[agents] CFP: 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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