Confined Ontic Open Systems

Confined Ontic Open Systems is a new ecodynamic model based on Prigogine's thermodynamics, Ulanowicz's ontic openness and Coherence Domains with defined boundaries and constraints. The model has a wide range of applications, including ecosystems (e.g. invasive species, the lagoon of Venice), ecological economics, urban organization, the supra-molecular structure of water and global biosphere's models. The model is explained in terms of evolutionary thermodynamics and JØrgensen's ecosystems theory, namely "order out of chaos" and eco-exergy. Particular attention is devoted to the emergence of novelties and to the role of water. © 2010 WIT Press.