Cultural awareness in social agents in activity generation on a macro scale.
Summary
In this thesis a model for cultural awareness for agents in activity generation
is proposed. A social network generation process is used to represent
social connections necessary for realistic cultural behaviour among
agents. Using need-based activity generation, that uses random utility
maximisation, agents will plan their agendas for multiple days. Special
activities are introduced to model dynamic decision making of the agents
during the day, called dynamic activities, next to the more static activities
that are planned for the whole day beforehand. Hofstede’s model of
culture is used to adjust the utility functions, to make the agents more
cultural aware. An experiment is set up to show the effectiveness of the
model, i.e. the agents’ behaviour is changed according to the expectations
of Hofstede’s model, and it is shown why the results are non-conclusive.