Boxed Economy Simlulation Platform

The boxed economy simulation platform discussed in the links on this page:

http://platbox.sfc.keio.ac.jp/en/papers/index.html

is very interesting, as we have discussed. If we can obtain a copy of this platform from its authors, we would have--as Jim said--a viable candidate for our simulation software. I plan to print out and read a few more of these articles before coming to Fairfield on Wedensday.

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I creatively got the software and it is indeed interesting...

Submitted by Sohodojo Jim on Mon, 06/26/2006 - 11:24pm.

The challenge here is that so much of the PlatBox site is in the researchers' native Japanese. Google translation was quite helpful.

I was able to wend my way to a software download page, guess at what fields might be asking for, and hit a submit button that I figured said 'Download now' of something similar. Eureka!!! Whatever I did worked and I was able to get two large downloads; the simulation platform and the component builder.

And much to my delight, the PlatBox software interface runs in English! (Not sure if this is by default, or if the application quieries the operating system for its language setting and loads accordingly.) At any rate, I stumbled around a bit without documentation, loaded a couple sample 'worlds' and have seen this most interesting platform run!

I'll follow up with more info as well as well as post some screenshots, etc.

I have also sent an introductory email to the PlatBox team but have not yet heard back from them.

--Sohodojo Jim--

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Been messing around with BESP...

Submitted by Jelal Younes on Tue, 06/27/2006 - 11:07pm.

I've been reading some of the articles on the Boxed Economy Simulation Platform, and it sounds like everything we want. In particular, the article entitled "From Conceptual Models to Simulation Models: Model Driven Development of Agent-Based Simulations" highlights the ability of the BESP to control five aspects of the world: the Agents , the behaviors of the agents (decision-making, production, etc.), relationships between agents (employer-employee, etc.), goods , and information , held by goods or agents. The program allows the user to design agents, choosing the number of agents, and their behavior, goods, and information; and to define relationships in terms of source, target, and direction. This, to me, sounds perfect!

I also found a way to download the Platform (wondering if it's the same version you have...do you have version 1.2?), but as yet I can't figure out how to use it...I'm going to keep working at it, but I may have to just wait till tomorrow to learn what you've found out. I'm also in the process of learning about the RePast program as a comparison to BESP, but I get the impression from the programmers of BESP that RePast will require significant programming.

Update: After considerable guesswork about what the symbols on my screen represent (I don't even get Japanese characters on my computer), I found out how to download PlatBox Simulator 2.0 and Component Builder 3.0. However, my internet crashes far too much to allow me to download files of this size, so I'll wait till tomorrow to download them at your place if we decide to experiment more with this program.

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Update on my efforts with Platbox

Submitted by Jelal Younes on Wed, 06/28/2006 - 9:17pm.

I downloaded Platbox Simulator 2.0 and Component Builder 3.0 from the Platbox website (platbox.org), and have been trying to find a way to get these programs to run in English. The Simulator's default (on my computer's settings at least) is English, so that was no problem; the Component Builder, however, has a large part of its interface in Japanese. After being unable to find a way to change the interface to English, I e-mailed the designers of Platbox, who quickly responded with the following e-mail:

Hi,
I'm Yasuyuki Murakami, a member of Platbox Project.

>Is there any way to change or obtain a version of the component builder
>that operates in English?
Unfortunately, there hasn't been a version for English OS yet since there's a part that hasn't been translated in English but we are on it right now.

Here's a way to make the MENU BAR of Componet Builder in English.
- close Component Builder first.
- right click the shortcut and click properties.
- on the shortcut tab, find "Target:"(it should be the third line from the top).
- the default setting should show
"\ComponentBuilder\ComponentBuilder.exe" -nl ja".
- delete "-nl ja".
- click Apply and OK.
- start Componet Builder again, and it should show the menu bar in English.

For the most parts, it's already in English.
We'll try to make it soon.

Thank you for supporting our tool.

Best regards

Yasuyuki Murakami

The problem with this is that my Component Builder is eclipseforPlatBox3.0.exe, not ComponentBuilder.exe. I am now working to find a way to either obtain ComponentBuilder.exe so I can remove the extension to allow the menu bar to run in English, or find a way to alter eclipseforPlatBox3.0.exe to change the menu bar settings. I am looking forward to find a solution for this problem--the articles I've read about this software make me very excited to start working with it!

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