Modeling complex systems macroscopically: Case/agent-based modeling, synergetics, and the continuity equation

Authored by Rajeev Rajaram, Brian Castellani

DOI: 10.1002/cplx.21412

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: NetLogo

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~mdball/pareto_schelling_mobility.htm

Abstract

Recently, the continuity equation (also known as the advection equation) has been used to study stability properties of dynamical systems, where a linear transfer operator approach was used to examine the stability of a nonlinear equation both in continuous and discrete time (Vaidya and Mehta, IEEE Trans Autom Control 2008, 53, 307323; Rajaram et al., J Math Anal Appl 2010, 368, 144156). Our study, which conducts a series of simulations on residential patterns, demonstrates that this usage of the continuity equation can advance Haken's synergetic approach to modeling certain types of complex, self-organizing social systems macroscopically. The key to this advancement comes from employing a case-based approach that (1) treats complex systems as a set of cases and (2) treats cases as dynamical vsystems which, at the microscopic level, can be conceptualized as k dimensional row vectors; and, at the macroscopic level, as vectors with magnitude and direction, which can be modeled as population densities. Our case-based employment of the continuity equation has four benefits for agent-based and case-based modeling and, more broadly, the social scientific study of complex systems where transport or spatial mobility issues are of interest: it (1) links microscopic (agent-based) and macroscopic (structural) modeling; (2) transforms the dynamics of highly nonlinear vector fields into the linear motion of densities; (3) allows predictions to be made about future states of a complex system; and (4) mathematically formalizes the structural dynamics of these types of complex social systems.

Tags

Agent-based modeling case-based modeling complex social systems continuity equation macroscopic modeling synergetics