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Full-Text Articles in Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering

Systems Social Seience: A Design Inquiry Approach For Stabilization And Reconstruction Of Social Systems, Barry G. Silverman Aug 2016

Systems Social Seience: A Design Inquiry Approach For Stabilization And Reconstruction Of Social Systems, Barry G. Silverman

Barry G Silverman

This paper explores novel approaches under the design inquiry paradigm that promise to help organizations better understand and solve socio-technical dilemmas. Design inquiry is contrasted with scientific inquiry (Section 1). Section 2 presents a meso-scale model of models methodology for design inquiry that synthesizes systems science, agent modeling and simulation, knowledge management architectures, and domain theories and knowledge. The goal is to focus computational science on exploring underlying mechanisms (white box modeling) and to support reflective theorizing and discourse to explain social dilemmas and potential resolutions. Section 3 then describes an evolving agent modeling and simulation testbed while Section 4 …


Rich Socio-Cognitive Agents For Immersive Training Environments: Case Of Nonkin Village, Barry G. Silverman, David Pietrocola, Ben Nye, Nathan Weyer, Oleg Osin, Dan Johnson, Ransom Weaver Aug 2016

Rich Socio-Cognitive Agents For Immersive Training Environments: Case Of Nonkin Village, Barry G. Silverman, David Pietrocola, Ben Nye, Nathan Weyer, Oleg Osin, Dan Johnson, Ransom Weaver

Barry G Silverman

Demand is on the rise for scientifically based human-behavior models that can be quickly customized and inserted into immersive training environments to recreate a given society or culture. At the same time, there are no readily available science model-driven environments for this purpose (see survey in Sect. 2). In researching how to overcome this obstacle, we have created rich (complex) socio-cognitive agents that include a large number of social science models (cognitive, sociologic, economic, political, etc) needed to enhance the realism of immersive, artificial agent societies. We describe current efforts to apply model-driven development concepts and how to permit other …


Holistically Evaluating Agent Based Social System Models, Gnana K. Bharathy, Barry G. Silverman Aug 2016

Holistically Evaluating Agent Based Social System Models, Gnana K. Bharathy, Barry G. Silverman

Barry G Silverman

The philosophical perspectives on model evaluation can be broadly classified into reductionist/logical positivist and relativist/holistic. In this paper, we outline some of our past efforts in, and challenges faced during, evaluating models of social systems with cognitively detailed agents. Owing to richness in the model, we argue that the holistic approach and consequent continuous improvement are essential to evaluating complex social system models such as these. A social system built primarily of cognitively detailed agents can provide multiple levels of correspondence, both at observable and abstract aggregated levels. Such a system can also pose several challenges, including large feature spaces, …


A Systems Approach To Healthcare: Agent-Based Modeling, Community Mental Health, And Population Well-Being, Barry G. Silverman, Nancy Hanrahan, Gnana K. Bharathy, Kim Gordon, Dan Johnson Aug 2016

A Systems Approach To Healthcare: Agent-Based Modeling, Community Mental Health, And Population Well-Being, Barry G. Silverman, Nancy Hanrahan, Gnana K. Bharathy, Kim Gordon, Dan Johnson

Barry G Silverman

Purpose Explore whether agent-based modeling and simulation can help healthcare administrators discover interventions that increase population wellness and quality of care while, simultaneously, decreasing costs. Since important dynamics often lie in the social determinants outside the health facilities that provide services, this study thus models the problem at three levels (individuals, organizations, and society). Methods The study explores the utility of translating an existing (prize winning) software for modeling complex societal systems and agent's daily life activities (like a Sim City style of software), into a desired decision support system. A case study tests if the 3 levels of system …


Social Learning And Adoption Of New Behavior In A Virtual Agent Society, Benjamin D. Nye, Barry G. Silverman Jul 2016

Social Learning And Adoption Of New Behavior In A Virtual Agent Society, Benjamin D. Nye, Barry G. Silverman

Barry G Silverman

Social learning and adoption of new behavior govern the rise of a variety of behaviors: from actions as mundane as dance steps to those as dangerous as new ways to make IED detonators. However, agents in immersive virtual environments lack the ability to realistically simulate the spread of new behavior. To address this gap, a cognitive model was designed that represents the well-known socio-cognitive factors of attention, social influence, and motivation that influence learning and the adoption of a new behavior. To explore the effectiveness of this model, simulations modeled the spread of two competing memes in Hamariyah, an archetypal …


Social Learning And Adoption Of New Behavior In A Virtual Agent Society, Benjamin D. Nye, Barry G. Silverman Jul 2016

Social Learning And Adoption Of New Behavior In A Virtual Agent Society, Benjamin D. Nye, Barry G. Silverman

Barry G Silverman

Social learning and adoption of new behavior govern the rise of a variety of behaviors: from actions as mundane as dance steps to those as dangerous as new ways to make IED detonators. However, agents in immersive virtual environments lack the ability to realistically simulate the spread of new behavior. To address this gap, a cognitive model was designed that represents the well-known socio-cognitive factors of attention, social influence, and motivation that influence learning and the adoption of a new behavior. To explore the effectiveness of this model, simulations modeled the spread of two competing memes in Hamariyah, an archetypal …