Sander van Splunter

Composing Web Services Using an Agent Factory

Web service composition can provide a value-chain between customers and suppliers. The increasing number of services, and thus possible combinations, demands the development of dynamic and automatic techniques for their composition. Current commercial solutions are limited and are primarily static and manual. Automation requires reasoning about (semantic descriptions of) the services. This paper describes our initial work which brings together agents, Web service and semantic Web technology. Our knowledge-based software engineering approach to the design of agents, known as the Agent Factory, is applied to the composition of Web services. Using semantic descriptions of Web services written in DAML-S, the design process in our Agent Factory derives a Web service configuration. This paper also includes some observations regarding our experiences with DAML-S, UDDI and WSDL for this purpose.

Structuring agents for adaptation

Agents need to be able to adapt to the dynamic nature of the environments in which they operate. Automated adaptation is an option that is only feasible if enough structure is provided. This paper describes a component-based structure within which dependencies between components are made explicit. An example of a simple web-page analysis agent is used to illustrate the structuring principles and elements.

Exploration of multi-layered knowledge sharing participation: the roles of perceived benefits and costs

This paper explores participants’ perceived benefits and costs that influence the quantity and the quality of voluntary participation in knowledge networks in a resources-constrained economy. A conceptual model of perceived benefits and costs of knowledge sharing is designed on the basis of literature. The influence of perceived benefit and cost on perceived quantity and quality of knowledge sharing are assessed on the basis of a survey with 283 participants in a business context within a resource-restrained economy. The results indicate that reputation, reciprocity, and altruism are perceived to benefit quantity of participation, while reciprocity, altruism, and knowledge self-efficacy are perceived to benefit the quality of participation in knowledge networks. Effort and time have a negative impact on both quantity and quality of participation in knowledge sharing.

Evaluating Critical Success Factors Model of Knowledge Management: An Analytic Hierarchy Process AHP Approach

Knowledge management is a critical issue in todays business world. Knowledge is considered to be one of the most strategic resources of a firm and sources of competitive advantage. This paper identifies and ranks Critical Success Factors CSFs for implementation of knowledge management in the Iranian Energy Sector. Using the Analytic hierarchy process AHP method the relative quantitative weights of 8 of the major CSFs for implementation of knowledge management are identified, based on analyses with KM designers in the Iranian energy sector. The outcomes of the research designate that the critical success factors in the order of importance are: corporate culture, human and financial resources, strategy and leadership, structures and procedures, meso environmental factors, knowledge management process, macro environmental factors, technology and infrastructure.

Agent-based information infrastructure for disaster management

The success of a disaster management process depends on effective, secure and efficient information flow. This paper proposes an agent-based distributed information infrastructure to enable the realization of such secure information flows in disasters. The proposed infrastructure uses software agents in the exchange and processing of information, secure and dynamic information sharing and automated information flow generation and configuration.

A Framework for Developing Agent-Based Distributed Applications

The development of large-scale distributed multi-agent systems in open dynamic environments is a challenge. System behavior is often not predictable and can only be evaluated by execution. This paper proposes a framework to support design and development of such systems: a framework in which both simulation and emulation play an important role. A distributed agent platform (AgentScape) is used to illustrate the potential of the framework.The development of large-scale distributed multi-agent systems in open dynamic environments is a challenge. System behavior is often not predictable and can only be evaluated by execution. This paper proposes a framework to support design and development of such systems: a framework in which both simulation and emulation play an important role. A distributed agent platform (AgentScape) is used to illustrate the potential of the framework.

The Role of Local Knowledge in Complex Web Service Reconfiguration

As the number of Web services in repositories on the World Wide Web increases so do the number of complex configurations of Web services. However, as the World Wide Web is dynamic, Web services come and go, temporarily or for good. As a result, complex Web service configurations need to be reconfigured on demand. To this purpose, complex Web service configurations need to include local knowledge about (1) the function, structure and behaviour of each component in a configuration; and (2) the dependencies between components at each level of composition. Templates are proposed as a means to represent such knowledge. To illustrate the process of reconfiguration, an example is given of reconfiguration of a complex Web service, for which a template is used specifying both types of local knowledge.

Employees’ participation in electronic networks of practice within a corporate group: perceived benefits and costs

This paper explores benefits and costs of knowledge exchange perceived by individuals in connected electronic networks of practice (ENoP) in a corporate setting. The results of 25 semi-structured interviews show 9 perceived benefits and 5 perceived costs to be of importance for knowledge exchange. Altruism and reciprocity are the two main perceived benefits from the knowledge providers’ perspective; problem solving is the main perceived benefit from the knowledge seekers’ perspective. Five perceived costs are identified for both knowledge seekers and knowledge providers; time and effort are the most frequently cited.

Expressing Intervals in Automated Service Negotiation

During automated negotiation of services between autonomous agents, utility functions are used to evaluate the terms of negotiation. These terms often include intervals of values which are prone to misinterpretation. It is often unclear if an interval embodies a continuum of real numbers or a subset of natural numbers. Furthermore, it is often unclear if an agent is expected to choose only one value, multiple values, a sub-interval or even multiple sub-intervals. Additional semantics are needed to clarify these issues. Normally, these semantics are stored in a domain ontology. However, ontologies are typically domain specific and static in nature. For dynamic environments, in which autonomous agents negotiate resources whose attributes and relationships change rapidly, semantics should be made explicit in the service negotiation. This paper identifies issues that are prone to misinterpretation and proposes a notation for expressing intervals. This notation is illustrated using an example in WS-Agreement.

Exploration Participants Engagement in Organisational Knowledge Sharing.

The importance of knowledge sharing within most organisations is well recognised. While abundant KM systems have been matured to encourage individual engagement in knowledge sharing, practical evidences show a low success rate of KM systems. This paper reports on a qualitative exploratory multi-case study to explore level participants’ engagement in knowledge sharing along the design principle for engagement of participatory systems. Results show that KM systems using a combined approach of supply- and demand side KM strongly influence participants’ engagement for knowledge sharing.