Complexity results for argumentation-based agent communication

In autonomous multi-agent systems, agents communicate with each other in order to cooperatively resolve problems and achieve joint goals. In advanced applications such as e-business, agents should be able to communicate not only by exchanging simple massages, but by engaging in complex conversations such as persuasions and negotiations. In this paper, we address the computational complexity problem of such conversations where agents are equipped with reasoning capabilities based upon argumentation. We argue that the computational efficiency of these conversations depends on the underlying logical language and on the type of reasoning mechanisms. In addition, we show how a trade-off between complexity andflexibility could be achieved. ©2008 IEEE

A formal verification approach of conversations in composite web services using NuSMV

Web service composition is currently a very focused-on topic of research, with many studies being proposed by academic and industrial research groups. This paper discusses the design and verification of behavior of composite Web services. We model composite Web services based on two behaviors, namely control and operational. These behaviors communicate through conversation messages. We use state charts to model composite Web services and verify the synchronization of the conversations among them using symbolic model checking with NuSMV. © 2009 IOS Press. All rights reserved

On the analysis of satisfaction for web services selection

This paper addresses the issue of selecting Web services residing in a community. Since these Web services have similar functionalities, this selection depends on their Quality of Service (QoS). Existing approaches only consider the satisfaction of users\u27 requirements and neglect the satisfaction of Web services\u27 requirements and the community to which they belong. This paper proposes an approach of selecting Web services based on the satisfaction of all three parties - user, Web service, and community. The approach consists of first, formalizing the selection process and then, using integer programming to define a score function, which can be maximized to find the best selection based on three satisfaction factors. Experiments using real Web services and measurements are conducted to demonstrate the influences of the approach. © 2012 IEEE

An Argumentation-Driven Model for Flexible and Efficient Persuasive Negotiation

The purpose of this paper is to propose a formal description and implementation of a negotiation protocol between autonomous agents using persuasive argumentation. This protocol is designed to be simple and computationally efficient. The computational efficiency is achieved by specifying the protocol as a set of simple logical rules that software agents can easily combine. These latter are specified as a set of computational dialogue games about which agents can reason. The protocol converges by checking the termination conditions. The paper discusses the formal properties of the protocol and addresses, as proof of concept, the implementation issues using an agent-oriented platform equipped with logical programming mechanisms

SoMeT - A Formal Verification Approach of Conversations in Composite Web Services Using NuSMV

Web service composition is currently a very focused-on topic of research, with many studies being proposed by academic and industrial research groups. This paper discusses the design and verification of behavior of composite Web services. We model composite Web services based on two behaviors, namely control and operational. These behaviors communicate through conversation messages. We use state charts to model composite Web services and verify the synchronization of the conversations among them using symbolic model checking with NuSMV

Symbolic model checking composite Web services using operational and control behaviors

This paper addresses the issue of verifying if composite Web services design meets some desirable properties in terms of deadlock freedom, safety (something bad never happens), and reachability (something good will eventually happen). Composite Web services are modeled based on a separation of concerns between business and control aspects of Web services. This separation is achieved through the design of an operational behavior, which defines the composition functioning according to the Web services\u27 business logic, and a control behavior, which identifies the valid sequences of actions that the operational behavior should follow. These two behaviors are formally defined using automata-based techniques. The proposed approach is model checking-based where the operational behavior is the model to be checked against properties defined in the control behavior. The paper proves that the proposed technique allows checking the soundness and completeness of the design model with respect to the operational and control behaviors. Moreover, automatic translation procedures from the design models to the NuSMV model checker\u27s code and a verification tool are reported in the paper. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Using 3-way satisfaction for web service selection: Preliminary investigation

This paper examines the problem of Web service selection in a community. Web services reside in communities due to the similiar functionalities they offer. The selection in communities is important because each Web service provides a different level of service. Selection methods thus far only consider the satisfaction of users and neglect the satisfaction of Web services and the community to which they belong. In this paper we propose a method of selecting a Web service based on the satisfaction of all three parties - user, Web service and community. The proposed solution consists of first formalizing the selection process and then using linear programming techniques to define a score function, which can be maximized to find the best selection based on the three satisfaction factors. © 2011 IEEE

Reinforcement Learning Framework for Server Placement and Workload Allocation in Multi-Access Edge Computing

Cloud computing is a reliable solution to provide distributed computation power. However, real-time response is still challenging regarding the enormous amount of data generated by the IoT devices in 5G and 6G networks. Thus, multi-access edge computing (MEC), which consists of distributing the edge servers in the proximity of end-users to have low latency besides the higher processing power, is increasingly becoming a vital factor for the success of modern applications. This paper addresses the problem of minimizing both, the network delay, which is the main objective of MEC, and the number of edge servers to provide a MEC design with minimum cost. This MEC design consists of edge servers placement and base stations allocation, which makes it a joint combinatorial optimization problem (COP). Recently, reinforcement learning (RL) has shown promising results for COPs. However, modeling real-world problems using RL when the state and action spaces are large still needs investigation. We propose a novel RL framework with an efficient representation and modeling of the state space, action space and the penalty function in the design of the underlying Markov Decision Process (MDP) for solving our problem

Enabling Secure Trustworthiness Assessment and Privacy Protection in Integrating Data for Trading Person-Specific Information

IEEE With increasing adoption of cloud services in the e-market, collaboration between stakeholders is easier than ever. Consumer stakeholders demand data from various sources to analyze trends and improve customer services. Data-as-a-service enables data integration to serve the demands of data consumers. However, the data must be of good quality and trustful for accurate analysis and effective decision making. In addition, a data custodian or provider must conform to privacy policies to avoid potential penalties for privacy breaches. To address these challenges, we propose a twofold solution: 1) we present the first information entropy-based trust computation algorithm, IEB_Trust, that allows a semitrusted arbitrator to detect the covert behavior of a dishonest data provider and chooses the qualified providers for a data mashup and 2) we incorporate the Vickrey–Clarke–Groves (VCG) auction mechanism for the valuation of data providers’ attributes into the data mashup process. Experiments on real-life data demonstrate the robustness of our approach in restricting dishonest providers from participation in the data mashup and improving the efficiency in comparison to provenance-based approaches. Furthermore, we derive the monetary shares for the chosen providers from their information utility and trust scores over the differentially private release of the integrated dataset under their joint privacy requirements

An approach to engineer communities of web services: Concepts, architecture, operation, and deployment

This article presents an approach that provides the necessary assistance to those who are in charge of engineering communities of Web services. Current practices indicate that Web services providing the same functionality are gathered into one community, independently of their origins and the way they carry out this functionality. The provided assistance manifests itself with the concepts to use, the architecture to select, the operations to script, and the deployment to track. Two protocols frame the interactions in an environment of communities of Web services namely the Web Services Community Development Protocol and the Contract-Net Protocol. The former manages a community in terms of Web services attraction/registration/withdrawal to/with/from this community. The latter satisfies users\u27 needs in terms of Web services selection/ contracting/ triggering. Finally, the article presents a prototype illustrating the engineering approach with focus on Web services attraction. Copyright © 2009, IGI Global