[agents] 3rd Intl WS on Multi-Agent Systems and Collaborative Technologies (I-MASC 2012)

[Wei Chen]

The 3rd International Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems and 
Collaborative Technologies
(I-MASC 2012)
http://cisedu.us/rp/cts12/2-conference/workshops/workshop-06-imasc

CALL FOR PAPERS

As part of
The 2012 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems
(CTS 2012) 
http://cts2012.cisedu.info/ 

May 21 - 25, 2012
The Westin Westminster Hotel
Denver, Colorado, USA

Submission Deadline: January 16, 2012   
*** A hard deadline without any extension ***

Submissions could be for full papers (8 pages) or short papers (4 pages)

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) has grown into an interdisciplinary field that
includes various tracks and 
embraces many previously distinctive research areas.  Particularly,
multi-agent coordination, a sub-area of 
MAS, investigates how multiple intelligent computational agents work
together to achieve high-level 
goals beyond the capabilities of single agents.  Many different approaches
have been investigated, such as 
the partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP), task structure
analysis, coordination 
communication protocols, etc.  Collaborative Technologies and Systems (CTS)
have evolved significantly 
as well. These tend to investigate the design and development of effective
environments or tools that help 
human users work together in a distributed collaborative, possibly virtual,
fashion.  Some notable examples 
of CTS include Collaboratories, collaborative design/editing, and on-line
collaboration tools and 
environments.  CTS is beginning to look at the challenges of supporting
coordinated, purposive activities.  
MAS is still facing challenges of scaling to large numbers of entities and
real-world tasks (see, for 
example, Hendler's question of, "where are all the intelligent agents?" ).  

This workshop will explore potential synergy between CTS and
MAS/coordination because they share a 
common ground: how multiple entities ? intelligent agents or humans alike -
work together to carry out 
potentially related tasks.  We will ask questions of whether and how design
and development of 
collaborative systems, promoting coordinated human activity, could be
enhanced by incorporating insights 
from MAS.  Collaborative technologies embody practical considerations from
the human users' points of 
view, allowing users to ignore how the underlying (agent) infrastructure is
implemented.  Meanwhile, 
MAS/coordination investigates intelligent agents' underlying algorithms and
mechanisms and, in some 
cases, how artificial agents can interact with people as peers.  Conversely,
intelligent agents will not see 
significant acceptance, nor will they be able to manage the complexity and
knowledge-intensity of 
meaningful practical applications, without developing some understanding of
how to make effective use of 
human contributions throughout the specification, execution, evaluation, and
refinement stages of the 
software lifecycle.  

This workshop solicits papers that discuss synergies between MAS and CTS,
possible 
advantages/disadvantages of hybrids between them for designing and
developing modern distributed 
collaborative software systems, and research and/or real-world experience
and/or applications and/or 
lessons learned that involve both CTS and MAS.  That is, any paper that
addresses both CTS and 
MAS, preferably in one or a set of applications that share similar
underlying research challenges, is of 
interest to this workshop.  An example could be: the design and development
of a collaborative 
environment (say, a distributed planning tool) that enables multiple
heterogeneous, human experts and 
agents to work in combination across computer networks on courses of actions
in response to cyber 
attacks.  Another example might be systems or interfaces supporting the
division of labor between CTS 
and MAS elements during execution.

The Workshop topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
*              MAS: Coordination of and by Computational Agents
-              Agent Communication, Languages and Protocols
-              Agent Models and Architectures
-              Multi-Agent Coordination and Cooperation
-              Human-Agent Interaction
-              Multi-User/Multi-Agent Interaction
-              Teamwork, Coalition Formation, Coordination
-              Peer to Peer Coordination
-              Modeling the Dynamics of MAS
-              Agent-based System Development
-              Collective Decision Making
-              Bargaining and Negotiation
-              Auction and Mechanism Design
-              Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Agents
-              Complex MAS
-              Virtual Agents Applications
-              Conversational Agents
-              Distributed Task Planning and Execution
-              Cooperation with Humans and Robots
-              Collective Intelligence
-              Agent Reasoning
-              Mining Agents
-              Security Agents

*              CTS:  Agent Technologies and Systems Supporting Collaboration
Among Humans
-              Architectures and Design of Collaborative Systems
-              Frameworks and Methodologies for Collaboration
-              Cognitive and Psychological Issues in Collaboration
-              Collaborative Human-Centered Systems
-              Cultural Aspects & Human Factors in Collaboration
-              Interfaces for Collaborative Work
-              Social Software Based Collaboration
-              Visualization of Collaborative Processes
-              Web Infrastructure for Collaborative Applications
-              Information Infrastructure for Collaboration
-              Management of Metadata for Collaboration
-              Mobile and Wireless Collaboration Systems
-              Modeling and Simulation of Collaboration
-              Platforms for Collaboration
-              Collaboration in Domain Applications

Important:  A submitted paper must have keywords from BOTH lists of MAS and
CTS!  

Synergies of CTS and MAS topics are of interest with respect to any phase of
a human or software 
systems lifecycle:  specification, implementation, testing, evaluation, and
deployment. 


PAPER SUBMISSION
You are invited to submit original and unpublished research works on the
above and other topics related to 
Collaborative Technologies and Multi-Agent Systems.  Submitted papers must
not have been published or 
simultaneously submitted elsewhere.  Submission should include a cover page
with authors' names, 
affiliation addresses, fax numbers, phone numbers, and email addresses. 
Please, indicate clearly the 
corresponding author and include up to 6 keywords from the above list of
topics and an abstract of no 
more than 400 words. We welcome prospective participants to submit either
full papers (up to 8 pages) or 
short papers (up to 4 pages). The manuscript should use the two-column IEEE
format.  Additional pages 
will be charged at additional fee.  In case of multiple authors, an
indication of which author is responsible 
for correspondence must be indicated.  Please include page numbers on all
preliminary submissions to 
make it easier for reviewers to provide helpful comments.  Submit a PDF copy
of your full manuscript to 
the Workshop paper submission site at the link: 
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=imasc2012.  

Notably, (1) only PDF files will be accepted; (2) papers should have the
following name format for easy 
identification: 'Surname_Initial_1.PDF', where the Surname is that of the
first author; and (3) follow the 
Easy Chair website instructions to login into the system (or create your
account if necessary) and upload 
your paper accordingly.

Each paper will receive a minimum of three reviews.  Papers will be selected
based on their originality, 
relevance, technical clarity and presentation.  Submission implies the
willingness of at least one of the 
authors to register and present the paper, if accepted.  Authors of accepted
papers must guarantee that 
their papers will be registered and presented at the workshop.  

Accepted papers will be published in the Conference proceedings. 
Instructions for final manuscript format 
and requirements will be posted on the CTS 2012 Conference web site.  It is
our intent to have the 
proceedings formally published in hard and soft copies and be available at
the time of the conference.  The 
proceedings is projected to be included in the IEEE Digital Library and
indexed accordingly. 

If you have any questions about paper submission or the workshop, please
contact the workshop 
organizers.  


IMPORTANT DATES
Paper Submissions: ------------------------------------------- January 16,
2012
Acceptance Notification: ------------------------------------- February 06,
2012
Camera Ready Papers and Registration Due: -------------------- March 01,
2012
Conference Dates:  ------------------------------------------- May 21 - 25,
2012


WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS
Wei Chen, Ph.D.,
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
15400 Calhoun Drive, Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20855, USA
Phone :  +1 (301) 294-5278, Email:  wchen at i-a-i.com

Edmund Durfee, Ph.D.,
Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
2260 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor MI 48109-2121, USA 
Phone: +1 (734) 936-1563,  Email: durfee at umich.edu 

Myriam Abramson, Ph.D.,
Naval Research Laboratory, USA
Email: Myriam.Abramson at nrl.navy.mil  

International Program Committee:  
All submitted papers will be reviewed by the workshop technical program
committee members following 
similar criteria used in CTS 2012.  

Giacomo Cabri                Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy
Bradley Clement              NASA JPL, USA
Geoffrey Fox                 Indiana University, USA
Alexander Grushin            Intelligent Automation, Inc., USA
Peng Liu                     Pennsylvania State University, USA
Frank Liu                    Missouri University of Science and Technology,
USA
William Mcquay               AFRL, USA
John Meier                   Boeing, USA
Priya Ranjan                 Human Development Foundation, India
Volkmar Schau                Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Waleed Smari                 University of Dayton, USA
Jose Vidal                   University of South Carolina

(*Additional committee members may be available pending confirmation
shortly.)

For information or questions about Conference's paper submission, tutorials,
posters, workshops, special 
sessions, exhibits, demos, panels and forums organization, doctoral
colloquium, and any other information 
about the conference location, registration, paper formatting, etc., please
consult the Conference's web 
site at URL: http://cts2012.cisedu.info/  or contact one of the Conference's
organizers or Co-Chairs: 
Geoffrey C. Fox at gcf at indiana.edu  and Waleed W. Smari at Smari at arys.org.

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