Search results for " System Dynamics."

Green Data Centres integration in smart grids: New frontiers for ancillary service provision

2017

Abstract The paper presents a study, conceived within the GEYSER FP7 co-funded European research project, on the ancillary services that Green Data Centres (GDCs) can provide, focusing, in particular, on spinning reserve. More in detail, the main contribution of the paper is to show how GDCs can be involved in the secondary frequency regulation process of a smart distribution grid, for contrasting the disturbing effects of unexpected variation of the energy production. With this aim, a real data centre, owned by Engineering S.p.A., is simulated as connected to the Medium Voltage IEEE 14-bus test grid where some RES-based generators are supposed to exist. Simulations are carried out in order…

Designing dynamic performance management systems to foster SME competitiveness according to a sustainable development perspective: empirical evidence…

2015

The role of performance management (PM) systems has become crucial for steering small-medium enterprises (SMEs) to successfully compete during the ongoing critical economic transition. To improve decision-maker strategic learning processes, traditional PM frameworks need to be combined with system dynamics (SD) modelling. This paper shows how to design and use a dynamic performance management (DPM) approach to assess and support SMEs competitiveness according to a sustainable development perspective. The emerging framework is applied to a real case of an Italian small business to analyse the empirical effectiveness of the approach hereby suggested.

Supporting start-up business model design through system dynamics modelling

2017

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how system dynamics (SD) modelling can provide a methodological support to business model (BM) design with the intent to better communicate business strategy and manage performance. Design/methodology/approach After a literature review of the field and an analysis of the strengths and limitations of conventional BM frameworks, the paper illustrates and discusses an approach that combines such a framework with SD modelling. A single-case study design was selected to explore the implications and limitations of using this combined approach to business modelling. Findings The methodological support provided by SD to BM design may effectively impr…

Supporting Small Medium Enterprises planning through the use of a step-by-step System Dynamics model building process

2011

This paper aims to support small medium enterprises (SMEs) in business planning through the use of system dynamics models. In particular, it has been hypothesized that through the use of a step-by-step system dynamics model building process SMEs’ entrepreneurs can better understand the net of cause-and-effect relationships underlying company financial and non-financial results. Such an approach also enables decision makers to improve their understanding about the figures portrayed in a balance sheet. In order to reach such a goal, this study has been carried out through the use of a case-study. The small company investigated is a leather handcraft operating in Indonesia. The paper makes e…

A Dynamic Viewpoint to Design Performance Management Systems in Academic Institutions: Theory and Practice

2014

This article illustrates how to design and apply Performance Management systems in academic institutions by identifying and modeling those factors affecting academic performance through a dynamic performance management view. Particularly, combining performance management with System Dynamics modeling may allow academic decision-makers to better identify key performance drivers for pursuing a sustainable performance improvement in universities. In the second section of the article, a number of examples based on empirical findings from a field project aimed at designing a dynamic performance management model for the University of Palermo (Italy) are discussed.

Effects of complex movements on the brain as a result of increased decision-making

2019

Non-linearity is considered to be an essential property of complex systems. The associated high sensitivity of the result on the constraints leads to fundamental problems of a system description based on variables selected in the reductionist tradition. The attempt to compensate the problems by averaging data leads to the neglect of the individual and the moment. However, both is of enormous importance for effective therapy, training, and learning. The theory of differential learning suggests an alternative approach to dealing with these problems. With constantly changing complex whole-body movements, extensive decisions are demanded from the learner, which lead to brain states through an o…

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING STRATEGY: DESIGNING A DYNAMIC INTEGRATED MODEL FRAMEWORK FOR THE SICILY REGION

Over the past decades, Sicily Region has experienced periods of stagnation, recession and sporadic slow economic growth, lagging always behind the national performance. As a consequence of globalization and deregulation, the relevance of regions in national economies has changed considerably in the last decades. Recognizing the importance of the Sicily region in the development process at national level, the purpose of the research is to further explore the dynamics governing the behaviour of the regional economic system. The goal is achieved by the use of simulation modelling: a model framework for the regional economic system is designed by integrating the System Dynamics (SD) methodology…

The Effect of Retirement Behaviour on Retirees' Quality of Life

2010

A DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO FOSTER MUNICIPAL POLICE STRATEGIES IN PALERMO TO CONTAIN SPEEDING AND DRUNK DRIVING

Road related fatalities kill 1,25 million people every year around the world and rank as the ninth cause of death according to some recent statistics by the WHO. Actions to reduce this phenomenon have been taken, at different institutional levels, with promising results, particularly in western societies, where the magnitude of such occurrences has been almost halved in the last decade. Nevertheless the level of attention, with regard to road safety, will have to be kept high if a further reduction of this phenomenon is to be reached. Traditional road safety-related approaches mainly focus on prevention through the constant improvement of vehicles’ safety devices and the rationalization of …

A novel process-based model of microbial growth: self-inhibition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae aerobic fed-batch cultures

2015

Microbial population dynamics in bioreactors depend on both nutrients availability and changes in the growth environment. Research is still ongoing on the optimization of bioreactor yields focusing on the increase of the maximum achievable cell density. A new process-based model is proposed to describe the aerobic growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cultured on glucose as carbon and energy source. The model considers the main metabolic routes of glucose assimilation (fermentation to ethanol and respiration) and the occurrence of inhibition due to the accumulation of both ethanol and other self-produced toxic compounds in the medium. Model simulations reproduced data from classic and new expe…