Multiagent and Grid Systems - Volume 13, issue 3

Authors: Azoulay, Rina | David, Esther

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: In this paper we concentrate on ad exchange mechanisms that take into consideration the publishers’ preferences concerning the attributes of ads published in their ad space, in addition to their desire to earn money from the ads. We suggest allocation (ad placement) and pricing protocols which take into account preferences of both the publishers and the advertisers. The most promising protocol, the Weighted Bipartite Hungarian VCG protocol, collects the preferences of the auction’s participants and uses the Hungarian algorithm to maximize a weighted function of their preferences. Simulations show that this advantageous protocol can maintain a balanced budget over …time while preserving most of the desired economic properties (e.g., individual rational, and truth telling), and reaches near optimal solutions. Show more

Keywords: Agent-based marketplaces, auction markets, ad exchanges

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-170268

Citation: Multiagent and Grid Systems, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 203-236, 2017

Authors: Fakhi, Hicham | Bouattane, Omar | Youssfi, Mohamed | Ouajji, Hassan

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The use of GPU computing is today an active research field due to the enormous parallel processing power of GPU. For more calculation efficiency, we integrate the GPU computing into an agent-based distributed computing, the result being a multi-agent model for distributed GPGPU computing. The computation distribution is based on a multi-agent system designed in accordance with the standards of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). The interactions between the agents are based on Agent Communication Language (ACL). These agents are deployed into a multitude of interconnected computing nodes where each node is accelerated by a GPU chip. This …multi agent system is implemented with the Java Agent DEvelopment Framework (JADE). Additionally, we provide a Java programming library to allow programmers to easily use this system to optimize their algorithms. An illustrative example with a K-means algorithm is given to show how cumbersome algorithms can be accelerated by this model. Show more

Keywords: Multi agent system, GPGPU computing, distributed computing, high performance computing, java

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-170269

Citation: Multiagent and Grid Systems, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 237-252, 2017

Authors: Meroufel, Bakhta | Belalem, Ghalem

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Cloud computing has recently gained popularity as a resource platform for on-demand, high availability and high scalability access to resources, while offering dynamic flexible infrastructures and QoS (Quality of Services) guaranteed services. In this environment, reliability is very important to ensure the effectiveness of the system and meet the desired SLA (System Level Agreement). Our work proposed in this paper uses the checkpointing of tasks to ensure the reliability and the replication of checkpointing files to ensure the accessibility. To ensure the reliability of services, we used a fault tolerance strategy based on adaptive checkpointing of two levels. This strategy …takes into account the complexity and characteristics of cloud computing and it minimizes the overhead. To ensure the accessibility and the availability of checkpointing storage, we used a dynamic passive replication based on an availability degree specified by SLA criteria to decide the placement and the number of replicas. Show more

Keywords: Checkpointing, cloud, reliability, fault tolerance, availability, replication, coordination, consistency, storage

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-170270

Citation: Multiagent and Grid Systems, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 253-268, 2017

Authors: Zhou, Dongdai | Chen, Xue | Jin, Qiuzhi | Kuang, Zhejun | Yang, Hongji

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: To tackle the problems such as the imperfection and inconsistency in software requirements in traditional Computation Independent Model (CIM) modelling, the low degree of automation as well as the imperfection in the description of Platform Independent Model (PIM) in CIM-to-PIM transforming, in this article, we propose a Business-Process-based CIM modelling method and a CIM-to-PIM transformation approach. Business Process Model is used to express CIM, and UML’s Sequence Diagram, State Chart Diagram as well as Class Diagram are used to express PIM. Firstly, the users’ requirements are obtained through business process models. We extract use cases from business processes and create …use case specifications. A verification mechanism is also added for the use case specification. Secondly, we transform CIMs into PIMs automatically with use case specifications as the inputs as well as combining with use case based thinking, responsibility based thinking and affinity analysis. Finally, by comparing with the methods in other studies, we conclude that methods proposed in this article can ensure model integrity and increase the degree of model transformation automation. Show more

Keywords: MDA, CIM modelling, business process, CIM-to-PIM transformation, affinity analysis

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-170271

Citation: Multiagent and Grid Systems, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 269-286, 2017

Authors: Aref, Abdullah | Tran, Thomas

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The Internet of Agents (IoA) is an emerging field of research that aims to combine the advantages of multi-agent systems and Internet of Things (IoT), by adding autonomy and smartness to, traditionally, dummy things used in IoT. Multi-agent systems can be used to model distributed systems of smart grids, such as smart grid operations, power system control, electricity market, and monitoring and diagnostic. Trust management can be considered a key component for successful interactions between autonomous agents in IoA, especially when agents cannot assure that potential interactions’ partners share the same core beliefs, or make accurate statements regarding their competencies …and abilities. When interactions are based on trust, trust establishment mechanisms can be used to direct trustees, instead of trustors, to build a higher level of trust and have a greater impact on the results of interactions. This paper presents a trust establishment model that uses a multi-criteria (multidimensional) approach to help trustees in IoA environment to adjust their behaviors to improve their perceived trustworthiness, to attract more interactions with trustors. It calculates the necessary improvement per criterion when only a single aggregated satisfaction value is provided per interaction, where the model attempts to predicted both the appropriate value per criteria and its importance. The proposed model is evaluated through simulation, and results indicate that trustees empowered with the proposed model have higher levels of trust and better chances to be selected as interaction partners when such selection is based on trust. Show more

Keywords: Trust management, trust establishment, multiagent systems, Internet of Agents

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-170272

Citation: Multiagent and Grid Systems, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 287-309, 2017

Authors: Wang, Yang | Zhong, Yong | Ma, Qingshan | Yang, Guanci

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Data distribution summary has been commonly used in databases to support query optimization, and histograms are of particular interest. A significant issue in histogram estimation is the large amount of data transmission. This paper presents a distributed and parallel construction method for equi-width histogram in cloud database (called DPHCD). Unlike previous methods, the DPHCD does not require the transfer of any table detail during histogram construction. Only small information about buckets and a few necessary data need to be transmitted over the network. The data transmission of DPHCD is unrelated with table size. DPHCD divides the histogram task into small …tasks that could be simultaneously executed in a distributed cluster. It uses an innovative tablet-level sampling method to reduce the computing overhead in each cluster node. DPHCD is implemented in the Xugu cloud database management system. Experimental results demonstrate that DPHCD can achieve small data transmission and speed up histogram construction. Show more

Keywords: Cloud database, equi-width histogram, distributed and parallel computing, data transmission

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-170273

Citation: Multiagent and Grid Systems, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 311-329, 2017