Prometheus Methodology Research Articles

Multi-agent class timetabling for higher educational institutions using prometheus platform

<p>A in a university setting, class scheduling is vital for teaching and learning process. Academic institutions rely on time tables in their day to day activities. University Course Timeframe problem can be resolved by using multi-agent systems-based method which may increase the independence of each department's class scheduling, adaptability in a distributed environment and prevents conflicts between events or resources, and unforeseen allocation through intervention between agents in a dispersed environment. Class timing is performed manually in most of the higher educational institutions, which is a very challenging and time-consuming process. The main objective of the study is to build a multi-agent class timing system that automates the process of class scheduling of higher education institutions (HEIs) using the Prometheus methodology. The implementation of the Prometheus approach in the development of a multi-agent framework has resulted in a complete and comprehensive system covering all phases of software development as applied to the agent systems.</p>

Agent Based System Design for the Human Resources Department

İşletmelerin verimli bir şekilde faaliyetlerini devam ettirebilmeleri iyi bir insan kaynakları yönetimi sayesinde gerçekleşmektedir. İnsan kaynaklarının akıllı sistemler üzerinden yönetilmesi ile işlemler daha hızlı ve bütüncül yürütülmektedir. İnsan kaynakları gibi karmaşık bir sistemin tasarım ve uygulamasında özerk akıllı etmen sistemlerinin kullanımı yaşanan problemleri çözmek açısından önemlidir. Bu bakış açısıyla, bu çalışmada, etmen tabanlı yaklaşımlardan biri olan Prometheus metodolojisi uygulanarak işletmelerdeki insan kaynakları departmanında yapılan işler için bir tasarım gerçekleştirilmiştir. Prometheus metodolojisinin ve geliştirme ortamının sistem içerisinde uyumluluğu detaylandırılmış ve elde edilen tasarım gösterilmiştir.

Multi-Agent System Architecture Oriented Prometheus Methodology Design for Multi-modal Transportation

Multi-Agent System Architecture Oriented Prometheus Methodology Design for Multi-modal Transportation

Modeling Agent-Oriented Methodologies for Landslide Management

One of the most fatal natural disasters in Batu City was a landslide. The percentage of casualties if directly affected by landslides is 47%. This number is quite large when compared to other natural disasters. Even though the potential of the tsunami is the biggest, when compared to the intensity of the occurrence, landslides are the most common and most often cause fatalities. One of the causes of many fatalities in natural disasters is the lack of preparedness management. For that reason the need to develop a technology that can support to reduce fatalities in landslides is needed. One of the technologies used to prevent the number of fatalities caused by natural disasters is to use multi-agent system. One of the advantages of an agent is use Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) models for building the Muiti-Agent Systems (MAS). The specific objective of this study was to model a simulated natural disaster landslide using the Prometheus Methodology. Evaluation is done by generating a model using jackCode and implementing it using the Java Agent Development Framework. The results of this study indicate that a model made using the Prometheus Methodology can be used as a simulation of natural disaster preparedness for landslides.

Developing usability heuristics with PROMETHEUS: A case study in virtual learning environments

Heuristic evaluation is one of the most widely-used methods for evaluating the usability of a software product. Proposed in 1990 by Nielsen and Molich, it consists in having a small group of evaluators performing a systematic revision of a system under a set of guiding principles known as usability heuristics. Although Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics are used as the de facto standard in the process of heuristic evaluation, recent research has provided evidence not only for the need of custom domain specific heuristics, but also for the development of methodological processes to create such sets of heuristics. In this work we apply the PROMETHEUS methodology, recently proposed by the authors, to develop the VLEs heuristics: a novel set of usability heuristics for the domain of virtual learning environments. In addition to the development of these heuristics, our research serves as further empirical validation of PROMETHEUS. To validate our results we performed an heuristic evaluation using both VLEs and Nielsen’s heuristics. Our design explicitly controls the effect of evaluator variability by using a large number of evaluators. Indeed, for both sets of heuristics the evaluation was performed independently by 7 groups of 5 evaluators each. That is, there were 70 evaluators in total, 35 using VLEs and 35 using Nielsen’s heuristics. In addition, we perform rigorous statistical analyses to establish the validity of the novel VLEs heuristics. The results show that VLEs perform better than Nielsen’s heuristics, finding more problems, which are also more relevant to the domain, as well as satisfying other quantitative and qualitative criteria. Finally, in contrast to evaluators using Nielsen’s heuristics, evaluators using VLEs heuristics reported greater satisfaction regarding utility, clarity, ease of use, and need of additional elements.

Collaboration of multi agent systems and web service in temperature data collecting process

Web service is one of the emerging technologies later which one example of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture). Therefore Web Service widely used in cross platform communication applications. In addition, in the retrieval of data on the Web Service generally still using the model of synchronization or request at a certain time. This paper will explain how merging multi agent system will help in data retrieval in Web Service autonomous. The intelligent agent-based software was designed using the Prometheus methodology, and developed through the JADE platform using the Java programming language. Model development focuses on how agents can retrieve data on the Web Service, declare data based on metadata and deliver the results of the data retrieval. The concept applied to the agent in the data retrieval is based on the WSDL (Web Service Definition Language), with the type of data is temperature, humadity that is in many rooms at a certain time. Evaluations were performed on 10, 100 and 200 data obtained from the Web Service and sensors.

A dynamic multi-agent-based scheduling approach for SMEs

In modern manufacturing systems with computational complexities, decision-making with respect to dynamic rescheduling and reconfiguration in case of internal disturbances is an important issue. This paper introduces a multi-agent-based dynamic scheduling system for manufacturing flow lines (MFLs) using the Prometheus methodology (PM) considering the dynamic customer demands and internal disturbances. The PM is used for designing a decision-making system with the feature of simultaneous dynamic rescheduling. The developed system is implemented on a real MFL of a small- and medium-sized enterprise (unplasticized polyvinyl chloride (uPVC) door and window) where the dynamic customer demands and internal machine break downs are considered. The application has been completely modeled using a Prometheus design tool, which offers full support to the PM, and implemented in JACK agent-based systems. Each agent is autonomous and has an ability to cooperate and negotiate with other agents. The proposed decision-making system supports both static and dynamic scheduling. A simulation platform for testing the proposed multi-agent system (MAS) is developed, and two real scenarios are defined for evaluating the proposed system. The analysis takes into account the comparisons of the overall performances of the system models using the MAS scheduling and conventional scheduling approaches. The result of simulation indicates that the proposed MAS could increase the uptime productivity and the production rate of flexible flow-line manufacturing systems.

An Agent-Mediated Platform for Business Processes

Business processes have been widely becoming crucial assets of organisations across various industries and domains. The flexibility in dealing with changes when business processes are executed has significant impact on the success of an organisation's business operations, especially in the current ever-changing business environment. In this context, agent-based systems offer a promisingly powerful platform for business process execution. In this paper, the authors propose an agent-mediated platform for business processes with the aim to contribute to bridge the gap between business process management and agent-oriented development. They present a conceptual mapping method for a seamless transition from business process models in Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) to agent-oriented models in the Prometheus methodology, which is implemented using the ATLAS Transformation Language. The authors also developed an Eclipse-based plug-in which allows the designer to import BPMN models into the Eclipse-based Prometheus Design Tool.

An approach to model based testing of multiagent systems.

Autonomous agents perform on behalf of the user to achieve defined goals or objectives. They are situated in dynamic environment and are able to operate autonomously to achieve their goals. In a multiagent system, agents cooperate with each other to achieve a common goal. Testing of multiagent systems is a challenging task due to the autonomous and proactive behavior of agents. However, testing is required to build confidence into the working of a multiagent system. Prometheus methodology is a commonly used approach to design multiagents systems. Systematic and thorough testing of each interaction is necessary. This paper proposes a novel approach to testing of multiagent systems based on Prometheus design artifacts. In the proposed approach, different interactions between the agent and actors are considered to test the multiagent system. These interactions include percepts and actions along with messages between the agents which can be modeled in a protocol diagram. The protocol diagram is converted into a protocol graph, on which different coverage criteria are applied to generate test paths that cover interactions between the agents. A prototype tool has been developed to generate test paths from protocol graph according to the specified coverage criterion.

Model-driven engineering techniques for the development of multi-agent systems

Model-driven engineering (MDE), implicitly based upon meta-model principles, is gaining more and more attention in software systems due to its inherent benefits. Its use normally improves the quality of the developed systems in terms of productivity, portability, inter-operability and maintenance. Therefore, its exploitation for the development of multi-agent systems (MAS) emerges in a natural way. In this paper, agent-oriented software development (AOSD) and MDE paradigms are fully integrated for the development of MAS. Meta-modeling techniques are explicitly used to speed up several phases of the process. The Prometheus methodology is used for the purpose of validating the proposal. The meta-object facility (MOF) architecture is used as a guideline for developing a MAS editor according to the language provided by Prometheus methodology. Firstly, an Ecore meta-model for Prometheus language is developed. Ecore is a powerful tool for designing model-driven architectures (MDA). Next, facilities provided by the Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF) are used to generate the graphical editor. It offers support to develop agent models conform to the meta-model specified. Afterwards, it is also described how an agent code generator can be developed. In this way, code is automatically generated using as input the model specified with the graphical editor. A case of study validates the method put in practice for the development of a multi-agent surveillance system.

Multi Agent System Architecture Oriented Prometheus Methodology Design to Facilitate Security of Cloud Data Storage

Security plays an important role in the development of Multi Agent Systems (MAS). However, a careful analysis of software development processes shows that the definition of security requirements is, usually, considered after the design of the system. This is, mainly, due to the fact that agent oriented software engineering methodologies have not integrated security concerns throughout their developing stages. Designing a team of agents that can work together toward a common goal is one of the challenges in the research area of agent-oriented software engineering. Prometheus is an agent-oriented software engineering methodology. The Prometheus Design Tool (PDT) is a graphical editor which supports the design tasks specified within the Prometheus methodology for designing agent systems. The tool propagates information where possible and ensures consistency between various parts of the design. The main purpose of this paper is to design MAS architecture that can be used to facilitate confidentiality, correctness assurance, availability and integrity of Cloud Data Storage (CDS) or cloud data center. The proposed MAS architecture includes five types of agents: Cloud Service Provider Agent (CSPA), Cloud Data Confidentiality Agent (CDConA), Cloud Data Correctness Agent (CDCorA), Cloud Data Availability Agent (CDAA) and Cloud Data Integrity Agent (CDIA).

Modeling and implementing an agent-based system for prediction of protein relative solvent accessibility

In this paper, an agent-based system for prediction of relative solvent accessibility (RSA) of proteins is proposed. Since, it is believed that the 3D-structure of most proteins is defined by their sequences, utilizing data mining methods to extract hidden knowledge and information from protein sequences, is unavoidable. Due to the inherent heterogeneity and distribution in data that used to predict RSA and high time costs of central data mining on large training data, the necessity of an agent-based architecture for predicting RSA, seems to be essential. The system is logically and functionally divided into four layers, solving the tasks of “data fusion”, “feature selection”, “model building” and “knowledge discovery and prediction”, respectively. The overall architecture has been called RSAMAS, which is implemented with multi-agent systems for prediction of relative solvent accessibility of proteins. The outcomes of the system design phase under Prometheus methodology and the complete characteristics of the agents are discussed. The prediction activity results from the interaction of a set of agents that hosted on several levels. The experiment results on Manesh dataset point to the validity of the approach. The proposed system can autonomously dig out all the valuable knowledge about which physicochemical features are highly correlated with the solvent accessibility of proteins without human supervision, which is of great importance for biologist and their future researches.

Agent-oriented modeling and development of a person-following mobile robot

This paper introduces a multi-agent system (MAS) approach using the detailed process provided by Prometheus methodology for the design of a moving robot application for the detection and following of humans. Our conjecture is that complex autonomous robotic systems have to be fully modeled in their initial design stages by means of agent-based technology. The application has been completely modeled with the Prometheus Design Tool (PDT), which offers full support to Prometheus methodology. Code has been generated in the agent-oriented programming language JACK.

A BDI agent system for the cow herding domain

We describe the current state of our multi-agent system for agents playing games in grid-like domains. The framework follows the BDI model of agency and is used as the main project for a seminar course on agent-oriented programming and design. When it comes to design, the Prometheus methodology has been used by relying on the Prometheus design tool (PDT) that supports the methodology. In terms of programming language, we have used the JACK agent platform. We believe the domains developed as part of the Multi-Agent Programming Contest are the right type of settings for evaluating our research, in that it provides enough complexity to explore various aspects of multi-agent development while being sufficiently bounded to make the development effort worthwhile.

MASK-SM: Multi-Agent System Based Knowledge Management System to Support Knowledge Sharing of Software Maintenance Knowledge Environment

Knowledge management (KM) has become an important topic as organizations wish to take advantage of the information that they produce and that can be brought to bear on present decisions. This paper described a system to manage the information and knowledge generated during the software maintenance process (SMP). Knowledge Management System (KMS) is utilizing to help employees build a shared vision, since the same codification is used and misunderstanding in staff communications may be avoided. The architecture of the system is formed from a set of agent communities each community of practice (CoP) is in charge of managing a specific type of knowledge. The agents can learn from previous experience and share their knowledge with other agents or communities in a group of multi-agent system (MAS). This paper also described on the theoretical concept and approach of multi-agent technology framework that could be implemented software maintenance process (SMP) in order to facilitate knowledge sharing among the maintainers of the learning organization. as well as to demonstrate it into the system wise, on how the multi-agent technology could be utilized in the software maintenance process (SMP) system model for serving the maintainer that is developed by using groupware such as Lotus Notes software. This architecture will be named as MASK-SM (MAS Architecture to Facilitate Knowledge Sharing of Software Maintenance). The author followed the Prometheus methodology to design the MAS architecture. This paper applied the definition of ISO 9241-11 (1998) that examines effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The emphasis will be given to the software maintenance process (SMP) activities that may concern with multi-agent technology to help the maintainers especially in learning organization to work collaboratively including critical success factor in order to ensure that software maintenance process (SMP) initiatives would be delivered competitive advantage for the community of practice (CoP) as well as users of the organization.

The goal-oriented design of agent systems: a refinement of Prometheus and its evaluation

The initial step of any software engineering methodology is to form requirements. Recently, a goal-oriented approach to requirements has been proposed and argued to be beneficial. Goals also play a key role in the implementation of proactive software agents. However, although some agent-oriented software engineering methodologies have incorporated (aspects of) goal-oriented requirements engineering and although they target agent platforms that provide goals as an implementation construct, none of the methodologies provide a goal-oriented design process. We present three modifications to the Prometheus methodology, which aim to make it more goal-oriented in its design phases: we introduce a goal coupling diagram as an adjunct to the existing data coupling diagram, we modify the temporal design artefacts to include goals and we introduce a number of goal-related consistency checks. Finally, we report on an experimental evaluation comparing the effectiveness of the original and refined methodologies.

Modeling and implementing an agent-based environmental health impact decision support system

This paper presents an approach to the creation of an agent-based system for the assessment of environmental impact upon human health. As indicators of the environmental impact water pollution, indexes of traffic and industrial activity, wastes and solar radiation are assumed. And as human health indicator morbidity is taken. All the data comprise multiple heterogeneous data repositories. The system is logically and functionally divided into three layers, solving the tasks of information fusion, pattern discovery and decision support making, respectively. The outcomes of the system design phase under Prometheus methodology and the complete characteristics of the agents forming the proposal are discussed. The discovered patterns are used as a foundation for real-time decision making, which is of great importance for adequate and effective management by responsible governmental authorities.

Agent-Based Design for E-learning Environment

We presented an agent-based e-learning environment. Our aim was to allow many users to interact collectively and intelligently with the environment. In this cooperation model, human users and artificial agents carry out tasks in the learners’ service. We define the internal structure of our kernel supposed to work within Internet/Intranet settings. Design was structured in three parts: individual learning space, collaborative space, and cooperative space. We advocate the employment of an agent-based approach, a suitable for two main reasons: agents were a natural metaphor of human acts, and the learning systems are generally complex. Prometheus methodology used for the design and emphasis placed on the agent-based features.

Evaluating the Prometheus methodology through a case study on designing an agent-based holonic control system

An agent-based manufacturing system is a new breed of industrial control environment where autonomous software entities, called agents, cooperate to manage the hardware in a factory in a decentralised and intelligent manner. These control systems allow new product families to be introduced on the fly and empower the machinery to late-customise products. This paper analyses the applicability of Prometheus, one of the popular methodologies for designing general-purpose agent-based systems. The paper examines how useful Prometheus is for designing agent-based industrial control systems. An industrial-strength, flexible material-handling environment provides the experimental test-bed for this analysis. The key conclusion is that this methodology is very suitable for developing static interactions between agents, but lacks sufficient power to handle several of the requirements associated with a real-world industrial environment, e.g., openness of new agent types and services, system development using bottom-up design approaches and dynamic reconfiguration of the manufacturing processes.

Adding debugging support to the Prometheus methodology

This paper describes a debugger which uses the design artifacts of the Prometheus agent-oriented software engineering methodology to alert the developer testing the system, that a specification has been violated. Detailed information is provided regarding the error which can help the developer in locating its source. Interaction protocols specified during design, are converted to executable Petri net representations. The system can then be monitored at run time to identify situations which do not conform to specified protocols. A process for monitoring aspects of plan selection is also described. The paper then describes the Prometheus Design Tool, developed to support the Prometheus methodology, and presents a vision of an integrated development environment providing full life cycle support for the development of agent systems. The initial part of the paper provides a detailed summary of the Prometheus methodology and the artifacts on which the debugger is based.