Abstract. Communication plays a fundamental role in multi-agents systems. One of the main issues in the design of agent interaction protocols is the verification that a given protocol implementation is “conformant” w.r.t. the abstract specification of it. In this work we tackle those aspects of the conformance verification issue, that regard the dependence/independence of conformance from the agent private state. More specifically we introduce three notions of conformance with different levels of abstraction from the agent knowledge and the relations between each other, and apply them to the case of logic, individual agents, set in a multi-agent framework. We do this by working on a specific agent programming language, DyLOG, and by focussing on interaction protocol specifications described by AUML sequence diagrams. By showing how AUML sequence diagrams can be translated into regular grammars and, then, by interpreting the problem of conformance as a problem of language inclusion, we describe a method for automatically verifying a form of “structural ” conformance; such a process is shown to be decidable and an upper bound to its complexity is given. 1

Abstract. This paper discusses the integration of a Prolog implementation, tuProlog, into the DCaseLP environment for building prototypes of multi-agent systems (MASs). DCaseLP aims at providing the MAS developer with a plethora of specification and implementation languages in order to allow him/her to adopt the best language for each view of the system under specification/implementation. The integration of tuProlog into DCaseLP represents a step forward in this direction and allows the re-use of tools and mechanisms previously developed for the DCaseLP predecessor, CaseLP. 1

Abstract. Engineering systems of heterogeneous agents is a difficult task; one of the ways for achieving the successful industrial deployment of agent technology is the development of engineering tools that support the developer in all the steps of design and implementation. In this work we focus on the problem of supporting the design of agent interaction protocols by carrying out a methodological integration of the MAS prototyping environment DCaseLP with the agent programming language DyLOG for reasoning about action and change. 1

Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce is gaining a wide consensus both from the academia and from the industry, since it provides the right abstractions, models and tools to face the challenges that electronic commerce raises. According to C.Sierra, e-commerce can be described as organization + mechanism + trust, where mechanism is concerned with the rules that govern the interaction among agents in such a way that certain properties can be guaranteed.

Abstract — In this article we present a visual development environment for writing DyLOG programs, explaining the motivations to this work and the main design choices. We will also analyze the main components of the system and the features offered to the user. The visual environment encompasses a fully new implementation of the DyLOG language, where Java is used instead of Sicstus Prolog, and an OWL ontology that will allow the use of the language in Semantic Web applications. I.

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This document complements the paper [1] by discussing the detailed process of creating and reusing AOSE features. It is not intended as a stand-alone document but should be read as an appendix of [1]. We adopt a software engineering approach and attempt to address issues in the entire lifecycle of the AOSE features. This approach is familiar to industry developers and should enable them to create and reuse AOSE features more easily. The document is intended to be low-level and detailed and offers a starting point for potential feature developers. We plan to update this document regularly as we learn more about creating and reusing AOSE features. Please email Thomas Juan if you wish to receive notification when the document is updated In this document, section 2 outlines the content of AOSE features. Section 3 and 4 outline the procedures of creating and reusing AOSE features. Section 5 presents a quick example

Dagstuhl, Open and heterogeneous multi-agent systems (See yesterday’s talk by Marco Gavanelli for an introduction to open MASs). MASs involve heterogeneous components which have different ways of representing their knowledge about the world, about themselves, and about other agents, and which adopt different mechanisms for reasoning about it. Despite their heterogeneity, agents need to interact and exchange information in order to cooperate or compete for the control of shared resources; this interaction may follow sophisticated communication protocols. How can we correctly and efficiently engineer a system of heterogeneous agents? A prototyping approach Advantages of building a working MAS prototype: – The time and cost required are limited. – The prototyping iterative process allows to revise requirements or critical choices. – A prototype can be realized using (eventually unefficient) formal methods and tools. – If the prototype can integrate external legacy software and/or third-party agents it becomes closer to the final application. Are there prototyping environment for multiagent systems able to cope with the heterogeneity of both the agents and the different views of the system itself? A flashback to Dagstuhl Seminar 02481 CaseLP (“Complex Applications Specification Environment based on Logic Programming”) is a logic-based prototyping environment that: – provides a set of heterogeneous high-level specification languages, each suitable for specifying some aspect of the MAS structure and dynamics; – allows to directly execute or compile into an exacutable language specifications written in these languages; – integrates some external languages and packages. A flashback to Dagstuhl Seminar 02481 (cont.) Future work on CaseLP To furtherly improve CaseLP we are concentrating our research on: 1. Integration of new languages for implementing agents and integration of external packages. 2. Full integration of UML. 3. Physical distribution and real concurrency of agents. This talk is about...