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

GROWTH (logistic) 1)2)4)

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Logistic growth processes are characterized by the progressive limitation of growth due to a saturation factor, which is directly proportional to growth itself.

The acceleration of growth precedes the acceleration of the saturation process. Growth tends thus to look firstly exponential or logarithmic, but will generally slow more and more down as the growth process goes on. The alternative is destructive runaway or explosion.

In J.H. MILSUM's words: "… the decay of the growth rate essentially follows a mirror image pattern to the initial increase of growth rate until a steady-state population is reached, typically under a constant nutrition condition" (1968, p.43).

The implicit character of the saturation process at its beginning, makes it difficult to perceive before it is already in full swing. This is a dangerous situation, specially in relation to many growth processes triggered by man, for which the saturation factor is not yet perceived.

Serious problems could surface later on (climatic, demographic, ecological and the like). Besides, the most swift processes of growth are also the most exposed to violent braking processes.

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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