Within Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) we are advised to improve our understanding of the real world by making models of it. To a minimum these models comprise the art of producing a coherent model of root definition, CATWOE, and activities. The art of producing activity models, and especially the formulation and use of root definitions and criteria in community pharmacy practice in The Netherla...

Traditional approaches to Information System (IS) development have concentrated upon a production view of quality associated with a controlled development process and metrics that monitor attributes such as software usability, the number of software errors, and developer productivity. IS quality is also concerned with a use view of quality-how those software artefacts are used within an organis...

This article presents a systems approach to knowledge synthesis or construction, starting with a new systems thinking named the informed systems thinking, which should serve as the basic tool of knowledge integration and support creativity. Based on this new systems thinking, a new systems approach to knowledge synthesis or construction has been developed as a systems methodology that consists ...

Soft handoff techniques in direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) systems provide mobile calls with seamless connections between adjacent cells. Channel reservation schemes are used to give high priority to more important soft handoff attempts over new call attempts. However, since the number of soft handoff attempts varies according to environmental conditions, fixed reservati...

The superiority of deformable human fingertips as compared to hard robot gripper fingers for grasping and manipulation has lead to a number of investigations with robot hands employing elastomers or materials such as fluids or powders beneath a membrane at the fingertips. When using such materials, it is important to account for their properties during manipulation. The rigid-body rolling kinem...

This paper discusses the methodological implications of using participatory research in the advocacy for better care and education services for children and families. The discussion uses the example of a national study undertaken in Singapore to show how participatory research used in collaboration with participants and commissioning body as key stakeholders can help to galvanise transformative...

This paper extends emergency management literature by developing a methodology for emergency management continuity planning (EmCP). In particular, the methodology focuses on inter-organizational continuous and coordinated planning among emergency management organizations. The authors draw on Soft Systems Methodology (Checkland & Scholes, 1999; Checkland, 2000), using it as a base for better und...

Onset detection in vocal music and many other instruments is complicated by the possibility of soft transitions between notes. Most systems try to identify onsets within a short-time window as it is easier to define transition functions over a restricted space. However, it may not be possible to detect soft onsets without considering a long-time window, for which defining and computing the tran...