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.

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SYSTEM (Near Equilibrium) 2)

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"Any system characterized by an irreversible evolution towards a fixed stationary state, called attractor"(S.H. STROGATZ & I. STEWART, 1990, p.100-1).

"This type of systems may be described by a quite precise equation, which permits to compute the stationary state towards which they tend. Examples of open dissipative systems near equilibrium (i.e., which have a linear movement equation) are numerous: slow flowing rivers, heat flow through a partition, common chemical reactions, motors, etc… "(Ibid).

They are characterized by an "evolution of entropic type" "attracted" by the most probable state, the one of maximum disorder (or the one of stationary state of the same type…)" (Ibid).

This type of system can however maintain itself in a regime of dynamic stability during a more or less protracted period, while stabilizing its entropy production to the lowest level compatible with its characteristics.

When the system finally reaches its attractor, it destroys itself as a system and its elements recover their independence.

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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