BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

MARKOV CHAIN 2)

A sequence of neither purely random, nor purely deterministic transitions from one state to any other in a system.

Another interesting definition by K. KRIPPENDORFF: "The behavior of an informationally closed and generative system that is specified by transition probabilities between the system's states" (1986, p47).

He adds: "The probabilities of a MARKOV chain are usually entered into a transition matrix indicating which state or symbol follows which other state or symbol. The order of a MARKOV chain corresponds to the number of states or symbols from which probabilities are defined to a successor. Ordinarily, MARKOV chains are state determined, or of the first order. Higher orders are history determined. An unequal distribution of transition probabilities is a mark of a MARKOV chain's redundancy, and a prerequisite of predictability" (Ibid)

("Ergodicity").

I. PRIGOGINE and I. STENGERS state the three general characteristics of Markov chains: "Non-repetitivity, existence of long range correlations and spatial symmetry breaks" (1992, p.90).

Markov chains are "statistically reproductive" and correspond to deterministic chaos "intermediary between pure randomness and redundant order" (Ibid).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]


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