TOPOLOGY-AWARE APPROACH FOR THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL NORMS IN MULTIAGENT SYSTEMS

Social norms facilitate agent coordination and conflict resolution without explicit communication. Norms generally involve restrictions on a set of actions or behaviors of agents to a particular strategy and can significantly reduce the cost of coordination. There has been recent progress in multiagent systems (MAS) research to develop a deep understanding of the social norm formation process. This includes developing mechanisms to create social norms in an effective and efficient manner. The hypoth- esis of this dissertation is that equipping agents in networked MAS with “network thinking” capabilities and using this contextual knowledge to form social norms in an effective and efficient manner improves the performance of the MAS. This disser- tation investigates the social norm emergence problem in conventional norms (where there is no conflict between individual and collective interests) and essential norms (where agents need to explicitly cooperate to achieve socially-efficient behavior) from a game-theoretic perspective. First, a comprehensive investigation of the social norm formation problem is performed in various types of networked MAS with an emphasis on the effect of the topological structures on the process. Based on the insights gained from these network-theoretic investigations, novel topology-aware decentralized mech- anisms are developed that facilitate the emergence of social norms suitable for various environments. It addresses the convention emergence problem in both small and large conventional norm spaces and equip agents to predict the topological structure to use the suitable convention mechanisms. It addresses the cooperation emergence prob- lem in the essential norm space by harnessing agent commitments and altruism where appropriate. Extensive simulation based experimentation has been conducted on dif- ferent network topologies by varying the topological features and agent interaction models. Comparisons with state-of-the-art norm formation techniques show that pro- posed mechanisms facilitate significant improvement in performance in a variety of networks

Mutual Trust and Cooperation in the Evolutionary Hawks-Doves Game

Using a new dynamical network model of society in which pairwise interactions are weighted according to mutual satisfaction, we show that cooperation is the norm in the Hawks-Doves game when individuals are allowed to break ties with undesirable neighbors and to make new acquaintances in their extended neighborhood. Moreover, cooperation is robust with respect to rather strong strategy perturbations. We also discuss the empirical structure of the emerging networks, and the reasons that allow cooperators to thrive in the population. Given the metaphorical importance of this game for social interaction, this is an encouraging positive result as standard theory for large mixing populations prescribes that a certain fraction of defectors must always exist at equilibrium.Comment: 23 pages 12 images, to appea

Evolution of Cooperation and Coordination in a Dynamically Networked Society

Situations of conflict giving rise to social dilemmas are widespread in society and game theory is one major way in which they can be investigated. Starting from the observation that individuals in society interact through networks of acquaintances, we model the co-evolution of the agents' strategies and of the social network itself using two prototypical games, the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Stag Hunt. Allowing agents to dismiss ties and establish new ones, we find that cooperation and coordination can be achieved through the self-organization of the social network, a result that is non-trivial, especially in the Prisoner's Dilemma case. The evolution and stability of cooperation implies the condensation of agents exploiting particular game strategies into strong and stable clusters which are more densely connected, even in the more difficult case of the Prisoner's Dilemma.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures. to appea

Culture and Urban Revitalization: A Harvest Document

Advocates have long argued that the economic benefits of the arts and culture provide a firm rationale for public support. Recent scholarship on the "creative class" and "creative economy" is simply the latest effort to link cultural expression to community prosperity. In contrast, the social benefits of cultural engagement have received relatively little attention, even though -- as we shall see -- they provide a stronger case.We need to avoid a simplistic either-or choice between the economic and social impacts of the arts. People who live in our cities, suburbs, and countryside are simultaneously consumers, workers, residents, citizens, and participants. Culture's role in promoting community capacity and civic engagement is central to its potential for generating vital cultural districts. To separate the economic and the social impacts of the arts makes each more difficult to understand.This document provides an overview of the state-of-the-art literature on culture and urban revitalization. In Part 2, we place the creative sector in contemporary context with a discussion of three social dynamics. The "new urban reality" has restructured our cities by increasing social diversity -- fueled by new residential patterns, the emergence of young adult districts, and immigration; expanding economic inequality; and changing urban form. Shifts in the economic and political environment have changed the structure of the creative sector. Finally, the changing balance of government, nonprofit, and for-profit institutions in social policy development -- the shift to transactional policymaking -- has profound implications for cultural policy and the creative sector broadly defined. These three forces -- the new urban reality, the changing structure of the creative sector, and the emergence of transactional policy-making -- define the context within which culture-based revitalization takes place

Coordinating decentralized learning and conflict resolution across agent boundaries

It is crucial for embedded systems to adapt to the dynamics of open environments. This adaptation process becomes especially challenging in the context of multiagent systems because of scalability, partial information accessibility and complex interaction of agents. It is a challenge for agents to learn good policies, when they need to plan and coordinate in uncertain, dynamic environments, especially when they have large state spaces. It is also critical for agents operating in a multiagent system (MAS) to resolve conflicts among the learned policies of different agents, since such conflicts may have detrimental influence on the overall performance. The focus of this research is to use a reinforcement learning based local optimization algorithm within each agent to learn multiagent policies in a decentralized fashion. These policies will allow each agent to adapt to changes in environmental conditions while reorganizing the underlying multiagent network when needed. The research takes an adaptive approach to resolving conflicts that can arise between locally optimal agent policies. First an algorithm that uses heuristic rules to locally resolve simple conflicts is presented. When the environment is more dynamic and uncertain, a mediator-based mechanism to resolve more complicated conflicts and selectively expand the agents' state space during the learning process is harnessed. For scenarios where mediator-based mechanisms with partially global views are ineffective, a more rigorous approach for global conflict resolution that synthesizes multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) and distributed constraint optimization (DCOP) is developed. These mechanisms are evaluated in the context of a multiagent tornado tracking application called NetRads. Empirical results show that these mechanisms significantly improve the performance of the tornado tracking network for a variety of weather scenarios. The major contributions of this work are: a state of the art decentralized learning approach that supports agent interactions and reorganizes the underlying network when needed; the use of abstract classes of scenarios/states/actions that efficiently manages the exploration of the search space; novel conflict resolution algorithms of increasing complexity that use heuristic rules, sophisticated automated negotiation mechanisms and distributed constraint optimization methods respectively; and finally, a rigorous study of the interplay between two popular theories used to solve multiagent problems, namely decentralized Markov decision processes and distributed constraint optimization

Changing the Rotterdam-Rijnmond regional fire service: A multi-dimensional approach for analysing strategies of change

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify critical success factors for the management of complex change processes in fire service organizations and to apply these in a case study of the Rotterdam-Rijnmond fire service. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides review of literature on organizational change, case study of the Rotterdam-Rijnmond fire service supported by the analysis of policy documents and 30 semi-structured interviews with key persons. Findings: Combining different theoretical approaches helps to get a more complete picture of important issues and dilemma’s in the management of change processes – which is a first step in the successful implementation of changes – whereas other approaches tend to emphasize only some and overlook others. Applied in a case study, this approach revealed serious weaknesses in the management of change within the Rotterdam-Rijnmond fire service and offered practical guides for solutions. Originality/value: This paper combines insights from different theoretical approaches into a more integrated perspective that aims to be helpful as a practical tool for designing and implementing complex changes in fire service organizations

The role of community-based, problem-centered information intermediaries in local problem solving

Lobbying for school reform, cleaning up graffiti, and enacting noise ordinances are daily problem-based activities performed by organized citizen groups. Routinely in the course of problem-solving, these organizations-both formal and informal-seek out, interpret, distill, and re-frame information. But understanding information access and use in a community where a range of community-based, organized groups play the role of information seeker as well as information provider and facilitator presents a challenge to the researcher. In these settings, information researchers must address the context of the community and the multiple roles that the community-based groups play in the local information environment. In this paper we argue that organized local groups are critical to the information landscape of communities precisely because they play important intermediation roles. Based on our field work conducted in Hartford, Connecticut, we identified several broad strategies employed by problem-centered information intermediaries. They make information relevant for their constituents by distilling, tailoring, and vetting. They use formal and informal mechanisms to collect and share information. Finally, they prepare information for specific uses and disseminate it broadly to the community. Though these civic intermediaries share characteristics with the broad information intermediary role of information professionals, they are different in their focus, purpose and attitudinal perspective toward information.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57319/1/14504301181_ftp.pd

The changing 'soul' of Dutch policing: Responses to new security demands and the relationship with Dutch tradition

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address the changing organization and culture of the Dutch police over the last decade. Design/methodology/ approach - Drawing on personal observation, desk research and a survey among the police and administrative elite in The Netherlands, the paper describes, analyzes and reflects upon developments which are out of tune with the Dutch tradition. Findings - From the 1960s onwards, The Netherlands was famous for her pragmatic, decentralized and friendly style of community policing. The slogan "the police are your best friend" summarizes the "essence" or the "soul" of Dutch policing. Increasingly, however, the typically tolerant, friendly and social policing style has come under pressure. The system of relatively independent regional police departments has been fiercely criticized because of the lack of effectiveness and efficiency in solving crime, safety and security challenges. National government now wants a much bigger say in setting its police programs and priorities. Moreover, as elite government officials stipulate, the police must be more "tough" on crime and terrorism. This attitude has led to centralization, penalization and, at the local level, responsibilization, which signifies that a variety of private, (often profit-seeking) policing agencies and companies are made responsible for public order maintenance. Such changes are leading toward a "state- centered" police model at some distance from citizens, a development that is seen as contrary to the social soul of Dutch policing. Originality/value - The paper offers an analysis into the changing "soul" of Dutch policings. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Democracy, New Media and Anti-­‐Establishment Party Politics in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis: Especial Consideration of the Spanish Case

Introduction: Scholars have widely studied citizen disenchantment and disaffection with politics and democratic institutions (Schmitter and Trechsel 2004: 26-27; Kaase and Newton 1995; Nye, Zelikov and King 1997; Norris, 1999), which have intensified with the economic crisis since 2008. Certainly, the financial crisis has had a major effect on political disaffection of the Spanish people and, in general, on their loss of trust in representative institutions. The crisis in Spain presented particular specificities: the real state bubble added to the US credit crunch effects. Carlos Taibo complements this general picture with the “indignation” of Spanish citizens resulting from the spread of corruption among all political parties and, thus, the rejection of the political class; from the measures taken by the government to bail out banks and corporations with public funds; from labor laws facilitating dismissal, from cuts in social services (education, health care), etc. (Taibo, 2011). Some figures can be explanatory at this respect: one out of five Spaniards –and half the youngsters- were unemployed, 11 million people were at the poverty limit, evictions occurred daily and people killed themselves in desperation and frustration. On the whole, the protests started in relation to the economic crisis. However, the claims became also political concerning issues such as social justice, participation, transparency and proportionality. 15 May and Occupy movements have been perceived as a response to a crisis of representative democracy (Razsa, 2012)