Requirements-Driven Contracting for Open and Norm-Regulated Multi-Agent Systems

Heterogenous agents designed by, and distributed across various providers participate in an open multi-agent system (MAS). Norms (i.e., obligations, prohibitions, and permissions), sanctions, and incentives are enforced within an open MAS to ensure that agents act and interact only in ways that satisfy stakeholders’ requirements. We propose a framework, called Requirements-driven Contracting (RdC) for deriving executable norms, sanctions, and incentives from the requirements and associated relevant information. RdC allows the use of requirements engineering concepts and methods to govern the open MAS. RdC ensures that all requirements, along with runtime changes of requirements are reflected in the norms, sanctions, and incentives regulating the behavior of agents in an open MAS. Status: Started on October 5, 2007; author list and its order are not definite; first complete draft.

[1]  Victoria Ungureanu,et al.  A mechanism for establishing policies for electronic commerce , 1998, Proceedings. 18th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (Cat. No.98CB36183).

[2]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Handling Obstacles in Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering , 2000, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[3]  Daniel E. O'Leary,et al.  Artificial intelligence and virtual organizations , 1997, Commun. ACM.

[4]  Yih-Jiun Lee.  A Dynamic Virtual Organization Solution for Web-Services Based Grid Middleware , 2005, 16th International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA'05).

[5]  Frank Dignum,et al.  Autonomous agents with norms , 1999, Artificial Intelligence and Law.

[6]  Ian Sommerville,et al.  Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques , 1998 .

[7]  John Mylopoulos,et al.  Representing and Using Nonfunctional Requirements: A Process-Oriented Approach , 1992, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[8]  R. Geoff Dromey,et al.  A Model for Software Product Quality , 1995, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[9]  Julio Cesar Sampaio do Prado Leite,et al.  On Non-Functional Requirements in Software Engineering , 2009, Conceptual Modeling: Foundations and Applications.

[10]  John Mylopoulos,et al.  Multi-Agent Architectures as Organizational Structures , 2006, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[11]  Franco Zambonelli,et al.  Developing multiagent systems: The Gaia methodology , 2003, TSEM.

[12]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Reasoning about partial goal satisfaction for requirements and design engineering , 2004, SIGSOFT '04/FSE-12.

[13]  J. Heijenoort.  From Frege to Gödel: A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879-1931 , 1967 .

[14]  Kevin Lano,et al.  Formal object-oriented development , 1995, FACIT: Formal approaches to computing and information technology.

[15]  Martin J. Kollingbaum,et al.  Norm-governed practical reasoning agents , 2005 .

[16]  L. Wittgenstein.  Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus , 2021, Nordic Wittgenstein Review.

[17]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Software requirements as negotiated win conditions , 1994, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering.

[18]  Martin J. Kollingbaum,et al.  Supervised Interaction - A Form of Contract Management to Create Trust between Agents , 2002, Trust, Reputation, and Security.

[19]  Ronen I. Brafman,et al.  On Graphical Modeling of Preference and Importance , 2011, J. Artif. Intell. Res..

[20]  Pierre-Yves Schobbens,et al.  A More Expressive Softgoal Conceptualization for Quality Requirements Analysis , 2006, ER.

[21]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering: A Guided Tour , 2001, RE.

[22]  Alain Wegmann,et al.  Where do goals come from: the underlying principles of goal-oriented requirements engineering , 2005, 13th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE'05).

[23]  Erik Stenius.  Mood and Language-Game , 1967 .

[24]  Martin J. Kollingbaum,et al.  Supervised interaction: creating a web of trust for contracting agents in electronic environments , 2002, AAMAS '02.

[25]  John Mylopoulos,et al.  Towards requirements-driven information systems engineering: the Tropos project , 2002, Inf. Syst..

[26]  Matthias Klusch,et al.  Larks: Dynamic Matchmaking Among Heterogeneous Software Agents in Cyberspace , 2002, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[27]  Sandro Morasca,et al.  An Operational Process for Goal-Driven Definition of Measures , 2002, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[28]  Alun D. Preece,et al.  Agent-based formation of virtual organisations , 2004, Knowl. Based Syst..

[29]  Dietmar Zaefferer.  Deskewing the Searlean Picture: A New Speech Act Ontology for Linguistics , 2006 .

[30]  David J. Israel,et al.  Plans and resource‐bounded practical reasoning , 1988, Comput. Intell..

[31]  Amy L. Lansky,et al.  Reactive Reasoning and Planning , 1987, AAAI.

[32]  Alun D. Preece,et al.  CONOISE-G: agent-based virtual organisations , 2006, AAMAS '06.

[33]  Victoria Ungureanu,et al.  Law-governed interaction: a coordination and control mechanism for heterogeneous distributed systems , 2000, TSEM.

[34]  J. Searle.  Expression and Meaning: A taxonomy of illocutionary acts , 1975 .

[35]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  Applied Artificial Intelligence: An International Journal , 2022 .

[36]  Jeffrey O. Kephart,et al.  The Vision of Autonomic Computing , 2003, Computer.

[37]  Colette Rolland,et al.  Guiding Goal Modeling Using Scenarios , 1998, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[38]  David L. Tennenhouse,et al.  Proactive computing , 2000, Commun. ACM.

[39]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Formal refinement patterns for goal-driven requirements elaboration , 1996, SIGSOFT '96.

[40]  Eric S. K. Yu,et al.  Towards modelling and reasoning support for early-phase requirements engineering , 1997, Proceedings of ISRE '97: 3rd IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering.

[41]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  On agent-based software engineering , 2000, Artif. Intell..

[42]  Christopher Kennedy.  Vagueness and grammar: the semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives , 2007 .

[43]  Wamberto Weber Vasconcelos,et al.  A Distributed Architecture for Norm-Aware Agent Societies , 2005, DALT.

[44]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Managing Conflicts in Goal-Driven Requirements Engineering , 1998, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[45]  J. Searle.  The Background of Meaning , 1980 .

[46]  Emmanuel Letier.  Reasoning about Agents in Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering , 2002 .

[47]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  Social Mental Shaping: Modelling the Impact of Sociality on the Mental States of Autonomous Agents , 2001, Comput. Intell..

[48]  Daniel Vanderveken.  Illocutionary logic and discourse typology , 2001 .

[49]  Ian T. Foster,et al.  The Anatomy of the Grid: Enabling Scalable Virtual Organizations , 2001, Int. J. High Perform. Comput. Appl..

[50]  Douglas T. Ross,et al.  Structured Analysis for Requirements Definition , 1977, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[51]  Javier Vázquez-Salceda,et al.  Organizing Multiagent Systems , 2005, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[52]  Pierre-Yves Schobbens,et al.  Achieving, Satisficing, and Excelling , 2007, ER Workshops.

[53]  Martin Grohe,et al.  The complexity of first-order and monadic second-order logic revisited , 2004, Ann. Pure Appl. Log..

[54]  Andrea Omicini,et al.  SODA: Societies and Infrastructures in the Analysis and Design of Agent-Based Systems , 2000, AOSE.

[55]  Julian Padget,et al.  Formalizing a Language for Institutions and Norms , 2001, ATAL.

[56]  Pierre-Yves Schobbens,et al.  Clear justification of modeling decisions for goal-oriented requirements engineering , 2008, Requirements Engineering.

[57]  Wamberto Weber Vasconcelos,et al.  Resolving conflict and inconsistency in norm-regulated virtual organizations , 2007, AAMAS '07.

[58]  Michael Jackson,et al.  Four dark corners of requirements engineering , 1997, TSEM.

[59]  H. Van Dyke Parunak,et al.  Representing Social Structures in UML , 2001, AOSE.

[60]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Is it an Agent, or Just a Program?: A Taxonomy for Autonomous Agents , 1996, ATAL.

[61]  Stephen Fickas,et al.  Goal-Directed Requirements Acquisition , 1993, Sci. Comput. Program..

[62]  J. Michael Spivey,et al.  The Z notation - a reference manual , 1992, Prentice Hall International Series in Computer Science.

[63]  Olga Pacheco,et al.  A Role Based Model for the Normative Specification of Organized Collective Agency and Agents Interaction , 2003, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[64]  John Mylopoulos,et al.  Specifying and analyzing early requirements in Tropos , 2004, Requirements Engineering.

[65]  A. Koller,et al.  Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language , 1969 .

[66]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Goal-oriented requirements enginering: a roundtrip from research to practice [enginering read engineering] , 2004, Proceedings. 12th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference, 2004..

[67]  Matthias Klusch,et al.  Interoperability among Heterogeneous Software Agents on the Internet , 1998 .

[68]  Jonathan P. Bowen,et al.  Ten commandments revisited: a ten-year perspective on the industrial application of formal methods , 2005, FMICS '05.

[69]  Annie I. Antón,et al.  Goal-based requirements analysis , 1996, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Requirements Engineering.

[70]  Pamela Zave.  Classification of research efforts in requirements engineering , 1997, ACM Comput. Surv..

[71]  Melvin Fitting,et al.  First-Order Logic and Automated Theorem Proving , 1990, Graduate Texts in Computer Science.

[72]  Alon Itai,et al.  Unification as a Complexity Measure for Logic Programming , 1987, J. Log. Program..

[73]  Graeme Smith,et al.  Model Checking Z Specifications Using SAL , 2005, ZB.

[74]  Shari Lawrence Pfleeger,et al.  Software Quality: The Elusive Target , 1996, IEEE Softw..