Calendar
During the fall 2018 semester, the Computational Social Science (CSS) and the Computational Sciences and Informatics (CSI) Programs have merged their seminar/colloquium series where students, faculty and guest speakers present their latest research. These seminars are free and are open to the public. This series takes place on Fridays from 3-4:30 in Center for Social Complexity Suite which is located on the third floor of Research Hall.
If you would like to join the seminar mailing list please email Karen Underwood.
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
Andrew Crooks, Associate Professor
Computational Social Science
Department of Computational and Data Sciences
George Mason University
ABM for Simulating Spatial Systems: How are we doing?
Friday, September 22, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
While great advances in modeling have been made, one of the greatest challenges we face is that of understanding human behavior and how people perceive and behave in physical spaces. Can new sources of data (i.e. “big data”) be used to explore the connections between people and places?
In this presentation, I will review the current state of art of modeling geographical systems. I will highlight the challenges and opportunities through a series of examples that new data can be used to better understand and simulate how individuals behave within geographical systems.
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
Peter Revay, Ph.D. Candidate
Computational Social Science Program
Department of Computational and Data Sciences
George Mason University
Modeling the Co-Evolution of Culture, Signs and Network Structure: Theory and Applications
Friday, October 20,3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
ABSTRACT: I focus on the drivers of diffusion and adoption of cultural traits, such as values, beliefs, and behaviors. I adopt an evolutionary view of cultural dynamics. I use concepts from dual-inheritance theories of cultural evolution to develop and test an agent-based model capable of simulating the changing distributions of cultural traits in a large population of actors over the course of prolonged periods of time. Particularly, I pay close attention to the mechanisms of indirectly biased transmission of traits and guided variation, which are both hypothesized to be significant aspects of cultural dynamics. Indirectly biased transmission consists of the adoption of specific trait variants on the basis of possession of initially unrelated external markers. Guided variation is then individual adaptation driven by self-exploration.
Furthermore, I make use of large publicly available datasets to validate my models. The first one of these is the database of bill co-authorship in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 2008. The other is a comprehensive dataset of scientific co-authorship in various disciplines stretching back for over a century.
The results show that cultural evolution models based on indirectly biased transmission and guided variation are suitable to explaining the dynamics of various complex social networks.
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
Dale Brearcliffe, MAIS-CSS student
Computational Social Science Program
Department of Computational and Data Sciences
George Mason University
Parallelization of Entity-Based Models in Computational Social Science: A Hardware Perspective
Friday, October 27,3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
ABSTRACT: The use of simulations in exploring theories and hypotheses by social scientists is well documented. As computer systems have grown in capacity, so have interests by social scientists in executing larger simulations. Social scientists often approach their simulation design from the top down by selecting an Entity-Based Model (EBM) framework from those that are readily available, thus limiting modeling capability to the chosen framework. Ultimately, the framework is dependent upon what is at the bottom, the hardware that serves as the foundation of the computing system. One underused hardware architecture supports the simultaneous execution of a problem split into multiple pieces. Thus, the problem is solved faster in parallel. In this seminar, a selection of parallel hardware architectures is examined with a goal of providing support for EBMs. The hardware’s capability to support parallelization of EBMs is described and contrasted. A simple EBM is tested to illustrate these capabilities and implementation challenges specific to parallel hardware are explored.
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
Nathan M. Palmer, Ph.D. Candidate
Computational Social Science Program
Department of Computational and Data Sciences
George Mason University
A Simple Direct Estimate of Rule-of-Thumb Consumption using the Method of Simulated Quantiles and Cross Validation
Friday, November 3, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
Campbell and Mankiw (1989, 1990) famously demonstrated that aggregate data supported a model of household consumption in which roughly 50% of agents followed an optimizing strategy while the other 50% followed a “rule of thumb” strategy, consuming their current income. This paper revisits that hypothesis using structural, micro-level, semi-parametric estimation and formally selecting between different models of agent behavior. I find strong evidence supporting a generalization of Campbell and Mankiw (1989, 1990)’s original conclusion: roughly 50% of the population behaves in a way similar to “rule of thumb” consumers, even when the data is allowed to dictate how severe that rule of thumb behavior is. In addition, this paper demonstrates the usefulness and flexibility of both the Method of Simulated Quantiles and K-fold cross validation for selecting between of agent behavior. This type of model selection is crucial for creating agents to populate robust, richly-featured agent-based models of macroprudential and macro-financial systems.
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
Sally Evans, Coordinator
University Dissertation and Thesis Services
Fenwick Library
George Mason University
University Dissertation and Thesis Services:
Here to help you submit your thesis or Dissertation CORRECTLY and ON TIME
University Dissertation and Thesis Services understands that there are many steps in the process toward graduation and it is their goal is to make the process as clear, easy, and stress-free as possible. After Ms. Evans’ presentation, you will have an opportunity to ask questions
There will be no Computational Research and Applications Seminar on Monday, November 20.
Happy Thanksgiving!
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
Keith Waters, Ph.D. Candidate
Schar School of Public Policy and Government
George Mason University
Endogenous Region Formation
| I apply spatial attributes to the Endogenous Firm Formation model by Axtell (2016) to grow regions. Migration occurs as workers switch between firms located in different regions. Overall, regional growth and decline depend on the performance of the firms located in them. |
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
William B. Rouse, Ph.D.
Alexander Crombie Humphreys Chair
School of Systems and Enterprises
Stevens Institute of Technology
Computational Social Science at Several Levels
Friday, December 8, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
ABSTRACT: Computational social science can enable understanding – and design – of a wide variety of phenomena at an enormous range of levels. This lecture will address processes, organizations, ecosystems, and society for phenomena associated with disease and medicine, health and well being, and technology adoption, particularly in automobiles. The process level is addressed in terms of scaling and optimization of medical innovations. The level of organizations is considered in the context of health provider corporations’ responses to the Affordable Care Act. The ecosystem level is discussed in addressing population health – integrated delivery of health, education, and social services – in the highly fragmented US ecosystem. The society level is considered in terms of the expected disruptive impacts of driverless cars on automotive, insurance, and finance industries. Approaches to and challenges of modeling at these differing levels are discussed.
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE FRIDAY SEMINAR
Niloofar Jebelli, MAIS-CSS Student
George Mason University
Urban Development Through the Lens of Agent-Based Modeling
Friday, December 15, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
Abstract: Cities are ever changing and growing phenomenon with many underlying complexities. Through its life cycle, a city experiences various forms of dynamics. Models allow for a better understanding of such complexities and dynamics. The model presented in this talk simulates the dynamics of certain processes such as: an urban market, agent interactions in that market, urban growth, sprawl and shrinkage and gentrification. The purpose of this model is to understand the behavioral pattern of the agents and demonstrate the life cycle of a city based on individual agents’ actions. This model is significant in its integration of various subsystems creating a larger system while observing developers’ behavior. Specifically, the model explores some well-known issues, including the Smith’s rent-gap theory, Burgess’s concentric zones model of urban growth, and Alonso’s bid rent theory. The main results from the model show that the agents move to and reside in properties within their income range, with similar neighbors. This is one of the first models that provides a new lens to explore urban development.
