TEAMLOG in Action:a Case Study in Teamwork

This article presents a case study of a theoretical multi-agent system designed to clean up ecological disasters. It focuses on the interactions within a heterogeneous team of agents, outlines their goals and plans, and establishes the necessary distribution of information and commitment throughout the team, including its sub-teams. These aspects of teamwork are presented in the TEAMLOG formalism [20], based on multi-modal logic, in which collective informational and motivational attitudes are first-class citizens. Complex team attitudes are justified to be necessary in the course of teamwork. The article shows how to make a bridge between theoretical foundations of TEAMLOG and an application and illustrates how to tune TEAMLOG to the case study by establishing sufficient, but still minimal levels for the team attitudes

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Flexible autonomy and context in human-agent collectives

Human-agent collectives (HACs) are collaborative relationships between humans and software agents that are formed to meet the individual and collective goals of their members. In general, different members of a HAC should have differing degrees of autonomy in determining how a goal is to be achieved, and the degree of autonomy that should be enjoyed by each member of the collective varies with context. This thesis explores how norms can be used to achieve context sensitive flexible autonomy in HACs. Norms can be viewed as defining standards of ideal behaviour. In the form of rules and codes, they are widely used to coordinate and regulate activity in human organisations, and more recently they have also been proposed as a coordination mechanism for multi-agent systems (MAS). Norms therefore have the potential to form a common framework for coordination and control in HACs. The thesis develops a novel framework in which group and individual norms are used to specify both the goal to be achieved by a HAC and the degree of autonomy of the HAC and/or of its members in achieving a goal. The framework allows members of a collective to create norms specifying how a goal should (or should not) be achieved, together with sanctions for non-compliance. These norms form part of the decision making context of both the humans and agents in the collective. A prototype implementation of the framework was evaluated using the Colored Trails test-bed in a scenario involving mixed human-agent teams. The experiments confirmed that norms can be used for coordination of HACs and to facilitate context related flexible autonomy

Flexible autonomy and context in human-agent collectives

Human-agent collectives (HACs) are collaborative relationships between humans and software agents that are formed to meet the individual and collective goals of their members. In general, different members of a HAC should have differing degrees of autonomy in determining how a goal is to be achieved, and the degree of autonomy that should be enjoyed by each member of the collective varies with context. This thesis explores how norms can be used to achieve context sensitive flexible autonomy in HACs. Norms can be viewed as defining standards of ideal behaviour. In the form of rules and codes, they are widely used to coordinate and regulate activity in human organisations, and more recently they have also been proposed as a coordination mechanism for multi-agent systems (MAS). Norms therefore have the potential to form a common framework for coordination and control in HACs. The thesis develops a novel framework in which group and individual norms are used to specify both the goal to be achieved by a HAC and the degree of autonomy of the HAC and/or of its members in achieving a goal. The framework allows members of a collective to create norms specifying how a goal should (or should not) be achieved, together with sanctions for non-compliance. These norms form part of the decision making context of both the humans and agents in the collective. A prototype implementation of the framework was evaluated using the Colored Trails test-bed in a scenario involving mixed human-agent teams. The experiments confirmed that norms can be used for coordination of HACs and to facilitate context related flexible autonomy

Command and control agility : a software product line approach

Tese (doutorado) — Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Ciência da Computação, 2022.Comando e Controle (C2), em sua origem histórica, está relacionado à aplicação de estratégias militares clássicas onde havia um único comando centralizado e uma inflexível cadeia de comando entre os elementos que compunham as forças atuantes. C2 não é um fim em si mesmo, mas um processo cujo objetivo é otimizar a aplicação de recursos para cumprir uma missão. Entretanto, em um contexto moderno de C2, o dinamismo da missão, da equipe e do ambiente é um pressuposto necessário e, portanto, a organização da equipe para cumprir uma missão torna-se um desafio que requer constantes adaptações. Esta capacidade de adaptação às novas circunstâncias caracteriza a agilidade C2. Entretanto, o estado da arte não avalia como esta capacidade é afetada pelas escolhas da abordagem de C2, representada pelo nível de disseminação das informações, pela organização da equipe e pela capacidade de tomada de decisões. Além disso, trabalhos recentes não consideram a medição dos Atributos de Qualidade (QA), o que torna os modelos e simulações pouco aderentes à realidade das missões, onde pelo menos o custo pode ser um obstáculo à sua realização. Para abordar estas questões, aplicamos conceitos de Sistemas Auto-Adaptativos (SAS) com uma abordagem que utiliza Linhas de Produtos de Software Dinâmico (DSPL) para representar os elementos que compõem o sistema de C2 e que estão organizados em times. Baseado na configuração e coordenação, propomos dois modelos que buscam garantir a agilidade de C2. Estes modelos proporcionam a escolha da abordagem de C2, combinada com a capacidade de reconfigurar os membros da equipe a fim de garantir agilidade para lidar com as mudanças nas circunstâncias que possam ocorrer. Para avaliar os modelos propostos, realizamos um conjunto de simulações para indicar o nível de agilidade obtido pela abordagem, e aplicamos questionários aos especialistas do domínio de C2 para validar a usabilidade dos modelos e a compatibilidade com cenários realistas enfrentados pelos especialistas do domínioFundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAP/DF) e Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES).Command and Control (C2), in its historical origin, is related to the application of classic military strategies where there was a single centralized command and an inflexible chain of command between the elements that composed the acting forces. C2 is not an end in itself, but a process whose goal is to optimize the application of resources in order to accomplish a mission. However, in a modern C2 context, the dynamism of the mission, the team and the environment is a necessary assumption and, thus, the organization of the team to accomplish a mission becomes a challenge requiring constant adaptations. This ability to adapt to new circumstances characterizes C2 Agility. However, the state-of-theart does not assess how this ability is affected by the choices of C2 approach, represented by the level of information spread, by the organization of the team and by the capacity of decision making. In addition, recent works do not consider the measurement of Quality Attributes (QA), which makes the models and simulations poorly adherent to the reality of missions, where at least the cost can be an obstacle to their achievement. To address these issues, we apply concepts of Self-Adaptive Systems (SAS) with an approach using Dynamic Software Product Lines (DSPL) to represent the elements that make up the C2 System and that are organized into teams. Relying on configuration and coordination, we propose two models that seek to ensure C2 agility. These models provide for the choice of the C2 approach, combined with the ability to reconfigure the team members in order to ensure agility to face the changes in circumstances that may occur. To evaluate the proposed models, we perform a set of simulations to indicate the agility level obtained by the approach and we apply questionnaires to C2 domain experts to validate models’ usability and compatibility with realistic scenarios faced by domain experts

The practice of interdisciplinary design in Building Information Modelling (BIM)-enabled projects: A workplace study

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is believed to enable significant efficiency improvements in interdisciplinary design in construction. This is mainly based on the rhetoric of BIM dominated by promoting its capabilities for data transactions. However, literature shows that there are problems in applying BIM technologies in practice, because their use causes unanticipated shifts in the focus and organisation of design projects. Furthermore, changes wrought by applied BIM technologies transcend the boundaries of the organisation of individual projects, and displace the previous ethos of ‘professionalism’ in design in construction. Consequently, there is unresolved confusion and evaluation about BIM technologies in terms of the nature and extent of the change they create. The present research aims to develop a better-informed understanding of BIM-driven change in design in construction through an empirical study of ‘organising’ and ‘order’ in BIM-enabled interdisciplinary design projects. Using a practice-based methodology, this research focused on the interdisciplinary interactions during three projects. A practice-based methodology sees ‘organising ‘and ‘order ‘as continuously accomplished through the ongoing activities that are performed in practices. Therefore, the research scrutinised the interdisciplinary activities and processes which look mundane but enable ‘organising’, and ‘order ‘in the studied projects. Three explanatory organisational concepts are developed through the analyses of the empirical data: ‘organisational premises’, ‘purposeful artefact’, and ‘technological premises’. These concepts provide three different explanations about how ‘organising ‘interdisciplinary design in BIM-enabled projects is accomplished through the ongoing interdisciplinary activities performed in practices. Thus, they produce rich understanding of the complex organisational phenomena. Interdisciplinary design development is then seen as a ‘continuous process of (re-)establishing a shared sense of purposefulness ‘among the members of a design team, which largely depends on previous shared experiences. This continuous requirement for mutual dependency does not align well with the operational characteristics of BIM technologies, which are fundamentally planned and rigid. Therefore, practitioners experience divergent views of ‘organising’ (i.e. and ‘work’) in BIM-enabled projects. The ‘ordering ‘induced by BIM technologies appears in the interface of these different views of ‘organising’(and ‘work'), as it is here that practices unfold, and become directed towards one or other view. In such cases, the extent to which information modelling and design development can be prioritised is determined by the level of reliance on technology, and the level of authority of those individuals who are in control of the BIM technologies. The practice-based understandings of ‘organising ‘and ‘order ‘that emerge from the analyses are used herein to refine the notions of ‘design’, ‘design collaboration’, ‘use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in construction design’, and ‘CT-driven change in construction design’. Thus, the practice-based methodology reveals that some of the main arguments upon which the promotional rhetoric of BIM is founded are incomplete or flawed. Through its methodological and theoretical contributions, the present research evaluated BIM-driven change in design in construction, and created an agenda for further critical and practically-relevant studies into interdisciplinary design in construction. This shows the need for further research which should re-establish the use and development of BIM by aligning it with the realities of actual practice

Gestion des Ressources Humaines et collaboration en pôle de compétitivité : une relation dialogique : le cas de la région Rhône-Alpes

During those recent years, we have witnessed profound economic changes that involved a change in organizational boundaries. It is found that the mode of inter-organizational functioning is increasingly relevant, it is presented as the appropriate scope of implementation of new forms of governance for innovation. The research conducted as part of this thesis are part of that context and relate to clusters, as well as collaborative projects related thereto. Working in collaborative mode involves the multiplicity and the discovery of new modes of operation of each other. The inter-organizational collaboration engages a multitude of different actors, working with rhythms as diverse and varied, different corporate cultures, of different and complementary skills, etc.. The clusters assume that members are in a posture of cooperation. The networking of companies and organizations adhering to the poles requires to work together and collaborate on assignments and projects. However, the human resource management within a cluster is not simple: we stated above, the populations in the presence of status and have very different cultures (researchers, entrepreneurs, employees, etc.. ), most people on the poles are neither technically nor paid by the latter, the organization of work on projects of collaborative R & D is specific. Each structure has specific adherent and different challenges. What then of collaboration in a cluster? HRM can observe how does one? It promotes Does collaboration between members?Depuis quelques années, nous assistons à de profondes mutations économiques qui impliquent un changement de frontières organisationnelles. On constate que le mode de fonctionnement inter-organisationnel est de plus en plus pertinent, il est ainsi présenté comme le périmètre adéquat de mise en œuvre des nouvelles formes de gouvernance au service de l'innovation. Les travaux de recherche effectués dans le cadre de cette thèse de doctorat s'inscrivent dans ce contexte et concernent les pôles de compétitivité, ainsi que les projets collaboratifs s'y rattachant. Travailler en mode collaboratif implique la multiplicité et la découverte de nouveaux modes de fonctionnement des uns et des autres. La collaboration inter-organisationnelle engage une multitude d'acteurs différents, ayant des rythmes de travail aussi divers que variés, des cultures d'entreprises différentes, des compétences différentes et complémentaires, etc. Les pôles de compétitivité supposent que les adhérents soient dans une posture de collaboration. La mise en réseau des entreprises et organisations adhérentes aux pôles nécessite de travailler ensemble et collaborer sur des missions et projets communs. Or, la gestion des ressources humaines au sein d'un pôle de compétitivité n'est pas simple : nous l'avons énoncé plus haut, les populations en présence ont des statuts et des cultures très différents (chercheurs, entrepreneurs, salariés, etc.), la plupart des personnes associées aux pôles ne sont ni dirigées, ni rémunérées par celui-ci, l'organisation du travail sur des projets de Recherche & Développement collaboratif est spécifique. Chaque structure adhérente a des spécificités et enjeux différents. Qu'en est-il alors de la collaboration au sein d'un pôle de compétitivité ? Quelle GRH y observe-t-on ? Celle-ci favorise-t-elle la collaboration entre adhérents