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The purpose of this paper is to study the development of one country two systems of Hong Kong over two decades and examine its challenges and prospect. One country two systems is pragmatic and compromise principle and social arrangement for Hong Kong under China sovereignty. It has served to resolve some issues related to the future of Hong Kong after the end of British Colonial rule since July 1, 1997. There are lessons to be learnt as the merits and flaws of the system have been identified in the study as perceived from the perspective of social development.

The paper is based on quantitative methodology. Data of public opinion polls conducted by various local universities on the development of one country two systems of Hong Kong have been employed in the study. Based on the data obtained from the relevant survey, different aspects of social development of Hong Kong under one country two systems has been examined and explored. Data are current and up-to-date to reflect the social mood of Hong Kong people toward one country two systems over the years.

The challenges and prospect of one country two systems of Hong Kong over two decades since the change of sovereignty have been identified in this paper. Hong Kong has remained the moist free market and the third financial center in the world. However, the high degree of self-autonomy as stipulated in the Basic Law has been fading way. There is social discontent of Hong Kong people on social and political grounds and there are high sense of mistrust to both Hong Kong SAR (HKSAR) government and the Central government in Beijing. This will provide a guideline to the government for improving the situation.

The study is based on data obtained from various public opinion conducted by several local university on the development of one country two systems and how Hong Kong people feel about it. The data are current and up-to-date. However, there will be variation of findings as social mood and perception of Hong Kong people toward one country two systems may change due to the changes of social and political events. With these limitations, one needs to be careful while drawing the conclusion. Yet, the over trend of social development of Hong Kong can be seen.

The study will provide an overall view and assessment of one country two systems of Hong Kong over two decades after the change of sovereignty since July 1, 1997. The findings and discussion of social mobility, quality of life, income disparity, social and political movement and ethnic identity and its changes in recent years of people in Hong Kong are rather revealing. It will provide a reality check and yardstick for people who are concerned about Hong Kong society and its people under China sovereignty.

The study and its findings will provide a useful guideline for people who are concerned about how Hong Kong people live under China sovereignty. Hong Kong to most of Hong Kong people is on longer a borrow place living under the borrowed time. The former British Colonial rule has been replaced by HKSAR government rule under China sovereignty. There is a high degree of mistrust toward both HKSAR government and the Central government in Beijing. People in Hong Kong keep fighting for democracy and high degree of self-autonomy. Hence, Hong Kong is still a free and open society under China sovereignty.

The paper contributes an original study on the development of one country two systems of Hong Kong under China sovereignty as perceived from the perspective of social development. There are important findings on social mobility, income disparity and issues of ethnic identity of Hong Kong people. The lessons of Hong Kong will provide an interesting case for people who care concerned about how people living in a former British colony has transformed the society into a thriving civil society under China sovereignty.

To provide a systems explanation of world wars as civilizational phenomena with a special focus on the cold war defined as an interaction war between two parties which cannot communicate with each other.

As a theoretical framework for this analysis an elaborated version of Luhmann's systems theory is used which discusses the relationship between systems and media. The method is defined as a third‐order cybernetics which entails first‐order observations, second‐order observation of observers, and finally their mutual observations as being observed.

Identifies the east‐west ideological conflict as a conflict within the world system of society by which the system is at war with itself. This “self” is considered as comprising two parts: self and other. The one is identified as an autopoietic system and the other as an allopoietic system, each struggling for the status of system and for the transformation of the other into its medium. The traditional understanding of the history of the European civilization as having one single ancestor is challenged.

It is not an exhaustive analysis but rather an outline of a theory whose purpose is to define the source of international and intranational confrontations.

The approach can be developed further and used for the analysis of the war on terrorism and the relationship between political system and social movements.

The paper offers an innovative systems perspective on world wars with a special focus on the cold war which promises to overcome the difficulties which their analysis with traditional sociological theories at present encounters.

1.1. Logical Necessity of the Three Dimensions as a Unit of Thought The mathematician does not look kindly on the simple question of why natural space should consist of precisely three dimensions. Instead of giving an answer he assumes a silent smile and shows us a version of space with an infinity of dimensions, as if space were some kind of toy for him to fiddle with to his heart's content.

This paper aims to discuss and test the claim that utilization of the personalization techniques can be valuable to improve the efficiency of collaborative information retrieval (CIR) systems.

A new personalized CIR system, called PERCIRS, is presented based on the user profile similarity calculation (UPSC) formulas. To this aim, the paper proposes several UPSC formulas as well as two techniques to evaluate them. As the proposed CIR system is personalized, it could not be evaluated by Cranfield, like evaluation techniques (e.g. TREC). Hence, this paper proposes a new user‐centric mechanism, which enables PERCIRS to be evaluated. This mechanism is generic and can be used to evaluate any other personalized IR system.

The results show that among the proposed UPSC formulas in this paper, the (query‐document)‐graph based formula is the most effective. After integrating this formula into PERCIRS and comparing it with nine other IR systems, it is concluded that the results of the system are better than the other IR systems. In addition, the paper shows that the complexity of the system is less that the complexity of the other CIR systems.

This system asks the users to explicitly rank the returned documents, while explicit ranking is still not widespread enough. However it believes that the users should actively participate in the IR process in order to aptly satisfy their needs to information.

The value of this paper lies in combining collaborative and personalized IR, as well as introducing a mechanism which enables the personalized IR system to be evaluated. The proposed evaluation mechanism is very valuable for developers of personalized IR systems. The paper also introduces some significant user profile similarity calculation formulas, and two techniques to evaluate them. These formulas can also be used to find the user's community in the social networks.

Gives introductory remarks about chapter 1 of this group of 31 papers, from ISEF 1999 Proceedings, in the methodologies for field analysis, in the electromagnetic community. Observes that computer package implementation theory contributes to clarification. Discusses the areas covered by some of the papers ‐ such as artificial intelligence using fuzzy logic. Includes applications such as permanent magnets and looks at eddy current problems. States the finite element method is currently the most popular method used for field computation. Closes by pointing out the amalgam of topics.

The study explores how a market-like organizational system realizes efficient and/or effective development by investigating the efficiency/effectiveness trade-off in micro-level exchanges.

The study is motivated by two principles: reciprocity and similarity. Reciprocal benefits drive exchanges. Accordingly, two agents for a potential exchange should have different resources. However, differences in resources usually cause lack of trust, which hinders the efficient occurrence of exchanges. Alternatively, if two parties have similar resource positions, they can conduct an exchange efficiently. Nevertheless, the similarity makes the exchange less effective. Therefore, an efficiency/effectiveness trade-off exists in micro-level exchanges. To understand how different focuses on the efficiency/effectiveness trade-off shape the macro-level performance, the author develops a complex adaptive systems model for computer simulations.

The author finds that an efficiency-focus institution facilitates a market-like organizational system's rapid emergence but hinders the system's effective development.

The study develops a model of how a dyadic exchange happens (or not) between any two parties in a competitive and uncertain environment and how the micro-level exchanges aggregate, suggesting one specific way to understand the micro-to-macro process of a market-like organizational system's economic dynamism. Future research is expected to improve the model with different contingencies.

The study's findings suggest that the efficiency-focus institution and the effectiveness-focus institution should be used at different times in a market-like organizational system's development process.

The study investigates the macro-level consequences building upon the micro-level efficiency/effectiveness trade-off.

This paper analyzes how two (or more) controllers can interact with just one controlled system. This is a basic situation in biology and sociology, but was practically never investigated. Control theory usually investigates only the interaction of one controller with one controlled system, i.e. how a goal‐orientated system can dominate a niche.

All factors determining the behavior of two feedback systems acting upon just one controlled system are analyzed systematically.

The analysis shows that there are just three possibilities of interaction, i.e. conflict, hierarchy or cooperation. With the well‐known domination of a niche, this gives just four modes of coexistence for goal‐orientated systems. It is shown how these modes of coexistence surface in psychology, group dynamics and politics, but has been studied so far under totally different headings.

Repeated patterns of shifts in power relations can be explained by distinguishing two power cycles. Both lead to hierarchies – either to forcefully end conflict or to peacefully ensure cooperation – which bear in them the source for future conflict. Additionally the investigation allows to identify unsolvable conflicts.

The paper shows how a cybernetic analysis of decision making allows to find a unifying approach to different concepts in psychology, group dynamics and politics. Such it provides elements for a cybernetic epistemology.

Because of the special “State of the States” issue of Library Hi Tech and other circumstances beyond my control, the four quarterly “Comp Lit” compilations for 1996 appear here in a single and possibly peculiar chunk. A lot changes in a year of personal computing, but on reflection it seemed useful to include the citations and comments as I originally wrote them.

“All things are in a constant state of change”, said Heraclitus of Ephesus. The waters if a river are for ever changing yet the river endures. Every particle of matter is in continual movement. All death is birth in a new form, all birth the death of the previous form. The seasons come and go. The myth of our own John Barleycorn, buried in the ground, yet resurrected in the Spring, has close parallels with the fertility rites of Greece and the Near East such as those of Hyacinthas, Hylas, Adonis and Dionysus, of Osiris the Egyptian deity, and Mondamin the Red Indian maize‐god. Indeed, the ritual and myth of Attis, born of a virgin, killed and resurrected on the third day, undoubtedly had a strong influence on Christianity.

The equation of unified knowledge says that S = f (A,P) which means that the practical solution to a given problem is a function of the existing, empirical, actual realities and the future, potential, best possible conditions of general stable equilibrium which both pure and practical reason, exhaustive in the Kantian sense, show as being within the realm of potential realities beyond any doubt. The first classical revolution in economic thinking, included in factor “P” of the equation, conceived the economic and financial problems in terms of a model of ideal conditions of stable equilibrium but neglected the full consideration of the existing, actual conditions. That is the main reason why, in the end, it failed. The second modern revolution, included in factor “A” of the equation, conceived the economic and financial problems in terms of the existing, actual conditions, usually in disequilibrium or unstable equilibrium (in case of stagnation) and neglected the sense of right direction expressed in factor “P” or the realization of general, stable equilibrium. That is the main reason why the modern revolution failed in the past and is failing in front of our eyes in the present. The equation of unified knowledge, perceived as a sui generis synthesis between classical and modern thinking has been applied rigorously and systematically in writing the enclosed American‐British economic, monetary, financial and social stabilization plans. In the final analysis, a new economic philosophy, based on a synthesis between classical and modern thinking, called here the new economics of unified knowledge, is applied to solve the malaise of the twentieth century which resulted from a confusion between thinking in terms of stable equilibrium on the one hand and disequilibrium or unstable equilibrium on the other.