The Semantic Logger 1 (SL) is presented as a system for the importing, housing, and exploiting of personal information. The system has been implemented using a number of Semantic Web enabling technologies, and attempts to store the information in a manner adhering to as many W3C recommendations as possible. The Semantic Logger’s utility is grounded in two context-based applications, namely a recommender system, and a photo-annotation tool. Categories and Subject Descriptors

This paper describes a protocol language which can provide agents with a flexible mechanism for coherent dialogues. The protocol language does not rely on centralised control or bias toward a particular model of agent communication. Agents can adapt the protocol and distribute it to dialogical partners during interactions. 1

Abstract. The information that is made available through the semantic web will be accessed through complex programs (web-services, sensors, etc.)thatmayinteract in sophisticated ways. Composition guided simply by the specifications of programs ’ inputs and outputs is insufficient to obtain reliable aggregate performance- hence the recognised need for process models to specify the interactions required between programs. These interaction models, however, are traditionally viewed as a consequence of service composition rather than as the focal point for facilitating composition. We describe an operational system that uses models of interaction as the focus for knowledge exchange. Our implementation adopts a peer to peer architecture, thus making minimal assumptions about centralisation of knowledge sources, discovery and interaction control. 1

Abstract — Web services are pieces of software that can be invoked via a standardized protocol. They can be combined via formalized taskflow languages. The OpenKnowledge system is a fully distributed system using P2P technology, that allows users to publish these taskflows, and programmers to register their web services or publish implementations of them, for the roles described in these workflows. Besides this, the system offers the functionality to select a peer that could coordinate such an interaction model and inform web services when it is their ’turn’. In this paper we describe the architecture and implementation of the OpenKnowledge Kernel which provides the core functionality of the OpenKnowledge system. Keywords — Architecture,P2P,Web Services,Semantic Web I.

Agents in peer-to-peer networks may gather into virtual communities, interacting continuously with agents that represent disparate actors, each of them with different interests, needs and views, and having dissimilar ontologies. Mapping all the combination of ontologies in advance is not feasible simply because all the possible combinations cannot be foreseen. Mapping complete ontologies at run time is a computationally expensive task. The framework proposed in this paper maps only the terms encountered in a dialogue, or those needed to map them. The efficiency in the mapping process is increased by accumulating experience and exploiting it in order to reduce the number of mapping candidates to verify, focusing only on the most likely ones. 1

Abstract. The field of multi-agent systems shifts attention from one particular agent to a society of agents; hence the interactions between agents in the society become critical towards the achievement of their goals. We assume that the interactions are managed via an agent protocol which enables agents to coordinate their actions in order to handle the dependencies that exist between their activities. An agent’s failure to comply with the constraints attached within the protocol might cause a brittle protocol to fail. To address this problem, a constraint relaxation approach is applied using a distributed protocol language called the Lightweight Coordination Calculus (LCC). This paper describes the design and implementation of a constraint relaxation module to be integrated within the LCC framework. The working of this module is later illustrated using a scenario involving the ordering and configuration of a computer between the customer and vendor agents. 1

We propose a framework, based on Linear Logic, for finding and executing plans that include dialogue with the aim of simplifying agent design. In particular, we provide a model that allows agents to be robust to unexpected events and failures, and supports significant reuse of agent specifications. Using Linear Logic as the foundational machinery improves upon previous dialogue systems by providing a clear underlying logical model for both planning and execution. The resulting framework has been implemented and several case studies have been considered. Further applications include human-computer interfaces as well as agent interaction in the semantic web.

Abstract. Matching has been recognized as a plausible solution for the semantic heterogeneity problem in many traditional applications, such as schema integration, ontology integration, data warehouses, data integration, and so on. Recently, there have emerged a line of new applications characterized by their dynamics, such as peer-to-peer systems, agents, web-services. In this deliverable we extend the notion of ontology matching, as it has been understood in traditional applications, to dynamic ontology matching. In particular, we examine real-world scenarios and collect the requirements they pose towards a plausible solution. We consider five general matching directions which we believe can appropriately address those requirements. These are: (i) approximate and partial ontology matching, (ii) interactive ontology matching, (iii) continuous ”design-time ” ontology matching, (iv) community-driven ontology matching and

We present an investigation into the design of an evolutionary mechanism for multiagent protocol constraint optimisation. Starting with a review of common population based mechanisms we discuss the properties of the mechanisms used by these search methods. We derive a novel algorithm for optimisation of vectors of real numbers and empirically validate the efficacy of the design by comparing against well known results from the literature. We discuss the application of an optimiser to a novel problem and remark upon the relevance of the no free lunch theorem. We show the relative performance of the optimiser is strong and publish details of a new best result for the Keane optimisation problem. We apply the final algorithm to the multi-agent protocol optimisation problem and show the design process was successful. iii Declaration I declare that this thesis was composed by myself, that the work contained herein is my own except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text, and that this work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified. iv (Mark Collins) For:

In this paper, we will focus on the semantic heterogeneity problem as one of the main challenges in current Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). We first report the state of the art of the current approaches and proposed solutions to overcome these semantic heterogeneity problem focusing both on geo-services integration and geo-data integration. We then propose a general framework to integrate different application ontologies used by geographic information providers. The proposed framework is based on a novel view of the semantics of Web services coordination, implemented by using the Lightweight Coordination Calculus (LCC) language. In this approach, the services share explicit knowledge of the interactions in which they are engaged and these models of interaction are used operationally as the anchor for describing the semantics of the interaction. To discover and integrate geo-services and related geo-metadata, semantic matching need to be performed. The proposed framework explore the applicability of the methodology and the solution proposed by the S-Match system, a semantic matching system built at the University of Trento on top of a number of approaches both at the element level and at the structural level matching.