A delay is defined by:
(a) the inflow rate,
(b) the delay constant,
(c) the outflow rate, and
(d) the order of the delay.
6.5.6 Smoothing of Information
Human beings do not totally discard previously held ideas, beliefs, thoughts, bias or
information when new information is received. Some more credibility is given to the
current information, while progressively less weight is devoted to the old information. In other words, humans try to smooth the information psychologically
(or intuitively).
Such smoothing is significant in decision making. Very often, a person takes a
decision, based on his beliefs instead of factual, recent information. Such beliefs
change slowly and gradually as more and more information is obtained.
Such psychological smoothing of information generates an accumulation (level)
of information in his mind. This level characterises the state of belief the person
forms in his mind.
There are three differences between a smoothed level and a pure level.
(1) A smoothed level is present on an information flow whereas a pure level exists
on a physical flow.
(2) A smoothed level obtains information from the variable being smoothed and
from the smoothing time constant, whereas a pure level must not collect any
information from anywhere. It can only accept flow rates which are physical in
nature.
(3) The third difference concerns the dimension of the level variable with respect to
the dimension of the input variable. The dimension of a pure level variable is
always equal to the product of the dimension of the flow variable associated with
this level and time. For example, inventory has a dimension ‘units’, and production rate, the inflow rate to the inventory, has a dimension ‘units/day’. In
contrast, a smoothed level has the same dimension as that of the variable being
smoothed. Thus, both average production rate and production rate have the same
dimension ‘units/day’.
The variable to be smoothed could be a level, a rate, or an auxiliary variable, or
another smoothed level. Such smoothed level variables are always present in information flow channels. Some examples of smoothed levels comprise average price,
average sales rate, average quality of product, average order rate, quality recognized
by customers, average capacity acquisition rate, average production rate, and
prevailing delivery delay in the market.
It can be demonstrated that smoothing is equivalent to delays. Both are exponential in nature and use time constants. The output rate of a delay is equivalent to the
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6 Infrastructure as a System
(a) the inflow rate,
(b) the delay constant,
(c) the outflow rate, and
(d) the order of the delay.
6.5.6 Smoothing of Information
Human beings do not totally discard previously held ideas, beliefs, thoughts, bias or
information when new information is received. Some more credibility is given to the
current information, while progressively less weight is devoted to the old information. In other words, humans try to smooth the information psychologically
(or intuitively).
Such smoothing is significant in decision making. Very often, a person takes a
decision, based on his beliefs instead of factual, recent information. Such beliefs
change slowly and gradually as more and more information is obtained.
Such psychological smoothing of information generates an accumulation (level)
of information in his mind. This level characterises the state of belief the person
forms in his mind.
There are three differences between a smoothed level and a pure level.
(1) A smoothed level is present on an information flow whereas a pure level exists
on a physical flow.
(2) A smoothed level obtains information from the variable being smoothed and
from the smoothing time constant, whereas a pure level must not collect any
information from anywhere. It can only accept flow rates which are physical in
nature.
(3) The third difference concerns the dimension of the level variable with respect to
the dimension of the input variable. The dimension of a pure level variable is
always equal to the product of the dimension of the flow variable associated with
this level and time. For example, inventory has a dimension ‘units’, and production rate, the inflow rate to the inventory, has a dimension ‘units/day’. In
contrast, a smoothed level has the same dimension as that of the variable being
smoothed. Thus, both average production rate and production rate have the same
dimension ‘units/day’.
The variable to be smoothed could be a level, a rate, or an auxiliary variable, or
another smoothed level. Such smoothed level variables are always present in information flow channels. Some examples of smoothed levels comprise average price,
average sales rate, average quality of product, average order rate, quality recognized
by customers, average capacity acquisition rate, average production rate, and
prevailing delivery delay in the market.
It can be demonstrated that smoothing is equivalent to delays. Both are exponential in nature and use time constants. The output rate of a delay is equivalent to the
180
6 Infrastructure as a System