Ethical Implications of Systems Methodology Applied to Industrial Ecology

The systemic view on industry and on production and consumption pattern is an essential feature of the industrial ecology （IE） concept. One consequence of this view is to investigate industrial flows and consumer activities, and their effects on the environment in order to evaluate and eventually optimize these flows with the help of a systems methodology. Industrial ecology has been developed by engineers and natural scientists and its ethical core canon often manifests in anthropocentric assertions such as harmonizing the contradiction between nature and culture with scientific expertise, appropriate technology and socio-economic management. This paper argues however for a biocentric inspired, normative reading of some characteristics of industrial ecology＇s systems methodology. The presumption for the value of this endeavor is that industrial ecology＇s systems methodology has a potential for developing directions for the design of a possible sustainable world.

Rethinking the tendering frameworks of construction contractors in the context of a soft systems methodology approach

Limited research has been conducted on the internal tendering procedures(ITP) of construction contractors because of the commercially sensitive and confidential nature of the subject matter. This limitation explains the reluctance of contractors to undergo interviews. Existing research(outside bid/no-bid and margin decision factor identification and subsequent decision modeling development) only begins to provide insights into key tendering stages, particularly around risk assessments and corporate review processes. Early research suggested one to three review stages. However, when considering the whole work procurement process from prospect identification to contract execution, five to seven series of reviews can be arguably applied by some contractors, wherein some reviews stepped through several layers of internal senior management. Tendering processes were presented as flowchart models that traditionally follow "hard" system(rectangular shapes and straight line arrows) steps, which suggest that a precise process also leads to precise results. However, given that contractors do not win every tender they submit, the process is less precise than that suggested in rigidly structured flowcharts.Twenty-five detailed semi-structured interviews were held with purposely selected high-profile publicly and privately owned construction companies in Australia with significantly varied turnovers. Analyses show that contractors are concerned about the negative effects of increasing corporate governance demands, with many stating that people involved are the most critical element to tendering success. A new way of presenting the ITP of contractors is assessed using a soft systems methodology(SSM) approach. SSM offers an alternative way of considering human interaction challenges within the ITP of contractors, which needs to be tested with the industry.The format graphics of SSM guidelines are presented as a way of offering contractors a different approach, which may assist individuals who are looking to re-structure their tendering activities in a more humanistic and less rigid procedural approach.

Characteristics of Science and Scientific Activities： Considerations about What Is and What Is Not Scientific

The paper deals with non-traditional but highly needed issues： to formulate criteria of a scientific activity. It is really unbelievable that in the period of information and scientific society such criteria do not exist and there are no fixed rules for assessment of scientific activities. However, in many fields of science, e.g., in reviews of scientific works or papers, reviewers are asked to assess whether or not the submitted work or text is scientific. Naturally, this decision is not objective even if done by leading scientific individuals. Scientists may possess rather different individual criteria, and especially in doctoral studies, but not only there, it is desirable to make the review more objective. A doctoral thesis should be accepted only in case it brings some scientific achievement. Keeping in mind how difficult it can be to formalize and evaluate science, the authors try to propose attributes of scientific activities and to formulate some basic recommendations how to assess scientific work. Of course, the paper does not intend to formulate any generally imperative rules, but rather to start a broader discussion of these topics.

An Ontology about Expertise Management

An Expertise Management ontology (EMont) is presented with which human expertise is captured. EMont aims at describing and collectively finding improvements for complex situations in which people interact with often conflicting worldviews in order to achieve goals, shared or not. EMont is rooted in systems thinking, in particular Soft Systems Methodology, to be able to accommodate stakeholders’ worldviews and activities in complex situations. Its purpose is to model human activity systems, which is illustrated with the help of a complex situation. EMont forms the heart of the Expertise Management Methodology (EMM). This methodology can be regarded as a framework to build bodies of knowledge for particular domains systematically. EMM favors a research process of abduction. By studying one or more situations, generalized models are developed that explain the observed phenomenon best. The models are then taken as a starting point to conduct additional studies. This cyclic process is repeated thereby strengthening the models. EMont has been applied in several, diverse domains such as flood protection, health care and community resilience, over a period of more than four years. In our experience, EMont is a stable ontology, well-suited to capture human activities and identify widely supported solutions for complex situations, and has proven its value in practice. EMont has been implemented in Semantic Media Wiki to publish bodies of knowledge on the web.