Coordination, Organizations, Institutions, and Norms in Multi-Agent Systems: AAMAS 2005 International Workshops on Agents, Norms, and Institutions for

261 Pages·2006·2.85 MB·English

by  Olivier Boissier

Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 3913
EditedbyJ.G.CarbonellandJ.Siekmann
Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Olivier Boissier Julian Padget
Virginia Dignum Gabriela Lindemann
Eric Matson Sascha Ossowski
Jaime Simão Sichman
Javier Vázquez-Salceda (Eds.)
Coordination, Organizations
Institutions, and Norms
in Multi-Agent Systems
AAMAS2005InternationalWorkshopsonAgents,Normsand
InstitutionsforRegulatedMulti-AgentSystems,ANIREM2005
andOrganizationsinMulti-AgentSystems,OOOP2005
Utrecht,TheNetherlands,July25-26,2005
RevisedSelectedPapers
1 3
VolumeEditors
OlivierBoissier
E-mail:[email protected]
JulianPadget
E-mail:[email protected]
VirginiaDignum
TheNetherlands
E-mail:[email protected]
GabrielaLindemann
E-mail:[email protected]
EricMatson
Engineering,Dayton,Ohio,USA
E-mail:[email protected]
SaschaOssowski
E-mail:[email protected]
JaimeSimaoSichman
Brazil
E-mail:[email protected]
JavierVázquez-Salceda
Barcelona,Spain
E-mail:[email protected]
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2006927157
CRSubjectClassification(1998):I.2.11,D.2,F.3,D.1,C.2.4,D.3
LNCSSublibrary:SL7–ArtificialIntelligence
ISSN 0302-9743
ISBN-10 3-540-35173-6SpringerBerlinHeidelbergNewYork
ISBN-13 978-3-540-35173-3SpringerBerlinHeidelbergNewYork
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Preface
ThisvolumeisthefirstinaplannedseriesfocussingonissuesinCoordination,Organi-
zations,InstitutionsandNorms(COIN)inmulti-agentsystems.Forthcomingeventsare
COIN@[email protected]
from two complementaryevents, ANIREM (Agents, Normsand Institutionsfor Reg-
ulatedMultiagentSystems)andOOOP(FromOrganizationstoOrganization-Oriented
Programmingin MAS), that were part of the workshop programat AAMAS 2005 in
Utrecht.
ANIREM: Multi-agentsystemsareoftenunderstoodascomplexentitieswhereamul-
titude of agents interact, usually with some intendedindividualor collective pur-
pose. Such a view usually assumes some form of structure, or set of norms or
conventionsthatarticulateorrestraininteractionsinordertomakethemmoreef-
fectivein attaining thosegoals, morecertain forparticipantsor morepredictable.
Theengineeringofeffectiveregulatorymechanismsisakeyproblemforthedesign
ofopencomplexmulti-agentsystems,sothatinrecentyearsithasbecomearich
andchallengingtopicforresearchanddevelopment.Therearemanypossibleways
oflookingattheproblemofregulatingmulti-agentsystems,andoneperspectiveis
thenormativeapproach,basedontheuseofnormsinartificialinstitutions.Lately
therehasbeenanexplosionofnewapproaches,boththeoreticalandpractical,ex-
ploringtheuseofnormsasaflexiblewaytoconstrainand/orimposebehavior,and
these are reflectedin specificationsof normlanguages,agent-mediatedelectronic
institutions,contracts,protocolsandpolicies.
OOOP: Agent organizations are an emergent area of application within multi-agent
systemsthatposenewdemandsontraditionalMASmodels,suchastheintegration
oforganizationalandindividualperspectivesandthedynamicadaptationofmod-
els to organizationaland environmental changes, both of which are impacted by
thenotionofopennessandheterogeneity.Assystemsgrowtoincludeanincreas-
ingnumberofagents,theviewofcoordinationandcontrolhastobeexpandedto
consider both the agent-centric as well as the organization-centricviews. Practi-
calapplicationsofagentsinorganizationalmodellingarebeingwidelydeveloped.
Allthiscontributestoanemergingfieldofresearchandworkthatcouldbecalled
organization-orientedprogramming.However,formaltheories,toolsandmethod-
ologiesarestillverymuchinshortsupply.Evenifanexternallydesignedorgani-
zationalstructureisanecessarycoordinationdevicetoachieveglobalsocialorder
there is a special tension between such imposed constraints and the agents’ au-
tonomousbehavior.Thisleadstoafocusonthetrade-offbetweensocialorderand
agent autonomy, and on other means to achieve social order in MAS other than
organizations.
ANIREM:GabrielaLindemann,SaschaOssowski,
JulianPadget,JavierVa´zquez-Salceda
OOOP: OlivierBoissier,VirginiaDignum,
EricMatson,JaimeSichman
VI Preface
The Papers
Thepapersin thisvolumeare extended,revisedversionsofthe bestpaperspresented
attheANIREMandtheOOOPworkshopsatAAMAS2005,withadditionallyapaper
originatingfroman invitedtalk givenat ANIREM. The resultis a well-balancedcol-
lectionofhigh-qualitypapersthatreallycanbecalledrepresentativeofthefieldatthis
moment. For this volume, the papers from the two workshops have been re-grouped
aroundthefollowingthemes:
Modelling,AnalyzingandProgrammingOrganizations: The first section contains
fivepapersonthemodelling,analysisandprogrammingoforganizations.Thefirst
paper in this section, by Sibertin-Blanc et al., proposes a basis for the design of
coordinationmodelsin multi-agentsystems thatexploitsa widelyrecognizedso-
ciologicaltheory,the sociologyof organizedaction.The paperbyvanden Broek
etal. describesa new,formal,role-basedframeworkformodellingandanalyzing
bothrealworldandartificialorganizationsthatconsidersboththedynamicproper-
tiesoftheorganizationalmodelandtheenvironment.Wijngaardsetal.introducea
conceptualviewofrealizingsustainedteameffectiveness,inwhichboththemea-
surementofeffectivenessandteammanagementplayanimportantrole.Thepaper
byMcCallumetal.proposesameansfortheformalspecification,verificationand
analysisofagentorganizations,capturingnotionsofrole,obligationanddelegation
(ofobligations)thatfurthermoreallowschangeintheorganizationalstructuretobe
modelled. The section ends with a paper by Hu¨bner et al. describing a software
implementationthataimstobridgethegapbetweenorganizationalconstraintsand
agentautonomy.
ModellingandAnalyzingInstitutions: Thefocusofthefivepapersinthesecondsec-
tionisthemodellingandanalysisofinstitutions.Itstartswithaninvitedcontribu-
tionfromoneofthepioneersofelectronicinstitutions,PabloNoriega,inwhichhe
surveys some of the current issues he sees in institutions research, from the per-
spectiveofthreecomplementarycasestudies.ThepaperbyCliffeetal.describes
a newapproachtoconstructingspecificationsofinstitutionalnormsusinganswer
set programming that can subsequently be used to verify properties of the insti-
tutions. Boella et al. explore the modelling of a normative system governing the
production of renewable energy in the UK in which their agents map the norms
intoobligationsrepresentedasbeliefsandgoals.Rubinoetal.bycontrastaddress
genericissuessurroundingtheengineeringofnormativesystemsanddemonstrate
howelementsoftheir coordinationartifactsinfrastructurecan captureandimple-
mentnorms.ThesectionendswiththepaperbyVigano` etal.inwhichtheymake
the case for an event-based approach to norm specification and discuss how one
institutionmayregulateanotherone.
ModellingNormativeDesigns: Thethirdsectionisdevotedtonormativeissuesinor-
ganizationsandinstitutions.Aldewereldetal. discussaformalframeworkforthe
design of a protocol from a normative specification in highly regulated environ-
ments.Bytheuseoflandmarkstheyintroduceanintermediatelevelinordertobe
abletoconnectdescriptivenormswithoperationalprotocols.ThepaperbyGarion
andvanderTorreproposesasoftwaredesignlanguagebasedontemporaldeontic
Preface VII
logic as a means to bridge the gap between the theory of design by contract and
softwareengineeringconcepts.Additionally,theydiscusstherelationbetweenthe
normativestancetowardsystemsimplicitinthedesignbycontractapproachandthe
intentionalorBDIstancepopularinagenttheory.KollingbaumandNormanlookat
normsfromtheperspectiveoftheagentandhowapracticalreasoningagentmight
internalizenorms,havetheminfluenceits behaviorandresolveconflictsbetween
newandexistingnorms.ThissectioncloseswiththepaperbyBoellaandvander
Torreaddressingtheintroductionoforganizationsandrolesinartificialsocialsys-
tems using a normative system. They consider the relationship between how the
behaviorofanorganizationisdeterminedbyagentsplayingaroleswithinitand,
viceversa,howanorganizationaffectsthebehaviorofagents.Theseconsiderations
areusedtoexploretheevolutionof(artificial)organizations.
EvaluationandRegulation: Thefourthandlastsection,onevaluationandregulation,
startswithapaperbyDignumetal.whopresentasimulationscenariothatcanbe
usedtoevaluatethecongruencebetweenorganizationalstructureandtaskperfor-
mance. The backgroundfor their purpose is the need for reorganizationthat can
arisewhenenvironmentalconditionschange.Thesameholdsforartificialorgani-
zationsin theformof openmulti-agentsystemsthatoperateindynamicenviron-
ments.ThesecondpaperinthischapterbyAldewereldetal.givesaformalmethod,
based on program verification, for checking the norm compliance of knowledge-
basedprotocols.Inachievingagoal,agentscanmakeuseofpredefinedprotocols,
which should help them avoid violating any of the norms. But it should also be
guaranteedthattheseprotocolsareactuallynorm-compliant.Thesectionendswith
a paper by Cranefield about a rule language for defining social expectations. It
is based on a metric interval temporal logic with past and future modalities and
a current-timebinding operator. Moreover,he presents an algorithm for run-time
monitoringcomplianceofrulesinthislanguagebasedonformulaprogression.
TheworkshoporganizerswouldliketothanktheAAMAS2005conferenceandUtrecht
Universityforhostingtheworkshop.WearealsoverygratefultoalltheProgramCom-
mittee members, the additional reviewers, the authors and the participants for their
respectivecontributionstotheprocessofcreatingtwo high-quality,stimulatingwork-
shops. Finally, we are pleased to acknowledge the encouragement and support from
Springer,in the person of Alfred Hofmann,for helpingto bring the workshop to this
concreteconclusion.
Organization
ANIREMProgramCommittee
CristianoCastelfranchi NRCRome,Italy
RosariaConte NRCRome,Italy
UlisesCortes PolytechnicUniversityofCatalonia,Spain
PaulDavidsson BTH,Sweden
MarinaDeVos UniversityofBath,UK
FrankDignum UniversityofUtrecht,TheNetherlands
EnHongChen UniversityofScienceandTechnology,China
TomvanEngers FreeUniversityofAmsterdam,TheNetherlands
FabiolaLopez AutonomousUniversityofPuebla,Mexico
MikeLuck UniversityofSouthampton,UK
ThomasMalsch Tech.UniversityHamburg-Harburg,Germany
John-JulesMeyer UniversityofUtrecht,TheNetherlands
PabloNoriega IIIA,CSIC,Spain
JamesOdell Agentis,USA
AndreaOmicini UniversityofBologna,Italy
MarioPaolucci ISTC/CNR,Rome,Italy
PaoloPetta AustrianResearchInstituteforAI,Austria
Juan-AntonioRodriguez-Aguilar IIIA,CSIC,Spain
IngoSchulz-Schaeffer Tech.UniversityofBerlin,Germany
Juan-ManuelSerrano UniversityReyJuanCarlos,Madrid,Spain
PhillipSheu UniversityofCalifornia,USA
JaimeSichman UniversityofSaoPaulo,Brazil
CarlesSierra IIIA,CSIC,Spain
MihaelaUlieru UniversityofCalgary,Canada
WambertoVasconcelos UniversityofAberdeen,UK
HarkoVerhagen StockholmUniversity,Sweden
OOOPProgram Committee
GuidoBoella UniversityofTorino,Italy
CosminCarabelea ENSMinesSaint-Etienne,France
CristianoCastelfranchi ISTC/CNR,Italy
DanielCorkill UniversityofMassachusetts,USA
UlisesCorte´s UPC,Spain
AntonioCarlosdaRochaCosta UCPEL,Brazil
BruceEdmonds CPM,ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity,UK
JacquesFerber LIRMM,France
FabienGandon INRIASophia-Antipolis,France
PaoloGiorgini UniversityofTrento,Italy
X Organization
JomiHubner FURB,Brazil
PhilippeLamarre LINA,France
VictorLesser UniversityofMassachusetts,USA
MichaelLuck UniversityofSouthampton,UK
John-JulesMeyer UtrechtUniversity,TheNetherlands
SteveMunroe UniversityofSouthampton,UK
TimothyNorman UniversityofAberdeen,UK
JamesOdell JamesOdellAssociates,USA
AndreaOmicini UniversityofBologna,Italy
AlessandroRicci UniversityofBologna,Italy
PaulScerri RoboticsInstitute,CarnegieMellonUniversity,
USA
CarlesSierra IIIA,Spain
VivianeDaSilva PUC,Brazil
LizSonenberg TheUniversityofMelbourne,Australia
CatherineTessier ONERA,France
LucaTummolini ISTC-CNRRome,Italy
JavierVa´zquez-Salceda UtrechtUniversity,TheNetherlands
WorkshopOrganizers
OlivierBoissier EcoleNationaleSupe´rieuredesMines,
Saint-Etienne,France
[email protected]
VirginiaDignum InstituteforComputingandInformationSciences,
UtrechtUniversity,TheNetherlands
[email protected]
GabrielaLindemann DepartmentofComputerScience,Humboldt
UniversityBerlin,Germany
[email protected]
EricMatson DepartmentofComputerScienceandEngineering,
WrightStateUniversity,Dayton,Ohio,USA
[email protected]
SaschaOssowski DepartmentofComputing,UniversityReyJuan
Carlos,Madrid,Spain
[email protected]
JulianPadget DepartmentofComputerScience,Universityof
Bath,UK
[email protected]
JaimeSichman ComputerEngineeringDepartment,Universityof
SaoPaulo,Brazil
[email protected]
JavierVa´zquez-Salceda PolytechnicUniversityofCatalonia,Department
ofSoftware,Barcelona,Spain
[email protected]
Table of Contents
I Modelling, Analyzing and Programming Organizations
A Coordination Framework Based on the Sociology of Organized
Action
C. Sibertin-Blanc, F. Amblard, M. Mailliard ...................... 3
Formal Modeling and Analysis of Organizations
Egon L. van den Broek, Catholijn M. Jonker, Alexei Sharpanskykh,
Jan Treur, pInar Yolum ........................................ 18
Towards Sustained Team Effectiveness
Niek Wijngaards, Masja Kempen, Annika Smit,
Kees Nieuwenhuis.............................................. 35
Verification and Analysis of OrganisationalChange
Mairi McCallum, Wamberto W. Vasconcelos,
Timothy J. Norman ............................................ 48
S-Moise+: A Middleware for Developing Organised Multi-agent Systems
Jomi Fred Hu¨bner, Jaime Sima˜o Sichman,
Olivier Boissier................................................ 64
II Modelling and Analyzing Institutions
Fencing the Open Fields:EmpiricalConcerns onElectronic Institutions
(Invited Paper)
Pablo Noriega ................................................. 81
Specifying and Analysing Agent-Based Social Institutions Using
Answer Set Programming
Owen Cliffe, Marina De Vos, Julian Padget ....................... 99
Modeling Control Mechanisms with Normative Multiagent Systems:
The Case of the Renewables Obligation
Guido Boella, Joris Hulstijn, Yao-Hua Tan,
Leendert van der Torre ......................................... 114
Computational Institutions for Modelling Norm-Regulated MAS: An
Approach Based on Coordination Artifacts
Rossella Rubino, Andrea Omicini, Enrico Denti ................... 127
XII Table of Contents
An Event Driven Approach to Norms in Artificial Institutions
Francesco Vigan`o, Nicoletta Fornara, Marco Colombetti............. 142
III Modelling Normative Designs
Designing Normative Behaviour Via Landmarks
Huib Aldewereld, Davide Grossi, Javier V´azquez-Salceda,
Frank Dignum ................................................. 157
Design by Contract Deontic Design Language for Multiagent Systems
Christophe Garion, Leendert van der Torre ....................... 170
Informed Deliberation During Norm-GovernedPractical Reasoning
Martin J. Kollingbaum, Timothy J. Norman ...................... 183
Organizations in Artificial Social Systems
Guido Boella, Leendert van der Torre ............................ 198
IV Evaluation and Regulation
Exploring Congruence Between Organizational Structure and Task
Performance:A Simulation Approach
Frank Dignum, Virginia Dignum, Liz Sonenberg ................... 213
Verifying Norm Compliancy of Protocols
Huib Aldewereld, Javier V´azquez-Salceda, Frank Dignum,
John-Jules Ch. Meyer .......................................... 231
A Rule Language for Modelling and Monitoring Social Expectations in
Multi-agent Systems
Stephen Cranefield ............................................. 246
Author Index................................................... 259