Autonomous agency theoryAutonomous agency theory (AAT) is a viable system theory (VST) which models autonomous social complex adaptive systems. It can be used to model the relationship between an agency and its environment(s), and these may include other interactive agencies. The nature of that interaction is determined by both the agency's external and internal attributes and constraints. Internal attributes may include immanent dynamic "self" processes that drive agency change.
Root-finding algorithmsIn mathematics and computing, a root-finding algorithm is an algorithm for finding zeros, also called "roots", of continuous functions. A zero of a function f, from the real numbers to real numbers or from the complex numbers to the complex numbers, is a number x such that f(x) = 0. As, generally, the zeros of a function cannot be computed exactly nor expressed in closed form, root-finding algorithms provide approximations to zeros, expressed either as floating-point numbers or as small isolating intervals, or disks for complex roots (an interval or disk output being equivalent to an approximate output together with an error bound).
Self-organizationSelf-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when sufficient energy is available, not needing control by any external agent. It is often triggered by seemingly random fluctuations, amplified by positive feedback. The resulting organization is wholly decentralized, distributed over all the components of the system.
Marginal stabilityIn the theory of dynamical systems and control theory, a linear time-invariant system is marginally stable if it is neither asymptotically stable nor unstable. Roughly speaking, a system is stable if it always returns to and stays near a particular state (called the steady state), and is unstable if it goes farther and farther away from any state, without being bounded. A marginal system, sometimes referred to as having neutral stability, is between these two types: when displaced, it does not return to near a common steady state, nor does it go away from where it started without limit.
Integrable systemIn mathematics, integrability is a property of certain dynamical systems. While there are several distinct formal definitions, informally speaking, an integrable system is a dynamical system with sufficiently many conserved quantities, or first integrals that its motion is confined to a submanifold of much smaller dimensionality than that of its phase space.