Marc Premm

A Multiagent Systems Perspective on Industry 4.0 Supply Networks

Industry 4.0 scenarios involve Cyber-Physical-Systems to achieve a higher degree of individualization. Multiagent systems show the main characteristics to reach the goal of increased individualization possibilities by flexible interactions of agents. However, the organizational complexity of individualized manufacturing processes and thus the complexity of current supply networks require the extension of current multiagent system models. Enabling interaction between various multiagent systems representing autonomous actors of a supply network is necessary to cope with the increased complexity. This paper presents ongoing research and adds to the literature by modelling multiagent systems as fractals of a supply network using logistics modelling approaches. We present three examples for applying the multiagent perspective to such Industry 4.0 supply networks.

Agents, Models and Semantic Integration in Support of Personal eHealth Knowledge Spaces

The advancements in healthcare practice have brought to the fore the need for flexible access to health-related information and created an ever-growing demand for the design, development and management of personalized knowledge spaces. In this paper, we present a web-based platform that generates a Personal eHealth Knowledge Space as an aggregation of several knowledge sources relevant for the provision of individualized personal services. To this end, novel technologies are exploited, such as knowledge on demand to lower the information overload for the end-users, agent-based communication and reasoning to support cooperation and decision making, and semantic integration to provide uniform access to heterogeneous information. All three different technologies are combined to create a novel web-based platform allowing seamless user interaction through a portal that supports personalized, granular and secure access to relevant information.

Personal eHealth Knowledge Spaces though Models, Agents and Semantics

In this paper, we present a web-based platform that generates a Personal eHealth Knowledge Space as an aggregation of several knowledge sources relevant for the provision of individualized personal services. To this end, novel technologies are exploited and demonstrated, such as knowledge on demand to lower the information overload for the end-users, agent-based communication and reasoning to support cooperation and decision making, and semantic integration to provide uniform access to heterogeneous information. All three technologies are combined to create a novel web-based platform allowing seamless user interaction through a portal that supports personalized, granular and secure access to relevant information. We demonstrate the portal and then the aforementioned technologies using real medical scenarios.

Improving Knowledge Provision for Shared Decision Making in Patient-Physician Relationships -- A Multiagent Organizational Approach

The paradigm of shared decision making in patient-physician relationships is well documented. Moreover, it is an integral aspect of sound patient centric healthcare delivery. Implementing such an approach within established healthcare processes has yet to be successfully realized. This void is causing problems in healthcare delivery in particular in EU countries such as Germany because knowledge sources are distributed and underlie strict privacy policies, while the lack of adequate shared decision making compromises the quality of healthcare delivery and can lead to errors and inefficient workflow. This paper serves to analyze the provision of personal guidance services for shared decision making in eHealth service networks. By doing so, we address the problem of distributed and privacy-aware knowledge sharing by the formation of agent-based organizations to represent the relationships of patients and physicians and study this problem from the perspective of multiagent systems, i.e. we develop technology enabled collaboration solutions. The efficacy of the proffered decision support system will be demonstrated by a scenario-based evaluation. We contend that such an approach will address the current void.

Using Togaf for Building a National Implementation Strategy for E-Health Services and Technologies in Burundi

In order to better align existing and future ICT implementations in the health domain with the strategic options defined by the National Plan for Health Development, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Burundi initiated in 2014 the development of a national e-health enterprise architecture based on the TOGAF methodology. A first part of the development cycle consisted of a detailed analysis of regulatory documents and strategic plans related to the Burundian health system. In a second part, semi-structured interviews were organized with a representative sample of relevant MoH health structures. The study demonstrated the donor driven unequal distribution of hardware equipment over health administration components and health facilities. Internet connectivity remains problematic and few health oriented business applications found their way to the Burundian health system. Paper based instruments remain predominant in Burundi’s health administration. The study also identified a series of problems introduced by the uncoordinated development of health ICT in Burundi such as the lack of standardization, data security risks, varying data quality, inadequate ICT infrastructures, an unregulated e-health sector and insufficient human capacity. The results confirm the challenging situation of the Burundian health information system but they also expose a number of bright spots that provide hope for the future: a political will to reclaim MoH leadership in the health information management domain, the readiness to develop e-health education and training programs and the opportunity to capitalize the experiences with DHIS2 deployment, results based financing monitoring and hospital information management systems implementation.

Bid-Price Control for the Formation of Multiagent Organisations

Agents that participate in a multiagent organisation must receive a reasonable compensation for delivering services to this organisation. Otherwise, the agents would refrain from joining the organisation due to their self-interest. Thus, the formation of multiagent organisations is no mechanical process, but subject to considerations of the involved agents. We approach this decision problem by a bid-price approach from quantity-based Revenue Management to maximise each individual agent’s expected revenue. The proposed method is evaluated in a simulation with competing service provider agents. The results suggest that our approach is robust for most cases with low demand and outweighs non-discriminating formation processes when supply exceeds demand.

Autonomous Agents in Multiagent Organizations.

Autonomous agents are constantly gaining relevance in economic applications. Autonomy as a characteristic of agents enables flexible behavior in cases of unforeseeable conditions. Multiagent systems research has analyzed various dimensions of autonomous behavior. However, the application of agents in an organizational context requires the actors to apply externally given rules that restrict agent autonomy. While multiagent systems aim at maximum flexibility, economical applications in organizations require stable structures. Multiagent organizations in terms of structured and stable multiagent systems are necessary to successfully link autonomous agents with organizations. Modelling autonomous agents in multiagent organizations requires to include the organizational structure and the operational processes, but also needs to consider the constitutive processes that enable the creation, adaption and dissolution of multiagent organizations. We survey extant literature from distributed artificial intelligence and management science and propose models for organizational structure and procedure of multiagent organizations. The models address new aspects for including autonomous agents in organizations that result from the linkage between both perspectives.

A Formalization of Multiagent Organizations in Business Information Systems

Multiagent (MA) organizations can be regarded as a functional part in business information systems, in which software agents negotiate conditions for participation in the organization. How the strategic behavior of self-interested agents and MA-Organizations affects the formation process, however, is still not known. This research is concerned with the specification of MA-Organizations in business information systems and the design of negotiation protocols for determining the agents participation conditions. We draw on mechanism design to model the participation decision of the agent and the organization as a bilateral trading game. In a simulation experiment we find that a rather simple manipulation scheme provides a suitable approximation for the equilibrium strategies employed by the agents.

Agent-Based Decision Support for Allocating Caregiving Resources in a Dementia Scenario

Due to the increasing number of Dementia patients, the overall costs for caregiving has grown by 32i¾?% between 2002 and 2008. The efficient use of smart decision support systems for managing ambulant care and mobile nursing services that provide professional care for Dementia patients is an important challenge to reduce cost and increase service quality. The optimal allocation of caregiving resources from different mobile nursing service firms to a growing number of Dementia patients, however, is a difficult problem in the healthcare domain. We approach this problem from a multiagent systems perspective by designing and implementing a distributed decision support system that utilizes an auction-based protocol for allocating caregiving resources subject to Dementia-specific service attributes. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed protocol by an early stage prototype implementation presenting the systems proof-of-concept.

Building а National Clinical Data Warehouse

Turkey has created an e-health vision along with the Health Transformation Program. In this framework, standard coding systems such as standard definitions of the institutions, databank of healthcare providers, standard disease, drug and medical supplies classifications have been developed and a national clinical data warehouse (Health-NET) was established. Health-NET is an integrated, safe, fast and expandable health information system which aims to improve efficiency and quality of health services by collecting all kinds of data produced in the health institutions in line with the standards and generating information adequate for all stakeholders of the collected data.