Ronald Ashri
University of Southampton
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Featured researches published by Ronald Ashri.
adaptive agents and multi-agents systems | 2005
Ronald Ashri; Sarvapali D. Ramchurn; Jordi Sabater; Michael Luck; Nicholas R. Jennings
Current mechanisms for evaluating the trustworthiness of an agent within an electronic marketplace depend either on using a history of interactions or on recommendations from other agents. In the first case, these requirements limit what an agent with no prior interaction history can do. In the second case, they transform the problem into one of trusting the recommending agent. However, these mechanisms do not consider the relationships between agents that arise through interactions (such as buying or selling) or through overarching organisational structures (such as hierarchical or flat), which can also aid in evaluating trustworthiness. In response, this paper outlines a method that enables agents to evaluate the trustworthiness of their counterparts, based solely on an analysis of such relationships. Specifically, relationships are identified using a generic technique in conjunction with a basic model for agent-based marketplaces. They are then interpreted through a trust model that enables the inference of trust valuations based on the different types of relationships. In this way, we provide a further component for a trust evaluation model that addresses some of the limitations of existing work.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science | 2003
Ronald Ashri; Iyad Rahwan; Michael Luck
Automated negotiation is gaining interest, but issues relating to the construction of negotiating agent architectures have not been addressed sufficiently. Towards this end, we present a novel agent construction model that enables the development of a range of agent architectures based on a common set of building blocks. In this paper we identify the fundamental components needed for two generic classes of negotiating agents: simple negotiators and argumentative negotiators, and use our model to describe them. We demonstrate how the model allows us to reuse fundamental components across these negotiation architectures.
International Bi-Conference Workshop on Agent-Oriented Information Systems | 2003
Talal Rahwan; Tarek Rahwan; Iyad Rahwan; Ronald Ashri
This paper describes AbIMA, an agent-based intelligent mobile assistant for supporting users prior to and during the execution of their tasks. The agent is based on the well-known AgentSpeak(L) agent architecture and programming language, which provides explicit representations of agents’ beliefs, desires and intentions (BDI). AbIMA is implemented using Java 2 Mobile Edition and is tested on a hand-held computer. We also provide conceptual foundations and discuss various challenges relating to the use of cognitive agent architectures for intelligent mobile user support.
database and expert systems applications | 2000
Ronald Ashri; Michael Luck
One of the key problems of recent years has been the divide between theoretical work in agent based systems and its practical complement which have, to a large extent, developed along different paths. The Paradigma implementation framework has been designed with the aim of narrowing this gap. It relies on an extensive formal agent framework implemented using recent advances in Java technology. Specifically, Paradigma uses Jini connectivity technology to enable the creation of online communities in support of the development of agent based systems.
systems, man and cybernetics | 2004
Michael Luck; Steve Munroe; Ronald Ashri; F. López y López
Cooperation is the fundamental underpinning of multi-agent systems, allowing agents to interact to achieve their goals. However, agents must manage the risk associated with interacting with others who have different objectives, or who may fail to fulfill their commitments. In this paper, we consider the role of trust and norms in a motivation-based view of agency. Motivations provide a means for representing and reasoning about overall objectives, trust offers a mechanism for modeling and reasoning about reliability, honesty, etc., and norms provide a framework within which to apply them.
international semantic web conference | 2004
Ronald Ashri; Grit Denker; Darren Marvin; Mike Surridge; Terry R. Payne
A central requirement for achieving the vision of run-time discovery and dynamic composition of services is the provision of appropriate descriptions of the operation of a service, that is, how the service interacts with agents or other services. In this paper, we use experience gained through the development of real-life Grid applications to produce a set of requirements for such descriptions and then attempt to match those requirements against the offerings of existing work, such as OWL-S [1] and IRS-II [2]. Based on this analysis we identify which requirements are not addressed by current research and, in response, produce a model for describing the interaction protocol of a service in response. The main contributions of this model are the ability to describe the interactions of multiple parties with respect to a single service, distinguish between interactions initiated by the service itself and interactions that are initiated by clients or other cooperating services, and capture within the description service state changes relevant to interacting parties that are either a result of internal service events or interactions. The aim of the model is not to replace existing work, since it only focuses on the description of the interaction protocol of a service, but to inform the further development of such work.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science | 2002
Ronald Ashri; Michael Luck; Mark d'Inverno
As the field of agent-based computing has continued to develop, there have been several contributions to its theoretical underpinnings, and several others to supporting the efforts of practical systems development. Yet the connection between the two has been limited at best. In this paper we aim to address these limitations through a consideration of appropriate agent infrastructure that can support principled development of agent systems based on a strong conceptual framework. As well as a general discussion of infrastructure requirements in this context, we also describe the Paradigma implementation environment, based on the smart agent framework, which represents our initial efforts in this direction.
cooperative information agents | 2006
Ronald Ashri; Terry R. Payne; Michael Luck; Mike Surridge; Carles Sierra; J. A. Aguilar; Pablo Noriega
As the technical infrastructure to support Grid environments matures, attention must be focused on integrating such technical infrastructure with technologies to support more dynamic access to services, and ensuring that such access is appropriately monitored and secured. Such capabilities will be key in providing a safe environment that allow the creation of virtual organisations at run-time. This paper addresses this issue by analysing how work from within the field of Electronic Institutions (EIs) can be employed to provide security support for Grid environments, and introduces the notion of a Semantic Firewall (SFW) responsible for mediating interactions with protected services given a set of access policies. An overarching guideline is that such integration should be pragmatic, taking into account the real-life lessons learned whilst developing, deploying and using the GRIA infrastructure for Grid environments.
Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence | 2005
Ronald Ashri; Michael Luck; Mark d'Inverno
In order for agent-oriented software engineering to prove effective it must use principled notions of agents and enabling specification and reasoning, while still considering routes to practical implementation. This paper deals with the issue of individual agent specification and construction, departing from the conceptual basis provided by the smart agent framework. smart offers a descriptive specification of an agent architecture but omits consideration of issues relating to construction and control. In response, we introduce two new views to complement smart: a behavioural specification and a structural specification which, together, determine the components that make up an agent, and how they operate. In this way, we move from abstract agent system specification to practical implementation. These three aspects are combined to create an agent construction model, actsmart, which is then used to define the AgentSpeak(L) architecture in order to illustrate the application of actsmart.
adaptive agents and multi-agents systems | 2004
Ronald Ashri; Michael Luck; Mark d'Inverno
The ability of agents to interact in order to collectively achieve goals is one of the central arguments for the utility of multi-agent systems. Such interactions take place whenever one agent performs an action which, intentionally or not, affects one or more other agents. Thus, when agents interact we can say that they are related by virtue of the fact that they are affecting each other. Identifying, analysing and understanding the implications of the various types of such relationships is of critical importance, since they can have both beneficial and adverse effects on the performance of the overall system and the individuals within it. Therefore, if coordination and regulation of agents is to be achieved as an agent society evolves, either by external intervention or through interventions by the agents themselves, we require some means of identifying the relationships between agents at run-time. Of course, this information is only useful if we are also able to determine how the identified relationships may impact on individual agent operation and the system as a whole. Thus, we also require a principled and comprehensive typology for characterising agent relationships. In this paper we outline just such a model.