Abstract for: An Extension of Loop Deactivation in the Behavioral Method

The behavioural method is an important technique for identifying the dominant feedback loops for a variable of interest. The core mechanism of this approach is that deactivating different loops influences the behaviour of the selected variable to various degrees. Through assessing the variance of the behaviour between the reference model and the modified model for all feedback loops, we are able to identify the loops which exert the most significant influence on the variable, i.e., the dominant loops. An important step in the behavioural method is to deactivate a loop by fixing its control variable or a unique edge. However, a drawback is where neither the control variable nor the unique edge is identified. This paper presents another loop deactivation method which is applicable when such circumstance happens. The new method deactivates a loop by modifying its unique consecutive two edges which are able to distinguish this loop from other loops. The long wave model is used to demonstrate the loop deactivation approach and compare the analysis result with other dominant loop identification methods.