A system is a set of organized and related parts or elements that interact with each other to achieve a goal. Systems receive data, energy, or matter from the environment (input) and provide information, energy, or matter (output).
Examples of systems are: a tree, the human circulatory system, the solar system, a computer, an institution, an operating system…
Each system can be studied with the aim of understanding its operation, discovering its visible and/or non-visible limits/frontiers, understanding its objective and how it interacts with other external systems.
Characteristics of the systems
– According to its nature or constitution: A system can be physical or concrete (a computer, a television, a human) or it can be abstract or conceptual (software, a city, an institution).
– Each system exists within a larger one, therefore a system can be made up of subsystems and elements, and at the same time it can be part of a supersystem (suprasystem).
– Systems have limits or borders (See: border of a system), which differentiate them from the environment or surroundings. That limit can be physical (a computer cabinet) or conceptual. If there is any exchange between the system and the environment across that boundary, the system is open, otherwise the system is closed.
– The environment is the external environment that physically or conceptually surrounds a system. The system has interaction with the environment, from which it receives inputs and to which outputs are returned. The environment can also be a threat to the system.
This video allows us to introduce ourselves to the concept: What is a system?
classification of systems
* Systems can be classified according to their origin in:
Artificial system: for example, a television, a computer, a cell phone.
Natural system: for example, a bird, a human, the water cycle, the solar system.
Social system: for example, a company, an institution, a state. It can be included within artificial systems.
* Regarding its constitution or nature, a system can be:
Physical or concrete system: for example, a computer, a tree.
Abstract or conceptual system: for example, a software, a methodology, a belief system.
* They can also be classified according to their environment (according to whether or not they exchange with their environment):
Open system: a system that has input and output flows; exchanges energy, matter, and/or information with its environment.
Closed or isolated system: a system that has neither inputs nor outputs; It does not exchange energy or matter with its environment. Sometimes, for study purposes, a closed system is considered one that does not exchange matter, but does exchange energy with its environment.
* According to its alterability over time:
Static system: does not change over time.
Dynamic system: changes over time.
* Depending on the complexity of their relationships:
Simple system: few components and relationships. For example, the wheel, the lever, the pulley, the wedge, etc.
Complex system: numerous components and relationships between them. For example, an ecosystem, the Earth, the State, a city, etc.
System Examples
A group of elements or parts is a system?
A group of elements does not constitute a system if there is no relationship and interaction between them, which gives rise to the idea of a «whole» with a purpose (see holism and synergy).
Any set of elements that are not related to each other, or fulfill an objective, is NOT a system. For example, a set of nuts does not constitute a system or a pile of oranges does not constitute a system.
How to determine the boundaries or limits of a system?
Determining the boundaries of a system can be easy in some cases or extremely complicated in others: limits or boundaries between the system and its environment admit of a certain arbitrariness.
Read the full article: Determining the boundaries of a system.
General Systems Theory (GST)
General Systems Theory (or GST) is the interdisciplinary study of systems in general.
Purpose: to study the general principles applicable to any system in any field of research. It allows us to determine what is a system and what is not a system.
The goal of systems theory is the systematic discovery of the dynamics, constraints, and conditions of a system, as well as of principles (purposes, measures, methods, tools, etc.) that can be discerned and applied to systems at any level. of nesting and in any field, with the aim of achieving optimized equifinality.
General systems theory deals with broadly applicable concepts and principles, as opposed to concepts and principles applicable to a domain of knowledge.
Distinguishes dynamic or active systems from static or passive systems. Active systems are activity structures or components that interact in behaviors and processes. Passive systems are structures and components that are being processed. For example, a program is passive when it is a file on disk and active when it is executed in memory.
The field is related to systems thinking and systems engineering.
Systems Related Concepts
System: an organized entity composed of interrelated and interdependent parts.
Components, elements or parts of a system
Boundary of a system: barriers that define a system and distinguish it from other systems in the environment.
Subsystem and supersystem (suprasystem)
Synergy
Environment or environment
Homeostasis: tendency of a system to be resistant to external factors and maintain its key characteristics.
Adaptation: The tendency of a self-adaptive system to make the necessary internal changes to protect itself and continue to serve its purpose.
Reciprocal transactions: circular or cyclical interactions in which systems engage in such a way that they influence each other.
Self-reward, feedback or feedback loop: process by which systems will self-correct based on the reactions of other systems in the environment.
Performance: rate of energy transfer between the system and its environment during the time it is operating.
Microsystem: the system closest to the customer.
Mesosystem: relationships between systems in an environment.
Exosystem: A relationship between two systems that has an indirect effect on a third system.
Macrosystem: A larger system that influences clients, such as policies, administration of entitlement programs, and culture.
Chronosystem: A system made up of major life events that can affect adaptation.
goal or end of a system
The objective of a system is its purpose, its end; what the system was designed, developed, built or intended for.
For example, the purpose of a home ventilation system is to provide pure, clean, conditioned air to the home.
The objective of the tree system is to provide oxygen to the environment, shade, shelter for animals and plants.
The objective of a library management system is to allow the user to quickly access a vast catalog of books and texts in general.
Why study a system?
In general, the objective of studying systems is to understand the functioning of the system, discover its visible and/or non-visible limits/boundaries, understand its purpose and how it interacts with other external systems.
If we delve into the study, it serves to discover its internal parts and the interrelationships between them, understanding how they act in synergy. Its emergent properties can also be discovered and system schematics made.
Studying a system can make it possible to understand it, change it, improve it, adapt it, duplicate it and explain it.
What is a computer system?
A computer system is an information system that is computerized. Not all information systems are computer systems, but all computer systems are information systems. Therefore it can be said that a computer system is a subset of an information system.
For more information read the full article: Computer system (SI)
computer systems
In computing there are many systems:
Operating system.
Expert system
computer system
Application or software
systems architecture
Computer
Bibliographic sources:
– System
– classification of systems
– Von Bertalanffy, Ludwig (1976). General theory of systems. Fundamentals, development, applications.
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory
Quote the definition:
Alegsa.com.ar (2018). system definition – ALEGSA 2018-08-27 url: https:///Dec/sistema.php
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