The Role of MAS as a Decision Support Tool in a Water-Rights Market
Publication Type:
Conference PaperSource:
p.2-17 (2011)Abstract:
Water is getting a more and more scarce resource, which motivates the idea of designing a framework where water rights may be exchanged more freely, thus leading to a more efficient use of water. In this paper, we present a water-right market embedded within a decision support tool designed as a multi-agent system. To our knowledge, there are many sophisticated decision support systems for water management from a hydrological perspective, but they lack of a social perspective. Using a multi-agent system allows us to design intelligent agents that mimic humans, thus implementing different factors such as (mis)conducts, trust criteria and users willingness to water-right trading. Within a decision support tool, we can dynamically change norms and regulation at no cost, and explore the impact on the evolution of the market.
Mixing all these elements together, we have implemented our \emph{mWater} system as an electronic institution that demonstrates very appealing for decision taking and policy makers to test: i) how regulations and norms may modify the users' behaviour, and ii) how the quality indicators of the market are affected.
The Role of MAS as a Decision Support Tool in a Water-Rights Market
Publication Type:
Conference PaperSource:
International Workshop on Agent-based Modeling for Policy Engineering (AMPLE@AAMAS’2011), Taipei, Taiiwan, p.2-17 (2011)Abstract:
Water is getting a more and more scarce resource, which motivates the idea of designing a framework where water rights may be exchanged more freely, thus leading to a more efficient use of water. In this paper, we present a water-right market embedded within a decision support tool designed as a multi-agent system. To our knowledge, there are many sophisticated decision support systems for water management from a hydrological perspective, but they lack of a social perspective. Using a multi-agent system allows us to design intelligent agents that mimic humans, thus implementing different factors such as (mis)conducts, trust criteria and users willingness to water-right trading. Within a decision support tool, we can dynamically change norms and regulation at no cost, and explore the impact on the evolution of the market.
Mixing all these elements together, we have implemented our mWater system as an electronic institution that demonstrates very appealing for decision taking and policy makers to test: i) how regulations and norms may modify the users' behaviour, and ii) how the quality indicators of the market are affected.
On Grievance Protocols for Conflict Resolution in Open Multi-Agent Systems
Publication Type:
Conference PaperSource:
44th Hawaii International International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS-44 2011), IEEE Computer Society, Hawaii, p.1-10 (2011)ISBN:
978-0-7695-4282-9Abstract:
This paper presents the specification of an agentbased framework for conflict resolution into Open Multi-agent Systems by means of grievance protocols. In this framework, any grievance process primarily involves negotiation (with or without mediation) and arbitration or a combination of both. In this way, the result of a conflict resolution can be an agreement among the conflicting parties by which they voluntary settle the conflict, or a decision from the arbitrator (a neutral third party) which is final, and binding on both conflicting parties. The framework is designed in such a way that multiple agreement mechanisms may be available at any given time, to be activated and adjusted on demand (on-line) by participating agents. The framework is also generic enough so that new protocols may be easily added. The objective is to have a generic electronic institution that may be tailored to specific needs and grafted into other electronic institutions.
The Role of MAS as a Decision Support Tool in a Water-Rights Market
Publication Type:
Book ChapterSource:
Advanced Agent Technology, Springer, Volume 7068, Number 7068, Berlin / Heidelberg, p.35-49 (2012)ISBN:
978-3-642-27215-8URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27216-5_4Keywords:
electronic institutions; simulation tools; decision support; multiagent systemsAbstract:
Water is an essential and scarce resource. This motivates the development of technologies to make water use more efficient. One such proposal has been to deploy institutional frameworks, (referred to as water banks) where water rights may be exchanged more freely and thus foster better water use. Needless to say that good water management is a complex endeavor and the decision to enable a water bank is but one of many actions that policy-makers may take. However, having a water bank is a specially useful device. Once a water bank is enabled, policy-makers may regulate how trading is made and by so doing, have a direct influence on demand and with that foster a good use of water. In this paper, we present a decision-support environment constructed around a water-rights market. It is designed so that policy-makers may explore the interplay between i) market regulations, ii) trader profiles and market composition, and iii) the aggregated outcomes of trading under those set conditions. Our environment is designed as a multi-agent system that implements market regulations and is enabled with tools to specify performance indicators, to spawn agent populations and allow humans as well as software agents to participate in simulations of virtual trading.
Notes:
springerlink:10.1007/978-3-642-27216-5_4
Norm enforceability in Electronic Institutions?
Publication Type:
Book ChapterSource:
Coordination, Organization, Institutions and Norms in agent systems VI, Springer, Number 6541, p.250-257 (2011)Keywords:
electronic institutions; normative systems; normative agentsAbstract:
Nowadays Multi-Agent Systems require more and more regulation and normative mechanisms in order to assure the correct and secure execution of the interactions and transactions in the open virtual organization they are implementing. The Electronic Institution approach for developing Multi-Agent Systems implements some enforceability mechanisms in order to control norms execution and observance.
In this paper we study a complex situation in a regulated environment in which the enforceability mechanisms provided by the current Electronic Institutions implementation cannot deal appropriately with norm observance. The analyzed situation is exempli ed with a speci c scenario of the mWater regulated environment, an electronic market for water-rights transfer. After this example is presented, we extrapolate it to a more generic domain while also addressing the main issues for its application in general scenarios.
A MAS Decision Support Tool for Water-Right Markets
Publication Type:
Conference ProceedingsSource:
Proc. of 10th Int. Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2011), International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Taipei, Taiwan, p.1305-1306 (2011)ISBN:
978-0-9826571-7-1Keywords:
agreement technologies; electronic institutions; multi-agent systemsAbstract:
We present a MAS decision support tool, as an open and regulated virtual organization, that uses intelligent agents to manage a flexible water-rights market. The application goal of this tool is to be used as a simulator to assist in decision-making processes of policy-makers. The simulator focuses on demand and, in particular, on the type of regulatory (in terms of norms selection and agents behaviour) and market mechanisms that foster an efficient use of water while also trying to prevent conflicts among parties. Technically, it contributes with a testbed to explore policy-simulation alternatives under an agreement-technology perspective, thus promoting the fulfillment of agreements .
CHARMS: A Charter Management System. Automating the Integration of Electronic Institutions and Humans
Publication Type:
Journal ArticleSource:
Applied Artificial Intelligence, Taylor & Francis Group, Volume 26, Issue 4, p.306-330 (2012)Keywords:
graphical user interface (GUI)Abstract:
The execution of process models is usually presented through a graphical user interface, especially when users’ input is required. Existing mechanisms, such as Electronic Institutions (EIs), provide means to easily specify and automatically execute process models. However, every time the specification is modified, the graphical user interface (GUI) needed during the execution stage should be manually modified accordingly. This paper proposes a system that helps maintain such GUIs in an efficient and automated manner. We present and test Charms, a system built on top of EIs that allows the automatic creation and update of GUIs based on the provided process model specification.
CHARMS: A Charter Management System. Automating the Integration of Electronic Institutions and Humans
Publication Type:
Conference PaperSource:
8th European Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems (EUMAS'10), Paris, France (2010)Abstract:
The execution of process models is usually presented through a graphical user interface, especially when users’ input is required. Existing mechanisms, such as Electronic Institutions (EIs), provide means to easily specify and automatically execute process models. However, every time the specification is modified, the graphical user interface (GUI) needed during the execution stage should be manually modified accordingly. This paper proposes a system that helps maintain such GUIs in an efficient and automated manner. We present and test Charms, a system built on top of EIs that allows the automatic creation and update of GUIs based on the provided process model specification.
Dispatching Agents in Electronic Institutions
Publication Type:
Conference PaperSource:
ITMAS 2010: International Workshop on Ifrastructures and Tools for Multiagent Systems, International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Toronto, Canada, p.26-33 (2010)Abstract:
In Electronic Institutions, agents may be prevented from achieving their goals if other participants are not present in a given scene. In order to overcome this situation we propose the addition of an institutional agent in charge of dispatching agents to scenes through a participation request protocol. We further propose to endow this agent with the capability of instantiating new agents, thus providing grounds for a self-optimization of the system. Advantages of our proposal are illustrated with the implementation of an information auditing process.
Autonomic Information Auditing through Electronic Institutions (IIIA-TR-2009-07)
Publication Type:
ReportSource:
IIIA - CSIC, Barcelona (2009)Other Number:
IIIA-TR-2009-07Abstract:
This report presents the development of an Electronic Institution for auditing information in a research and graduate programs corporate memory. Electronic Institutions are used for formalizing processes performed by human experts and professors providing a platform for gradual automation. New features like a Directory Facilitator and a protocol for instantiating new agents and inviting them to certain scene are implemented. Such features provide self-configuration capabilities to the system.
