INPUT BOUNDARY
Charles François (2004). INPUT BOUNDARY, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 1707.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1707 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
- “… the set of all functions which relate environmental variables to system variables in a unidirectional fashion” (W.T. POWERS et al., 1960, p.65).
These authors state that “… environmental variables affect, through some physical device, a system variable, but the device does not work backward” (Ibid).
This concept is intriguing: since, while it characterizes a boundary as functional (as it really is indeed), it leaves open the question to find out where does really a boundary begins and ends. Is the stomach internal lining, for example, as a part of the digestive tract also a part of the boundary?