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

CIRCADIAN RHYTHM 5)

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Any periodic behavior in living systems synchronized with the alternance of day and night.

Circadian rhythms are of cardinal importance for all living systems, specially human systems up to the highest societal level. Recent research by J.S. TAKAHASHI and M. HOFFMAN(1995, p.158-65) pinpointed J. MILLER's timer subsystem, which is ultimately located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SNC) in mammalian brains. The SNC is apparently heir to the pineal eye of reptiles. It acts as a "master circadian clock" that commands time-connected activities and seems to be ultimately under the control of a specific gene, or group of genes, since the activity rhythms of mice has been altered by induced genetic mutations.

It is moreover interesting to observe that any animal possesses organizationally closed devices at the physiological level, responding imprecisely specific ways to environmental stimuli. The case of vegetals, not yet much researched until now, seems to be similar.

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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