Fourth International Symposium on AGENT-BASED MODELING and SIMULATION: Untapping the true potential of Agent-Based Modeling

Chairs: Stefania Bandini, Paolo Petta and Giuseppe Vizzari

at the 21th European Meeting on
Cybernetics and Systems Research
April 10 - 13, Vienna

Conference webpage

Submission deadline: December 9, 2011

Introduction

The notions of agents and multi-agent systems have been adopted for the modeling of complex systems in the most varied contexts: from social sciences to urban planning, biology, logistics and production, and many other more. Agent-based models and simulators are used for research as well as for business/industrial applications. However, the concepts behind the term ‘agent’ are often quite different, as well as the goals, phases and practices involved in modeling and simulation activities.
This leads to different approaches, models, mechanisms, methodologies and developed computational systems supporting simulation of the modeled realities.

The aim of this workshop, building on the experiences and results of the previous editions held in 2006, 2008 and 2010 is to bring together competencies related to agent-based modeling and simulation in different contexts, first of all to foster cross fertilization but also on one hand to understand what are the particular features of this kind of approach that made it so successful and widespread and, more important, to deeply explore the features that differentiate it from other computational approaches to the investigation of complex systems, like physical approaches and Cellular Automata. The theme for this year’s edition of the symposium is thus “Untapping the true potential of Agent-Based Modeling”:
the authors are invited to go in the details of the features of the agent-based approach that made them opt for it instead of different alternatives (e.g. the possibility to represent, analyze, exploit cognitive models for agents, to study or employ some psycho/socio/anthropological theory; to manage a high level of heterogeneity in the analyzed system; to define a comprehensive model of perception, action and interaction of autonomous entities situated in an environment).

Next to paper presentations, ample room will be available for discussions, taking advantage of the friendly setting provided by EMCSR.

Topics of Interest

We invite papers on all aspects relating to agent-based modeling and simulation, with particular attention to interdisciplinary experiences. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• actual MAS-based simulation experiences
• agent-based modeling methodologies
• generic or domain specific MAS models for simulation
• methodologies for the analysis of MAS-based simulation results
• multi-agent models for emergent phenomena and self-organization
• platforms for agent-based modeling and simulation
• relationships between MAS models and other computational models for the simulation of complex systems
• validation of MAS-based simulations

Authors are required to address the following issues

• goals and context of the simulation projects (explanatory or predictive, business or research context)
• the notions and types of agents, internal architectures and decision mechanisms used
• the notion of environment used, in which the agents are situated, and the related mechanisms of interaction
• clear-cut working definitions of the basic and emerging concepts employed, grounded in theory/the literature
• a crisp and scientifically valid characterisation of the research challenge identified or results obtained

Important dates

Deadline for submission: December 9, 2011
Notification of Acceptance/Rejection: January 20, 2012
Final Papers: February 17, 2012

Followup publication

As for the previous editions, we aim to publish a collection of extended versions of selected accepted and presented papers as a special issue of a renowned international journal.

Program Committee (confirmed, to be extended)

• Ana Bazzan - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil
• Sven Breuckner - Vector Research Center - USA
• Paul Davidsson - Malmö University - Sweden
• Jan Dijkstra - Eindhoven University of Technology - Netherlands
• Bruce Edmonds - Manchester Metropolitan University Business School - UK
• Giorgio Fagiolo - University of Verona - Italy
• Joseph Giampapa - Carnegie Mellon University - USA
• Nigel Gilbert - University of Surrey - UK
• László Gulyás - AITIA International Inc. - Hungary
• Xiaolin Hu - Georgia State University - USA
• Franziska Klügl - Örebro university - Sweden
• Michael North - Argonne National Laboratory - USA
• Andrea Omicini - University of Bologna - Italy
• Andreas Pyka - University of Augsburg - Germany
• Rosaldo Rossetti - University of Porto - Portugal
• Majid Sarvi - Monash University - Australia
• Andreas Schadschneider - University of Cologne - Germany
• Armin Seyfried - Jülich Supercomputing Centre - Germany
• Flavio Soares Correa da Silva - University of S. Paulo - Brazil
• Daniel Villatoro - Spanish Scientific Research Council - Spain