{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,24]],"date-time":"2026-04-24T02:05:12Z","timestamp":1776996312816,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,25]],"date-time":"2023-10-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1698192000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/copyright_policy#Background"}],"funder":[{"name":"Creation of a computational framework to model and study West Nile Disease","award":["67410"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["67410"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["ACM Trans. Model. Perform. Eval. Comput. Syst."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,31]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Computational modeling has become a widespread approach for studying real-world phenomena by using different modeling perspectives, in particular, the microscopic point of view concentrates on the behavior of the single components and their interactions from which the global system evolution emerges, while the macroscopic point of view represents the system\u2019s overall behavior abstracting as much as possible from that of the single components. The preferred point of view depends on the effort required to develop the model, on the detail level of the available information about the system to be modeled, and on the type of measures that are of interest to the modeler; each point of view may lead to a different modeling language and simulation paradigm. An approach adequate for the microscopic point of view is Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation, which has gained popularity in the last few decades but lacks a formal definition common to the different tools supporting it. This may lead to modeling mistakes and wrong interpretation of the results, especially when comparing models of the same system developed according to different points of view. The aim of the work described in this paper is to provide a common compositional modeling language from which both a macro and a micro simulation model can be automatically derived: these models are coherent by construction and may be studied through different simulation approaches and tools. A framework is thus proposed in which a model can be composed using a Petri Net formalism and then studied through both an Agent-Based Simulation and a classical Stochastic Simulation Algorithm, depending on the study goal.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3617681","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,30]],"date-time":"2023-08-30T09:51:03Z","timestamp":1693389063000},"page":"1-30","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["From Compositional Petri Net Modeling to Macro and Micro Simulation by Means of Stochastic Simulation and Agent-Based Models"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1147-8985","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elvio","family":"Amparore","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Informatica, Universit\u00e0 di Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6125-9460","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"Beccuti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Informatica, Universit\u00e0 di Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1349-1844","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paolo","family":"Castagno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Informatica, Universit\u00e0 di Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7124-4676","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simone","family":"Pernice","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Informatica, Universit\u00e0 di Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6571-9217","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giuliana","family":"Franceschinis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DiSIT, Universit\u00e0 del Piemonte Orientale and UdR UPO, Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale Telecomunicazioni, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0231-7653","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marzio","family":"Pennisi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DiSIT, Universit\u00e0 del Piemonte Orientale and UdR UPO, Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale Telecomunicazioni, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cosrev.2017.03.001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","volume-title":"Modelling with Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets","author":"Marsan Marco Ajmone","year":"1995","unstructured":"Marco Ajmone Marsan, Gianfranco Balbo, Gianni Conte, Susanna Donatelli, and Giuliana Franceschinis. 1995. Modelling with Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets. John Wiley & Sons Ltd."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-30599-8_9"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/BIBM52615.2021.9669796"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-06653-5_15"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","first-page":"1175","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems-Volume 3","author":"Bachrach Jonathan","year":"2008","unstructured":"Jonathan Bachrach, James McLurkin, and Anthony Grue. 2008. Protoswarm: A language for programming multi-robot systems using the amorphous medium abstraction. In Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems-Volume 3. 1175\u20131178."},{"issue":"6","key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","first-page":"793","article-title":"LDEF formalism for agent-based model development","volume":"46","author":"Bae Jang Won","year":"2015","unstructured":"Jang Won Bae and Il-Chul Moon. 2015. LDEF formalism for agent-based model development. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems 46, 6 (2015), 793\u2013808.","journal-title":"IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","volume-title":"An Introduction to Splines for Use in Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling","author":"Bartels Richard H.","year":"1995","unstructured":"Richard H. Bartels, John C. Beatty, and Brian A. Barsky. 1995. An Introduction to Splines for Use in Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling. Morgan Kaufmann."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-91825-5_2","volume-title":"Performance Engineering and Stochastic Modeling: 17th European Workshop, EPEW 2021, and 26th International Conference, ASMTA 2021, Virtual Event, December 9\u201310 and December 13\u201314, 2021, Proceedings","author":"Beccuti Marco","year":"2021","unstructured":"Marco Beccuti, Paolo Castagno, Giuliana Franceschinis, Marzio Pennisi, and Simone Pernice. 2021. A Petri net formalism to study systems at different scales exploiting agent-based and stochastic simulations. In Performance Engineering and Stochastic Modeling: 17th European Workshop, EPEW 2021, and 26th International Conference, ASMTA 2021, Virtual Event, December 9\u201310 and December 13\u201314, 2021, Proceedings. Springer, 22\u201343."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/3-540-55610-9_167"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","series-title":"16th International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets","first-page":"103","volume":"935","author":"Best Eike","year":"1995","unstructured":"Eike Best, Hans Fleischhack, Wojciech Fraczak, Richard P. Hopkins, Hanna Klaudel, and Elisabeth Pelz. 1995. A class of composable high level Petri nets with an application to the semantics of B(PN) \\(^2\\) . In 16th International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets(Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 935). Springer, 103\u2013120."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"248","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118762745.ch12","article-title":"Multi-method modelling: AnyLogic","author":"Borshchev Andrei","year":"2014","unstructured":"Andrei Borshchev, Sally Brailsford, Leonid Churilov, and Brian Dangerfield. 2014. Multi-method modelling: AnyLogic. Discrete-event Simulation and System Dynamics for Management Decision Making (2014), 248\u2013279.","journal-title":"Discrete-event Simulation and System Dynamics for Management Decision Making"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1345","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-43505-2_69","volume-title":"Springer Handbook of Computational Intelligence","author":"Bruneo D.","year":"2015","unstructured":"D. Bruneo, M. Scarpa, A. Bobbio, D. Cerotti, and M. Gribaudo. 2015. An intelligent swarm of Markovian agents. In Springer Handbook of Computational Intelligence, J. Kacprzyk and W. Pedrycz (Eds.). Springer Berlin, 1345\u20131359."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5555\/647740.735802"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_2","first-page":"125","volume-title":"Quantitative Evaluation of Systems, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference, QEST 2015","volume":"9259","author":"Capra L.","year":"2015","unstructured":"L. Capra, M. De Pierro, and G. Franceschinis. 2015. Computing structural properties of symmetric nets. In Quantitative Evaluation of Systems, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference, QEST 2015, Vol. 9259. Springer International Publishing, 125\u2013140."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_2","series-title":"Proc. of the 41st Int. Conference Petri Nets 2020","first-page":"381","volume":"12152","author":"Capra L.","year":"2020","unstructured":"L. Capra, M. De Pierro, and G. Franceschinis. 2020. SNexpression: A symbolic calculator for symmetric net expressions. In Proc. of the 41st Int. Conference Petri Nets 2020(Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), Vol. 12152). Springer, 381\u2013391."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"344","DOI":"10.1186\/s12859-020-03648-6","article-title":"A computational framework for modeling and studying pertussis epidemiology and vaccination","volume":"21","author":"Castagno P.","year":"2020","unstructured":"P. Castagno, S. Pernice, G. Ghetti, M. Povero, L. Pradelli, D. Paolotti, G. Balbo, M. Sereno, and M. Beccuti. 2020. A computational framework for modeling and studying pertussis epidemiology and vaccination. BMC Bioinformatics 21 (2020), 344.","journal-title":"BMC Bioinformatics"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.simpat.2018.02.002"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/12.247838"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.1109\/PNPM.1991.238773","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Petri Nets and Performance Models PNPM91","author":"Chiola G.","year":"1991","unstructured":"G. Chiola and G. Franceschinis. 1991. A structural colour simplification in well-formed coloured nets. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Petri Nets and Performance Models PNPM91. 144\u2013153."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tcs.2009.02.037"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_2","first-page":"2003","article-title":"Repast: An extensible framework for agent simulation","volume":"36","author":"Collier Nick","year":"2003","unstructured":"Nick Collier. 2003. Repast: An extensible framework for agent simulation. The University of Chicago\u2019s Social Science Research 36 (2003), 2003.","journal-title":"The University of Chicago\u2019s Social Science Research"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_2","first-page":"392","article-title":"A Petri net model for CSP","volume":"81","author":"Cindio F. De","year":"1981","unstructured":"F. De Cindio, G. De Michelis, L. Pomello, and C. Simone. 1981. A Petri net model for CSP. Proceedings of Convenci\u00f3n Inform\u00e1tica Latina (CIL\u201981), Barcelona 81 (1981), 392\u2013406.","journal-title":"Proceedings of Convenci\u00f3n Inform\u00e1tica Latina (CIL\u201981), Barcelona"},{"issue":"4","key":"e_1_3_3_25_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e95150","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0095150","article-title":"Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer","volume":"9","author":"Figueredo Grazziela P.","year":"2014","unstructured":"Grazziela P. Figueredo, Peer-Olaf Siebers, Markus R. Owen, Jenna Reps, and Uwe Aickelin. 2014. Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer. PloS One 9, 4 (2014), e95150.","journal-title":"PloS One"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_26_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1021\/j100540a008"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_27_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1063\/1.1378322"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_28_2","first-page":"39","volume-title":"International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science","author":"Kotov Vadim E.","year":"1978","unstructured":"Vadim E. Kotov. 1978. An algebra for parallelism based on Petri nets. In International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science. Springer, 39\u201355."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_29_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12859-018-2296-x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_30_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-22110-1_47"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_31_2","volume-title":"Simulation Modeling and Analysis, Fifth Edition","author":"Law Averill M.","year":"2015","unstructured":"Averill M. Law. 2015. Simulation Modeling and Analysis, Fifth Edition. McGraw-Hill."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_32_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bib\/bbx150"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_33_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0037549705058073"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_34_2","volume-title":"Lecture Notes in Computer Science","author":"Milner Robin","year":"1980","unstructured":"Robin Milner. 1980. A calculus of communicating systems. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 92."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_35_2","unstructured":"Nelson Minar Roger Burkhart Chris Langton and Manor Askenazi. 1996. The swarm simulation system: A toolkit for building multi-agent simulations. (1996)."},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_3_36_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/s41109-020-00299-7","article-title":"A multi-agent model to study epidemic spreading and vaccination strategies in an urban-like environment","volume":"5","author":"Nadini M.","year":"2020","unstructured":"M. Nadini, L. Zino, A. Rizzo, and M. Porfiri. 2020. A multi-agent model to study epidemic spreading and vaccination strategies in an urban-like environment. Applied Network Science 5, 1 (2020). www.scopus.com. Cited By :7.","journal-title":"Applied Network Science"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_37_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1155\/2012\/850754"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_38_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liliana Perez and Suzana Dragicevic. 2009. An agent-based approach for modeling dynamics of contagious disease spread. International Journal of Health Geographics 8 1 (2009).","DOI":"10.1186\/1476-072X-8-50"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_39_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-020-05490-w"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_40_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Simone Pernice Marzio Pennisi Greta Romano Alessandro Maglione Santina Cutrupi Francesco Pappalardo Gianfranco Balbo Marco Beccuti Francesca Cordero and Raffaele A. Calogero. 2019. A computational approach based on the Colored Petri net formalism for studying multiple sclerosis. BMC Bioinformatics 20 6 (2019) 1\u201317.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12859-019-3196-4"},{"issue":"17","key":"e_1_3_3_41_2","first-page":"1","article-title":"Computational modeling of the immune response in multiple sclerosis using Epimod framework.","volume":"21","author":"Pernice S.","year":"2020","unstructured":"S. Pernice, L. Follia, A. Maglione, M. Pennisi, F. Pappalardo, F. Novelli, M. Clerico, M. Beccuti, F. Cordero, and S. Rolla. 2020. Computational modeling of the immune response in multiple sclerosis using Epimod framework. BMC Bioinformatics 21, 17 (2020), 1\u201320.","journal-title":"BMC Bioinformatics"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_42_2","first-page":"2013","article-title":"The interval testing procedure: Inference for functional data controlling the family wise error rate on intervals","volume":"13","author":"Pini Alessia","year":"2013","unstructured":"Alessia Pini and Simone Vantini. 2013. The interval testing procedure: Inference for functional data controlling the family wise error rate on intervals. MOX-Report 13 (2013), 2013.","journal-title":"MOX-Report"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_43_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3486634"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_3_44_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1004012","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1004012","article-title":"150 years of the mass action law","volume":"11","author":"Voit Eberhard O.","year":"2015","unstructured":"Eberhard O. Voit, Harald A. Martens, and Stig W. Omholt. 2015. 150 years of the mass action law. PLoS Computational Biology 11, 1 (2015), e1004012.","journal-title":"PLoS Computational Biology"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_45_2","unstructured":"U. Wilensky. 1999. NetLogo. http:\/\/ccl.northwestern.edu\/netlogo\/"}],"container-title":["ACM Transactions on Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Computing Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3617681","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/3617681","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,17]],"date-time":"2025-06-17T16:36:32Z","timestamp":1750178192000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3617681"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,25]]},"references-count":44,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,31]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/3617681"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3617681","relation":{},"ISSN":["2376-3639","2376-3647"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2376-3639","type":"print"},{"value":"2376-3647","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,25]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2022-11-30","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2023-08-05","order":1,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2023-10-25","order":2,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}