Information-Hierarchical Organization of Natural Systems I: The Information-Physical Principle

The mathematical notion of information characterizing system organization as such has been developed. The information-physical principle, which characterizes an information exchange in natural hierarchical systems and has been confirmed by its numerous applications, is laid down. It is shown to be based on the ancient “matter–measure–information” concept of physical world structure and talked about in the Hermes Trismegistus's will.     

Memory Evolutive Systems

This is a review of the book ‘Memory Evolutive Systems; Hierarchy, Emergence, Cognition’, by A. Ehresmann and J.P. Vanbremeersch. I welcome the use of category theory and the notion of colimit as a way of describing how complex hierarchical systems can be organised, and the notion of categories varying with time to give a notion of an evolving system. In this review I also point out the relation of the notion of colimit to ideas of communication; the necessity of communications to be symbolic representations; and the use of an analogy with mathematics to spell out some of the necessities of such a mode of communication to be powerful, robust and efficient.     

Cut-Elimination and Quantification in Canonical Systems

Canonical Propositional Gentzen-type systems are systems which in addition to the standard axioms and structural rules have only pure logical rules with the sub-formula property, in which exactly one occurrence of a connective is introduced in the conclusion, and no other occurrence of any connective is mentioned anywhere else. In this paper we considerably generalize the notion of a “canonical system” to first-order languages and beyond. We extend the Propositional coherence criterion for the non-triviality of such systems to rules with unary quantifiers and show that it remains constructive. Then we provide semantics for such canonical systems using 2-valued non-deterministic matrices extended to languages with quantifiers, and prove that the following properties are equivalent for a canonical system G: (1) G admits Cut-Elimination, (2) G is coherent, and (3) G has a characteristic 2-valued non-deterministic matrix.     

Systems Thinking for Knowledge

The capacity to engage in systems thinking is often viewed as being a product of being able to understand complex systems due to one's facility in mastering systems theories, methods, and being able to adeptly reason. Relatively little attention is paid in the systems literature to the processes of learning from experience and creating knowledge as a direct consequence of individuals engaging systems thinking itself over time. In fact, the potential efficacy of systems thinking to improve performance normally seen as only contingent on a priori knowledge, rather than knowledge created via learning from experience. Such newly create knowledge often results from engaging in modeling efforts and systemic forms of inquiry. This article proposes a model for creating new knowledge by coupling systems modeling with a pragmatic approach to knowledge-creation. This approach is based on a foundation of the pragmatic concepts first proposed by the American philosopher/scientist Charles Sanders Peirce over a century ago. This model offers systems practitioners a framework to engage in knowledge-intensive systems thinking (KIST) for addressing complex problematic issues.     

试论如何运用系统论原理认识细胞

运用系统论的原理分析了细胞的形态、结构与功能。细胞是生物体结构和功能的基本单位,具有多样性和统一性。细胞系统是复杂的物质系统,具有层次性、整体性、动态性及开放性等特征。应用唯物辩证法系统论的原理可以对细胞系统做出更新、更全面的诠释。     

Complex Adaptive Systems and Global Capitalism: The Risk of a New Ideology of Global Complexity

Since the foundation of the Santa Fe Institute, the new science of complex adaptive systems (CAS) has seen extraordinary development, breaking with previous, more epistemological, trends in complexity theory. This article makes a critique of CAS as a model of the current global complexity. Its basic model, the cellular automaton, which focuses on the interactive dynamics among components, ignores the nature of any complex system as constructed by the observer/actor and is unable to explain the sociohistorical construction of the agents/subjects (analyzed by Foucault) and the social structure in which they are located (analyzed by Bourdieu), thus being unable to accurately represent the overall social complexity.     

Deontic Interpreted Systems

We investigate an extension of the formalism of interpreted systems by Halpern and colleagues to model the correct behaviour of agents. The semantical model allows for the representation and reasoning about states of correct and incorrect functioning behaviour of the agents, and of the system as a whole. We axiomatise this semantic class by mapping it into a suitable class of Kripke models. The resulting logic, KD45_n ^i-j, is a stronger version of KD, the system often referred to as Standard Deontic Logic. We extend this formal framework to include the standard epistemic notions defined on interpreted systems, and introduce a new doubly-indexed operator representing the knowledge that an agent would have if it operates under the assumption that a group of agents is functioning correctly. We discuss these issues both theoretically and in terms of applications, and present further directions of work.     

Systems Theory and Family Therapy: From a Critique on Systems Theory to a Theory on System Change

Some system therapists reject the systemic view for various reasons, often related to violence, victimisation and power. This critique is based on an outdated narrow and incomplete knowledge of linear systems theory. A better understanding of these linear systems theories and of systems levels of organisation already answers much of the critique, but does not explain change. For the latter, a theory of how systems change is necessary for systems therapy in general and family therapy in particular. Modern dynamic systems and chaos theory are most useful to understand change, chaos, history, unpredictability and flexibility.     

A Grounded Approach to the Study of Complex Systems

The complex and dynamic nature of systems pose a particular challenge to researchers and require the use of a research methodology designed to deal with such systems. The properties of fit, relevance, understandability, generality, control, workability, generalizability, and modifiability make Glaserian grounded theory and grounded action particularly well suited for studying systems. These methods are innovative, systemic, and sophisticated enough to reveal the underlying complexities of systems and plan actions that address their complex, dynamic nature while remaining grounded in what is occurring within the systems as they change over time.     

Leibniz-linked Pairs of Deductive Systems

A pair of deductive systems (S,S??) is Leibniz-linked when S?? is an extension of S and on every algebra there is a map sending each filter of S to a filter of S?? with the same Leibniz congruence. We study this generalization to arbitrary deductive systems of the notion of the strong version of a protoalgebraic deductive system, studied in earlier papers, and of some results recently found for particular non-protoalgebraic deductive systems. The necessary examples and counterexamples found in the literature are described.     

A Phenomenological Calculus for Anisotropic Systems

The phenomenological calculus is a relational paradigm for complex systems, closely related in substance and spirit to Robert Rosen’s own approach. Its mathematical language is multilinear algebra. The epistemological exploration continues in this paper, with the expansion of the phenomenological calculus into the realm of anisotropy.     

Mixed Picture of Readiness for Adoption of Evidence-Based Prevention Programs in Communities: Exploratory Surveys of State Program Delivery Systems

An emerging literature highlights the potential for broader dissemination of evidence‐based prevention programs in communities through existing state systems, such as the land grant university Extension outreach system and departments of public education and health (DOE–DPH). This exploratory study entailed surveying representatives of the national Extension system and DOE–DPH, to evaluate dissemination readiness factors, as part of a larger project on an evidence‐based program delivery model called PROSPER. In addition to assessing systems’ readiness factors, differences among US regions and comparative levels of readiness between state systems were evaluated. The Extension web‐based survey sample N was 958 and the DOE–DPH telephone survey N was 338, with response rates of 23 and 79 %, respectively. Extension survey results suggested only a moderate level of overall readiness nationally, with relatively higher perceived need for collaborative efforts and relatively lower perceived resource availability. There were significant regional differences on all factors, generally favoring the Northeast. Results from DOE–DPH surveys showed significantly higher levels for all readiness factors, compared with Extension systems. Overall, the findings present a mixed picture. Although there were clear challenges related to measuring readiness in complex systems, addressing currently limited dissemination resources, and devising strategies for optimizing readiness, all systems showed some readiness‐related strengths.     

脑的四个功能系统学说

本文根据实验事实 ,讨论脑内评估 -情绪的功能系统。在此基础上 ,发展鲁利亚的脑的三个功能系统学说 ,提出脑的四个功能系统学说 ,认为脑内存在包括评估 -情绪功能系统在内的四个互相紧密联系的功能系统 ,人的各种行为和心理活动是这四个功能系统相互作用和协同活动的结果     

Algebraic Semantics for Deductive Systems

The notion of an algebraic semantics of a deductive system was proposed in [3], and a preliminary study was begun. The focus of [3] was the definition and investigation of algebraizable deductive systems, i.e., the deductive systems that possess an equivalent algebraic semantics. The present paper explores the more general property of possessing an algebraic semantics. While a deductive system can have at most one equivalent algebraic semantics, it may have numerous different algebraic semantics. All of these give rise to an algebraic completeness theorem for the deductive system, but their algebraic properties, unlike those of equivalent algebraic semantics, need not reflect the metalogical properties of the deductive system. Many deductive systems that don't have an equivalent algebraic semantics do possess an algebraic semantics; examples of these phenomena are provided. It is shown that all extensions of a deductive system that possesses an algebraic semantics themselves possess an algebraic semantics. Necessary conditions for the existence of an algebraic semantics are given, and an example of a protoalgebraic deductive system that does not have an algebraic semantics is provided. The mono-unary deductive systems possessing an algebraic semantics are characterized. Finally, weak conditions on a deductive system are formulated that guarantee the existence of an algebraic semantics. These conditions are used to show that various classes of non-algebraizable deductive systems of modal logic, relevance logic and linear logic do possess an algebraic semantics.     

On the mereological structure of complex states of affairs

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the mereological structure of complex states of affairs without relying on the problematic notion of structural universals. For this task tools from graph theory, lattice theory, and the theory of relational systems are employed. Our starting point is the mereology of similarity structures. Since similarity structures are structured sets, their mereology can be considered as a generalization of the mereology of ordinary sets. In general, the mereological systems arising from similarity structures turn out to be not Boolean but Heyting systems. Employing Armstrong??s notion of thick particulars, similarity structures are shown to capture the mereological structure of complex ??chemical states of affairs?? such as ??being butane?? or ??being isobutane??; structural universals are not needed.     

Implementation and Development of Federally-Funded Systems of Care Over Time

This study describes development in federally funded systems of care. Data for this study were collected using the System of Care Assessment that rated grantees' enactment of system of care principles in the infrastructure and service delivery domains. Data were collected by trained raters who conducted several site visits over the funding period. This study described system development over time across 61 sites and tested whether gains were statistically significant. Latent profile analysis was used to explore whether sites could be meaningfully grouped based on their baseline service delivery domain scores. Differences across groups were tested in terms of community, system, and client characteristics. Differential growth across groups was also examined. Overall, systems of care developed over time in both the infrastructure and service delivery domains. Although infrastructure scores were generally lower than service delivery scores, greater gains were seen for the infrastructure domain. Three groups of sites were identified that could be distinguished in terms of degree of development overall, and for specific system of care principles. The groups of sites differed in terms of community factors, system features, and client characteristics. In addition, repeated measures analyses found differential growth in system development over time across groups.     

Out on a limb? On multiple cognitive systems within the octopus nervous system

The idea that there can be only one cognitive system within any single given cognitive organism is an established albeit implicit one within cognitive science and related studies of the mind. The firm foothold of this notion is due largely to the immense corpus of empirical evidence for the correlation of a high level of cognitive sophistication with a centralized nervous system. However, it must be pointed out that these findings are sourced in large part from studies on vertebrates. This paper presents a potential counterexample to the notion that only one cognitive system can be realized within any single genuine cognitive organism. This counterexample is the octopus, an invertebrate with what initially appears to be a paradoxical combination of vertebrate-like cognitive and behavioral capacities and a functionally decentralized nervous system. The extensive relegation of sensorimotor processing and control responsibilities to the peripheral nervous system which controls the arms of the octopus raises principled reasons to believe that the octopus is an organism that may house multiple independent cognitive systems.     

Taking a Systems View of Creativity: On the Right Path Toward Understanding

In our 2010 Annual Review paper, Teresa Amabile and I argued that a virtual explosion of topics, viewpoints, and methodologies had muddied the investigative waters. Few, if any, “big” questions were being pursued by a critical mass of creativity researchers. Instead, investigators in one subfield seemed entirely unaware of advances in another. We saw a crucial need for a systems view of creativity and we encouraged investigators to recognize that creativity arises from a complex web of interrelated forces operating at multiple levels. Seven years have passed since the publication of that paper, and an examination of the most current research suggests that a growing number of publications are now reflecting a systems approach as well as a multidisciplinary perspective.     

Access to Assistive Technology,Systems Thinking,and Market Shaping: A Response to Durocher et al.

Fairness of access to assistive technology is important for its allocation on an equitable basis and for broader social justice and rights issues. Although the use of Daniels’s notion of “justice as fair opportunity” is helpful to the context of assistive technology, other aspects of Daniels’s broader conceptualisation of “just health” are not appropriate in this context. It is argued that fairness of access to assistive technology is crucial for the equitable attainment of the sustainable development goals; however, such access will be achieved only by the sector developing a much stronger systems thinking and market shaping perspective.     

Experiments on Socio-Technical Systems: The Problem of Control

My aim is to question whether the introduction of new technologies in society may be considered to be genuine experiments. I will argue that they are not, at least not in the sense in which the notion of experiment is being used in the natural and social sciences. If the introduction of a new technology in society is interpreted as an experiment, then we are dealing with a notion of experiment that differs in an important respect from the notion of experiment as used in the natural and social sciences. This difference shows itself most prominently when the functioning of the new technological system is not only dependent on technological hardware but also on social ‘software’, that is, on social institutions such as appropriate laws, and actions of operators of the new technological system. In those cases we are not dealing with ‘simply’ the introduction of a new technology, but with the introduction of a new socio-technical system. I will argue that if the introduction of a new socio-technical system is considered to be an experiment, then the relation between the experimenter and the system on which the experiment is performed differs significantly from the relation in traditional experiments in the natural and social sciences. In the latter experiments it is assumed that the experimenter is not part of the experimental system and is able to intervene in and control the experimental system from the outside. With regard to the introduction of new socio-technical systems the idea that there is an experimenter outside the socio-technical system who intervenes in and controls that system becomes problematic. From that perspective we are dealing with a different kind of experiment.