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.

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TORUS 2)

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"The three dimensional figure described by the rotation of a closed two-dimensional figure across an axis offset from its center" (D. Mc NEIL, 1993 b, p.9).

Mc NEIL comments: "The torus has many consequential topological features which a simple sphere or spheroid does not. For the purpose of a systemological definition however, one of the most important of these is the way in which the torus represents a break in the three-dimensional symmetry of the sphere. The torus is thus an oriented figure which can channel, direct, select and control along its axis, e.g. a duct, a conduit, or a pipe" (1993 b, p.9).

In some sense, the torus differentiates an "inside" from the "outside", and becomes an abstract model for the most various kinds of systems.

For more about the torus, see R.H. ABRAHAM and C.D. SHAW (1988, p.558-73).

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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