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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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ENTROPY PRODUCTION in a system 1)4)5)

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E. LASZLO writes: "The PRIGOGINE equation states that entropy change in a system is governed by the relative values of the terms in the equation dS = dSe + dSi, where dSi denotes entropy change through the input and dSe entropy produced through irreversible processes within the system. Whereas dSe is always positive, dSi may be positive as well as negative. If it is negative, the dissipation function of a system (Þ = dsdt is negative, i.e. is greater than 0. In this case the system decreases its net entropy or, correspondingly, gathers information" (1974, p.221).

There is thus a thermodynamic way to self organization for open systems.

D. HERSHEY developed the concept of Excess Entropy Production. "For the living system, Excess Entropy Production diminishes with age and nears zero in the vicinity of death. For the aging corporation, a diminishing Excess Entropy Production track can signal stagnation, a general decline in organizational vitality" (1991, p.126).

This somewhat esoteric view implies that a diminishing rate of energy degradation for adaptive activity (for example learning capacity, organizational innovation, creativity) signals the beginning of ageing and sclerosis in systems.

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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