Report on Activities from the Agents SIG at the Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim) ========================================================== The research on agents at NTNU combines the efforts of people with different backgrounds and interests. Though our research in this field is still young interesting synergies are already emerging. In the following we want to summarize the different backgrounds of the people involved and the ongoing research efforts that we are pursuing in the field of agents. At the end, we will indicate some of the relevant teaching activities in which members of our group are involved as well as a list of publication. The people involved have a research background in Knowledge-Based Methods, Information System, CSCW, Software Construction Methods. Two main strands can be identified in our research. On one end, there is an interest on basic research on agent-based architectures, and resoning and synthesis with agents (as it is possible to see in project 1 and 3). On the other end, we are interested in the application of agents, in particular for what is concerning electronic commerce and the support to cooperative work (see project 1, 2 and 4). In this perspective is also interesting to consider not only how agents can be used for building systems that support these needs, but also consider the other way round. How can the experience that we gained in doing research on how people work together and the metaphor of electronic commerce be useful in the development of multi-agent systems? How can we use our experience on information and knowledge modeling for building agents? Projects 1. Multi-Agent Architecture for Distributed Information Technology (M. Matskin, M. Divitini, S.A. Petersen) We develop a multi-agent architecture based on the notion of Agora An architecture for a multi-agent system to support co-operative work is proposed, where agents represent mechanisms, i.e. co-ordination, negotiation and communication, and work context, e.g. participants of the co-operative effort. Agents can register or advertise their services at an Agora, which provides a meeting area for agents. The architecture has been designed by analyzing scenarios of co-operative work and by identifying the requirements from these scenarios. The requirements identified the need for the different types of support such as co-ordination and negotiation. The work is now in implementation phase. 2. Agents in Electronic Commerce (A. Solvberg, M. Matskin) The focus of the project is in facilities for the trading of knowledge by electronic commerce. The scope of the project is the trade of knowledge products, including: -- conceptual modelling of knowledge, in order to make it available for trade -- the design of sales-sites, including advertising -- the design of electronic agents for serving the trade process -- information systems architectures for knowledge trade. 3. Reasoning and Software Synthesis with Agents (M. Matskin, E. Tyugu) This work is aimed in developing tools for agents support and it is based on utilising theoretical results in program synthesis based on intuitionistic propositional calculi. The work is done in cooperation with KTH (Sweden) 4. Coordination Mechanisms in a Multi-Agent Perspective (M. Divitini, C. Simone) This work proposes a multi-agent architecture for supporting the coordination of human agents. The work is based on research done in the CSCW area and is based on a formal notation for the definition of coordination mechanisms that are flexible and composable. This work was developed and is now refined in collaboration with the University of Torino (Italy). People Mihhail Matskin Associate Professor (contact) Arne Solvberg Professor Monica Divitini Researcher Sobah Abbas Petersen Ph.D. students Courses Course nr. 78045: Distributed Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Agents Course nr. 78054: CSCW Course nr. MNFIT385: Information and Knowledge Management Course nr. DIF8909 Knowledge-Based Software Design Course nr. 78050: Information Systems Engineering 1 Course nr. 78052: Information Systems Engineering 2 The first four courses are taught also as PhD courses. Some relevant publications Mihhail Matskin, Monica Divitini & Sobah Abbas Petersen "An Architecture for Multi-Agent Support in a Distributed Information Technology Application", Workshop on Intelligent Agents in Information and Process Management, KI'98, September 1998 (to appear). Simone, C., M. Divitini "Ariadne: Supporting Coordination through a Flexible Use of the Knowledge on Work Process", in Information Technology for Knowledge Management, eds. U.M. Borghoff and R. Pareschi. Berlin- Heidelberg: Springer, 1998, pp. 121-148 (appeared also in J.UCS, Springer Verlag, vol. 3, no. 8, August 1997, 865-898) Schwartz, David, Monica Divitini & Terje Brasethvik (eds.) "Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Innovative Internet Information Systems", IDI-report no. 5/98, IDI - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 1998. Divitini, M., C. Simone and K. Schmidt "ABACO: Coordination Mechanisms in a Multi-agent Perspective", in COOP Group (ed.) Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, Juan-les-Pins, France, June 12-14, 1996, INRIA, 1996, 103-122.=20 M. Matskin and E. Tyugu."Strategies of Structural Synthesis of Programs", Proc. The Twelfth IEEE International Automated Software Engineering Conference (ASE'97), Incline Village, Nevada, Nov. 3-5, 1997, pp. 305-306