The magic is not in a particular model but in the dynamics of platform competition.

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The essentials of the model, that system dynamics, in reacting to small changes in demand, have a huge detrimental impact on capacity levels, were introduced by Jay Forrester at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s.

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But in constructing the first atmospheric model that has the orbital dynamics of a star-planet-moon system fully included, astronomers Duncan Forgan, at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, and David Kipping, at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, turn that idea on its head.

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In a study published last year in Conservation Letters, a group of scientists led by Brian MacKenzie, of the Technical University of Denmark, describe how they ran a computer model of the bluefin tuna's population dynamics.

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The company therefore developed a complex model that took all the frequently changing dynamics of the cargo industry into account, as well as opportunities for different negotiation strategies based on supply and demand.

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In addition, they used a "population dynamics" model describing the mating patterns and breeding success of emperor penguins.

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