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.

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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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DISTRIBUTION (Hexagonal) 2)4)

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A distribution characterized by the shaping of hexagonal structural and functional nets.

The hexagonal distribution model has been proposed from widely aparted quarters.

It appeared in hydrodynamics in BÉNARD's dissipative cells structures, which are produced in a boiling liquid through convective currents resulting from differences of temperatures when the liquid is heated up to boiling point in a vessel.

Dissipative structures (not necessarily hexagonal) became later on a very important tool in Thermodynamics of systems far from equilibrium.

This type of description was also introduced by W. CHRISTALLER (1933, 1937), describing the embedded and concentrical hexagonal nets which appear in many human settlements. This theory was considerably extended by A. LÖSCH. (1944). See "Hexagonal space filling".

The reasons explaining hexagonal distribution are now clearer: in an isotropic space various competing dissipation processes in reciprocal contact adopt an hexagonal repartition seemingly because it is the most efficient manner to occupy space. However, as no space is absolutely isotropic, the model is only an approximation.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

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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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