Towards next generation coordination infrastructures

Coordination infrastructures play a central role in the engineering of multiagent systems. Since the advent of agent technology, research on coordination infrastructures has produced a significant number of infrastructures with varying features. In this paper, we review the the state-of-the-art coordination infrastructures with the purpose of identifying open research challenges that next generation coordination infrastructures should address. Our analysis concludes that next generation coordination infrastructures must address a number of challenges: (i) to become socially aware, by facilitating human interaction within a MAS; (ii) to assist agents in their decision making by providing decision support that helps them reduce the scope of reasoning and facilitates the achievement of their goals; and (iii) to increase openness to support on-line, fully decentralised design and execution. Furthermore, we identify some promising approaches in the literature, together with the research issues worth investigating, to cope with such challenges. © Cambridge University Press, 2015.The work presented in this paper has been partially funded by projects EVE (TIN2009-14702-C02-01), AT (CSD2007-0022), and the Generalitat of Catalunya grant 2009-SGR-1434Peer Reviewe

Evaluating the integration of supply chain information systems: A case study

Supply chain management (SCM) is the integrated management of business links, information flows and people. It is with this frame of reference that information systems integration from both intra- and inter-organisational levels becomes significant. Enterprise application integration (EAI) has emerged as software technologies to address the issue of integrating the portfolio of SCM components both within organisations and through cross-enterprises. EAI is based on a diversity of integration technologies (e.g. message brokers, ebXML) that differ in the type and level of integration they offer. However, none of these technologies claim to be a panacea to overcoming all integration problems but rather, need to be pieced together to support the linking of diverse applications that often exist within supply chains. In exploring the evaluation of supply chain integration, the authors propose a framework for evaluating the portfolio of integration technologies that are used to unify inter-organisational and intra-organisational information systems. The authors define and classify the permutations of information systems available according to their characteristics and integration requirements. These, classifications of system types are then adopted as part of the evaluation framework and empirically tested within a case study

Towards next generation coordination infrastructures

Coordination infrastructures play a central role in the engineering of multiagent systems. Since the advent of agent technology, research on coordination infrastructures has produced a significant number of infrastructures with varying features. In this paper, we review the the state-of-the-art coordination infrastructures with the purpose of identifying open research challenges that next generation coordination infrastructures should address. Our analysis concludes that next generation coordination infrastructures must address a number of challenges: (i) to become socially aware, by facilitating human interaction within a MAS; (ii) to assist agents in their decision making by providing decision support that helps them reduce the scope of reasoning and facilitates the achievement of their goals; and (iii) to increase openness to support on-line, fully decentralised design and execution. Furthermore, we identify some promising approaches in the literature, together with the research issues worth investigating, to cope with such challenges

The Consistency of Rural Development Policies with the Position of the European Union on NTCS

The set of policy tools that the EU puts under the heading of Rural Development is extremely heterogeneous, such heterogeneity translates into a different degree of coupling support with agriculture production and also brings out the need to discuss the actual consistency of such tools with the UE position on NTCs at WTO. Examined in the present work are the Rural Development Plans (RDPs) and the Regional Operative Plans (ROPs) recently approved by the European Commission for the Italian Regions. The analysis is of a purely qualitative type and is based on currently available information, that is, the measures and the relative project typologies approved within the Plans. Taking into account the EU position on NTCs and their relation with multifunctionality we look at the tools applied for Rural Development in Italy with respect to their degree of de-coupling, production of externalities/non marketable goods and consistency with the EU position on NTCs. Financial allotment by measure typology is also examined. We found out that the present set of actions that fall under rural development is still dominated by a sector−based intervention, even in the case of measures aimed at safeguarding the environment, the least contestable ones. Paradoxically, the measures aimed at the promotion of Rural Development and at training, that better respond to the NTC objectives, are those for which the least resources are located.Non trade concerns, multifunctionality, rural development policies., Community/Rural/Urban Development,

People, place, enterprise: proceedings of the first annual conference on Olympic Legacy 8 and 9 May 2008

The Olympic Legacy: People, Place, Enterprise conference took place at the University of Greenwich in May 2008. The first in a series of annual conferences, it brought together leading academics, policy makers and practitioners to debate the lasting legacy of the games. The conference had four themes: social and cultural regeneration; Olympic tourism; enterprise, including social enterprise and skills development, and education, providing a multi-dimensional perspective on the likely impacts of the forthcoming London Olympics

Towards a novel framework for the assessment of enterprise application integration packages

In addressing enterprise integration problems, a diversity of technologies such as CORBA and XML were promoted, yet no single integration technology solves all integration problems. As a result, a new generation of software called Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is emerging to addresses many integration problems by combining a diversity of integration technologies (e.g. message brokers, adapters, XML). Since EAI is a new research area, there is an absence of literature discussing issues like its adoption, evaluation and implementation. This paper, examines the application of two frameworks for the evaluation of EAI packages in the practical arena. In doing so, the authors use case study strategy to investigate integration issues. Empirical data derived from the case study suggest additions to the two evaluation frameworks. Therefore, the authors revised and extend previous works by proposing a novel evaluation framework for the assessment of EAI packages. The proposed framework makes novel contribution at two levels. First, at the conceptual level, as it incorporates criteria identified separately in previous studies as evaluation criteria. The proposed framework can be used as a decision-making tool and, supports management when taking decisions regarding the adoption of EAI. Additionally, it can be used by researchers to analyse and understand the capabilities o

OperA/ALIVE/OperettA

Comprehensive models for organizations must, on the one hand, be able to specify global goals and requirements but, on the other hand, cannot assume that particular actors will always act according to the needs and expectations of the system design. Concepts as organizational rules (Zambonelli 2002), norms and institutions (Dignum and Dignum 2001; Esteva et al. 2002), and social structures (Parunak and Odell 2002) arise from the idea that the effective engineering of organizations needs high-level, actor-independent concepts and abstractions that explicitly define the organization in which agents live (Zambonelli 2002).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Integrating Dynamic Capability and Commitment Theory for Research on IT Capabilities and Resources

Recent studies have highlighted the utility of the resource-based view (RBV) in understanding the development and application of IT capabilities and resources in organisations. Nevertheless, IS research has inadvertently carried over several fundamental problems and weaknesses with the RBV from reference disciplines. This paper proposes an integrative theory, model and research framework that draws on dynamic capabilities theory from the resource-based view of the firm in institutional economics, and commitment theory in institutional sociology, to explain and understand the process by which IT capabilities and resources are developed and applied in organizations. In so doing, this study addresses the paucity of theory on the role of IT capabilities in building and leveraging firmspecific IT resources. The study also addresses the aforementioned problems and weaknesses to build a logically consistent and falsifiable theory, with relatively superior explanatory power, for application in both variance and process-based research, whether positivist or interpretivist in orientation

Agricultural water markets: exploring limits and opportunities in Italy and Spain

Agriculture is the main water-using sector in Southern European Countries, such as Spain and Italy. Innovative institutional solutions for reducing water use or increasing its efficiency are pursued by recent legislation concerning water, in particular by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Even if not explicitly considered by the directive, water markets may be seen as a kind of instrument responding to the guiding principles of the upcoming water regulation. The issue of water markets is very much debated in the water economics literature and particularly in the agricultural water literature. Water markets refer to a mechanism of water allocation based on the exchange of rights on water use. Water markets are proposed and supported by economic theory on the ground that they produce an efficient allocation of water resources. Criticisms to water markets may derive both on the ground of economic efficiency itself (for example due to higher transaction costs and expenditure for wider water transport systems) and on equity considerations (for example the concentration of water on the more efficient farms that would specialise in intensive production, while the others would retain less intensive crops). The objective of this paper is to test to what extent water markets may contribute to the improvement of the efficiency of water use. The analysis is based on a linear programming model applied at basin level, comparing the situation with and without market and including transaction costs proportional to the amount of water exchanged. The model simulates the behaviour of different farm types, derived from cluster analysis on a sample of farms in each area. The model is tested in two areas in Southern Italy and Spain. The paper confirms that water markets have the possibility to improve water use efficiency. However, the exchanges are very much affected by the amount of transaction costs, even for transaction costs relatively low. In the case of Lower Ter, gross margin increase due to markets may be as high as 30% which is rather a considerable amount. Instead, the highest increase in Foggia is only about 10%, a result that may be regarded as hardly relevant. In Foggia the benefits of the water market collapse only when transaction costs are between 0,1 and 0,2 EUR/m3 (that may be regarded as a fairly high amount). On the contrary, Lower Ter is more sensitive to transaction costs and 0,075 EUR/m3 are enough to cause the market to shut down whatever the water quota. When potential improvements occur, an additional issue arises, i.e. the institutional acceptance of market criteria for water allocation purposes. The general attitude in Europe still appears against such a solution. However, the changing economic context (agricultural markets, demographic trends) tend to decrease rigidities about water exchange, particularly among farmers.Water, Irrigation, Agriculture, Water markets, Water policy, Mathematical programming