Systems are analyzed through complementary structure and function concepts

Evidence

Function(ality): an aspect that is complementary to structure, i.e., it represents relations between changing properties of the entity under study. Causal relations, meaning relations between cause and effect, stimulus and response, or input and output, are particularly important since the functionality of physically realizable systems is based on them, requiring that the (causal) effect cannot appear before the cause in time. … Control: goal-driven behaviour. Living species have evolved and learned functionalities with target behaviour towards more successful life in their environment. Advanced machines are programmed or they adapt to their working conditions in order to meet some optimal criteria. Feedback is an important principle of control where the response is compared with the goal in order to improve control. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 112

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines core systems-theory vocabulary (structure, function, event, state, control, hierarchy) used across communication acoustics.
• XREF: These systems concepts map directly onto control theory and feedback loops the reader knows from Milgrom’s game theory work and from signal processing. — connects to: Structural interpretation reads the gaps rather than the unified whole — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1394; Functional language dissolves concepts by identifying things with their functions — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 399; System structure determines which disturbances matter and their impact thresholds — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2256
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 112