[Jook /~ ¢ t~il.w,r

How general should General Systems Thinking be to be instructive and informative'? The ap. propriale level of generality and aggregation de, pends on the problems and phenomena of interest

The bot.~k invites the reader to a guided tour through the universe at all levels from micro to macro, q'he General Systems approach acts as a cornpreb.ensi'~e and synthetic perspective revealing the unity of the sciences. In this approach the world is viewed as a multilevel system that can be

:described in terms of systems science. It is quite -~understanda[',le that such a trip ()pens broad vistas, but that in the end the reader is left behind with a limited outlc~ok in face of the complexily and diversity of the world, because every description is an approximation only.

Chapter I is devoted to general ch~lrtlcteristic~' of systems and Chapter 2 to simple stable order systems i.e. atomic and molecular systems. Chapters 3 and 5 treat the universe as a physical system and a biosphere, respectively, Chapter 4 is concerned with steady state or morpho,~tatic sys- tems. Chapters 6 and 7 describe psychic syst~:ms in a General Systems setting, Concepts like equilibra- tion. stress, development, inerti;~ and defense are explained in Chapter 8. Psyehosoeial interaction. micro- and maerosocial systems are discussed in Chapters 9 through I I. A final chapter dealing with General Systems Theory as Philosophy pro- claims an existential science of possible relations.

For the interested layman who dislikes mathe- malical formulae but who wants a panoramic vi- sion over the universe and a brief survey of tile pertinenl disciplines from a verbal systems point of view. the book can be recommended, qhe scien- tific specialist, however, will probably find too little detailed and quantitative information to satist 3' his needs although it may serve as a global orientation to other fields aside from his own specialism. The book preseat,,i a valuable introduc- tion to verbal systems theory and its applications, but doesn't reveal the full pervasive integrating power of the formal and mat;hematicul systems approach. The absence of a bibliography ~ qu~te indispensable for further study - is regrettable. Only sparse foot-notes refer to the rich an~'t abun- dant literature of General Systems Theory Never- theless, the audacious endeavour of the ~ijthor to offer a helicopter view of the world is a6mirable,

H.A. REUI/ER Twente Universi O, of Technology

£nsche&; Netherlands

F.K. FOELL, J.S. BUEHRING. W.A. ~:UEH- RING. R.L. DENNIS, M,E. HANSON, L.A. HERVEY. A. HOLZL. K. ITO, R.L. KEENEY. J.P. PEERENBOOM, E. PONITZ. J. RICItTER and A. TOIFELHARDT

The Wisconsin-llASA Set of Ener/~,v/Environ- meat (WISE) Models for Regional Planning and Management: An even'Jew

IIASA, Laxenburg, 1981, 146 pages, $10.00

The present research report gives an overview of an IIASA research program that started in 1975 and had four basic aims:

analyze regional energy use and its relations to socioeconomic and technical variables,

- appraise methods for regional energy and environmental forecasting and planning.

- develop concepts and methods for energy/ environment management and policy design.

e^~ ~ine energy strategies for specific re- gions. Four case studies in USA, France, Austria and the German Democratic Republic have been com- pleted thus far.

The report is addressed to an audience of analysts, managers and planners. It provides infor- mation about a system of submodels and their interrelationships. Each submodel is described sep- arately with special attention to purpose, main structure, input and output requirements. Sample results are presented, in most cases from the Austrian application.

The model set requires the specification of number of scenarios with exogenou~ inputs to the submodels. The scenarios contain information about future conditions as for socioeconomic structure, lifestyle, technology and environment. Based on the scenario assumptions, four interre- lated components of the model system are used to study energy/environment impacts:

- socioecon,~mic activity mo(~els: population and macroeconomy;

- energy demand models: residential, produc- tion (industry. serv,ces and agriculture) and transportation energy use;

- energy supply models: analysis of primary energy use and interfuel competition;

- environmental models: regional and local im- I~,acts of energy system performance. Finally, a preference model is outlined for the

Ih,ok Retq¢,ws

overall appraisal of energy/environment systems. As can be understood from this brief outline of

the contents, the project has a very wide scope and far-reaching ambitions. The set of models operates mainly on an aggregate regional (in the case of Austria even national) scale. However, when pro- jecting transportation energy demand and when studying air pollution impacts, methods /'or allo- cating population and economic activities to urban areas are employed and aggregate urban settle- ment characteristics such as size (population. area) and density are used. The model system is in- tended to provide energy/environment informa- tion over a long time period (45 years in the Austrian case study).

Looking upon one submodel at a time. it is easy to criticize the 6meoretical level and to propose alternative approaches that would contain less of exogenously specified assumptions and more of internal behaviomal mechanisms and adjustments. In the Austrian case study, only the demographic model seems to be on the research frontier. In- stead of the demand-oriented national input-out- put model, either a long term national ccononfic equilibrium model or some muhiregional model- ling approach or a combination of these could be envisaged, incorporating e.g. price formation and energy-capital- htbour substitution.

Similarly. the residential eelergy demand model could be redesigned to endogenously compute the choice of heating technologies and tile level of energy conservation based on scenario information about energy prices, costs of available te,..'hnolo- gies, etc. As for the energy supply model, the two approaches mentioned in the report are less en- dogenous than modern dynamic energy system models (e.g. MESSAGE I1 at IIASA).

The strong bias towards simple and highly ex- ogenous submodels may be justified by the aim to construct a set of tools Ibat are applicable to widely different regions in terms of data availabil- ity. However, the approach places a strong burden on the nlodel user,, especially as regards con- sistency and imagination concerning beh~vioural response mechanisms. Past experiences froln en- ergy demand forecasts of tile type represented in the model system indicate the difficulties inherent in exogenous judgements.

Another remark should be made concerning the interrelations between submodels. In principle, the model scheme is totally top-down as far as the

four basic components are concerned. Some feed- back links are suggested in the introductory cln~,ptcr but they are not elaborated upon in the rest of the report, Thus Ihe model system can best be htbeled us completel3, demand driven (socioeconmr.ic dc- velc.pment- ,:nurgy demand--energy ~,upply-+ environnlenla! impacts). In particnhtr, the lack of mutual adjustments between energy denland inld supply in a long term context would seem difficuh to defend.

To shin tip; this report gives a good over'de,.*, of an ambitious and applications-oriented nlodcl study, l-lowevc~, the extensive need for e'~ogenous judgenlents and the lack ,.,q' endogenous adjust- nlenl and feedback nlechanisms do qtleMion tile model package as a reliable basis for a seemingly illusory richness of detailed icsults concerning the long term deveJopmenl of Ihe energy/en'.ironmenl system.

Lars LUNDQVIST Re,~earch Group for {h'han and Rt'girmal Pkmning

Rqetd ltt,~tttute qf "l"echnoh~,t~l" Stot'khoh~h Swe Jen

Simon FRENCH

Sequencing and Scheduling: An Introdnetion to the Mathematics of the Job-Sh*~p

Ellis Horwood, Chichester, [982, x .,L 245 pages

This book is a good int!roductory textbook to the theory of sequencing ;rod scheduling for both undergraduate and graduale students ;n mathe- matics, OR, engineering and economics, The choice of introductory textbooks in this field is very limited, and therefore this book deserves careful examination by teachers of scheduling theory.

Unlike other hooks (e.g. Ke:'l Baker's "'hltro- duction to Sequencing and ~;cheduling"), this hook is not organized according to the natural progres- sion from one machine to m,are machines and from flow-shops to job-shops. French's work tackles the scheduling problem from the viewpoil'~t of increasing complexity in solution methodology. After sorne introductory chapters, he devotes sep- arate chapters to specific meth,,,dologies such as cmlstruetion algorithms, dynamic programming, branch arad bound, integel programming. This is justified in a textbc~ok which is an introduction to