MultiAgent Systems (Computer Science)

Modelling groups of plausible virtual pedestrians

by Christopher Edward Peters

Peters, C. and Ennis, C.
IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Special Issue on Virtual Populace, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 54 - 63, July/Aug, 2009 doi:10.1109/MCG.2009.69
Bibtex available: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~cpeters/bibtex/bibtex.html#CGA09

In the domain of real-time urban vistas, a modern vision of a vast populace inhabiting a sprawling metropolis is... more In the domain of real-time urban vistas, a modern vision of a vast populace inhabiting a sprawling metropolis is replacing that of the ghost-towns of past. Working towards this ideal, we describe the methodology we are using to model dynamic crowd scenarios and an exemplar based on it. Video corpus is consulted for informing the modelling process and perception based evaluations are conducted on the resultant scenarios with the goal of improving the visual plausibility of the crowd, rather than correctness of simulation. Using this methodology, the exemplar focuses on modelling small groups of pedestrians. While it is generally assumed that the addition of groups can improve the plausibility of crowd scenarios, little is known about how humans perceive the results. We shed light on these issues, demonstrating the practical application of the methodology in a real-time crowd animation system.

Ontology-based Multi-Agent System to support business users and management

by Dejan Lavbič

Published in Technological and economic development of economy (TEDE) journal and co-authored with Olegas Vasilecas and Rok Rupnik.

For some decision processes a significant added value is achieved when enterprises’ internal Data Warehouse (DW) can... more For some decision processes a significant added value is achieved when enterprises’ internal Data Warehouse (DW) can be integrated and combined with external data gained from web sites of competitors and other relevant Web sources. In this paper we discuss the agent-based integration approach using ontologies (DSS-MAS). In this approach data from internal DW and external sources are scanned by coordinated group of agents, while semantically integrated and relevant data is reported to business users according to business rules. After data from internal DW, Web sources and business rules are acquired, agents using these data and rules can infer new knowledge and therefore facilitate decision making process. Knowledge represented in enterprises’ ontologies is acquired from business users without extensive technical knowledge using user friendly user interface based on constraints and predefined templates. The approach presented in the paper was verified using the case study from the domain of mobile communications with the emphasis on supply and demand of mobile phones.

Multi Agent Foraging-Taking a Step Further Q-Learning With Search

by Muaz Niazi

Sparse-parametric writer identification using heterogeneous feature groups

by Lambert Schomaker

L. Schomaker, M. Bulacu & M. van Erp (2003). Sparse-parametric writer identification using heterogeneous feature groups. ICIP'2003: IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (Vol. I), pp. (I) 545-548.

This paper evaluates the performance of edge-based directional probability distributions as features in writer... more This paper evaluates the performance of edge-based directional probability distributions as features in writer identification in comparison to a number of nonangular features. It is noted that angular features outperform all other features. However, the nonangular features provide additional valuable information. Rank-combination was used to realize a sparse-parametric combination scheme based on nearest-neighbor search. Limitations of the proposed methods pertain to the amount of handwritten material needed in order to obtain reliable distribution estimates. The global features treated in this study are sensitive to major style variation (upper- vs lower case), slant, and forged styles, which necessitates the use of other features in realistic forensic writer identification procedures.

Operational Problems Recovery in Airlines – A Specialized Methodologies Approach

by Antonio Castro

Bruno Aguiar, José Torres and Antonio J. M. Castro "Operational Problems Recovery in Airlines – A Specialized Methodologies Approach". Progress in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI7026), 15th Portuguese Conference on Artificial Intelligence, EPIA 2011, Lisbon, Portugal, October 10-13, 2011, pp. 83-97, ISBN 978-3-642-24768-2.

Disruption management is one of the most important scheduling problems in the airline industry because of the elevated... more Disruption management is one of the most important scheduling problems in the airline industry because of the elevated costs associated, however this is relatively new research area comparing for example with fleet and tail assignment. The major goal to solve this kind of problem is to achieve a feasible solution for the airline company minimizing the several costs involved and within time constraints. An approach to solve operational problems causing disruptions is presented using different specialized methodologies for the problems with aircrafts and crewmembers including flight graph based with meta-heuristic optimization algorithms. These approaches were built to fit on a multi-agent system with specialist agents solving disruptions. A comparative analysis of the algorithms is also presented. Using a complete month real dataset we demonstrate an example how the system handled disruption events. The resulting application is able to solve disruption events optimizing costs and respecting operational constraints.

Agent-based execution of personalised home care treatments

by Antonio Moreno

Home Care services are notoriously difficult to deliver efficiently, due to the heterogeneity of the involved actors... more Home Care services are notoriously difficult to deliver efficiently, due to the heterogeneity of the involved actors and the usual co-morbidity of the patients assisted at home. The K4Care platform proposes an agent-based three-layered architecture aimed at addressing these two issues and facilitate the provision of these services. The development of the platform was supported by a methodology to help the automation of the modelling and implementation of the multi-agent system. The intelligent agents of the platform, which personify the Home Care domain actors, have the capability to guide the execution of administrative and medical processes, driving the flux of knowledge and control among all the involved professionals, simplifying their interactions and capturing new medical knowledge emerging from physicians. The platform also provides tools that allow medical practitioners to develop personalised treatments, adapted to the clinical and social circumstances of each patient and based on the standard international recommendations for the most frequent Home Care pathologies. The paper describes the architecture of the system, how personalised treatments are created, and how they are executed through the co-ordinated work of agents. A comparison with other relevant guideline execution systems and an evaluation of the actual state of the work are also provided.

Fair resource allocation in distributed combinatorial auctioning systems

by Shrisha Rao

Fail-Stop Distributed Combinatorial Auctioning Systems With Fair Resource Allocation

by Shrisha Rao

Co-authored with Arun Kalyanasundaram and Reehan Ahmed Khan Lalkhanwar. 7th Annual IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (IEEE CASE 2011), Trieste, Italy, August 2011, pp. 181--188. doi:10.1109/CASE.2011.6042428.

A Distributed Combinatorial Auctioning System (DCAS) is a multi-agent system (MAS) where each auctioneer has a set of... more A Distributed Combinatorial Auctioning System (DCAS) is a multi-agent system (MAS) where each auctioneer has a set of local bidders and all of them adopt a cooperative strategy in conducting the auction. Any occurrence of failure in the system leads to an unpredictable behavior and hence forcing abandonment of the auction. We systematically analyze the failures occurring in the agents and propose a fail-stop design of the DCAS. We present a set of Event Based Failure Handlers (EBFHs) that are triggered upon receiving specific messages from other agents in the network. We provide a proof of correctness of our approach and analyze the efficiency in terms of the message complexity. We also discuss the different parameters that influence the performance of a given DCAS configuration. We use the framework in which the concepts of
basic and extended fairness are used in the bidding
process.

The Potluck Problem

by Shrisha Rao

Co-authored with Prabodh K. Enumula, appeared in Economics Letters, April 2010. doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2009.12.011, arXiv:0809.2136v2 [cs.GT].

This paper proposes the Potluck Problem as a model for the behavior of independent producers and consumers under... more This paper proposes the Potluck Problem as a model for the behavior of independent producers and consumers under standard economic assumptions, as a problem of resource allocation in a multi-agent system in which there is no explicit communication among the agents.

Towards an Evolution Model of Expressive Music Performance

by Prof Eduardo R. Miranda

Integrating Agents and Virtual Institutions for Sharing Cultural Heritage on the Web

by Laura Papaleo

co-authored with Anton Bogdanovych , Massimo Ancona , Viviana Mascardi , Gianluca Quercini , Simeon Simoff , Alex Cohen , Antonella Traverso

This work outlines the research activities carried out by our groups in the direction of the implementation of a tool... more This work outlines the research activities carried out by our groups in the direction of the implementation of a tool for sharing natural and cultural heritage on the web. The tool will serve as a support to teachers and people involved in scientific and cultural activities (for example, archaeologists, historians, geologists, directors of museums and of exhibitions) for making historical, naturalistic, artistic content available in a game-like but scientifically well founded way based on Virtual Institutions and intelligent software agents. Our approach is illustrated on the example of the city of Uruk, which is believed to be the first city on Earth, where the culture of ancient Sumerians is preserved in terms of the natural environment, human behaviour and architecture

An agent-based serious game for entrepreneurship

by Manuel Gentile

Serious games can create models of the real word, allowing students to enter lifelike environments and conditions... more Serious games can create models of the real word, allowing students to enter lifelike environments and conditions which they would otherwise be unable to access, to gain experience of complex situations, reacting to specific and dynamic input they receive as they are playing. In this kind of environment they can assume a role, test their abilities and acquire new competences.
When designing a serious game, one of the first questions to ask is: “How realistic does the model have to be?”. A high level of reality is not always the best choice for learning. To reproduce complex situations may not be appropriate for a beginner, so it may be better to start with a level at which the user interacts with only a few of the components, adding others later. Besides, reality can refer to a variety of aspects: people, activities, objects, skills and places. A simplified model can be more effective for learning, if it focuses on specific content and/or skills at any one time. After the mastering of specific contents/skills by the user, the model can introduce a higher level of reality and integrate several components. For these reasons the system presented in this paper is based on a step-by-step approach which increases in complexity, with the aim of simulating an enterprise environment that allows students to learn business dynamics.

A Modeling and Analysis of Rumor Dissemination

by Masood Amoozgar

draft only

Information-theoretic metamodel of organization evolution

by Alfred Sepulveda

PhD dissertation

Social organizations are abstractly modeled by holarchies--self-similar connected networks--and intelligent complex... more Social organizations are abstractly modeled by holarchies--self-similar connected networks--and intelligent complex adaptive multiagent systems--large networks of autonomous reasoning agents interacting via scaled processes. However, little is known of how information shapes evolution in such organizations, a gap that can lead to misleading analytics. The research problem addressed in this study was the ineffective manner in which classical model-predict-control methods used in business analytics attempt to define organization evolution. The purpose of the study was to construct an effective metamodel for organization evolution based on a proposed complex adaptive structure--the info-holarchy. Theoretical foundations of this study were holarchies, complex adaptive systems, evolutionary theory, and quantum mechanics, among other recently developed physical and information theories. Research questions addressed how information evolution patterns gleamed from the study's inductive metamodel more aptly explained volatility in organization. In this study, a hybrid grounded theory based on abstract inductive extensions of information theories was utilized as the research methodology. An overarching heuristic metamodel was framed from the theoretical analysis of the properties of these extension theories and applied to business, neural, and computational entities. This metamodel resulted in the synthesis of a metaphor for, and generalization of organization evolution, serving as the recommended and appropriate analytical tool to view business dynamics for future applications. This study may manifest positive social change through a fundamental understanding of complexity in business from general information theories, resulting in more effective management.

Emerg.cities4all: Towards a shape grammar based computational system tool for generating a sustainable and integrated urban design

by Sara Eloy

Authors: Alexandra Paio, Joaquim Reis, Filipe Santos, Pedro Faria Lopes, Sara Eloy, Vasco Rato
Published in the proceedings of eCAADe 2011 Conference, pp 133-139

The ongoing research project called “Emerg.cities4all” is focused on the development of a generative computer-aided... more The ongoing research project called “Emerg.cities4all” is focused on the development of a generative computer-aided planning support system for cities and housing to low-income populations, using a descriptive method as the Shape Grammars and based on multi-agent rule-based system. The goal is to develop a system that could reveal the cultural, social and spatial dynamics involved in the genesis of informal settlements (favelas, musseques and caniços) and use it to generate contemporary humanized urban morphologies. The multi agent shape grammar implementation could generate automatically designs according to different types of users: urban planners, architect and local end users. This paper presents the methodology and the initial results of the research, using an informal settlement as a case study.

Emerg.cities4all: Towards a sustainable and integrated urban design

by Sara Eloy

Authors: Alexandra Paio, Sara Eloy, Joaquim Reis, Filipe Santos, Vasco Rato, Pedro Faria Lopes
Published on the proceedings of the UIA2011 Tokyo Congress - Design 2050, Academic Program

The right to adequate housing is recognized as a fundamental right to people’s life (UN, 1948). The... more The right to adequate housing is recognized as a fundamental right to people’s life (UN, 1948). The Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and South America, witness a rapid urbanization with deepening poverty, mass homelessness, environmental degradation and increasing slums. The current situation of informal urban settlements does not allow the achievement of adequate shelter for all. This paper describes an ongoing research project which proposes a generative computer-aided planning system, for cities with low-income housing using a descriptive method as the Shape Grammars (Stiny 1980) and based on multi-agent rule-based system.
The aim of this research is to encompass several scales of intervention, from the physical level of the city, through the level of building construction system. In this research several areas will be involved: architecture, urbanism, sustainability, construction, computational design, programming and industry. The architecture and urban design areas will meet the goal of generating urban and housing units solutions which should be modular, scalable, adaptable, customizable and affordable. The proposed solutions must be environmentally sustainable and energy efficient, while respecting certain social and cultural qualities in the context of new Portuguese-speaking emerging urbanities.
The computer system provides a direct approach to input in order to solve the usual digital barriers felt by target group end users.

Dynamic Information Source Selection for Intrusion Detection Systems

by Eugen Staab

Combining Cognitive and Computational Concepts for Experience-Based Trust Reasoning

by Eugen Staab

On the Profitability of Incompetence

by Eugen Staab

Agent-based Computing from Multi-agent Systems to Agent-Based Models: A Visual Survey

by Muaz Niazi

Citation:
Muaz Niazi & Amir Hussain (2011), Agent-based Computing from Multi-agent Systems to Agent-Based Models: A Visual Survey, Springer Scientometrics, 89(2), 479-499
DOI:10.1007/s11192-011-0468-9

http://www.springerlink.com/content/c3g15318738w0710/

Agent-Based Computing is a diverse research domain concerned with the building of intelligent software based on the... more Agent-Based Computing is a diverse research domain concerned with the building of intelligent software based on the concept of "agents". In this paper, we use Scientometric analysis to analyze
all sub-domains of agent-based computing. Our data consists of 1,064 journal articles indexed in the ISI web of knowledge published during a twenty year period: 1990-2010. These were retrieved using a topic search with various keywords commonly used in sub-domains of agent-based computing. In our proposed approach, we have employed a combination of two applications for analysis, namely Network Workbench and CiteSpace - wherein Network Workbench allowed for the analysis of complex network aspects of the domain, detailed visualization-based analysis of the bibliographic data was performed using CiteSpace. Our results include the identification of the largest cluster based on keywords, the timeline of publication of index terms, the core journals and key subject categories. We also identify the core authors, top countries of origin of the manuscripts along with core research institutes. Finally, our results have interestingly revealed the strong presence of agent-based computing in a number of non-computing related scientific domains including Life Sciences, Ecological Sciences and Social Sciences.