Jan 15

Class Agenda:

• Introductions
• Course Philosophy
• Part lecture
• Part workshop
• Student focused ==> student participation
• Course Objectives - The student will
• Learn concepts of complexity
• Learn several modeling and simulation tools for research into complex systems
• Select, design, and execute a research project using those tools
• Write and present a paper describing the research project
• History

Homework

• Read: Linked: 6 links by Friday, all by Monday
• By Friday download and install and test Starlogo

Jan 17

Business

• Meeting days/times
• Professor absence

Lecture

• History of ideas on Complexity (web of ideas)

Homework

• Finish reading Linked

Jan 20

Business

• Tuesday class day ? Times?
• Movies this week ...
• Wednesday: Information Networks, Jon Kleinberg, Cornell University
• Friday: Scaling, Geoff West, Los Alamos/SFI

Lecture

• Discussion of Linked
• StarLogo

Homework (by Jan 27)

• Read online StarLogo getting-started and tutorial
• Write a StarLogo program (not to be turned in) that displays self-organization and decentralized control
• Read all of Turtle, Termites, and Traffic Jams

Jan 27

Lecture

• Discussed videos
• Discussed genetic algorithms and John Holland

Jan 29

Lecture

• Discussed interpretation of power law
• Discussed Linked

Jan 31

Lecture

• Demo'ed ant foraging and critical thresholds
• Discussed various types of graphs used in modeling
• Random graphs (E-R graphs)
• Watts-Strogatz graphs
• Modified Watts-Strogatz graphs
• Preferential Attachment (B-A graphs)
• Preferential Attachment with fitness (B-A graphs)

Homework

• Start reading Emergence: the Connected Life's of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software

Feb 3

Lecture:

• Discussed Linked
• Discussed new resource links
• Mathematical relationships behind power law

Feb 5

Guest lecture by Prof. Albert-László Barabási ,

Prof. Albert-László Barabási, a pioneer in networking as a unified scientific theory and Emil Hofman Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame, has been nominated for a 2002 Wired Magazine Rave Award.

Created in 1999, the Rave Awards celebrate innovation and the individuals transforming commerce and culture and are presented in 13 categories that represent the most dynamic areas in art, entertainment, design, science, sports, business and politics.

Barabási was nominated in the author category for his book 'Linked: The Science of Networks.' Written for a general audience, the book describes how knowledge of common patterns of networks can illuminate many of life's most basic mysteries. Barabási and his research team have examined network patterns in all aspects of life, from the worldwide spread of AIDS, to social relationships among Hollywood film luminaries, to the al Queda terrorist organization. Among the other four nominees in the category is Stephen Wolfram, author of best seller 'A New Kind of Science.'

Feb 7

Lecture:

• Introduction to the Swarm package

Homework (due Feb 14):

• Finish reading Emergence: the Connected Life's of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
• Read jSimpleBug Tutorial
• Practice compiling the simulations from the tutorial either on your own installation of Swarm or the Swarm Simulation server, axon
• Program in Java/Swarm:
• Study the Heatbugs and jSimpleObserverBug3 programs
• Extend jSimpleObserverBug3 to include a probe similar to the one in Heatbugs that plots the number of bugs vs time.
• Deploy and test your simulation on axon (if you developed it on your own machine) We will test and grade your programs from axon.

Feb 10

Lecture (Part 1)

• Questions and answers on Swarm
• Video: John Holland

Feb 12

Lecture (Part 2)

• Questions and answers on Swarm
• Video: John Holland

Feb 14

Lecture

• Discussed Complexity and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
• Discussed John Holland videos and his book "Hidden Order"
• Discussed differences between Complex Systems and Complex Adaptive Systems

Homework (due Mon 2/17)

• Read "The Swarm Simulation System: A Toolkit for Building Multi-Agent Simulations" pdf  ps
• e-mail me a 1/2 page proposal for your course project

Feb 17

Lecture

• Discuss Swarm

Homework

• Read Preface, Chapter 1 & 2 in Small Worlds

Feb 19

Lecture

• Presentation by Tom Schoenharl on Swarm Intelligence
• Discuss Swarm

Feb 21

Lecture

• Presentation by Bren Mochocki on H-MAS: A Heterogeneous, Mobile, Ad-hoc Sensor-Network Simulation Environment

Homework

• Submit draft abstract for Swarm2003 conference
• Read papers for your abstract

Feb 24

Discuss Swarm - SimpleBug

Feb 26

Discuss abstracts

Feb 28

Discuss Swarm - SimpleObserver Swarm

Mar 3

Lecture:

• Discuss Swarm2003 abstracts
• Note the JavaSwarm HowTo page
• Comments on Swarm vs RePast
• Discussed TT&TJ

Homework

• Post comments to WebCT on each of the 4 books
• Read Atlantic Monthly article and view animations

Mar 5

Lecture:

• Discuss Emergence by S. Johnson

Homework:

• Read Chapters 1-4 in Small Worlds