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| Deterministic System:
A system in which the later states of the system follow from or are determined by the earlier ones. Such a system is described in contrast to the stochastic or random system in which future states are not determined from previous ones. An example of a stochastic system would be the sequence of heads or tails of an unbiased coin or radioactive decay. If a system is deterministic, this doesn’t necessarily entail that later states of the system are predictable from knowledge of the earlier ones. In this way, chaos is similar to a random system. For example, chaos has been termed "deterministic chaos" since, although it is determined by simple rules, its property of sensitive dependence on initial conditions makes a chaotic system largely unpredictable. See: Chaos; Randomness Bibliography: Goldstein in Sulis and Combs (1996); Lorenz (1993) A group process technique developed by the organizational/complexity theorist Jeffrey Goldstein that facilitates self-organization by generating far-from-equilibrium conditions in a work group. The process consists of several methods whereby information is amplified by highlighting the differences in perception, idea, opinion, and attitude among group members. Difference questioning does not aim at increasing or generating conflict, but, instead, tries to uncover the already differing standpoints. Moreover, the process takes place within boundaries that ensure the self-organization is channeled in constructive directions. Difference Questioning aims at interrupting the tendency toward social conformity which robs groups of their creative idea generating and decision-making potential. In other words, it strives to allow a greater flow of information among the group members which has been shown to be correlated with a far-from-equilibrium condition, i.e., a condition in which self-organizing change can take place. See: Information; Self-organization Bibliography: Goldstein (1994) The term used by the Prigogine School (from Ilya Prigogine, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry) for emergent structures arising in self-organizing systems. Such structures are dissipative by serving to dissipate energy in the system. They happen at a critical threshold of far-from-equilibrium conditions. An example is the hexagonal convection cells that emerge in the Benard System when it is heated. Another example are the so-called "chemical clocks" demonstrated in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. These "chemical clocks" are composed of both temporal structures such as a shift from one color to another with the regular of a clock as well as spatial structures such as spiral waves and so on. See: Coherence; Emergence; Far-from-equilibrium Bibliography: Prigogine and Stengers (1984); Nicolis in Davies (1989) A complex, interactive system evolving over time through multiple modes of behavior, i.e., attractors. Instead, therefore, of conceiving of entities or events as static occurrences, the perspective of a dynamical system is a changing, evolving process following certain rules and exhibiting an increase of complexity. This evolution can show transformations of behavior as new attractors emerge. The changes in system organization and behavior are called bifurcations. Dynamical systems are deterministic systems, although they can be influenced by random events. Times series data of dynamical systems can be graphed as phase portraits in phase space in order to indicate the "qualitative" or topological properties of the system and its attractor(s). For example, various physiological systems can be conceptualized as dynamical systems, the heart for one. Seeing physiological systems as dynamical systems opens up the possibilities of studying various attractor regimes. Moreover, certain diseases can be understood now as "dynamical diseases" meaning that their temporal phasing can be a key to understanding pathological conditions. See: Attractors; Bifurcation; Logistic Equation Bibliography: Abraham, et. al. (1991); Guastello (1995); Peak and Frame
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