Level of biological organization linking cell level division and population level evolution

Adapted from Fig.1. and 2, from Ana V Diez Roux (2011) Complex Systems Thinking May Help Us Transcend Current Impasses in Health Disparities Research Am J Public Health 2011;101 1627-1634  http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/9/1627?etoc

Small Intestine example from Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology Special Issue 2016 From the century of the genome to the century of the organism: New theoretical approaches paper on organization. Compare with Bogdanov (click tag)

High altitude environments challenge the physiology of mammals mainly due to hypoxic conditions. As a response to this, many mammals show molecular adaptations e.g. by mutations in the genes encoding the hemoglobins. This can result in an increase O2 affinity (and thereby a leftshifted O2 dissociation curve) which will enhance the pulmonary loading of O2. However, the shift can also hamper the O2 unloading process to the metabolic tissue. To elucidate this trade-off between loading and unloading a numerical computer model was made in the program Insigt maker based on the organism, deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). The numerical solution was calculated by the Runge-Kutta method. A time step (dt) of 0.00001 was chosen, as the results were independent of dt at this value. This was tested by investigating the residual values of an interval of dt around 0.00001. The model showed how the trade-off is expressed at different altitudes and how the degree of advantages/disadvantages varies. Based on the model it can be suggested that the trade-off is beneficial, when the hypoxia is severe at high altitude. This is consistent with previously findings. 

 

This is a stock-flow consistent model, namely a modified version of the simplest (PC) model with money and boonds.

Godley/Lavoie (2006), chapter 4

(I had to change the equation for consumption demand. The disposable income now enters with a time lag of one period. Otherwise the model would be recursive and would not work in Insight Maker. Thanks to Gene for support.)

This is a stock-flow consistent model, namely the simplest (SIM) model with government money. I have added imports and exports and an exchange rate which has an influence on consumption demand via real disposable income and real foreign demand.

Godley/Lavoie (2006), chapter 3

(I had to change the equation for consumption demand. The disposable income now enters with a time lag of one period. Otherwise the model would be recursive and would not work in Insight Maker. Thanks to Gene for support.)

Regulación de la expresión en múltiples niveles de un gen hipotético de oxidoreductasa. Parametros; H2O2: moleculas iniciales de H2O2; Tasa Oxidativa: velocidad a la que la celula produce nuevo H2O2, Mutación TR1 y ProtS: Activa las mutaciones en estos genes (ver panel de información); miARN: activa la regulación por miARNs.

Components of behaviour organised into domains, from NIMH Research Domain Criteria website and BMC paper and 2013 series on current controversies in psychiatry.

Go to Gene Bellinger's insight version with video link This common archetype of systems that include relapse or recidivism allows exploration of the unintended effects of increasing upstream capacity and swamping downstream capacity. The increase in the relapse rate eventually returns to swamp upstream capacity as well. A social welfare example, based on a TANF case study, from How Small System Dynamics Models Can Help the Policy Process. N. Ghaffarzadegan, J. Lyneis, GP Richardson. System Dynamics Review 27,1 (2011) 22-44 abstract Conference version here

WIP based mostly on Jan Toporowski 2013 vol 1 and 2018 vol 2 books on Michal Kalecki: An Intellectual Biography  

Causal loop diagram summary of Sue Barrett's substack post How US-Style Politics Hijacked Australia - And How We Take It Back generated by my Gemini interaction Feb 2026 using Gene Bellinger's AI prompts 

Gemini AI interactions Jan2026 on community disorder and wellbeing using Gene Bellinger's prompts after discussion with Kurt Kreuger on Community networks (and network within a population ABM) See also social marketing and community wellbeing search insights

A shifting the burden structure occurs when there are different ways to address a situation. With one approach being easier, faster, and requiring fewer resources, which do you think gets pursued? The problem is that taking the easier path ensures one will have to take the easier path repeatedly, and makes it harder to pursue the long-term better solution. See also Archetypes.