Intelligent Information Agents : Agent-Based Information Discovery and Management on the Internet

by Klusch, Matthias

• ISBN13: 9783540651123
• ISBN10: 3540651128
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-01
• Publisher: SPRINGER VERLAG INC

Summary

Matthias Klusch covers a broad range of intelligent information agents, presenting the latest state-of-the-art research in the field. Focusing on applications of intelligent agents on the World Wide Web, this reference is targeted at professionals involved in this rapidly growing area of artificial intelligence.

Table of Contents

Part I. Cooperative Information Systems and Agents
Introduction	3	(7)
From Business Processes to Cooperative Information Systems: An Information Agents Perspective	10	(27)
Michael P. Papazoglou
Willem-Jan van den Heuvel
Introduction	10	(2)
The Enterprise Framework	12	(1)
The Business Support Facilities	13	(14)
The Advanced Middleware Infrastructure	27	(8)
Concluding Remarks	35	(2)
Social Abstractions for Information Agents	37	(16)
Munindar P. Singh
Michael N. Huhns
Introduction	37	(1)
Key Concepts	38	(4)
Social Abstractions	42	(2)
Commitments for Interoperation	44	(3)
Applications	47	(4)
Conclusions and Future Work	51	(2)
Integration of Information from Multiple Sources of Textual Data	53	(25)
Sonia Bergamaschi
Domenico Beneventano
Introduction	53	(3)
The TSIMMIS Project	56	(9)
The MOMIS Project	65	(11)
Discussion and Final Remarks	76	(2)
In-Context Information Management through Adaptive Collaboration of Intelligent Agents	78	(22)
Katia Sycara
Introduction	78	(2)
Brief Overview of RETSINA	80	(6)
Automated Information Context Refinement by an Interface Agent	86	(4)
Learning of Information Retrieval Context	90	(1)
Explicit Context Representation in Task Schemas	91	(8)
Conclusion and Future Research	99	(1)
A Framework for a Scalable Agent Architecture of Cooperating Heterogeneous Knowledge Sources	100	(31)
Aris Ouksel
Introduction and Objectives	100	(2)
A Conceptual Framework for SCOPES	102	(5)
Current State of Knowledge in Semantic Interoperability	107	(5)
Semantic Interoperability in SCOPES	112	(9)
Conclusion and Extensions to SCOPES	121	(6)
Part II. Rational Information Agents and Electronic Commerce
Introduction	127	(4)
Agents as Mediators in Electronic Commerce	131	(22)
Robert Guttman
Alexandros Moukas
Pattie Maes
Introduction	131	(1)
Role of Agents as Mediators in Electronic Commerce	132	(10)
Agent Technologies for Electronic Commerce	142	(7)
AmEC at the MIT Media Laboratory	149	(3)
Conclusion and Future Directions	152	(1)
Auctions and Multi-agent Systems	153	(23)
Pablo Noriega
Carles Sierra
Introduction	153	(3)
The Fishmarket	156	(12)
Towards a Formal Model	168	(4)
Institutions	172	(1)
Closing Remarks	173	(3)
Strategic Reasoning and Adaptation in an Information Economy	176	(28)
Edmund H. Durfee
Tracy Mullen
Sunju Park
Jose M. Vidal
Peter Weinstein
Introduction	176	(4)
The Service Market Society	180	(3)
The UMDL Ontology	183	(2)
The UMDL Auctions	185	(1)
Simple Market Scenario - Price Takers	186	(3)
Strategic Agents	189	(4)
Learning Agents	193	(4)
System-Wide Adaptation	197	(5)
Conclusion	202	(2)
SharedPlans in Electronic Commerce	204	(28)
Merav Hadad
Sarit Kraus
Introduction	204	(2)
The SharedPlan Model	206	(6)
The Benefits of Using SharedPlans in Electronic Commerce	212	(5)
The General SharedPlan System	217	(13)
Conclusion	230	(2)
Dynamic Supply Chain Structuring for Electronic Commerce Among Agents	232	(26)
Daniel Dajun Zeng
Katia Sycara
Introduction	232	(3)
The LCT Supply Chain Model	235	(2)
LCT in Inventory Models with Constant Demand Rates	237	(1)
LCT in Periodic Review Stochastic Inventory Model	238	(6)
Computing Inventory Policies with Multiple Leadtime Options	244	(4)
Concluding Remarks	248	(5)
Part III. Adaptive Information Agents
Introduction	253	(5)
Adaptive Choice of Information Sources	258	(21)
Sandip Sen
Anish Biswas
Sumit Ghosh
Introduction	258	(2)
A Categorization of Approaches to Developing Adaptive Information Agents	260	(1)
A State-Based Approach to Load Balancing	261	(9)
A Model-Based Approach to Load Balancing	270	(4)
Learning to Select Information Sources	274	(3)
Observations	277	(2)
Personal Assistants for the Web: A MIT Perspective	279	(14)
Henry Lieberman
Introduction	279	(1)
Intelligent Information Agents Can Break the Knowledge Bottleneck	280	(1)
Intelligent Information Agents and Conventional Information Retrieval	281	(1)
From Information Retrieval to Information Reconnaissance	282	(3)
Information Agents Can Help People Find Common Interests	285	(2)
Information Agents as Matchmakers	287	(2)
Agents for Electronic Commerce	289	(2)
Agents for Visualization of Information Spaces	291	(1)
Information Agents Can Be Controversial	292	(1)
Amalthaea and Histos: MultiAgent Systems for WWW Sites and Reputation Recommendations	293	(30)
Alexandros Moukas
Giorgos Zacharia
Pattie Maes
Introduction	293	(2)
Background and Related Work	295	(4)
Amalthaea	299	(15)
Histos	314	(7)
Conclusion and Future Work	321	(2)
Scalable Web Search by Adaptive Online Agents: An InfoSpiders Case Study	323	(32)
Filippo Menczer
Alvaro E. Monge
Introduction	323	(2)
Search Engines and Agents	325	(2)
Scalability	327	(2)
InfoSpiders	329	(8)
Case Study	337	(3)
Discussion	340	(11)
Part IV. Mobile Information Agents and Security
Introduction	351	(4)
Mobile Agents for Distributed Information Retrieval	355	(41)
Brian Brewington
Robert Gray
Katsuhiro Moizumi
David Kotz
George Cybenko
Daniela Rus
Introduction	355	(2)
Motivation	357	(3)
Survey of Mobile-Agent systems	360	(7)
Application: The Technical-Report Searcher	367	(10)
Planning	377	(17)
Conclusion	394	(2)
On Coordinating Information Agents and Mobility	396	(16)
Robert Tolksdorf
Introduction	396	(1)
Coordination and Mobility in Information Systems	396	(4)
Software Engineering for Multi Agent Systems	400	(3)
A Coordination Language for Mobility	403	(3)
Simple Coordination Patterns	406	(5)
Related Work and Conclusion	411	(1)
Spawning Information Agents on the Web	412	(19)
Onn Shehory
Introduction	412	(3)
Why Is Spawning Necessary?	415	(3)
Requirements for Spawning	418	(2)
The Algorithm	420	(4)
Simulation: The Cloning Case	424	(3)
Spawning: Information Requirements Analysis	427	(1)
Related Work	428	(2)
Conclusion	430	(1)
Mobile Agent Security	431	(16)
Christian F. Tschudin
Motivation	431	(1)
Is Code Mobility Dangerous?	431	(2)
Protecting the Host	433	(1)
Run--Time Checks and How To Avoid (Some of) Them	434	(1)
Authentication, Authorization, Allocation	434	(2)
Protecting the Mobile Agents	436	(1)
Detecting Agent Tampering	437	(2)
Preventing Agent Tampering	439	(4)
Secure or Open, Is This the Question?	443	(1)
Outlook	444	(3)
References	447	(38)
About the Authors	485	(10)
List of Contributors	495