Agent-Based Modeling (ABM)

Winter 2016

Psychology 120

Units

4

Prerequisite

Psychology, 1, 41, or permission of instructor
Some knowledge of computer programming is helpful,

Instructor: Jeff Schank

Email: jcschank@ucdavis.edu

Office: 268D Young Hall

Phone: 752-6332

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-2:00 PM and by appointment

TA: Kai-Yin Lin

Office:: Young Hall 189

Email: kyllin@ucdavis.edu

Phone::

Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-2:00 PM and Thursday 12:00-2:00 PM

Course Objectives: You will become familiar with the basic ideas, methods, and programming skill required for agent-based modeling. You will also learn how to apply these ideas and techniques to the study of social and biological systems.

When:

Lectures and Labs:  Tuesday and Thursday: 2:10 PM-4:00 PM

Where:

Lectures and Labs: 207 Wellman (lecture and first day) 188 (lecture and lab) Young Hall

Grading:

Attendance

Five percent of your grade will depend on showing up and participation. Here is how it works:

Lectures Missed Points Received

Days Missed        Points
0-2                5
3                  4
4                  3
5                  2
6                  1
7 or more          0

Assignments

On an approximately bi-weekly basis, assignments will be given to you that will be due the following week and sent by email to jcschank@ucdavis.edu and kyllin@ucdavis.edu. An Assignment can be redone for a higher grade providing it was originally turned in on time. All revised assignments must be turned in by the tenth week. Assignments can be done individually or you can work together, but each person must turn in their own assignment.

Please name your file with your own name.  If I turned in an assignment, the file name for the first assignment would be:

Schank Jeff Assignment 1.docx

Labs

The course is a mixture of Lectures and Labs. There will be several labs throughout the quarter to work on programming problems and how to use and analyze agent-based models, the number, length, and frequency will be determined by the overall pace of the course. I try not to let people fall behind. Labs can be done in group. If you decide to form group, the maximum size is 3 people. If you complete a lab as a group, turn in one lab report with all your names on it. All members of a lab group will receive the same grade.

Quizes

There will be three quizzes during the quarter that vary in type (i.e., some multiple choice, short answers, essays).

Final Project

Final project Template.

Course Grade

The total grade will consist of

Final Project (25%) + Assignments (20%) + Labs (25%) + Pop Quizzes (25%) + Attendance (0 to 5 Percentage points) = 100

CLASS SCHEDULE – Winter, 2016

Agent-Based Modeling (PSC 120 – Schank Instructor)

Lecture times – TTH, 2:10-4:00 PM)

1. Tuesday – Jan 5 – Organization and Introduction

Lecture Notes: Lecture 1

2. Thursday – Jan 7 –  Introduction to Java

Lecture Notes:

3. Tuesday – Jan 12 –  Introduction to Java

Lecture Notes:

Assignment 1

4. Thursday – Jan 14 –  Introduction to Java

Lecture Notes:

5. Tuesday – Jan 19 – Java Programming Lab

Assignment 2

6. Thursday – Jan 21 – Quiz 1

7. Tuesday – Jan 26 – Introduction to Mason and Java Programming

8. Thursday – Jan 28 – Introduction to Building an ABM in MASON

9. Tuesday – Feb 2 – Quiz 2, Lab on Building an ABM in MASON

Assignment 3

10. Thursday – Feb 4 –  Lab on Building an ABM in MASON

11. Tuesday – Feb 9 –  Lab on Building an ABM in MASON

12. Thursday – Feb 11 –  How to make agents that aggregate and flock

13. Tuesday – Feb 16 –  Quiz 3, Lab on aggregation and flocking

14. Thursday – Feb 18 –   Introduction to Human Mate Choice

15. Tuesday – Feb 23 –  Building ABM of Human Mate Choice

Assignment 4

16. Thursday – Feb 25 –  Quiz 4, Lab on Human Mate Choice

17. Tuesday – March 1–  Lab on Human Mate Choice

18. Thursday – March 3 –  Game Theory and Cooperation

19. Tuesday – March 8 –  Discuss and start work on Final Project

20. Thursday – March 10 –  Work on Final Project

21.  March 18 –  Final Project Due