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Agent-based modeling/simulation is an emergent approach to the analysis of social and economic systems. It provides a bottom-up experimental method to be applied to social sciences such as economics, management, sociology, and politics as well as some engineering fields dealing with social activities. This book includes selected papers presented at the Seventh International Workshop on Agent-Based Approaches in Economic and Social Complex Systems held in Osaka, Japan, in 2012.At the workshop, 24 reviewed full papers were presented, and of those, 17 were selected to be included in this volume. The papers are divided into two groups as'Fundamentals of Agent-Based Modeling'and'Applications of Agent-Based Modeling'.

This book explains how clinical guidelines might be used to define health care needs and basic benefits. It discusses certain technical issues of the model proposal, including the importance of considering both health outcome evidence and patient and public preferences.

Cet ouvrage résulte d'échanges sur l'environnement qui se sont tenus durant trois ans entre spécialistes des sciences de la vie, de la société, de l'information et de philosophie des sciences. Les points de vue sont multiples et les chercheurs sont amenés, au sein d'une interdisciplinarité élargie, à réfléchir ensemble à leurs pratiques, notamment de modélisation. Entre protocoles d'observation, traitements de données et constructions abstraites, quels outils choisir ou combiner?Cet ouvrage est destiné à un public de chercheurs, enseignants, étudiants et décideurs qui tentent de mieux prendre en compte la complexité des questions d'environnement dans la construction des modèles et les pratiques de modélisation.

Making Connections: Geography and Drug Addiction Geography involves making connections – connections in our world among people and places, cultures, human activities, and natural processes. It involves understa- ing the relationships and ‘connections'between seemingly disparate or unrelated ideas and between what is and what might be. Geography also involves connecting with people. When I rst encountered an extraordinarily vibrant, intelligent, and socially engaged scientist at a private d- ner several years ago, I was immediately captivated by the intensity of her passion to understand how and why people become addicted to drugs, and what could be done to treat or prevent drug addiction. Fortunately, she was willing to think beyond the bounds of her own discipline in her search for answers. Our conversation that evening, which began with her research on fundamental biochemical processes of drug addiction in the human body, evolved inevitably to an exploration of the ways in which research on the geographical context of drug addiction might contribute to the better understanding of etiology of addiction, its diffusion, its interaction with geographically variable environmental, social, and economic factors, and the strategies for its treatment and prevention. This fascinating woman, I soon learned, was Nora Volkow, the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse as well as the granddaughter of Leon Trotsky.