SIMULATION: Transactions of The Society for Modeling and Simulation International

Stoiber, Tom

doi: 10.1177/003754977001500301pmid: N/A

Brown, Donald

doi: 10.1177/003754977001500302pmid: N/A

Howe, Robert M.; Moran, Richard A.; Berge, Thomas D.

doi: 10.1177/003754977001500303pmid: N/A

Powner, E.T.; Hartley, M.G.; Heath, F.G.; Green, D.H.

doi: 10.1177/003754977001500304pmid: N/A

Hodgetts, Richard M.

doi: 10.1177/003754977001500305pmid: N/A

The great surge of enthusiasm and research in gaming during the sixties provided us with some of the most sophisticated general-management simulations ever. In the seventies we will undoubtedly witness even more interest in these games. However, the value of many of them is questionable because: (a) the time needed to memorize mechanistic rules is excessive and (b) the difficulty in interpreting feedback leads to an inability to draw cause-effect relationships. If these games are to be of real value we need more emphasis in game design upon giving the participants data that can be analyzed, cause-and-effect relationships that can be determined, and situations in which intelligent strategy can be devel oped. In short, less doing and more thinking.The concept of Key Equations as used in TOP MAN AGEMENT SIMULATION, a general management game developed at the University of Nebraska, may serve as a model for these games during the seventies.

Martin, Donald C.

doi: 10.1177/003754977001500306pmid: N/A

Hohl, Frank

doi: 10.1177/003754977001500307pmid: N/A

Computer models for isolated disk galaxies and for infi nite doubly periodic stellar systems are used to study the self-consistent motion of large numbers of interacting stars as they move in the plane of the galactic disk. The doubly periodic model is used to investigate the develop ment of the gravitational instability for a plane stellar system. The results obtained show that the initial con densations which form are about two Jeans lengths in diameter.An isolated, initially cold, balanced disk is found to be violently unstable. Adding a sciffcient amount of ve locity dispersion will stabilize all small-scale disturb ances. Most disks investigated are found to be unstable against slowly growing long wavelength modes, and after about two rotations the disks tend to assume a bar- shaped structure. It is also found that the final mass distribution for most disks can be closely approximated by an exponential variation irrespective of the initial mass distribution.