The Current State of Normative Agent-Based Systems

Recent years have seen an increase in the application of ideas from the social sciences to computational systems. Nowhere has this been more pronounced than in the domain of multiagent systems. Because multiagent systems are composed of multiple individual agents interacting with each other many parallels can be drawn to human and animal societies. One of the main challenges currently faced in multiagent systems research is that of social control. In particular, how can open multiagent systems be configured and organized given their constantly changing structure? One leading solution is to employ the use of social norms. In human societies, social norms are essential to regulation, coordination, and cooperation. The current trend of thinking is that these same principles can be applied to agent societies, of which multiagent systems are one type. In this article, we provide an introduction to and present a holistic viewpoint of the state of normative computing (computational solutions that employ ideas based on social norms.) To accomplish this, we (1) introduce social norms and their application to agent-based systems; (2) identify and describe a normative process abstracted from the existing research; and (3) discuss future directions for research in normative multiagent computing. The intent of this paper is to introduce new researchers to the ideas that underlie normative computing and survey the existing state of the art, as well as provide direction for future research.Norms, Normative Agents, Agents, Agent-Based System, Agent-Based Simulation, Agent-Based Modeling

Law of large numbers for non-elliptic random walks in dynamic random environments

We prove a law of large numbers for a class of $\Z^d$-valued random walks in dynamic random environments, including non-elliptic examples. We assume for the random environment a mixing property called \emph{conditional cone-mixing} and that the random walk tends to stay inside wide enough space-time cones. The proof is based on a generalization of a regeneration scheme developed by Comets and Zeitouni for static random environments and adapted by Avena, den Hollander and Redig to dynamic random environments. A number of one-dimensional examples are given. In some cases, the sign of the speed can be determined.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figure

Synthesis of polyethers of hexafluorobenzene and hexafluoropentanediol

Two new polyethers, poly /hexafluoropentamethylene tetrafluoro-p-phenylene ether/ and a completely hydroxyl-terminated polyether, is prepared by reactions of hexafluorobenzene with hexafluoropentanediol. The polyethers can be prepared as low molecular weight oils, as intermediate molecular weight waxes, or as high molecular weight elastomers

Stretched Exponential Relaxation in the Biased Random Voter Model

We study the relaxation properties of the voter model with i.i.d. random bias. We prove under mild condions that the disorder-averaged relaxation of this biased random voter model is faster than a stretched exponential with exponent $d/(d+\alpha)$, where $0<\alpha\le 2$ depends on the transition rates of the non-biased voter model. Under an additional assumption, we show that the above upper bound is optimal. The main ingredient of our proof is a result of Donsker and Varadhan (1979).Comment: 14 pages, AMS-LaTe

The Accession of Turkey to the European Union: the political decision-making process - 29

Political Science; European Unio

Berman-Konsowa principle for reversible Markov jump processes

In this paper we prove a version of the Berman\tire Konsowa principle for reversible Markov jump processes on Polish spaces. The Berman\tire Konsowa principle provides a variational formula for the capacity of a pair of disjoint measurable sets. There are two versions, one involving a class of probability measures for random finite paths from one set to the other, the other involving a class of finite unit flows from one set to the other. The Berman\tire Konsowa principle complements the Dirichlet principle and the Thomson principle, and turns out to be especially useful for obtaining sharp estimates on crossover times in metastable interacting particle systems

Interdisciplinary (retail) research: The business of geography and the geography of business

NoAt the 2005 British Academy of Management conference several well-known economic geographers, including Neil Wrigley, Gordon Clark, and Susan Christopherson, called for management researchers to engage with economic geographers on interrelated geographical and managerial issues in the study of (retail) firms. In this commentary we reflect upon the present geography -management interface.We begin by considering the term `interdisciplinary research' and its relationship to any management - geography interface. This is followed by a context-specific discussion of international retailing and the role of research on the retail transnational corporation (TNC) in developing an interdisciplinary agenda. This commentary represents an initial more business and management focused response to the call from geography academics for more/better interdisciplinary research at the geography - management interface