======================================================================v6
SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS:
Seventh International Workshop
"From Agent Theory to Agent Implementation"
AT2AI-7
<URL:http://www.ofai.at/research/agents/conf/at2ai7/>
at2ai7 (AT) ofai (DOT) at
at the 20th European Meeting of Cybernetics and Systems Research
(EMCSR'2010)
<URL:http://www.osgk.ac.at/emcsr/>
April 6-9, 2010, Vienna, Austria (EU)
Submission deadline: November 30, 2009
Chairs: Paolo Petta and Joerg P. Mueller
========================================================================
Introduction
------------
Since its first edition in 1998, the symposium series "From Agent
Theory to Agent Implementation" has been not only documenting the
progress in agent-related technologies, but also managed to contribute
to the rapid development of this area. AT2AI actively promotes the
exchange of ideas and experiences between researchers and
practitioners working on the whole range of theoretical and
application-oriented issues of agent technology. It covers both the
micro and macro aspects of agent-oriented design, and discusses the
relations of drawing boards and partly idealised models to modelling
tools and frameworks to deployment, management and maintenance of
implementations. The focus of AT2AI lies in the discussion of direct
experience reports from all stakeholders, so as to remain well aware
of the actual target domains while using the language of current agent
terminology.
Previous AT2AI editions produced a first blueprint of a layered
ecology of technologies for the development of agent based
applications (cf. the editorial: ``Engineering Agent Systems: Best of
"From Agent Theory to Agent Implementation (AT2AI-3)"'' of Applied
Artificial Intelligence 16(9-10):671-67, 2003 --- available as OFAI
TR-2002-41 from http://www.ofai.at/tr-online/). This perspective
considers middleware, tools, off-the shelf platforms, integrated
development environments (IDEs), and the like, with respect to their
practical value to improve the application performance delivered. The
qualities of these support technologies can in turn be improved and
better exploited with the design of architectural frameworks and the
deployment of standards. The evolution of these in turn can be
assisted by the development of sound theoretical foundations and
related formal methods. Methodologies are considered as working
know-that and know-how, capturing and maintaining the best practises
how to identify, align, and process application- and
environment-derived (bottom-up) and support technology related
(top-down) requirements and options.
m ---------------------------------------------------+
e |
| t theoretical foundations |
| h |
| o -----------------------------------------+ |
| d | |
| | o standards | |
| | l | |
| | o -------------------------------+ | |
| | g | | |
| | | i middleware | | |
| | | e | | |
| | | s ---------------+ | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | IDEs | APPLICATIONS | tools | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | +----------------+ | | |
| | | off-the-shelf platforms | | |
| | +--------------------------------+ | |
| | architectures | |
| +------------------------------------------+ |
| formal methods |
+----------------------------------------------------+
AT2AI also compiled an updated inventory against the maturing agent
field: the status of logic-based approaches was addressed in
particular; but evidence was also provided for how routine
consideration of a multitude of perspectives is finally starting to
meet the requirements posed by serious application needs (including
e.g. issues of privacy and flexible access right management). These
results have been published in the triple issue of Applied AI 20(2-4),
2006.
AT2AI-7 is aimed at pushing the envelope further still, as more
substantial experiences with more sizeable and persisting systems
deployed become available. In addition to the understanding of what
approaches and aspects can contribute in which ways to system
resilience, sustainability, and other properties of practical
importance, further reflection is now starting to identify inherent
dynamical properties that are particular to agent-oriented systems and
that may enable to expand the range of application support
significantly. This for example includes consideration of the pros and
cons of functional and physical approaches to encapsulation, and
accepting and devising solutions to cope with limited control over the
environment and system coherence at the macro level. Also, results
from research on "heavier" cognitive agent architectures are being
increasingly evaluated and considered for deployment in information
agent settings.
Topics of Interest
------------------
Of particular relevance to the workshop are reflections that share
insights about experiences and lessons learnt when applying specific
agent theories or architectures to application problems, or, from the
recipients' end, when contracting agent technologies to provide a
service envisioned. Such discussions and critiques may be aimed at
conceptual vocabulary, methods, methodologies, good and bad management
practices, and other tools and activities: anything that may be of
value for system designers to improve the mapping of their
agent-oriented toolbox to application needs, and for other
stakeholders to better understand the available potential and current
challenges of agent-oriented systems.
Topics of interest therefore include, but are not limited, to:
* Conceptual and theoretical foundations
* Agent languages and architectures
* The nature and relation of the micro and macro levels
* Learning and adaptability
* Communication, coordination and collaboration within MAS
* Monitoring and regulation of MAS behaviour
* Reactivity, pro-activeness, autonomy at the macro level
* Use and adaptation of Meta-Models at run-time
* Solutions for (soft-)realtime characteristics
* Sophisticated cognitive capabilities of practical value
* Social issues in agent societies
* Safety, security, and responsibility
* Granularities of system design (single-agent, multi-agent, ant, ...)
* Comparison of paradigms: Agents vs. P2P vs. Grids vs. Web Services
* Development, engineering, and management methodologies
* User interfaces and usability
* MAS Information interfaces (handling of discrete and continuous information)
* Testbeds and evaluations
* Applications of agent technology in routine use
Submissions are encouraged to cast the presentation in terms of the
blueprint schema described above, or to propose principled changes to
it. As the previous editions of AT2AI have shown, this is a
significant aid for the workshop audience to grasp more readily the
significance of the work presented and to relate it to their own
activities: the quality and variety of feedback provided to authors
improves accordingly, often leading to persisting fruitful contacts.
Important Dates
---------------
November 30, 2009 Submission deadline
January 11, 2010 Paper acceptance notification
January 29, 2010 Camera-ready copies due
April 7/8, 2010 Workshop at EMCSR'2010
Submission Details
------------------
For details on how to format draft papers, please see the general
submission guidelines for the main EMCSR conference published on the
EMCSR 2010 homepage: <URL:http://www.osgk.ac.at/emcsr/>.
Please note that papers for AT2AI-7 are to be submitted in PDF format
through the EasyChair system at the following web page:
<URL:http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=at2ai7>
Reviewing Process
-----------------
Each paper will be triple reviewed. Criteria for the selection of
papers include: originality, readability, coverage of relevant state
of the art, relevance to themes, soundness, and overall quality. An
affirmative action policy will hold for strongly innovative papers.
Accepted papers:
Authors will be informed of the outcome of the reviewing process on
January 11, 2010; the list of accepted papers will also be published
on the AT2AI-7 web site.
After the event, as for previous editions a second round of reviews of
extended versions of selected contributions is planned, leading to the
publication of an edited collection in a journal.
Organising Committee
--------------------
Paolo Petta Austrian Research Institute for AI (OFAI), AT
Joerg P. Mueller Clausthal University of Technology, D
Programme Committee
-------------------
Liliana Ardissono Franziska Klügl
Ana L.C. Bazzan Daniel Kudenko
Olivier Boissier Joao Leite
Ladislau Boloni John-Jules Meyer
Luis Botelho Andrea Omicini
Lars Braubach Sascha Ossowski
Helder Coelho Simon Parsons
Mehdi Dastani Michal Pechoucek
Ian Dickinson Eric Platon
Frank Dignum Alexander Pokahr
Virginia Dignum Alessandro Ricci
Klaus Fischer M. Birna van Riemsdijk
Jorge Gomez-Sanz Michael Ignaz Schumacher
Abdelkader Gouaïch Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni
Laszlo Gulyas Olivier Simonin
Rune Gustavsson Giuseppe Vizzari
Chihab Hanachi Gerhard Weiss
Tom Holvoet Danny Weyns
Jomi Fred Hubner Cees Witteveen
Bernhard Jung Franco Zambonelli
<EOT>
