21,574 research outputs found
The evolution of tropos: Contexts, commitments and adaptivity
Software evolution is the main research focus of the Tropos group at University of Trento (UniTN): how do we build systems that are aware of their requirements, and are able to dynamically reconfigure themselves in response to changes in context (the environment within which they operate) and requirements. The purpose of this report is to offer an overview of ongoing work at UniTN. In particular, the report presents ideas and results of four lines of research: contextual requirements modeling and reasoning, commitments and goal models, developing self-reconfigurable systems, and requirements awareness
Logic-Based Specification Languages for Intelligent Software Agents
The research field of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) aims to find
abstractions, languages, methodologies and toolkits for modeling, verifying,
validating and prototyping complex applications conceptualized as Multiagent
Systems (MASs). A very lively research sub-field studies how formal methods can
be used for AOSE. This paper presents a detailed survey of six logic-based
executable agent specification languages that have been chosen for their
potential to be integrated in our ARPEGGIO project, an open framework for
specifying and prototyping a MAS. The six languages are ConGoLog, Agent-0, the
IMPACT agent programming language, DyLog, Concurrent METATEM and Ehhf. For each
executable language, the logic foundations are described and an example of use
is shown. A comparison of the six languages and a survey of similar approaches
complete the paper, together with considerations of the advantages of using
logic-based languages in MAS modeling and prototyping.Comment: 67 pages, 1 table, 1 figure. Accepted for publication by the Journal
"Theory and Practice of Logic Programming", volume 4, Maurice Bruynooghe
Editor-in-Chie
Verifying privacy by little interaction and no process equivalence
While machine-assisted verification of classical security goals such as confidentiality and authentication is
well-established, it is less mature for recent ones. Electronic voting protocols claim properties such as voter
privacy. The most common modelling involves indistinguishability, and is specified via trace equivalence in cryptographic extensions of process calculi. However, it has shown restrictions. We describe a novel model, based on unlinkability between two pieces of information. Specifying it as an extension to the Inductive Method allows us to establish voter privacy without the need for approximation or session bounding. The two
models and their latest specifications are contrasted
Leveraging commitments and goals in agent interaction
Abstract. Modeling and regulating interactions among agents is a crit-ical step in the development of Multiagent Systems (MASs). Some re-cent works assume a normative view, and suggest to model interaction protocols in terms of obligations. In this paper we propose to model in-teraction protocols in terms of goals and commitments, and show how such a formalization promotes a deliberative process inside the agents. In particular, we take a software engineering perspective, and balance the use of commitments against obligations inside interaction protocols. The proposal is implemented via JaCaMo+, an extension to JaCaMo, in which Jason agents can interact while preserving their deliberative capabilities by exploiting commitment-based protocols, reified by special CArtAgO artifacts. The paper shows how practical rules relating goals and commitments can be almost directly encoded as Jason plans to be used as building blocks in agent programming
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Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL
Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N
Mechanisms for Automated Negotiation in State Oriented Domains
This paper lays part of the groundwork for a domain theory of negotiation,
that is, a way of classifying interactions so that it is clear, given a domain,
which negotiation mechanisms and strategies are appropriate. We define State
Oriented Domains, a general category of interaction. Necessary and sufficient
conditions for cooperation are outlined. We use the notion of worth in an
altered definition of utility, thus enabling agreements in a wider class of
joint-goal reachable situations. An approach is offered for conflict
resolution, and it is shown that even in a conflict situation, partial
cooperative steps can be taken by interacting agents (that is, agents in
fundamental conflict might still agree to cooperate up to a certain point). A
Unified Negotiation Protocol (UNP) is developed that can be used in all types
of encounters. It is shown that in certain borderline cooperative situations, a
partial cooperative agreement (i.e., one that does not achieve all agents'
goals) might be preferred by all agents, even though there exists a rational
agreement that would achieve all their goals. Finally, we analyze cases where
agents have incomplete information on the goals and worth of other agents.
First we consider the case where agents' goals are private information, and we
analyze what goal declaration strategies the agents might adopt to increase
their utility. Then, we consider the situation where the agents' goals (and
therefore stand-alone costs) are common knowledge, but the worth they attach to
their goals is private information. We introduce two mechanisms, one 'strict',
the other 'tolerant', and analyze their affects on the stability and efficiency
of negotiation outcomes.Comment: See http://www.jair.org/ for any accompanying file
Creating agent platforms to host agent-mediated services that share resources
After a period where the Internet was exclusively filled with content,
the present
efforts are moving towards services, which handle the raw information to
create
value from it. Therefore labors to create a wide collection of
agent-based services
are being perfomed in several projects, such as Agentcities does.
In this work we present an architecture for agent platforms named
a-Buildings. The
aim of the proposed architecture is to ease the creation, installation,
search and
management of agent-mediated services and the share of resources among
services.
To do so the a-Buildings architecture creates a new level of abstraction
on top of
the standard FIPA agent platform specification.
Basically, an a-Building is a service-oriented platform which offers a
set of
low level services to the agents it hosts. We define low level services
as those
required services that are neccesary to create more complex high level
composed
services.Postprint (published version
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