A system of processes related by cause and effect Part I. The model?

This paper develops a mathematical model for a system composed of product producing processes. The system is divided into subsets of processes called cycles. In each cycle the processes are linearly ordered and related by a cause and effect relationship where a change in any one process propagates from process to process throughout the entire cycle. This cause and effect relationship is a structure on processes of a cycle which asserts that each process of the cycle performs a step in a sequence of steps that finally load to the main product for which the cycle is identified. It is shown here that this model exhibits many of the empirical properties we would expect. It obeys a conservation law. Also in its state of equilibrium reserves are unchanged and it is neither efficient nor inefficient. There are also additional empirically expected phenomena which it exhibits. With this model the system is also shown to be able to insulate itself from environmental stimuli which could be regarded as a state of sleep or hibernation. Clearly such a model has application to many disciplines including biology, economics and ecology.