Publisher’s description: This book contains the Proceedings of the 2007 Conference of the Italian Systems Society. The papers deal with the interdisciplinary study of processes of emergence, considering theoretical aspects and applications from physics, cognitive science, biology, artificial intelligence, economics, architecture, philosophy, music and social systems. Such an interdisciplinary study implies the need to model and distinguish, in different disciplinary contexts, the establishment of structures, systems and systemic properties. Systems, as modeled by the observer, not only possess properties, but are also able to make emergent new properties. While current disciplinary models of emergence are based on theories of phase transitions, bifurcations, dissipative structures, multiple systems and organization, the present volume focuses on both generalizing those disciplinary models and identifying correspondences and new more general approaches. The general conceptual framework of the book relates to the attempt to build a general theory of emergence as a general theory of change, corresponding to Von Bertalanffy’s project for a general system theory. \bigskip Contents: Fortunato Tito Arecchi, Coherence, complexity and creativity (3‒33); Valerio Di Battista, Environment and architecture ‒ a paradigm shift (37‒49); Arne Collen, Emergence of architectural phenomena in the human habitation of space (51‒66); Ezio Arlati and Giorgio Giallocosta, Questions of method on interoperability in architecture (67‒78); Stefano Della Torre and Andrea Canziani, Comprehensive plans for a culture-driven local development: emergence as a tool for understanding social impacts of projects on built cultural heritage (79‒90); Giorgio Giallocosta, Systemic and architecture: current theoretical issues (91‒100); Véronique Bouchard, Modeling the $360^\circ$ innovating firm as a multiple system or collective being (103‒112); Lucio Biggiero and Enrico Sevi, The COD model: simulating workgroup performance (113‒133); Giorgio Giallocosta, Importance of the infradisciplinary areas in the systemic approach towards new company organisational models: the building industry (135‒147); Paolo Ramazzotti, Systemic openness of the economy and normative analysis (149‒161); Patrizia Picci and Adalgisa Battistelli, Motivational antecedents of individual innovation (163‒180); Vera Stara, Maria Pietronilla Penna and Guido Tascini, An e-usability view of the web: a systemic method for user interfaces (181‒192); R. Rongo, W. Spataro, D. D’Ambrosio, M. V. Avolio, V. Lupiano and S. Di Gregorio, Evolutionary computation and emergent modeling of natural phenomena (195‒214); Luigi Lella and Ignazio Licata, A new model for the organizational knowledge life cycle (215‒227); Shelia Guberman, On generalization: constructing a general concept from a single example (229‒240); Gianfranco Minati, General theory of emergence beyond systemic generalizations (241‒255); Giordano Bruno, Uncertainty, coherence, emergence (257‒264); Paolo Allievi and Alberto Trotta, Emergence and gravitational conjectures (265‒280); Gianfranco Minati and Larry A. Magliocca, Inducing systems thinking in consumer societies (283‒297); Peter M. Bednar, Contextual analysis. A multiperspective inquiry into emergence of complex socio-cultural systems (299‒312); Maria Santa Ferretti, Job satisfaction and organizational commitment: affective commitment predictors in a group of professionals (313‒329); Piergiorgio Argentero and Ilaria Setti, Organizational climate assessment: a systemic perspective (331‒346); Marina Mura, Environment and urban tourism: an emergent system in rhetorical place identity definitions (347‒362); S. David, A. Montesanto and C. Rocchi, Different approaches to semantics in knowledge representation (365‒382); Marco Giunti, Bidimensional Turing machines as Galilean models of human computation (383‒406); Vera Stara, Anna Montesanto, Paolo Puliti, Guido Tascini and Cristina Sechi, A neural model of face recognition: a comprehensive approach (407‒423); Graziano Terenzi, Anticipatory cognitive systems: a theoretical model (425‒440); Natale Bonfiglio, Simone Percivalle and Eliano Pessa, Decision making models within incomplete information games (441‒452); Piergiorgio Argentero and Bianca Dell’Olivo, Burnout and job engagement in emergency and intensive care nurses (455‒471); Alberto Ricciuti, The “implicit” ethics of a systemic approach to the medical praxis (473‒486); Piergiorgio Argentero, Bianca Dell’Olivo and Ilaria Setti, Post traumatic stress disorder in emergency workers: risk factors and treatment (487‒502); Pier Luigi Marconi, State variability and psychopathological attractors. The behavioural complexity as discriminating factor between the pathology and normality profiles (503‒530); Mario R. Abram, Decomposition of systems and complexity (533‒544); Umberto Di Caprio, How many stars are there in heaven? The results of a study of universe in the light of stability theory (545‒560); Guido Massa Finoli, Description of a complex system through recursive functions (561‒570); Mario R. Abram and Marino Sforna, Issues on critical infrastructures (571‒588); Leonardo Bich, Downward causation and relatedness in emergent systems: epistemological remarks (591‒601); Eliano Pessa, Towards a general theory of change (603‒623); Gianfranco Minati, Acquired emergent properties (625‒640); Roberto Serra, Timoteo Carletti, Irene Poli and Alessandro Filisetti, The growth of populations of protocells (641‒648); R. Serra, M. Villani, C. Damiani, A. Graudenzi, P. Ingrami and A. Colacci, Investigating cell criticality (649‒657); Umberto Di Caprio, Relativistic stability. I. Relation between special relativity and stability theory in the two-body problem (659‒672); Umberto Di Caprio, Relativistic stability. II. A study of black-holes and of the Schwarzschild radius (673‒683); Emilio Del Giudice and Giuseppe Vitiello, The formation of coherent domains in the process of symmetry breaking phase transitions (685‒694); Lucio Biggiero, Organizations as cognitive systems. Is knowledge an emergent property of information networks? (697‒712); Maria Pietronilla Penna, Sandro Mocci and Cristina Sechi, Communication, silence and miscommunication (713‒721); Emanuela Pietrocini, Music: creativity and structure transitions (723‒744); Baingio Pinna and Maria Pietronilla Penna, The emergence of figural effects in the watercolor illusion (745‒764); Baingio Pinna and Richard L. Gregory, Continuities and discontinuities in motion perception (765‒775); D. Rollo and F. Buttiglieri, Mother and infant talk about mental states: systemic emergence of psychological lexicon and theory of mind understanding (777‒786); Adalgisa Battistelli, Patrizia Picci and Carlo Odoardi, Conflict in relationships and perceived support in innovative work behavior (787‒802); Monica Alberti, Lucia Cirina and Francesco Paoli, Role variables vs. contextual variables in the theory of didactic systems (803‒816). \bigskip The articles of this volume will not be reviewed individually.