Agent-based models (ABMs) are simulation models that have been used to study complex systems in a wide range of academic fields including biology, computer science, environmental science, economics, geography, planning, and sociology among others. Agent-based models directly represent individual actors (agents, such as animals and plants in ecosystems, residents in cities, and cars in transportation networks), and simulate the interactions among agents and their environments, and the macroscopic patterns that emerge (patterns such as ecosystem structure, urban sprawl, and transport network congestion).
If you are interested in ABM models and want to learn how to develop your own model, please join us for a free series of ABM tutorials over the summer.
Time: Every Thursday at 1-2 p.m. (June 5 to August 7).
30 minutes for tutorial and 30 minutes for ABM discussions.
Location: TBD
Please contact Xiongbing Jin (x37jin [at] uwaterloo [dot] ca) if you are interested in joining or if you have any questions.
Topics: See the tentative schedule below
First two weeks: Java basics.
Week 1: Setting up the software, Java basics (variables, methods, conditionals and loops)
Week 2: Java basics II (objects, collections, classes and access control)
The remaining eight sessions: Repast Simphony (RS) tutorials
Week 3: RS I: context, agents, continuous space, display
Week 4: RS II: schedule agent actions
Week 5: RS III: charts
Week 6: RS IV: data collection
Week 7: RS V: other projections (grid, grid value layer)
Week 8: RS VI: other projections (network, GIS)
Week 9: RS VII: projection queries
Week 10: RS VIII: parameter sweep