On the history of Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s “general systemology”, and on its relationship to cybernetics - Part II: Contexts and developments of the systemological hermeneutics instigated by von Bertalanffy

The history of “general system theory” is investigated in order to clarify its meanings, vocations, foundations and achievements. It is characterized as the project of a science of the systemic interpretation of the “real”, renamed here “general systemology”. The contexts and modes of its elaboration, publication and implementation are discussed. The paper mostly focuses on the works of its instigator: Ludwig von Bertalanffy. However, general systemology was a collective project: the main contributions of other “systemologists”, from the 1950s until the 1970s, are hence also considered. Its solidarity with the history of the Society for General Systems Research is notably discussed. A reconstruction of the systemological hermeneutics is undertaken on this basis. It finds out the potential systematic unity underlying the diversity of the contributions to this both scientific and philosophical project. Light is thus shed on the actual scope of von Bertalanffy’s works.     

Visualising a knowledge mapping of information systems investment evaluation

Information systems (IS) facilitate organisations to increase responsiveness and reduce the costs of their supply chain. This paper seeks to make a contribution through exploring and visualising knowledge mapping from the perspective of IS investment evaluation. The evaluation of IS is regarded as a challenging and complex process, which becomes even more difficult with the increased complexity of IS. The intricacy of IS evaluation, however, is due to numerous interrelated factors (e.g. costs, benefits and risks) that have human or organisational dimensions. With this in mind, there appears to be an increasing need to assess investment decision-making processes, to better understand the often far-reaching implications associated with technology adoption and interrelated knowledge components (KC). Through the identification and extrapolation of key learning issues from the literature and empirical findings, organisations can better improve their business processes and thereby their effectiveness and efficiency, while preventing others from making costly oversights that may not necessarily be only financial. In seeking to enlighten the often obscure evaluation of IS investments, this paper attempts to inductively emphasise the dissemination of knowledge and learning through the application of a fuzzy Expert System (ES) based knowledge mapping technique (i.e. Fuzzy Cognitive Map [FCM]). The rationale for exploring knowledge and IS investment evaluation is that a knowledge map will materialise for others to exploit during their specific technology evaluation. This is realised through conceptualising the explicit and tacit investment drivers. Among the several findings drawn from this research, the key resulting knowledge mapping through FCM demonstrated the complex, multifaceted and emergent behaviour of causal relationships within the knowledge area. The principal relationships and knowledge within IS investment evaluation are illustrated as being determined by a blend of managerial and user perspectives.     

Modeling and verifying probabilistic Multi-Agent Systems using knowledge and social commitments

Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) have long been modeled through knowledge and social commitments independently. In this paper, we present a new method that merges the two concepts to model and verify MASs in the presence of uncertainty. To express knowledge and social commitments simultaneously in uncertain settings, we define a new multi-modal logic called Probabilistic Computation Tree Logic of Knowledge and Commitments (PCTL^kc in short) which combines two existing probabilistic logics namely, probabilistic logic of knowledge PCTLK and probabilistic logic of commitments PCTLC. To model stochastic MASs, we present a new version of interpreted systems that captures the probabilistic behavior and accounts for the communication between interacting components. Then, we introduce a new probabilistic model checking procedure to check the compliance of target systems against some desirable properties written in PCTL^kc and report the obtained verification results. Our proposed model checking technique is reduction-based and consists in transforming the problem of model checking PCTL^kc into the problem of model checking a well established logic, namely PCTL. So doing provides us with the privilege of re-using the PRISM model checker to implement the proposed model checking approach. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by presenting a real case study. This framework can be considered as a step forward towards closing the gap of capturing interactions between knowledge and social commitments in stochastic agent-based systems.     

Fundamentals of systems ergonomics/human factors

Ergonomics/human factors is, above anything else, a systems discipline and profession, applying a systems philosophy and systems approaches. Many things are labelled as system in today's world, and this paper specifies just what attributes and notions define ergonomics/human factors in systems terms. These are obviously a systems focus, but also concern for context, acknowledgement of interactions and complexity, a holistic approach, recognition of emergence and embedding of the professional effort involved within organization system. These six notions are illustrated with examples from a large body of work on rail human factors.     

Optimization of membrane gas separation systems using genetic algorithm

Genetic algorithm is applied for the optimization of the membrane gas separation systems. Air separation for enriched oxygen production is the selected system for investigation. Optimizations for single and triple objective functions are studied. The optimization problem involves the selection of the optimal system configurations from three alternatives, including continuous membrane column (CMC), single stripper permeator (SSP), and two stripper in series permeator (TSSP), as well as the optimal operating conditions. Models of the three configurations and the genetic algorithm procedure are computerized. The objective functions discussed are the Rony separation index, power consumption per unit equivalent pure oxygen, and the membrane area. Both high-pressure and low-pressure (vacuum) operation modes are optimized and the effects of different oxygen product purity and feed rate are analyzed. For single objective function optimization, the solutions obtained using genetic algorithm are slightly inferior in one case but superior in other cases compared to those by pure mathematical optimization methods. For triple objective function optimization, the Pareto plots presenting multiple trade-off solutions are generated. In general, compared to high-pressure operation mode, the product recovery and power consumption for low-pressure operation mode are lower. For almost all the cases studied, CMC configuration with its high flexibility appears in the optimal solutions.     

More than twenty years of advancements on Frontiers in handwriting recognition

In this paper the results of the research in handwriting/handwritten character recognition in about the last quarter of a century are reported, illustrating the results presented during the International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition (IWFHR) and the International Conference on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition (ICFHR).     

A systematic review on security in Process-Aware Information Systems – Constitution,challenges, and future directions

ContextSecurity in Process-Aware Information Systems (PAIS) has gained increased attention in current research and practice. However, a common understanding and agreement on security is still missing. In addition, the proliferation of literature makes it cumbersome to overlook and determine state of the art and further to identify research challenges and gaps. In summary, a comprehensive and systematic overview of state of the art in research and practice in the area of security in PAIS is missing.ObjectiveThis paper investigates research on security in PAIS and aims at establishing a common understanding of terminology in this context. Further it investigates which security controls are currently applied in PAIS.MethodA systematic literature review is conducted in order to classify and define security and security controls in PAIS. From initially 424 papers, we selected in total 275 publications that related to security and PAIS between 1993 and 2012. Furthermore, we analyzed and categorized the papers using a systematic mapping approach which resulted into 5 categories and 12 security controls.ResultsIn literature, security in PAIS often centers on specific (security) aspects such as security policies, security requirements, authorization and access control mechanisms, or inter-organizational scenarios. In addition, we identified 12 security controls in the area of security concepts, authorization and access control, applications, verification, and failure handling in PAIS. Based on the results, open research challenges and gaps are identified and discussed with respect to possible solutions.ConclusionThis survey provides a comprehensive review of current security practice in PAIS and shows that security in PAIS is a challenging interdisciplinary research field that assembles research methods and principles from security and PAIS. We show that state of the art provides a rich set of methods such as access control models but still several open research challenges remain.     

Smart grid coordination in building HVAC systems: EMPC and the impact of forecasting

Energy consumption by heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems exhibits a clear correlation with electricity prices. The method of economic model predictive control (EMPC) can be used in conjunction with thermal energy storage (TES) to time-shift power consumption away from periods of high demand to periods of low energy cost. Dynamic electricity pricing and weather condition forecasts can be readily incorporated within this methodology. Unfortunately, the receding horizon nature of this control strategy makes it very susceptible to the quality of the forecasts used. To this end, the development and implementation of several forecasting methods will be discussed. Finally, the EMPC performance of these methods will be assessed on a simple building example using active TES.     

On constrained infinite-time nonlinear optimal control

In this work, we consider the infinite-time optimal control of input affine nonlinear systems subject to point-wise in time inequality constraints on both the process inputs and outputs. Fundamental to solving this constrained infinite-time nonlinear optimal control (CITNOC) problem is the ability to calculate the value function of it's unconstrained counterpart, the infinite-time nonlinear optimal control (ITNOC) problem. Unfortunately, the traditional ITNOC solution procedure of specifying an objective function and then solving for the optimal control policy and corresponding value function is computationally intractable in all but the simplest of examples. However, in many cases one can easily identify a stabilizing feedback for near operating point regulation. Building from this local policy, the proposed method is to construct a meaningful optimal control objective function as well as its corresponding value function. These functions are then used to analyze the closed-loop stability of the proposed policy. Upon return to the constrained case the constructed objective and value functions are again used to develop a self-consistent constrained finite-time scheme that will, for the first time, provide an exact solution to the CITNOC problem. The mechanics of the proposed method are then illustrated by an example from chemical reactor control.     

基于分布式抗差最小二乘法的状态估计

针对电力系统互联的必然趋势,在研究传统算法和分布式算法的基础上,提出了基于结构和电压等级分布的组合分布式状态估计算法,建立了相应的数学模型。抗差估计理论主要研究抗拒少量粗差对估值的影响。拓扑错误和坏数据可以分别看作带有粗差的网络参数和量测数据,因此可以将抗差最小二乘法用于存在拓扑错误和坏数据时的状态估计。算例结果表明,基于分布式的抗差最小二乘法具有良好的抗粗差能力和收敛可靠性,并且收敛速度快。