370
Glossary of Terms
have continuity of functionality. No system is possible without
interaction. The system is the result of integration, or conversely,
integration is the result of achieving system behaviors.
Following the definition of a system according to Palmer (2009),
a system can be conceptualized in terms of the behavior of its
objects (descriptive of the essence of their system); the context of
the minimum energy structures (reflective of the design and
architecture); the perspective of the definer (providing a referenced view); and the methods that epitomize its functioning (the
socioeconomic realities of projects). “In the behavioral approach to
system theory a system is regarded as a subset of a function space,
the behavior, containing the input/state/output-trajectories …”
(Trumpf 2002).
Systemic behaviors: Systemic behaviors may include (1) equifinality (various
sorts of degeneracy that are inherent in the existing structure of
objects); insufficient density of objects of the kind and location
needed to sustain interactions; inadequate EMMI needed for sustainment, including squelching of the mechanism due to saturation,
below threshold inputs, and insufficient suffusion; and incompatibility of EMMI and mechanisms (Troncale 2011); (2) isomorphicity—
the similarity of mixes and kinds of objects observed in systems (von
Bertalanffy 1968); and (3) inadequate or inappropriate emergence(s)
and unsustainable losses of EMMI from any cause. Integration is the
process of setting up or by chance satisfying the conditions that lead
to an integrated set of objects (i.e., system).
System of systems: A system of systems is a set of systems that are both
integrated and interoperable to achieve a set of metasystem functions in which all the component systems participate (to varying
degrees).
Systemness: Systemness is a sufficiency of sustained interactions that
arise from an adequate density of the appropriate types of objects
with the appropriate types of mechanisms, fed by the appropriate
types of EMMI. The factors that are significant to systemness are
object, boundary, function, property, trait, attribute, output, selfreliance, control, and performance. The duration of lifetime and
stability of systemness are determined by the boundary conditions and variances about the performances of the functions.
Within these categories of factors we find emergence (trait) and
trust (self-reliance).
Systems engineering: The charter of systems engineering is to create and
express ideas and integrate components into systems that are referred
to as products or services. The essence of systems engineering is to
unbound the seemingly bounded, broaden the concepts to beyond
recognition, open the solution domain to include the ridiculous, and
consider the issues and problems in an abstract space rather than as