Achieving ‘Desirable and Feasible’ Change: An Application of Soft Systems Methodology

Rational intervention in human affairs, if it is to constitute not only action but also research, so that future interventions may be made more effective, needs a well-defined methodological framework. Soft systems methodology (S.S.M.) provides one such framework. S.S.M. is doubly systemic: it is itself a learning system, and within that system it uses systems models, models of human activity systems. It accepts that such models are not models of parts of the real world, only models of ways of perceiving the real world, that is to say, models relevant to debate about ‘reality’ (one man's ‘terrorism’ is another's ‘freedom fighting’).S.S.M. is here illustrated by means of an account of a systems study of change in the information function of a sophisticated science-based company. The study is described from the point of view of a professional analyst who was helping a team of three managers carry out the study. The course of the study is described, and a separate commentary relates its activity to the seven stages of S.S.M. The study involved three cycles round stages 2–3–4–5 of S.S.M., the stages in which models of relevant human activity systems are built and compared with the real world in order to construct a rich debate about changes whose introduction in the problem situation world be both (systemically) desirable and (culturally) feasible.     

Amino acid derivatives of 2-R-7-hydroxy-3′,4′-ethylenedioxyisoflavones

A number of 7-O-aminoacyl derivatives of isoflavones have been obtained by the interaction of 2-R-7-hydroxy-3,4-ethylenedioxyisoflavones with the symmetrical anhydrides of N-protected amino acids.Kiev Tara Shevshenko University, Ukraine, 252033, Kiev, Ul. Vladimirskaya, 64, tel./fax 225-12-73. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 334–338, May–June, 1999.     

N-取代苯并咪唑和N-取代-2-硫代噻唑烷酮类化合物的质谱研究

本文所研究的7种N-取代苯并咪唑和硫代噻唑烷酮类化合物是一类新合成的具有较高杀菌活性的化合物。本文利用电子轰击质谱技术对表中所列的化合物进行了研究。在高分辨精确质量测量和亚稳离子测定的基础上着重讨论了分子内3、4位C—C键的断裂和与杂环     

Conducting electrically active films obtained by the electrochemical oxidation of aniline in molten electrolytes and concentrated hydrochloric acid

The feasibility of obtaining electrically conducting and active films by the electropolymerization of aniline in butylpyridinium tetrachloroaluminate or hexachlorodialuminate as the medium has been demonstrated. Identical voltamperometric characteristics with a potential peak of 0.5 V were found in these films and the compound formed upon the electrochemical polymerization of aniline in 20% hydrochloric acid.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 212–214, January, 1991.     

Reaction of dihydroxymethylphenylphosphine with o-phenylenediamine

Conclusions The reaction of o-phenylenediamine with either one or two moles of dihydroxymethylphenylphosphine gives respectively either 3-phenyl-6,7-benzo-1,5-diaza-3-phosphepane or 9,10-benzo-3,7-diphenyl-1,5-diaza-3,7-diphosphabicyclo[3.3.2]decane.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 2, pp. 440–443, February, 1982.