Thank you.
Book Announcements
Note: The following book announcements have been incorporated into the
annotated syllabus of ACE-related readings linked to the ACE web site home
page. Links to publishers (for ordering purposes) can be found on the
journal and book announcements and information page linked to the ACE web
site home page.
- P. Cohendet, P. Llerena, H. Stahn, G. Umbhauer (eds.), The Economics
of Networks: Interactions and Behaviors, Springer-Verlag, 1998, 339 pp.,
$96.00 (hardcover). ISBN: 3-540-64699-X
- From the publisher: "This description of the economics of networks
considers them from various perspectives, such as classical approaches,
methods derived from physics, the theory of evolutionary games, and
experimental economics. These different views shed new light on the
behaviour and interaction of economic agents, on networks, and on related
phenomena: emergence of stable macro structures from micro interactions,
standardisation, diffusion, preservation of diversity, the role of
heterogeneity, local learning, surplus creation, and surplus allocation. The
book presents the state of the art and offers a unique opportunity to
understand specific networks phenomena through different theoretical and
experimental approaches."
- The editors are all at the University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg,
France.
- Reinhard Selten, Game Theory and Economic Behavior, Edward Elgar
Press, Two Volume Set, April 1999, 904 pp., $210.00 (hardback).
ISBN: 1-858-98872-1
- From the publisher: "In 1994, the Nobel Prize was awarded to
Reinhard Selten, John Nash and John Harsanyi, for pioneering analysis in game
theory. ... This outstanding two volume selection of Selten's work provides a
comprehensive overview of his contribution to game theory and economic
behavior. Topics include: axiomatic characterizations; learning; political
and social interaction; theories of oligopolistic competition; oligopoly
experiments; and bilateral and coalition bargaining. The two volumes also
contain a foreword by Alvin Roth, a detailed introduction to Selten's work by
Andreas Ortmann and a full bibliography of Selten's publications."
- Reinhard Selten is at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University,
Germany.
- Martin Shubik, Game Theory, Money, and the Price System: The Selected
Essays of Martin Shubik, Edward Elgar Press, Two Volume Set, May 1999,
1000 pp., $200.00 (hardback). ISBN: 1-858-98241-3
- From the publisher: "(This two volume set) spans some forty years of
work on strategic economic behavior. In particular, the book shows many
different properties of the price system reflecting efficiency, power, fair
division, and decentralization in a mass economy. This collection of essays
by Martin Shubik applies game theory methods to the basic study of both the
price system and money and financial systems, stressing the value of games
that can be both played and analyzed -- providing an important link between
theory and process and institutional studies."
- Martin Shubik is a Professor of Economics at Yale University.
- A new international book series on Multiagent Systems, Artificial
Societies, and Simulated Organizations has been established by Kluwer
Academic publishers. The editorial board members are Kathleen Carley, Yves
Demazeau, Ed Durfee, Les Gasser, Nigel Gilbert, Michael Huhns, Nick Jennings,
Victor Lesser, Katia Sycara, Gerhard Weiss, and Michael Woolridge.
- The series concentrates on computational models and theories of
collections of intelligent, autonomous agents (technical, natural, or both)
and the interactions that occur among them. Topics covered will include, for
example: cooperation and competition; coordination and collaboration;
negotiation, concensus development, and conflict detection and resolution.
The series will comprise textbooks, tutorials and state-of-the-art surveys,
anthologies of readings, and research and application-oriented methodologies.
- For more information, visit the series web site at
http://www7.in.tum.de/~weissg/MS-AS-SO.
- P. Ahrweiler and N. Gilbert (eds.), Computer Simulations in Science
and Technology Studies, Springer-Verlag, 1998, 244 pp., $78.00
(hardcover). ISBN: 3-540-64871-2
- From the publisher: "What is it about the structure and organisation
of science and technology that has led to the spectacularly successful growth
of knowledge during this century? This book answers this important and much
debated question in an innovative way, by using computer simulations. It is
among the first to apply the tools of simulation systematically to a specific
domain: science and technology studies. The first introductory section is
followed by three application areas: simulations of scientific discovery and
theory formation; evolutionary models of science and technology; and models
which explore the conditions and dependencies of scientific work."
- P. Ahrweiler is at the Universiry of Bielefeld, Germany, and N.
Gilbert is at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
- Paul Thagard, ed., Mind Readings, MIT Press, 1998,
360 pp., $20.00 (paper). ISBN: 0-262-70067-0
- From the publisher: "Mind Readings is a collection of
accessible readings of some of the most important topics in cognitive
science. ... The selections (are) all less than a decade old ...
The first eight chapters present approaches to cognitive science from the
perspective that thinking consists of computational procedures on mental
representations. The remaining five chapters discuss challenges to the
computational-representation understanding of mind."
Teaching Resources
Note: Pointers to the following materials have been incorporated into
the teaching resources page linked to the ACE web site home page.
- Ph.D. Course on Evolutionary Modelling of Technical Change and
Economic Dynamics
- A Ph.D. course on evolutionary modelling was held in Strasbourg
during October 12--15, 1998, led by Esben Andersen (IKE, Aalborg),
Giovanni Dosi (IIasa, Vienna), Patrick Llerena (BETA, Strasbourg),
Gerald Silverberg (MERIT, Maastricht), and Murat Yildizoglu (BETA,
Strasbourg). The course was arranged by the European Doctoral Training
Progamme on the Economics of Technological and Institutional Change.
Materials used for this course can be viewed at
http://www.business.auc.dk/evolution/courses/strasbourg98.html.
Software
Note: Pointers to the following materials have been incorporated into
the software page linked to the ACE web site home page.
- Agent-Based Computational Modelling of Keynesian Economies:
- Charlotte Brunn (Aalborg University, Denmark) has developed a
software program in object-oriented pascal (Borland Pascal 7.0) to study the
interaction of macro- and microeconomics in a Keynesian world where emphasis
is placed on the production circuit rather than on market clearing. Agents,
governed by simple decision rules, act on markets for consumption goods,
investment goods, labour, and financial assets. The role of credit is given
special attention, and the user is, among other things, allowed to turn on or
off the credit squeeze. The software program, along with a paper explaining
the program, are available for downloading (as zip files) from her home page
at
http://www.socsci.auc.dk/~cbruun.
- Discrete Dynamics Lab
- Andy Wuensche
(http://www.santafe.edu/~wuensch/)
at Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, has developed software tools
for researching discrete dynamical networks, including cellular automata and
random Boolean networks. These software tools are provided as free shareware
for personal non-commercial users for running on UNIX/XWindows/Sun, Linux/PC,
and DOS/PC platforms. For more information, including downloading
instructions, visit the Discrete Dynamics Lab web site at
http://www.ddlab.com.
Research Groups and Sites
Note: Pointers to the following research groups and sites have been
incorporated into the ACE-related research groups and sites page linked to
the ACE web site home page.
- Society for Computer Simulation (SCS) International
- From the SCS home page: "The SCS International is the principal
technical society devoted to the advancement of simulation and allied
computer arts in all fields. The purpose of the society is to facilitate
communication among professionals in the field of simulation. To this end,
the society organizes meetings of regional councils, sponsors and co-sponsors
national and international conferences, and publishes a monthly technical
journal, Simulation, as well as a quarterly journal, the Transactions
of the Society for Computer Simulation. Membership in the SCS is open to
all who are or have been professionally engaged in the field of simulation.
- For more information about the SCS, visit the SCS home page at
http://www.scs.org/.
- Agents Learning About Agents
- The Agents Learning About Agents web site at
http://jmvidal.ece.sc.edu/alaa/.
is dedicated to the study of what happens when agents (i.e., pro-active,
goal-driven, selfish, independent software/hardware constructs) start to
learn about each other, especially if they do so in order to gain a
competitive advantage over other agents. Resources available at this site
include pointers to classes, laboratories, and other web sites useful for
this topic area.
- The Business Information Dominance Website
- This web site, maintained by Cherney and Associates at
http://www.cherney-assoc.com/artificial_intelligence.htm,
provides resources on artificial intelligence and related fields from
an applied point of view specifically designed for a business audience.
- Networking Games
- The Networking Games site, maintained at Columbia University at
http://comet.ctr.columbia.edu/~nemo/games/,
provides pointers to resources focusing on the application of game theoretic
concepts to decentralized network resource control and management.
- Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition
- The Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition (CRCC) at Indiana
University, with web site at
http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/,
is an interdisciplinary center for research in cognitive science directed by
Douglas Hofstadter. CRCC research focuses mainly on emergent computational
models of creative analogical thinking and its subcognitive substrate --
namely, fluid concepts. The group also conducts research (mostly
non-computational) in a number of other areas of cognitive science, including
error-making, creative translation, scientific discovery, musical composition,
the comprehension and invention of jokes, the nature of sexist language and
default imagery, philosophy of mind, and foundations of artificial
intelligence.
- Cognition and Affect Project
- Aaron Sloman (School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham)
maintains a web site on a Cognition and Affect Project at
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~axs/cog_affect/COGAFF-PROJECT.html.
The objective of the project is to construct models of cognition and affect
(including motivation and emotions) working from requirements and design
ideas obtained by consideration of work in psychology, psychotherapy,
ethology, brain science, evolutionary biology, developmental biology,
artifical intelligence, artificial life, and related fields.
- The Java Tutorial: A Practical Guide for Programmers
- The Java Tutorial supported by Sun Microsystems, Inc., with web site
at
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/,
is organized into groups of basic and specialized lessons on various
subjects: for example, getting started with Java; writing applets; essential
Java classes; creating a GUI with JFC/Swing; custom networking; 2D graphics;
and Java Beans. Hundreds of full working examples are included in these
lessons.
Journal Announcements
Note: Pointers to the journals listed below can be found on the
journal and publisher information page linked to the ACE web site home page.
- Reminder: Special ACE Issues of Computational Economics and the
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control
- Papers on ACE-related topics are solicited for possible
inclusion in a special ACE issue of Computational Economics
and for a special ACE issue of the Journal of Economic Dynamics
and Control (Section A: Computational Methods in Economics and
Finance). Each submitted paper should address a clearly defined
issue of economic interest from an agent-based perspective. The
deadline for receipt of paper submissions is July 30, 1999; all
papers will be refereed. Two hard copies of each submitted paper
should be sent by July 30, 1999, to the guest editor: Leigh
Tesfatsion, Department of Economics, 260 Heady Hall, Iowa State
University, Ames, IA 50011-1070, U.S.A.
- Additional information about the two special ACE journal
issues, including detailed guidelines for paper submissions, can be
obtained at
http://www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/acespec.htm
- Volume 2, Issue 2 of the Journal JASSS
- Volume 2 (Issue 2) of the the peer-reviewed electronic Journal
of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS) has appeared and is
available at
http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS/.
Access is free. The purpose of the journal is to encourage the exploration
and understanding of social processes by means of computer simulation.
-
New Journal from NECSI
- The first issue of a new quarterly publication of the New England
Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) -- Emergence: A Journal of Complexity
Issues in Organizations and Management -- is due out in April. Published
by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, this journal will contain articles relating
complex systems, sense-making, psychology, philosophy, semiotics, and
cognitive science to the management of private and public organizations. The
intended readers of Emergence are managers, consultants, and academics
interested in the application of insights, metaphors and formal models from
the science of complex systems to day-to-day management and leadership
challenges.
- The first special issue of Emergence, planned for mid-1999,
will be devoted to a comprehensive review of books on complexity and
management. The editors are seeking to assemble the views of academics from
both organization studies and the science of complex systems, along with
those of prominent management practitioners and consultants. Anyone who
would be interested in writing a short book review (1000 words, book supplied
free of charge) should contact either Bill McKelvey at
mckelvey@anderson.ucla.edu or Steve Maguire at smaguire@management.mcgill.ca.
- Additional information regarding Emergence can be obtained at
http://emergence.org.
Subscription inquiries should be directed to journals@erlbaum.com, or
call 1-800-926-6579.
- European Journal of Economic and Social Systems
- The European Journal of Economic and Social Systems (EJESS),
founded in 1988 under the title International Review of Systems
Science, addresses complex or system approaches to problems in the areas
of economics, management, organization, and social science in general. Its
objective is to publish research relevant to evolutionary, self-organizing,
cognitive, or dynamic systems from fields such as economics (micro or macro),
management, sociology, polical science, and history. It encourages applied,
theoretical, experimental, and computational articles that address economics
and social science issues from this viewpoint.
- The Editor-in-Chief of EJESS is B. Paulré, Maison des
Sciences Économiques, Paris, France. Additional information about
EJESS can be obtained at
http://www.ed-phys.fr/docinfos/EJESS/OnlineEJESS.html.
Workshops and Meetings
Note: The following announcements have been incorporated into the
workshops and meetings page linked to the ACE web site home page.
- Swarm Summer Workshops at Utah State University
Note:Below is a shortened version of an announcement posted by Paul
Box (Department of Geography and Earth Resources, Utah State University,
Logan, Utah) to the swarm-modelling e-list on Friday, April 30, 1999.
- Utah State University is offering swarm workshops of three day's
length in its remote sensing/GIS teaching lab. The workshop is not intended
as a course on complex systems. Rather, it is a short course for those who
are interested in swarm, have already decided that it's what they need for
something they are doing, but need help in getting started with writing
programs and "thinking" swarm.
- The course will be based on the tutorials and sample applications
distributed with swarm, and will conclude with directed construction of a
model of the student's choice on the third day. Prices are contingent upon
number of participants. The anticipated costs per participant are as
follows: 5 participants -- $430; 10 participants -- $320; and 15 participants
-- $270. With less than 5 participants, the price per participant goes up
unreasonably. The lab does not have more than 15 seats.
- Workshops are proposed for three separate dates: June 3-5, June
17-19, and June 24-26, 1999. Workshops will be conducted on any of these
dates for which firm commitments are obtained from at least five
participants. Other dates will be considered if enough people ask for it and
scheduling permits. For more information, contact Dr. Paul Box (Telephone:
425 797-2546) or visit his web site at
http://www.nr.usu.edu/~sanduku.
- New Trends in Economic Theory
- The Latin American Conference on New Trends in Economic Theory will
be held at the Universidad Nacional del Sur in Blanca, Argentina, June 10-11,
1999. The main goal of this meeting is the discussion of recent developments
in the modeling of economic phenomena, with a particular emphasis on their
application to different topics in economic theory. These new tools come
mainly from two areas: Game Theory; and Complex Systems Theory. The models
constructed in the light of these approaches incorporate elements that are
left aside in standard models: for example, irreversibility; uncertainty;
conflict; cooperation; and disequilibrium. The deadline for paper submissions
is April 30, 1999.
- For more information, visit the conference web site at
http://server-int.uns.edu.ar/eco/instituto/conf.htm.
- Multiagent Systems, the Internet, and Applications
- A minitrack on Multiagent Systems, the Internet, and Applications
will be offered at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences to
be held January 4-7, 2000, at the Outrigger Wailea Resort, Wailea Maui,
Hawaii. The minitrack will be coordinated by Tim Finin, Anupam Joshi, Yannis
Labrou, and Yun Peng, all members of the Computer Science and Electrical
Engineering Department, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The
minitrack will focus on multiagent systems as they apply to the internet
infrastructure in general, and to networked computing, electronic commerce,
and internet-based applications in particular.
- For more information, visit the web site
http://www.cs.umbc.edu/hicss33mas.
- Workshop on Optimal Control, Dynamic Games, and Nonlinear Dynamics
- The Seventh Viennese Workshop on Optimal Control, Dynamic Games and
Nonlinear Dynamics: Theory and Applications in Economics and OR/MS (Operations
Research and Management Science) will be held in Vienna, May 24-26, 2000.
- The organizers for the conference are Gustav Feichtinger, Vienna
University of Technology, and Richard F. Hartl, University of Vienna. The
aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers interested in the
application of nonlinear methods in economics, operations research, and
management science. Topics of interest are optimal control theory, dynamic
programming, differential games, evolutionary games, learning, economic
modeling, chaos theory, complex systems and related fields. Theoretical
contributions to one of these fields which are relevant to problems from
economics or OR/MS are especially welcome, but applied modeling will also be
covered.
- Attendance will be limited. To participate, a registration form must
be submitted by May 15, 1999. Submissions of abstracts for paper
presentations must be submitted by August 31, 1999. For more information,
visit the workshop web site at
http://www.bwl.univie.ac.at/bwl/prod/EVENTS/ws2000.
Reminder: Items Requested for ACE News Notes and Complexity
Just a reminder that if you have any ACE-related news items, or
any information about ACE-related teaching materials, software, books,
journals, or conferences that you would like to have considered for inclusion
in the ACE news notes, and/or the Complexity-at-Large section of the John
Wiley journal Complexity, please email them to me (along with web site
information if available) at the following address:
tesfatsi@iastate.edu.
Copyright © 1999 Leigh Tesfatsion. All Rights Reserved.
tesfatsi@iastate.edu