The general framework of our project is to provide a computational model of physical complex processes for simulation needs. In Geophysics, the study of this kind of system has led to the concept of “Self-Organized Criticality”, to explain the “repeatability” of emergent phenomena in nature. To model Self-organized criticality within computers, the original part of the work is to propose a mult...

This paper examines the use of incentive pay schemes within the financial services sector in London. Various theories of wage determination are reviewed with particular attention placed on the principal-agent literature as a framework for analysing the use of incentive pay. This is combined with case study interviews and a number of hypotheses regarding the use of bonuses. Quantitative analysis...

Biological systems are capable of acting in a shared environment to produce emergent, self-organized behavior that is the result of the constraints imposed by local interactions– such as bird flocking or ant swarming behavior. These examples present minimal demands for a shared-intention between co-actors, whereas other instances necessitate the formation of a shared goal. In these goal-directe...

Agent-based social simulation models have a wide range of applications, and can incorporate numeric parameters of various kinds. In this paper, we use a simple agent-based simulation model of a laboratory experiment in network colouring to explore the selection of such numeric parameters. In particular, we examine two fundamental approaches to selecting model parameters (model calibration) base...

Being able to ensure that a multiagent system will not generate undesirable behaviors is essential within the context of critical applications (embedded systems or real-time systems). The emergence of behaviors from the agents interaction can generate situations incompatible with the expected system execution. The standard methods to validate a multiagent system do not prevent the occurrence of...

It is our belief that modelling the behaviour of stem cells in the adult human body as an agent-based system is the most appropriate way of understanding the process of self-organisation. We have undertaken several case studies where formal and/or computational models of stem cell systems, have been re-developed using an agent-based approach. This paper presents details of one of these case stu...

The general aim of our work is to provide tools, methods and models to adaptive multi-agent systems designers. These systems consist in several interacting agents and have to optimize problem solving in a dynamic environment. In this context, the ADELFE method, which is based on a self-organizing adaptive multi-agent system model, was developed. Cooperation is used as a local criterion to self-...

Porto, the institutional repository of the Politecnico di Torino, is provided by the University Library and the IT-Services. The aim is to enable open access to all the world. Please share with us how this access benefits you. Your story matters. 1 Abstract—This article demonstrates how to use intelligent agents for testing and repairing a distributed system, whose elements may or may not have ...

We consider the problem of simulating communication between independent, autonomous agents, or machines, using only local rules with no global control over the agents' behavior. First, we construct an algorithm by which the machines will avoid collisions with each other and with boundaries or obstacles. Noting that collision avoidance alone will not result in higher-level behavior, and with the...

This paper details the implementation of a software framework that aids the development of distributed and self-configurable software systems. This framework is an instance of a novel integration strategy called SoSAA (SOcially Situated Agent Architecture), which combines Component-Based Software Engineering [15] and Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, drawing its inspiration from hybrid agent...