Concepts Of Systems Theory Research Articles

Valores propios, recursividad y dimensión histórico-contextual de la comunicación: el fundamento operativo del fenómeno llamado cultura

En base a una revisión de textos de Luhmann y de propuestas de algunos autores sistémicos sobre cultura, este artículo intenta, primero, comprender sistémica-mente los fenómenos comúnmente descritos o expli-cados mediante el concepto de cultura. Sin utilizar cul-tura sino conceptos propios de la teoría de sistemas sociales el texto ofrece una comprensión de las dimen-siones tanto operativas como funcionales involucradas en la generación de dichos fenómenos. En segundo lugar, a partir del análisis anterior y en base a la noción de valores propios resultantes de la operación recursiva de la comunicación, el artículo propone un modelo de observación destinado a facilitar la investigación empíri-ca sistémica.

What Is Karyotype Coding and Why Is Genomic Topology Important for Cancer and Evolution?

While the importance of chromosomal/nuclear variations vs. gene mutations in diseases is becoming more appreciated, less is known about its genomic basis. Traditionally, chromosomes are considered the carriers of genes, and genes define bio-inheritance. In recent years, the gene-centric concept has been challenged by the surprising data of various sequencing projects. The genome system theory has been introduced to offer an alternative framework. One of the key concepts of the genome system theory is karyotype or chromosomal coding: chromosome sets function as gene organizers, and the genomic topologies provide a context for regulating gene expression and function. In other words, the interaction of individual genes, defined by genomic topology, is part of the full informational system. The genes define the “parts inheritance,” while the karyotype and genomic topology (the physical relationship of genes within a three-dimensional nucleus) plus the gene content defines “system inheritance.” In this mini-review, the concept of karyotype or chromosomal coding will be briefly discussed, including: 1) the rationale for searching for new genomic inheritance, 2) chromosomal or karyotype coding (hypothesis, model, and its predictions), and 3) the significance and evidence of chromosomal coding (maintaining and changing the system inheritance-defined bio-systems). This mini-review aims to provide a new conceptual framework for appreciating the genome organization-based information package and its ultimate importance for future genomic and evolutionary studies.

Introducing systems theory with virtual laboratories at the University of Extremadura: How to improve learning in the lab in engineering degrees

Virtual laboratories have been demonstrated to contribute successfully to the theoretical understanding of many important systems theory and automatic control concepts in engineering education. This paper describes the pilot experience on the use of such laboratories as learning tools in introductory systems theory courses at the University of Extremadura during the academic year 2015/2016. The purpose of the present paper is to offer some objective academic evidence for the effectiveness of the use of virtual laboratories to improve learning in laboratory lessons in engineering.

СОФІЯ ДЛЯ АВІА

In the time when the basic formulas and approaches of the aircraft industry are based on the principles of classical science, the nature of the observed phenomena seems non-linear. Such phenomena as turbulence, flutter, buffering, disruption of the air flow can be explained by means of synergetics and system theory in the context of the post-non-classical paradigm. However, a certain contradiction can be observed: non-linear phenomena are explained by linear traditional science. That is why many formulas of aerodynamics and strength have a large empirical part. Therefore, it becomes necessary to revise the philosophical foundations of most approaches and the overall picture of the world as a whole. The use of the concepts of synergetics and system theory allows us to describe more accurately certain phenomena in aviation, which ultimately will lead to the creation of more efficient and safer aircraft. For example, we can design our aircraft not only as a complex system, but also as part of other complex systems, evaluating its effectiveness from the point of view of more ambitious and higher levels, predicting its operation and modernization in the changing conditions of the socio-political system. Moreover, the very nature of engineering creativity based on synergistic approaches will become more efficient and effective by increasing the intensity of aviation thought. Therefore, understanding the role of chance, the effect of emergence will allow us to be prepared for many surprises and black swans and also be wary about our knowledge, assessing their probabilistic nature.

Teorización y modelaje del derecho. Un enfoque unificador basado en cibernética, ciencia cognitiva y complejidad

Este artículo es parte de un proyecto mayor el cual busca usar conceptos de teoría de sistemas, complejidad y cibernética para poder crear modelos de comportamiento jurídico que puedan ser sujetos a modelaje y simulaciones computacionales, haciendo con ello que teoría y práctica sean más fáciles de interrelacionar. Debido a problemas de espacio, dos modelos del derecho serán ofrecidos al lector: uno sobre cómo es creado el conocimiento del derecho, la justicia, el Estado del derecho y cómo circula y otro sobre qué son las normas, cómo se implementan y quiénes son sus sujetos. El trabajo que se ofrece en este estudio se correlaciona con el enfoque socio-empírico del Law and Society. Concluyo que teoría y práctica tiene una relación recursiva: la teoría sin referente práctico es ficción y práctica sin teoría es un desarrollo a ciegas; el modelaje a computadora es una forma de mejorar la relación complementaria que ambas deben tener.

Kamishibai educational: a tool as a common project

The creation of the collaborative team for the distinction of improvements in activities designed to impact teaching strategies, which will ultimately provide an increase in literacy, historical research and creativity for the acquisition of new knowledge through tools for planning, reading of discontinuous texts, and the visual expression of specific texts that give meaning to the systematization of processes that can be reproduced in different areas of knowledge of expected learning but with the constructivist approach to education delineated by the concept of General Systems Theory and the emphasis on humanism as a regulator of the emotions of human beings that intertwine in an educational community.

Grey-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis approach: Addressing uncertainty at complex decision problems

In complex systems, decision makers encounter uncertainty from various sources. In this paper, a new hybrid grey-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach is proposed to optimize the evaluation space in decision problems that are subject to subjective and objective uncertainty over different types of interrelated criteria. The four-phase methodology begins with the formulation of a decision problem through the analysis of the system of concern, its functionality, and substantial connections among evaluation criteria. The second phase involves the development of grey linguistic scales to handle the uncertainty of human judgements. The third phase integrates the grey linguistic scale, concepts of grey systems theory, and principles of Analytical Network Process to prioritize criteria. Finally, to evaluate and rank alternatives in such a complex setting, Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation II is extended using a grey linguistic scale to articulate subjective uncertainty, grey numbers to account for objective uncertainty, grey operating rules to normalize evaluation measures, and the proposed approach of prioritizing evaluation criteria to establish relative preferences. To demonstrate the viability of the methodology, a case study is presented, in which a strategic decision is made within the context of innovation. To validate the methodology, a comparative analysis is provided.

A Court’s Gotta Do, What a Court’s Gotta Do. An Analysis of the European Court of Human Rights and the Liability of Internet Intermediaries Through Systems Theory

This paper explores recent developments in the liability of internet intermediaries for user-generated content at the European Court of Human Rights in the cases Delfi v Estonia (2015) and MTE v Hungary (2016). Regulatory approaches towards the liability of internet intermediaries raise the complex question of the kind of Internet that law should contribute to designing. For example, should law create a more regulated but less free environment? Moreover, should internet intermediaries decide on human rights standards, such as freedom of expression? Drawing on the systems theory concept of autopoiesis, this paper demonstrates how the answer to these questions might be inherently connected to the performativity of law. In this analysis, particular attention is then paid to the question of anonymity and how it might challenge the role of law in granting remedies.

The Effects of Juridification on States Exiting International Institutions

This article complements the doctrine of termination of membership by arguing that at times international organizations (‘ios’) can still exert considerable normative effects on states that withdraw or express the intent to withdraw from them. We capture this continuing influence, which can collide with the exiting state’s intended goal of regaining control over specific issues, with a theoretical framework based on juridification as a socio-legal concept of systems theory in the international legal context. The aim is to explain the endogenous process of legal growth within the io via bureaucratisation and expert rule, which eventually affects the norms of the wider legal regime where the io operates. With three case studies of io exits, we illustrate the continuation of normative structures promoted directly or indirectly by the io, according to two legal techniques of juridification: third-party interpretation on the one hand, and the extended reach of norms and processes through the work of non-state actors on the other. Overall, widening the theoretical perspective on state exits under systems theory can lead to more complete judgements on the tensions between domestic and supranational systems in the expansion of global normative regimes.

SIMULATION OF LOCOMOTIVE REPAIR ORGANIZATION BY THE METHODS OF QUEUE SYSTEMS THEORY

Purpose. The article is aimed to evaluate the influence of locomotives` operation and reliability indicators on the system of locomotives repair organization in depot, using the methods of queue theory. Methodology. The article describes the locomotive repair workshop using the terms and concepts of the queue systems theory (QST). The tasks solved during simulation of the repair workshop operation are formulated, the list of initial data and simulation results is given. A graphical simulation environment Simulink was used as a software simulation tool. Findings. It was established that the main indicators of locomotive depot operation are affected by the volume of traffic, the reliability of locomotives, the rule used to select locomotives from the queue, the number of operating repair bays. The developed model of the depot repair workshop will make possible rational planning of the repair workshop`s equipment use, the human capital, the time of putting the locomotives into repair taking into account the workshop loading uniformity, as well as to improve the repair parts supply logistics. This model in a simplified form describes the repair process of the main diesel locomotive fleet, and can be supplemented depending on the repair type performed in the depot. Originality. The paper presents the locomotive repair depot as an object of the queue systems theory. The simulation model of the locomotive repair depot was developed. It allows analyzing the influence of various factors on the system of locomotives` repair organization in the depot. Practical value. The obtained results make it possible to determine the influence of locomotives` operation and reliability indicators on the organization of the locomotive repair depot operation. In further studies, the developed model can be used to improve the system of repair organization on the railway network when introducing new series of locomotives and changing the strategy of their maintenance.

(German) Universities as multiple hybrid organizations

The paper claims that the organizational character of the (German) university can be comprehended best with the aid of the concept “multiple hybrid organization.” To corroborate this claim, I reconstruct two lines of argument that have dominated the discourse on the organizational nature of the German university so far. This discourse has only started in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the wake of new public management emphasizing that the reform of higher education governance has turned German universities into corporate actors (Meier 2009; Krücken and Meier 2006). At the same time, voices have risen advocating the singularity of the university and contrasting it to bureaucratic and corporate forms of organization. The paper starts by outlining these two strands of argumentation: the first highlights the organizational normality of the German university, the next its singularity. Against this background, I shall argue that both positions can be integrated if we rely on the term “multiple hybrid organization.” This concept is integrated into the systems theory concept of formal organization which serves as a theoretical means for analyzing organizations at large. The new concept of multiple organizational hybridity demonstrates its usefulness in showing that the structural particularity of the German university is rooted in numerous frictions pertaining to all its organizational structures.

ŽAMPA’S SYSTEMS THEORY: A COMPREHENSIVE THEORY OF MEASUREMENT IN DYNAMIC SYSTEMS

The article outlines in memoriam Prof. Pavel Žampa’s concepts of system theory which enable us to devise a measurement in dynamic systems independently of the particular system behaviour. From the point of view of Žampa’s theory, terms like system time, system attributes, system link, system element, input, output, sub-systems, and state variables are defined. In Conclusions, Žampa’s theory is discussed together with another mathematical approaches of qualitative dynamics known since the 19th century. In Appendices, we present applications of Žampa’s technical approach to measurement of complex dynamical (chemical and biological) systems at the Institute of Complex Systems, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice.

Actions of soft groups

The soft set theory proposed by Molodtsov is a recent mathematical approach for modeling uncertainty and vagueness. The main aim of this study is to introduce the concept of soft action by combining soft set theory with the action which is an important concept in dynamical systems theory. Moreover, different types of soft action are presented and some important characterizations are given. Finally, we define the concept of soft symmetric group and present the relation between the soft action and soft symmetric group, as a similar result to the classical Cayley's Theorem.

Re-thinking technology and its growing role in enabling patient empowerment.

The presence and increase of challenges to eHealth in today's society have begun to generate doubts about the capability of technology in patient empowerment, especially within the frameworks supporting empowerment. Through the review of existing frameworks and articulation of patient demands, weaknesses in the current application of technology to support empowerment are explored, and key constituents of a technology-driven framework for patient empowerment are determined. This article argues that existing usage of technology in the design, development and implementation of patient empowerment in the healthcare system, although well intentioned, is insufficiently constituted, primarily as a result of fragmentation. Systems theory concepts such as holism and iteration are considered vital in improving the role of technology in enabling patient empowerment.

Cyprus and British Colonialism: A Bowen Family Systems Analysis of Conflict Formation

This article uses family systems theory and Bowen family systems psychotherapy concepts to understand the nature of conflict formation during British colonialism in Cyprus. In examining ingredients of the British colonial model through family systems theory, an argument is made regarding the multigenerational transmission of colonial patterns that aid in the perpetuation of the Cyprus conflict to the present day. The ingredients of the British colonial model discussed include the homeostatic maintenance of the Ottoman colonial structure, a divide and rule policy through triangulation, the use of nationalism and triangulation in the Cypriot education system, political exploitation, and apartheid laws. Explaining how it centers on relationships and circular causality, nonsummativity and homeostasis reveals the useful nature of family systems theories in understanding conflict formation. Also, Bowenian universal forces are examined in terms of the emotional system, individuality and togetherness, and anxiety. These are coupled with six Bowenian concepts in assessing functionality and symptom formation, namely: 1) differentiation of self, 2) triangles, 3) nuclear family emotional process, 4) multigenerational transmission process, 5) emotional cutoff, and 6) societal emotional process.

Virtual projections of the human world: multi-agent systems

One of the key concepts of the multiagent systems (MAS) theory is that of ‘swarm intelligence’ that pictures intelligence as an emergent interactive effect of a set of rational agents. Therefore, the concepts of MAS are of great methodological and heuristic significance for philosophy. But philosophy also makes a significant contribution to the MAS theory: the theory of speech acts, the concept of implicature, and other philosophical concepts are successfully operationalized on the distributed systems of rational agents. All of this supports a hypernet theory of consciousness, according to which consciousness is the emergent effect not only of the network of brain neurons, but also of the social hypernet.

What factors determine the preferred gait transition speed in humans? A review of the triggering mechanisms

Human locomotion is a fundamental skill that is required for daily living, yet it is not completely known how human gait is regulated in a manner that seems so effortless. Gait transitions have been analyzed to gain insight into the control mechanisms of human locomotion since there is a known change that occurs as the speed of locomotion changes. Specifically, as gait speed changes, there is a spontaneous transition between walking and running that occurs at a particular speed. Despite the growing body of research on the determinants of this preferred transition speed and thus the triggering mechanisms of human gait transitions, a clear consensus regarding the control mechanisms of gait is still lacking. Therefore, this article reviews the determinants of the preferred transition speed using concepts of the dynamic systems theory and how these determinants contribute to four proposed triggers (i.e. metabolic efficiency, mechanical efficiency, mechanical load and cognitive and perceptual) of human gait transitions. While individual anthropometric and strength characteristics influence the preferred transition speed, they do not act to trigger a gait transition. The research has more strongly supported the mechanical efficiency and mechanical load determinants as triggering mechanisms of human gait transitions. These mechanical determinants, combined with cognitive and perceptual processes may thus be used to regulate human gait patterns through proprioceptive and perceptual feedback as the speed of locomotion changes.

The Complementary Perspective of System of Systems in Collaboration, Integration, and Logistics: A Value-Chain Based Paradigm of Supply Chain Management

The importance and complexity of the problems associated with coordinating multiple organizations to configure value propositions for customers has drawn the attention of multiple disciplines. In an effort to clarify and consolidate terms, this conceptual research examines both supply chain management (SCM) and system of systems (SoS) literature to postulate, from a value-chain perspective, what roles integration and collaboration play in helping supply chains satisfy customer requirements. A literature review analysis was used to identify the commonalities and differences between supply chain management and system of systems approaches to examining interfirm coordination of value creation efforts. Although a framework of integration and collaboration roles in value creation is proposed, further empirical testing of the concept is required to substantiate initial conclusions. The concepts proposed may help clarify where strategic and operational managers need to focus their efforts in coordinating supply chain member firms. The incorporation of SoS engineering into the supply chain field will draw the linkage between the constituent principles, and concepts of Systems Theory as appropriate for the supply chain management field. This is the first effort to reconcile two separate but parallel scholarship streams examining the coordination of multiple organizations in value creation. This research shows that there are some methodologies, principles, and methods from the SoS field that can supplement supply chain management research. Mainly due to a unit of analysis issue, systems based approaches have not been in the mainstream of supply chain management field development.

Complex systems biology.

Complex systems theory is concerned with identifying and characterizing common design elements that are observed across diverse natural, technological and social complex systems. Systems biology, a more holistic approach to study molecules and cells in biology, has advanced rapidly in the past two decades. However, not much appreciation has been granted to the realization that the human cell is an exemplary complex system. Here, I outline general design principles identified in many complex systems, and then describe the human cell as a prototypical complex system. Considering concepts of complex systems theory in systems biology can illuminate our overall understanding of normal cell physiology and the alterations that lead to human disease.

Integrated feedback control reporting for improving quality of technical service reporting in IT service management

Service Reporting is an essential part of Service Level Management (SLM) in IT Service Management (ITSM). These SLM reports show Service Quality status in compare to Service Level Target (SLT) based on Service Level Agreement (SLA). However, producing Technical Service Reports (TSRs) for SLM has Data Quality (DQ) challenges when IT services of a large enterprise are outsourced to a large IT service provider (ITSP). In fact, sources of technical metrics in these reports are coming from huge, unverified and non-normalized system-generated events and logs in a large enterprise environment. In addition, there are lacks of configuration items and service information meta-data that are essential for producing these SLM reports. These challenges lead to low intrinsic and contextual DQ of reports that destroy customer’s trust and management visibility which lead to Service Quality (SQ) issues and financial penalties. This research used Action Design Research (ADR) methodology and insider participant observation, focus group, interview and questionnaire data gathering and content analysis. Design, actions and data collection are done in and from a Multi-National Company (MNC) in Malaysia that provides IT services to one of the top 10 biggest enterprises in the world, during 4years of research. The research implemented artifact is an integrated reporting system. It used Feedback Control System (FCS) theory and ITSM concepts to create Reports Data Quality Improvement Loop (RDQIL) to improve TSRs’ DQ. The research output is an ensemble artifact which formalized in the class of problems, class of solutions and set of design principles that consist of new Hybrid Normalize Data Warehouse (HNDW) architecture and Integrated Feedback Control Reporting (IFCR) process model. The importance of research emerges by improving SQ and reducing the risks of financial penalties by providing complex event processing and service reporting integrated into Operation processes. The research’s design principles and IFCR process model create RDQIL that improves TSRs’ DQ in large ITSPs which lead SQ improvement and prevent financial penalties.