Agent-based modelling enables the explicit representation of entities and their interaction with each other and the environment, and so it became an important method to study complex systems. Social networks form an important part of agent-based social simulation, as they define the topology of agent interaction. This dissertation initially identifies important properties of social networks and their dynamics and reviews their representation in agent-based models of relevant domains. A classification of levels of detail for the network modelling components initialisation, dynamics of networks, and dynamics on networks is proposed and guides the identification of deficits. A formal, iterative evaluation framework is developed to quantitatively assess network modelling approaches under a set of weighted criteria (representativity, adjustability, validity, and efficiency). The framework is applied to an abstract model of opinion dynamics and to an empirically grounded model of social influence. A lifestyle-specific network survey is designed, conducted, and analysed and helps to ground the evaluation of the network modelling’s representativity on empirical data. The study finds significant differences of degree and distance distributions as well as in the composition of ego networks between lifestyles. New network modelling approaches are developed to account for requirements in agent-based models such as agent-type specific link preferences, degree and distance distributions, community structures, and interaction dynamics. The comparison of simple to elaborated network modelling for the application models shows a significant impact on simulation results, highlighting the need for informed decisions about suitable approaches.

For more than thirty years, the History of Cartography Project has charted the course for scholarship on cartography, bringing together research from a variety of disciplines on the creation, dissemination, and use of maps. Volume 6, Cartography in the Twentieth Century, continues this tradition with a groundbreaking survey of the century just ended and a new full-color, encyclopedic format. The twentieth century is a pivotal period in map history. The transition from paper to digital formats led to previously unimaginable dynamic and interactive maps. Geographic information systems radically altered cartographic institutions and reduced the skill required to create maps. Satellite positioning and mobile communications revolutionized wayfinding. Mapping evolved as an important tool for coping with complexity, organizing knowledge, and influencing public opinion in all parts of the globe and at all levels of society. Volume 6 covers these changes comprehensively, while thoroughly demonstrating the far-reaching effects of maps on science, technology, and society—and vice versa. The lavishly produced volume includes more than five hundred articles accompanied by more than a thousand images. Hundreds of expert contributors provide both original research, often based on their own participation in the developments they describe, and interpretations of larger trends in cartography. Designed for use by both scholars and the general public, this definitive volume is a reference work of first resort for all who study and love maps.

The 2012 International Symposium on Management Intelligent Systems is believed to be the first international forum to present and discuss original, rigorous and significant contributions on Artificial Intelligence-based (AI) solutions—with a strong, practical logic and, preferably, with empirical applications—developed to aid the management of organizations in multiple areas, activities, processes and problem-solving; i.e., what we propose to be named as Management Intelligent Systems (MiS). The three-day event aimed to bring together researchers interested in this promising interdisciplinary field who came from areas as varied as management, marketing, and business in general, computer science, artificial intelligence, statistics, etc. This volume presents the proceedings of these activities in a collection of contributions with many original approaches. They address diverse Management and Business areas of application such as decision support, segmentation of markets, CRM, product design, service personalization, organizational design, e-commerce, credit scoring, workplace integration, innovation management, business database analysis, workflow management, location of stores, etc. A wide variety of AI techniques have been applied to these areas such as multi-objective optimization and evolutionary algorithms, classification algorithms, ant algorithms, fuzzy rule-based systems, intelligent agents, Web mining, neural networks, Bayesian models, data warehousing, rough sets, etc. The symposium was organized by the Soft Computing and Intelligent Information Systems Research Group (http://sci2s.ugr.es) of the University of Granada (Spain) and the Bioinformatics, Intelligent System and Educational Technology Research Group (http://bisite.usal.es/) of the University of Salamanca (Spain). The present edition is held in Salamanca (Spain) on July 11-13, 2012.