OWL-POLAR: A framework for semantic policy representation and reasoning
OWL-POLAR: A framework for semantic policy representation and reasoning
In a distributed system, the actions of one component may lead to severe failures in the system as a whole. To govern such systems, constraints are placed on the behaviour of components to avoid such undesirable actions. Policies or norms are declarations of soft constraints regulating what is prohibited, permitted or obliged within a distributed system. These constraints provide systems-level means to mitigate against failures. A few machine-processable representations for policies have been proposed, but they tend to be either limited in the types of policies that can be expressed or are limited by the complexity of associated reasoning mechanisms. In this paper, we present a language that sufficiently expresses the types of policies essential in practical systems, and which enables both policy-governed decision-making and policy analysis within the bounds of decidability. We then propose an OWL-based representation of policies that meets these criteria and reasoning mechanisms that use a novel combination of ontology consistency checking and query answering. The proposed policy representation and reasoning mechanisms allow development of distributed agent-based systems that operate flexibly and effectively in policy-constrained environments.
Conflict resolution, Multi-agent systems, Norms, Policies, Semantic Web
148-160
Sensoy, Murat
769b0b6a-705b-456a-ab3d-123bca9cc66a
Norman, Timothy J.
663e522f-807c-4569-9201-dc141c8eb50d
Vasconcelos, Wamberto W.
2fcccb8a-f25f-41f5-9697-d1e4a74bdb93
Sycara, Katia
df200c43-d34d-4093-bb4e-493fea2d0732
April 2012
Sensoy, Murat
769b0b6a-705b-456a-ab3d-123bca9cc66a
Norman, Timothy J.
663e522f-807c-4569-9201-dc141c8eb50d
Vasconcelos, Wamberto W.
2fcccb8a-f25f-41f5-9697-d1e4a74bdb93
Sycara, Katia
df200c43-d34d-4093-bb4e-493fea2d0732
Sensoy, Murat, Norman, Timothy J., Vasconcelos, Wamberto W. and Sycara, Katia
(2012)
OWL-POLAR: A framework for semantic policy representation and reasoning.
Journal of Web Semantics, 12-13, .
(doi:10.1016/j.websem.2011.11.005).
Abstract
In a distributed system, the actions of one component may lead to severe failures in the system as a whole. To govern such systems, constraints are placed on the behaviour of components to avoid such undesirable actions. Policies or norms are declarations of soft constraints regulating what is prohibited, permitted or obliged within a distributed system. These constraints provide systems-level means to mitigate against failures. A few machine-processable representations for policies have been proposed, but they tend to be either limited in the types of policies that can be expressed or are limited by the complexity of associated reasoning mechanisms. In this paper, we present a language that sufficiently expresses the types of policies essential in practical systems, and which enables both policy-governed decision-making and policy analysis within the bounds of decidability. We then propose an OWL-based representation of policies that meets these criteria and reasoning mechanisms that use a novel combination of ontology consistency checking and query answering. The proposed policy representation and reasoning mechanisms allow development of distributed agent-based systems that operate flexibly and effectively in policy-constrained environments.
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Published date: April 2012
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Funding Information:
This research was sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.K. Ministry of Defence and was accomplished under Agreement Number W911NF-06-3-0001 . The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the author(s) and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the U.S. Government, the U.K. Ministry of Defence or the U.K. Government. The U.S. and U.K. Governments are authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation hereon.
Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Conflict resolution, Multi-agent systems, Norms, Policies, Semantic Web
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 469192
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/469192
ISSN: 1570-8268
PURE UUID: 8560c354-605a-4433-804a-127ab8dce9fd
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Date deposited: 08 Sep 2022 17:29
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:34
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Contributors
Author:
Murat Sensoy
Author:
Wamberto W. Vasconcelos
Author:
Katia Sycara
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