Teaching Computational Economics to Graduate Students

The teaching of computational economics to graduate students has mostly been in a single course with a focus on algorithms and computer code. The shortcoming with this approach is that it neglects one of the most important aspects of computational economics—namely model development skills. These skills are the ability to conceptualize the science, engineering and economics of a problem and to convert that understanding first to a mathematical model and then to a computational representation in a software system. Thus we recommend that a two course sequence in computational economics be created for graduate students with the first course focusing on model development skills and the second course on algorithms and the speed and accuracy of computer codes. We believe that a model development course is most helpful to graduate students when it introduces the students to a wide variety of computational models created by past generations and ask them to first make small modification in order to better understand the models, the mathematics and the software. This in turn is followed by encouraging them to make more substantial modifications of the students’ own choosing so as to move the models in directions that permit the students to address current economic problems. We think that the key element of this process is it’s enhancement of the creative abilities of our students.      

Mathematica as an Environment for Doing Economics and Econometrics

Today's graduate students in economics must master early on a computational environment suitable for their research needs. A case is made here why Mathematica is an eminently reasonable choice for this purpose for many students. Salient features of Mathematica are examined in this context, and the breadth of economic research accomplished in Mathematica is illustrated.     

Teaching Computational Economics in an Applied Economics Program

Effective teaching of computational methods to economists in an introductory graduate-level course requires difficult choices regarding the material to be covered, the level at which the material will be covered, and the role of assigned exercises, laboratory sessions, and required readings. In this paper, I discuss the goals that I set and the pedagogical choices that I make in teaching computational methods to doctoral students in economics in a quarter-length course. The discussion is based on 15 years of teaching computational methods to students with a broad range of research interests and professional objectives. I also discuss some of the pedagogical obstacles that I often face when teaching the course and how I address them. I hope that the discussion will provide a useful starting point for instructors wishing to develop computational methods courses in other economics graduate programs.     

Running the Economy: A Review of the Internet-Based Fairmodel

Since February 1997, Fair's large macroeconometric multi-country model has been freely available through the internet. In this article both the history and the use of the Fairmodel are discussed. The Fairmodel enables students to work with real data and it makes economic theory come to life. A drawback is that getting started with the model can take up a great deal of time. A realistic example of working with the model is presented. The Fairmodel shows that the internet could drastically change the manner in which economics is taught.     

A multi-level, multi-theory perspective of information technology implementation

Abstract.  Much of information technology (IT) implementation research has focused on individuals' acceptance of IT by examining their behaviour when faced with new IT and the antecedents of these behaviours. As they are frequently undertaken within a project framework, IT implementations also entail the application of project management practices in order to be successful. Based on the premise that antecedents of lower level theories are frequently determined by the outcomes of a higher level theory, the present paper illustrates how organizational-level decisions, examined from the perspective of economics theories, can help explain the antecedents of project risk management at the project and individual levels. To do so, the paper describes an IT implementation effort which went through three phases; the first two of which were abandoned versions of the same project. An organizational-level analysis of the case from an economics perspective and its project-level analysis from a risk management perspective show how organizational-level decisions influenced the antecedents at the project and individual levels, providing a more complete understanding of the IT implementation in question, an understanding which neither a theory approach nor a level perspective could provide on its own.     

A software modeling approach for the design and analysis of cooperative optimization systems

Optimization problems are ubiquitous in our daily lives and one way to cope with them is using cooperative optimization systems that allow to obtain good enough, fast enough, and cheap enough solutions. From a practical point of view, the design and the analysis of such systems are complex tasks. In this work, an integrated system (DACOS) for helping in the design and analysis of cooperative, centralized optimization systems is presented. Also, the methodology used for the creation of DACOS (mainly, the use of software modeling) is described in detail. This may also be useful for researchers who want to build up their own system for their particular needs. DACOS has been developed using the Eclipse developing framework, which, among other advantages, is also able to automatically generate source code. Finally, a practical case of use is presented: the application of DACOS to the configuration and analysis of a cooperative strategy on a location problem. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Production system with process quality control: modelling and application

Over the past decade, there has been a great deal of research dedicated to the study of quality and the economics of production. In this article, we develop a dynamic model which is based on the hypothesis of a traditional economic production quantity model. Taguchi's cost of poor quality is used to evaluate the cost of poor quality in the dynamic production system. A practical case from the automotive industry, which uses the Six-sigma DMAIC methodology, is discussed to verify the proposed model. This study shows that there is an optimal value of quality investment to make the production system reach a reasonable quality level and minimise the production cost. Based on our model, the management can adjust its investment in quality improvement to generate considerable financial return.     

Creating formative feedback spaces in large lectures

Large lectures are the predominant way of teaching first-year students at universities in Norway. However, this forum for education is seldom discussed as a context for a formative feedback practice. The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to address whether and how a student-response system can open for a formative feedback practice in lectures and thereby support students' ability to monitor their own learning, as well as supply insight into how students engage with the feedback in their course work. The context for the study was large lectures (150–200 students) in a qualitative method course for first-year psychology students. Findings from the survey (n = 149) showed a positive correlation between the extent to which students report that they use clickers to monitor their own learning, and the extent to which they report that they used the feedback in their own course work. However, findings indicate that students valued the process of monitoring their own learning during the lectures to a greater extent than they actually used the feedback in their course work. Findings from interviews (n = 6) illustrated various ways students applied feedback in their course work.     

Learning chemistry with VirtualLabs@Uma: a customizable 3D platform for new experimental protocols

In general, students of laboratory courses such as chemistry or biology are not able to replicate at home an experiment of a previously studied class since they lack infrastructure and material. With the possibility of providing multimedia and virtual reality environments on the Web, different applications and virtual laboratories have been proposed. However, most of the existing tools are not flexible enough or are domain-oriented, not supporting the addition of new tailor-made experiments when needed. This paper introduces a new platform for providing a customizable Virtual Laboratory, VirtualLabs@UMa. This application was proposed at University of Madeira in order to provide students with a flexible 3D virtual laboratory and teachers with a platform that can be customized to new experimental protocols. Therefore, chemistry teachers are able to create their own experimental protocols and propose them to their students. Moreover, students can be followed accordingly having their learning needs and difficulties fulfilled. VirtualLabs@UMa is a solution for motivating students and proposing an added value for complementing laboratory courses.     

协作式教学模式在计算机基础课程的应用

协作式教学模式是给定教学目标,由学生相互协作、互动互利,提高教学效果的教学模式。在计算机基础课程教学过程中,针对学生学习积极性不高,专业适应性不强的问题,通过合理设定与学生专业相关的,符合课程教学目标的讨论主题,以充分调动学生的学习积极性,帮助学生自我表达,相互协作,共同完成任务。利用Wiki教学平台,设定两种分组模式,查看学生的学习效果。经统计,七成学生认可在计算机基础课程中采用协作式教学模式。     

APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE FOR FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

This article introduces some relevant research works on computational intelligence applied to finance and economics. The objective is to offer an appropriate context and a starting point for those who are new to computational intelligence in finance and economics and to give an overview of the most recent works. A classification with five different main areas is presented. Those areas are related with different applications of the most modern computational intelligence techniques showing a new perspective for approaching finance and economics problems. Each research area is described with several works and applications. Finally, a review of the research works selected for this special issue is given.     

基于CDIO理念的高职软件专业一体化课程计划

针对高职毕业生不能很好满足软件企业日渐苛刻的用人需求之现状,在分析原有人才培养模式下课程计划不足的基础上,本文提出了CDIO理念下一体化课程计划将有力提升高职毕业生就业竞争力的观点。文章还阐述了北大方正软件技术学院软件技术专业如何结合自身办学现状,积极推进CDIO理念之一体化课程计划改革的过程。教学实践表明,学生个人、人际交往能力及产品、过程和系统建造能力较原有培养模式下有显著提高。     

CAD of a low-temperature solar energy collector using interactive programming

This paper describes a pilot interactive computer program used by midshipmen in the early phases of design of a low-temperature solar energy collector. The model has been made as simple as possible without losing the fundamental relationships of thermodynamics, fluid dynamics and heat transfer theory. The subjects covered include solar radiation, flat plate collectors, application loads and economics. Design parameters are location, time duration, absorptivity, reflectivity, tilt angle, number of cover glasses, collector temperature, air temperature, insulation condition, etc. The program provides enough information to allow users to evaluate and design their own solar thermal processes.     

Asymptotic shape of the Erlang capacity region of a multi-service shared resource

We consider a loss model of an unbuffered resource having C channels, which are shared by several different types of service connections. Connections of each type arrive in a Poisson stream and request a number of channels, which depends on the type. An arriving connection is blocked and lost if there are not enough free channels. Otherwise, the channels are held for the duration of the connection, and the holding period is generally distributed. It is assumed that C and the traffic intensities are proportionately large. The admission control problem is considered for specified upper bounds on the blocking probabilities, and the boundary of the admissible set is investigated asymptotically. Characterization of admissible sets is extremely useful, not only for connection-level admission control, which is the context in which this topic has typically been considered in the past, but also for higher level objectives, such as network economics, network design, and network control. The asymptotic view of the admissible set is particularly appropriate for the higher level objectives, where the fine details are not as important as the qualitative properties of the shape of the set and tractability of the numerical calculations for large systems. Our results are derived by investigating the local behavior with respect to the tangent hyperplane at a point on the boundary of the admissible set. The lowest order results that hold in the asymptotic limit C→∞ are given first. Importantly, the boundary is linear for the key critically loaded and also for the overloaded regimes, and weakly convex for the underloaded regime. Next, refined results that hold for C1 are given, which indicate that the boundary is not convex, although only slightly so.     

A Critical Guide to Empirical Validation of Agent-Based Models in Economics: Methodologies,Procedures, and Open Problems

This paper addresses the methodological problems of empirical validation in agent-based (AB) models in economics and how these are currently being tackled. We first identify a set of issues that are common to all modelers engaged in empirical validation. We then propose a novel taxonomy, which captures the relevant dimensions along which AB economics models differ. We argue that these dimensions affect the way in which empirical validation is carried out by AB modelers and we critically discuss the main alternative approaches to empirical validation being developed in AB economics. We conclude by focusing on a set of (as yet) unresolved issues for empirical validation that require future research.      

基于伪反馈技术的教师评教文字评价的真实反馈

自我国大力推动高校信息化建设以来,高校的信息管理能力不断提高。教师评教作为高校信息化的重要组成部分,是学生为教师的教学提供意见的平台,也是教师收集学生提供的意见改进教学方法的重要途径。目前,教师评教的评教指标已经趋于科学完善,学生依据科学的评价体系认真的填写评价表,能够为教师提高教学质量提供方向。研究江西财经大学教师评教系统数据时发现“许多学生在评教时,往往带有一定的情绪”。成绩较差的学生往往对教师不满,更容易对教师的教学成果持否定意见;成绩较好的同学为图省事,敷衍了事的完成任务。这些情况造成评教结果差异性太小,教师无法从评教数据中得到学生评教想表达的真实想法,因此无法合理改进自己的教学方法。强制性的文字评价能够有效解决这种情况,学生在填写文字评价的时候往往能够真实的表达自己的主观意见,评教的结果也更为真实可靠。文章基于伪反馈检索技术分析教师评教的文字评价,将学生的文字评价和指标打分相结合,找到与学生真实意见较贴切的评教指标,帮助教师理解学生的评价意图,促进教师改进教学方法,提高教学质量。     

How to Write Essentially Defect-free Code： A Preliminary Study

This paper presents the findings of a study on the helpful approaches to write essentially defectfree code among senior students majored in software engineering.In the first phase of the lab study,we prepared 9 coding projects for students which will help them to find their own best practices or principles to write essentially defect-free code before unit test.These students were interviewed regarding the use of their own best practices,their principles,and problems arising from the coding projects.We present qualitative and quantitative findings as well as our plans for second study phase including an industry field study.     

Clover: Connecting technology and character education using personally-constructed animated vignettes

Schools are increasingly integrating character education to facilitate improved moral thinking and pro social behavior among students. An effective method for delivering character education is problem solving moral and social situations represented visually as animated vignettes. However, schools are rarely able to use animated vignettes since existing tools do not allow them to be easily created and having them created externally is overly expensive. In this paper, we describe the design, use, and evaluation of a computational tool that enables students to construct their own animated vignettes. By building, sharing, and responding to vignettes, students become engaged in problem solving moral and social situations. Evaluations showed that users are able to build meaningful vignettes, our tool is easy to learn and fun to use, and our tool's multimedia features are often used and well-liked. Educators can download and use our tool while researchers can draw upon our design rationale and lessons learned when building similar tools.     

CENTRALIZED VS. MARKET-BASED AND DECENTRALIZED DECISION MAKING: A REVIEW

Within both economics and computer science, many authors have claimed that decentralized or market-based approaches to decision making are superior in general to centralized approaches. The contrary claim has also been made. Unfortunately, these claims are often supported only by informal or anecdotal evidence. In order to assess these competing claims, we present a review of the literature in economics and computer science with a bearing on these issues. Our main findings from this literature survey are as follows: (1) for efficiency assessments, there is wider variance in performance of organizations using market-based control (MBC) than in organizations using centralized control (CC); (2) that MBC and CC have the same efficiency on average, which may explain the observation that (3) human and computer organizations tend to cycle between CC and decentralized control (DC) structures.     

Understand Students Feedback Using Bi-Integrated CRF Model Based Target Extraction

Educational institutions showing interest to find the opinion of the students about their course and the instructors to enhance the teaching-learning process. For this, most research uses sentiment analysis to track students’ behavior. Traditional sentence-level sentiment analysis focuses on the whole sentence sentiment. Previous studies show that the sentiments alone are not enough to observe the feeling of the students because different words express different sentiments in a sentence. There is a need to extract the targets in a given sentence which helps to find the sentiment towards those targets. Target extraction is the subtask of targeted sentiment analysis. In this paper, we proposed the innovative model to find the targets of the given sentence using Bi-Integrated Conditional Random Fields (CRF). A Parallel fusion neural network model is designed to perform this task. We evaluate the model using the Michigan dataset and we build a dataset for target extraction from student reviews. The experimental results show that our proposed fusion model achieves better results compared to baseline models.