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Self-organizing Systems

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Abbreviations

Attractor :

A special set of system states approached by a dynamical system after some time has passed when starting from a variety of initial states.

Autopoiesis :

The process by which systems maintain their identity and organization and regenerate their components in the course of their operation.

Competition and cooperation :

Types of interaction between two or more elements of a system. Competition refers to each element striving to maximize its use of a finite and/or non‐renewable resource. Cooperation refers to the elements engaging in a mutually beneficial exchange.

Complexity :

Measure of number of elements and way of their interaction (structural c.); measure of variety of behavioral repertoire of a system (functional c.).

Constructive system :

A system whose later components are generated during the interaction of its earlier components.

Dynamics:

The quantitative development of a system's state variables over time.

Emergence :

The appearance of qualitatively new phenomena on higher levels of a hierarchical system.

Evolution :

A process of structural or qualitative change in some direction.

Instability :

Inability of a system to keep its state or structure.

Mode :

Macroscopic behavior of a system caused by the interaction of its microscopic parts via long‐range correlations.

Non‐equilibrium :

System state with inflow of matter, energy and/or information causing it to stay away from its most probable state under the hypothetical condition of isolation.

Phase transition :

A point at which the appearance or behavior, or qualitative nature of the steady state of a system changes suddenly.

Resilience :

Measure of a system's ability to remain within a domain of stability in response to fluctuations of the system by a perturbation, and the ability of the system to return to that stable domain having once left.

Self‐organized criticality :

The ability of a system to evolve in such a way as to approach a critical point and then maintain itself at that point.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada

    Wolfgang Banzhaf

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  1. Wolfgang Banzhaf
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. RAMTECH LIMITED, 122 Escalle Lane, Larkspur, CA, 94939, USA

    Robert A. Meyers Ph. D. (Editor-in-Chief) (Editor-in-Chief)

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Banzhaf, W. (2009). Self-organizing Systems . In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30440-3_475

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