Model Of Human Action Research Articles

A computer model of human colonic electrical control activity (ECA).

Human colonic electrical control activity (ECA) was recorded from 17 subjects postoperatively by chronically implanted electrodes. The ECA pattern showed phase-unlocked control waves with variable frequencies and waxing and waning amplitudes. This was modeled by a tubular structure of bidirectionally coupled rings of bidirectionally coupled synthesized relaxation oscillators. The model explores the basis of the observed organization of ECA which is consistent with the colonic function of temporary storage of contents.

Structural Models of Retail Distribution: Analogies with Settlement and Urban Land-Use Theories

Many descriptions of the structure of retailing at both the regional and urban scale refer to concepts which have originally been formulated in connection with settlement and general land-use studies. This is epitomized in the extension of central place theory, and particularly the notion of the hierarchy, to distinguish structural size-orders in the relative importance of shopping centres. In addition, there is a strong similarity in the nature of those classifications which have been made about types of settlements, general land-use forms, and different retail configurations. While distinct similarities may be found in the methods of these studies, however, in certain important respects parallel lines of enquiry that might have been expected have not been undertaken. There has been little attempt, for example, to relate the locational characteristics of shopping centres to theoretical postulates about urban land-use patterns. This paper reviews the extent to which analogies have been drawn, and may subsequently be developed, between various conceptual models of general human occupance and tertiary activity. DESCRIPTION of retail patterns in recent years has been distinctive in three respects. First, it has been strongly associated with the quantitative movement and development of theory in the spatial sciences; secondly, it has been consistently related to the study of broader settlement and urban land-use patterns; thirdly, it has been mainly developed in the context of American cities and consumer shopping habits. These features are not difficult to understand. Retailing data are quite readily available in published or survey form, lending themselves to numerical measurement, and they can relatively easily be generalized in model terms. Likewise, because shops are widely distributed in rural and urban systems alike, a spatial equation of supply and demand is realized and common locational constraints identified for the centres providing retail goods and their areas of consumption. In the United States in particular, there has been active enquiry into the theory of retail patterns and, at the empirical level, tremendous changes in the retail system are seen to be taking place. The prevailing approach to retail description may be illustrated by the following examples. From studies of shopping facilities in urban areas, B. J. L. Berry was able to identify a hierarchy of retail centres which closely resembled the hierarchy of central places in rural areas, and then advance a general theory of tertiary activity to account for both (Berry, W. L. Garrison et al., 1959). In addition, in central place studies as a whole, scholars have long used retailing data as criteria by which the concept of centrality and a rank sequence of hierarchical orders for settlements may be defined (W. K. D. Davies, I966). In planning applications, the notion of a hierarchy has long provided a conceptual basis for the organization and control of shopping centres inside urban areas (W. Burns, 1959); more lately, in the greater attention to the theory of general interaction, future expansion of shopping facilities is predicted and allocated using sub-models of a gravity-potential kind

Computer Simulation of Competitive Market Response

This book presents a comprehensive behavioral theory of market interactions and proposes an approach to policy management based on the use of microanalytic computer simulation. The author describes how simulation-based computer systems can provide realistic artificial environments in which managers evaluate historical strategies and examine the implications of proposed future marketing programs under various assumed competitive conditions. Management use of microanalytic simulations to assess the appropriateness of alternative solutions for a wide range of consumer and industrial marketing problems is also discussed.While other books have presented simulations of limited aspects of the marketing environment, Computer Simulation of Competitive Market Response presents complete models of consumer, distributor, retailer, and salesman behavior. Validated representations of key action and response processes including purchase decisions, response to media and word-of-mouth communication, brand image formation, and trade acceptance of new products are described. While adopting a managerial perspective, the author develops an interdisciplinary approach to problem formulation, synthetic and analytic procedures, and hypotheses regarding human behavior and interactions. His carefully structured approach to the fundamental problem of developing, testing, and validating complex models of human actions and responses makes this volume both comprehensible and valuable to researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines.

Simulation of slow-wave electrical activity of small intestine.

Simulation of slow-wave electrical activity of small intestine.

Computer Simulation of Competitive Market Response

This book presents a comprehensive behavioral theory of market interactions and proposes an approach to policy management based on the use of microanalytic computer simulation. The author describes how simulation-based computer systems can provide realistic artificial environments in which managers evaluate historical strategies and examine the implications of proposed future marketing programs under various assumed competitive conditions. Management use of microanalytic simulations to assess the appropriateness of alternative solutions for a wide range of consumer and industrial marketing problems is also discussed.While other books have presented simulations of limited aspects of the marketing environment, Computer Simulation of Competitive Market Response presents complete models of consumer, distributor, retailer, and salesman behavior. Validated representations of key action and response processes including purchase decisions, response to media and word-of-mouth communication, brand image formation, and trade acceptance of new products are described. While adopting a managerial perspective, the author develops an interdisciplinary approach to problem formulation, synthetic and analytic procedures, and hypotheses regarding human behavior and interactions. His carefully structured approach to the fundamental problem of developing, testing, and validating complex models of human actions and responses makes this volume both comprehensible and valuable to researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines.

Computer Simulation of Competitive Market Response

This book presents a comprehensive behavioral theory of market interactions and proposes an approach to policy management based on the use of microanalytic computer simulation. The author describes how simulation-based computer systems can provide realistic artificial environments in which managers evaluate historical strategies and examine the implications of proposed future marketing programs under various assumed competitive conditions. Management use of microanalytic simulations to assess the appropriateness of alternative solutions for a wide range of consumer and industrial marketing problems is also discussed. While other books have presented simulations of limited aspects of the marketing environment, Computer Simulation of Competitive Market Response presents complete models of consumer, distributor, retailer, and salesman behavior. Validated representations of key action and response processes including purchase decisions, response to media and word-of-mouth communication, brand image formation, and trade acceptance of new products are described. While adopting a managerial perspective, the author develops an interdisciplinary approach to problem formulation, synthetic and analytic procedures, and hypotheses regarding human behavior and interactions. His carefully structured approach to the fundamental problem of developing, testing, and validating complex models of human actions and responses makes this volume both comprehensible and valuable to researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines.