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

SCALING (LAW of QUARTER POWER) 2)

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This law is stated as follows by R. LEWIN (1999, p.35):

"… many biological variables tend to increase or decrease in relation to body mass raised to the power of one quarter or three quarters"

This law "holds true for the smallest microorganism to the largest animal, the blue whale… a staggering 21 orders of magnitude…(and it) remains intact even in the subcellular domain, down to the mitonchondria which provide the cell's energy and, beyond that to the molecular complexes within the mitochondria…to 27 orders of magnitude" (Ibid)

According to G. WEST, as quoted by LEWIN:"You find scaling everywhere in the Universe…as it reflects something of the general properties of the system" (Ibid, p.37)

Scaling is closely related to the nature of networks at the various levels of organization and energy flows.

→ Space syntax

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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