Showing papers in "Kybernetes in 2011"

The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future

Abstract: Cybernetics is often thought of as a grim military or industrial science of control. But as Andrew Pickering reveals in this beguiling book, a much more lively and experimental strain of cybernetics can be traced from the 1940s to the present.The Cybernetic Brain explores a largely forgotten group of British thinkers, including Grey Walter, Ross Ashby, Gregory Bateson, R. D. Laing, Stafford Beer, and Gordon Pask, and their singular work in a dazzling array of fields. Psychiatry, engineering, management, politics, music, architecture, education, tantric yoga, the Beats, and the sixties counterculture all come into play as Pickering follows the history of cybernetics impact on the world, from contemporary robotics and complexity theory to the Chilean economy under Salvador Allende. What underpins this fascinating history, Pickering contends, is a shared but unconventional vision of the world as ultimately unknowable, a place where genuine novelty is always emerging. And thus, Pickering avers, the history of cybernetics provides us with an imaginative model of open-ended experimentation in stark opposition to the modern urge to achieve domination over nature and each other.

Comparison of the Adomian decomposition method and the variational iteration method for solving the Lane‐Emden equations of the first and second kinds

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparison of the Adomian decomposition method (ADM) with the variational iteration method (VIM) for solving the Lane‐Emden equations of the first and second kinds.Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the theoretical framework of the Adomian decomposition method and compares it with the variational iteration method. The paper seeks to determine the relative merits and computational benefits of both the Adomian decomposition method and the variational iteration method in the context of the important physical models of the Lane‐Emden equations of the first and second kinds.Findings – The Adomian decomposition method is shown to readily solve the Lane‐Emden equations of both the first and second kinds for all positive real values of the system coefficient α and for all positive real values of the nonlinear exponent m. The decomposition series solution of these nonlinear differential equations requires the calculation of the Adomian polynomials a...

Diffusion of innovative behaviour with social responsibility

Abstract: Purpose – Development or existence of human society depends on innovations and the end of one‐sidedness of behavior. The complexity of innovative processes has been widely studied, yet the success rate is still low. The purpose of this paper is to identify by the dialectical systems approach how some concepts, important for development of inventions into innovations can better support requisitely holistic innovative behavior.Design/methodology/approach – System theory, theory of innovations and social responsibility are used to understand diffusion of innovations as part of the innovative processes.Findings – Many established theories, methods, procedures and standards support innovation management, but its economic success remains poor. Invention‐innovation‐diffusion processes (IIDP) remain poorly managed, especially the non‐technological. The usual approach is too one‐sided. Invention and innovation phases received more attention than the requisitely holistic consideration of the diffusion phase. Social...

Organisations as emergent normative personalities: part 1, the concepts

Abstract: Purpose – Modelling the organisation to enable purposeful analysis and diagnosis of its ills is often problematic. This is illustrated by the unconnected non‐synergistic plurality of organisational models each of which relates to a particular isolated frame of thought and purpose. A cybernetic approach is adopted to create a generic psychosocial model for the organisation that is used to characterise its emergent normative personality. Organisations are often complex, and seeing them in terms of their normative personality can reduce the complexity and enable a better understanding of their pathologies. This paper seeks to do two things. The first is to show that it is possible to set up a generic model of the organisation as an agency, and the second is to show that this same model can also be represented in the alternative terms of the emergent normative personality. In order to do this, an understanding of what it is that constitutes generic criteria is required. In addition, the paper shall show that ...

A note on the fractional Schrödinger differential equations

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce stability analysis for the initial value problem for the fractional Schrodinger differential equation: Equation 1 in a Hilbert space H with a self‐adjoint positive definite operator A under the condition |α(s)|

Brazilian highways from slime mold's point of view

Abstract: Purpose – This paper seeks to develop experimental laboratory biological techniques for approximation of existing road networks, optimizing transport links, and designing alternative optimal solutions to current transport problems. It studies how slime mould of Physarum polycephalum approximate highway networks of Brazil.Design/methodology/approach – The 21 most populous urban areas in Brazil are considered and represented with source of nutrients placed in the positions of slime mould growing substrate corresponding to the areas. At the beginning of each experiment slime mould is inoculated in Sao Paulo area. Slime mould exhibits foraging behavior and spans sources of nutrients (which represent urban areas) with a network of protoplasmic tubes (which approximate vehicular transport networks). The structure of transport networks developed by slime mould are analyzed and compared with families of known proximity graphs. The paper also imitates slime‐mould response to simulated disaster.Findings – It was fo...

The complexities of business school alignment with the emerging globalisation of business education

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key implications of globalisation for business schools, and to put structural alignment of academic structures with the Bologna Declaration in a broader strategic alignment with the needs of a knowledge‐driven society and a socially sustainable development.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis uses systems theory for analysing dynamic change in society and a synthesis of its influences on business education, as we see the Bologna Process is neither conceived nor implemented with sufficient care for holism in the European effort to become an innovative society.Findings – Business schools should extend their transformation effort beyond the Bologna Process and align their strategic model of operation with societal needs by integrating social requirements into their strategic framework.Research limitations/implications – Research focuses on key external developments in business education at a transnational level. Future research should focus on the expl...

Designing viable social systems: The role of linguistic communication for self‐organization

Abstract: Purpose – The viable system model (VSM) provides a way to understand communication structures in an organization. It gives us a means to visualize and analyze information channels relating the functions in an enterprise, a corporation, or any other kind of organization. At the heart of the VSM is the application of Ashby's law of requisite variety. The resulting models help to analyze and discuss what variety attenuation of operations and what variety amplification of management can establish requisite variety. Many studies and applications show that the complexity management laws described by Ashby and Beer hold, and that managerial, operational and environmental varieties tend to equate. The amplifiers and attenuators, however, should be designed to do so with minimum damage to people and to cost. The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent the design of amplifiers and attenuators is possible if these are realized based on linguistic communication, and whether this design can be automated i...

The e‐derivative of Boolean functions and its application in the fault detection and cryptographic system

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that the e‐derivative is of great significance when revealing cryptographic characteristics of Boolean functions and assurance of the safety of the cryptographic system.Design/methodology/approach – A new definition is introduced in this paper.Findings – After introducing the e‐derivative, the authors obtain some relevant cryptographic properties and theorems which can fully reveal the relationships between characteristics and structures of Boolean functions. In logic circuit fields, the authors conduct the test to all the signals with numerical value 1 in the transmission line using the e‐derivative, which improves the ability of the test. In addition, when there is no expression of the transmission line the authors will obtain it through the vector, and then do troubleshooting.Research limitations/implications – Logic circuit is the main limitation in the fault detection.Practical implications – A very useful method for assurance of the safety of cryptograp...

Complexity approaches to self‐organisation: a case study from an Irish eco‐village

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on results of recent research about the self‐organisation (SO) of communities that aim to regenerate and/or improve their sustainability, also to reflect upon methodological and epistemological issues related to the application of complexity approaches to support SO in communities and in general, social enterprises.Design/methodology/approach – The paper summarises recent research findings on SO and self‐transformation in communities using a combination of complexity approaches. It describes the methodological framework used to conduct action research about the self‐transformation and learning of a European eco‐community and reflects about the approaches used and lessons learned.Findings – This research confirms the complementarity between two approaches to complexity management: the viable systems model from S. Beer, a pioneering approach to managing complexity in institutions, and complex adaptive systems, a more recent approach to deal with SO in organi...

Taylor‐Galerkin method for advection‐diffusion equation

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide numerical solutions of the time‐dependent advection‐diffusion problem by using B‐spline finite element methods in which Taylor series expansion is used for the related time discretization.Design/methodology/approach – The solution domain is partitioned into uniform mesh. The collocation and the Galerkin methods where B‐spline functions are used as base functions are applied to advection‐diffusion equation.Findings – Given methods are unconditionally stable and the obtained results are comparable with some earlier studies in terms of accuracy.Originality/value – Quadratic and cubic B‐spline base functions are used with Taylor series expansion for the discretization of the equation.

Aspects of a cybernetic theory of tacit knowledge and innovation

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to facilitate understanding of the interaction between tacit knowledge and innovation.Design/methodology/approach – The paper addresses the puzzle related to the impact tacit knowledge has on innovation. It appears that tacit knowledge has both negative and positive effects on innovation. The authors argue that solving this puzzle might find its solution in moving away from a one‐dimensional view of both tacit knowledge and innovation. Hence, they develop a typology of tacit knowledge to facilitate our understanding of the interaction between different types of tacit knowledge and different types of innovation. In conducting an aspect of a cybernetic theory of tacit knowledge and innovation, the authors develop a number of propositions for the influence different types of tacit knowledge have on different types of innovation.Findings – The authors' argument is that different types of tacit knowledge hold different potential abilities for different types of innovation...

Innovative systemic approach for promoting sustainable innovation for zero construction waste

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on optimization of recycling of concrete from lightweight aggregates containing expanded glass and hard polyurethane (PU) and on the issue of importance of environmental management in constructions, to produce the new combination using rest, construction waste of concrete from lightweight aggregates and hard PU new raw components of concrete from lightweight aggregates, as key reactive materials.Design/methodology/approach – The research for this paper is based on the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, non‐linear programming (NLP) model and experimental research.Findings – Results from the new recycled material have been compared with the normal existing concrete from lightweight aggregates. Characteristics of recycled lightweight concrete (LWC) such as density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity have been investigated and have been compared with normal existing concrete from lightweight aggregates. Results indicate that...

Cybernetically sound organizational structures I: de Sitter's design theory

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use de Sitter's design theory to show how organizational structures can be designed so as to attenuate organizational disturbances and amplify regulatory potential It is argued that organizational structures with low values on so‐called design‐parameters are themselves no source of disturbances and have the required built‐in regulatory potentialDesign/methodology/approach – Key concepts from de Sitter's design theory are introduced and used to show how structures can attenuate disturbances and amplify regulatory potentialFindings – The analysis in this paper deepens our understanding of the role of organizational structures for dealing with organizational complexity, and of the design parameters that should be manipulated to achieve structural attenuation and amplificationPractical implications – Having a structure permitting organizations to attenuate and amplify is a crucial condition for organizational viability This paper provides guidelines for the desig

What is a symbol

Abstract: Purpose – In order to develop transdisciplinary working across the disciplines, clear epistemological foundations are required. The purpose of this paper is to show that sociocybernetics to provides the required unifying metadisciplinary epistemological foundations and transdisciplinary frameworks.Design/methodology/approach – The authors note that second‐order cybernetics provides a metadisciplinary framework for discerning the causes and cures for the schisms within the natural and cognitive sciences. The particular contributions of sociocybernetics are to extend the second‐order understandings to unify the social sciences and, by incorporating extant sociological theory back into the transdisciplinary pursuits of cybernetics and systems theory, to enlighten and enrich those pursuits.Findings – In order to highlight the power and fruitfulness of these contributions from sociocybernetics, the authors problematise, deconstruct and reconstruct key concepts concerned with human communication. To do this, th...

Introduction: a conference doing the cybernetics of cybernetics

Abstract: Purpose – This paper introduces the other papers in this issue, describing and arguing for the context in which they were written – a conference that was, unusually, based in conversation rather than reporting through the presentation of papers: and a refereeing process that continued after the initial presentation (at the conference) of the work reported, thus allowing responses to critical comments. Many of our authors do not come from scientific backgrounds, and writing papers such as we are used to is a novel experience to, and discipline for, them.Design/methodology/approach – The organisation and structure of the conference and the processes of refereeing involved are described; and the argument is made that the particularities of each are more cybernetic than the more familiar arrangements.Findings – The conference processes were greatly valued by the authors. This is evident in the papers presented in this volume, although the convention of presenting only the final form of the paper may mean it i...

Cybernetics as the science of decision making

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present decision making as the decisive activity of controllers, necessary to correct deviations from a goal value in controlled systems by deciding on goal‐oriented actions.Design/methodology/approach – Using a functional approach it is shown how an increasing complexity of controller structures follows an increasing ability to make more complex decisions. Two applications are used to analyze that in detail: first, the controller structures necessary for Miller's living systems and for Beer's viable systems are presented in one comparable scheme. Second, a complex controller structure illustrates the basic requirements for a brain.Findings – Analyzing necessary decisions in Beer's viable systems it is shown how the elementary decisions found in feedback systems can be used as a first approximation for decision making. Hence, it is shown how principles of decision making determine the development of complex controller structures.Practical implications – The paper ...

A new management for enduring company success

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain how the system science and cybernetics in Stafford Beer's viable system model (VSM) will help management structure and manage their company to achieve on‐going success in a fast‐changing world.Design/methodology/approach – The author worked with Stafford Beer in the 1970s, applying his VSM in the corporation he then worked for and has used the VSM ideas in work with companies in 16 countries, always with success. The VSM instructs in how to structure and how to manage. For what to manage the author used Peter Drucker's key performance areas, and has more than 50 years of experience working in these areas.Findings – The author has found, during his long career in industry and in consulting, that the VSM is the best available guide for structuring and managing a business enterprise for success in turbulent times.Practical implications – In the 1950s, Ralph Cordiner “decentralized” General Electric into 120 businesses, pioneering a new, better way to structur...

Determination of recruitment and transition strategies

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to describe the development and application of a manpower planning system for the Slovenian armed forces using a system approach, system dynamics (SD) and numerical optimization.Design/methodology/approach – The model of the hierarchical manpower system was developed by SD methodology and formulated in discrete time space. The problem of tracking the goal trajectories in the eight topmost ranks at the prescribed boundaries was solved by application of the quadratic performance index and finite automata (FA) which was used for classification of acceptable strategies. Genetic algorithms (GA) as well as pattern search were compared at the numeric optimization.Findings – Employing SD and a system approach increases the understanding of the system control. The definition of an optimum strategy, which would consider only target values for ranks within prescribed parameter boundaries, could provide an undesired oscillatory solution. Inclusion of rules by FA to determine acceptable strat...

The indirect effects of intranet functionalities on middle managers' performance: Evidence from the maritime industry

Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether intranet functionalities predict perceived usefulness, which in turn influences intranet usage and whether such usage affects job performance of managers., – About 150 of 357 managers engaged by numerous organizations in the port industry in Malaysia, namely port authority, terminal operator, marine department, immigration department, and royal customs and excise department which utilized intranet were sampled using a set of self‐reporting questionnaires., – The results of structural equation modeling indicate that intranet functionalities influence perceived usefulness, usage, and indirectly predict port managers' performance., – The paper focuses only on the perspective of intranet usage among middle managers working in the port industry in Malaysia., – Suggestions are provided on how the maritime industry in particular and other industries in general can improve their intranet adoption to achieve organizational goals., – This paper draws attention to the imperative of having proper intranet functionalities in place in light of its indirect impact on job performance improvements.

From abstract to actual: art and designer‐like enquiries into data visualisation

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest that physiological experience can contribute to the comprehension of visualisation of scientific data, especially artistic approaches.Design/methodology/approach – A number of relevant case studies are used to establish the rationale.Findings – “Objective” or neutral data visualisation does not exist. Every visualisation process relies on human definitions or mediation. Based on this premise, interdisciplinary collaborators can use methods from design and art to actively design the usability of data visualisation together with their perceived aesthetic, ambiguous and imaginative dimensions in order to create a multi‐layered human experience of data.Research limitations/implications – Physiological engagement in combination with rich, ambiguous experiences are no substitute for scientific data visualisation but an evocative medium for the public communication of science, such as at science centres or science museums.Practical implications – Clear support of...

A new – 4th order cybernetics and sustainable future

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report a further step in the authors' research and suggest a new – 4th order cybernetics, applying it to the issue of a sustainable future, that must unavoidably result from the current socio‐economic crisis surfacing in 2008 as the top of an iceberg, or humankind of the current civilization has poor chances to survive. One‐sided solutions do not prove to work; they make us think of systems and cybernetics.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research with application to real‐life cases.Findings – While cybernetics is about steering, i.e. influencing, cybernetics of the 1st and 2nd order might be insufficient for solving the problem, and cybernetics of the 3rd order might serve us better, but not enough either. The authors' thesis reads: they might better be put in a new synergy with the (Universal) Dialectical Systems Theory and Cybernetics of Conceptual Systems to make a new kind of systems theory/cybernetics called cybernetics of the 4th order. It should h...

The origins of British cybernetics: the Ratio Club

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the origins, members, activities, and influence of the Ratio Club, a British cybernetic dining club that met between 1949 and 1958. Although its membership included some of the best known British cyberneticists, such as Grey Walter and Ross Ashby, along with pioneering scientists such as Alan Turing, the club is poorly documented, and its significance is difficult to establish from published sources. Design/methodology/approach The approach involved the consultation and analysis of unpublished material in both private and public archives in the UK and the USA, coupled with interviews with surviving members, guests, and contemporaries. Findings The Ratio Club grew out of a distinctively British strand of cybernetic activity that was mainly fuelled by the deployment of biologists to engineering activities during the Second World War. It was also strongly influenced by the approach of the psychologist Kenneth Craik. Although members were keenly aware of contemporary American developments, such as Wiener's approach to the mathematics of control, and the psychological and sociological concerns of the Macy Conference, the emphasis of the club was on the application of cybernetic ideas and information theory to biology and the brain. In contrast to the wide influence the later Macy conferences exercised through their published transcripts, the Ratio Club influenced its core disciplines though its members, several of whom became prominent and effective advocates of the cybernetic approach. Originality/value This is the first journal paper to give an authoritative, detailed, and accurate account of the club's origins, activities, and importance.

An enhanced fuzzy H∞ estimator applied to low‐cost attitude‐heading reference system

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the process of design and implementation of an enhanced fuzzy H∞ (EFH∞) estimation algorithm to determine the attitude and heading angles of ground vehicles, which are frequently affected by considerable exogenous disturbances. To detect the changes of disturbances, a fuzzy system is designed based on expert knowledge and experiences of a navigation engineer. In the EFH∞ estimator, the intensity bounds of disturbances affecting the measurements are updated using a heuristic combination of three change‐detection indices. Performance of the proposed estimator is evaluated by Monte‐Carlo simulations and field tests of three kinds of vehicles using a manufactured attitude‐heading reference system (AHRS). In both simulations and real tests, the proposed estimator results in a superior performance compared to those of the recently developed and standard H∞ estimators.Design/methodology/approach – Design, implementation and real tests of the EFH∞ estimator are c...

Pricing decisions for reverse supply chains

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the collecting price decisions of used products in reverse supply chains based on the following cases: manufacturer for collecting and processing, third party for collecting and manufacturer for processing, retailer for collecting and manufacture for processing, and third party for collecting and processing.Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers a recycling channel whereby a manufacturer collects and processes the used products or delegates collecting (or processing) to the retailer or a third party; characterizes the steps of processing a returned used product; gives a collection function of used products which is an increasing function of the collecting price, since the quantity of returned used products is affected by the end customer's willingness and the end customer's willingness is affected by the collecting price. The optimal results were obtained by game theory.Findings – By investigating the pricing decisions for different cases, the m...