In this paper, we propose a formal framework of strategic reasoning that agents use when interact... more In this paper, we propose a formal framework of strategic reasoning that agents use when interacting in a dialogue and trying to achieve their conversational goals. Such argumentation-based reasoning enables agents to generate a set of strategic goals depending on a set of constraints. Strategic goals are sub-goals, which are necessary to achieve a conversational goal. Some of these sub-goals are generated at the beginning of the interaction and they can be canceled or substituted by alternatives during the dialogue. An original characteristic of this framework is that it enables agents to persist in the achievement of their goals by considering alternatives and calculating the feasibility of each sub-goal. The set of constraints as well as sub-goals can be set at the beginning or during the dialogue.
Seeking advances in infrastructure for e-activities over networks requires the projection of the ... more Seeking advances in infrastructure for e-activities over networks requires the projection of the utility (either profit or satisfaction) of such activities for organizations and individuals. Studies of defense-information systems that manage spatial-and time-dependent data for which we have assumed a decision process applied by cybernetic models with a bi-dimensional function for effector's effectiveness revealed emergent properties that must be considered in defining future e-activities over dedicated networks, intranets and the Internet. We address two aspects of improving the value of shared information for spatial-and time-dependent data for synchronized actions: (1) architecture changes, and (2) strategy adaptation to dynamic data for geographically distributed fix or mobile participants.
In this paper, we propose a new tableau-based model checking technique for verifying dialogue gam... more In this paper, we propose a new tableau-based model checking technique for verifying dialogue game protocols for agent communication. These protocols are defined using our social commitment-based framework for agent communication called Commitment and Argument Network (CAN). We use a variant of CTL* (ACTL*) for specifying these protocols and the properties to be verified. This logic extends CTL* by allowing formulae to constrain actions as well as states. The verification method is based on the translation of formulae into a variant of alternating tree automata called Alternating Büchi Tableau Automata (ABTA). We propose a set of tableau rules (inference rules) for specifying this translation procedure. Unlike the model checking algorithms proposed in the literature, the algorithm that we propose in this paper allows us not only to verify if the dialogue game protocol (the model) satisfies a given property, but also if this protocol respects the tableau rules-based decomposition of the action formulae. This algorithm is an on-the-fly efficient algorithm.
Proceedings of the 2011 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), 2011
In this paper, we propose a novel approach that extends our Informed Virtual Geographic Environme... more In this paper, we propose a novel approach that extends our Informed Virtual Geographic Environment (IVGE) model in order to effectively manage knowledge about the environment and support agents' cognitive capabilities and spatial behaviours. Our approach relies on previous well established theories on human spatial behaviours and the way people apprehend the spatial characteristics of their surroundings in order to navigate and to interact with the physical world. It is also inspired by Gibson's work on affordances and knowledge provided by the environment to guide agent-environment interactions. The main contribution of our approach is to provide cognitive situated agents with: (1) knowledge about the environment represented using Conceptual Graphs (CG); (2) tools and mechanisms that allow them to acquire knowledge about the environment; and (3) the capability to reason about this knowledge and to autonomously make decisions and to act with respect to both their own and the virtual environment's characteristics.
In this paper, we propose a new strategic and tactic reasoning for agent communication. This reas... more In this paper, we propose a new strategic and tactic reasoning for agent communication. This reasoning framework is specified using argumentation theory combined to a relevance theory. Strategic reasoning enables agents to decide about the global communication plan in terms of the macro-actions to perform in order to achieve the main conversational goal. Tactic reasoning, on the other hand, allows agents to locally select, at each moment, the most appropriate argument according to the adopted strategy. Previous efforts at defining and formalizing strategies for argumentative agents have often neglected the tactic level and the relation between strategic and tactic levels. In this paper, we propose a formal framework for strategic and tactic reasoning for rational communicating agents and the relation between these two kinds of reasoning. Furthermore, we address the computational complexity of this framework and we argue that this complexity is in the same level of the polynomial hierarchy than the complexity of the strategic-free argumentation reasoning.
In this paper we propose a computational model for human-agent and agent-agent conversation. This... more In this paper we propose a computational model for human-agent and agent-agent conversation. This model has two fundamental characteristics: (1) it takes into account the implicit aspects of conversations by dealing with the non literal level of speech acts; (2) it models the dialogization process. Theoretically, our model uses a public approach based on social commitments and on what we call communicational states. In addition, we consider communication as a negotiation process formed by a set of initiative/reactive dialogue games. The paper also presents an implementation of our model in a multi-agent system called POSTAGE.
Une approche de communication entre agents logiciels basée sur la pertinence
Revue d'intelligence artificielle, 2010
In this paper we propose an agent communication approach based on social commitments and argument... more In this paper we propose an agent communication approach based on social commitments and arguments. In this approach, agents must use their reasoning capabilities to reason about their mental states before acting on commitments or on their contents in a relevant way. In order to enable them to choose the most relevant arguments at each step of the dialogic interaction, this approach allows the agents to use two types of reasoning: strategic and tactical. The strategic reasoning allows an agent to choose its global communication plan in terms and to select the constraints which it decides to satisfy. In addition, tactical reasoning allows agents to locally choose, at each turn, the most relevant argument according to the adopted strategy.
International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2007
Geospatial data users increasingly face the need to assess how datasets fit an intended use. Howe... more Geospatial data users increasingly face the need to assess how datasets fit an intended use. However, information describing data quality is typically difficult to access and understand. Therefore, data quality is often neglected by users, leading to risks of misuse. Understanding data quality is a complex task that may involve thousands of partially related metadata. For complex cases where heterogeneous datasets have to be integrated, there is a need for tools supporting data quality analysis. This paper presents the design of such a tool that can manage heterogeneous data quality information and provide functions to support expert users in the assessment of the fitness for use of a given dataset. Combining concepts from GIS and Business Intelligence, this approach provides interactive, multi-granularity and context-sensitive spatial data quality indicators that help experts to build and justify their opinions. A prototype called the Multidimensional User Manual is presented to illustrate this approach.
Characterizing the context of a conversation is a complex endeavor. In this paper we present some... more Characterizing the context of a conversation is a complex endeavor. In this paper we present some of the key elements that sustain the conversational context. We suggest that a conversation can be viewed as a negotiation game in which participants negotiate on several levels: some of these levels are used to manage the communication (communication channel, information transfer, turn taking) while others (negotiation and environmental sub-contexts) are used to transfer concepts or mental states relative to various spatio-temporal situations between agents. The social and reasoning sub-contexts also play an important role in the characterization of the conversational context. We concentrate on the elements of the negotiation and environmental sub-contexts which make up a core model for the conversational context. We present the key ingredients of those sub-contexts: the agent's perspective that characterizes an agent's temporal position when uttering a sentence; the agent's positioning that specifies the action applied to mental states when an agent plays a move in the negotiation game; mental states and their relations with temporal situations evoked in agents' utterances. We show that all those knowledge structures are temporally situated with respect to a temporal frame of reference whose main reference points are specified relative to agent's perspectives or deictically specified. We emphasize the role of deictic phenomena in the characterization of agents' orientations within the conversational context and thus, the importance of accounting for them in a model of context.
the whole (socie~) is prior to the part (the individual), not the part to the whole: and the part... more the whole (socie~) is prior to the part (the individual), not the part to the whole: and the part is explained in terms of the whole, not the whole in terms of the parts. "'
Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to address the strategic and tactic issues in agent commun... more Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to address the strategic and tactic issues in agent communication. Strategic reasoning enables agents to decide about the global communication plan in terms of the macro-actions to perform in order to achieve the main conversational ...
In this paper we propose a formal specification of a persuasion protocol between autonomous agent... more In this paper we propose a formal specification of a persuasion protocol between autonomous agents using an approach based on social commitments and arguments. In order to be flexible, this protocol is defined as a combination of a set of conversation policies. These policies are formalized as a set of dialogue games. The protocol is specified using two types of dialogue games: entry dialogue game and chaining dialogue games. The protocol terminates when exit conditions are satisfied. Using a tableau method, we prove that this protocol always terminates. The paper addresses also the implementation issues of our protocol using logical programming and an agentoriented platform. Ag 1 : Newspapers can publish information I (p). Ag 2 : I don't agree with you. Ag 1 : They can publish information I because it is not private (q), and any public information can be published (r). Ag 2 : Why is information I public? Ag 1 : Because it concerns a Minister (s), and information concerning a Minister are public (t). Ag 2 : Information concerning a Minister is not necessarily public, because information I is about the health of Minister (u), and information about the health remains private (v). Ag 1 : I accept your argument.
In this paper we address a dynamic distributed patrolling problem where a team of autonomous unma... more In this paper we address a dynamic distributed patrolling problem where a team of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) patrolling moving targets over a large area must coordinate. We propose a hybrid approach combining multi-agent geosimulation and reinforcement learning enabling a group of agents to find near optimal solutions in realistic geo-referenced virtual environments. We present the COLMAS System which implements the proposed approach and show how a set of UAV can automatically find patrolling patterns in a dynamic environment characterized by unknown obstacles and moving targets. We also comment the value of the approach based on limited computational results.
In this paper we present a modal semantics for our approach based on social commitments and argum... more In this paper we present a modal semantics for our approach based on social commitments and arguments for conversational agents. Our formal framework based on this approach uses three basic elements: social commitments, actions that agents apply to these social commitments and arguments that agents use to support their actions. This framework, called Commitment and Argument Network (CAN), formalizes the agents' interactions as a network in which agents manipulate commitments and arguments. More precisely, we propose a logical model (called DCTL* CAN) based on CTL* and on dynamic logic for this framework. The advantage of this logical model is to bring together social commitments, actions, argumentation relations, and the relations existing between these three elements within the same framework. Our semantics makes it possible to represent the dynamics of agent communication. It also allows us to establish the important link between social commitments as a deontic concept and arguments. The final objective of this paper is to propose a unified framework for pragmatics and semantics of agent communication by defining logic-based protocols.
Journal of Intelligent Information Systems - JIIS, 1999
The paper introduces the concept of software agent-oriented frameworks for global query processin... more The paper introduces the concept of software agent-oriented frameworks for global query processing in an interoperable environment. Such an environment is developed for the purpose of making cooperative interactions between several systems. These latter are distributed on networks and may present several incompatibilities. The global query processing is applied to the SIGAL project which aims at developing an interoperable environment for georeferenced digital libraries. This environment provides users with services that will free them from worrying about information distribution and disparities.
In the area of agent communication and dialogue processing, several researchers have dealt with d... more In the area of agent communication and dialogue processing, several researchers have dealt with dialogue modeling, semantics and conversational frameworks (conversation policies and dialogue games). However, few works have explored the representation of conversation dynamics. This paper presents a new formalism "commitment and argument network" (CAN) that provides an external representation of conversations and models its dynamics. Our purpose is to represent different actions that are likely to take place in a conversation. We argue that the CAN formalism can be used both to analyze conversations and to allow agents to participate in consistent conversations.
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Papers by B. Moulin