83,042 research outputs found
On the convergence of autonomous agent communities
This is the post-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 IOS Press and the authors.Community is a common phenomenon in natural ecosystems, human societies as well as artificial multi-agent systems such as those in web and Internet based applications. In many self-organizing systems, communities are formed evolutionarily in a decentralized way through agents' autonomous behavior. This paper systematically investigates the properties of a variety of the self-organizing agent community systems by a formal qualitative approach and a quantitative experimental approach. The qualitative formal study by applying formal specification in SLABS and Scenario Calculus has proven that mature and optimal communities always form and become stable when agents behave based on the collective knowledge of the communities, whereas community formation does not always reach maturity and optimality if agents behave solely based on individual knowledge, and the communities are not always stable even if such a formation is achieved. The quantitative experimental study by simulation has shown that the convergence time of agent communities depends on several parameters of the system in certain complicated patterns, including the number of agents, the number of community organizers, the number of knowledge categories, and the size of the knowledge in each category
Dynamic Models of Appraisal Networks Explaining Collective Learning
This paper proposes models of learning process in teams of individuals who
collectively execute a sequence of tasks and whose actions are determined by
individual skill levels and networks of interpersonal appraisals and influence.
The closely-related proposed models have increasing complexity, starting with a
centralized manager-based assignment and learning model, and finishing with a
social model of interpersonal appraisal, assignments, learning, and influences.
We show how rational optimal behavior arises along the task sequence for each
model, and discuss conditions of suboptimality. Our models are grounded in
replicator dynamics from evolutionary games, influence networks from
mathematical sociology, and transactive memory systems from organization
science.Comment: A preliminary version has been accepted by the 53rd IEEE Conference
on Decision and Control. The journal version has been submitted to IEEE
Transactions on Automatic Contro
Epistemic policy networks in the European Unionâs CBRN risk mitigation policy
This paper offers insights into an innovative and currently flagship approach of the European Union (EU) to the mitigation of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) risks. Building on its long-time experience in the CBRN field, the EU has incorporated methods familiar to the students of international security governance: it is establishing regional networks of experts and expertise. CBRN Centers of Excellence, as they are officially called, aim to contribute to the security and safety culture in different parts of Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, and South East Europe, in the broadly construed CBRN area. These regional networks represent a modern form of security cooperation, which can be conceptualized as an epistemic policy networks approach. It offers flexibility to the participating states, which have different incentives to get involved. At the same, however, the paper identifies potential limitations and challenges of epistemic policy networks in this form
Personality and team performance: a meta-analysis
Using a meta-analytical procedure, the relationship between team composition in terms of the Big-Five personality traits (trait elevation and variability) and team performance were researched. The number of teams upon which analyses were performed ranged from 106 to 527. For the total sample, significant effects were found for elevation in agreeableness ( = 0.24) and conscientiousness ( = 0.20), and for variability in agreeableness ( = -0.12) and conscientiousness ( = -0.24). Moderation by type of team was tested for professional teams versus student teams. Moderation results for agreeableness and conscientiousness were in line with the total sample results. However, student and professional teams differed in effects for emotional stability and openness to experience. Based on these results, suggestions for future team composition research are presented
On group stability in hierarchies and networks
A hierarchical structure is a widespread organizational form in many areas. My aim in this paper is to provide a rationale for this fact based on two premises. First, a group organizes itself so as to achieve efficient coordination. Second, efficient coordination is achieved only if subgroups as well as individuals agree to cooperate. Even in situations in which there are gains to coordination, the agreement of each possible subgroup may be impossible to reach, resulting in instabilities. I argue that a hierarchical organization avoids such instabilities by distributing in an optimal way autonomy and blocking power to a restricted set of subgroups. Comparisons with nondirected networks are drawn.Efficient Coordination; Instabilities; Hierarchical structure
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