A Guide for Newcomers to Agent-Based Modeling in the Social Sciences

This guide provides pointers to introductory readings, software, and other materials to help newcomers become acquainted with agent-based modeling in the social sciences. Related work can be accessed at: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/ace.htmagent-based modeling; social sciences

Something Old or Something New?: Complexity Theory and Sociology

Does complexity theory offer novel theoretical and empirical insights into social processes or is it merely a repackaging of sociology’s central tenets? This question motivates the following theoretical overview and analysis in hopes to spur further inquiry into social complexity. Complexity theory posits that interaction between social agents produces emergent macro level patterns; a statement which is remarkably consistent with extant sociological theory. Following this line of inquiry, I provide a brief discussion of complexity theory, emphasizing the connection with sociological theory. I then attempt to clarify complexity theory by illustrating that it is neither a theory nor a method of research, but instead a meta-theory. In this light, complexity theory can illuminate certain underdeveloped aspects of sociological analysis, such as the importance of initial conditions and non-linear dynamics, enriching our understanding of the social phenomenon. The aim, therefore, of this paper is to spur sociological theorizing, far from equilibrium, at the edge of chaos and complexity

Machinic Eyes: New and Post-Digital Aesthetics, Surveillance, and Resistance

This work concerns the rise of the New Aesthetic, an art project developed by James Bridle in 2012. The New Aesthetic, as envisioned by Bridle, was chiefly concerned with the overlapping of physical and digital realities through both the artifacts produced by this overlapping and the systems involved therein. I introduce the advent of the New Aesthetic and present the major criticisms: the lack of a robust theoretical and scholarly framework, the lack of a historical framework, the privileging of artifacts over systems as new Aesthetic, and the fragmented scholarly outlook on the New Aesthetic. Upon further examination, I discovered that the New Aesthetic is less of an art project but a metaphor for a global surveillance apparatus that is the result of clandestine partnerships between multinational technology corporations and intelligence agencies associated the Five Eyes consortium. In this dissertation, I critique the New Aesthetic from a scholarly viewpoint, offer a historical precedent of how the New Aesthetic came to be from cultural and technological perspectives, examine the rise of the global surveillance apparatus within the New Aesthetic, and offer ideas of how to resist surveillance as a result of our reliance upon computational technologies

Live Sampling in Improvised Musical Performance: Three Approaches and a Discussion of Aesthetics

Three original software programs utilizing improvisation and live sampling are presented here, along with a discussion of aesthetic issues raised by each. They are entitled Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Musiker, Motet, and Gamepad Sampler. These programs vary in the degree of required interaction and in the kind of user control. They are each studies in imitative counterpoint through live sampling, with an approach seeking elegance before solutions. Because of the improvisational nature of these works, there is no standard musical score. Instead the complete Max/MSP source code and a sound recording of performances making use of these programs in varied situations are included. A discussion of issues raised by these works includes aesthetics, ontology, performance, and the role of the composer. Non-interactive indeterminate compositions are ontologically thin, because some composerly agency is required of the performer. An interactive work can be ontologically substantial if it makes distinct and significant contributions to performance, even though it may not make sound on its own. Although reproducibility reduces ontology and eliminates aura, live sampling within a performance can deepen the ontology of the performance by recontextualizing previous events, reframing the original event as the first reference to an abstract musical idea that lies outside the musical performance. Reproducibility also diminishes the aura or stage presence in live performance with computers. Complex feedback systems can be used to create computation instruments: musical instruments whose unique structure resonates in ways not explicit in their programs. As the human condition and the situation of the composer change, definitions of the composer and performer must be revised. Composition is shifting away from the creation of static artifacts toward the design of dynamic systems

Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural Systems

This work constructs and tests a comparative technique that can be used to determine the ability of agricultural systems to meet multiple objectives of sustainability. Assessments are based on an agricultural system\u27s ability to maintain five system stocks that represent environmental capital, social capital, human capital, physical capital, and financial capital. The capital stocks are measured as stock objectives, which are decomposed as indicators to calculate agricultural system scores. An examination of the complexity of agro-ecosystems and the multiple equilibria produced by balancing multiple objectives is used to explain the alternative criteria used in this comparative technique to evaluate agricultural systems. The indicators of each of the objectives of the five capitals in this comparative technique are assessed using multi-criteria decision-making. Based upon research and the advice of experts in the field, a survey instrument was developed that uses farming practices to evaluate indicators of the five system stocks. A sample of 23 Maine farms was used to test the survey instrument. Given the sample size of observations and nature of the data, no statistical tests were done for this work. However, the sample allows for preliminary evaluations of the ability of the comparative technique to assess distinctions between farming systems in balancing the multiple objectives of sustainability. From these results, it appears that both organic and conventional farming operations can be adept at balancing the many objectives of sustainability. These results also suggest that due to the scale of operations and marketing channels used by the farms surveyed, some conventional farming operations can meet a Pretty sustainability test better than some organic farming operations. The results from the surveyed farmers demonstrate the intricacies inherent in making the tradeoffs necessary to balance multiple objectives. Farming operations that tended to score well on system stocks such as environmental capital did not always score so well on other system stocks. Future work with a larger sample of farms could demonstrate whether or not the sample results of this pilot project are representative of a broader population

Faculty Publications and Creative Works 2004

Faculty Publications & Creative Works is an annual compendium of scholarly and creative activities of University of New Mexico faculty during the noted calendar year. Published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, it serves to illustrate the robust and active intellectual pursuits conducted by the faculty in support of teaching and research at UNM