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At the Silver Anniversary meeting of the General Systems Research Society in 1979 several speakers showed acute disappointment at the lack of progress within recent years in the matter of practical application of Systems Theory and Cybernetics. Research was gradually floundering to a halt through lack of new ideas. Since novelty is the quintessence of systems thinking this was indeed serious criticism. In this paper two (at least) new concepts are presented which, by their novelty, might well pull Systems Theory out of the morass. These are the concepts of (1) Unchange, applied to live systems and bureaucracies, and (2) Net reciprocal dependence between members of groups, systems etc. The latter concept leads to alternative percepts of human behaviour within and outside bureaucratic settings. The psychological concept of the ego fits neatly within the model proposed.

A cybernetic model of the interaction between two systems deals in more detail with the concept of interdependence of the first paper. Applications of the model are then reviewed. Human “failings” such as jealousy, sycophancy, etc. can be seen as systemic or situational phenomena. The continuous drift of power towards the controlling elite in bureaucracies is seen to be coupled with the increasing dependence of those lower down on those above. Industrial and political strife appears to originate within this dependence gradient. Trade unions and left wing organisations can be seen therefore as systemic means to reduce the everwidening dependence gap between those lower in the social hierarchies and those in the controlling positions.

Action learning can only be understood if organisation is understood. Organisation can only be understood if the behaviour of the human creatures which compose organisation can be captured by a reasonably realistic model. For this reason the author proposes a human model. From this he builds up “systems” according to laws, based on concepts of cybernetics, coupled with some of the significant insights of the tradi‐tional social sciences.

IN a previous article discussing ‘Boundary Lubrication’ we described this type of lubrication as of the greatest significance because it is the most frequently encountered condition in everyday machinery. The fact that ordinary bearings, bushes, and indeed reciprocating parts and gear teeth, depend so much on the materials of which they are composed can be taken as evidence that ‘Boundary Lubrication’ plays a predominant part in the functioning of these components.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

MUCH has been written about ‘ideal’ bearings, in which the moving parts are separated by a fluid film of calculable thickness. The performance of such bearings can be estimated by a knowledge of the geometry of the bearing and the viscosity of the lubricating fluid.

THE mechanical testing of engineering materials, such as tensile testing, hardness measurements, etc., has already attained a reasonable degree of standardization. The results of such tests can be expressed numerically and they furnish to a great extent adequate data to the designer who wishes to use them. Lubrication and bearing practice, however, has hardly emerged from the cradle of empiricism. Theory has had, as yet, but slight influence in developing reasonable design data and there still remains a wide field of research before the results can be expressed in such a simple tangible way as to transform efficient bearing design into mere slide rule manipulation. Precedent, past experience and a few odd rules are normally the designer's only guide and expensive practical experience his only check.

AT THE Society of Automotive Engineers' Mid‐Year meeting at Detroit in May there were several papers presented which gave details of work that has been sparked off due to the reporting of thickening of crankcase oils in motor cars used at high speeds for long periods of time. This results from increasing use of motorways where it is now possible to travel hundreds of miles at speeds that rarely drop below 60 to 70 mph. Cases have been reported where the engine oil have thickened up to a grease consistency.

Recently Dr Erik Arnold, a consultant with Booz, Allen and Hamilton International produced an Evaluation Report which reviewed the UK Alvey Intelligent Knowledge‐Based Systems (IKBS) programme. The report gives a history of the programme and indicates its main aims and strategies. Its recommendations and evaluation are based on a comprehensive discussion of the programme's achievements as well as its weaknesses. The evaluation report says that the programme has been a big success in reviving the fortunes of Artificial Intelligence in the UK. For various reasons AI lost its initial impetus in the UK in the early 1970s and there were very few scientists and probably only one university department that could undertake research and development when the Japanese announcements brought the field to the fore. Indeed there was very little interest and support from UK industry and commerce at that time.

The purpose of this paper is to present research work on systemic and cybernetic knowingness: relating according to classical and original concepts: “(a)symmetry” and “subtleness”. There is an entire project focused on contemporary complexity versus the information‐knowledge dynamics.

The starting point is related to the denominations: “perverse effects” and “asymmetric conflicts”. The paper supports innovative (a)symmetric approaches on human beings, ITC and community: shrinking the gap between humanist and technologist perspectives; promoting an anthropocentric perspective with stimuli from the real world expressed by (old and new) ideas regarding the (re)construction of a world/e‐world balance through/within the triad: production, intelligence and morality; and illustrating a positive e‐world response by sketching innovative, synergy‐based, experimental ITC models, considering metaphors linked to the idea of an open definition of subtleness.

The paper finds a shrinking gap between our world and our e‐world, able to integrate biased perspectives and realising a composition of (a)symmetric matter within information/knowledge economy/society. Based on semantic transfer, there is a promising path to a creative partnership between humanists and technologists within the interactive modelling: connectedness‐communication versus incursion‐anticipation. From a knowledge engineering perspective, a solution can be reached more effectively by: a Wienerian view on the information and knowledge as (a)symmetric concepts/constructs – and a dually Göedelian view on the observability and controllability of a subtle entity/system toward a wisdom and/or consciousness society.

This paper provides information and knowledge on “information‐knowledge dynamics” research.