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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- This paper re-examines the economic development problem and establishes that organizational arrangements underlying resource use at the social, political, and ecological levels, not shortage of resources per se, or their inefficient employment, are responsible for creating conditions of underdevelopment and for the failure of the well-intentioned economic development efforts made in the past. Three levels of national organization are examined: the social level which is concerned with the production and distribution of income among various cross-sections of society; the political level where decisions are made to allocate resources to public welfare or to maintaining control over the public; and the ecological level where a resource mix is selected for use on the basis economic and technological considerations. The analysis is based on three separate formal system dynamics models of the resource allocation processes dealing with each of the three levels of national organization discussed above. Appropriate institutional arrangements for fostering sustained national growth are explored.
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- Systems Theory has developed without inner coordination.The General Theory has been general in the sense of trying to reach a global viewpoint from the perspectives of science and philosophy. But it has not perceived its structure as a whole. It has grown in complexity without integrating its parts.Systems Dynamics has expanded in relative isolation. It has developed into a closed methodology with fixed principles and structure. To a great extent it has been equated to the Forrester's methodology applied to industrial, urban and global systems.It would be valuable to place the Dynamic approach in a wider context. It is assumed here that in a General Systems methodological framework the same system can be considered from three different, but complementary, viewpoints: Static, Dynamic and Dialectic. It is also assumed that closeness and openess of systems are relative states and that analysis and synthesis should have analogous methodological weight.Systems Dynamics appears as a central node in a systemic methodology that should integrate different approaches and viewpoints into a coherent whole.
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- A mathematical model and digital computer simulation of the human renal filtration controls are herein developed. The purpose of the model is to provide a method of analysing renal filtration control hypotheses which cannot easily be tested in an animal or human. The method used in the construction of the model was system dynamics.We propose an original formulation for the numerous different variables, eg, Bowman capsule pressure, glomerular absorption, net filtration and other considered variables in the model.This model can simulate the dynamic functions of variables such as colloidal osmotic pressure, glomerular capillaries, tubular filter, along with other clinical determinants.The model simulates disparate situations, such as the effects of renal filtration variations of arterial pressure, concentration of plasma proteins...The results presented coincide with those of other authors.
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- In many of the United States, attempts to reform the funding of public education to reduce disparities among school districts have been disappointing. For this study of state aid-to-education in Connecticut, a system dynamics model of local district budgeting behavior was formulated, replicated seven times to represent all the school districts in Connecticut divided into seven clusters, and linked to a state-aid sector that dispenses aid according to the state's current guaranteed wealth formula. Simulations of a single cluster and the seven-cluster model suggest that the guaranteed wealth formula will not, by itself, narrow the gap in per-pupil expenditures in rich and poor districts, as intended. The study described is a relatively pure case of policy modeling designed not to confirm hypotheses but rather to draw inferences from puzzling sets of assumptions about state and local behavior. Reflecting on this case, we suggest six conditions that appear to indicate that a policy problem is ripe for the sort of contingent, inference-generating analysis illuminated by the Connecticut study. Some speculative methodological connections to cognitive science are also suggested."
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- After enduring years of criticism from prominent economists, many members of the system dynamics community have concluded that economists do not like system dynamics. This article argues that this conclusion is not entirely correct. The economics profession can be divided into two methodologically different camps: the mainstream or neoclassical economists and the institutional economists. Although neoclassical economists do not see system dynamics models as being scientific because they do not adhere to the tenents of logical empiricism, institutional economists construct models in a manner that is strikingly similar to the system dynamics method. Indeed, it is shown that system dynamics can be used to strengthen and extend the institutionalist paradigm in economics and thus has the potential to find a permanent home within the profession. The computer people took seriously the evidence that people are not maximizing-rational and decided to find out by empirical study how decisions are actually made. Thus they became, in a way, heirs of the institutionalist program ....Philosopher of Science Paul Diesing
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- We study the problem of the adequation of the market prices to some "production prices" with which an intersectorial equalization of the gain rate was obtained in an ideal capitalism of free competition. We criticize the treatment of this problem by Marx, Sweezy and Salama-Valier, by its static or aprioristic character. And we propose a system of dynamic regulation utilizing the intersectorial coefficients of an input-output table and supposing full mobility of the capital. The study of this system permits to conclude that the equilibrium values of the gain middle rate and of the production prices depend exclusively of the intersectorial coefficients of the directly or indirectly productive sectors. From this, we study the evolution of the market prices. of the production prices, of the capital organic composition, of the gain sectorial rates and of the gain middle rate from a modification of these coefficients in an equilibrium situation.
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- Sponsored by a Dutch Roman Catholic Foundation a System Dynamics computer simulation model has been developed to study the population dynamics of priests of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church. Few vocations since the second half of the sixties led to a disproportional 'going grey' of the priest population. This is manifested not only in the unbalanced age structure but also in a relatively high number of retirements.The model (see enclosed flow diagram) structures on the one hand the physical demographic processes and on the other embodies a theory based on observation of qualitative aspects of disaggregated priest, believer and non-believer populations. Church attendence figures for instance are used as a measure of vocation potential.The model is used to articulate the insights on the influence of policy alternatives on priest population in the coming 50 years or so.
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- The St. Radboud Hospital of the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands is sponsoring a System Dynamics computer simulation designed to study the hospital's textile (bed, catering, medical linen and uniforms etc.) circulation process.
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- Just-In-Time (JIT) production is the notion of producing the necessary products in the necessary quantities in the necessary time in every process of a factory and also among companies. It is not uncommon to find JIT used synonymously with "Kanban," which is the name for a specific inventory replenishment system developed by Toyota to accomplish JIT production. The Kanban system employs cards (kanbans) to signal both the need to deliver more parts and the need to produce more parts. A unique feature that distinguishes the kanban-based JIT system is its unique "pull" nature. The paper begins with a review of JIT production and the Kanban system. Then, using the structuring principles of System Dynamics, a simulation model of a kanban-based JIT production system is developed. The formulation effort begins with the "simple structure" of one production stage. By connecting a few of these "basic structures" and adding a market interface module, a complete multi-stage manufacturing system is developed later.To test the internal consistency of the model, several simulation experiments are conducted. The unifying theme in these experiments is the issue of flexibility: How well does the system adapt to changes. The simulations are thus designed to show, for different management policies, the behavior of the system in response to unexpected circumstances. The following cases are considered: normal response, changing the number of kanbans, a breakdown, small and large demand increases, bottlenecks, and capacity planning. Finally, the results of these simulations are used to point out some of the managerial trade-offs involved in JIT production.Although the major contribution is the conceptualization and formulation of the system dynamics model, the paper lays the groundwork for subsequent normative research in the field of operations management.
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- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1986
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 8be0def879466bb233ec7ae0e7a56898, a6ba3d432669bb4e7e5d1d631a535030, and 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8
- Description:
- The majority of women report that they have been victims of sexual harassment (Safran, 1976, Tangri, Burt & Johnson, 1982). Sexual harassment has been linked, both theoretically and empirically, to psychological and physiological stress, often accompanied by somatic symptoms such as headaches, nausea, and loss of concentration, as well as decreases in job performance and increased absenteeism and turnover. In addition, estimated losses in the federal government alone were in excess of $189 million over a two year period. This paper is one of the first to unify the past research and empirically consider sexual harassment in terms of its underlying mechanisms. It is also one of the first to examine the dynamics of the harasser and the organization in which the harassment occurred. Interactions between the victim, harasser, and organization sector are explored. Results indicate that longstanding organizational traditions of sexual harassment may make it difficult to eliminate harassment in the near future without a comprehensive group of policies concerned with eradicating sexual harassment.