Skip to main content

Ontology and Time Evolution of Obligations and Prohibitions Using Semantic Web Technology

  • Conference paper
Book cover Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies VII (DALT 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 5948))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The specification and monitoring of conditional obligations and prohibitions with starting points and deadlines is a crucial aspect in the design of open interaction systems. In this paper we regard such obligations and prohibitions as cases of social commitment, and propose to model them in OWL, the logical language recommended by the W3C for Semantic Web applications. In particular we propose an application-independent ontology of the notions of social commitment, temporal proposition, event, agent, role and norms that can be used in the specification of any open interaction system. We then delineate a hybrid solution that uses the OWL ontology, SWRL rules, and a Java program to dynamically monitor or simulate the temporal evolution of social commitments, due to the elapsing of time and to the actions performed by the agents interacting within the system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Artikis, A., Sergot, M., Pitt, J.: Animated Specifications of Computational Societies. In: Castelfranchi, C., Johnson, W.L. (eds.) Proceedings of the 1st International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS 2002), pp. 535–542. ACM Press, New York (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Berges, I., Bermúdez, J., Goñi, A., Illarramendi, A.: Semantic web technology for agent communication protocols. In: Bechhofer, S., Hauswirth, M., Hoffmann, J., Koubarakis, M. (eds.) ESWC 2008. LNCS, vol. 5021, pp. 5–18. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Bradshaw, J., Beautment, P., Breedy, M., Bunch, L., Drakunov, S., Feltovich, P., Hoffman, R., Jeffers, R., Johnson, M., Kulkarni, S., Lott, J., Raj, A., Suri, N., Uszok, A.: Making agents acceptable to people, pp. 355–400. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bräuer, M., Lochmann, H.: An ontology for software models and its practical implications for semantic web reasoning. In: Bechhofer, S., Hauswirth, M., Hoffmann, J., Koubarakis, M. (eds.) ESWC 2008. LNCS, vol. 5021, pp. 34–48. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. da Silva1, V.T.: From the specification to the implementation of norms: an automatic approach to generate rules from norms to govern the behavior of agents. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 17(1), 113–155 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Dastani, M., Grossi, D., Meyer, J.-J., Tinnemeier, N.: Normative multi-agent programs and their logics. In: Boella, G., Noriega, P., Pigozzi, G., Verhagen, H. (eds.) Normative Multi-Agent Systems, Germany. Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings, vol. 09121. Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik, Dagstuhl (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Donini, F.M., Lenzerini, M., Nardi, D., Schaerf, A., Nutt, W.: An epistemic operator for description logics. Artificial Intelligence 200(1-2), 225–274 (1998)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Felicissimo, C., Briot, J.-P., Chopinaud, C., Lucena, C.: How to concretize norms in NMAS? An operational normative approach presented with a case study from the television domain. In: International Workshop on Coordination, Organization, Institutions and Norms in Agent Systems (COIN@AAAI 2008), 23rd AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Chicago, IL, Etats-Unis. AAAI Press, Menlo Park (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Fornara, N., Colombetti, M.: Specifying and enforcing norms in artificial institutions. In: Baldoni, M., Son, T.C., van Riemsdijk, M.B., Winikoff, M. (eds.) DALT 2008. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 5397, pp. 1–17. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Fornara, N., Colombetti, M.: Specifying Artificial Institutions in the Event Calculus. In: Handbook of Research on Multi-Agent Systems: Semantics and Dynamics of Organizational Models of Information science reference, ch. XIV, pp. 335–366. IGI Global (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fornara, N., Viganò, F., Colombetti, M.: Agent communication and artificial institutions. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 14(2), 121–142 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Fornara, N., Viganò, F., Verdicchio, M., Colombetti, M.: Artificial institutions: A model of institutional reality for open multiagent systems. Artificial Intelligence and Law 16(1), 89–105 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. García-Camino, A., Rodríguez-Aguilar, J.A., Sierra, C., Vasconcelos, W.: Constraint rule-based programming of norms for electronic institutions. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 18(1), 186–217 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Governatori, G., Rotolo, A.: How do agents comply with norms? In: Boella, G., Noriega, P., Pigozzi, G., Verhagen, H. (eds.) Normative Multi-Agent Systems, Dagstuhl, Germany. Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings. Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik, Germany (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Lam, J.S.-C., Guerin, F., Vasconcelos, W., Norman, T.J.: Representing and reasoning about norm-governed organisations with semantic web languages. In: Sixth European Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems Bath, UK, December 18-19 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  16. López, F., López, Luck, M., d’Inverno, M.: A Normative Framework for Agent-Based Systems. In: Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Normative Multi-Agent Systems, Hatfield (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Sirin, E., Parsia, B., Grau, B.C., Kalyanpur, A., Katz, Y.: Pellet: A practical owl-dl reasoner. Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web 5(2), 51–53 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Uszok, A., Bradshaw, J.M., Lott, J., Breedy, M., Bunch, L., Feltovich, P., Johnson, M., Jung, H.: New developments in ontology-based policy management: Increasing the practicality and comprehensiveness of kaos. In: IEEE International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks, pp. 145–152 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Yolum, P., Singh, M.: Reasoning about commitment in the event calculus: An approach for specifying and executing protocols. Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence 42, 227–253 (2004)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Fornara, N., Colombetti, M. (2010). Ontology and Time Evolution of Obligations and Prohibitions Using Semantic Web Technology. In: Baldoni, M., Bentahar, J., van Riemsdijk, M.B., Lloyd, J. (eds) Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies VII. DALT 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5948. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11355-0_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11355-0_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11354-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11355-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics