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

CYCLIC ORDER 2)

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The periodic reappearance of some sequence of activity in some behavioral pattern.

The classical example is the periodic fluctuations in the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction. (A. WINFREE, 1980).

This type of repetitive patterns is however very general in self-organizing structures. B.F. MADORE and W.L. FREEDMAN demonstrate as much by computer simulations (1987, p.252).

According to them: "All that is required for our simulated chemistry experiment is a mix of "elements" which react in such a way that they will be found sequentially in one of three main states (active, receptive and quiescent); that these states occur in a cyclic order; and that there are a few simple rules as to how one state leads to the next".

And"… the first basic forms found in these experiments – the rotating spirals and expanding closed circles – are topologically related. Once the circles are explained the spirals are, in fact, a natural (expected) consequence" (p.254).

"Interestingly, the computer model does not involve any chemistry per se; it works with only a set of "allowed states" and a set of rules for the interaction and transition between states" (p.255-6). It is fact a cellular automaton.

The subject is closely related to J. CONWAY's Game of Life, to I. PRIGOGINE's models of the emergence of order through bifurcation and nucleation; to Ch. LAVILLE's vortexes and to D. Mc NEIL's toroids.

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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