JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for SIMSOC Archives


SIMSOC Archives

SIMSOC Archives


SIMSOC@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

SIMSOC Home

SIMSOC Home

SIMSOC  June 2009

SIMSOC June 2009

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

Re: Microsimulation Software Selection

From:

"Lawson, Tony" <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Lawson, Tony

Date:

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:39:03 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (78 lines)

Oliver Mannion wrote
 
Hi there,

We are a University based research centre embarking on the development of a
microsimulation model of health outcomes using empirical longitudinal data.
The end product will be a software program for use by external end users.
Our complete list of requirements is attached.

 
 
Hello Oliver,
 
I am a Ph.D student and I used NetLogo to set up a demographic microsimulation of the UK population.
 
Data files at the household and individual level are read in from external files. The simulation then runs by calculating annual transition probabilities for births, deaths partnership formation and dissolution based on logistic regression equations. The model is updated each year which corresponds to one tick. It is a stochastic simulation and agents are cloned by using a simple command. A range of graphs and simple statistical functions are available.
 
The simulation runs on a desktop computer and takes about one minute for each simulated year with a population of 10,000 individuals within 5,000 households. NetLogo was originally designed for use in education so the programming language is very straightforward. Simple models can be set up within a few days of installing the software but the language is quite powerful and did not limit the functionality of the model. The package and language are well documented and there is an active user community for support if needed however I did not require any because the language was so easy to use.
 
That seems to cover most of your requirements except that I have not implemented setting parameters from outside the program. I assume it could be done by reading in from a text file. Output to a stats package could be done by writing to a text file from the model them importing this into the external program.
 
There was some talk a while ago about the authors moving towards making NetLogo open source but as far as I know, this has not been done yet.
 
Hope this is helpful. The NetLogo website is http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/ <https://exchange5.essex.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/> . There is an early prototype of my model at http://istr.essex.ac.uk/tasc/students/tlawso/model2/ <https://exchange5.essex.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://istr.essex.ac.uk/tasc/students/tlawso/model2/> 
 
Regards,
 
Tony Lawson
 

________________________________

From: News and discussion about computer simulation in the social sciences on behalf of Oliver Mannion
Sent: Thu 25/06/2009 22:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SIMSOC] Microsimulation Software Selection



Hi there,

We are a University based research centre embarking on the development of a
microsimulation model of health outcomes using empirical longitudinal data.
The end product will be a software program for use by external end users.
Our complete list of requirements is attached.

We are currently in the software selection phase. Modgen and AnyLogic are
impressive packages in features and scope and would allow us to do most of
what we want with the least effort "out of the box". We are concerned
however that being closed source neither will allow 100% flexibility.

Of the open source packages, Repast Simphony and Ascape have caught our
attention as mature tool kits, although oriented towards Agent Based
Modelling. We would therefore need to extend them to include input of
parameter and base data files. Of these Repast has the higher public profile
and more widespread usage. However Repast offers a lot of functionality we
don't need, at the cost of quite a bit of complexity which makes it more
difficult to understand the code and extend it.

We would be grateful for any responses to the following questions:

1) Has anyone used Ascape for microsimulation? Is it widely used? Was it a
good fit for your project?
2) What tool kits, if any, have you used for microsimulation? Or have you
written your microsimulation without the use of a 3rd party tool kit/package?
3) If you have used Repast for microsimulation, what has been your
experience with it?

Thanks and regards,

Oliver Mannion
Programmer
COMPASS - Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences
www.compass.auckland.ac.nz
The University of Auckland, New Zealand

Phone +(649) 373 7999 ext 89760

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager