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Subject: [cormas] Call for papers
From: Bousquet (bousquet@cirad.fr)
Date: Wed May 02 2007 - 11:21:08 CEST
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : News and discussion about computer simulation in the social sciences
> [mailto:SIMSOC@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] De la part de Itzhak Benenson
> Envoyé : mardi 1 mai 2007 22:00
> À : SIMSOC@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> Objet : [SIMSOC] Call for papers
>
> Call for Papers
>
> Ecological Complexity http://ees.elsevier.com/ecocom/ is pleased to
> announce a special issue on:
>
> Environmental micro-simulation: From data approximation to theory
> assessment
>
> Guest Editors
> Tal Svoray, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, tsvoray@bgu.ac.il
> Itzhak Benenson, Tel Aviv University, bennya@post.tau.ac.il
>
> Spatial micro-simulation has recently become a mainstream element in
> environmental studies. Essentially, different models, representing the
> same phenomena, are being extensively published and the “next step” sought
> is hypothesis testing, regarding the factors that determine system
> dynamics.
> However, the problem arises that assessment of environmental theories
> using spatial micro-simulation lacks a leading paradigm. While the Occam’s
> razor of positivism, which works perfectly in physics and chemistry,
> demands datasets covering the entire space of model parameters, the
> experimental abilities of environmentalists are limited and the data
> collected in the field represent only a small part of the always multi-
> dimensional parameter space. Consequently, any given model can be
> considered as merely approximating the few data sets available for
> verification and its theoretical validity is thus brought into question.
> To overcome this limitation, we propose to generate a virtual world that
> will allow hypothesis testing based on environmental theory. That is, we
> propose to implement micro-simulation models using high-resolution GIS
> database and use them as a surrogate for reality, instead of the limited
> empirical database. GIS enables a realistically looking virtual world to
> be generated that, unlike the real one, provides the parameters
> characteristic of every trajectory. The almost unlimited data that can be
> generated from such a virtual world can then be used to assess our ability
> to extract rules and dependencies, estimate parameters and, finally, make
> applicable forecasts.
> This special issue will focus on investigating models as representations
> of environmental theory with the help of a combination of real data and
> artificial worlds. We invite innovative research papers that employ
> different high-resolution models for generating virtual worlds, comparing
> them to each other, with the aim being to develop a better understanding
> of environmental theory. Examples can be studies of a model’s robustness,
> a comparative study of dynamic models, investigation of the limitations of
> data fitting methods and of a model’s sensitivity to changes in spatial
> and temporal resolution.
> Scope
> All sorts of micro-simulation, including cellular automata, agent-based
> systems, fuzzy systems, ANN and genetic algorithms, are welcome. The
> environmental systems of interest include, but are not limited, to:
> • Complex ecosystems
> • Landscape ecology
> • Terrain analysis and landscape evolution
> • Agriculture and pastoralism
> • Human-environment interaction
> • Land-use and land-cover changes
> • Urban dynamics
> Submission instructions
> Abstracts of 2 pages in length should be submitted to the Guest Editors by
> July 1, 2007. The review process of those abstracts considered to be the
> most relevant will continue and authors will be required to upload the
> full manuscript to the Ecological Complexity website by November 1, 2007.