Publisher's Synopsis
Containing 1621 specially commissioned articles, this unique and comprehensive new reference work provides information on what systems thinking comprises and how it is being used to understand and to attack a wide spectrum of diverse problems ranging from, for example, the control of servo-mechanisms to applications of space technology, or from understanding biological/environmental systems to controlling national economies. The volumes cover systems and control in the widest possible sense, treating the theoretical concepts as well as their applications. The latter are technological (to process industries like chemicals, paper and cement as well as to engineering systems like power generation, distribution, etc.), semi-technological (i.e. where human beings interact in the system, e.g. road traffic networks, environmental systems, robotics, energy systems) or non-technological (socio-economic systems, management systems, etc.). In each case, the role of computers as system components is particularly emphasized.
