Contemporary Systems and Cybernetics

Rudall, Brian H.

doi:10.1108/eb005952

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Indeed, individual disciplines such as cybernetics and GST have had a crucial influence on the birth and development of various modern subjects such as: control theory, computer science, information theory, automata theory, artificial intelligence and artificial neural networks, cognitive science, computer modelling and simulation, dynamical systems, and artificial life (Rudall 2000;Rudall 2002), while practical methodologies such as system dynamics and SSM have been applied to a wide range of domains. (de Water, Schinkel et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, much has been made of the advent of computing technology and re-emergence of cybernetics over the last 20 years (Rudall 2000;Rudall 2002). More generally, areas such as fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and adaptive systems, which were relatively unexplored thirty or even ten years ago, are now dominating the scope of cybernetics and OR (Dowsland 1996;Kobbacy et al 2007;Rudall 2004;Rudall and Mann 2008;Tilebein 2006). …”

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

Mingers

White

2010

European Journal of Operational Research

361

229

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The systems approach, or systems thinking, has been intimately connected with the development of OR and management science initially through the work of founders such as Churchman and Ackoff and latterly through innovations such as soft systems. In this paper we have undertaken a review of the contribution that systems thinking has been making more recently, especially to the practice of OR. Systems thinking is a discipline in its own right, with many theoretical and methodological developments, but it is also applicable to almost any problem area because of its generality, and so such a review must always be selective. We have looked at the literature from both a theoretical and an applications orientation. In the first part we consider the main systems theories and methodologies in terms of their recent developments and also their applications. This covers: the systems approach, complexity theory, cybernetics, system dynamics, soft OR and PSMs, critical systems and multimethodology. In the second part we review the main domains of application: strategy, information systems, organisations, production and operations, ecology and agriculture, and medicine and health. Our overall conclusion is that while systems may not be well established institutionally, in terms of academic departments, it is incredibly healthy in terms of the quantity and variety of its applications.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

Mingers

White

2010

European Journal of Operational Research

361

229

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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On Analogy for Software Reuse: A Perspective From Cybernetics

Chen¹

1995

Cybernetics and Systems

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Explanation as a solution reconstruction in causal networks and expert systems

Chen

1995

Kybernetes

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Introduction: the explanation problem and reconstruction Reconstructability analysis [1,2] in systems theory has put emphasis on the issue of system reconstruction from subsystems (namely, a set of variables). Yet there is another kind of reconstruction problem which resides in the interests of systems studies, namely, explanation.Following the discussion given in[3], the explanation problem in an information processing system can be defined as "an information processing operation that takes the operation of an information processing system as input and generates a description of that information processing operation as output". Therefore, explanation provides a description of how the solution of a problem is achieved by the system, thus enhancing the user's confidence of the system.In terms of terminology in systems theory, we propose the notion of viewing explanation as solution reconstruction. Since such a kind of reconstruction is concerned with solutions rather than the systems, it is different from system reconstruction. Nevertheless, it still demonstrates the basic intuitive idea of "pasting parts (pieces) together to get the whole thing". Notice that the term reconstruction implies that the way of putting pieces together does not necessarily follow the way of splitting the original thing apart; rather it is reconstructed.Explanation is a complicated issue and there are many aspects of explanation. To make our study focused, we will examine the notion of explanation as a "solution reconstruction" in knowledge-based systems, explaining how knowledge-based systems reason involves presentation, user factors, and the way systems understand their own problem-solving knowledge and strategies. In this short article, two types of systems in the knowledgebased arena will be examined briefly, namely, causal networks and expert systems. In both fields, explanation itself is treated as a problem-solving process; the task of this process is to describe how the original problem is solved by the system. Reasoning and explanation in causal networksThe concept of a causal network or Bayesian network is due to , and has found many applications [7,8]. In this short paper we will follow the discussion of [6]. After a brief description of the concept, we will take a look at the relationship between reasoning and explanation in causal networks.

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Contemporary Systems and Cybernetics

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

On Analogy for Software Reuse: A Perspective From Cybernetics

Explanation as a solution reconstruction in causal networks and expert systems

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