Collaborative Agents Research Articles

Approximating the Value of Collaborative Team Actions for Efficient Multiagent Navigation in Uncertain Graphs

For a team of collaborative agents navigating through an unknown environment, collaborative actions such as sensing the traversability of a route can have a large impact on aggregate team performance. However, planning over the full space of joint team actions is generally computationally intractable. Furthermore, typically only a small number of collaborative actions is useful for a given team task, but it is not obvious how to assess the usefulness of a given action. In this work, we model collaborative team policies on stochastic graphs using macro-actions, where each macro-action for a given agent can consist of a sequence of movements, sensing actions, and actions of waiting to receive information from other agents. To reduce the number of macro-actions considered during planning, we generate optimistic approximations of candidate future team states, then restrict the planning domain to a small policy class which consists of only macro-actions which are likely to lead to high-reward future team states. We optimize team plans over the small policy class, and demonstrate that the approach enables a team to find policies which actively balance between reducing task-relevant environmental uncertainty and efficiently navigating to goals in toy graph and island road network domains, finding better plans than policies that do not act to reduce environmental uncertainty.

Strengths and limitations of the Inclusive Society research model: an autoethnography

Purpose: The Inclusive Society partnership research model aims to promote change in society for people with disabilities by supporting research teams composed of researchers and partner organizations. The objective of this article is to identify the strengths and limitations of this research model. Material and methods: An autoethnography approach was used. Thematic analysis of four methods was undertaken: semi-directed interviews with members of the research teams funded by Inclusive Society (researchers, partners), a focus group with the Inclusive Society’s intersectoral collaboration agents, their logbooks, and Inclusive Society’s annual reports. Results: Strengths and limitations of the Inclusive Society model were identified through their networking activities, the role and support of the intersectoral collaboration agents and the partnership research program. Conclusions: Networking activities are an essential element of Inclusive Society. They are indispensable for composing intersectoral research teams that will work on answering needs of people with disabilities. Intersectoral collaboration agents are also a strength of the model, but their role could be clarified to better frame what tasks are in their scope of practice and what the research teams could ask from them. Finally, the research program eligibility criteria could be improved to support, among others, the projects’ appropriation phases.

Reinforced feature selection using Q-learning based on collaborative agents

Reinforced feature selection using Q-learning based on collaborative agents

Construction Health and Safety Agent Collaboration and Its Influence on Health and Safety Performance in the South African Construction Industry

Fatalities, injuries, and illnesses continue to occur in the construction industry (CI), despite efforts made by clients, designers, and contractors. The lack of collaboration between these project actors and construction health and safety agents (CHSA) remains a challenge for both construction professionals and academics. Given the urgent need for CHSA to collaborate with other construction project members, this study proposes a model for improving CHSA collaboration and its influence on health and safety (H&S) performance. The exploratory sequential mixed method, which included a Delphi study and a questionnaire survey, was adopted. H&S experts were purposively sampled. A three-round Delphi study was conducted to identify the factors, and these factors were categorized into 9 main factors developed from a review of the literature and the input of 15 H&S experts, 14 of whom completed all 3 iterations. Stratified sampling was used to gather quantitative data. A total of 257 questionnaires were returned, of which 213 responses were usable for analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 was conducted and resulted in 6 main factors. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to establish the validity and reliability of constructs, and finally, path analysis in EQS version 6.4 was used to analyze the results of the questionnaire survey and evaluate the goodness of model fit. The findings were that mutuality, trust, institutional support, project context, and common purpose contribute to CHSA collaboration. Additionally, the influence of project context, common purpose, and CHSA collaboration on H&S performance were found to be statistically significant. The study’s implication is that in order to improve H&S performance, clients, designers, and contractors may not limit the participation of CHSA on the project. The implication for the CI is that by promoting CHSA collaboration, the likelihood of CHSA influence could increase and H&S performance could improve on construction projects. The study revealed that collaboration should be considered for improving H&S performance. The study is limited to respondents who met the selection criteria to participate in the Delphi study and questionnaire survey. Any registered persons who did not receive regular communication and announcements would have not participated. Despite the requirements of the South Africa Construction Regulations 2014 that CHSA should be part of the construction project team, more studies should be conducted to investigate the CHSA level of involvement on the project.

Using Agent Features to Influence User Trust, Decision Making and Task Outcome during Human-Agent Collaboration

Optimal performance of collaborative tasks requires consideration of the interactions between intelligent agents and their human counterparts. The functionality and success of these agents lie in their ability to maintain user trust; with too much or too little trust leading to over-reliance and under-utilisation, respectively. This problem highlights the need for an appropriate trust calibration methodology with an ability to vary user trust and decision making in-task. An online experiment was run to investigate whether stimulus difficulty and the implementation of agent features by a collaborative recommender system interact to influence user perception, trust and decision making. Agent features are changes to the Human-Agent interface and interaction style, and include presentation of a disclaimer message, a request for more information from the user and no additional feature. Signal detection theory is utilised to interpret decision making, with this applied to assess decision making on the task, as well as with the collaborative agent. The results demonstrate that decision change occurs more for hard stimuli, with participants choosing to change their initial decision across all features to follow the agent recommendation. Furthermore, agent features can be utilised to mediate user decision making and trust in-task, though the direction and extent of this influence is dependent on the implemented feature and difficulty of the task. The results emphasise the complexity of user trust in Human-Agent collaboration, highlighting the importance of considering task context in the wider perspective of trust calibration.

Perioperative management of surgical orthodontic treatment in a patient with glucose transporter 1 deficiency: report of a case and review of the literature

IntroductionGlucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) deficiency is a rare cerebral metabolic disorder caused by the shortage of glucose supply to the brain. For this disease, ketogenic diet therapy is essential. In addition, perioperative management requires not only the continuation of ketogenic diet therapy but also the management of nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, and infection. However, there have been few reports regarding oral and maxillofacial surgery.Case presentationWe describe a patient with GLUT1 deficiency who underwent orthognathic surgery. An 18-year-old man was referred to our hospital with the chief complaint of mandibular regression. Surgical tolerance was assessed by a fasting test and tooth extraction under general anesthesia, and orthognathic surgery was then performed. For orthognathic surgery, the mandibular dentition had scissor-like occlusion, and it was difficult to arrange the mandible. Therefore, we decided to perform maxillary osteotomy first. After the mandibular dentition was arranged by maxillary osteotomy, sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO) was performed. Intermaxillary fixation (IMF) was necessary for SSRO, and caution was needed to prevent suffocation. The orthognathic surgery was successful, although complications, such as vomiting, diarrhea, and seizures, developed.ConclusionSurgical orthodontic treatment in GLUT1 deficiency can be performed relatively safely by maintaining the diet, taking measures against epilepsy and vomiting, and using antimicrobial agents in close collaboration with pediatricians, anesthesiologists, pharmacists, and nutritionists.

Interaction between students with and without disabilities in an inclusive schools from their teachers perspective.

The success of the inclusion of students with disabilities substantially depends on the collaboration of various social agents, including non-disabled peers, who play a substantial role in the lives of students with disabilities. Peers, as social agent, are responsible for the creation of a favourable social environment, in which one of the key factors is a positive acceptance. This research examined the reality of interactions between non-disabled students and their acceptance to peers with disabilities. A qualitative research approach was employed using interviews with Nine special education teachers. An overall positive attitudes were reported with non-disabled peers being reported as positive and welcoming to including students with disabilities in the same schools and classrooms. The teachers’ responses also indicated that interactions between both student groups are generally positive and teachers believed that this has helped in facilitating the inclusion of students with disabilities.

I do the best i can: The role of immigrant parents in their children’s educational inclusion

The research highlights the importance of immigrant parents assuming a leading and mediating role in the processes of school adjustment and their children’s educational inclusion. However, the difficulties that parents have to face as a consequence of the migration process are not always taken into account. These families have to face their own acculturation processes and reorganize their roles in the host society. This study analyses the functions that immigrant parents carry out in the new school context in order to favor the educational inclusion of their children. The analysis is approached from the parents’ perspective, in order to understand the way in which families live and try to favor their children’s access, participation and success at school. Ethnographic research and the use of qualitative techniques such as in-depth interviews are used. The perceptions of three immigrant fathers and seven immigrant mothers with different backgrounds and nationalities in a public school in Huelva (Andalusia, Spain) are analyzed. The results point to the great fragility and difficulty experienced by these parents in exercising their parental functions in the new context. Women, especially those from Poland, Lithuania, and Romania, compared to their husbands or partners, seem to suffer greater stress due to their dual role as guarantors of the culture of origin and facilitators of the host culture. In order to favor the educational inclusion of their children, parents prioritize – primarily – access to resources, but also the monitoring of their children’s homework and emotional support. However, a relationship model based on cultural assimilation prevails. Among the factors that condition the behavior of parents are their economic vulnerability, lack of knowledge of the language, limited social support, cultural differences and prejudices. The importance of the school supporting parents, and especially mothers, in their acculturation processes and their relationship with the school is underlined. In this endeavor, it is essential to count on the collaboration of different agents, such as intercultural counselors or other parents in the school.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiatives and Studies by the Hospital Pharmacist: Study of Linezolid-associated Thrombocytopenia

Infectious disease chemotherapy pharmacists should evaluate the appropriate usage of antimicrobial agents within the hospital, support in-patient pharmacists in treating infections, and appropriately use antimicrobial agents throughout the infection treatment course. Hospital pharmacists are required to strive to prevent adverse events and support the appropriateness of antimicrobial use to cure infectious diseases. Our hospital's antimicrobial stewardship team provides support and information on the proper use of antimicrobial agents in collaboration with in-patient pharmacists. Among other things, thrombocytopenia in linezolid therapy can often be an obstacle to treatment. We conducted clinical and basic research on thrombocytopenia, the major adverse event associated with linezolid. We first conducted a retrospective study investigating renal dysfunction and thrombocytopenia associated with vancomycin and linezolid treatments. Renal dysfunction occurred more frequently in patients receiving vancomycin than those receiving linezolid (p=0.032). In contrast, thrombocytopenia occurred more frequently in patients treated with linezolid than those treated with vancomycin (p<0.001). A significantly higher rate of thrombocytopenia was observed in patients with linezolid treatment durations >7.5 days. Secondly, we examined whether the linezolid cytotoxicity to eukaryotic cells was associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis-like cell death in U937 human leukemic monocyte lymphoma cells. Apoptosis-like cell death was clearly observed in cells incubated with linezolid in concentration- and duration-dependent manners. Linezolid cytotoxicity was relieved by superoxide dismutase-1 knockdown in U937 cells. These results suggest that mitochondrial damage could be linked to the induction of apoptosis in linezolid-treated U937 cells.

Brain computer interface to distinguish between self and other related errors in human agent collaboration

When a human and machine collaborate on a shared task, ambiguous events might occur that could be perceived as an error by the human partner. In such events, spontaneous error-related potentials (ErrPs) are evoked in the human brain. Knowing whom the human perceived as responsible for the error would help a machine in co-adaptation and shared control paradigms to better adapt to human preferences. Therefore, we ask whether self- and agent-related errors evoke different ErrPs. Eleven subjects participated in an electroencephalography human-agent collaboration experiment with a collaborative trajectory-following task on two collaboration levels, where movement errors occurred as trajectory deviations. Independently of the collaboration level, we observed a higher amplitude of the responses on the midline central Cz electrode for self-related errors compared to observed errors made by the agent. On average, Support Vector Machines classified self- and agent-related errors with 72.64% accuracy using subject-specific features. These results demonstrate that ErrPs can tell if a person relates an error to themselves or an external autonomous agent during collaboration. Thus, the collaborative machine will receive more informed feedback for the error attribution that allows appropriate error identification, a possibility for correction, and avoidance in future actions.

Teaching agents to understand teamwork: Evaluating and predicting collective intelligence as a latent variable via Hidden Markov Models

Rapid growth in the reliance on teamwork in organizations, coupled with advances in artificial intelligence, has fueled increased use of Human Autonomy Teams (HATs) involving the collaboration of humans and agents to complete work. Although there are many successful examples of HATs, researchers and technology developers can see additional applications if agents were better able to understand the mental states of humans to anticipate what a team is likely to do next. Creating this capability requires the creation of models of team interaction that enable agents to interpret a team’s current state and anticipate its future state. To build this model, we draw on research on collective intelligence (CI), which shows a team’s capability to work together can be characterized by a latent collective intelligence factor, based on observations of work across a range of tasks, and which predicts a team’s ability to accomplish a wide range of goals in the future. While some work uses a specific battery of CI tasks, more recent studies have identified observable collaborative process metrics that can be captured passively. Building on this work, we propose a method of evaluating CI by representing it as a latent variable represented by the hidden state in a Hidden Markov Model. The observations used as input to the model are the team’s observable collaborative process behaviors (i.e., collective effort, use of task-related skills, and task-strategy efficiency). We show by learning the set of hidden states representing a team’s observed collaborative process behaviors over time, we both learn information about the team’s CI, predict how CI will evolve in the future, and suggest when an agent might intervene to improve team performance. Based on the model’s observations, we discuss how it can help agents diagnose teamwork and possibly make interventions to improve CI by identifying areas of collaborative process (collective effort, skill use, or task strategy) that could be improved.

Electrophysiological Features to Aid in the Construction of Predictive Models of Human-Agent Collaboration in Smart Environments.

Achieving successful human–agent collaboration in the context of smart environments requires the modeling of human behavior for predicting people’s decisions. The goal of the current study was to utilize the TBR and the Alpha band as electrophysiological features that will discriminate between different tasks, each associated with a different depth of reasoning. To that end, we monitored the modulations of the TBR and Alpha, while participants were engaged in performing two cognitive tasks: picking and coordination. In the picking condition (low depth of processing), participants were requested to freely choose a single word out of a string of four words. In the coordination condition (high depth of processing), participants were asked to try and select the same word as an unknown partner that was assigned to them. We performed two types of analyses, one that considers the time factor (i.e., observing dynamic changes across trials) and the other that does not. When the temporal factor was not considered, only Beta was sensitive to the difference between picking and coordination. However, when the temporal factor was included, a transition occurred between cognitive effort and fatigue in the middle stage of the experiment. These results highlight the importance of monitoring the electrophysiological indices, as different factors such as fatigue might affect the instantaneous relative weight of intuitive and deliberate modes of reasoning. Thus, monitoring the response of the human–agent across time in human–agent interactions might turn out to be crucial for smooth coordination in the context of human–computer interaction.

Secure rendezvous and static containment in multi-agent systems with adversarial intruders

In this paper we propose a novel distributed local interaction protocol for networks of multi-agent systems (MASs) in a multi-dimensional space under directed time-varying graph with the objective to achieve secure rendezvous or static containment within the convex hull of a set of leader agents. We consider the scenario where a set of anonymous adversarial agents may intrude the network (or may be hijacked by a cyber-attack) and show that the proposed strategy guarantees the achievement of the global objective despite the continued influence of the adversaries which cannot be detected nor identified by the collaborative agents. We characterize the convergence properties of the proposed protocol in terms of the characteristics of the underlying network topology of the multi-agent system. Numerical simulations and examples corroborate the theoretical results.

A Community Marine Tourism as a Business Sector: Challenges Faced by Local Community

Marine tourism is one of several economic drivers which contribute to local community livelihood and regional income. Many potential coastal areas are gradually developing and transformed by its’ local communities into local-scale tourisms which accommodate local or domestic or surrounding tourists’ recreational needs. However, to be sustainable, there are many issues need to be addressed. The study intends to explore Dalegan community perceived tourism issue in developing their WPP destination or white sand tourism. The study adopts qualitative method in gathering and analyzing the data. The data are gathered through Dalegan community dialog or interactive session during Dalegan community service program. The collected data are interpreted by implementing thematic analysis. The study reveals that there are three main issues faced by Dalegan local communities: financial, creativity and lack of legal procedures. The collaboration of financial service agents, educational institutions, (local) government bodies and local community inclusion is needed. The study demonstrates that to build Dalegan marine tourism, local/community leadership, local human quality improvement, local resources identification and local culture need to be used as the development grounds. The study also shows that the local community is still not aware of the environmental issues and diversification of recreational activities. Thus, local community still needs advocacy to understand the relationship between tourism and environment. The study also finds that local women are valuable human resource for marine tourism business. They are potential women entrepreneurs who develop small business around WPP marine tourism.

Eclectic Collaborations in Anna Tsing’s Friction and the Victorian Ecologies Classroom

This essay takes up Anna Tsing's idea of eclectic collaboration as a corrective to Western naturalist practices which divorce knowledge from its developmental contexts. Pedagogical practices informed by collaboration open the door to voices traditionally excluded from or underrepresented in both Victorian studies and the environmental humanities, allow students to see themselves as necessary to the collaborative process of knowledge formation, and recognize each collaborative agent's positionality and its influence on their perspective. In this essay, I explain what Tsing's idea of eclectic collaboration can offer for studies of the nineteenth century, and provide three examples of collaborative practices within the Victorian Ecologies classroom.

Role of Quadruple Helix in Fostering Social Innovation through Women’s Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Sri Lanka

In the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster in 2004 and the current COVID-19 pandemic, developing nations have faced high economic disparities. Sri Lanka, an island nation in South Asia, has faced the same economic hardships that many economies face globally. The hardest-hit segment of this economic incongruence has been the marginal communities. Post-Tsunami disaster development scenarios have revealed female entrepreneurs of marginal communities as social innovators. The said women entrepreneurs have managed to develop village economies and empower local society. However, as the international aid reduced over time, lack of empowerment, economic hardships, and domestic abuse, female entrepreneurship has decreased throughout the nation. Currently, prominent support to empower women's entrepreneurship has been via non-governmental organisations, which have induced limited collaborations between government agencies, industries, and universities. Yet, there is a lack of transparency and lack of partnership within these actors. Throughout the study, I portray that by creating a knowledge economy via strengthening the quadruple helix, it is possible to increase female entrepreneurship skills, thus leading social innovations in marginal communities. Moreover, based on the findings of this research, I propose practical policy implementations by the creation of regional incubators which are accessible to marginal communities. I bring forward that regional incubators will act as a collaborative agent between government agencies, various industries, regional universities, and civil society. Furthermore, they will function as knowledge transfer offices. An innovative hub of this nature will undertake as a beacon of female entrepreneurship and forefront of social innovation.&#x0D; Keywords: Social Innovation, Female Entrepreneurship, Quadruple Helix, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Regional Incubators, Knowledge-Driven Entrepreneurship

Mean-field Markov decision processes with common noise and open-loop controls

We develop an exhaustive study of Markov decision process (MDP) under mean field interaction both on states and actions in the presence of common noise, and when optimization is performed over open-loop controls on infinite horizon. Such model, called CMKV-MDP for conditional McKean–Vlasov MDP, arises and is obtained here rigorously with a rate of convergence as the asymptotic problem of N-cooperative agents controlled by a social planner/influencer that observes the environment noises but not necessarily the individual states of the agents. We highlight the crucial role of relaxed controls and randomization hypothesis for this class of models with respect to classical MDP theory. We prove the correspondence between CMKV-MDP and a general lifted MDP on the space of probability measures, and establish the dynamic programming Bellman fixed point equation satisfied by the value function, as well as the existence of ϵ-optimal randomized feedback controls. The arguments of proof involve an original measurable optimal coupling for the Wasserstein distance. This provides a procedure for learning strategies in a large population of interacting collaborative agents.

Perspective: Narrative Storyliving in Virtual Reality Design

The development and relative affordability of Virtual Reality in recent years have provided opportunities to experience representations of both concrete and abstract situations; from nuclear engineering to particle physics, art galleries to three-dimensional prehistoric paintings, person-to-person communication to artificial agent collaboration, and 360-degree journalism to animated movies. Yet, it still remains challenging for participants to create personal narratives within a virtual world beyond that structured by its original designers. Setting aside technological considerations, we attribute this limitation largely to a restricted conceptualization of time and space that is fixed to present events, emotions and experiences. Consequently, Virtual Reality scenarios, as immersive and plausible as they might be, are nonetheless prone to a thin and static view of the (virtual) world where growth and experiential learning are not always possible or privileged. In this Perspective we propose a recasting of Virtual Reality that combines novelistic storytelling in the physical world with “narrative storyliving” as a mechanism for meaning-making within and across large dialogic arenas. This involves us drawing on ideas from the Russian philosopher and theorist, Mikhail Bakhtin, relating to the literary artistic chronotope. Ultimately, we intend to advance the discourse about what Virtual Reality is at present, and where it could go as seen through a critical literary lens.

Analysis of the Determinants of Performance in the Management of Human Resources at the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS: Case of Bujumbura Health Province

The purpose of our work is to show how Bujumbura health province leaders contribute to the performance of Human Resources. Our research focused on the analysis of the determinants of performance in the management of human resources at the Ministry of Public Health and the fight against AIDS, case Bujumbura health province (2015-2020). Under the supervision of our research director, we developed and completed the survey questionnaire which included the demographic informations of the participants such as gender, age, education level , professional category and experience. We used the qualitative method, which aims to understand and analyze the responses of respondents and to better distinguish and collect information. We had recourse to the review of documentation, organization of a survey, choice of respondents, examination of questionnaires, analysis and synthesis of informations. The results showed us that in 16 executives surveyed, 14 responded satisfied and 36 collaboration agents surveyed, 32 responded satisfied while 28 enforcement officers surveyed, 18 responded satisfied with their performance management policy: 80% of the respondents answered that a lack of motivation of human resources causes a dysfunction of the system which causes a blockage in the value system, that leads to an unforeseen change and constraints, source of problems for the company. The human resources performance management policy applied in the Bujumbura health province to its staff meets their expectations, but requires some improvements from which we suggest that managers consider that the produced document is official and can be put into practice, available to applicants likely to provide added value.

The Hot Peace in Indo-Pacific: Contesting Quadrilateral Security Dialogue Against Chinese Geopolitics in the Indian Ocean Region

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a strategy to contain China which has now reached the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) as part of the Chinese geostrategy in the Indo-Pacific to counterbalance US and western hegemony. The dynamics brought by the minilateral realm and bilateral conflicts within the Indo-Pacific have contributed to the shaping of the region's security architecture. This article discusses the contentions between India - China competition; ASEAN, Quad, and the implications to IOR; and how the Quad Plus notion is affecting further geopolitical deliberation in the Indo-Pacific. The article concludes that the Quad is an important platform for years ahead and the rising notion of the Quad Plus will remain as the future challenge for both sides. This may redefine the Indo-Pacific concept itself, however, it is assured that ASEAN will play as a collaborative agent to China and the Quad, while also prioritise their interests over the region.