Before revision:  This problem arises implicitly in many nonequilibrium statistical physics scenarios, e.g., when designing processes to implement some desired computations , feedback-control protocols, and Maxwellian demons.
After revision:  This problem arises in various scenarios in thermodynamics of computation and nonequilibrium statistical physics scenarios, e.g., when designing processes to implement some desired computations , feedback-control protocols, and Maxwellian demons.