Re: [Swarm-Modelling] CFP: Evolutionary Computation and Multi-Agent Systems/Simulation Workshop

[vdperm]

Dear Prof. Stonedahl,

My name is Dr. Perminov. I live and work in Moscow, Russia. I and my group in 
Institute for Mathematical Modelling of Russian Academy of Sciences were 
studying the influenza epidemic spread in large cities. We have constructed an 
individual-based (or agent-based in other words) model for a simulation of the 
outbeak, its consequences and possible interventions. Results obtained for a 
small-scale model has been presented at different conferences. If you are 
interested in you can find the corresponding paper on the 
site:http://www.iemss.org/iemss2006,in the Proceedings, session 8. Main purpose 
of this work was to show a robustness of the model and a possibility to 
reproduce well-known peculiarities of the flu epidemic. Now the full-scale 
model is ready for simulation, we have got interesting results that concern a 
correct evaluation of the model parameters basing on available statistical data.

 Please answer me on two questions:

1. I am a leader of the group as a specially invited researcher on a voluntary 
basis and the Institute may not send me to any business trip. So, I would be 
ready to attend the conference on my own expenses and of course I would like to 
minimize them. Is the Organization Committee able to help me in this 
minimization "procedure" and give some financial support (for example by ticket 
or by waving the registration fee and by help to find a quite inexpensive 
accomodation)?

2. I have practically finished one interesting manuscript but corresponding  
paper is quite short - about 3-4 pages. Does the statement in the 
call-for-paper letter "less 8 pages" imply my case also?

Preliminary abstract:
It is well known that parameters evaluation for any mathematical model is 
always very important and often very difficult problem. It is especially true 
for agent-based models because as a rule the evaluation of an agent’s 
parameters can be made only basing on available information from higher levels 
of a complex system. As well known such problems can be ill-posed or even have 
a non-unique solution. That is why there is no any general receipt for solving 
these problems and a researcher has to search for it for any specific model 
type.
In this paper a problem of the evaluation of getting infected probabilities for 
different age groups during an influenza epidemic/pandemic in a city will be 
considered. For solving this problem a regularization procedure using so called 
illness attack rates for several age groups (cumulated numbers of infected 
residents as functions of time) is proposed and validated. It can be used for 
past epidemic to estimate an efficiency or inefficiency of undertaken 
interventions, to propose new ones and to reveal their advantages and 
shortcomings. It can be used also to model a possible dynamic of coming 
epidemic if one has got illness attack rates in age groups for other city where 
such an epidemic has already finished.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Valeriy D. Perminov

16.01.2012, 18:24, "Forrest Stonedahl" <address@hidden>:

>  Hi,
>
>  I'm co-chairing the ECoMASS 2012 workshop again this year, and I am
>  hoping to attract more papers from the multi-agent modeling community.
>   If your research involves any combination of evolutionary computation
>  and multi-agent systems/simulation, please consider submitting a
>  paper.  The official call-for-papers is below.
>
>  Thanks!
>
>  Forrest Stonedahl
>
>  ---------
>
>              - CALL FOR PAPERS - CALL FOR PAPERS -
>
>                     SIXTH ANNUAL WORKSHOP ON
>           Evolutionary Computation and Multi-Agent Systems
>                and Simulation Workshop (ECoMASS-2012)
>
>                      to be held as part of the
>
>   2012 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2012)
>                  July 7-11, Philadelphia, PA, USA
>                      Organized by ACM SIGEVO
>                  http://www.sigevo.org/gecco-2012
>
>     PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR WORKSHOP: March 28, 2012
>
>        Workshop URL: http://www.cscs.umich.edu/ecomass/
>
>  --------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Evolutionary computation (EC) and multi-agent systems and simulation
>  (MASS) both involve populations of agents. EC is a learning technique
>  by which a population of individual agents adapt according to the
>  selection pressures exerted by an environment; MASS seeks to
>  understand how to coordinate the actions of a population of (possibly
>  selfish) autonomous agents that share an environment so that some
>  outcome is achieved. Both EC and MASS have top-down and bottom-up
>  features. For example, some aspects of multi-agent system engineering
>  (e.g., mechanism design) are concerned with how top-down structure can
>  constrain or influence individual decisions. Similarly, most work in
>  EC is concerned with how to engineer selective pressures to drive the
>  evolution of individual behavior towards some desired goal. Multi-agent
>  simulation (also called agent-based modeling) addresses the bottom-up
>  issue of how collective behavior emerges from individual action.
>  Likewise, the study of evolutionary dynamics within EC (for example in
>  coevolution) often considers how population-level phenomena emerge from
>  individual-level interactions. Thus, at a high level, we may view EC and
>  MASS as examining and utilizing analogous processes. It is therefore
>  natural to consider how knowledge gained within EC may be relevant to
>  MASS, and vice versa; indeed, applications and techniques from one field
>  have often made use of technologies and algorithms from the other field.
>  Studying EC and MASS in combination is warranted and has the potential
>  to contribute to both fields.
>
>  The goal of this workshop is to facilitate the examination and
>  development of techniques at the intersection of evolutionary
>  computation and multi-agent systems and simulation.
>
>  The ECoMASS workshop welcomes original submissions in the theory and
>  practice on all aspects of Evolutionary Computation and Multi-Agent
>  Systems and Simulation, which include (but are not limited to) the
>  following topics and themes:
>
>  - Multi-agent systems and agent-based models utilizing evolutionary
>  computation
>  - Optimization of multi-agent systems and agent-based models using
>  evolutionary computation
>  - Evolutionary computation models which rely not on explicit fitness
>  functions but rather implicit fitness functions defined by the
>  relationship to other individuals / agents
>  - Applications utilizing MASS and EC in combination
>  - Biological agent-based models (usually called individual-based
>  models) involving evolution
>  - Evolution of cooperation and altruism
>  - Genotypic representation of the complex phenotypic strategies of MASS
>  - Evolutionary learning within MASS (including Baldwinian learning and
>  phenotypic plasticity)
>  - Emergence and feedbacks
>  - Open-ended strategy spaces and evolution
>  - Adaptive individuals within evolving populations
>
>  *Paper Submission
>  Each accepted paper will be presented orally at the workshop and
>  distributed in the workshop proceedings to all GECCO attendees. Authors
>  should follow the format of the GECCO manuscript style; refer to
>  http://www.sigevo.org/gecco-2012/ for details. Manuscripts should not
>  exceed 8 pages. Papers should be submitted by 28 March, 2012 in
>  PostScript or PDF format to: address@hidden
>
>  *Important Dates
>  Paper submission deadline: 28 March, 2012
>  Notification of acceptance: April 9, 2012
>  Camera-Ready Accepted Papers Due: April 16, 2012
>
>  *Workshop Chairs
>  Forrest Stonedahl, Centre College
>  Rick Riolo, University of Michigan
>
>  GECCO is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery Special
>  Interest Group on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (SIGEVO). SIG
>  Services: 2 Penn Plaza, Suite 701, New York, NY, 10121, USA,
>  1-800-342-6626 (USA and Canada) or +212-626-0500 (Global).
>
>  --
>  Forrest Stonedahl (address@hidden)
>  Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics
>  Centre College (http://www.centre.edu/)
>
>  Website: http://forrest.stonedahl.com/
>
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