CSCI 323 Modeling and Simulation Syllabus

Fall 2009

Classroom location: Fitzelle 300

Class schedule: MWF 10:00-10:50am

Instructor: Dr. Don Allison

Office location: Fitzelle 225

Phone: 436-3439

Email: allisodl@oneonta.edu

Office hours: T 12-2pm, W 3-4pm, F 9-10am, 3-4pm

Others by appointment

Catalog description:

Deterministic and probabilisitic models of complex systems, discrete and continuous, and simulation of the system by computer implementation of the model.
Prerequisites: CSCI 116, MATH 276, and STAT 261 (LA)

Course goals/objectives:

At the end of this course you should be able to look at a real-world system and abstract the essential properties of it to form a mathematical model that simulates the system’s behavior of interest. You should be able write a computer program implementing that model and use that program to provide predictions as to the behavior of the system.

Textbooks:

The required text for this course is:

A First Course in Mathematical Modeling, by Giordano, Fox, Horton & Weir, 4^th edition, Brooks Cole, ISBN 9780495011590, supplemented by the lectures and handouts in class.

Reading list/Additional resources:

Physics-Based Animation, by Erleben, Sporring, Henriksen and Dohlmann, 1^st edition, Charles River Media, ISBN-10 1584503807

Modeling and Simulation in Medicine and the Life Sciences, byHoppensteadt and Peskin, Springer-Verlag, ISBN-10 0387950729

Tentative schedule: (order of readings & other assignments, by due dates, course activities, course content by expected order of coverage, test dates and test coverage)

Date	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Aug 24-28			Classes begin Add-drop begins
Aug 31-Sep 4	Background email assignment due	Add-drop ends
Sep 7-11	Labor day: classes meet	Last day to add a full semester course
Sep 14-18
Sep 21-25	Project #1 due				College closes after last class
Sep 28-Oct 2			Classes resume TAP certification begins		EXAM #1
Oct 5-9
Oct 12-16	Columbus day: classes meet				Interim Progress Reports due from faculty
Oct 19-23	Project #2 due	First half semester classes end
Oct 26-30		Last day to drop a full semester course
Nov 2-6	Daylight saving time has ended!! Did you set your clock back?		EXAM #2
Nov 9-13	Begin Spring 2010 pre-enrollment		Veterans’ Day: classes meet
Nov 16-20	Project #3 due				College closes after last evening class Last day to make up incomplete grades
Nov 23-27
Nov 30-Dec 4	Classes resume Last day to withdraw from college				Last day to change incomplete grades
Dec 7-11	Project #4 due		Follow MONDAY schedule	Follow TUESDAY schedule
Dec 14-18	Final exams begin 8am: MWF 10 11am: MWF 2 2pm: MWF 12	8am: TR 10 11am: TR 4 2pm: TR 12	8am: MWF 9 11am: MWF 1 2pm: MWF 11	8am: TR 8 11am: TR 2	Final exams end 8am: MWF 8 11am: MWF 3

Course requirements:

Students are expected to keep up with the assigned readings for class, in order to be able to participate in class discussions. To satisfactorily complete the course, students need to pass the tests and complete the modeling projects.

Evaluation procedures:

A student’s grade for this course will be based on a combination of exams, programming projects, and homework/class participation. The breakdown is as follows:

Exam #1	15%	28 September 2009
Exam #2	15%	26 October 2009
Final Exam	20%	14 December 2008, 8am
Projects	40%	---
Homework/class participation	10%	---

As you can see, there will be two midterm exams and a final, contributing a total of 50% of your grade. The next 40% will be earned by completing several programming projects implementing simple modeling systems. The final 10% will be made up of various homework assignments and class participation. The weighted sum of each component will be computed and grades will be assigned based on the total number of points earned using the standard 90-80-70-60 system.

Attendance policy:

While I do not require class attendance, and would prefer that you sleep in the dorm instead of in class, studies have shown that regular class attendance improves student grades. In addition, I will be giving sample code and pseudocode for the projects in class, and will be discussing the course material (including the material covered by the tests) in class. While attending class, students will be expected to comport themselves professionally, and to participate in class activities and discussions.

Academic dishonesty:

It is expected that all work turned in by a student will be created by the student himself. Turning in someone else’s code, whether obtained from a classmate or from the internet, without acknowledging the authorship of the code, is plagiarism, and is a serious offense. As academics, we value ideas and to use someone else’s thoughts without acknowledging them is stealing, and will be dealt with appropriately.

That said, however, it IS acceptable to discuss the class content and assignments with your peers and even to collaborate together under certain conditions. All code and all answers to exams that you submit for grading should be your work alone, or if provided in class, should contain an acknowledgement of its origin in the header comments. It is, however, acceptable to discuss the algorithms, code samples provided in class, or even the assignments (at a conceptual level) among yourselves. If you have any questions about what is acceptable and what is not, ask! It is better to ask and get the answer ahead of time rather than to find out after the fact that what you did was unacceptable.

Coding style:

An important part of any computer science class is the programming assignments. These not only reinforce and extend the concepts covered in class, but also give the student an opportunity to hone his programming skills. Therefore any programs you turn in should follow good style guidelines and coding standards. They should exhibit consistent and logical indenting, block comments, function and file headers, sensible variable names, etc. Every code and header file should start with a block comment containing the class, the assignment number, your name, the date due, and a brief summary of what is in the file. For example:

/*************************************************************/

/* */

/* CSCI 323 Modeling & Simulation */

/* Fall 2009 Program #1 */

/* Author: Don Allison */

/* Date Due: 20 September 2009 */

/* */

/* This file contains code to function model the biological */

/* process of cell reproduction. */

/* */

/*************************************************************/

Late assignment & makeup policy:

Assignments are expected to be turned in by midnight on the day they are due, and exams are to be taken on the announced date. Emergencies do arise, however, and sometimes this is not possible. If you find that you will have to miss an exam or turn in an assignment late, please let me know as soon as possible (preferably before the due date). Allowances will be made for school approved excuses, such as illnesses, family emergencies, official school trips, etc. Otherwise, a late penalty will be assessed on assignments turned in after the due date, and makeup exams will be at the discretion of the instructor. The late penalty for assignments will be 3^n-1, where n is the number of days the assignment is late (weekends count as a single day). Any assignment turned in more than a week late will be recorded as a zero grade.

Additional unique aspects of course:

In this course we will build models of real world processes and explore their validity and accuracy.

Emergency Evacuation:

The Evacuation Assembly Area for this course is in the quad, 50 feet from the building. In case a prolonged building evacuation is required, you will be directed to the building Evacuation Site. The Evacuation Site for this class is the Lobby of IRC. In any case, if a building evacuation occurs, stay together as a class so that we can determine that everyone has made it safely from the building. Evacuation is to occur any time the fire alarm sounds, an evacuation announcement is made, or a university official orders you to evacuate the building. After the building has been evacuated, it is not to be re-entered until University Police gives permission.