NoMoDEI : A framework for Norm Monitoring on Dynamic Electronic Institutions

With the growth of the Internet, computational systems have become more and more complex, often including complicate interconnected networks of autonomous components. The need to bring some organisational structure into autonomous systems becomes urgent, as this allows regulating the behaviour of the different autonomous components to ensure their objectives are aligned with the holistic objectives of the system. Normative Systems are one of the mechanisms that can be applied to define and enforce acceptable behaviour within distributed electronic systems which should comply with some (human) regulations. One of the requirements to effectively implement Normative Systems is to be able to assess, at runtime, the state of the normative environment. Existing lines of research have already tried to tackle this issue on some simple scenarios. However, more complex scenarios may appear, for instance, scenarios where the normative context is not static, but it expands and contracts as new norms are added to the institution and removed from it respectively. As in human legal systems, it is easy to foresee that some of these electronic normative environments will not be static. They should be able to evolve through time as regulations change, effectively adapting to new situations and behaviours. Under these conditions, a monitoring system must be able to continue computing the state of the normative environment at runtime, as often we can not afford to perform the changes on the normative context off-line. Furthermore, it must be guaranteed the monitoring system can keep producing states of the normative environment that are consistent with the changes performed on the normative context. For instance, if a norm has been removed from the normative context, it does not make sense anymore to compute normative states where the norm has been violated. In this thesis we present NoMoDEI, a normative monitoring framework for dynamic Electronic Institutions. We formalize and develop an extended normative framework and architecture to cope with scenarios where the normative context is dynamic, therefore norms can be added, removed and updated. The operations are to be performed at run-time, without having to stop computing the normative state. The normative states computed are consistent with the expansion and contraction operations. NoMoDEI is introduced in three steps. First, we formally define the operations to be supported in order to allow for expanding and contracting the normative context. Then, we instantiate the formal operations, providing implementation details. Finally, we demonstrate our framework by applying it to two use cases: E-health systems and waste-water management on a river basin.Amb l'expansió d'Internet els sistemes computacionals han esdevingut més complexos, sovint incorporant complicades xarxes interconnectades de components autònoms. Es per això que la necessitat d'incorporar estructures organitzacionals en el sistemes autònoms s 'accentua, donat que aquestes estructures permeten regular el comportament dels diferents components autònoms, tot assegurant que els seus objectius es troben alineats amb els objectius generals del sistema. Els Sistemes Normatius (i.e. Normative Systems) són un dels mecanismes que podem aplicar per definir i imposar patrons acceptables de comportament dintre de sistemes electrònics distribuïts. Això esdevé especialment important quan el sistema es troba regimentat per regulacions (normalment humanes). Un dels requeriments per implementar Sistemes Normatius és ser capaços de determinar, en temps d'execució, l'estat de l'entorn normatiu. Existeixen línies de recerca que ja han tractat aquest problema en alguns escenaris simples. El món real però ens ofereix escenaris més complexes, com per exemple, escenaris on el context normatiu no és estàtic, si no que s'expandeix i contrau a mesura que noves normes són afegides o eliminades de la institució. Tal com passa als sistemes legals humans, és fàcil preveure que alguns contextos normatius electrònics no seran estàtics. Aquests contextos haurien de ser capaços d'evolucionar a través del temps a mesura que les regulacions canvien, adaptant-se a noves situacions i comportaments. Sota aquestes condicions, un sistema de monitorització ha de ser capaç de continuar calculant l'estat de l'entorn normatiu en temps d'execució, ja que sovint no ens podem permetre realitzar els canvis a l'entorn normatiu aturant el procés de monitorització. És més s'ha de garantir que el sistema de monitorització sigui capaç de continuar produint es tats de l’entorn normatiu de forma consistent amb els canvis realitzats. Per exemple, el fet d'eliminar una norma fa que no tingui gaire sentit continuar calculant es tats normatius on aquesta norma ha es tat violada. A aquesta Tesi presentem NoMoDEI, una infraestructura de monitorització normativa per institucions electròniques dinàmiques. Formalitzem i desenvolupem una infraestructura de monitorització normativa estesa capaç d'operar en escenaris on el context normatiu es dinàmic. Es a dir, diverses normes poden ser introduïdes, eliminades o actualitzades del context normatiu en qualsevol moment. Aquestes operacions s'han de poder realitzar en temps d'execució, es a dir, sense deixar de calcular l'estat normatiu. Es més, els estats normatius calculats han de ser consistents amb les respectives operacions d'extensió o contracció del context. Durant la Tesi presentem NoMoDEI en tres passos. Primer proporcionem una definició formal de les operacions que la infraestructura ha de suportar per permetre expandir i contraure el context normatiu. A continuació instanciem aquestes operacions proporcionant detalls d'implementació. Finalment demostrem que la nostra infraestructura pot ser aplicada a casos d'ús del món real introduint dos casos: sistemes de salut electrònics (i.e. E-health) i sistemes de tractament d’aigües residuals a la conca d’un riuPostprint (published version

Adapting Agent Platforms to Web Service Environments

This master thesis tries to address the above-mentioned issues by creating an agent plat- form suitable for encapsulating web-services into agents, providing them with typical agent capabilities (such as learning or complex communication and reasoning mechanisms). The objective of this point is to create a generic, modular agent platform that is able to run lightweight agents. The agents should be able to easily invoke web-services, e ectively encapsulating them. They also should be able to easily coordinate for composing the invoked services in order to perform complex tasks. Thus, the platform must provide facilities to allow the agents perform these service invocations

Adapting Agent Platforms to Web Service Environments

This master thesis tries to address the above-mentioned issues by creating an agent plat- form suitable for encapsulating web-services into agents, providing them with typical agent capabilities (such as learning or complex communication and reasoning mechanisms). The objective of this point is to create a generic, modular agent platform that is able to run lightweight agents. The agents should be able to easily invoke web-services, e ectively encapsulating them. They also should be able to easily coordinate for composing the invoked services in order to perform complex tasks. Thus, the platform must provide facilities to allow the agents perform these service invocations

NoMoDEI : A framework for Norm Monitoring on Dynamic Electronic Institutions

With the growth of the Internet, computational systems have become more and more complex, often including complicate interconnected networks of autonomous components. The need to bring some organisational structure into autonomous systems becomes urgent, as this allows regulating the behaviour of the different autonomous components to ensure their objectives are aligned with the holistic objectives of the system. Normative Systems are one of the mechanisms that can be applied to define and enforce acceptable behaviour within distributed electronic systems which should comply with some (human) regulations. One of the requirements to effectively implement Normative Systems is to be able to assess, at runtime, the state of the normative environment. Existing lines of research have already tried to tackle this issue on some simple scenarios. However, more complex scenarios may appear, for instance, scenarios where the normative context is not static, but it expands and contracts as new norms are added to the institution and removed from it respectively. As in human legal systems, it is easy to foresee that some of these electronic normative environments will not be static. They should be able to evolve through time as regulations change, effectively adapting to new situations and behaviours. Under these conditions, a monitoring system must be able to continue computing the state of the normative environment at runtime, as often we can not afford to perform the changes on the normative context off-line. Furthermore, it must be guaranteed the monitoring system can keep producing states of the normative environment that are consistent with the changes performed on the normative context. For instance, if a norm has been removed from the normative context, it does not make sense anymore to compute normative states where the norm has been violated. In this thesis we present NoMoDEI, a normative monitoring framework for dynamic Electronic Institutions. We formalize and develop an extended normative framework and architecture to cope with scenarios where the normative context is dynamic, therefore norms can be added, removed and updated. The operations are to be performed at run-time, without having to stop computing the normative state. The normative states computed are consistent with the expansion and contraction operations. NoMoDEI is introduced in three steps. First, we formally define the operations to be supported in order to allow for expanding and contracting the normative context. Then, we instantiate the formal operations, providing implementation details. Finally, we demonstrate our framework by applying it to two use cases: E-health systems and waste-water management on a river basin.Amb l'expansió d'Internet els sistemes computacionals han esdevingut més complexos, sovint incorporant complicades xarxes interconnectades de components autònoms. Es per això que la necessitat d'incorporar estructures organitzacionals en el sistemes autònoms s 'accentua, donat que aquestes estructures permeten regular el comportament dels diferents components autònoms, tot assegurant que els seus objectius es troben alineats amb els objectius generals del sistema. Els Sistemes Normatius (i.e. Normative Systems) són un dels mecanismes que podem aplicar per definir i imposar patrons acceptables de comportament dintre de sistemes electrònics distribuïts. Això esdevé especialment important quan el sistema es troba regimentat per regulacions (normalment humanes). Un dels requeriments per implementar Sistemes Normatius és ser capaços de determinar, en temps d'execució, l'estat de l'entorn normatiu. Existeixen línies de recerca que ja han tractat aquest problema en alguns escenaris simples. El món real però ens ofereix escenaris més complexes, com per exemple, escenaris on el context normatiu no és estàtic, si no que s'expandeix i contrau a mesura que noves normes són afegides o eliminades de la institució. Tal com passa als sistemes legals humans, és fàcil preveure que alguns contextos normatius electrònics no seran estàtics. Aquests contextos haurien de ser capaços d'evolucionar a través del temps a mesura que les regulacions canvien, adaptant-se a noves situacions i comportaments. Sota aquestes condicions, un sistema de monitorització ha de ser capaç de continuar calculant l'estat de l'entorn normatiu en temps d'execució, ja que sovint no ens podem permetre realitzar els canvis a l'entorn normatiu aturant el procés de monitorització. És més s'ha de garantir que el sistema de monitorització sigui capaç de continuar produint es tats de l’entorn normatiu de forma consistent amb els canvis realitzats. Per exemple, el fet d'eliminar una norma fa que no tingui gaire sentit continuar calculant es tats normatius on aquesta norma ha es tat violada. A aquesta Tesi presentem NoMoDEI, una infraestructura de monitorització normativa per institucions electròniques dinàmiques. Formalitzem i desenvolupem una infraestructura de monitorització normativa estesa capaç d'operar en escenaris on el context normatiu es dinàmic. Es a dir, diverses normes poden ser introduïdes, eliminades o actualitzades del context normatiu en qualsevol moment. Aquestes operacions s'han de poder realitzar en temps d'execució, es a dir, sense deixar de calcular l'estat normatiu. Es més, els estats normatius calculats han de ser consistents amb les respectives operacions d'extensió o contracció del context. Durant la Tesi presentem NoMoDEI en tres passos. Primer proporcionem una definició formal de les operacions que la infraestructura ha de suportar per permetre expandir i contraure el context normatiu. A continuació instanciem aquestes operacions proporcionant detalls d'implementació. Finalment demostrem que la nostra infraestructura pot ser aplicada a casos d'ús del món real introduint dos casos: sistemes de salut electrònics (i.e. E-health) i sistemes de tractament d’aigües residuals a la conca d’un ri

Extension-based argumentation semantics via logic programming semantics with negation as failure

Extension-based argumentation semantics have been shown to be a suitable approach for performing practical reasoning. Since extension-based argumentation semantics were formalized in terms of relationships between atomic arguments, it has been shown that extension-based argumentation semantics (such as the grounded semantics and stable semantics) can be characterized by logic programming semantics with negation as failure. Recently, it has been shown that argumentation semantics such as the preferred semantics and the CF2 semantics can be characterized in terms of logic programming semantics. In this paper, we make a short overview w.r.t. recent results in the close relationship between extension-based semantics and logic programming semantics with negation as failure. We also show that there is enough evidence to believe that the use of declarative approaches based on logic programming semantics with negation as failure is a practical approach for performing practical reasoning following an argumentation reasoning approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

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