Enhancing MAS environments with organizational mechanisms

Electronic version of an article published as International Journal on Arti cial Intelligence Tools Vol. 20, No. 4 (2011) 663-691. DOI10.1142/S0218213011000395 © [copyright World Scientific Publishing Company] [http://www.worldscientific.com/]This work proposes a new coordination system for the environment of a Multi-Agent System by merging the features from two important contributions to this field of research, Organizational Mechanisms and Artifacts. Organizational mechanisms can be introduced into a Multi-Agent System with the aim of influencing the behavior of agents populating it to achieve their goals in a proper way. In this paper, we propose to model organizational mechanisms by means of artifacts, which are non-proactive entities used by agents. Artifacts were presented within the Agents & Artifacts conceptual framework, and that present good advantages for coordinating agents' environments. We put forward a formal model that defines how organizational mechanisms can be designed by using artifacts theory. We validate the approach by presenting a case study focused on a real health care domain problem. Additionally, the Artifacts for Organizational Mechanisms are compared with some different proposed artifacts. © 2011 World Scientific Publishing Company.This work is supported by TIN2009-13839-C03 and PROMETEO/2008/051 projects of the Spanish government, CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 under grant CSD2007-00022, and the COST Action IC0801.Esparcia García, S.; Argente Villaplana, E.; Centeno, R.; Hermoso, R. (2011). Enhancing MAS environments with organizational mechanisms. International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools. 20(4):663-690. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218213011000395S663690204E. Argente, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 113 (IOS Press, 2004) pp. 309–316.A. Omicini, Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (Springer, 2001) pp. 311–326.Parunak, H. V. D., & Weyns, D. (2006). Guest editors’ introduction, special issue on environments for multi-agent systems. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 14(1), 1-4. doi:10.1007/s10458-006-9003-4BERNON, C., COSSENTINO, M., & PAVÓN, J. (2005). Agent-oriented software engineering. The Knowledge Engineering Review, 20(2), 99-116. doi:10.1017/s0269888905000421Hübner, J. F., Boissier, O., Kitio, R., & Ricci, A. (2009). Instrumenting multi-agent organisations with organisational artifacts and agents. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 20(3), 369-400. doi:10.1007/s10458-009-9084-yVan Gigch, J. P. (1991). System Design Modeling and Metamodeling. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0676-2Norman, T. J., Preece, A., Chalmers, S., Jennings, N. R., Luck, M., Dang, V. D., … Fiddian, N. J. (2004). Agent-based formation of virtual organisations. Knowledge-Based Systems, 17(2-4), 103-111. doi:10.1016/j.knosys.2004.03.00

The organisation of sociality: a manifesto for a new science of multi-agent systems

In this paper, we pose and motivate a challenge, namely the need for a new science of multi-agent systems. We propose that this new science should be grounded, theoretically on a richer conception of sociality, and methodologically on the extensive use of computational modelling for real-world applications and social simulations. Here, the steps we set forth towards meeting that challenge are mainly theoretical. In this respect, we provide a new model of multi-agent systems that reflects a fully explicated conception of cognition, both at the individual and the collective level. Finally, the mechanisms and principles underpinning the model will be examined with particular emphasis on the contributions provided by contemporary organisation theory

Toward a Theory of Learner-Centered Training Design: An Integrative Framework of Active Learning

[Excerpt] The goal of this chapter, therefore, is to develop an integrative conceptual framework of active learning, and we do this by focusing on three primary issues. First, we define the active learning approach and contrast it to more traditional, passive instructional approaches. We argue that the active learning approach can be distinguished from not only more passive approaches to instruction but also other forms of experiential learning based on its use of formal training components to systematically influence trainees\u27 cognitive, motivational, and emotion self-regulatory processes. Second, we examine how specific training components can be used to influence each of these process domains. Through a review of prior research, we extract core training components that cut across different active learning interventions, map these components onto specific process domains, and consider the role of individual differences in shaping the effects of these components (aptitude-treatment interactions [ATIs]). A final issue examined in this chapter concerns the outcomes associated with the active learning approach. Despite its considerable versatility, the active learning approach is not the most efficient or effective means of responding to all training needs. Thus, we discuss the impact of the active learning approach on different types of learning outcomes in order to identify the situations under which it is likely to demonstrate the greatest utility. We conclude the chapter by highlighting research and practical implications of our integrated framework, and we outline an agenda for future research on active learning

A face for all seasons:searching for context-specific leadership traits and discovering a general preference for perceived health

Previous research indicates that followers tend to contingently match particular leader qualities to evolutionarily consistent situations requiring collective action (i.e., context-specific cognitive leadership prototypes) and information processing undergoes categorization which ranks certain qualities as first-order context-general and others as second-order context-specific. To further investigate this contingent categorization phenomenon we examined the “attractiveness halo”—a first-order facial cue which significantly biases leadership preferences. While controlling for facial attractiveness, we independently manipulated the underlying facial cues of health and intelligence and then primed participants with four distinct organizational dynamics requiring leadership (i.e., competition vs. cooperation between groups and exploratory change vs. stable exploitation). It was expected that the differing requirements of the four dynamics would contingently select for relatively healthier- or intelligent-looking leaders. We found perceived facial intelligence to be a second-order context-specific trait—for instance, in times requiring a leader to address between-group cooperation—whereas perceived health is significantly preferred across all contexts (i.e., a first-order trait). The results also indicate that facial health positively affects perceived masculinity while facial intelligence negatively affects perceived masculinity, which may partially explain leader choice in some of the environmental contexts. The limitations and a number of implications regarding leadership biases are discussed

Federated Embedded Systems – a review of the literature in related fields

This report is concerned with the vision of smart interconnected objects, a vision that has attracted much attention lately. In this paper, embedded, interconnected, open, and heterogeneous control systems are in focus, formally referred to as Federated Embedded Systems. To place FES into a context, a review of some related research directions is presented. This review includes such concepts as systems of systems, cyber-physical systems, ubiquitous computing, internet of things, and multi-agent systems. Interestingly, the reviewed fields seem to overlap with each other in an increasing number of ways

Agents enacting social roles: balancing formal structure and practical rationality in MAS design

Der Soziologe Pierre Bourdieu zeigt die feine und häufig ignorierte Unterscheidung zwischen theoretischer Rationalität und der 'Logik der Praxis' auf. Diese Differenz, so die Annahme der Autoren, ist sowohl bei dem Versuch, menschliche Organisationen mit Robustheit und Flexibilität auszustatten, als auch bei jeder Bemühung, Informationssysteme auf der Basis von Mechanismen organisatorischer Koordination zu modellieren, zu berücksichtigen. Im INKA-Projekt, einem Bestandteil des deutschen Forschungsprogramms Sozionik, bildet diese Ansicht den Ausgangspunkt. Computergesteuerte Agenten, die sich selbst koordinieren und in einer Weise eigenständig agieren, ahmen im Prinzip menschliche Akteure in organisatorischen Umgebungen nach. Dabei müssen sie mit der Spannung zurechtkommen, die aus den formalen vorgegeben Beschreibungen der Organisation und den strukturierten Erwartungen, welche sich von den täglichen Interaktionen auf dem Level der Produktionsstätten ableiten, resultiert. In der Soziologie besteht eine Möglichkeit, diese Spannung in der Rollentheorie zu konzeptionieren, die auf verschiedene Formen der Darstellung von formalen Rollenbeschreibungen und praktischen Rollen ausgerichtet ist. Außerdem ist gemäß der Organisationstheorie und empirischen Untersuchungen bekannt, dass in der realen Welt die täglichen Aus- und Verhandlungen der Arbeitnehmer eine Form des Arbeitshandelns darstellen. Basierend auf diesen Betrachtungen orientiert sich das INKA-Projekt an zwei Hauptzielen: (1) Modellierung und Implementierung eines technischen Systems, in dem die Agenten fähig sind, sich auf der Basis von praktischen Rollen mittels Verhandlung selbständig zu koordinieren; (2) Entwicklung einer Annäherung an die Erforschung hybrider Sozialität, die bei dem Eintritt solcher Agenten in menschliche Organisationen entsteht. Die Ausführungen beginnen mit einer kurzen Diskussion der konzeptionellen Probleme, die auftreten, wenn Computerprogramme auf praktische Relationen oder auf soziologische Konzepte von praktischen Modalitäten der Interaktion, des Problemlösens und Planens zugeschnitten sind. Dies führt zu der Formulierung von drei generellen Herausforderungen innerhalb des Sozionik-Programms. Im Anschluss wird in einige Details der soziologisch basierten Schaffung von praktischen Rollen und aushandelnden Agenten eingeführt. Es folgt die Darstellung der Grundstruktur für die entsprechende MAS-Architektur. Dann werden zwei generelle Probleme behandelt, die bei dem derzeitigen Entwicklungsstand des vorgestellten Projekts und nach Ansicht der Autoren im gesamten Sozionik-Programm auftreten. Es wird ein integrierter Ansatz vorgeschlagen, der alle Aktivitäten in Sozionik-Systemen in einer systematischen Weise korreliert. Des Weiteren wird ein methodisches Instrument zur Erforschung der Hybridisierung präsentiert. Der Text schließt mit der Darstellung einiger konzeptioneller Erweiterungen und zukünftiger Arbeitsschritte. (ICGÜbers)Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu pointed out the subtle and often ignored difference between theoretical rationality and the 'logic of practice'. This difference, we will argue, has to be taken in account when trying to capture the robustness and flexibility of human organizations, and is especially important for any effort to model information systems on mechanisms of organizational coordination. In the INKA-project, part of the German Socionics program, we took this insight as our very starting point. Computational agents that 'act' and coordinate themselves in a way that at least mimics in principle human actors in organizational environments have to cope with the tension between the formal descriptions given by the organization at large and the structured expectations that derive from their daily interactions on the shop-floor level. In sociology one way of conceptualizing this tension is role theory, focusing on the different forms of enactment of formal role descriptions and practical roles. Furthermore, from organizational theory and empirical investigations we know that in the 'real world' daily negotiations by the employees themselves are one way of working around the incoherences of formal prescriptions, job descriptions and work schedules. Based on these considerations the INKA-project is oriented by two main objectives: To model and implement a technical system in which the agents are capable of coordinating themselves via negotiating on the basis of practical roles, and to develop an approach for the investigation of hybrid sociality that emerges if those agents are re-entered into human organizations. The contribution begins with a brief discussion of the conceptual problems that occur if computer programs are to be modeled on practical relations or on sociological concepts of practical modes of interaction, problem solving and planning; this leads us to the formulation of three general challenges within the Socionics program (2). In the next part we introduce in some detail our sociologically grounded modeling of practical roles and negotiating agents (3), and our framework for a corresponding MAS-architecture (4). Then we turn to two general issues, that came up at the present state of development in our project - and, as we assume, in the entire Socionics program. We propose an integrated approach that correlates all activities in Socionic systems development in a systematic way (5), and we present a methodological instrument for the investigation of hybridization (6). We conclude by sketching some conceptual extensions and further working steps (7)

Enhancing Smart-Home Environments using Magentix2

[EN] Multi-agent system paradigm has been envisioned as an appropriate solution for challenges in the area of smart-environments. Specifically, MAS add new capabilities such as adaption, reorganization, learning, coordination, etc. These features allow to deal with open issues in the context of smart-homes such as multi-occupancy, activity tracking or profiling activities and behaviors from multiple residents. In this paper, we present Magentix2 as a suitable MAS platform for the development of dynamic smart environments. Specifically, the use of Magentix2 (http://gti-ia.upv.es/sma/tools/magentix2/index.php) facilitates the management of the multiple occupancy in smart living spaces. Normative virtual organizations provide the possibility of defining a set of norms and organizational roles that facilitate the regulation and control of the actions that can be carried out by internal and external agents depending on their profile. Moreover, Magentix2 provides a tracing service to keep track of activities carried out in the system. We illustrate the applicability and benefits of Magentix2 in a set of scenarios in the context of smart-homes.This work is supported by the Spanish government grants PROMETEOII/2013/019,TIN2014-55206-R, TIN2015-65515-C4-1-R, H2020-ICT-2015-688095.Valero Cubas, S.; Del Val Noguera, E.; Alemany-Bordera, J.; Botti, V. (2017). Enhancing Smart-Home Environments using Magentix2. Journal of Applied Logic. 24:32-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jal.2016.11.022S32442