Anarchism and Cybernetics: A Missed Opportunity Revisited

2020 ◽  
pp. 35-60
Author(s):  
Thomas Swann
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Viable System Model ◽  
Detailed Understanding ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
The Core ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Functional Hierarchy ◽  
Viable System ◽  
Conceptual Overview ◽  
Missed Opportunity

Chapter Three provides a historical and conceptual overview of both anarchism and cybernetics, focusing on recent developments in anarchist social movement practice and Stafford Beer’s organisational cybernetics respectively. The chapter argues that the core cybernetic principles of complexity, control and autonomy, understood through the overarching idea of self-organisation, can help elaborate a detailed understanding of anarchist organisation. To do so, the chapter develops Beer’s Viable System Model for anarchist social movement organising and uses the example of Occupy to show how the functional hierarchy of Beer’s model can be applied to forms of organisation that are typically understood as rejecting hierarchy. The chapter builds on an important article written by John D. McEwan to show how functional roles in an organisation can be realised on structurally non-hierarchical ways that reinforce the radically democratic and participatory practices of anarchism.

Control (Part I): Tactics, Strategy and Grand Strategy

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-80
Author(s):  
Thomas Swann
Keyword(s):  
Grand Strategy ◽  
System Model ◽  
Radical Politics ◽  
Viable System Model ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Functional Hierarchy ◽  
Viable System ◽  
Control Part

Chapter Four returns to the description of the anarchist Viable System Model to focus on the distinction between the functional roles involved in the anarchist cybernetic organisation. A three-part distinction between tactics, strategy and grand strategy is developed in the chapter. The chapter presents a functional hierarchy whereby grand strategy provides the overarching worldview or paradigm; strategy the shorter-term but still not immediate goals; and tactics the immediate, day-to-day activity. The chapter relates this conceptualisation to the idea of prefiguration, a notion central to contemporary radical politics. This chapter argues that a distinction between tactics, strategy and grand strategy is crucial for understanding how anarchist cybernetic organisations might operate in a prefigurative way, showing that strategy and grand strategy can be engaged with in participatory and democratic ways.

Design of a Conceptual Model for Improving Company Performance Based on Lean Management Applying the Viable System Model (VSM)

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Gallego García ◽  
Rayco Rodríguez Reyes ◽  
Manuel García García
Keyword(s):  
Production Management ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Service Level ◽  
System Model ◽  
Company Performance ◽  
Lean Management ◽  
Viable System Model ◽  
Viable System ◽  
The Right

Abstract Designing, changing and adapting organizations to secure viability is challenging for companies. Researchers often fail to holistically design or transform organizations. Thus, the aim of this study is to propose a holistic approach how organizations can be designed, changed or managed considering also its implications to production management following lean management principles. Hereby the Viable System Model was applied. This structure can be applied to any kind of structured organization and for its management with goals to be achieved in modern society; however focus of the research is the cluster of manufacturing and assembly companies. Goal of the developed organizational model is to be able to react to all potential company environments by taking decisions regarding organization and production management functions correctly and in the right moment based on the needed information. To ensure this, standardized communication channels were defined. In conclusion this proposed approach enables companies to have internal mechanisms to secure viability and also in production to reduce necessary stocks, lead times, manpower allocation and leads to an increase of the service level to the final customer.

The Primacy of Experience

2019 ◽  
pp. 64-81
Author(s):  
Andrea Schiavio
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Flexible Systems ◽  
Phenomenological Philosophy ◽  
The Core ◽  
Learning Contexts ◽  
Grading Systems ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Core Issue ◽  
Event Based

This chapter explores a possible alternative to traditional “paper-and-pencil” assessment practices in music classes. It argues that an approach based on phenomenological philosophy and inspired by recent developments in cognitive science may shed new light on learning and help educators reconsider grading systems accordingly. After individuating the core issue in an unresolved tension between subjective-objective methodologies relevant to certain learning contexts, the chapter proposes a possible remedy by appealing to three principles central to “embodied” approaches to cognition. Such principles may help educators reframe cognitive phenomena (learning described as a measurable event based on “information processing”) in terms of cognitive ecosystems (learning understood as a negotiating and transformative activity codetermined by diverse embodied and ecological factors connected in recurrent fashion). Accommodating this shift implies transforming assessment practices into more open and flexible systems that take seriously the challenge of cooperative learning and phenomenological reflections.

scholarly journals The Architecture Design of Electrical Vehicle Infrastructure Using Viable System Model Approach

Systems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Mahdi Boucetta ◽  
Niamat Ullah Ibne Hossain ◽  
Raed Jaradat ◽  
Charles Keating ◽  
Siham Tazzit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Viable System Model ◽  
Charging Station ◽  
Viable System ◽  
Station Location ◽  
Ev Charging

Exponential technological-based growth in industrialization and urbanization, and the ease of mobility that modern motorization offers have significantly transformed social structures and living standards. As a result, electric vehicles (EVs) have gained widespread popularity as a mode of sustainable transport. The increasing demand for of electric vehicles (EVs) has reduced the some of the environmental issues and urban space requirements for parking and road usage. The current body of EV literature is replete with different optimization and empirical approaches pertaining to the design and analysis of the EV ecosystem; however, probing the EV ecosystem from a management perspective has not been analyzed. To address this gap, this paper develops a systems-based framework to offer rigorous design and analysis of the EV ecosystem, with a focus on charging station location problems. The study framework includes: (1) examination of the EV charging station location problem through the lens of a systems perspective; (2) a systems view of EV ecosystem structure; and (3) development of a reference model for EV charging stations by adopting the viable system model. The paper concludes with the methodological implications and utility of the reference model to offer managerial insights for practitioners and stakeholders.

scholarly journals CASTING THE LIGHT OF THE THEORY OF OPPOSITION ONTO HOHFELD'S FUNDAMENTAL LEGAL CONCEPTS

Legal Theory ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
João Alberto de Oliveira Lima ◽  
Cristine Griffo ◽  
João Paulo A. Almeida ◽  
Giancarlo Guizzardi ◽  
Marcio Iorio Aranha
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The Core ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Law ◽  
Opposition Theory ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
Number Of Authors

Abstract At the core of Hohfeld's contribution to legal theory is a conceptual framework for the analysis of the legal positions occupied by agents in intersubjective legal relations. Hohfeld presented a system of eight “fundamental” concepts relying on notions of opposition and correlation. Throughout the years, a number of authors have followed Hohfeld in applying the notion of opposition to analyze legal concepts. Many of these authors have accounted for Hohfeld's theory in direct analogy with the standard deontic hexagon. This paper reviews some of these accounts and extends them employing recent developments from opposition theory. In particular, we are able to extend application of opposition theory to an open conception of the law. We also account for the implications of abandoning the assumption of conflict-freedom and admitting seemingly conflicting legal positions. This enables a fuller analysis of Hohfeld's conceptual analytical framework. We also offer a novel analysis of Hohfeld's power positions.

scholarly journals Functional Roles of Bromodomain Proteins in Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 3606
Author(s):  
Samuel P. Boyson ◽  
Cong Gao ◽  
Kathleen Quinn ◽  
Joseph Boyd ◽  
Hana Paculova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Chromatin ◽  
Structural Domains ◽  
Pharmacological Agents ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
Protein Interactome ◽  
Interaction Partners ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Bromodomain Proteins ◽  
Chromatin Configuration

Histone acetylation is generally associated with an open chromatin configuration that facilitates many cellular processes including gene transcription, DNA repair, and DNA replication. Aberrant levels of histone lysine acetylation are associated with the development of cancer. Bromodomains represent a family of structurally well-characterized effector domains that recognize acetylated lysines in chromatin. As part of their fundamental reader activity, bromodomain-containing proteins play versatile roles in epigenetic regulation, and additional functional modules are often present in the same protein, or through the assembly of larger enzymatic complexes. Dysregulated gene expression, chromosomal translocations, and/or mutations in bromodomain-containing proteins have been correlated with poor patient outcomes in cancer. Thus, bromodomains have emerged as a highly tractable class of epigenetic targets due to their well-defined structural domains, and the increasing ease of designing or screening for molecules that modulate the reading process. Recent developments in pharmacological agents that target specific bromodomains has helped to understand the diverse mechanisms that bromodomains play with their interaction partners in a variety of chromatin processes, and provide the promise of applying bromodomain inhibitors into the clinical field of cancer treatment. In this review, we explore the expression and protein interactome profiles of bromodomain-containing proteins and discuss them in terms of functional groups. Furthermore, we highlight our current understanding of the roles of bromodomain-containing proteins in cancer, as well as emerging strategies to specifically target bromodomains, including combination therapies using bromodomain inhibitors alongside traditional therapeutic approaches designed to re-program tumorigenesis and metastasis.

A new management for enduring company success

Kybernetes ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 369-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Christopher
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
System Model ◽  
Business Enterprise ◽  
Viable System Model ◽  
System Science ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Turbulent Times ◽  
Changing Times ◽  
Viable System ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe 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/approachThe 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.FindingsThe 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 implicationsIn the 1950s, Ralph Cordiner “decentralized” General Electric into 120 businesses, pioneering a new, better way to structure and manage a corporation. After 50 years, we have the next revolutionary advance in management, the system science and cybernetics in Stafford's VSM. The VSM includes information and environments in structure, enabling companies to change as appropriate for achieving on‐going success in a world of huge and fast‐growing variety.Originality/valueThe paper shows how a simple form of the VSM includes all the system science company management needs to structure and manage their company for enduring success in fast‐changing times.

Polycomb genes role in cancer pathophysiology is offering targets for therapeutics including gene therapy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moataz Dowaidar
Keyword(s):  
Catalytic Activity ◽  
Detailed Understanding ◽  
The Core ◽  
Chromatin Regulators ◽  
Genetic Modifications ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Study Context

Several phenotypes can come from transcription regulation. Sequence-specific transcription factors are needed to effectively execute transcriptional programs, however they are often not operating alone. Polycomb PcG proteins are a well-known class of chromatin regulators found in Drosophila melanogaster and other species, including humans. As time passed, the concept of a PCG gene or protein shifted from the original phenotypic meaning of mutant flies to the contemporary biochemical description. PCG genes and proteins are under investigation for their critical contributions to physiology and their cancer treatment potential. Adding additional PcG members, with substantial responsibilities in PRC modulation, has opened new routes of inquiry in the issue. It is still needed to discover the many PRC variations' roles and how their catalytic activity is controlled. This review covers mutually exclusive PRC2 variants and employs a technique like the one used for PRC1 variants. Based on current biochemical findings, these classifications are valid. More auxiliary PcG subunit research is needed for now. Moreover, it is unknown how many PRC cell variations occur (hypothetically, there could be more than 100 different PRC variants).In order to fully elucidate the new PcG proteins and complexes, it is necessary to perform comprehensive research. We must study context-specific genetic modifications to better provide remedies. Current anti-cancer drugs target mainly the core subunits and catalytic activity of PRC2 and PRC1, and understanding these functions is critical. Targeting each particular activity that has been deregulated might be rather beneficial. PCG proteins are involved in oncogenesis, tumor suppression, and development/congenital illness as well. PcG involvement in cancer, once revealed, would be intriguing. Successful and effective therapeutic therapies will be helped by a detailed understanding of the pathways that contain PcG proteins.

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