Reasoning with group norms in software agent organisations

Norms have been used to represent desirable behaviours that software agents should exhibit in sophisticated multi-agent solutions. An important open research issue refers to group norms, i.e. norms that govern groups of agents. Depending on the interpretation, group norms may be intended to affect the group as a whole, each member of a group, or...

Governing Logistics Information Platforms

The Extended Single Window (ESW) project aims to support goods flows by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Specifically, the project takes the concept of Single Windows (often used in the sense that governments offer a single portal or interface to which businesses can submit information, supporting re-ruse by multiple agencies and...

Reasoning with Agent Preferences in Normative Multi-agent Systems (Extended Abstract)

Obligations to enforce prohibitions: On the adequacy of security policies

Security policies in organisations typically take the form of obligations for the employees. However, it is often unclear what the purpose of such obligations is, and how these can be integrated in the operational processes of the organisation. This can result in policies that may be either too strong or too weak, leading to unnecessary...

Dimensions of Organizational Coordination

It is hard, if not impossible, to assume anything about agents’ behavior in a society with heterogeneous agents from different sources. Organizations are used to restrict and guide the agents’ actions such that the global objectives of the society are achieved. We discuss how agents can be supported to include organizational objectives and...

Contextualized institutions in virtual organizations

Within a virtual organization, more than one institution might be involved in the regulation of actors’ behavior. Each institution specifies a set of norms covering a specific aspect of the problem domain with a governance scope defining its remit. Together, they govern the participants and reflect the objectives of the organization. With actors...

Enhancing Visibility in International Supply Chains: The Data Pipeline Concept

With increasing global trade and growing emphasis on security, enhanced information sharing between actors in global supply chains is required. Currently, the data about cargo available in the supply chain does not provide a timely and accurate description of the goods. To solve this data quality issue, data should be captured upstream at the...

Norm Contextualization (extended abstract)

A context-aware normative structure in MAS

Norm contextualization

Agents interact with each other within a set of norms, which is expressed at different levels of abstraction that capture different con- texts and operationalizations. Current normative frameworks deal with norm operationalization, yet few consider the contextual aspects of norms. Moreover, most frameworks are based on the independent...

A Context-aware Normative Structure in MAS (extended abstract)

Agreeing on role adoption in open organisations

The organisational specification of a multi-agent system supports agents’ effectiveness in attaining their purpose, or prevent certain undesired behaviour from occurring. This requires that agents are able to find out about the organisational purpose and description and decide on its appropriateness for their own objectives. Organisational...

Contextualized Institutions in Virtual Organizations (abstract)

Using Agent-based Organisational Models for Crisis Management (extended abstract)