An. Gorban et al., Ehrenfest's argument extended to a formalism of nonequilibrium thermodynamics - art. no. 066124, PHYS REV E, 6306(6), 2001, pp. 6124
A general method of constructing dissipative equations is developed, follow
ing Ehrenfest's idea of coarse graining. The approach resolves the major is
sue of discrete time coarse graining versus continuous time macroscopic equ
ations. Proof of the H theorem for macroscopic equations is given, several
examples supporting the construction are presented, and generalizations are
suggested.