6,036 research outputs found
Separating Agent-Functioning and Inter-Agent Coordination by Activated Modules: The DECOMAS Architecture
The embedding of self-organizing inter-agent processes in distributed
software applications enables the decentralized coordination system elements,
solely based on concerted, localized interactions. The separation and
encapsulation of the activities that are conceptually related to the
coordination, is a crucial concern for systematic development practices in
order to prepare the reuse and systematic integration of coordination processes
in software systems. Here, we discuss a programming model that is based on the
externalization of processes prescriptions and their embedding in Multi-Agent
Systems (MAS). One fundamental design concern for a corresponding execution
middleware is the minimal-invasive augmentation of the activities that affect
coordination. This design challenge is approached by the activation of agent
modules. Modules are converted to software elements that reason about and
modify their host agent. We discuss and formalize this extension within the
context of a generic coordination architecture and exemplify the proposed
programming model with the decentralized management of (web) service
infrastructures
Blackboard Rules for Coordinating Context-aware Applications in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks
Thanks to improvements in wireless communication technologies and increasing
computing power in hand-held devices, mobile ad hoc networks are becoming an
ever-more present reality. Coordination languages are expected to become
important means in supporting this type of interaction. To this extent we argue
the interest of the Bach coordination language as a middleware that can handle
and react to context changes as well as cope with unpredictable physical
interruptions that occur in opportunistic network connections. More concretely,
our proposal is based on blackboard rules that model declaratively the actions
to be taken once the blackboard content reaches a predefined state, but also
that manage the engagement and disengagement of hosts and transient sharing of
blackboards. The idea of reactiveness has already been introduced in previous
work, but as will be appreciated by the reader, this article presents a new
perspective, more focused on a declarative setting.Comment: In Proceedings FOCLASA 2012, arXiv:1208.432
Encrypted Shared Data Spaces
The deployment of Share Data Spaces in open, possibly hostile, environments arises the need of protecting the confidentiality of the data space content. Existing approaches focus on access control mechanisms that protect the data space from untrusted agents. The basic assumption is that the hosts (and their administrators) where the data space is deployed have to be trusted. Encryption schemes can be used to protect the data space content from malicious hosts. However, these schemes do not allow searching on encrypted data. In this paper we present a novel encryption scheme that allows tuple matching on completely encrypted tuples. Since the data space does not need to decrypt tuples to perform the search, tuple confidentiality can be guaranteed even when the data space is deployed on malicious hosts (or an adversary gains access to the host). Our scheme does not require authorised agents to share keys for inserting and retrieving tuples. Each authorised agent can encrypt, decrypt, and search encrypted tuples without having to know other agentsâ keys. This is beneficial inasmuch as it simplifies the task of key management. An implementation of an encrypted data space based on this scheme is described and some preliminary performance results are given
Agent Based Modeling and Simulation: An Informatics Perspective
The term computer simulation is related to the usage of a computational model in order to improve the understanding of a system's behavior and/or to evaluate strategies for its operation, in explanatory or predictive schemes. There are cases in which practical or ethical reasons make it impossible to realize direct observations: in these cases, the possibility of realizing 'in-machina' experiments may represent the only way to study, analyze and evaluate models of those realities. Different situations and systems are characterized by the presence of autonomous entities whose local behaviors (actions and interactions) determine the evolution of the overall system; agent-based models are particularly suited to support the definition of models of such systems, but also to support the design and implementation of simulators. Agent-Based models and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) have been adopted to simulate very different kinds of complex systems, from the simulation of socio-economic systems to the elaboration of scenarios for logistics optimization, from biological systems to urban planning. This paper discusses the specific aspects of this approach to modeling and simulation from the perspective of Informatics, describing the typical elements of an agent-based simulation model and the relevant research.Multi-Agent Systems, Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation
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