Syllabus

04.04.2006: Introduction and logistics

11.04.2006: Agent-based modeling

Required readings:

• Lars-Erik Cederman. Computational Models of Social Forms: Advancing Generative Process Theory. American Journal of Sociology, volume 110 (2005), pages 864–893.
• Lars-Erik Cederman and Luc Girardin. Exploring geopolitics with agent-based modeling. Prepared for presentation at University of Tokyo, September 24-25, 2005.

Recommended readings:

• Robert Axelrod. 2003. Advancing the Art of Simulation in the Social Sciences. Japanese Journal for Management Information System 12 (2):16-22.
• Robert Axelrod, and Leigh Tesfatsion. 2005. A Guide for Newcomers to Agent-Based Modeling in the Social Sciences. In Handbook of Computational Economics: Agent-Based Computational Economics , edited by K. L. Judd and L. Tesfatsion: North-Holland.

18.04.2006: Complexity theory (Prof. John Casti)

Required reading:

• John L. Casti, Would-be worlds: How simulation is changing the frontiers of science. John Wiley, 1997.

Recommended reading:

• Epstein and Axtell, Growing Artificial Societies, MIT Press, 1996

25.04.2006: Applications to economics (Dr. Casrten Murawski)

Mandatory reading material:

• Rama Cont, Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Herd Behavior and Aggregate Fluctuations in Financial Markets, Maroeconomic Dynamics 4 (2000), 170-196.
• Blake LeBaron, Building the Santa Fe Artificial Stock Market, Working Paper, Brandeis University, June 2002.
• Blake LeBaron, A Builder's Guide to Agent-Based Financial Markets , preprint of article published in Quantitative Finance 1 (2001), 254-261.
• W. Brian Arthur, John H. Holland, Blake LeBaron, Richard Palmer, and Paul Tayler, Asset Pricing under Endogenous Expectations in an Artificial Stock Market, December 1996 preprint. Final version published as pages 15-44 in The Economy as an Evolving Complex System, II, edited by W. Brian Arthur, Steven Durlauf, and David Lane, Vol. XXVII, SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Addison-Wesley, 1997.
• Blake LeBaron, W. Brian Arthur, and Richard Palmer, Time Series Properties of an Artificial Stock Market Model, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 23 (1999), 1487-1516.

02.05.2006: Tooling

Required readings:

• Nils B. Weidmann and Luc Girardin. GROWLab: A Toolbox for Social Simulation. 2006.
• Robert Tobias and Carole Hofmann. Evaluation of free Java-libraries for social-scientific agent based simulation. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation vol. 7, no. 1. 2004.
• North, M.J., N.T. Collier, and J.R. Vos. Experiences Creating Three Implementations of the Repast Agent Modeling Toolkit, ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, Vol. 16, Issue 1, pp. 1-25, ACM, New York, New York, USA (January 2006).

Recommended readings:

• Nick Collier. RePast: An Extensible Framework for Agent Simulation. 2002.
• Nicholson Collier and Thomas R. Howe. RePast 2.0: Major Changes and New Features. 2003
• Sean Luke, Claudio Cioffi-Revilla, Liviu Panait, and Keith Sullivan. MASON: A New Multi-Agent Simulation Toolkit. Proceedings of the 2004 SwarmFest Workshop. 2004.
• Michele Sonnessa. JAS: Java Agent-based Simulation library. An open framework for algorithm-intensive simulations. 2004.
• Michele Sonnessa. Modelling and simulation of complex systems. 2004.
• Matteo Richiardi, Roberto Leombruni, Nicole Saam and Michele Sonnessa. A Common Protocol for Agent-Based Social Simulation. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation vol. 9, no. 1. 2006.

09.05.2006: Applications to social networks I (Dr. Fredrik Liljeros)

Required readings:

• P. Dittrich, F. Liljeros, A. Soulier, and W. Banzhaf, Spontaneous group formation in the seceder model, Physical Review Letters 84 (14) 3205-3208 (2000).
• F. Liljeros,C. Edling, L.A.N. Amaral, H. E. Stanley, and Y. Åberg, The Web of Human Sexual Contacts Nature 411 (21) June 908-909 (2001)
• F. Liljeros, C. Edling and, L.A.N. Amaral Sexual Networks implications for the transmission of sexually transmitted infections Microbes and infection 5 June 189-196 (2003)
• P. Holme, C. Edling, and F. Liljeros Structure and Time-Evolution of the Internet Community pussokram.com forthcoming in Social Networks 2004

16.05.2006: Applications to social networks II (Dr. Gulyas Lazlo)

Required readings:

• László Gulyás: Discrete Choices on Networks, PhD Thesis (Chapter 6), Lorand Eotvos University, Budapest, 2005.
• Elenna R. Dugundji, Laszlo Gulyas: Socio-Dynamic Discrete Choice applied to Intercity Travel Demand, An Agent-Based Approach, Analytical Benchmark and Issues in Estimation, Forthcoming in Sociological Methods & Research. Presented at the Workshop on Modeling Urban Social Dynamics, University of Surrey, 2005.
• D. Watts and S. Strogatz. Collective dynamics of small world networks. Nature, 393:440--442, 1998.

Recommended readings:

• Elenna R. Dugundji, Laszlo Gulyas: Socio-dynamic Discrete Choice on Networks: Impacts of Agent Heterogeneity on Emergent Equilibrium Outcomes, The Agent 2004 Conference on:
  Social Dynamics: Interaction, Reflexivity and Emergence
• Duncan J. Watts: A simple model of global cascades on random networks, PNAS | April 30, 2002 | vol. 99 | no. 9 | 5766-5771
• M. E. J. Newman: The structure and function of complex networks, SIAM Review 45, 167-256 (2003)

23.05.2006: Competitive social systems (Prof. Bernardo Huberman)

Required readings:

• Bernardo A. Huberman and Lada A. Adamic, Information Dynamics in the Networked World, Eli Ben-Naim, Hans Frauenfelder, Zoltan Toroczkai, (Eds.), 'Complex Networks', Lecture Notes in Physics, Springer, 2003.
• Jure Leskovec, Lada A. Adamic and Bernardo A. Huberman, The Dynamics of Viral Marketing
• Scott Golder and Bernardo A. Huberman, The Structure of Collaborative Tagging Systems, Journal of Information Science, 2006.

30.05.2006: Applications to traffic and urban geography (Mr. Jeremy Hackney)

Required readings:

• UC Berkeley Center for Future Urban Transport, Adapting to Urban Form >>> The Nature of Gridlock Interactive Simulation. http://www.its.berkeley.edu/volvocenter/gridlock/
• Paul Waddell and Gudmundur F. Ulfarsson, Introduction to Urban Simulation: Design and Development of Operational Models. In Handbook in Transport, Volume 5: Transport Geography and Spatial Systems, Stopher, Button, Kingsley, Hensher eds. Pergamon Press, 2004, pages 203-236.
• Hollander, Y. (2006) The applicability of non-cooperative game theory in transport systems analysis. Paper presented at the 85th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 2006, Washington, D.C
• Marchal, F. and K. Nagel (2006), Modelling location choice of secondary activities with a social network of cooperative agents, Transportation Research Record 1935, 141-146.

Recommended readings:

• Arentze and Timmermans (2006), Social networks, social interactions and activity-travel behavior: a framework for micro-simulation. Paper presented at the 85th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 2006, Washington, D.C.
• Balmer, M., K.W. Axhausen and K. Nagel (Forthcoming) A demand generation framework for large scale micro-simulations, Transportation Research Record.

06.06.2006: Student presentations

13.06.2006: Applications to sociology (Prof. Michael Macy)

Required readings:

• Thomas Schelling, Micromotives and Macrobehavior, W W Norton & Co Ltd, 1978, Chapter 4.
• Elizabeth Bruch and Robert D. Mare, Neighborhood choice and neighborhood change, UCLA, California Center for Population Research, On-Line Working Paper Series (University of California, Los Angeles), Year 2005, Paper CCPR-013-05.

20.06.2006: Student presentations

27.06.2006: Student presentations

04.07.2006: Student presentations