Schelling’s social segregation model has been extensively used for human behavior analysis and studied over the years. A major implication of the model is that individual preferences of similarity lead to a collective segregation behavior. Schelling used Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) with uni-dimensional agents. In reality, people are multidimensional. This raises the question of whether multi-dimensionality can boost stability or reduce segregation in society.
In today’s rapidly changing technological scenario, tech giants revise their strategic alignment every couple of years. As a result, their workforce has to be adapted to the organization’s strategy. Members of the workforce who are neither relevant to the strategic alignment, nor can be made relevant by reskilling, have to be either outplaced (i.e. placed in an another job within organization) or separated from the organization. In geographies like Europe, where the cost of separation is very high, it becomes very important to make the right decision for each employee. In this paper, we describe a simulation based methodology to find the probability and time of outplacement of an employee. These numbers are inputs to a global problem of making the optimal decision for the entire workforce.
The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals call for the end of poverty and the equitable provision of healthcare. These goals are often at odds, however: health seeking can lead to catastrophic spending, an outcome for which cancer patients and the poor in resource-limited settings are at particularly high risk. How various health policies affect the additional aims of financial wellbeing and equity is poorly understood. This paper evaluates the health, financial, and equity impacts of governmental and charitable policies for surgical oncology in a resource-limited setting. Three charitable platforms for surgical oncology delivery in Uganda were compared to six governmental policies aimed at improving healthcare access. An extended cost-effectiveness analysis using an agent-based simulation model examined the numbers of lives saved, catastrophic expenditure averted, impoverishment averted, costs, and the distribution of benefits across the wealth spectrum.
The public assistance system is supposed to offer a bridge between poverty and self-sufficiency. Families receive benefits such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to soften the impact of loss of income. The programs are intended to be limited in duration and provide a very modest amount of financial support. Some families are fortunate to also receive a housing voucher or a child care subsidy to help offset basic expenses. Eligibility for benefits varies by program and is based on different criteria, most of which are linked to personal income. This study asks: what happens when benefits are cut before individuals reach economic stability? This is frequently called the “benefits cliff.”
Until relatively recently, developing hybrid simulation models using more than one simulation paradigm was a challenging task which required a degree of ingenuity on behalf of the modeler. Generally speaking, such hybrid models either had to be coded from scratch in a programming language, or developed using two (or more) different off-the-shelf software tools which had to communicate with each other through a user-written interface. Nowadays a number of simulation tools are available which aim to make this task easier. This paper does not set out to be a formal review of such software, but it discusses the increasing popularity of hybrid simulation and the rapidly developing market in hybrid modeling tools, focusing specifically on applications in health and social care and using experience from the Care Life Cycle project and elsewhere.
Disaster, whether manmade or natural, can have a catastrophic impact on a populated area. Sometimes, the disaster is so devastating that it requires a large-scale evacuation. As a result, evacuation plans have become a necessity. One such evacuation plan is the regional hub reception center (RHRC), which will help evacuate the careless population when an evacuation is needed. Using AnyLogic as a simulation modeling software, an RHRC model was developed to test the efficiency of the proposed plan.
Developing countries are faced with finding novel and humane ways to permanently reduce and control their dog population. Agent-based models developed to describe dog populations represent a unique, platform for using computer based simulation to identify control strategies with the greatest potential for success, aid in the design of more effective control measures, and provide a means to evaluate the success of different interventions.
The objective of this paper is to propose and test a framework for integrated assessment of infrastructure systems at the interface between the dynamic behaviors of assets, agencies, and users. For the purpose of this study a hybrid agent-based/mathematical simulation model is created and tested using a numerical example related to a roadway network.
Simulation is a widely used technique for analyzing and managing supply chains. Simulation software packages offer standard libraries for selected functions and application areas. However, no commercial or freeware simulation tool proposes building blocks specific to semiconductor manufacturing.
Modelling real workforce choices accurately via Agent Based Models and System Dynamics requires input data on the actual preferences of individual agents. Often lack of data means that analysts can have an understanding of how agents move through the system, but not why, and when.