Thesis Outline

Thesis Outline

1 Introduction

1.1 Rationale

1.2 Research Questions

1.3 Outline of the Thesis

2 Background

2.1 Artificial Societies

2.1.1 Overview of Artificial Societies (review of literature)

2.1.2 Epstein & Axtell’s work

2.2 Modelling and Simulation

2.2.1 General concepts

2.2.2 DEVS

3 The XeriScape Model

3.1 Overview

3.2 Building Blocks

3.2.1 Cells

3.2.2 Agents

3.2.3 Rules

4 The XeriScape System (DEVS implementation)

4.1 Block model

4.2 Cells

4.3 Agents

4.4 Messages

4.5 Transducer and data gathering

4.6 Visualization

4.7 Experimental Frame

5 Experiments and Results

6 Future Directions

Appendix A – User’s Manual

Appendix B – Comparisons between XeriScape and Sugarscape