An Approach for Detecting and Resolving Indirect Normative Conflicts in Multi-agent Systems (original) (raw)
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A Novel Tool for Detecting Indirect Normative Conflicts in Multi-agent Systems
2018
Norms are usually applied in Multi-Agent Systems to regulate the behavior of software agents and maintain social order. Those systems can be regulated by multiple norms and require a mechanism to verify whether the set of norms is conflict-free or not. The detection of indirect normative conflicts is not a trivial task since they only can be identified when the detection mechanism is able to infer that different elements that compose two norms are related in some way. In this research, we propose a mechanism to detect normative conflicts by combining two different approaches. The former uses information from a domain ontology that stores relationships that are exclusive of the MAS. The latter uses information from a lexical database called WordNet that stores relationships among concepts of the real world. This research results in the implementation of a tool with a robust mechanism for normative conflict detection that can be used during the design of a MAS.
Detection and resolution of normative conflicts in multi-agent systems: a literature survey
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 2017
Multi-agents systems are composed of autonomous and possibly heterogeneous software agents that act according to their own interests. Some coordination mechanism must be adopted to ensure a proper functioning of the whole system. Norms can be viewed as a powerful means to regulate and influence the behaviour of the agents by specifying, for instance, obligations, permissions, or prohibitions in a given context. A critical issue that must be considered in a system governed by multiple norms is the possible existence of normative conflicts. A conflict between norms is a situation in which the fulfilment of a norm causes a violation of another one. In this paper, we present several techniques that have been proposed to detect and resolve normative conflicts in multi-agent systems. Our aim is to organize the literature, present a classification of the techniques found, and provide a means to compare alternative approaches dealing with normative conflicts.
Indirect Normative Conflict - Conflict that Depends on the Application Domain
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 2015
Norms are being used as a mechanism to regulate the behavior of autonomous, heterogeneous and independently designed agents. Norms describe what can be performed, what must be performed, and what cannot be performed in the multi-agent systems. Due to the number of norms specified to govern a multi-agent system, one important issue that has been considered by several approaches is the checking for normative conflicts. Two norms are said to be in conflict when the fulfillment of one norm violates the other and vice-versa. In this paper, we formally define the concept of an indirect normative conflict as a conflict between two norms that not necessarily have contradictory or contrary deontic modalities and that may govern (different but) related behaviors of (different but) related entities on (different but) related contexts. Finally, we present an ontology-based indirect norm conflict checker that automatically identifies direct and indirect norm conflicts on an ontology describing a set of norms and a set of relationships between the elements identified in the norms (behavior, entity and context).
Identifying Indirect Normative Conflicts using the WordNet Database
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 2016
A challenging issue in Multi-agent systems governed by multiple norms is to deal with normative conflicts, which are situations where the fulfilment of a norm violates another one. There are several approaches in the literature to detect conflicting norms. Some kinds of conflicts, here called direct conflicts, can be detected through a simple comparison between the elements of the norms in order to check if they apply to the same elements. For instance, if an obligation and a prohibition are applied to the same entity and govern the same behavior in periods of time that intersects, these norms are in conflict. However, there are conflicts, here called indirect conflicts, that can only be detected if the relationships among the elements of the norms are taken into account. The majority of approaches that are able to detect indirect conflict considers the relationships of the application domain that have been previously defined by the designer. Different from those approaches, this paper focuses on the detection of indirect conflicts by taking into account domain-independent relationships that have not been declared by the designer of the multi-agent system. Our proposal searches for domain-independent relationships among the elements of the norms in the WordNet database.
Management of Norms and their Conflicts in Multi-Agent Systems
Abstract Norms (permissions, obligations and prohibitions) offer a useful and powerful abstraction with which to capture social constraints in multi-agent systems. Norms are designed to exclude disruptive or antisocial behaviour without prescribing the design of individual agents or restricting their autonomy.
Managing Conflict Resolution in Norm-Regulated Environments
2007
Norms are the obligations, permissions and prohibitions associated with members of a society. Norms provide a useful abstraction with which to specify and regulate the behaviour of self-interested software agents in open, heterogeneous systems. Any realistic account of norms must address their dynamic nature: the norms associated with agents will change as agents act (and interact) -prohibitions can be lifted, obligations can be fulfilled, and permissions can be revoked as a result of agents' actions. These norms may at times conflict with one another, that is, an action may be simultaneously prohibited and obliged (or prohibited and permitted). Such conflicts cause norm-compliant agents to experience a paralysis: whatever they do (or not do) will go against a norm. In this paper we present mechanisms to detect and resolve normative conflicts. We achieve more expressiveness, precision and realism in our norms by using constraints over first-order variables. The mechanisms to detect and resolve norm conflicts take into account such constraints and are based on first-order unification and constraint satisfaction. We also explain how the mechanisms can be deployed in the management of norms regulating environments for software agents.
Detection of semantic conflicts in ontology and rule-based information systems
Data & Knowledge Engineering, 2010
Nowadays, managers of information systems use ontologies and rules as a powerful tool to express the desired behaviour for the system. However, the use of rules may lead to conflicting situations where the antecedent of two or more rules is fulfilled, but their consequent is indicating contradictory facts or actions. These conflicts can be categorised in two different groups, modality and semantic conflicts, depending on whether the inconsistency is owing to the rule language expressiveness or due to the nature of the actions. While there exist certain proposals to detect and solve modality conflicts, the problem becomes more complex with semantic ones. Additionally, current techniques to detect semantic conflicts are usually not considering the use of standard information models. This paper provides a taxonomy of semantic conflicts, analyses the main features of each of them and provides an OWL/SWRL modelling for certain realistic scenarios related with information systems. It also describes different conflict detection techniques that can be applied to semantic conflicts and their pros and cons. Finally, this paper provides a comparison of these techniques based on performance measurements taken in a realistic scenario and suggests a better approach. This approach is then used in other scenarios related with information systems and where different types of semantic conflicts may appear. j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / d a ta k
2019
In open MAS, norms are being used to regulate the behavior of the autonomous, heterogeneous and independently designed agents. Norms describe the behavior that can be performed, must be performed, and cannot be performed in the system. One of the main challenges on developing normative systems is that norms may conflict with each other. Norms are in conflict when the fulfillment of one norm violates the other and vice-versa. In previous works, the conflict checkers consider that conflicts can be detected by simply analyzing pairs of norms. However, there may be conflicts that can only be detected when we analyze several norms together. This work present a complete approach for conflict detection and conflict resolution among pairs and multiple norms. The approach for conflict detection is divided into three steps in order to smooth the computational since the problem is intrinsically exponential (SHOHAM; TENNENHOLTZ, 1995). The approach for conflict resolution apply famous strategie...
2008
Norms are the obligations, permissions and prohibitions associated with members of a society. Norms provide a useful abstraction with which to specify and regulate the behaviour of self-interested software agents in open, heterogeneous systems. Any realistic account of norms must address their dynamic nature: the norms associated with agents will change as agents act (and interact) -prohibitions can be lifted, obligations can be fulfilled, and permissions can be revoked as a result of agents' actions. These norms may at times conflict with one another, that is, an action may be simultaneously prohibited and obliged (or prohibited and permitted). Such conflicts cause norm-compliant agents to experience a paralysis: whatever they do (or not do) will go against a norm. In this paper we present mechanisms to detect and resolve normative conflicts. We achieve more expressiveness, precision and realism in our norms by using constraints over first-order variables. The mechanisms to detect and resolve norm conflicts take into account such constraints and are based on first-order unification and constraint satisfaction. We also explain how the mechanisms can be deployed in the management of norms regulating environments for software agents.