Understanding Agent Systems

By: Mark d'Inverno, Michael Luck

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Paperback | 5 December 2010 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

Paperback
264 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
23.39 x 15.6 x 1.4

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$169.75

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Since the first edition was published two years ago, much has been done on extend- ing the work done on SMART to address new and important areas [3-5,54,79,80, 108-110,116,118-120,122]. In this second edition, we have revised, updated and corrected the existing text and added three new chapters. These chapters provide a broader coverage of the fie1d of agents, and show in more detail how the specific framework described can be used to examine other areas. In Chapter 6, we use the concepts of discovery to apply the framework to autonomous interaction in multi- agent systems; in Chapter 10 we use it for considering normative agents and sys- tems; and in Chapter 11 we describe work on an implementation and development environment. As a course text, the book can be considered in different parts, as follows. - Chapter I and Chapter 2 offer a basic introduction to agents and their core com- ponents. - Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 cover relationships between agents and basic notions of cooperation for multi-agent systems. - Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 introduce sociological agents, which are needed for rea- soning and planning, and their use in reasoning about communication and inter- action. - Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 each cover different application areas relating to different aspects, inc1uding coordination (through the contract net), agent architecture (through AgentSpeak(L), social dependence networks, and normative systems.

Industry Reviews

From the reviews of the second edition:

An excellent book that lays out a clear conceptual framework for studying and analysing agent-based systems.

Nick Jennings

Mark d'Inverno and Michael Luck have, over the last six or seven years, been at the forefront of European research in agent systems. This book poses some important foundational questions about agents and their interactions in multi-agent systems and answers them in a coherent and convincing way. It's an extremely valuable contribution to the field.

Michael Georgeff

It is undoubtedly a clear and most comprehensive attempt to describe agent-based systems in a unified manner.

Simon Parsons

"This book presents a formal approach to dealing with agents and agent systems. ... The methodology presented takes a very significant step towards organising and structuring the diverse and disparate landscape of agent-based systems by applying formal methods to develop a defining andencompassing agent framework. The book will appeal equally to researchers, students, and professionals in industry." (PHINEWS, Vol. 7, 2005)

"The book consists of twelve chapters on two-hundred forty pages and contains a representative list of nearly two hundred references. Each chapter ends with a summary briefly outlining the main ideas. The significant ideas are illustrated by well chosen examples. ... The book is useful for everybody interested in agent-based systems ... . For his/her benefit, he/she gets didactically a perfect book presenting a unified view of a heterogeneous field of agent-based systems." (Tomas Brandejsky, Neural Network World, Vol. 14 (5), 2004)

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