Catastrophe Theory


Book Description

Catastrophe Theory was introduced in the 1960s by the renowned Fields Medal mathematician René Thom as a part of the general theory of local singularities. Since then it has found applications across many areas, including biology, economics, and chemical kinetics. By investigating the phenomena of bifurcation and chaos, Catastrophe Theory proved to




The Elements of a Nonlinear Theory of Economic Dynamics


Book Description

Elements of a Nonlinear Theory of Economic Dynamics provides both a framework and a survey of its needs. First, principle results and techniques of the theory relevant to applications in dynamic economics are discussed, then their application in view of older endogenous cycle theories are considered in a unified mathematical framework. Models incorporating the government budget constraint and the Goodwin model are analysed using the method of averaging and the centre manifold theory. The dynamic instability problem is solved by placing models in a nonlinear framework.




The Labor Market and Business Cycle Theories


Book Description

Interest in business cycles has had its 'ups and downs'. After a period of almost steady state growth and of economic tranquility, when the business cycle seemed to be obsolete, the turbulence of the 70s and 80s has contributedto a renewed interest in the topic. Important analytical and methodological innovations have also favored the present abundance of contributions. Four innovations are of particular importance: i. microfoundations ii. nonlinearities iii. stochastic variables iv. real aspects. Both Classical macroeconomics and new-Keynesian approaches seem to share these characteristics, which apply both to endogenous and exogenous explanations of the cycle. The distance separating the newer literature from its forebears seems vast. Previously, cycle theory was characterized by a macro approach and utilized nonlinearities either through piecewise 'linear models or with the aid of Classical theorems in the field of dynamic systems. To consider and to compare the old and the new literature on business cycles is one of the goals of this book. To narrow the distance separating them is another goal of this research. We do not try to bridge it, but rather to revisit the former tradition with new tools. Finally, a particular emphasis is put on the 'ceilings and floors' type of literature. One of us has written a D. Phil. thesis with Sir John Hicks, and both have worked with H. P. Minsky. Hicks, along with Goodwin, introdu. ced the concept of ceilings and floors into business cycle analysis, and Minsky made important contributions to the area.




Mathematics of Complexity and Dynamical Systems


Book Description

Mathematics of Complexity and Dynamical Systems is an authoritative reference to the basic tools and concepts of complexity, systems theory, and dynamical systems from the perspective of pure and applied mathematics. Complex systems are systems that comprise many interacting parts with the ability to generate a new quality of collective behavior through self-organization, e.g. the spontaneous formation of temporal, spatial or functional structures. These systems are often characterized by extreme sensitivity to initial conditions as well as emergent behavior that are not readily predictable or even completely deterministic. The more than 100 entries in this wide-ranging, single source work provide a comprehensive explication of the theory and applications of mathematical complexity, covering ergodic theory, fractals and multifractals, dynamical systems, perturbation theory, solitons, systems and control theory, and related topics. Mathematics of Complexity and Dynamical Systems is an essential reference for all those interested in mathematical complexity, from undergraduate and graduate students up through professional researchers.




Group Decision Making under Multiple Criteria


Book Description

This monograph is intended for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course of engineering and management science. as well as for persons in business. industry. military or in any field. who want an introductory and a capsule look into the methods of group decision making under multiple criteria. This is a sequel to our previous works entitled "Multiple Objective Decision Making--Methods and Applications (No. 164 of the Lecture Notes). and "Multiple Attribute Decision Making--Methods and Applications (No. 186 of the Lecture Notes). Moving from a single decision maker (the consideration of Lecture Notes 164 and 186) to a multiple decision maker setting introduces a great deal of complexity into the analysis. The problem is no longer the selection of the most preferred alternative among the nondominated solutions according to one individual's (single decision maker's) preference structure. The analysis is extended to account for the conflicts among different interest groups who have different objectives. goals. and so forth. Group decision making under multiple criteria includes such diverse and interconnected fields as preference analysis. utility theory. social choice theory. committee decision theory. theory of voting. game theory. expert evaluation analysis. aggregation of qualitative factors. economic equilibrium theory. etc; these are simplified and systematically classified for beginners. This work is to provide readers with a capsule look into the existing methods. their characteristics. and applicability in the complexity of group decision making.




Descriptive Theories of Bargaining


Book Description

The aim of this book is the presentation of two new descriptive theories for experimental bargaining games and a comparison with other descriptive and normative theories. To obtain data it was necessary to develop two sets of computer programs for computer controlled ex periments. Moreover, data obtained by other researchers, which are available to us will be included in this study. The use of laboratory experiments in economics was introduced by THURSTONE [1931] in the field of utility theory. CHAMBERLIN [1948] was the first person to establish an expe rimental market for the purpose of testing a theory. The first experiment on characteristic function games was done by KALISH, MILNOR, NASH, and NERING [1954]. Today the use of experiments in controlled laboratory settings has become widespread. Earlier, economists went into the field to observe phenomena as the behavior of individuals, corporations and nations in action, then they formulated theories to explain what they saw. But unlike natural scientists, economists have not been able to test their theories under controlled conditions. Now experimental economists are able to replicate their results. Replication is very proble matic for field studies, because rarely the same conditions can be established again. Moreover, experimenters are able to test theories for situations described by simplified models which are not observable in the real world.




Binary Functions and their Applications


Book Description

In this book binary functions and their representation by implicants or implicates are described. In particular minimal representations by prime implicants or prime implicates are given. Such representations generalize the minimal representations of the usual Boolean functions. It is shown that implicants (implicates) of discrete functions may be constructed with the help of implicants (implicates) of binary functions. One substantial application is the description of the reliability structure of technical systems, another is the use of binary respectively discrete functions to classify objects which are described by the grades of certain attributes. Finally a class of Boolean algebras of practical importance (set algebras, indicator algebras, algebras of classes of propositions) are considered. The elements of such algebras have representations which are strongly connected with the representations of binary functions.




The Capacity Aspect of Inventories


Book Description

Controlling the production in an industrial organisation is very complex. There are two different reasons for this complexity. On the one hand, complexity is due to the variety in range and in level of detail of the activities that playa role in such a control (think of manufacturing process development, capacity planning, coordinating the flow of material through the production process, releasing of workorders, and scheduling). On the other hand, the production process itself may be complex (many products, many stages, complex interrelationships between resources, and uncertainty in the availability of resources). To deal with the first cause for complexity, one creates different, but coordinated levels of control. At each of these levels a specific part of the control of the production process is accounted for (see Anthony [3]). To deal with the second cause for complexity, one groups manufacturing steps into so-called production units (see Bertrand [8]). Each production unit is responsible for a specific part of the production process. Of course, these production units have to be coordinated to ensure that the products are manufactured timely and efficiently. This activity will be referred to as material coordination (see Bertrand [8]).




Capacity Oriented Analysis and Design of Production Systems


Book Description

In production systems there are often capacity oriented performance objectives, like a desired total throughput, a desired average throughput time and average work in-process. Such performance objectives are expressed in "units of products" rather than in specific product types. This book presents a way of modeling and analyzing production systems so, that such capacity oriented performance criteria can be measured in a simple way. The model consists of three basic elements. 1. The product types in the system are aggregated. 2. The product flow is modeled as being continuous. 3. The machines in the model have a finite number of states. Each state has a phase-type sojourn distribution and an associated production speed. Transitions between the states are determined by an irreducible Markov transition matrix. In the book both the mathematical properties and the practical applicabilities of the model are investigated. The model is extensively analyzed for various layouts, like flow lines, assembly disassembly systems and networks where parallel machines share common buffers. Furthermore various ways of controlling the product flow in the model are investigated, such as Base Stock Control, Workload Control, control by finite buffers and control by the Reorder Point System. An approximation technique is developed for a quick estimation of performance measures like throughput and average work-in-process, for networks with layouts and control techniques like those above-mentioned.




Game Theoretical Foundations of Evolutionary Stability


Book Description

These Lecture Notes arose from discussions we had over a working paper written by the first author in fall 1987. We decided then to write a short paper about the basic structure of evolutionary stability and found ourselves ending up with a book manuscript. Parts of the material contained herein were presented in a seminar at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Vienna, as well as at a workshop on evolutionary game theory in Bielefeld. The final version of the manuscript has certainly benefitted from critical comments and suggestions by the participants of both the seminar and the workshop. Thanks are also due to S. Bomze-de Barba, R. Burger, G. Danninger, J. Hofbauer, R. Selten, K. Sigmund, G. Stiastny and F. Weising. The co-operation of W. Muller from Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, is gratefully acknowledged. Vienna, November 1988 Immanuel M. Bomze Benedikt M. Potscher III Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Strategies and payoffs 5 2. 1. A general setting for evolutionary game theory 6 2. 2. Mixed strategies and population games 8 2. 3. Finite number of strategies . . . . . 13 2. 4. Infinitely many (pure) strategies 15 2. 5. Structured populations: asymmetric contests and multitype games 17 2. 6. Additional remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3. Evolutionary stability 25 3. 1. Definition of evolutionary stability 25 3. 2. Evolutionary stability and solution concepts in classical game theory 30 3. 3. Conditions for evolutionary stability based on the normal cone 31 3. 4.