Javier Palanca

Supporting Agent Organizations

Organizational Theory concepts have been adapted to improve, extend and facilitate Agent Organizations modeling. Thus, three basic organizational topologies from which other more complex organizations can be composed have been identified. Moreover, this organizational modeling has been implemented in a specific MAS platform (SPADE) making use of Multiuser Conference technology. We have also defined several services for SPADE that ease the implementation of organization dynamics, such as member access and agent interaction control.

Adding new communication services to the FIPA message transport system

Agent communication is one of the most important aspects in the multi-agent system area. In recent years, several works have been developed that are related to the agent communication problem. This paper presents a new method for agent and agent platform communication in accordance with FIPA proposals. It uses the Jabber protocol as a new message transport protocol (MTP). This protocol provides additional services that are not included in the current standard FIPA MTP. It provides facilities for “presence notification”, “multi-user conference” and “security services“. As a result of this work, a new plug-in for the JADE platform that incorporates this transport protocol has been developed.

receteame.com: A Persuasive Social Recommendation System

Over the last few years, the emergence of social networks has changed the main activities performed by users on the Internet, going from a mere search and navigation over stored information to a direct interaction with other users. Users have evolved from being consumers of information to real producers (what is known as the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0). Due to the increasing number of heterogeneous users and information that is generated, their unpredictable behavior and the high dynamism of the network structure, users have to cope with a high degree of uncertainty when choosing who to interact to or what information to consume [1]. In order to deal with this uncertainty, users require tools that help them to make decisions regarding their activities within the network. Recommendation systems [2] [3], which are systems that provide effective recommendations about what action users can take or what information they can consume, can be effective tools for performing theses decision-support tasks.

Deadline prediction scheduling based on benefits

This paper describes a scheduling algorithm that composes a scheduling plan which is able to predict the completion time of the arriving tasks. This is done by performing CPU booking. This prediction is used to establish a temporal commitment with the client that invokes the execution of the task. This kind of scheduler is very useful in scenarios where Service-Oriented Computing is deployed and the execution time is used as a parameter for QoS. This scheduler is part of an architecture that is based on the Distributed Goal-Oriented Computing paradigm, which allows agents to express their own goals and to reach them by means of service compositions. Moreover, the scheduler is also able to prioritize those tasks which provide greater benefits to the OS. In this work, the scheduler has been designed in several iterations and tested by means of a set of experiments that compare the scheduler algorithm with a representative set of scheduling algorithms. Highlights? Scheduling algorithm that composes plans which predict the completion time of tasks. ? This scheduler is part of the Distributed Goal-Oriented Computing paradigm. ? Goal-Oriented paradigm increases OS fault-tolerance and makes it adaptive. ? The scheduler prioritizes those tasks which provide greater benefits to the OS.

A Persuasive Cognitive Assistant System

In this paper, we present a persuasive recommendation module to be included into the iGenda framework. iGenda is a cognitive assistant that helps care-receivers and caregivers in the management of their agendas. The proposed new module will allow the system to select and recommend to the users the action that potentially best suits to his/her interests. The multi-agent approach followed by the iGenda framework facilitates an easy integration of these new features.

Distributed goal-oriented computing

For current computing frameworks, the ability to dynamically use the resources that are allocated in the network has become a key success factor. As long as the size of the network increases, it is more difficult to find how to solve the problems that the users are presenting. Users usually do know what they want to do, but they do not know how to do it. If the user knows its goals it could be easier to help him with a different approach. In this work we present a new computing paradigm based on goals. This paradigm is called Distributed goal-oriented computing paradigm. To implement this paradigm an execution framework for a goal-oriented operating system has been designed. In this paradigm users express their goals and the OS is in charge of helping the achievement of these goals by means of a service-oriented approach.

Argumentation Schemes for Events Suggestion in an e-Health Platform

In this work, we propose the introduction of persuasion techniques that guide the users into interacting with the Ambient Assisted Living framework iGenda. It is a cognitive assistant that manages active daily living activities, monitors user’s health condition, and creates a social network between users via mobile devices. The objective is to be inserted in a healthcare environment and to provide features like adaptive interfaces, user profiling and machine learning processes that enhance the usage experience. The inclusion of a persuasive architecture (based on argumentation schemes) enables the system to provide recommendations to the users that fit their profile and interests, thus increases the chance of a positive interaction.

U-Tool: A Urban-Toolkit for Enhancing City Maps Through Citizens’ Activity

The study of the dynamics of cities has become a topic of particular relevance when planning the urban development or analyzing their influence on citizen activities and how citizens interact with the cities. The availability of updated data in real-time about what is happening in a city is of vital importance for the development of what is known as smart cities.

Argumentation-Based Hybrid Recommender System for Recommending Learning Objects

Recommender Systems aim to provide users with search results close to their needs, making predictions of their preferences. In virtual learning environments, Educational Recommender Systems deliver learning objects according to the student’s characteristics, preferences and learning needs. A learning object is an educational content unit, which once found and retrieved may assist students in their learning process. In previous work, authors have designed and evaluated several recommendation techniques for delivering the most appropriate learning object for each specific student. Also, they have combined these techniques by using hybridization methods, improving the performance of isolated techniques. However, traditional hybidization methods fail when the learning objects delivered by each recommendation technique are very different from those selected by the other techniques (there is no agreement about the best learning object to recommend). In this paper, we present a hybrid recommendation method based on argumentation theory that combines content-based, collaborative and knowledge-based recommendation techniques and provides the students with those objects for which the system is able to generate more arguments to justify their suitability. This method has been tested by using a database with real data about students and learning objects, getting promising results.

A Goal-Oriented Execution Module Based on Agents

In this work a goal-oriented execution module is presented. Its aim is to explore the definition of new Operating Systems abstractions based on paradigms that have been developed during the recent years, filling the gap between classical Operating Systems designs and current trends in software engineering. This works makes an approach to a system where applications are based in technologies like multi-agent systems and service-oriented computing, defining the basis that an Operating System needs to run the abstractions provided by these paradigms.