Semiotics Encyclopedia Online - Welcome This reference website is freely usable for educational and personal use. It will provide in-depth articles written by experts in a great variety of disciplines bearing upon the ways in which organisms in general, and humans in particular, process information, discover or construct meaning, represent and share their knowledge, interact through the mediation of signs and symbols that change over time, and elaborate diverse cultures and systems of thought. It will offer articles documenting the historical development of semiotics while emphasizing that this variegated epistemological movement is still in the making. The Semiotics Encyclopedia Online will endeavor to bring into focus important advances in the sciences, which are bound to have an impact on our understanding of the issues which have been traditionally raised by semiotics. It will also critically reexamine the basic concepts and models that form contemporary semiotic literacy.
Strategic Thinking Approaching Business with Systems Thinking Businesses promote and sell products and services, which includes solutions to a problem or benefit of a product. In a lot of businesses, expertise is an key capability that leads to the ability to provide optimum service. That is why some companies create functional teams within their corporate structure to ensure that expert service is provided. The team of workers should be strategically placed so that their expertise can be appropriately utilized. Why You Should Embrace Systems Thinking When a business uses a systems thinking approach to doing business, it makes the system more efficient and cost-effective. Systems thinking combined with human interaction with customers is exemplary of a wide range of things working efficiently for the same goal. Working together for a common goal is pretty much what systems thinking is about.
Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General System Theory (1968) The Quest for a General System Theory There exist models, principles, and laws that apply to generalized systems or their subclasses, irrespective of their particular kind, the nature of their component elements, and the relation or 'forces' between them. It seems legitimate to ask for a theory, not of systems of a more or less special kind, but of universal principles applying to systems in general. A consequence of the existence of general system properties is the appearance of structural similarities or isomorphisms in different fields. System isomorphisms also appear in problems which are recalcitrant to quantitative analysis but are nevertheless of great intrinsic interest. It seems therefore that a general system theory of systems would be a useful tool providing, on the one hand, models that can be used in, and transferred to, different fields, and safeguarding, on the other hand, from vague analogies which often have marred the progress in these fields. Closed and Open Systems
Insight Maker FREE PC Profile, Audit, and Diagnostic Report Utility Main Page - Metagovernment - Government of, by, and for all the people Cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human beings belong to a single community, based on a shared morality. A person who adheres to the idea of cosmopolitanism in any of its forms is called a cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. A cosmopolitan community might be based on an inclusive morality, a shared economic relationship, or a political structure that encompasses different nations. In a cosmopolitan community individuals from different places (e.g. nation-states) form relationships of mutual respect. Various cities and locales, past or present, have or are defined as "cosmopolitan"; that does not necessarily mean that all or most of their inhabitants consciously embrace the above philosophy. Etymology[edit] The word derives from the Greek κοσμοπολίτης, or kosmopolitês, formed from "κόσμος", kosmos, i.e. Definitions[edit] Definitions of cosmopolitanism usually begin with the Greek etymology of "citizen of the world". Philosophical cosmopolitanism[edit] Philosophical roots[edit] Bennington.
Systems Classifications From SystemsWiki There are multiple ways of characterizing systems. Of those I have come to understand to date, several of the most useful are as follows. Ackoff Classification of Systems Mechanistic System: Where the whole has no purposes of its own and the parts have no purposes of their own. Reference: Types of Systems Ackoff Collaboratory Boulding's Hierarchy of Systems Economist Kenneth Boulding, (1985) one of the founders of The Society for General Systems Theory, defined 5 generalized classes of systems which encompasses all other systems. Parasitic System This is a system in which a positive influence from one element to another provides a negative influence in return to the first element. "I get positive things from you and provide you a negative return in response. Prey/Predator System In this type of system the elements are essentially dependent on each other from the perspective that the quantity of one element determines the quantity of the other element. Threat System References
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Improv Encyclopedia Council on Foreign Relations Systems - A Journey Along the Way Systems A Journey Along theWay Welcome to a journey in the realm of systems. The real intent here is not to study systems as a discipline, though more an intent to study lots of things and employ a systems perspective to foster understanding. Every attempt will be made to avoid the major failing of "system science." Enjoy the journey! System The word system probably has more varied meanings than any other word in use today. A system is an entity which maintains its existence through the mutual interaction of its parts. The key emphasis here is "mutual interaction," in that something is occurring between the parts, over time, which maintains the system. This definition of a system implies something beyond cause and effect. Emergence Associated with the idea of system is a principle called emergence. Stumbling across this as I did was most enlightening. One could study hydrogen and oxygen in isolation from each other forever and never discover the characteristic of wetness. Classes of Systems