A Systemic Approach for the Formalization of the Information Systems Concept

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Mora ◽  
Ovsei Gelman ◽  
Francisco Cervantes ◽  
Marcelo MejIa ◽  
Alfredo Weitzenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
Knowledge Resources ◽  
Concept System ◽  
The Core ◽  
Definition Of

In the new economic context, based on Information and Knowledge resources, the concepts of Information Systems and Information Technology (IS&IT) are fundamental to understand the organizational and managerial process in all levels: strategic, tactic and operational. From an academic and practitioner perspective, we pose that the correct use of the concept of IS&IT, and in specific of Information Systems, is critical. First ones need to study the same object and second ones need to use the same common conceptual knowledge about what are Information Systems. Nevertheless, uniquely informal and semiformal definitions of Information Systems have been reported in the literature and thus a formal definition based on core systemic foundations is missing. For these reasons, the conceptualization and formal definition of what are Information Systems acquires a relevant research and praxis status. This chapter addresses this problematic situation posing a formal definition of the term Information Systems based on core theoretical principles of the Systems Approach. For that, we firstly review the foundations of Systems Approach to establish the basis for our conceptual development. Then, an updated formal definition of the core concept System originally developed by Gelman and Garcia (1989) and that incorporates new insights from other systemic researchers is presented. With these theoretical bases, we proceed to review the contributions and limitations of main informal and semiformal definitions of the term Information Systems reported at the literature. Then the new formal definition of this term is developed using the updated formal definition of the term System. We continue with a discussion of how the definition posed formalizes systemic concepts of previous definitions, of how these are partial cases of the new definition and of how it can be used to model and study Information Systems in organizations. Finally, we conclude with main remarks and implications of this definition and with directions for further research.

Reviews of the Literature

1955 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-36
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Urban Society ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
The Core ◽  
Legal Structure ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Central Bond ◽  
Definition Of

This book is meant as an overview of the rapidly increasing literature on "those social roles which arise from the classification of men by the work they do." The core of his problem, Professor Caplow states, is the interplay of such factors as "the availability of natural resources, political ideologies, and the legal structure … with the more or less predictable consequences of the division of labor" (e.g. size, specialization, and rationalization). His underlying assumption, he says, is Durkheim's: occupation is the central bond of solidarity in modern urban society. Neither the formal definition of task nor the underlying assumption are pursued systematically—and, in fact, occupational groupings are later seen as subordinate to "more fundamental affiliations based on kinship, locality, religion, property, and status." (p. 182).

scholarly journals Syntactic soundness proof of a type-and-capability system with hidden state

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANÇOIS POTTIER
Keyword(s):  
Linear Logic ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Type System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Proof Technique ◽  
The Core ◽  
Proof Techniques ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Intuitionistic Linear Logic

AbstractThis paper presents a formal definition and machine-checked soundness proof for a very expressive type-and-capability system, that is, a low-level type system that keeps precise track of ownership and side effects. The programming language has first-class functions and references. The type system's features include the following: universal, existential, and recursive types; subtyping; a distinction between affine and unrestricted data; support for strong updates; support for naming values and heap fragments via singleton and group regions; a distinction between ordinary values (which exist at runtime) and capabilities (which do not); support for dynamic reorganizations of the ownership hierarchy by disassembling and reassembling capabilities; and support for temporarily or permanently hiding a capability via frame and anti-frame rules. One contribution of the paper is the definition of the type-and-capability system itself. We present the system as modularly as possible. In particular, at the core of the system, the treatment of affinity, in the style of dual intuitionistic linear logic, is formulated in terms of an arbitrarymonotonic separation algebra, a novel axiomatization of resources, ownership, and the manner in which they evolve with time. Only the peripheral layers of the system are aware that we are dealing with a specific monotonic separation algebra, whose resources are references and regions. This semi-abstract organization should facilitate further extensions of the system with new forms of resources. The other main contribution is a machine-checked proof of type soundness. The proof is carried out in the Wright and Felleisen's syntactic style. This offers an evidence that this relatively simple-minded proof technique can scale up to systems of this complexity, and constitutes a viable alternative to more sophisticated semantic proof techniques. We do not claim that the syntactic technique is superior: We simply illustrate how it is used and highlight its strengths and shortcomings.

ISF: A Visual Formalism for Specifying Interconnection Styles for Software Design

1998 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. 517-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spiros Mancoridis
Keyword(s):  
Software Design ◽  
Deductive Database ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Simple Design ◽  
The Core ◽  
Custom Design ◽  
Database Technology ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Level ◽  
Visual Notation

We have developed a framework for specifying high-level software designs. The core of the framework is a very simple visual notation. This notation enables designers to document designs as labelled rectangles and directed edges. In addition to the notation, our framework features a supporting formalism, called ISF (Interconnection Style Formalism). This formalism enables designers to customize the simple design notation by specifying the type of entities, relations, legal configurations of entities and relations, as well as scoping rules of the custom notation. In this paper we present the formal definition of ISF and use ISF to specify two custom design notations. We also describe how ISF specifications, using deductive database technology, are used to generate supporting tools for these custom notations.

Model-based Assessment of Data Availability in Health Information Systems

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (05) ◽  
pp. 417-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Strübing ◽  
A. Winter
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Management ◽  
Health Information Systems ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Application Systems ◽  
Communication Links ◽  
Definition Of

Summary Objectives: To introduce a formal definition of data availability as a contribution to trustworthiness of health information systems and to automatically detect respective weaknesses and propose solutions. Method: Specifying an ontology, based on enterprise functions and application systems of (health) information systems and closely linked to the Three-Layer Graph-Based Meta Model (3LGM2). Deriving appropriate measures and algorithms. Results: A formal definition for data availability is introduced and elucidated by an example. This concept is used e.g. to disclose missing communication links and to suggest solutions. Conclusions: Data availability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for trustworthiness of health information systems. If information management has a thorough description of the information system at its disposal, e.g. by using 3LGM2, the calculation of data availability does not need further efforts.

Toward a Formalization of Emergence

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleš Kubí
Keyword(s):  
Multiagent Systems ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Basic Type ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Model Design ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Grammar Systems ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Complex Phenomena

Emergence is a concept widely used in the sciences, the arts, and engineering. Some effort has been made to formalize it, but it is used in various contexts with different meanings, and a unified theory of emergence is still distant. The ultimate goal of a theory of emergence should include using emergence to model, design, or predict the behavior of multiagent systems. The author proposes a formal definition of a basic type of emergence using a language-theoretic and grammar systems approach. It is shown which types of phenomena can be modeled in this sense and what the consequences are for other more complex phenomena.

A Formal Definition of Information Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 1546-1554
Author(s):  
Manuel Mora ◽  
Ovsei Gelman ◽  
Francisco Cervantes ◽  
Guisseppi Forgionne
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Is Research ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Science Management ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Definition Of

Since its conceptualization in the 1960s (Adam & Fitzgerald, 2000), information systems (IS) has undertaken a hard effort to be recognized as a scientific discipline. Nowadays, indicators such as the existence of undergraduate, master, and doctoral programs; research centers focused on IS topics; specialized conferences and journals; and professional and academic associations suggest that the IS discipline is a scientific field that is independent from its root disciplines (e.g., computer science, management science, accounting, and behavioral sciences). On the other hand, during this 50-year path, the discipline of information systems can be critiqued for the multiple selfidentities perceived by the different stakeholders (e.g., IS researchers, IS practitioners, and IS users). Gelman, Mora, Forgionne, and Cervantes (2005) point out the following weaknesses IS exhibits, making it a still immature field: i. the scarce utilization of deductive and formal (e.g., logical-mathematical) research models and methods (Farhoomand, 1987, p. 55); ii. the lack of a formal and standard set of fundamental well-defined concepts used in the discipline (Banville & Landry, 1989, p. 56; Alter, 2001, p. 3; Wand & Weber; 1990, p. 1282); and iii. the excessive number of availiable micro-theories (Barkhi & Sheetz, 2001, p. 11). Additionally, the partial, disparate, and not consensual conceptualizations of what is the focus of study in IS is(Alter 2003; Benbazat & Zmud, 2003), along with the lack of integration of multiple research methodologies to cope with the complexity of the phenomena of study (Mingers, 2001), also suggest that the maturity-development process for the IS discipline still is an ongoing process. Gelman et al. (2005), based on a profound study of the term information system (Mora, Cervantes, Mejia, & Weit- zenfeld, 2002), confirmed that the fundamental concepts used in most IS research are based on few and misused core concepts from what is the Theory of Systems (Ackoff, 1960, 1971), and that the few proposals for formalization (Wand & Weber, 1990; Mentzas, 1994; Alter, 2001, 2003) are still incomplete. Furthermore, although Systems Science concepts were used in the two most comprehensive IS research frameworks reported in the IS literature (Ives, Hamilton, & Davis, 1980; Nolan & Wetherbe, 1980), a recent study also identified conceptual inconsistency and incompleteness in both frameworks from a formal systemic view (Mora, Gelman, Cano, Cervantes, & Forgionne, 2006). Hence, it can be inferred that the utilization of an informal, conflicting, and ambiguous communicational system in the IS discipline (Banville & Landry, 1989) and the lack of a comprehensive IS research framework have hindered the development of a cumulative research tradition and delayed the maturation of the field (Wand & Weber, 1990; Farhoomand, 1987). As reported in Mora et al. (2002) and extended in Gelman et al. (2005), the formalization of the core concepts used in the IS discipline becomes a relevant and mandatory, as well as urgent, research purpose. This article furthers this purpose by utilizing the core principles from the Theory of Systems and a recent IS research framework (Mora et al., 2006) to extend and update the conceptualizations reported in previous studies. Formal definitions are updated and built upon the terms system (Ackoff, 1971; Gelman & Garcia, 1989), organization, business process, and information system (Mora et al., 2002; Gelman et al., 2005). Finally, this article examines the implications for IS research and practice.

scholarly journals Using Moral Principles to Guide Decisions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Decision Maker ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Moral Principle ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Core ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Definition Of

The Usability Demand is a demand that an acceptable moral theory be usable by those governed by it. For an inquiry into whether and how moral theories meet this demand, it is crucial to understand “usability.” Chapter 2 analyzes the concepts of what it is for a decision maker to use a moral principle to make a decision, and what makes a moral principle usable. It introduces the distinction between an agent’s ability in the core and the extended senses to use a moral principle as a decision-guide, and offers a formal definition of “usability” that tells us how a principle can prescribe an act under an “immediately helpful” description. The question of whether the Usability Demand requires extended or merely core usability is deferred to subsequent chapters.

Ways and Voices in the Psychoanalysis of Links According to Enrique Pichon-Rivière

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Jaitin
Keyword(s):  
Couple Therapy ◽  
Clinical Observation ◽  
Clinical Work ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Different Levels

This article covers several stages of the work of Pichon-Rivière. In the 1950s he introduced the hypothesis of "the link as a four way relationship" (of reciprocal love and hate) between the baby and the mother. Clinical work with psychosis and psychosomatic disorders prompted him to examine how mental illness arises; its areas of expression, the degree of symbolisation, and the different fields of clinical observation. From the 1960s onwards, his experience with groups and families led him to explore a second path leading to "the voices of the link"—the voice of the internal family sub-group, and the place of the social and cultural voice where the link develops. This brought him to the definition of the link as a "bi-corporal and tri-personal structure". The author brings together the different levels of the analysis of the link, using as a clinical example the process of a psychoanalytic couple therapy with second generation descendants of a genocide within the limits of the transferential and countertransferential field. Body language (the core of the transgenerational link) and the couple's absences and presence during sessions create a rhythm that gives rise to an illusion, ultimately transforming the intersubjective link between the partners in the couple and with the analyst.

Determining the discount rate when evaluating trade organizations: Some features

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
E.A. Grigor'eva ◽  
A.S. Buzhikeeva
Keyword(s):  
Discount Rate ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Additional Risk ◽  
Evaluation Procedures ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Subject. This article deals with the issues of determining the market value of the trading business, taking into account a number of characteristics. Objectives. The article aims to develop certain provisions of the methodology and practice of evaluating the business of trading organizations, namely, taking into account the additional risk of inventory feasibility when calculating the discount rate. Methods. For the study, we used a systems approach, and the cognition, and economic and analytical research methods. Results. The article presents a three-tiered classification of stocks and a definition of risk based on the criteria for dividing stocks by purpose, degree of implementation, and shelf life in accordance with the scale. Based on the classification, the article offers certain recommendations for determining the discount rate when evaluating trading organizations, aimed at taking into account additional risk. Conclusions. Various evaluation procedures within the framework of traditional approaches and methods in relation to trading organizations do not take into account risk specific to this type of economic activity. The proposed methodology for calculating the discount rate for trade organizations takes into account the features of their functioning.

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