The 14th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems (PRIMA-2011)
Wollongong, Australia
November 16th -18th, 2011
www.prima2011.org

Conference Theme: Agents for Sustainability

Agent computing is an exciting, transformational approach to developing computer systems that can rapidly and reliably solve real-world problems that usually demand human knowledge and expertise. The value, power and flexibility of agent and multi-agent systems has been demonstrated in application areas such as logistics, manufacturing, simulation, robotics, decision-support, entertainment, and especially in online market environments. As one of the largest and fastest growing research fields of computer science, agent research today includes a wealth of topics, as outlined below. PRIMA-2011 invites submissions of original, unpublished, theoretical or applied work on any such topic, and encourages reports on the development of prototype and deployed agent systems, and of experiments that demonstrate novel agent system capabilities.


About PRIMA. PRIMA is one of the oldest agent computing forums, beginning in 1998 as a regional agents workshop. PRIMA has grown into an international scientific conference on agents and multi-agent systems which attracts high quality, cutting edge research from all over the world. Throughout its history PRIMA has focused on showcasing the impact of agents on the real world, across the spectrum from early research and prototypes to mature, deployed systems. PRIMA aims to bring together researchers, developers, and industry leaders who are active at the forefront of agent computing, its practices and related areas. The 2011 conference builds upon the success of its thirteen predecessors, and offers an exceptional opportunity for the presentation of original research work, technological advances, and analyses of practical issues, problems and challenges in agent computing.


Theme. The conference theme for PRIMA-2011 of “Agents for Sustainability” seeks to especially encourage thought leadership in the agent community as to how agent computing can be applied to enhance sustainable practices in our world, from agriculture to personal resource usage to the design and operation of more sustainable cities. Papers addressing this theme, across the range from innovative early work to reports on systems in production, are welcomed, as also are papers that continue to explore the “Agents and Services” theme of PRIMA-2010, which addressed connections to service science and service-oriented computing.


Submission. PRIMA-2011 proceedings will be published by Springer as a volume in the LNAI series. Papers should be 12-15 pages in length in Springer LNCS format and submitted as a PDF file. PRIMA-2011’s reviewing process, overseen by a Senior Programme Committee (SPC), will allow authors to respond to reviewers’ comments prior to final paper selection, and will also provide a "shepherding" process for borderline papers that will see a PC or SPC member work with the authors to provide additional support during the paper revision process. Papers will be judged on originality, significance, presentation, and technical soundness. A broad range of agent topics are of interest, but all papers should clearly identify how their scientific or technical contributions advance the state-of-the-art of agent computing practice or have a strong potential so to do. A footnote should identify those papers whose first author is a student.

Topics

Agent-based system development
Agent programming and communication languages
Agent development environments
Agent-oriented software engineering
Case studies on implemented systems

Agent communication
Agent communication languages and protocols
Agent commitments
Network structures and analysis

Agent-based Simulation
Emergent behaviour
Simulation-specific issues
Single and Multi-agent Learning
Computational architectures for learning and adaptation

Agent Reasoning
Logics for Agents and Multi-Agents
Reasoning (single and multi-agent)
Planning (single and multi-agent)
Cognitive models
Ontological reasoning

Interface Agents
Practices of Interface Agents
Interface Multi-Agents
Virtual Agents
Collaborative Interface Agents
Autonomous Interface Agents

Agent societies and social networks
Artificial social systems
Trust and reputation
Social and organizational structure
Privacy, safety and security
Normative Multi-Agent Systems
Ethical and legal issues

Agent Theories, Models and Architectures
BDI, and other models of agency
Modelling the dynamics of MAS
Formal verification of MAS
Agent Technologies for Service Computing
Service composition with agent collaboration
Service brokering and agency
Personalized services with agent adaptation
SLA definition and monitoring as agent goals

Agent Cooperation and Negotiation
Cooperation, Coalition formation and Coordination
Distributed problem solving
Formal models for modelling other agents and self
Argumentation, Persuasion, Negotiation and Bargaining

Agent Systems
Software agents
Mobile agents
Agent-Based Assistants
Agent-Based Virtual Enterprise
Embodied Agents and their Applications
Socially Situated Planning Software and Pervasive Agents

Real-world Robotics
Coordination in multi-robot systems
Modelling and analysis of multi-robot systems
Tools that are relevant for multi-robot studies
Applications of multi-robots to real-world problems

WWW and Semantic Web Agents
Web-based agents
Ontology agents
Semantic Web agents
Human Agent Interaction

Other Related Areas
Collective intelligence
Service science
P2P, Grid computing
Financial markets and algorithmic trades
Ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence
Knowledge and Data Intensive Systems
Perceptive Animated Interfaces
Tools and Standards
Ubiquitous Software Services
Virtual Humans