Policies to Regulate Distributed Data Exchange

This research is partially sponsored by the EPSRC grant EP/P011829/1, funded under the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Council Human Dimensions of Cyber Security call (2016).Postprin

Обнаружение и разрешение конфликтов в политиках безопасности компьютерных сетей

We consider an approach for constructing the security policy verification system intended for detection and resolution of conflicts in computer network security policy specifications. The architecture of the security policy verification system suggested is considered. The models of two verification modules are proposed. The first one is based on proof theory, namely Event Calculus, and uses abductive reasoning. The second module uses model checking technique. The current implementation of the security policy verification system is described.Предлагается подход к построению системы верификации политик безопасности, предназначенной для обнаружения и разрешения конфликтов в спецификациях политик безопасности компьютерных сетей. Рассмотрена архитектура предлагаемой системы верификации политик безопасности. Представлены модели реализации двух модулей верификации: модуля, основанного на теории доказательств, с применением исчисления событий и абдуктивного вывода, и модуля, использующего технологию верификации на модели. Описана текущая реализация программного прототипа системы верификации

Distributed norm management in regulated multiagent systems

Norms are widely recognised as a means of coordinating multi-agent systems. The distributed management of norms is a challenging issue and we observe a lack of truly distributed computational realisations of normative models. In order to regulate the behaviour of autonomous agents that take part in multiple, related activities, we propose a normative model, the Normative Structure (NS), an artifact that is based on the propagation of normative positions (obligations, prohibitions, permissions), as consequences of agents’ actions. Within a NS, conflicts may arise due to the dynamic nature of the MAS and the concurrency of agents ’ actions. However, ensuring conflict-freedom of a NS at design time is computationally intractable. We show this by formalising the notion of conflict, providing a mapping of NSs into Coloured Petri Nets and borrowing well-known theoretical results from that field. Since online conflict resolution is required, we present a tractable algorithm to be employed distributedly. We then demonstrate that this algorithm is paramount for the distributed enactment of a NS

Argumentation-based Reasoning about Plans, Maintenance Goals and Norms

Peer reviewedPostprin

Finding Common Grounds: The Moral Machine Case

Master's Thesis in InformaticsINF399MAMN-PROGMAMN-IN

Norms in conflict : an analysis of state responses to norm conflict in Southeast Asia

Defence date: 20 September 2018Examining Board: Professor Dr. Jennifer Welsh, EUI; Professor Dr. Ulrich Krotz, EUI; Professor Dr. Wayne Sandholtz, USC; Professor Dr. Jörn Dosch, Universität RostockConstructivist scholarship within International Relations (IR) has yielded important insights into the role of identity and norms in shaping state behavior. Yet, nearly all states have multiple identities and various – sometimes conflicting – normative commitments. This thesis is concerned with ‘norm conflict’: those situations in which the prescriptions associated with two norms clash, making it seemingly impossible for a state to conform to both norms at the same time. Despite the fact that situations of norm conflict present significant decision-making problems for states, the discipline of IR has thus far given them scant attention. This thesis analyses how Southeast Asia’s more democratically advanced states have responded to situations of norm conflict between the norms of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, and extraterritorial human rights protection and promotion. These two norms stipulate conflicting obligations in situations of gross human rights violations in foreign jurisdictions. I develop a consequentialist, but socially embedded, theoretical approach to norm following, which argues that by making credible commitments to norms, governments create domestic, international and – in some cases – regional expectations concerning norm compliance. The challenge for states is twofold: to manage such expectations, and to minimize the social costs of non-compliance with one of the two norms – which include potential damage to domestic legitimacy and international reputation. I suggest that states can pursue different strategies in response to norm conflict, which I conceptualize as consistent norm prioritization, general and context-specific norm replacement, norm reconciliation, conflict denial and a mixed response strategy. I argue that one important factor in determining which strategy is adopted represents whether the expectations articulated by a government’s relevant audiences converge, conflict or change over time. The thesis empirically explores these different strategies by studying Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia’s responses to gross cases of human rights violations in Myanmar