Organised systems structuring fields 84

In our opinion these are self-organising systems that spontaneously form dissipative structures above certain characteristic volume concentrations. Such structures form in non-isolated systems far removed from thermodynamic equilibrium, where the determining variables satisfy non-linear dynamic laws. (For his pioneering work in this field the Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1977.) Furthermore, the conductivity of the polymers that form the structures can in our opinion be explained better by the assumption that freely mobile electrons are present within particle structures only a few nanometres in size. 

The aim of this Section is to describe the usefulness of non-equilibrium thermodynamics in understanding the relationship between structure and properties in colloidal or microemulsion systems, (I hope to convince polymer and colloid scientists to learn from progress made in self-organising systems in other fields.)... 

We are convinced that a structural description based on curvature is useful in physical and biological sciences, and the numerous examples presented here support that view. Finally, we hope that our speculations on the role of these shapes in chemical reactions and in molecular organisation in living systems will inspire new work in tins field. 

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