowledge across different disciplines. All theories seem to attempt to lift the boundary of duality between the physical world with precise engineering, and the world of consciousness with fuzzy cognitive processes, and eventually develop different united non-dual systems thinking. The research in this paper has produced a possible set of co-relations among these different systems thinking, by analyzing in a systemic manner, the structure of the components and relationships, and their corresponding properties and transformations. It demonstrates that the study of Tree of Life could be incorporated under the umbrella of General Systems Theories.

Sea and Life

Ricardo Barrera — 2019-09-14

“It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose,

should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life.

But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist;

the threat is rather to life itself.”

Rachel Carson, The Sea around Us (1951)

The present situation of the sea needs to be considered in a systemic view, connecting not only the environmental aspects with each other, but also relating those with economic and political decisions. There is a need for a world model, and to create consciousness in the population about the importance of the sea; therefore, the importance of including these topics into the educational curriculum, starting from the youngest of the society.

The Grupo Mar (in English “Sea Group”) is a research, development and action association, integrated by academics and professionals interested in a systemic approach to the topics related with the sea and its coasts.

It is composed by the following institutions:

• Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA)

• Grupo Argentino de Estudio de Sistemas Integrados (GESI)

• Colegio Atlántico del Sur de Mar del Plata (CADS)

• Fundación EcoConciencia

• Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Regional La Plata (UTN-FRLP)

• Academia del Mar (ACMAR)

• Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas (FCE-UNPSJB)

On June 8th, 2018 – World Oceans Day – the Grupo Mar presented a participatory project at the Puerto Madryn Regional Headquarters of the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia, San Juan Bosco (UNPSJB), the host institution of the event.

With focus on the Patagonian coastal communities, the presentation was developed through an interdisciplinary panel and associated conferences. By using this approach, the presentation started showing several aspects of the sea issues, followed by a substantial exchange of ideas conducted to mobilize the interest and sensitivity of the participants, with the goal of reaching through them, a broader community. The purpose was achieved thanks to the participant's (mostly professionals, academics and students) involvement and their request to provide continuity to the discussions through a dialogue forum such as the one described in this paper.

From Mosaic to Systematic: Applying Systems Thinking to Water Resource Management

Richard Allen Burgess — 2019-09-15

Effective 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.

Developing a Systemic Program Evaluation Methodology: A Critical Systems Perspective

Maria Alejandra Torres — 2019-09-15

In recent years there has been an increased interest within the program evaluation field for introducing systems thinking concepts in it. However, most of these attempts have been primarily directed towards supporting the practice of evaluation and not towards making theoretical advancements. This article is focused on introducing systems thinking concepts at a theoretical level, particularly those related to boundary critique in the program evaluation field by reframing the Fourth Generation evaluation methodology. I will introduce the general ideas for carrying out such reframing as well as describing the major changes produced in the methodology and how the introduction of these concepts may be beneficial for conducting an evaluative process.

CASCADING RISKS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WATER SECURITY AND THE POTENTIAL FOR RAPID ADAPATATION

Janet McIntyre-Mills — 2018-06-17

Giddens stressed in the ‘Consequences of Modernity’ that trust is contingent and that risks escalate when transfers are disembedded from local contexts. This paper concentrates on the need to develop policy and praxis to protect the commons. A critical and systemic approach explores Inglehart’s (1997) notion of culture shift. Giddens’ (1990) essay on the ‘consequences of modernity’ informs the analysis.

The aim of the paper is to explore the cascading interconnected challenges associated with energy and water security. The paper focuses on the impact of urbanisation in a context of climate change in Cape Town, South Africa where little preparation has been made for accommodating the higher population that has migrated to Cape Town.

This is partly due to the higher cost of a desalination plant because of a corrupt energy sector (Bond, 2012). It uses a case study approach based on a range of primary and secondary sources to explore water insecurity in Cape Town.

Rapid adaptation to conserve water in Cape Town has been achieved through a combination of fear for the future and a desire not to be shamed through a transparent water management mapping system and through generous donations of water by farmers within the region and by NGOs across South Africa.

In this paper a case is made for a way forward to address the cascading effects of climate change in the Western Cape region of South Africa by redressing the rural-urban imbalance in development opportunities.

Program and Abstracts for the 62nd Meeting of ISSS

Jennifer Wilby — 2020-04-09

Knowledge Mapping for Literature Reviews: A Science of Conceptual Systems Approach

Steven E. Wallis — 2019-09-14

Research 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 theory
Knowledge mapping (KM) techniques supporting easier and more effective teaching, mentoring, managing, and conducting, of literature reviews
A “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 research
Ways for KM to dovetail with other approaches to managing and conducting literature reviews
How this approach supports improvements in actionable understanding and accelerates advancement in any field of study

Avoiding 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.

Slides for Knowledge Mapping for Literature Reviews: A Science of Conceptual Systems Approach

Steven E. Wallis — 2019-09-14

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 theory
Knowledge mapping (KM) techniques supporting easier and more effective teaching, mentoring, managing, and conducting, of literature reviews
A “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 research
Ways for KM to dovetail with other approaches to managing and conducting literature reviews
How this approach supports improvements in actionable understanding and accelerates advancement in any field of study

Toward a transdisciplinary framework of the Field of Study of Communication based on the Cybersystemic approach

Isaias Badillo-Piña — 2019-09-15

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the academic field of study of communication has been related with “the expansion of understanding and observation of the processes of communication, cognition and information, not only with the synthesis or integration. The focus is to observe the differences and similarities between information, cognition, meaning, intelligence, mind and communication and proposing an integral synthesis for the communication phenomenon.

The aim of this paper was to build a unified framework for understanding the concept of communication in the physical, biological and human domains, through their systemic interrelations.

The Cybersystemic approach helps to elucidate differences and similarities in the systems of knowledge that involve the communication phenomena. Systemic design research integrates and organizes existing knowledge through Systems Sciences principles.

From an exploration review, this paper presents a systemic framework for the study of the communication phenomena under the outline of its holodynamic evolutionary process toward a higher level of complexity of an integrated communication phenomenon.

Research provides a starting point toward a unified understanding of the communication phenomena, under a conceptual approach that describes and explains a broader definition.

As a result, the cybersystemic framework allows an open dialogue through a multidisciplinary language of Systems Science and toward a better understanding the concept of communication[1].

[1] Some of these ideas are presented in the ISSS, 2016 Meeting as a research paper titled: A Communication System for Socio-Ecological Processes.

Violence and impasse

Victor Ronald David MacGill — 2019-09-15

It is the contention of the author that the roots of violence do not stem from human nature or even animal nature, but that they are even more fundamental, being inherently and inextricably interwoven into the paradoxical nature of complex adaptive systems.

Violence can be defined as the invasion of a boundary or the disruption of a necessary flow across a boundary. In exploring how this might manifest in human interaction, the nature of humans as multileveled systems of systems is investigated. Because we all have different perspectives, priorities and perceptions, there will be times when perceived human needs feel unmet, and there is a risk that abuse or violence will be used as a response to try and meet those needs.

Often violence occurs because the two or more people involved in an interaction are unable to bridge the differences that have arisen between them in a way that allows them to have their perceived needs adequately met. A boundary has been placed between those involved creating an impasse. The person who was previously seen to be operating within a shared boundary is deemed to have shifted to become the 'other’, the cause of the problems, and even a hostile enemy. The point of impasse is often used to 'justify' an abusive or violent response. The dynamics of impasse are examined in the case of intimate partner relationships and international politics to demonstrate how the principles developed operate in practice at various levels through society. The final section looks at how systems thinking might help avoid reaching an impasse, or in some case bring a relationship back from impasse to where meaningful authentic dialogue might be resumed.

Slides for: Framework for Generating Trade Spaces for Complexity Allocation in Complex Systems

Farouk Harold Bonilla — 2019-09-15

* Submited previously

Systems Approach: Concept Proposal to Develop Saudi Arabia Low-Complexity -Defense-Spare-Parts Manufacturing Industries, Utilizing Technology Transfers and Business Incubator

Basem Abdullrahman Fallatah — 2018-08-29

The overall goal of this projects is to adopt and build on three of the Saudi vision 2030 “thriving economy” theme third-level objectives that include (1) Localize military industry, (2) Nurture and support the innovation & entrepreneurship culture, and (3) Grow SME contribution to the economy.

One of the very important initiatives of the adopted “thriving economy theme to our area of concentration is planning to grow the economy by manufacturing half of the defense needs within the Kingdom, with the intention to offset the economy, keep more resources in Saudi Arabia and to create more job opportunities for its citizens”.

The main research question explores how to develop a conceptual model to demonstrate how innovative technological initiatives contribute to localized military equipment manufacturing technology.

The research process includes creating a conceptual model meant to assist with the development of low-complexity-defense-spare-parts manufacturing industries, utilizing technology transfer and a business incubator. The model will include (1) adopting a Systems Approach to better understand the nature and the scope of the problem statement (2) developing a Conceptual Model for high volume, low mix, low complex spare parts manufacturing industries that will contribute to the national defense industrial sector, (3) investigating the adequacy and limitations of the Innovative Concept, (4) validating the model by analyzing the alignment of the concept with the systems methodological strategy.

This project utilizes an applied research (often called action research) as its methodology. This methodology applies a systems approach and related systems thinking to ensure a holistic understanding of the nature of the problem statement.

The literature review bodies clustered beneath the category of “Technology and Innovation Management” and addresses classifications of the major approaches to the issue of localizing the defense manufacturing industry. Moreover, the literature review in the field of innovation, technology transfers and Systems Science have been analyzed.

While this project is still ongoing, the hypothesis of this conceptual framework will address the need to develop a flexible model that contributes to the current and future challenges as there is a lack of an adequate model to guide Saudi government on how to develop the SME defence manufacturing industries in order to become aligned with their country’s vision 2030.

CLARIFYING AND SUPPORTING ROOT CAUSES IN ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR: TOWARD A SCIENCE OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS

Susan Farr Gabriele — 2018-06-17

The aim of this paper is to identify root causes in human social system behaviour then discuss implications of these causes for understanding, designing, and managing large organizations. The need for clarifying root causes is clear. Science offers useful laws for how things behave, or the hard sciences, such as chemistry, physics, math and engineering. In contrast, science offers few and conflicting models for how people behave. Thus, there are the soft sciences, such as psychology, management, education, sociology, and economics. And there are the soft social systems such as schools and workplaces. Our current knowledge of soft social systems lies in many disciplines, and the knowledge within each discipline resides in silos, resulting in Tower-of-Babel communication across disciplines. Unintended, undesired, even harmful outcomes are frequent, especially in large organizations. The approach used in this investigation is narrative path analysis. Beginning with large social system outcomes as the unit of focus and dependent variable, a systems science explanatory lens is developed, and the path lands at the individual human system member as root cause, unit of focus and independent variable. The narrative path then proceeds back up to the large social system, with implications at multiple levels/sizes of system-- the pair, the room, small building, and then the multisite organization. The investigation gathers details via key concepts, literature, and evidence from relevant disciplines, including management, control systems engineering, psychology, adult learning theory, plus examples from large urban schools and workplaces. Metaphors and images are included to clarify the narrative with the goal of making sense to a wide diverse audience—including leaders, learners, workers, theorists, researchers, engineers, and policy-makers. Updated theory is that cause/agency of organization behaviour is not solely in the leader, nor the worker, but in both. Each system member, from janitor to CEO, from student to superintendent, learns and performs according to his/her own willingness and ability, resulting in almost infinite variability. A new provide-pickup relationship emerges. That is: The leader’s role is to provide input, resources and tasks; the learner/worker role is pickup of input, each at his/her own rate. In spite of infinite variability, there is predictability. We can predict, with certainty, that each system member will pick up, learn and complete tasks, as he/she is willing and able. The nature of pickup described, a new issue emerges, span of pickup, at the level of the large social system-- adding an important new dimension to the concept of span of control. Namely, in large social systems, important input is beyond the pickup span of individuals. For example, it is easier for CEOs to care more about their children’s college tuition than their employees’ salaries. And, it is easier for front-line employees to care more about their weekly paycheck than the big picture goals of the organization, or for a cattle herder to care about the profit gained by adding a new animal to his herd than the big picture of overgrazing. Ideal-based user-designed automated social control systems (IBUDASCS) are proposed to allow organizations and system members to flourish. The cumulative meaning of IBUDASCS is constructed using the following examples: Control Systems-- When the temperature turns 65, the heater turns on; plus Social—When an employee is late, he/she makes up the time (Honor system, or superviser controlled); plus Automated – When an employee is late, the information automatically goes to the time clock and payroll; plus User-designed-- People at each system level decide together their automated consequences (in alignment with suprasystem policy); plus Ideal-based-- The consequence is automated not to berate or punish, but to free up everyone’s time for more important matters.

Management-led Participative Continuous Process Improvement

Siddhesh Pradeep Joshi — 2019-09-14

Continuous process improvement is one of the foundations for any Lean or Six-Sigma implementation. This typically requires to find and maintain solutions to problems and to achieve this, a precise understanding of the system state is required. Implementing solutions without assessing the system state, can risk the whole Lean or Six Sigma program. Continuous process improvement is exercised at every level of organization with the assist of a variety of tools. Jishuken one of such continuous process improvement tools, which uses cross-organizational and cross-functional teams to tackle a broad range of process improvements (from operational level to strategic level). Jishuken is adept at handling, according to the Cynefin framework, system states where the cause and effect relationship is evident (ordered) and within a unanimous team environment (unitary). However, Jishuken does not offer any guidance to handle system states wherein the cause and effect relationship may not be evident (unordered) and/or the team environment may not be unanimous (pluralistic). This research uses a complementary approach to enhance Jishuken’s capabilities with Cynefin framework. As a result, six system states are proposed, and their accompanying operational definitions are provided. This results in a conceptual model that offers flexibility to Jishuken process practitioners to operate in different system states.

A SYSTEMS ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATION: DEFINING THE NATURE OF AND PRINCIPLES FOR COMMUNICATION WITHIN HUMAN ACTIVITY SYSTEMS

Sage McKenzie Kittelman — 2018-08-29

Communication within Human Activity Systems plays a critical role in organizational change. However, research on communication typically expresses communication as a tool to evaluate the current state of an organizational system, or as a vehicle to change the current state of the system to a more desired future state. It is rarely considered from a holistic viewpoint, being a complex system with an integrated effect on the organization as a whole. The holistic understanding of communication as an emergent system from the interaction of elements and activities within Human Activity Systems is required to better manage factors impacting effective communication. Presented in this article is an ontological framework characterizing the behavior of communication in Human Activity Systems as well as its role in organizational change, encompassing the nature of communication and its impact on Human Activity Systems. Furthermore, principles for communication, within the bounds of Human Activity Systems, are derived to provide researchers and practitioners a methodology for assessing the interaction of these two systems. These principles are expected to provide a change in perspectives of communication in Human Activity Systems and allow for a more optimal design of both systems and their interactions.

spectrum distribution for the satellite system

Cirilo Gabino Leon Vega — 2018-05-16

SPECTRUM DISTRIBUTION FOR THE SATELLITE SYSTEM

Using Interactive Management to Explore the Factors Causing Delay of Modification Project in a South African Power Station

Sikholiwe Ntoyanto — 2019-09-15

Project delays are common problems in construction industry. The modification and shutdown (outage) projects in South African power stations are faced with project delays as well. The project delays have detrimental effects to the supply of electricity and impacts the advancement of South African economy. This paper explores the major determinants that influence untimely delivery of modification projects in a South African power station. Through the use of Interactive Management (IM) methodology, 21 principal project delay factors were identified and used for structuring a delay model. The model generated through the IM session is a digraph, showing the ‘aggravate’ relationship between the identified delay factors. The digraph reveals that the main determinant of modification project delays in this South African power station is the ’proficiency of a project manager’. Proficiency of a project manager relates to the ability of a project manager to accomplish the required project tasks based on his or her skills, competency, and experience within the project management field. The model developed through the IM session demonstrates that proficiency of a project manager in that South African power station is the driver of other project delay factors, such as the factors in a large circular loop lying in the second stage of the model, including ‘poor leadership’, ’poor communication’, ‘poor planning’, ’insufficient risk management’, ‘scope creep’ and so forth. The model serves as a starting point to revisit the power station’s strategy in dealing with its project delays.

SEISMIC LENS-TYPE SHEAR PANEL DAMPER FOR BRIDGES AND BUILDINGS: INNOVATION AND OPTIMIZATION IN NATURE AND DESIGN TO ENGINEERING FIELDS

Tatsumasa Takaku — 2019-09-14

Experimental study about shear panel was initiated at Fukuyama Univ.( 2005). The paper” Cyclic Shear Behaviour of Low-Yield Steels by New Shear Test Procedure” includes several findings such as:1) shear panel with LY100 is one of the best nature for energy dissipation devices, 2) by strain hardening effect of LY100, plastic zones are spread widely without local stress concentration and which result in well ductility. Then, a variety of bearing types for seismic energy dissipation has been discussed at AIT (2007), and the lens-type shear dampers have been proposed. A number of tests of lensdamper have been conducted for practical use at Nippon Chuzou, mainly for highway bridges (2008). Feasibility study project has been started for building application by a group of architects (2013). Lens-type shear panel dampers have been newly developed for highway bridges and buildings against the large-scale earthquakes. It utilizes low yield steel LY100 and concave lens shape panel. Both properties of low yield strength andof high ductility are major requirements for the damping devices. Static and dynamic tests show rectangular shapes of lateral load-displacement hysteresis loops with high quality damping. Damage and life cycles can be estimated by Miner’s rule. Prediction matches well with the testing results. Large deformation of steel with high speed strain rate generates heat of temperature of 300~450℃. Earthquake energy is converted into strain and heat, which results in large energy dissipation.

For application to bridges, both experimental and analytical works have been investigated in parallel. Random loading tests have been examined to evaluate the structural and functional performance of dampers under design level earthquakes, and at the same time to determine the safety margin against collapse under extreme earthquakes. For the evaluation of fracture, two types of prediction formula, damage index method and damage pass method are proposed. For application to buildings, seismic control stud of column type is newly proposed for low/medium-rise buildings with use of low yield steel LY 225.

The design principle of lens damper bases on nature laws of Miner’rule and similarity laws. An optimization in nature and design to engineering originates in nature law. The truth and beauty are in nature. Results of works are reported．

Killing the Modern Theatre: A New Medium to Augment Stage Performances

Richard Lee Buckner — 2018-06-08

Papernumber: 3386-11628-1-SM.docx

Killing the Modern Theatre: A New Medium to Augment Stage Performances

Richard Buckner

1214 Calle Violeta, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, RichardBuckner@UTEXAS.edu

ABSTRACT

Paul Simon, in "The Dangling Conversation," asked "Is the theatre really dead?" Yes, traditional theatre of the literary, mechanistic age is. Consequently, the play script and its format are dead because we have moved to the electrical, electronic, digital (EED) age and theatre is no longer just humans on a stage delivering dialogue, action and possibly song with realistic or even impressionistic sets. This paper shows how Electronic Digital Displayed Script With Embedded Multi-Media (EDDSWEMM), in a way, acts as a "Bridge Over Troubled Water" from the new EED age to the old literary age.

In fact, the whole of society has changed, and theatre needs to follow. Marshall McLuhan, the Toronto philosopher, stated that the societal impact of a new medium is far greater than its content. And, that a new medium requires a new form; it opens doors for new content that includes the content of the old print media. A crisis is that changing a play script format for any reason is tantamount to professional suicide.

This paper follows up on my 2017 presentation at ISSS in Vienna, Austria, of "MS Windows Productivity Research Applied to Theatre"--a peer reviewed paper that lays a scientific foundation for projecting an electronic, digital script with embedded multimedia. It showed how the construct "Viewability," that I named, applies to theatre and script projection. Projection is a form of display of information. Drama displays, by human dialogue and action, the information in a script. Microsoft Word is used to write a script, and by means of Object Linking and Embedding (OLE), visual multimedia--represented by icons--may be embedded in the script. Display may be initiated by double clicking on icons in the text. Similarly, sound may be embedded and "played" by double clicking on music icons. In the interest of increased Viewability, non executable production cues may add additional information to the script. Stage drama is synchronized with the projected script.

The resulting script, displayed on a monitor, also acts as a new digital-literary genre for the individual reader or actor rehearsing at home. Its presentation lies somewhere between the old, formatted as for a typewriter, literary based paper script and a traditional full production augmented by EDDSWEMM.

This paper shows that there are many reasons for EDDSWEEM forecast by McLuhan's follow up and popularization of Understanding Media ... in a subsequent book, The Medium is the Massage ... . I identify additional reasons such as the obvious advantage to the deaf. McLuhan did not extensively treat theatre as a medium for communication.

I review the Dramatists Guild modern play script format and show that it is part and parcel of the old literary/mechanical age. My proposed new EDDSWEMM format includes the content of the old (sacred) script format. The possibilities of additional content using EDDSWEMM are wide open. Risk aversive producers and theatres often look for tried and true literary works to ensure a gate, but if they want something new and are to survive, they will have to provide material that bridges EED to the old age. Directors, playwrights and audiences are always looking for new material but are locked into the old format; projection at least provides a reason to begin delivering dramatic material in new ways.

Visualization, in this paper, is by projection of this paper.

EDDSWEMM requires technical resources that exceed those that Microsoft currently provides for document production. Hopefully, this problem will be resolved as part of future research and can be reported in the next ISSS conference.

I would like to dedicate this paper to Harrison Holmes Cochran, without whose interest, encouragement and kindness I would have never made it to this point.

The Challenge of Complexity in Society: Meaning Making at the Edge of Chaos

Marty Jacobs — 2018-05-16

The pressing social problems we have are demanding that we build our capacity for meaning making to address them effectively. Meaning making at the edge of chaos is the type of meaning making we engage in when our current worldview is profoundly challenged by new information and experiences and, when the world is complex and chaotic, we are continually challenged and disoriented. This paper introduces the concept of meaning making at the edge of chaos and its theoretical basis in transformative learning theory, logotherapy, constructive developmental theory, complexity theory, chaos theory, and complex adaptive systems. In particular, it focuses on the concepts of disorienting dilemma, critical reflection, and the components of a meaning system derived from transformative learning theory. From logotherapy, it draws on the notions of will-to-meaning, meaning of life, and freedom of will. This paper includes the theory of the socialized, self-authoring, and self-transforming minds from constructive developmental theory. Finally, the concepts of nonlinearity, self-organization, emergence, learning, adaption, the butterfly effect, dissipative structures, and far-from-equilibrium are some key aspects from the world of complexity. These theories are integrated and form the basis for a model of meaning making at the edge of chaos.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AND SYSTEMS THEORY: A CASE STUDY

Robert Anthony Jordan — 2019-09-15

This case study examines the development of a self-organized Community of Practice (CoP) through the lens of systems theory. The CoP is devoted to the practice of Action Learning within the United States public sector. The CoP’s membership comprises public sector employees who are Action Learning coaching practitioners and other public sector employees who are interested in Action Learning as a problem-solving and leadership development tool. CoPs embody systems theory in that they may be characterized as open systems with core members and peripheral members. Disruptions to the system challenge and strengthen the CoP through boundary crossings between the CoP and other communities. System disruptions and the communications that have occurred as a result have created challenges to identity.

A Study on the Learning Mode of Tourism Experiences

Hsin-Chuan Lu — 2019-09-12

Travel experiences while learning where the traveler goes and what different things they see from everyday life. This brings pleasant, meaningful, and valuable experiences. Dewey's (1938) theory of experiential learning emphasizes “learning by doing ”. He learns and gains by reflecting on the insights. His personal observation and actions reflect certain behaviors. The process of experiential learning in tourism is an extremely important elements which complement each other.

The purpose of this paper is to construct a “travel experience learning model” based on the “empirical learning theory”. The general mode of discussion includes topics i.e. the motives of the travel process, decision-making, project implementation, and reflection. However, there have been a few studies on motives, choices, decisions, and implementation plans for research on tourism. In the past, research on tourism related areas was primarily in motivation, choice decision-making, and implementation plans. There was little discussion about an individual's experience promoting the growth process. Therefore, the tourism experience learning model was the subject of inquiry. Based the qualitative content literature analysis, the relevant conceptions of the travel experiences of “knapsack tourism” and “self-help tourism” findings, the framework of the “travel experience learning model” was extracted as the goal. Finally the tourism experience learning Management implications discussion.

Towards fractal properties of cognitive processes in the human brain under the complexity science approach

Ixchel Reyes Lina — 2019-09-14

The systems movement experienced four waves in 20^th century: the first wave stemmed from the debate on the nature of life between vitalism and mechanicalism. The second was the interdisciplinary research arising after the World War II, with General System Theory and Cybernetics, with the help of Information Theory, Operational Research, and Systems Analysis. The third one was the establishment and development of the Theory of Self-Organization. And the fourth wave of systems movement was the rise of Complex Systems Science, which mainly referred to the systems research movement in 1980s with the Chaos Theory and Complexity Science, including some new concepts such as emergence and chaos, appeared with the accompaniment of some new methods of mathematics and computation such physical theories of nonlinear dynamics (e.g. Fractal geometry) and multi-agent-based computer simulation.

The human brain has been the subject of study among different branches of knowledge, describing their physiological and cognitive processes from data treated with qualitative tools and linear quantitative variables, seeking to obtain a determined average behavior and the causality of the same. However, living systems do not obey linear issues. The actions that emerge from them have complex characteristics, which explanations or understanding is far from being able to be represented from their components and their individual behavior, reason why their study and understanding requires the application of Chaos Theory and Complexity Science.

Cognitive processes are the ones that allowed human beings to differentiate them from other animals in ways that give them the opportunity to own, modify and live in any environment on the planet. This research focuses on the nonlinear quantitative characterization of cognitive processes. In order to do this, it was applied fractal geometry as an alternative tool for the characterization of cognitive (non-linear) processes that emerge from human brain. With this quantitative tool it was studied data signals of EEG (voltage generated by the interrelation among neurons as a function of time) from cognitive processes.

Fractal geometry could allow to eliminate the biases and tendencies in the signals of the cognitive processes to increase the visualization and suggestion of the real dynamics of these processes, in order to complement the experts opinion in a discipline or medical field that interpret the results.

In this research it was applied fractal geometry to study the fluctuations dynamics of stochastic time series (EEG) of a patient with reading and spelling disorders, which can be a reflection of difficulties in some of the cognitive processes such as language, learning, memory, intelligence, perception sensation or attention. Data were taken from 19-channel EEG (electrodes), which were treated as time series: voltage vs. time, each time series was 6453 data length. For each channel it was constructed 198 time series of fluctuations (standard deviation), for different time lags (τ). From each fluctuation time series, there were constructed other 198 time series (fluctuation of deviation fluctuation), also for different τ. Based on all-time series of generated fluctuations (39,204), there were determined two scaling exponents: the roughness exponent (H) and the fluctuation growth, for each of the 19 channels.

By applying fractal geometry, it would be possible to establish (from statistical point of view) the probable future states of cognitive processes, that help to discovering new forms of treatment, therapies and contribute with ideas about the dynamics of cognitive processes.

Time Has Gone Today

Frank A. Piontek — 2019-09-15

Time is the penultimate problem in philosophy. The meaning of Time that can be given by current Astrophysics is superficial at best. After Gödel, it can be argued that any science based on the sensorium has profound metaphysical issues. Since Mathematics must be employed in present cosmogony, the longstanding issues surrounding what mathematical truths and numbers are, and where they exist, does little to deliver meaning to Time. In Philosophy, many have elaborated their philosophy of Time and some have addressed the significant impact of the future in those discussions.

The problem of evil, or theodicy, is thought to be the most difficult problem in philosophy. This essay proposes to coalesce the problems of Time and Theodicy.

The predominate linear view of time obfuscates our understanding of time as well as the implications of the problems of evil. The Platonic concept of anamnesis as the primacy of Time is adapted here. We are already complete but we unfurl in Time because we have forgotten how we created ourselves. Time is the record of our moments, our deeds; what we have volitionally done. Omniscience knows this; we forgot and now live that forgetfulness. A Book of Life is written, we cannot recall our page number.

The Introduction of 'British Values' Into Schools - Why Now?

Alistair James Smith — 2019-04-26

In 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.

Establishing an Umbrella Philosophy - Required to Underpin General Systems Unification in a Singular Encompassing Paradigm

James N Rose — 2019-09-02

As Strickland & Reveal (John Wiley, 1995) reminded us in “Understanding the Nature of System Change: An Interdisciplinary Approach”, von Bertalanffy in “General System Theory” (Brazillier, 1968) stated that the original aim of GST was ‘to investigate the isomorphy of concepts, laws, and models in various fields, and to help in useful transfers from one field to another.’ From its inception GST/ISSS has advanced that “embracing and ambitious” noble objective of the founders, through conversations, conferences, forums and publications.

The encyclopaedic diversity of systems, complexities, organizations and levels of behavioral existence is daunting. Physicists first hinted at the potential for discovering a grand isomorphism, by focusing on the fundamental forces as first place for ‘unification’. That has yet to be accomplished. In the meantime, Sarton, von Bertalanffy, Whorf, Boulding, Miller, Beer, Rapoport, Rosen et al, opened the spectrum of conversations to include biology, ecology, economics, sociology and more, in a grander sensibility.

And though there have been great investigations, innovative detailings of specific models and math-described ideas, such as H. Odum “emergy”, R. Rosen “entailments”, D.Hebb “systems of systems”, J Rose “integrity paradigm”, among others, conceptual goals have drifted from trying to identify a single isomorphism, to coping with local comparisons and similarities. A grand convergence seemingly is no longer the centerpiece of the conversation roundtable.

The author proposes that it might be beneficial, in order to refresh the vision of GST/ISSS founders, to do a deeper analysis of the philosophy of General System Theory as originally conceived. Such philosophy was not whole-born, but itself had to be a product of how the universe is organized – was encountered – was recognized – and eventually became appreciated – by human minds.

There is no intention of replacing the diverse wellspring of prior philosophical ideas and mindsets, but rather to hold true to the goal of identifying a shared seminal behavioral rule of performances among systems, to recognize an improved philosophical embracing frame of reference, as a requisite for isomorphism. An improved essential notion among essentials … rules of performance being the tangible practical aspects, but by better defining the intangible qualities … such as a re-worded 21^st century framing of Aristotelian causes, might enable a quantum leap across the impasse chasm that General System (singular) Theory faces. Potential correlation~calibration resting on a seminal principle of requisitely defined association~communication.

The author looks to re-open that conversation, in hopefully a new way.

Speculative realists question reality before Homo sapiens and after extinction

Kazuyuki Ikko Takahashi — 2019-09-02

The term ‘speculative realism’ was first introduced in 2007 to describe the work of certain philosophers around Q. Meillassoux, of which many translations, introductions, and special issues have been published in Japanese. According to speculative realists, phenomenology, structuralism, analytic philosophy, and most subsequent schools of twentieth-century philosophy (L. Wittgenstein, M. Heidegger, and M. Foucault) assume the antirealist, Kantian claim that phenomena depend upon the mind to exist. That is, the speculative realists are united by their rejection of what Meillassoux calls correlationism. This is the doctrine according to which we never grasp an object in itself, in isolation from its relation to the subject.

Now, when we call ancestral any reality anterior to the emergence of the human species, we can ask, how is correlationism liable to interpret these ancestral statements? We can also ask, how has matter emerged from a vacuum? How have living systems appeared out of lifeless matter? How has Homo sapiens come into existence out of living systems?

Meillassoux himself asks how to pass through the correlationist circle. We should question the absolute, which is outside correlation. Our absolute, in effect, is nothing other than an extreme form of chaos. The world before human beings emerged is thereby contingent. There is a capacity-to-be-other, that is, there is the possibility of our own non-being.

The posteriority of extinction should also be considered, in addition to ancestral anteriority. R. Brassier, one of the speculative realists, refers to the death of the sun. He has said that ‘the death of the sun is nothing but a death of mind’. How does thought think the death of thinking?

Important is the dialogue of the correlationism of modern philosophy with old and new realism, which question the reality outside of the correlation.

We have already emerged in this universe with mind. Although we can recognise something with this mind, something, in other words, is nothing but something which is recognised by our mind. Thus, correlationism is correct and cannot be escaped. From within correlation, however, we can recognise that there is an outside to the correlation. We can recognise ancestral anteriority and posteriority of extinction through the correlation. We can think the reality through the working of negation of recognition. We can recognise Kantian thing-in-itself through the self-negation of recognition.

Again, we have already emerged in this universe with mind. What has already existed should be thought as necessary. Now, I can propose an ex post facto teleology. The fact is constituted by this after, by the belatedness of the subject. I also would like to propose a modest anthropocentrism. The emergence of human beings should be thought as necessary, while all things and living things potentially have minds. Thus, we can call this view a weak panpsychism. Furthermore, once we have minds with which to think, we think everything with these minds. The ability to think has something privileged.

Nonetheless, at the same time, it is important to think everything as contingent. There is no reason for anything to be or to remain the way it is; everything must be able to be other than it is. We not might have emerged through a process of evolution. We might not exist in this universe. We could be extinct in the future.

ACTIONABLE KNOWLEDGE MAPPING TO ACCELERATE INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Steven E. Wallis — 2019-09-02

With increasing calls for interdisciplinary collaboration to solve wicked complex problems there is also increasing clarity around barriers to collaboration such as differences in research methodologies and disciplinary terminologies. This paper uses a Science of Conceptual Systems (SOCS) perspective to show how theories from different disciplines may be synthesized (or integrated, depending on your preferred terminology). Brief case studies are presented to show how knowledge mapping may be used to accelerate actionable scientific understanding, interdisciplinary collaboration, student learning, and practical application leading to increasingly successful and sustainable change for improving the human condition.

ACTIONABLE KNOWLEDGE MAPPING TO ACCELERATE INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Steven E. Wallis — 2019-09-02

SYSTEMS THEORY and the METAPHYSICS OF COMPOSITION

Martin Zwick — 2019-09-15

Ideas from systems theory – recursive unity and emergent attributes – are applied to the metaphysical and meta-metaphysical debates about the ontological status of composites. These ideas suggest the rejection of both extremes of universalism and nihilism, favoring instead the intermediate position that some composites exist in a non-trivial sense – those having unity and emergent novelty – while others do not. Systems theory is egalitarian: it posits that what exist are systems, equal in their ontological status. Some systems are fundamental, but what exists is not merely the fundamental, and the fundamental is not merely the foundational. The status of composites raises non-trivial issues, but mereology – and metaphysics in general – would benefit from substantive interaction with scientifically interesting questions.

Leadership and Systemic Innovation: Socio-Technical Systems, Ecological Systems, and Evolutionary Systems Design

Alexander Laszlo — 2019-09-14

Innovation 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.

Slides for: Leadership and Systemic Innovation: Socio-Technical Systems, Ecological Systems, and Evolutionary Systems Design

Alexander Laszlo — 2019-09-14

Measuring the Level of Political System Literacy Through the Election Pledges of South Korean Electoral Candidates

Yeon-soo(Youn-soo) Shim(Sim) — 2019-09-15

I analyze unfamiliar aspects of the political system in the South Korean local elections held on June 13, 2018. In particular, an analysis of the election promises made by the mayoral candidates of Gwangju Metropolitan City and superintendent candidates of the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education suggest that they lack political system literacy, a concept that is defined in general and as a means of cultivating democracy in South Korea. The election promises presented to voters are analyzed in terms of political system literacy in relation to current issues in city governance and to problems in public education. One conclusion from this analysis is that better efforts must be made to educate the future leaders of the South Korean political system from an early age to improve their political system literacy.

” The General Theory of Dynamics Systemicity” Part 7

Jean-Jacques BLANC — 2019-09-15

"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 7^th 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.

Foundational Concepts Underlying a Formal Mathematical Basis for Systems Science

Kenneth Lloyd — 2018-05-16

We propose Category Theory as the formal, mathematical language and theory for studying systems. But, to understand the applicability of Category Theory to Systems Science we must go back to certain prior foundational concepts which, first, must be clearly elucidated and their contexts made explicit.

Advanced Special Systems Theory

Kent Duane Palmer — 2019-06-04

Special Systems Theory has been developed over the last 20 some years starting in the early 1990s. Several collections of papers and summaries have been dedicated to describing it^{^[1]}. Much of the work over the years has been looking for precursors to the theory in other traditions such as Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and Taoism that has been successful. However recently a major advance has been made which calls for a reassessment of the theory. In this paper we will discuss the theory as it stands and the advances that have been made in understanding it recently.

[1] See Autopoietic Reflexive Systems Theory, Reflexive Autopoietic Dissipative Special Systems Theory, Special Systems Theory, https://osf.io/tw37d/

Nested Levels of Organized Systems: A New Model of Multiple Nested Interacting Entropies that Result in the Production of Complexity

James N Rose — 2019-09-02

A single holistic theory for how the universe is organized, and how its diversity of scales and systems coordinate and perform together, may yet be obtainable. But not within the current paradigms. We are stopped by some foundational misunderstandings within mathematics that forced the impasse we are currently at ‑ especially the discontinuity between relativity and quantum mechanics ‑ especially the discontinuity between physics/chemistry and biology/sociology/economics. A solution is presented, illuminating and defining mathematical relations previously ignored/unidentified. A third model that interfaces Prigogine’s statistical emergence of complexity and Mandelbot’s fractal (non-statistical) emergence of complexity.