Organisational Abstractions for the Analysis and Design of Multi-Agent Systems

The architecture of a multi-agent system can naturally be viewed as a computational organisation. For this reason, we believe organisational abstractions should play a central role in the analysis and design of such systems. To this end, the concepts of agent roles and role models are increasingly being used to specify and design multi-agent systems. However, this is not the full picture. In this paper we introduce three additional organisational concepts - organisational rules, organisational structures, and organisational patterns - that we believe are necessary for the complete specification of computational organisations. We view the introduction of these concepts as a step towards a comprehensive methodology for agent-oriented systems

Coupling Clinical Decision Support System with Computerized Prescriber Order Entry and their Dynamic Plugging in the Medical Workflow System

This work deals with coupling Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) with Computerized Prescriber Order Entry (CPOE) and their dynamic plugging in the medical Workflow Management System (WfMS). First, in this paper we argue some existing CDSS representative of the state of the art in order to emphasize their inability to deal with coupling with CPOE and medical WfMS. The multi-agent technology is at the basis of our proposition since (i) it provides natural abstractions to deal with distribution, heterogeneity and autonomy which are inherent to the previous systems (CDSS, CPOE and medical WfMS), and (ii) it introduces powerful concepts such as organizations, goals and roles useful to describe in details the coordination of the different components involved in these systems. In this paper, we also propose a Multi-Agent System (MAS) to support the coupling CDSS with CPOE. Finally, we show how we integrate the proposed MAS in the medical workflow management system which is also based on collaborating agentsComment: International Conference on Information Technology and e-services, ICITeS'12, IEEE, March 24-26,Sousse-Tunisia, 201

Organization of Multi-Agent Systems: An Overview

In complex, open, and heterogeneous environments, agents must be able to reorganize towards the most appropriate organizations to adapt unpredictable environment changes within Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). Types of reorganization can be seen from two different levels. The individual agents level (micro-level) in which an agent changes its behaviors and interactions with other agents to adapt its local environment. And the organizational level (macro-level) in which the whole system changes it structure by adding or removing agents. This chapter is dedicated to overview different aspects of what is called MAS Organization including its motivations, paradigms, models, and techniques adopted for statically or dynamically organizing agents in MAS.Comment: 12 page

Abstraction of Agents Executing Online and their Abilities in the Situation Calculus

We develop a general framework for abstracting online behavior of an agent that may acquire new knowledge during execution (e.g., by sensing), in the situation calculus and ConGolog. We assume that we have both a high-level action theory and a low-level one that represent the agent's behavior at different levels of detail. In this setting, we define ability to perform a task/achieve a goal, and then show that under some reasonable assumptions, if the agent has a strategy by which she is able to achieve a goal at the high level, then we can refine it into a low-level strategy to do so

A Communication Framework Towards Flexible Associations of Business Entities Within Evolving Environments

The Internet and its manifestations, such as electronic commerce or in general network communication between different groups of interest (i.e., agents) have become indispensable for many of us. To adequately use the ever increasing amount of data, attempts are being made to extend data processing from a merely lexical view towards more complex, but equally important, multi-level view, including meaning and/or context (e.g., DAML, Web Services). The goal of this paper is to introduce a formal framework, apt to model communications from such a multi-level perspective. Therein, we discuss fundamental ideas of communication, such as agents involved and their respective structure. We integrate the concept of an agent's adaptive behaviour in order to assure a high degree of understanding. The framework is then illustrated using practical examples where we briefly present its usefulness and how it may be further developed. L'Internet et l'utilisation qu'on en fait, par exemple le commerce électronique ou plus généralement l'établissement de réseaux de communications entre différents intervenants (c.-à-d., agents) est devenu indispensable pour plusieurs d'entre nous. Il devient de plus en plus difficile d'utiliser adéquatement la vaste quantité de données s'y trouvant. À cette fin, de nombreuses initiatives tentent de faire évoluer les systèmes d'information les faisant passer de simples outils permettant le traitement lexical des données à des engins complexes comprenant les données et leur contexte d'interprétation (p.ex., DAML, Web Services). Dans cet article, nous présentons un cadre formel qui modélise les interactions, tout en tenant compte de plusieurs niveaux d'abstraction (p.ex., lexical, syntaxique, sémantique, etc.). Nous nous attardons aux concepts fondamentaux de la communication, tels que les agents impliqués dans les interactions et leur structure. Nous considérons aussi comment ces agents évoluent pour assurer la plus grande compréhension possible des messages reçus. Des exemples concrets servent à mieux expliquer comment le cadre peut être utilisé et comment il peut être raffiné.Inter-enterprise communication framework, information system evolution, adaptive systems., Cadre descriptif des communications inter-entreprise, évolution des systèmes d'information, systèmes adaptatifs