The accepted ontology
Browse accepted Systema Constructum entries: human-made tools, institutions, methods, practices, works, and their definitions.
100 entries in this page
Functional-analysis is a structured engineering practice that decomposes a system into its required functions — what it must do — and represents those functions in hierarchical function models (function trees) and functional flow diagrams. It is parameterized…
Reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) is a systematic methodology for determining what must be preserved and how to preserve it in order to ensure that any physical asset continues doing what its stakeholders require. It operates by analyzing failure modes, t…
risk-tolerance is a governance construct that specifies the maximum level and category of risk an organization or decision-maker will accept in pursuit of an objective. It is established through policy, regulatory compliance, or strategic deliberation, and se…
Criticality-analysis is a risk-assessment method that assigns a numeric criticality score to each failure mode or hazard by combining three rated parameters: severity (the seriousness of the consequence), occurrence (the frequency or probability of the cause…
Hazard-operability-study is a systematic hazard-identification method in process engineering where trained teams apply structured guide words (no, more, less, reverse, part-of, as-well-as) to process parameters (flow, pressure, temperature, level) to identify…
Barrier-analysis is a safety engineering method that systematically evaluates the adequacy, design, and operational status of barriers — physical, procedural, or administrative controls — intended to prevent or mitigate hazards. It identifies each barrier, as…
A hazard-log is a structured register maintained to record identified hazards, their assessment status, and the controls applied or planned. It is parameterized by: (1) a unique identifier for each recorded hazard, (2) a description of the hazard and its pote…
What-if-analysis is a structured brainstorming technique for hazard identification, in which experienced analysts pose 'what if' questions about potential deviations from normal design or operational parameters and systematically trace each deviation through…
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a structured, incremental methodology for enumerating every plausible way a system, subsystem, or component can fail, assessing the consequences of each failure mode on system-level function, and ranking them by sev…
layers-of-protection is the safety engineering concept of deploying multiple independent protective barriers in sequence between a hazard and its target. Its parameters are: (1) each barrier must be independent — no single cause can defeat all layers; (2) eac…
safety-critical is the human-made classification that designates systems, components, or processes where failure could result in catastrophic consequences — loss of life, severe injury, or major environmental damage. Its parameters are: (1) consequence severi…
Inherent-safety is the concept of eliminating hazards from a system through design choices rather than adding protective measures or controls. Its parameters are: (1) the hazard must be completely removed from the system's operation, not merely contained or m…
human-reliability is the concept of quantifying the likelihood that a human operator will execute a required task correctly under specified conditions and within a defined time window. It parameterizes human performance as a probabilistic variable subject to…
Prevention-and-detection is the dual safety principle that human systems must both prevent failures from occurring (proactive barriers, design safeguards, procedural controls) and detect failures that do occur before they escalate into harm (monitoring, alarm…
cause-and-effect is the conceptual framework that maps relationships between actions, conditions, and their outcomes — asserting that every effect has at least one cause and every cause produces at least one effect. Parameters: the relationship can be determi…
root-cause is the concept of a fundamental reason behind a problem or failure — the underlying condition whose elimination would prevent recurrence, as opposed to proximate causes which merely trigger the event. It is carved by three parameters: (1) temporal…
A decision-support-system (DSS) is a human-made information system designed to assist decision-makers in compiling information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge, and models to identify and solve problems and make decisions. It is parameterized by:…
human-factors is the discipline that studies how humans interact with systems, tools, and environments — designing for human capabilities, limitations, and behaviors so that systems operate safely and effectively. It carves a bounded field: not the natural mi…
Pareto-analysis is a data-ranking technique that orders factors by their measured contribution to a total effect, then applies the Pareto principle — the empirical observation that a minority of causes typically generates the majority of results — to distingu…
Traceability is the capability to reconstruct the history, application, location, or transformation of an item, process, or decision through a connected chain of documented records. Its parameters are: (1) tracee — the entity being tracked (material, componen…
A control chart is a time-series graph of process measurements overlaid with a central line (process mean) and upper/lower control limits (typically ±3 standard deviations from the mean), used to distinguish common-cause variation from special-cause signals i…
Failure-modes-and-effects-analysis (FMEA) is a structured, inductive method for systematically enumerating every way a product, process, or system can fail, tracing each failure mode to its root causes, and scoring the consequences by severity, occurrence lik…
A topographic map is a scaled graphical representation that encodes terrain elevation and surface features using a defined symbol set: contour lines connecting equal-elevation points, spot elevations at measured locations, and standardized symbols for hydrogr…
A structured analytical method for systematically identifying the underlying origins of problems or failures, as distinguished from managing symptoms. It proceeds by collecting evidence, mapping causal relationships, and iteratively probing why-questions to t…
Scenario-analysis is a structured technique for exploring alternative futures by constructing coherent, plausible narratives about how key variables could evolve under different conditions. It operates through a defined sequence: (1) identifying the focal que…
A fishbone diagram (also called an Ishikawa or cause-and-effect diagram) is a structured visual tool for cause analysis: it maps the possible causes of a specific problem or effect along branching categories arranged in a skeletal layout resembling a fish ske…
A formalized practice of systematic hazard detection: the structured process by which teams or individuals identify, catalog, and record potential sources of harm before they materialize. It operates through defined methods — hazard checklists, design reviews…
An inference-engine is a human-made computational system that applies formal reasoning rules to derive conclusions from a structured knowledge base. Its parameters are: (1) a rule set encoding inference patterns (deductive, inductive, or abductive); (2) a kno…
Safety-analysis is a human-made systematic process for identifying hazards, evaluating risks, and determining appropriate controls in technical, industrial, and organizational systems. It operates through structured methodologies — including checklist-based r…
Safety-engineering is a human-made discipline that systematically applies engineering principles to identify, assess, and mitigate hazards in complex systems. It operates through structured methodologies — including hazard identification, risk assessment, fai…
A hierarchy-of-controls is a risk-assessment framework that ranks safety interventions by effectiveness: (1) elimination of the hazard entirely, (2) substitution with a less hazardous alternative, (3) engineering controls that isolate people from the hazard,…
event-tree-analysis is a human-made systematic risk-assessment procedure that begins with an identified initiating event and traces forward through a sequence of possible events, using binary branches (success or failure of each safety function) to map all po…
failure-mode-and-effects-analysis is a human-made systematic risk-assessment procedure that enumerates potential failure modes within a system or process, determines their causes and downstream effects, and ranks them by severity, occurrence frequency, and de…
bow-tie-analysis is a human-made risk assessment methodology that visualizes accident pathways in a bow-tie diagram. It is carved by: (1) a central top-event representing the hazard state, (2) causal pathways on the left branching from potential initiating ca…
audit-trail is a human-made record-keeping construct that produces a sequential, tamper-evident chronology of actions, decisions, and state transitions for later verification. It is carved by: (1) sequential ordering of entries with immutable timestamps, (2)…
fault-tolerance is a human-made engineering property describing system designs that continue operating — possibly degraded — when one or more components fail. It is carved by: (1) the presence of failure-resilient design (redundancy, isolation, graceful degra…
defensive-depth is a human-made security architecture that layers multiple independent controls so the failure of any single one does not compromise the protected asset. It is carved by: (1) heterogeneous barriers (different mechanisms, not redundant copies o…
risk-management is a human-made institutional practice that systematically identifies, assesses, and controls hazards and uncertainties in organizational operations. It is carved by: (1) a structured process for hazard identification (systematic scanning for…
Safety-culture is a human-made organizational construct comprising shared values, beliefs, and behavioral norms regarding the priority and management of safety within a group, workplace, or institution. It is carved by: (1) shared cognitive commitment to safe…
Fault-tree-analysis is a human-made analytical method for systematically deducing the combinations of component failures and events that can cause a specified top-level system failure. It is carved by: (1) a boolean logic tree structure with the top event at…
A hazard is a human-made conceptual category denoting a potential source of harm or adverse condition capable of causing injury, illness, property damage, environmental harm, or other undesirable outcomes. It is carved by three parameters: (1) the hazard type…
Reliability-engineering is the systematic methodology for ensuring that systems perform their intended functions without failure under stated conditions for a stated period. It carves the concept by specifying: (1) quantitative reliability targets (failure ra…
hazard-analysis is a human-made analytical procedure that identifies, evaluates, and documents potential hazards in a system, process, or environment. It is carved by: (1) systematic identification of hazard sources (physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic,…
A retrospective is a structured group practice conducted after a completed project, sprint, or defined episode, where participants reflect on events to identify what worked, what did not, and what to change in future iterations. Parameters: (1) bounded time f…
A safety-case is a structured argument, supported by evidence, that a system or component is sufficiently safe for a given application in a given environment. It carves the concept by specifying: (1) a claim hierarchy decomposing safety assertions into sub-cl…
A lessons-learned is the institutional practice of systematically capturing knowledge from completed projects, events, or processes and making it available for future decision-making. Parameters: (1) retrospection — structured review of what happened, (2) doc…
A failure-mode-analysis is a systematic engineering methodology for cataloguing every possible way a system, component, or process can fail, assessing the consequences of each failure mode, and prioritising mitigation or correction. Parameters: (1) exhaustive…
A corrective-action is a planned organizational intervention that eliminates the root cause of a detected nonconformity or failure to prevent recurrence. Parameters: (1) cause-elimination — targets the fundamental cause, not the symptom; (2) prevention — desi…
An error-boundary is a design boundary that separates a system component from its environment such that failures occurring outside the boundary cannot propagate across it. Parameters: (1) containment — errors on one side are intercepted and do not cross to th…
A programming language feature that separates normal control flow from error-handling flow. It works by throwing an exception object when an error occurs, and catching it in a handler block that specifies recovery or cleanup actions. Parameters: (1) throw/rai…
Risk-analysis is the human-made practice of systematically evaluating identified risks to determine their likelihood, impact, and priority for decision-making about risk responses. It is defined by four parameters: (1) the set of identified risks from a risk…
A threat-model is a human-made structured representation of the potential threats targeting a system — capturing assets, vulnerabilities, threat actors, capabilities, motivations, and the attack paths that connect them. It is defined by four parameters: (1) s…
Post-mortem is the human-made practice of conducting a structured review after a project, event, or process has concluded, examining outcomes against expectations to extract lessons. It is defined by four parameters: (1) retrospection — looking backward at wh…
Survivorship-bias is the human-made cognitive error of drawing conclusions from a visible set of successes while the unseen set of failures is systematically excluded from analysis. It is defined by three parameters: (1) selection filter — a process that allo…
A risk register is a structured record maintained by human practice that catalogues identified risks with their probability, impact assessment, assigned owners, and planned responses. Its persistence mechanism is the documented record kept current through org…
Error-handling is the human-made systematic approach to detecting, responding to, and recovering from errors or exceptions in a system. It is defined by four parameters: (1) error detection — the mechanisms that identify when an error has occurred (monitoring…
Fault-tree is the human-made systematic method for identifying causes of a system failure by constructing a top-down logical tree. It is defined by four parameters: (1) a top event representing the system failure to be analyzed, (2) Boolean logic gates (AND,…
Decision-analysis is the human-made systematic method for evaluating alternatives by quantifying their attributes, risks, and consequences against weighted criteria. It is defined by four parameters: (1) evaluation procedure — a structured process for compari…
Root-cause-analysis is the human-made systematic method for identifying the fundamental cause of a problem or failure by tracing observable effects backward through chains of contributing factors. It is defined by four parameters: (1) effect — the observable…
Garden-rake is the human-made garden implement consisting of a long handle attached to a crossbar from which multiple metal or plastic tines project downward. It is defined by four parameters: (1) handle — an elongated shaft for standing or seated operation,…
Decision-framework is the human-made structured approach or model that guides decision-making through ordered steps, evaluation criteria, and cognitive scaffolding. It is defined by four parameters: (1) structural scaffolding — the ordered steps or categories…
Scenario-planning is the concept and practice of constructing multiple plausible future narratives to examine how decisions perform under different conditions. It is defined by four parameters: (1) narrative construction — creating detailed, internally consis…
A baseline is the reference point or standard established through deliberate measurement or agreement, against which subsequent observations, measurements, or changes are compared. It is defined by three parameters: (1) establishment — the act of setting the…
Risk-assessment is the systematic practice and concept of identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing potential threats or hazards. It is defined by four parameters: (1) hazard identification — enumerating possible adverse events or failure conditions; (2) prob…
Anomaly-detection is the concept and practice of identifying deviations from expected patterns within a domain of observation. It is defined by four parameters: (1) baseline — establishing what counts as normal or expected; (2) pattern recognition — identifyi…
Safety-margin is the human practice of maintaining a deliberate buffer between the minimum required capacity for a function and the actual capacity deployed. It carves by specifying: (1) the baseline requirement (minimum capacity needed for operation), (2) th…
Criteria are standards or principles deliberately established by humans for the purpose of evaluating, comparing, or judging things. They function as benchmarks that make assessment systematic rather than ad hoc: each criterion specifies a particular dimensio…
A decision-problem is a formalized structure that breaks a choice situation into explicit components — a set of alternative actions, one or more objectives to be optimized or satisfied, constraints that limit feasible options, and representations of uncertain…
Model-selection is the structured process of evaluating and choosing among competing models based on criteria such as goodness-of-fit, parsimony, predictive accuracy, and domain coherence. It operates through formal criteria (Akaike Information Criterion, Bay…
Failure-mode is the human-made concept describing a specific, identifiable way in which a system, component, or process can fail to perform its intended function. It distinguishes the mechanism of failure (how it breaks) from the cause of failure (why it brea…
Parsimony is the human-made methodological principle that, among competing explanations that account for the same evidence, the one positing the fewest entities, assumptions, or mechanisms should be preferred. It carves the principle by its constraint (minimi…
Musical-form is the human-made system of organizing musical elements into recognizable, recurring structural patterns — verse, chorus, fugue, sonata-allegro, rondo, and others. It provides a framework that composers use to structure works and listeners use to…
Scientific-method is the human-made systematic procedure for acquiring and organizing knowledge about the natural and social world through empirical observation, hypothesis formation, experimental testing, and theory revision. It carves the procedure by its c…
Reliability is a human-made standard for evaluating whether a measurement instrument, classification system, or procedural method produces consistent results when applied repeatedly under stable conditions. It is parameterized by the type of consistency asses…
A garden-tool is a class of human-made implements designed for the specific tasks of garden cultivation: soil preparation (trowels, spades, cultivators), planting (dibbers, seed drills), weeding (hoes, weed forks), pruning (secateurs, pruning saws), and harve…
A decision-heuristic is a human-made mental model in psychology and behavioral economics: a simplified rule of thumb or shortcut that agents deliberately use to reach judgments and decisions under constraints of time, information, or cognitive capacity. It ca…
Theory-ladenness is a human-made concept in philosophy of science: the claim that observation and measurement are shaped by the theoretical commitments, expectations, and frameworks a scientist already holds. It carves the boundary between pure empirical neut…
Ecological fallacy is a reasoning error in which relationships observed between variables at the aggregate or group level are incorrectly assumed to hold for individuals within those groups. Parameters: (1) aggregate data — statistics computed over groups, po…
Diagnostic reasoning is a structured inferential practice that identifies causes or conditions from observed evidence. Parameters: (1) symptom/data set — the observations to be explained; (2) differential — the set of candidate causes or conditions; (3) decis…
Classical conditioning is a learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a biologically potent stimulus, eventually eliciting the same response on its own. Parameters: (1) unconditioned stimulus — the naturally potent stimulus; (2) unc…
A label is a symbolic form (word, phrase, symbol, or tag) that serves to identify, classify, or describe a referent through shared convention. Parameters: (1) form — the audible, visible, or tactile signifier; (2) referent — the thing, concept, or category to…
Procrastination is the voluntary delay of an intended course of action, despite foreseeing that the delay will worsen the outcome. Parameters: it requires (1) an existing intention or goal, (2) voluntary (non-forced) delay, (3) a negative consequence expectat…
Explanatory-power is the measure of how well a theory or model accounts for observed phenomena relative to its complexity. Parameters: it is a comparative evaluative criterion — determined by the breadth of phenomena explained, the precision of predictions, a…
Intellectual-humility is the epistemic disposition to recognize the limits of one's knowledge, remain open to new evidence, and acknowledge the possibility of error. Parameters: it is a calibrated character trait — falling between self-doubt (excessive uncert…
Causal inference is the systematic methodology for identifying cause-effect relationships from observational or experimental data. Parameters: (1) a set of candidate variables with hypothesized causal structure, (2) a data-generating process producing observa…
Conceptual synthesis is the deliberate cognitive process of integrating distinct concepts, frameworks, or domains of knowledge into a coherent unified understanding. Parameters: (1) two or more pre-existing concepts or knowledge domains, (2) identification of…
Generalizability is the methodological property indicating the extent to which findings, theories, or results derived from a bounded study or context can be validly extended to other populations, settings, temporal periods, or conditions. Parameters: (1) esta…
Sensitivity analysis is a systematic methodology for quantifying how uncertainty in model inputs propagates to uncertainty in model outputs. Parameters: (1) a formal model or simulation with definable input-output mapping; (2) a specified range or distributio…
Prejudice is a preconceived attitude toward a person or social group, formed without adequate knowledge, thought, or reason, and persisting despite contrary evidence. Parameters: (1) an evaluative attitude (favorable or unfavorable) directed at a social categ…
Conceptual-role is the functional position a concept occupies within a system of concepts — the inferences it licenses, the concepts it connects to, and the explanatory work it performs. Parameters: (1) a network of related concepts within which the role is d…
Opinion is a held judgment about a proposition, situation, or course of action, formed without absolute certainty and subject to revision. Parameters: (1) a propositional content that the agent affirms; (2) a degree of confidence less than certainty; (3) form…
Diagnosticity is the degree to which a piece of evidence or test outcome discriminates between two or more competing hypotheses. Parameters: (1) a set of hypotheses to discriminate among; (2) an observation or test result; (3) a quantitative or qualitative sc…
Paraconsistent logic is a formal logical system that permits reasoning with contradictions without deriving every statement as true (avoiding the principle of explosion). Its parameters: (1) a rejection or restriction of ex contradictione quodlibet (ECQ), (2)…
A factorial design is an experimental methodology in which two or more independent variables (factors) are varied simultaneously across two or more discrete levels. Its parameters: (1) number of factors, (2) levels per factor, (3) assignment of experimental u…
Six Sigma is a structured methodology for process improvement that seeks to reduce defects to 3.4 per million opportunities. Its parameters: (1) DMAIC cycle (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), (2) statistical process control tools, (3) belt-based or…
A random sample is a method of selecting a subset from a larger statistical population such that every member has an equal and known probability of inclusion. Its parameters: (1) defined population, (2) random selection mechanism (random number generator, lot…
A flip-flop is a type of open footwear consisting of a flat sole held to the foot by a Y-shaped strap passing between the first and second toes and along the sides. Its parameters: (1) sole material (rubber, foam, cork), (2) strap configuration (Y-strap betwe…
Cognitive friction is the resistance encountered when processing, integrating, or transitioning between incompatible mental models, schemas, or conceptual frameworks. Its parameters are: (1) presence of conflicting representations in working memory, (2) measu…
A semantic-relation is a structured relationship between two or more linguistic expressions that share some dimension of meaning — such as similarity (synonymy), opposition (antonymy), hierarchy (hyponymy), or association (collocation). It requires: (1) at le…
A political-strategy is a deliberate, organized approach to achieving political objectives — the systematic planning and deployment of tactics to influence power relations, governance structures, or policy outcomes. It operates through coalition-building, res…