The conceptual bases of futures studies are constrained by physical reality only to the extent that we construct these according to our best understanding of physical principles. This places a burden on futures practitioners to ensure that engagement and use of these principles is sufficiently robust to protect the plausibility of their work. The second law of thermodynamics is widely recognised as having fundamental implications for the nature of our physical reality. It is also widely misinterpreted, leading to distorted understanding of this reality. Thermodynamic principles are frequently referred to in the futures literature, and are sometimes fundamental to the futures thinking underlying the work. Reflecting the widespread misunderstanding of the second law, usage in the futures literature is usually problematic. This has implications for the value of the work, and also for the credibility of the field. In this article, the problem is demonstrated, and an updated interpretation of the second law is introduced. The origin of the problem is examined from historical and scientific perspectives within the thermodynamics field. The updated interpretation?s implications are examined in the context of futures and other transdisciplinary perspectives.

We show that there exists a natural way to define a condition of generalized thermal equilibrium between systems governed by Tsallis thermostatistics, under the hypotheses that (i) the coupling between the systems is weak, (ii) the structure functions of the systems have a power-law dependence on the energy. It is found that the q values of two such systems at equilibrium must satisfy a relationship involving the respective numbers of degrees of freedom. The physical properties of a Tsallis distribution can be conveniently characterized by a new parameter [eta] which can vary between 0 and +[infinity], these limits corresponding, respectively, to the two opposite situations of a microcanonical distribution and of a distribution with a predominant power-tail at high energies. We prove that the statistical expression of the thermodynamic functions is univocally determined by the requirements that (a) systems at thermal equilibrium have the same temperature, (b) the definitions of temperature and entropy are consistent with the second law of thermodynamics. We find that, for systems satisfying the hypotheses (i) and (ii) specified above, the thermodynamic entropy is given by Renyi entropy.

Plastification or irradiation may lead to an increased amount of vacancies in the matrix. Due to the supersaturation of vacancies, they may flow towards voids and lead to void growth. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is employed to describe the kinetics of the void growth process. \copyright 2007 Acta Materialia Inc.

In our previous work [S.B. Kiselev, J.F. Ely, Fluid Phase. Equilib. 222-223 (2004) 149], we developed a generalized cubic (GC) EoS for pure fluids, which incorporates non-analytic scaling laws in the critical region and reproduces the thermodynamic properties of pure fluids with high accuracy, including the asymptotic scaling behavior of the isochoric heat capacity in the one- and two-phase regions. However, it appears that in some cases the GC EoS can give unphysical behavior when extrapolated to high temperatures and densities. In this work, we present a modification of the generalized cubic EoS, which in the critical region is physically equivalent to the GC EoS developed earlier, but is more reliable in its extrapolation to high temperatures. \copyright 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Critical phenomena in non-equilibrium systems have been studied by means of a wide variety of theoretical and experimental approaches. Mode-coupling, renormalization group, complex Lie algebras and diagrammatic techniques are some of the usual theoretical tools. Experimental studies include light and inelastic neutron scattering, X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, microwave interferometry and several other techniques. Nevertheless, no conclusive treatment has been developed from the basic principles of a thermodynamic theory of irreversible processes. We have developed a formalism in which we obtain correlation functions as field averages of the associated functions. By applying such formalism, we attempt to find out whether the resulting correlation functions will inherit the mathematical properties (integrability, generalized homogeneity, scaling laws) of its parent potentials, and we also use these correlation functions to study the behavior of macroscopic systems far from equilibrium, especially in the neighborhood of critical points or dynamic phase transitions. As a working example, we will consider the mono-critical behavior of a non-equilibrium binary fluid mixture close to its consolute point. \copyright Copyright Walter de Gruyter 2006.

We have developed a generalized cubic (GC) EOS for pure fluids, which incorporates non-analytic scaling laws in the critical region and in the limit ??0 is transformed into the ideal gas equation EOS. The GC EOS contains 10 adjustable parameters and reproduces the thermodynamic properties of pure fluids with high accuracy, including the asymptotic scaling behavior of the isochoric heat capacity in the one- and two-phase regions. Unlike the crossover cubic EOS developed earlier [Fluid Phase. Equilibr. 147 (1998) 7], the GC EOS is based on the crossover sine model and can be extended into the metastable region for representing analytically connected van der Waals loops. In addition, using the GC EOS and the decoupled-mode theory (DMT) we have developed a generalized GC + DMT model, which reproduces the singular behavior of the thermal conductivity of pure fluids in and beyond the critical region. Unlike the DMT model based on the asymptotic crossover equation of state CREOS-97, the GC + DMT model is valid in the entire fluid state region at T?Tb (where Tb is the binodal temperature), and at ??0 reproduces the dilute gas contributions for the transport coefficients. \copyright 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.