The Influence of Culture on ABMP Negotiation Parameters

Negotiations are known to proceed differently across cultures. A realistic agent model of international negotiations has to take cultural differences into account. This paper presents an agent-based model that tackles this challenge. The context is a trade game where commodities with a hidden quality attribute are exchanged. The negotiation model uses the ABMP negotiation architecture. It applies a utility function that includes market value, quality preference, and risk attitude. The indices of the five dimensions of Hofstede’s model of national cultures are used, in combination with agent’s group membership and societal status, to differentiate negotiation behavior by adaptation of weight factors in the utility function and ABMP parameters. The paper presents test runs with synthetic cultures and a set of actual national cultures. The present version of the model helps to understand behaviors in international trade networks. It proves that Hofstede’s dimensions can be used to generate culturally differentiated agent

Computational Modeling of Culture's Consequences

This paper presents an approach to formalize the influence of culture on the decision functions of agents in social simulations. The key components are (a) a definition of the domain of study in the form of a decision model, (b) knowledge acquisition based on a dimensional theory of culture, resulting in expert validated computational models of the influence of single dimensions, and (c) a technique for integrating the knowledge about individual dimensions. The approach is developed in a line of research that studies the influence of culture on trade processes. Trade is an excellent subject for this study of culture’s consequences because it is ubiquitous, relevant both socially and economically, and often increasingly cross-cultural in a globalized world

Agent-based simulation of animal behaviour

In this paper it is shown how animal behaviour can be simulated in an agent-based manner. Different models are shown for different types of behaviour, varying from purely reactive behaviour to pro-active, social and adaptive behaviour. The compositional development method for multi-agent systems DESIRE and its software environment supports the conceptual and detailed design, and execution of these models. Experiments reported in the literature on animal behaviour have been simulated for a number of agent models

Principles of Compositional Multi-agent System Development

A dedicated development method for multi-agent systems requires adequate means to describe the characteristics of agents and multi-agent systems. Compositional multi-agent system development is based on the principles process and knowledge abstraction, compositionality, reuse, specification and verification. Although the paper addreses these principles of compositional multi-agent system development from a generic perspective, some of the examples used to illustrate the notions discussed are taken from the compositional development method DESIRE

Principles of Component-Based Design of Intelligent Agents

Compositional multi-agent system design is a methodological perspective on multiagent system design based on the software engineering principles process and knowledge abstraction, compositionality, reuse, specification and verification. This pape

Evaluating heat stress in Australian wheat

The historical effects of heat episodes on Australian wheat crops have not been well researched. A time series model was built using 1922-1994 wheat yields and climate records from a six wheat cropping shires in southern NSW, Australia. The model related yearly crop yields to growing season rainfall and High Degree Hours (HDH). HDH are a measure of damaging temperatures during the reproductive stages. The model was validated against later (1982-2008) climate and yield records. The finding was that wheat crops in south west NSW have historically suffered a yield loss of 15% due to HDH. There was an average 8.4% yield reduction when rainfall was 10% below average and a 5.3% yield reduction for each 1°C rise in average growing season temperature. The times series model results were compared with APSIM simulation predictions produced using the same climate records. Validation against observed yields (1982-2008) indicated the time series model predictions were statistically superior (time series/APSIM: RMSE=14.6/18.9, slope=0.95/0.85, R²=0.82/0.69.) Field and greenhouse experiments were also conducted to establish if six overseas research genotypes were more heat tolerant than four local Australian varieties. The treatments were four days of up to 38°C at anthesis (greenhouse) and normal and late sowing dates in the field at Narrabri. The experiments showed superior yields for some of the overseas germplasm, compared to the local varieties, but the ranking of the varieties varied between testing environments and testing dates. There was a significant (P<0.01) genotype x environment interaction. The experiments that applied heat at anthesis (i.e. greenhouse) resulted in reduced grain numbers while the field experiments, where higher temperatures extended into grain filling, resulted in a reduction in grain weights

An Agent Architecture for Dynamic Re-design of Agents

. This paper presents a generic architecture for an agent capable of designing and creating new agents. The design agent itself is based on an existing generic agent model, and includes a refinement of a generic model for design, in which strategic reasoning and dynamic management of requirements are explicitly modelled. This model is refined for the design of agents, or (parts of) multi-agent systems. It includes an explicit formal representation at a logical level of (1) requirements that can be formulated for agents and multi-agent systems, and (2) design object descriptions of a (part of a) multi-agent system. The generic architecture has been formally specified in DESIRE, and has been tested in a prototype application. 1 1 Introduction Agents that are able to dynamically design and create new agents, or to dynamically modify existing agents can be very useful. For example, Internet agents that are capable of dynamically creating new agents to assist them in information gatheri..