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Intelligent problem-solving, whether by man or by machine, implies selective rather than just rapid behavior. Humans achieve this selectivity through heuristics--principles that, on the average, contribute to reduction of search in problem-solving. Heuristic programming is the construction of computer problem-solving programs whose behavior is similarly organized. This paper surveys the present and potential use of heuristic programming in management science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutions are systems for being what they are, and doing what they do. If the systems scientist finds that the system is, in fact, something no one wants, he should work towards changing that system. This paper, which was the Keynote Address to the CORS conference in May 1974, discusses the properties of real systems, and makes observations on how to change them. The paper lays down the challenge to OR practitioners to work towards making systems do what we want them to do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a heuristic procedure for balancing production assembly lines and a computer program for carrying out that procedure. This research was undertaken to investigate the application of complex information processing techniques (as used in producing the Chess Machine and Logic Theorist) to a typical industrial problem. The assembly line balancing problem is stated as: Given an assembly process made up of elemental tasks, each with a time required per unit of product and an ordering with other tasks, what is the least number of work stations needed to attain a desired production rate? The heuristic procedure for assembly line balancing consists of three phases: a) repeated simplification of the initial problem by grouping adjacent elemental tasks into compound tasks; b) solution of the simpler problems thus created by assigning tasks to work stations at the least complex level possible, breaking up the compound tasks into their elements only when necessary for a solution; c) smoothing the resulting balance by transferring tasks among work stations until the distribution of assigned time is as even as possible. The heuristics used in each phase are considered in some detail. Appropriate means for mechanizing such a procedure are discussed, and operating results of the program on actual problems are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective is to discuss the technique of digital system simulation. This procedure has already achieved a considerable stature in industrial and research organizations and promises to attain even greater importance in the future. Yet, with few exceptions (5), the published literature in the area consists of introductory expositions (10) or of descriptions of the solution of a particular problem (7) where the technique itself is correctly relegated to secondary position. The only publication devoted entirely to the topic (12) is a compendium of papers of the latter type with little attempt to summarize or generalize. Simulations are, of course, as varied as the systems which they represent but they do have certain common characteristics and problems. An identification of these problems would at least allow the investigator to anticipate them and plan accordingly. This paper consists of three sections. The first is an attempt to describe characteristics common to many system simulations; the second is a discussion of some problems involved in the construction of a digital simulator; and the third concerns problems that arise in the use of such a simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study proposes a simple method for obtaining a good feasible solution to the general integer programming problem. The choice of which variable should next be lowered from one zero depends upon the decrease in objective function per unit of infeasibility associated with each variable still at the plus-one level. The technique differs from the Senju-Toyoda method in three important ways. It begins with an all-zero solution vector and increments variables one at a time on the basis of the amount of objective function increase they would yield per unit of feasibility used, it places no restriction on the algebraic sign of any of the coefficients in the problem and it does not restrict decision variables to be binary.

This paper describes a procedure for selecting a starting basis for a class of large linear programming models. This class, a generalization of the transportation problem, is the product of a matrix generator described elsewhere. The procedure is joined to the matrix-generator process and uses structural criteria and implicit knowledge of the model being generated to assess the attractiveness of vectors for an optimal solution. Additionally, it allows the analyst to describe, through a set of multipliers, the general features of the expected optimal solution. The multipliers are employed heuristically in conjunction with the other criteria to select a set of vectors, both logical and structural, for submission to a standard mathematical programming computational system as a starting basis. Examples of applications of the basis selector and possible extensions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a cognitive system approach to methodology, with special emphasis on the system's with special emphasis on the system's hierarchical properties, and with the detail provided by various empirical works on response processes, simulation modeling of cognition, belief systems, and artificial intelligence, and then further elaborates it in commenting on a recent paper by G. Marwell and J. Hage. The approach taken here is thus also in accord with a strategy frequently argued by measurement theorists, e.g. D.A.S. Fraser, that a black box strategy should re discarded in favour of attempts at constructing more comprehensive models, J.L. Zinnes, that the distinction between measurement models and substantive theoretical models should be abolished, or P. Abeli, attempting to construe measurement within the fabric of social science theory and not merely as a methodological addendum, to take some recent examples. The cognitive structure or memory is, assumed to be an internal representation, a model, of the world, including the person himself and of course also the social structure of which he is a part.

The representation of physical and complex biological systems in terms of organismic supercategories was introduced in 1968 by Baianu and Marinescu in the attached paper which was published in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, edited by Nicolas Rashevsky. The different approaches to relational biology, developed by Rashevsky, Rosen and by Baianu et al.(1968,1969,1973,1974,1987,2004)were later discussed. The present paper is an attempt to outline an abstract unitary theory of systems. In the introduction some of the previous abstract representations of systems are discussed. Also a possible connection of abstract representations of systems with a general theory of measure is proposed. Then follow some necessary definitions and authors' proposals for an axiomatic theory of systems. Finally some concrete examples are analyzed in the light of the proposed theory. An abstract representation of biological systems from the standpoint of the theory of supercategories is presented. The relevance of such representations forG-relational biologies is suggested. In section A the basic concepts of our representation, that is class, system, supercategory and measure are introduced. Section B is concerned with the mathematical representation starting with some axioms and principles which are natural extensions of the current abstract representations in biology. Likewise, some extensions of the principle of adequate design are introduced in section C. Two theorems which present the connection between categories and supercategories are proved. Two other theorems concerning the dynamical behavior of biological and biophysical systems are derived on the basis of the previous considerations. Section D is devoted to a general study of oscillatory behavior in enzymic systems, some general quantitative relations being derived from our representation. Finally, the relevance of these results for a quantum theoretic approach to biology is discussed. http://www.springerlink.com/content/141l35843506596h/

New direction in Artificial Intelligence research have led to the need for certain novel features to be embedded in programming languages. This paper gives an overview of the nature of these features, and their implementation in four principal families of AI languages: SAIL; PLANNER/CONNIVER; QLISP/INTERLISP; AND POPLER/POP-2. The programming features described include: new data types and accessing mechanisms for stored expressions; more flexible control structures, including multiple processes and backtracking; pattern matching to allow comparison of data item with a template, and extraction of labeled subexpressions; and deductive mechanisms which allow the programming system to carry out certain activities including modifying the data base and deciding which subroutines to run next using only constraints and guidelines set up by the programmer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to point out the significant quantity of work in progress on techniques that will enable programmers to prove their programs correct. This work has included: investigations in the theory of program schemas or abstract programs; development of the art of the informal or manual proof of correctness; and development of mechanical or semi-mechanical approaches to proving correctness. At present, these mechanical approaches rely upon the availability of powerful theorem-provers, development of which is being actively pursued. All of these technical areas are here surveyed in detail, and recommendations are made concerning the direction of future research toward producing a semi mechanical program verifier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research utilizing computer models to study human cognitive and social processes is noteworthy because of its quality, quantity, and rate of growth. It has influenced both research methodology and the body of knowledge in the behavioral sciences. The close relationship between management and the behavioral sciences implies that such research will probably affect management thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on several books related to the field of clinical psychology. The book "The Insight Test," by Helen D. Sargent, introduces a verbal projective test and consists of a series of items or armatures presenting hypothetical social situations testing the ability of the subject to understand the motives of others. Some other books mentioned in the article are: "Drug Addiction Among Adolescents"; "Cybernetics," edited by Heinz von Foerster; "Patients Are People," by Minna Field; "The Child's Conception of Number," by Jean Piaget.

The representation of biological systems in terms of organismic supercategories, introduced in previous papers by Baianu et al. (Bull. Math. Biophysics,30, 625–636;31, 59–70) is further discussed. To state more clearly this representation some new definitions are introduced. Also, some necessary changes in axiomatics are made. The conclusion is reached that any organismic supercategory has at least one superpushout, and this expresses the fact that biological systems are multistable. This way a connection between some results of Rashevsky’s theory of organismic sets and our results becomes obvious.

The representation of biological systems by means of organismic supercategories, developed in previous papers, is further discussed. The different approaches to relational biology, developed by Rashevsky, Rosen and by Baianu and Marinescu, are compared with Qualitative Dynamics of Systems which was initiated by Henri Poincaré (1881). On the basis of this comparison some concrete results concerning dynamics of genetic system, development, fertilization, regeneration, analogies, and oncogenesis are derived.

The representation of biological systems by means of organismic supercategories, developed in previous papers, is further discussed. The different approaches to relational biology, developed by Rashevsky, Rosen and by Baianu and Marinescu, are compared with Qualitative Dynamics of Systems which was initiated by Henri Poincaré (1881). On the basis of this comparison some concrete results concerning dynamics of genetic system, development, fertilization, regeneration, analogies, and oncogenesis are derived.

The economic theory of optimal scale may be applied to service organizations with stochastic volumes, such as the data processing installation of a firm, as well as to production facilities with deterministic volumes. The objective of such analysis is to ascertain which systems are most flexible in processing wide ranges of volumes efficiently and to postulate a general shape for the cost function of similar facilities, if possible. The more flexible the data processing system, the better it is able to cope with fluctuations in transaction volume over time and the less the need for extensive pre-installation systems study. A simulation model of the job environment of three common EDP systems provides information on the shape of their cost functions in the neighborhood of optimality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the abstract of the paper titled "La Cybernétique et l'origine de l'information." It describes the main types of information machines, encoding methods, etc. and discusses past and future of cybernetics.

Teaching and research can be integrated using an artificial player. A series of studies are reported that note the assets and liabilities of using an on-line oligopoly game with an artificial player. By appropriately combining teaching and gaming research costs may be lowered, the learning experience increased, and the validity of the research increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the research on knowledge production and utilization and their relationships to one another. The development of a new realm of inquiry having significance for the field of education inevitably attracts the attention of educational researchers. Systematic inquiry into the nature and dynamics of knowledge production and utilization within the field of education appears to be in its infancy. The use of research to improve practice is frequently taken for granted without adequate knowledge of the actual relationship under which research can contribute to the improvement of practice.

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