Browsing by Subject "FASD"

One challenge in the research of societal phenomena is to find the balance between realism and tractable models. Molecular dynamics simulations are based on physical theories that use computationally efficient abstractions for interactions. Formulation of human interactions as physical potentials creates an opportunity to apply the computational methods from physics to social sciences. This thesis tries to answer if a simulation model based on physical pair potentials can describe the transgenerational heritance of prenatal alcohol exposure. The society is abstracted to a surface. Individuals can reproduce and die. Their life histories depend on the environment that is presented as a resource lattice with general and alcohol resource particles. The results are promising, showing decent conformity with epidemiological observations. In many cases, an analogical mechanism for societal phenomena can be found from surface physics. Additionally, material physics and epidemiology tackle with similar problems in observation of structures. To this end, this line of research has potential.