Simulation and Modelling

Research Area leader: Professor Terry Bossomaier and Dr Ken Lodge

Overview
Members
Projects
Current Students
PHD/DIT Topics
Honours Topics

The Simulation and Modelling Research Area (RA) provides a unified focus for research that has long existed within the Faculty of Business, CRiCS (Centre for Research in Complex Systems), and the School of Computing and Mathematics and its antecedents. The area includes research that falls under FoR code 0801, particularly 080110, with some applications of this research being relevant to FoR code 1503.

The interests of the Simulation and Modelling RA are in methodologies and techniques that can be applied to the understanding of systems of various types. Issues include how to model the basic components of a system, how to simulate the functioning of a system, and how to visualise and control the response of a system.

The systems of interest are often complex, including business, environmental and social systems, where agent-based modelling is appropriate. Recent work of the RA here has included simulations of financial markets, of trust in financial planning, and of drug use. Current work has added such areas as the simulation of research collaboration and of house prices.

Computer games, both serious and for entertainment, provide systems handled by discrete event simulation. Recent work of the RA here has included simulation of relativistic motion for education and of training scenarios for crisis management. Current work includes adaptive AI for real-time strategy games. Planned applications of serious games methodologies include the training of tele-operators in the mining industry.

A separate area is the modelling of both static and dynamic physical environments. Planned work here includes applications in the mining industry. Physically based modelling also supports a motion sub-system for computer games and a stand-alone system for studies of complex motion. Current work includes investigations of novel control techniques and of the use of improved algorithms arising from recent advances in robotics.

Studies in the relative merits of molecular mechanics versus high level molecular modelling help to determine systems appropriate for the computationally cheaper molecular mechanics calculations. Past projects here include an investigation of the anomalous complexation of Ag(I) with ammonia.

The areas of interest extend to studies required in support of the simulation and modelling studies. Parameterisation of the various models can vary from being defined by well established laws to heuristic in nature. In the latter case validation of simulations requires data mining, an important part of some projects. For computer games or other purely synthetic systems, the real-time performance of a simulation is an important intrinsic characteristic. Current projects include design studies of the software system architectures needed to obtain good performance.

Name	Title/Position	Employer if not Faculty of Business, CSU	Location
Terry Bossomaier	Professor		Bathurst
Junbin Gao	Professor		Bathurst
David Tilbrook	Adjunct Assoc Professor		Bathurst
Michael Antolovich	Senior Lecturer		Bathurst
Manoranjan Paul	Senior Lecturer		Bathurst
Ken Lodge	Senior Lecturer		Bathurst
Jim Tulip	Lecturer		Bathurst
Zahidul Islam	Lecturer		Bathurst
Wayne Moore	Adjunct Research Fellow		Bathurst
Jeffrey Gosper	Adjunct Senior Lecturer	Study Group Australia	Sydney
Ali Syed	Adjunct Senior Lecturer	Study Group Australia	Melbourne

+ Current Projects

Project Name	Brief Description	Funding Body	Investigators
Simulation of Expertise in Go	Applies the CHREST model of expertise, developed by Fernand Gobet (University of Brunel), to online game data for Go.	ARC Discovery Grant	Terry Bossomaier, Jason Traish, Fernand Gobet (University of Brunel)and Peter Lane
Simulation of University Research Collaboration	Simulation via an agent-based model is used to explain research networks and innovation in the UK university sector.	CSU competitive	Terry Bossomaier and Rod Duncan
Simulation of House Prices for Improved Land Valuation Using Agent Based Modelling	An agent based modeling approach is used to simulate the house price changes in Bathurst.	Compact funding	Terry Bossomaier, Junbin Gao and Zahid Islam
The Application of Lagrangian Dynamics in Physics Engines	Investigation to improve physics engine performance by reducing degrees of freedom and constraint calculations		Ken Lodge

+ Past Projects

Project Name	Brief Description	Funding Body	Investigators
Computer Games Technology for Simulating Non-Classical Physics	Development of computer games technologies for simulating relativistic motion (PhD research)	CSU	David Carr, Terry Bossomaier and Michael Antolovich
Simulation of Multiple Drug Use	PhD research (co-tutelle with University of Lille): A study of the life path of drug users. Modelling includes multiple drug use, its spreading through a community, and user transitions between phases. Simulation includes the effect of different drugs on the brain and combined effects.	CRiCS and HEMA	Francois Lamy, Terry Bossomaier, Pascal Perez (UW) and John Crane (neuroscience)
Crisis Management Simulation: A Developing Methodology for Transforming Communication Response	Development of a methodology for ADF training to improve crisis communication based on applied drama, where stakeholders act out scenarios under the supervision of a drama master.	ARC Linkage Grant (with Australian Defence Force)	John Carrol, David Cameron, Jim Tulip, Zoe Hibbert, Joanne Arciuli (USyd) and Terry Bossomaier
Computer Games for Crisis Communication	Development of a multi-player online computer game for use in ADF training to improve crisis communication based on applied drama.	ARC Linkage Grant (as above)	Jim Tulip
Phase Transitions in Game Theory and Financial Markets	Modelling the behaviour of financial markets and complex games provides simulations that show phase transitions in the development of expertise in games and in the changing relationships associated with crashes in financial markets.	ARC	Michael Harré, and Terry Bossomaier
Simulation of Trust in Financial Planning	Optimisation of client trust by evolutionary learning of financial planning strategies using an agent-based model	ARC Linkage Grant	Terry Bossomaier
Anomalous Complexation of Slver(I) with Ammonia	Density-functional theory is used to show that the anomalous behaviour of Ag(I) arises from its poor affinity for water.	ARC	Michael Antolovich, Leonard Lindoy and Jeffrey Reimers

Name	Award	Topic	Supervisor
James Bekkema	PhD	Distributed Real-Time Interactive Event Simulation	Dr Michael Antolovich mantolovich@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4388 Dr Ken Lodge klodge@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4885
Jason Traish	PhD	Adaptive Al for Real-Time Strategy Games	Professor Terry Bossomaier tbossomaier@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4683 Jim Tulip jtulip@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4931
Rohan McAdam	PhD	Human Movement as a Form of Computation	Dr Michael Antolovich mantolovich@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4388 Dr Ken Lodge klodge@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4885
Vaenthan Thiruvarudchelvan	PhD	Simulation of Energy Efficient Computation	Professor Terry Bossomaier tbossomaier@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4683

Supervisors	Topics
Professor Terry Bossomaier tbossomaier@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4683	Study of tipping points in stock markets around the world Study of the impact of sentiment on financial markets by Twitter mining and information flow metrics Approximation of transfer entropy for systems not entirely stationary Developing new stealth assessment techniques for computer games Simulation of corporate dynamics leading to collapse Modelling trust and team formation

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