Structuring Qualitative Data for Agent-Based Modelling

Using ethnography to build agent-based models may result in more empirically grounded simulations. Our study on innovation practice and culture in the Westland horticulture sector served to explore what information and data from ethnographic analysis could be used in models and how. MAIA, a framework for agent-based model development of social systems, is our starting point for structuring and translating said knowledge into a model. The data that was collected through an ethnographic process served as input to the agent-based model. We also used the theoretical analysis performed on the data to define outcome variables for the simulation. We conclude by proposing an initial methodology that describes the use of ethnography in modelling

A transaction-oriented architecture for structuring unstructured information in enterprise applications

As 80-85% of all corporate information remains unstructured, outside of the processing scope of enterprise systems, many enterprises rely on Information Systems that cause them to risk transactions that are based on lack of information (errors of omission) or misleading information (errors of commission). To address this concern, the fundamental business concept of monetary transactions is extended to include qualitative business concepts. A Transaction Concept (TC) is accordingly identified that provides a structure for these unstructured but vital aspects of business transactions. Based on REA (Resources, Events, Agents) and modelled using Conceptual Graphs (CGs) and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA), the TC provides businesses with a more balanced view of the transactions they engage in and a means of discovering new transactions that they might have otherwise missed. A simple example is provided that illustrates this integration and reveals a key missing element. This example is supported by reference to a wide range of case studies and application areas that demonstrate the added value of the TC. The TC is then advanced into a Transaction-Oriented Architecture (TOA). The TOA provides the framework by which an enterprise’s business processes are orchestrated according to the TC. TOA thus brings Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and the productivity of enterprise applications to the height of the real, transactional world that enterprises actually operate in.</jats:p

Socionic Multi-Agent Systems Based on Reflexive Petri Nets and Theories of Social Self-Organisation

This contribution summarises the core results of the transdisciplinary ASKO project, part of the German DFG's programme Sozionik, which combines sociologists' and computer scientists' skills in order to create improved theories and models of artificial societies. Our research group has (a) formulated a social theory, which is able to explain fundamental mechanisms of self-organisation in both natural and artificial societies, (b) modelled this in a mathematical way using a visual formalism, and (c) developed a novel multi-agent system architecture which is conceptually coherent, recursively structured (hence non-eclectic) and based on our social theory. The article presents an outline of both a sociological middle-range theory of social self-organisation in educational institutions, its formal, Petri net based model, including a simulation of one of its main mechanisms, and the multi-agent system architecture SONAR. It describes how the theory was created by a re-analysis of some grand social theories, by grounding it empirically, and finally how the theory was evaluated by modelling its concepts and statements.Multi-Agents Systems, Petri Nets, Self-Organisation, Social Theories

Expert Elicitation for Reliable System Design

This paper reviews the role of expert judgement to support reliability assessments within the systems engineering design process. Generic design processes are described to give the context and a discussion is given about the nature of the reliability assessments required in the different systems engineering phases. It is argued that, as far as meeting reliability requirements is concerned, the whole design process is more akin to a statistical control process than to a straightforward statistical problem of assessing an unknown distribution. This leads to features of the expert judgement problem in the design context which are substantially different from those seen, for example, in risk assessment. In particular, the role of experts in problem structuring and in developing failure mitigation options is much more prominent, and there is a need to take into account the reliability potential for future mitigation measures downstream in the system life cycle. An overview is given of the stakeholders typically involved in large scale systems engineering design projects, and this is used to argue the need for methods that expose potential judgemental biases in order to generate analyses that can be said to provide rational consensus about uncertainties. Finally, a number of key points are developed with the aim of moving toward a framework that provides a holistic method for tracking reliability assessment through the design process.Comment: This paper commented in: [arXiv:0708.0285], [arXiv:0708.0287], [arXiv:0708.0288]. Rejoinder in [arXiv:0708.0293]. Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/088342306000000510 in the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

A survey of simulation techniques in commerce and defence

Despite the developments in Modelling and Simulation (M&S) tools and techniques over the past years, there has been a gap in the M&S research and practice in healthcare on developing a toolkit to assist the modellers and simulation practitioners with selecting an appropriate set of techniques. This study is a preliminary step towards this goal. This paper presents some results from a systematic literature survey on applications of M&S in the commerce and defence domains that could inspire some improvements in the healthcare. Interim results show that in the commercial sector Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) has been the most widely used technique with System Dynamics (SD) in second place. However in the defence sector, SD has gained relatively more attention. SD has been found quite useful for qualitative and soft factors analysis. From both the surveys it becomes clear that there is a growing trend towards using hybrid M&S approaches

On the quest for defining organisational plasticity: a community modelling experiment

Purpose: This viewpoint article is concerned with an attempt to advance organisational plasticity (OP) modelling concepts by using a novel community modelling framework (PhiloLab) from the social simulation community to drive the process of idea generation. In addition, the authors want to feed back their experience with PhiloLab as they believe that this way of idea generation could also be of interest to the wider evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM) community. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used some workshop sessions to brainstorm new conceptual ideas in a structured and efficient way with a multidisciplinary group of 14 (mainly academic) participants using PhiloLab. This is a tool from the social simulation community, which stimulates and formally supports discussions about philosophical questions of future societal models by means of developing conceptual agent-based simulation models. This was followed by an analysis of the qualitative data gathered during the PhiloLab sessions, feeding into the definition of a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation. Findings: The PhiloLab experiment helped with defining a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation, which are presented in this viewpoint article. The results indicated that the problem was rather complex, but it also showed good potential for an agent-based simulation model to tackle some of the key issues related to OP. The experiment also showed that PhiloLab was very useful in terms of knowledge and idea gathering. Originality/value: Through information gathering and open debates on how to create an agent-based simulation model of a plastic organisation, the authors could identify some of the characteristics of OP and start structuring some of the parameters for a computational simulation. With the outcome of the PhiloLab experiment, the authors are paving the way towards future exploratory computational simulation studies of OP

The transaction pattern through automating TrAM

Transaction Agent Modelling (TrAM) has demonstrated how the early requirements of complex enterprise systems can be captured and described in a lucid yet rigorous way. Using Geerts and McCarthy’s REA (Resource-Events-Agents) model as its basis, the TrAM process manages to capture the ‘qualitative’ dimensions of business transactions and business processes. A key part of the process is automated model-checking, which CG has revealed to be beneficial in this regard. It enables models to retain the high-level business concepts yet providing a formal structure at that high-level that is lacking in Use Cases. Using a conceptual catalogue informed by transactions, we illustrate the automation of a transaction pattern from which further specialisations impart a tested specification for system implementation, which we envisage as a multi-agent system in order to reflect the dynamic world of business activity. It would furthermore be able to interoperate across business domains as they would share the generalised TM as a pattern.</p

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes