ACTIVITY of a SYSTEM
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 20 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
- “The ensemble of the variations in time of all the quantities under consideration at the given resolution level” (G. KLIR, 1965, p.30).
G. KLIR points out: “The time interval of the activity is either the entire interval during which we observed the relevant quantities (in the experimental investigation of the system), or the interval in which the variations in time are given and are to be realized” (Ibid).
The distinction between levels — for instance micro-, macro-, or megascopic — corresponds to the fact that actions very limited in space and/or time (in relation to the defined observation level) are generally not significant at a higher level, because they normally lack the sufficient range to have an impact on processes of considerably greater amplitude and/or much longer frequency. It may however be difficult to be sure that any action or event at a given level is not going to make a great difference, as in chaotic phenomena.
Indeed, in the proximity of an instability threshold, a quite small action even at a lower level can trigger a decisive discontinuity or bifurcation.
These quite abstract models can seemingly be observed in concrete systems, for instance in some ants societies where distributed processes of task allocations by roles switching have been discovered by D.M GORDON (1995, p.50-7) This seems to take place by a reciprocal and collective needs assessment leading to the global activity of the system.
See also
constructs (synchronous)