Huib Aldewereld

Implementing Norms in Multiagent Systems

There is a wide agreement on the use of norms in order to specify the expected behaviour of agents in open MAS. However, current norm formalisms focus on the declarative nature of norms. In order to be implemented, these norms should be translated into operational representations. In this paper we present our preliminary work on implementation of norm enforcement and issues on verifiability that highly affect this enforcement. We propose some mechanisms to be included in agent platforms in order to ease the implementation.

Ubi Lex, Ibi Poena: Designing Norm Enforcement in E-Institutions

The viability of the application of the e-Institution paradigm for obtaining overall desired behavior in open multiagent systems (MAS) lies in the possibility of bringing the norms of the institution to have an actual impact on the MAS. Institutional norms have to be implementedin the society. The paper addresses two possible views on implementing norms, the so-called regimentationof norms, and the enforcementof norms, with particular attention to this last one. Aim of the paper is to provide a theory for the understanding of the notion of enforcement and for the design of enforcement mechanisms in e-Institutions.

Operationalisation of norms for usage in electronic institutions

Agent-mediated electronic institutions belong to a new and promising field where interactions between a group of agents are regulated by means of a set of explicit norms. Current implementations of such open-agent systems are, however, mostly using constraints on the behaviour of the agents, thereby severely limiting the autonomy of the agents. To increase the autonomy of agents and possibly boost the efficiency of the overall system, a more flexible norm enforcement is required. However, as norms make extensive use of vague and ambiguous concepts and lack operational meaning (not expressing how the norm should be enforced), translating norms for usage with such a flexible enforcement mechanism might be difficult. In this paper we propose an extension to electronic institutions to allow for a flexible enforcement of norms, and manners to help overcome the difficulties of translating abstract norms.

OperettA: organization-oriented development environment

The increasing complexity of distributed applications requires new modeling and engineering approaches. Such domains require representing the regulating structures explicitly and independently from the acting components (or agents). Organization computational models, based on Organization Theory, have been advocated to specify such systems. In this paper, we present the organizational modeling approach OperA and a graphical environment for the specification and analysis of organizational models, OperettA. OperA provides an expressive way for defining open organizations distinguishing explicitly between the organizational aims, and the agents who act in it. That is, OperA enables the specification of organizational structures, requirements and objectives, and at the same time allows participants to have the freedom to act according to their own capabilities and demands. OperettA takes a Model Driven Engineering approach combining different formal methods and enables model validation.

Enhancing Visibility in International Supply Chains: The Data Pipeline Concept

With increasing global trade and growing emphasis on security, enhanced information sharing between actors in global supply chains is required. Currently, the data about cargo available in the supply chain does not provide a timely and accurate description of the goods. To solve this data quality issue, data should be captured upstream at the point where goods are packed for transport to the buyer. Without ICT, it was not possible to get timely access to the original trade data. The data pipeline concept is an IT innovation to enable capturing data at the source. The data pipeline accesses existing information systems used by the parties in international supply chains. This paper explores the data pipeline concept and the benefits that businesses and governments could obtain from such an innovation. This study also identifies the need for a public-private governance model that has to accompany the technical innovation.

Normative monitoring: semantics and implementation

The concept of Normative Systems can be used in the scope of Multi-Agent Systems to provide reliable contexts of interactions between agents where acceptable behaviour is specified in terms of norms. Literature on the topic is growing rapidly, and there is a considerable amount of theoretical frameworks for normative environments, some in the form of Electronic Institutions. Most of these approaches focus on regulative norms rather than on substantive norms, and lack a proper implementation of the ontological connection between brute events and institutional facts. In this paper we present a formalism for the monitoring of both regulative (deontic) and substantive (constitutive) norms based on Structural Operational Semantics, its reduction to Production Systems semantics and our current implementation compliant to these semantics.

Adaptable, Organization-Aware, Service-Oriented Computing

Service-oriented computing is the new wave emerging from maturing Web services and the adoption of elements from Semantic Web technology. More sophistication, in response to business requirements, does of course not make it easier to use or to control. In particular, business processes demand resilience and real-time adaptation in the face of changing business requirements, incorporation of alternative services and finding suitable substitutes when those needed are unavailable. The European Union-funded Alive project is prototyping ideas, driven by commercial and industrial use cases, that utilize research in organizational modeling, software agents, model-driven engineering, artificial intelligence, the Semantic Web, and Web services to construct tools and demonstrators to address these needs. This article outlines the Alive architecture for service-oriented computing, describes some of the innovative tools we have developed and illustrates it all with a detailed run-through from one of our use cases.

Operationalisation of Norms for Electronic Institutions

Agent-mediated electronic institutions belong to a new and promising field where interactions among agents are regulated by means of a set of explicit norms. Current implementations of such open-agent systems are, however, mostly using constraints on the behaviour of the agents, thereby severely limiting the autonomy of the agents. In this paper we propose an extension to electronic institutions to allow for a flexible enforcement of norms, and manners to help overcome the difficulties of translating abstract norms for the use of implementation.

Modeling warehouse logistics using agent organizations

Warehouse management systems are traditionally highly optimized to a specific situation and do not provide the flexibility required in contemporary business environments. Agents are advocated to provide adaptiveness and flexibility, and have been used to solve specific problems in the warehouse logistics domain. However, for creating a general warehouse management system, it is not clear for developers how and when to implement them. In this paper, we describe many of the design decisions when constructing a warehouse management system, and illustrate how and when agents (and agent-organizations) are useful.

Agent-based crisis management

Crisis management is the process by which an organisation deals with a major unpredictable event that threatens to harm the organisation or the whole society. Three elements are common to most definitions of crisis: (a) a threat to the organisation, (b) the element of surprise, and (c) a short decision time [11]. Crisis management, or disaster management, is a relatively new field of management. Typically, proactive crisis management activities include forecasting potential crises and planning how to deal with them, for example, how to recover if your company’s computer system completely fails, but also how to evacuate the city of Rotterdam in case of a major flood [10]. Hopefully, organisations have time and resources to complete a crisis management plan before they experience a crisis. Crisis management in the face of a current, real crisis includes identifying the real nature of a current crisis, intervening to minimise damage and recovering from the crisis.