New Teaching Section Added to the ACE Web Site

Book Announcements

Note: The following book announcements have been incorporated into the syllabus of readings linked to the ACE Web site home page; links to publishers (for ordering purposes) can be found on the journals/publishers page linked to the ACE Web site home page.

• D. Fudenberg and D. K. Levine, The Theory of Learning In Games, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998, ISBN 0-262-06194-5.
  From the publisher: "In economics...the traditional explanation for when and why equilibrium arises is that it results from analysis and introspection by the players in a situation where the rules of the game, the rationality of the players, and the players' payoff functions are all common knowledge ... In The Theory of Learning in Games, Drew Fudenberg and David Levine develop an alternative explanation that equilibrium arises as the long-run outcome of a process in which less than fully rational players grope for optimality over time. The models they explore provide a foundation for equilibrium theory and suggest useful ways for economists to evaluate and modify traditional equilibrium concepts."

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  Richard J. Gaylord and Louis J. D'Andrea, Simulating Society: A Mathematica Toolkit for Modeling Socioeconomic Behavior, Springer-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 0-387-98532-8.

  From the foreward by Scott E. Page (University of Iowa): "This book describes how to create, with minimal, often beautiful Mathematica code, computer models of complex human interactions involving agents (people) who follow changeable heuristics -- rules of thumb -- in their day-to-day behavior. The topics addressed in this book -- movements, fads, norms, game playing, social networks, culture, and conformity -- span traditional social scientific boundaries." Richard J. Gaylord is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Louis J. D'Andrea is a Mathematica programmer for Wolfam Research.

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  A. Rubinstein, Modeling Bounded Rationality, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998, ISBN 0-262-681005.

  From the publisher: "In this book, Ariel Rubinstein...focuses on the challenges of modeling bounded rationality, rather than on substantial economic implications. In the first part of the book, the author considers the modeling of choice. ... In the second part, he discusses the fundamental difficulties of modeling bounded rationality in games. ... The final chapter includes a critique by Herbert Simon of the author's methodology and the author's response."

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  Nils J. Nilsson, Artificial Intelligence: A New Synthesis, Morgan Kauffman Publishers, San Francisco, CA, 1998, ISBN 1-55860-467-7.

  From the publisher: "Intelligent agents are employed as the central characters in this revolutionary new introductory text. Beginning with elementary reactive agents, Nilsson gradually increases their cognitive horsepower to illustrate the most important and lasting ideas in AI: neural networks, genetic programming, computer vision, heuristic searh, knowledge representation and reasoninig, Bayes networks, planning, and language understanding are each revealed through the growing capabilities of these agents. The book provides a refreshing and motivating new synthesis of the field by one of AI's master expositors and leading researchers."

  Nilsson is Kumagai Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, at Stanford University.

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  A. C. Fabian (ed.), Society, Science, and the Universe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1998, ISBN 0-521-57208-8.

  From the publisher: "Evolution is a fundamental process that cuts across boundaries of art and science and has beguiled thinkers for ages. This collection of articles about all aspects of evolution is a feast of challenging ideas, drawing together world-renowned thinkers and communicators with their own intriguing insights. This impressive cast of contributors takes on such questions as: Why and how do civilizations and societies change over time? Why do our cells develop the way they do? Why are some villages still villages while others have grown into vast cities? Can we learn from our evolutionary past to plan a better future for our health and society? Tracing the history of biological evolution, through the evolution of cultures, society, science and the universe, contributors such as Stephen Jay Gould, Freeman Dyson, and Martin Rees address these mysteries by considering parallels from all levels of life. From the evolution of the embryo to the evolution of a star, common threads emerge to tell a fascinating story with surprising implications."

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  Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998, ISBN 0-674-93046-0.

  From the publisher: Unto Others ... takes a novel evolutionary approach in explaining the ultimate psychological motives behind unselfish human behavior. Developing a theory of the proximate mechanisms that most likely evolved to motivate adaptive helping behavior, Sober and Wilson show how people and perhaps other species evolved the capacity to care for others as a goal in itself. A truly interdisciplinary work that blends biology, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology, this book will permanently change not just our view of selfless behavior but also our understanding of many issues in evolutionary biology and the social sciences."

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  Deborah Bennett, Randomness, Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA, 1998, ISBN 0-674-10745-4.

  From the publisher: "From the ancients' first readings of the innards of birds to your neighbor's last bout with the state lottery, people have put their futures in the hands of chance. In our modern world, probability is involved in life and death situations --- in the chance of a false negative in a medical test, in the reliability of DNA findings as legal evidence, in the likelihood of passing on a deadly disease --- yet few people understand the odds. This book explores our centuries-long struggle to learn about probability. A story of the misconceptions and difficulties civilization has overcome in progressing toward probabilistic thinking, Randomness is also a skillful account of what makes the science of probability so daunting in our own time."

Journal Announcements

Note: Pointers to the journals listed below (apart from Technology Review) have been incorporated into the journals/publishers page linked to the ACE Web site home page.

• Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS):
  The third issue of JASSS was published on June 30, 1998. JASSS is an electronic, inter-disciplinary journal for the exploration and understanding of social processes by means of computer simulation. The third issue of JASSS can be freely accessed at http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS/.

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  Social Networks:

  From the North-Holland promotions page: "Social Networks is an interdisciplinary and international quarterly. It provides a common forum for representatives of anthropology, sociology, history, social psychology, political science, human geography, biology, economics, and communications science and other disciplines who share an interest in the study of the structure of human relations and associations that may be expressed in network form. It publishes both theoretical and substantive papers. Critical reviews of major theoretical or methodological approaches using the notion of networks in the analysis of human behavior are also included, as are reviews of recent books dealing with social networks and social structure." Additional information about the journal can be found at http://www.elsevier.nl/inca/publications/store/5/0/5/5/9/6/505596.pub.htt

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  International Journal of Human-Computer Studies:

  From the Academic Press promotions page: "The International Journal of Human-Computer Studies publishes original research over the whole spectrum of work on both the theory and practice of human-computer interaction and the human-machine interface. The journal covers the boundaries between computing and artificial intelligence, psychology, linguistics, mathematics, engineering, and social organization." Additional information about the journal can be found at http://www.hbuk.co.uk/ap/journals/hc/.

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  Journal of Behavioral Decision Making:

  This John Wiley quarterly is a multidisciplinary journal that publishes original empirical reports, theoretical analyses, methodological contributions, and critical review papers. The journal also features book and software reviews and abstracts of important papers published elsewhere. The objective of the journal is to present and stimulate behavioral research on decision making and to provide a forum for the evaluation of complementary, contrasting, and conflicting perspectives. It includes experimental psychology, differential psychology, management science, sociology, political science, and behavioral economics. Additional information can be obtained at http://journals.wiley.com/wilcat-bin/ops/ID0607716/0894-3257/prod.

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  Journal of Risk and Uncertainty:

  The Journal of Risk and Uncertainty publishes original contributions, both theoretical and empirical, dealing with the analysis of risk-bearing behavior and decision making under uncertainty. An important aim of the journal is the encouragement of interdisciplinary communication and interaction between researchers in the areas of risk and uncertainty. The papers published in the journal are mainly drawn from the areas of decision theory, economics of uncertainty, risk and public policy, experimental economics, and psychological models of choice. Additional information can be obtained at http://www.wkap.nl/aims_scope.htm/0895-5646

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  Special Issue of the Journal of Computational Intelligence in Finance:

  From the special issue announcement: "The Journal of Computational Intelligence in Finance (JCIF) is recognized as the leading global technical publication in the collective fields of finance and advanced computational technologies. JCIF provides an independent forum for the exploration and application of computational intelligence (neural networks and other advanced technologies and techniques) to investing and trading in the financial markets. Of developing interest are applications in economics, banking, insurance, and other fields. The publication is oriented towards investors, traders, applied researchers, financial analysts, quantitative analysts, and others. The Editor-in-Chief is Randall B. Caldwell, Finance and Technology Publishing. ... Material for the following special topic(s) is being sought: Financial News Analysis Using Distributed Data Mining. ... All papers submitted must focus on the data mining of financial news and information, and on applications of interest to financial analysis or decision-making, investing or trading. Of particular interest are algorithms and techniques that both incorporate computational intelligence and are unique or especially relevant to financial tasks. Authors are invited to submit papers on the design of automated, scalable, distriuted knowledge discovery systems for financial information mining on the internet, to address issues related to searching, knowledge representation, reasoning, and learning."

  Papers submitted for review for the special issue are due September 15, 1998. Additional information about the special issue, including guidelines for paper submission, can be found at the special issue Web site at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ftpub/call.htm

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  Technology Review:

  Note: The following news item is an abbreviated version of an article appearing the New York Times (20 April 1998).

  "At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the management term `re-engineering' originated, the money-losing Technology Review has been re-engineered with a vengeance. ... The new editor, John M. Benditt, who joined Technology Review last September, has vowed that `nothing will be left of the old magazine except the name.' ... The new focus, said Mr. Benditt, 49, a former editor at Science magazine and Scientific American, will be on innovation and how it is done. Technology Review hopes to broaden its appeal, increase its circulation from 92,000 to 200,000 by the end of 1999, and attract new advertisers. About half of its current circulation is to M.I.T. alumni, and in its campaign to lure new readers the magazine is going after business executives in high-technology companies, venture capitalists, aspiring entrepreneurs and others. ... (It) will be competing more directly with successful magazines in the same field like Fast Company, Wired and the recently revamped Upside. ... `The process by which technology moves from basic research to application -- that's where our magazine will live or die,' Mr. Benditt explained. `Technology Review,' he added, `will concentrate on that process of innovation mainly in three fields: information technology; biomedicine and biotechnology; and material sciences and nanotechnology.'"

More ACE/CAS-Related Web Sites

Note: Pointers to the following Web sites have been incorporated into the "other ACE-related Web sites" page linked to the ACE Web site home page.

• The Graphic Imaging Source for Social Network Analysis:
  This Web site is a gateway to information on creating images of social networks. It permits researchers to explore pictures and videos depicting the patterning of social linkages among humans or other animals and to learn how to create such pictures or videos for themselves. The Web site can be accessed at http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~lin/gallery.html.

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  Internet Site for the Economics of Networks:

  This site, maintained by Nicholas Economides (New York University), provides a collection of information on economic issues of networks, such as the telephone and fax communications networks, the internet, financial exchange and credit card networks, and "virtual networks" such as the virtual network of all Windows or all Mac computers. The site can be accessed at http://raven.stern.nyu.edu/networks/

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  Learning Page:

  This site, maintained by Ramon Marimon (European University Institute), provides pointers to literature on learning in economics divided into eight main categories. The site can be accessed at http://www.iue.it/Personal/Marimon/rapage.htm.

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  The Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce Initiative:

  The Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce (AmEC) Initiative investigates how software agent technologies can expedite the electronic commerce revolution. Issues addressed include distributed component-based marketplaces, open and extensible languages and protocols for locating and defining goods and services, merchant differentiation, value-based product comparisons, buying decision aids, negotiation protocols, visualization of marketplace data and activities, and issues of trust, reputation, security, marketing, intermediaries, as well as the socioeconomic implications of next generation agent-mediated electronic commerce systems. More information about the AmEC Initiative can be obtained at the AmEC Web site at http://ecommerce.media.mit.edu/top.html.

Conference Information

Note: The following announcements have been incorporated into the conference page linked to the ACE Web site home page.

• North American Meetings of the Economic Science Association:
  The next North American Meetings of the Economic Science Association will be held October 15--18, 1998, in Tucson, Arizona, at the Westward Look Resort. As in past years, the emphasis of the conference will be on experimental economics. Abstracts for papers should be submitted by September 1, 1998. Additional conference information, including guidelines for paper submission, can be obtained at the conference Web site at http://www.econlab.arizona.edu/esa/.

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  The 1998 ASCEG International Meeting on Complex Data: Modelling and Analysis:

  The 1998 ASCEG International Meeting on Complex Data: Modelling and Analysis will take place at the Universit Catholique de Louvain, November 20, 1998. Topics will include the simulation of complex processes (non-linear, non-parametric,...), new approaches for data analysis, local and global optimization, forecasting, behavioral modelling, and numerical evaluation methods. Additional information can be obtained at the conference Web site at http://mkb.fin.ucl.ac.be/Acseg98.

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  Sixth International Conference on Computational Finance:

  The Sixth International Conference on Computational Finance (CF99) will be held at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business on January 7-8, 1999, with tutorials on January 6th. CF99 brings together decision-makers and strategists from the financial industries and academics from finance, statistics, economics, information systems and other disciplines. In the last few years, the conference has seen papers covering many different computational techniques including: statistical machine learning, Monte Carlo simulation, data mining, knowledge discovery, bootstrapping, genetic algorithms, nonparametric methods, information theory and fuzzy logic. Applications in many different areas are welcome, including but not limited to: risk management, asset allocation, dynamic trading and hedging strategies, forecasting, numerical solutions of derivative PDEs, exotic options and trading cost control. Further information can be obtained at the conference Web site at http://www.stern.nyu.edu/cf99/.

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  1999 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC'99):

  The 1999 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC'99) will incorporate a special track on Computational Economics and Finance. The conference will be held February 28 -- March 2, 1999, in San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A. Major topics of interest for the special track include: computation of equilibria in finite games; dynamic linear models; computable general equilibrium modelling; sectoral economics; stochastic simulation; modeling languages; and applications of artificial intelligence and neural networks. All submissions must be received by August 17, 1998. Additional information can be obtained at the conference Web site at http://www.ucy.ac.cy/ucy/cs/SAC99.html

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  Third International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents'99):

  The Third International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents'99) will be held Saturday May 1 - Wednesday May 5, 1999, in Seattle Washington. The aim of the Agents'99 conference is to bring together researchers and developers from industry and academia in order to report on the latest scientific and technical advances in autonomous agents research, discuss and debate the major issues, and showcase the latest systems. The conference welcomes submissions of original, high quality papers and videos with summaries concerning autonomous agents in a variety of embodiments and playing a variety of roles in their environments. Agents'99 will focus primarily on systems that have been or are being implemented; theory papers are welcome provided that they clearly relate to such systems, for example by helping us to predict their behaviour, explain, or understand them. Accepted papers will be formally published in a Conference Proceedings. In addition to technical presentations of papers and videos, the conference will include panel sessions involving internationally recognised experts in the field, software and robotic agent demonstrations, and an exhibits session. A limited number of student scholarships will be available. The conference will also include tutorials and workshops that will take place on May 1, 1999. More information about Agents'99 can be obtained at the conference Web site at http://www.cs.wasthington.edu/research/agents99.

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  International Congress on Computational Intelligence (CIMA'99):

  The International Congress on Computational Intelligence (CIMA'99) will be held June 22-25, 1999, at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York. CIMA'99 will feature symposia on the following four topics: (a) fuzzy logic; (b) advances in intelligent data analysis; (c) soft computing in biomedicine; and (d) soft computing in financial markets. Details about CIMA'99, including guidelines for paper submission and details on particular symposia, can be found at the CIMA'99 Web site at http://www.icsc.ab.ca/cima99.htm.

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  Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC99):

  The Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC99) will be held July 6-9, 1999, in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. CEC99 will be the first conference to bring together the entire evolutionary computation field in all of its diversity in a single event. CEC99 is a joint meeting of the IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation (ICEC), the Conference on Evolutionary Programming (EP), and Genetic Algorithms in Engineering Systems:Innovations and Applications (GALESIA), which are three of the broadest and most inclusive conferences in the field today. This event is sponsored by the IEEE Neural Networks Council, the Evolutionary Programming Society, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE); the Program Chairs are Zbyszek Michalewicz, Marc Schoenauer, Xin Yao, and Ali Zazala. CEC99 will provide an inclusive forum for the presentation of the most recent progress in all aspects of this burgeoning field while fostering communication and progress towards a better understanding of the issues facing evolutionary computation in all forms and applications. The tentative deadline for paper submissions is January 15, 1999. Additional information about CEC99 can be obtained at the CEC99 Web site at http://garage.cps.msu.edu/cec99/.

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  Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO99):

  The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO99) will be held July 14-17, 1999, in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A., with a preceding graduate student workshop on July 13, 1999. GECCO99 is a combined meeting of the Eighth International Conference on Genetic Algorithms and the Fourth Annual Genetic Programming Conference, in cooperation with the Parallel Problem Soviing from Nature (PPSN) Steering Committee and the International Conference on Evolvable Systems (ICES). The conference is sponsored by the International Society for Genetic Algorithms, Inc., and by Genetic Programming Conferences, Inc.; the General Chair of the conference is David Goldberg (University of Illinois). The conference will include a variety of admission-free tutorials in addition to technical paper presentations. The deadline for paper submissions is January 20, 1999. Additional information about GECCO99 can be obtained at the conference Web site at http://www-illigal.ge.uiuc.edu/gecco/

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  International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management:

  The International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM'99) will be held September 8--11, 1999, in Venice, Italy, and will be organized by STRATEMA, Laboratorio sulla Simulazione. The objective of CUPUM'99 is to provide an international forum to review and discuss the latest advancements in the use of computers in different sectors of urban planning and management. Additional information about CUPUM'99 can be obtained at the CUPUM'99 Web site at http://www.iuav.unive.it/stratema/cupum/.

Miscellaneous News Items

• Post-Doc and Ph.D. Positions:
  Announcement received July 7, 1998: "Three postdoc positions and two Ph.D. positions are available at the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Economics and Finance (CeNDEF) at the Department of Economics, University of Amsterdam. CeNDEF is a new research institute funded by a PIONIER grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. CeNDEF will start in the Fall of 1998. The main research themes include nonlinear dynamics and bounded rationality in economics and finance." Detailed information about all positions can be found at http://www.fee.uva.nl/cendef.

Reminder: News Items Requested for ACE News Notes and Complexity

Copyright © 1998 Leigh Tesfatsion. All Rights Reserved.