Computer Simulation in Human Population Studies

Computer Simulation in Human Population Studies contains the proceedings of a conference held at Pennsylvania State University on June 12-14, 1972, under the sponsorship of the Social Science Research Council. The conference provided a forum for discussing the application of computer simulation techniques to human population studies and organized topics around four themes: anthropology and social systems; genetics and adaptive systems; demography; and simulation methodology.

Comprised of 23 chapters, this volume begins with an analysis of two tests of computer microsimulation: the effect of an incest taboo on population viability, and the effect of age differences between spouses on the skewing of their consanguineal relationships. The reader is then introduced to computer simulation of incest prohibition and clan proscription rules in closed, finite population; an empirical perspective on simulation models of human population; and models applicable to geographic variation in humans. Subsequent chapters deal with the role of co-adapted sets in the process of adaptation; simulation of human reproduction; and the mathematics of population simulation models.

This book will be of interest to anthropologists, geneticists, biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and social scientists.

Contenu

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Participants
Other Contributors to this Volume
Anthropology and Social Systems
Two Tests of Computer Microsimulation: The Effect of an Incest Tabu on Population Viability, and The Effect of Age Differences Between Spouses on the Skewing of Consanguineal Relationships Between Them
Computer Simulation of Incest Prohibition and Clan Proscription Rules in Closed, Finite Populations
An Empirical Perspective on Simulation Models of Human Population
Estimation of Changing Rates by Simulation
Simulation Over Space
Simulating Information and Innovation Diffusion Processes
Genetics and Adaptive Systems
Models Applicable to Geographic Variation in Man
Recessive Lethals and the Birth Interval
A Brief Discussion of the Role of Co-Adapted Sets in the Process of Adaptation
Simulation of Small Human Populations
Avoidance of Incest: Genetic and Demographic Consequences
A Simulation of the Fate of a Mutant Gene of Neutral Selective Value in a Primitive Population
Demography
Simulating Human Reproduction: How Complicated Should a Model Be?
Research and Experience with Demographic Simulation Models
The Evaluation of Four Alternative Family Planning Programs for Popland, a Less Developed Country
Applications of POPREP, a Modification of POPSIM
The Assessment of Three Methods of Estimating Births Averted
The Time Response in Averted Births
A Migration Model
Simulation Methodology
On Mathematics of Population Simulation Models
Footnotes on Implications of Aggregated Data Used in Population Simulation
Computer Generation of Random Variates
The Use of DYSTAL in Simulation
Special Purpose Simulation Languages for Population Studies
Bibliography
Index