Keynote Speakers
Dr. Barkley
Rosser
(James Madison University, USA)
Speech Title: Transdisciplinary
Perspective on Economic Complexity
Dr. Paul
Wang (Duke University, USA)
Speech Title: Mathematics of
Uncertainty and
Social Sciences research
Abstract:
It took four and half
decades for
Fuzzy Sets & Logic to be a part of mainstream
of some academic disciplines and its evolution process has been truly
colorful,
sometime unpredictable, sometime quite fascinating. One puzzling
question to be
asked has been, "why there was so much opposition to the growth and the
development
of this seemingly really needed theory, especially by invoking the
philosophy
of pragmatism?" This question, actually, can easily be answered by
studying
the history of mathematics and the history of philosophy.
It took the theory of probability & statistics no less than four
and half centuries
to become a mainstream in education & economics {job creations}.
The lesson
we learn from this study, however, is very significant indeed. By
invoking the Principia mathematica of
Bertrand Russell and
the works of several other great mathematicians and philosophers, it is
perhaps
prudent to say that the development of mathematics of uncertainty ,of
which
probability theory and possibility theory are only two important proven
examples!
In responding to the need of encouraging the further development of the
mathematics
of uncertainty, a group of more than one hundred researchers got
together to
establish an association named "Society of Mathematics of Uncertainty"
with a mission statement and hence lay ed out a strategic plan for
making some
contribution for our greater global society:
www.math-uncertainty.org
Dr. Akira
Namatame
(National Defense Academy, Japan)
Speech Title:
Agent-based
Modeling for the Study of Diffusion Dynamics
Abstract:
Diffusion is the process in which the
successful
introduction of new products and practices into society along with
invention.
Many studies of the diffusion of innovation exist, and exhibit some
commonalities such as the famous S-shaped diffusion curve. However, new ideas, products, and innovation
often take time to diffuse, and this fact is often attributed to some
form of
heterogeneity among people. Then a basic puzzle posed is why there is
often a
long lag between an innovationˇ¦s first appearance and the time when a
substantial number of people have adopted it. There exits some open
questions
on this phenomenon and the mechanisms that might give rise to it. The
diffusion process enhances an innovation via the feedback of
information about
its utility across different users that can be used to improve it. This
aspect
is similar to the micro-macro loop which is essential part of emergent
dynamics.
In this talk I discuss how micro-macro loop formed via
social
network impacts on the qualitative aspects of diffusion dynamics. The
diffusion
process enhances an innovation via the feedback of information about
its
utility across different users that can be used to improve it. This
aspect of
the diffusion process is characterized as the micro-macro loop.
Understanding
the nature of the relationship between different levels at which
macroscopic
phenomena can be observed has been made possible due to the tools and
insights
generated in the agent research. The direction of the research to come
is to
understand how the agent based modeling is essential for the study of
the
diffusion dynamics.
Keywords: contagion,
diffusion of innovations, tipping point, social netwoks, consensus,
synchronization