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

FLOW 1)2)

A displacement of energy or matter that tends to reduce a difference of level or gradient between a system and its environment or among subsystems within the system.

"Flows are defined in terms of the rates of change of the value of the systems attributes" (J.van GIGCH, 1988, p.15).

A flow can be maintained in a permanent way only when the difference of level or gradient between the source and the sink is maintained.

For example our planet will be able to maintain and create organized structures and dissipate heat toward the external space only as long as the sun maintains its capacity to produce energy at a more or less constant level.

Any flow involves some work, but altogether a degradation of the energy it carries. Any flow corresponds to a well defined gradient, to which it is said to be conjugated.

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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