31st Annual IEEE International Computer Software and Applications Conference Beijing, July 23-27, 2OO7

Applying Semantic Web Technologies in Research and Development of
Software Agents, Mobile Agents and Multi-Agent Systems

Semantic web technologies render dynamic, heterogeneous, distributed, shared content equally accessible to human reader and software agents. Here the vision is to achieve a synergy with multi-agent systems (MAS) technologies whereby agents will be in the center stage. Distributed agents functioning autonomously can utilize semantic Web content to gather and aggregate knowledge, reason and infer new results towards achieving their goals and generating new knowledge. Such knowledge in turn may be disseminated and used to achieve the shared goal of the agents system.

ESAS workshop series aims at garnering the synergy of both technologies by taking up both the semantic web aspect and the agent aspect of the common research issue. Topics of interest span a wide spectrum of both theory and practice of agent architectures, software agents, mobile agents, autonomous semantic agents, context-aware intelligent agents, agents as semantic web services, multi-agent systems, agent communities, cooperation and goal seeking through sharing policy and ontology, safety & security in systems, other QoS issues, and so on.

Mobile agent and MAS technologies are crucial in realizing multi-party application systems. Semantic Web technologies augment MAS by enabling agents with functioning based on the semantics of their mission and of the world around them. Agents, implemented as Web services in developing distributed control and processing applications, entail interesting consequences such as situation awareness, semantic composition of services, context sensitive long-lasting transactions, effecting service policies and quality levels, etc. Complex applications could become realizable with novel features such as factory floor automation for flexible production, collaborative discovery of uncharted geography (for example, cooperative labyrinth discovery), traffic management and info dissemination with facilitation of emergency services, financial markets forecasting with optimization of portfolio gain, etc.

We envisage a strong undercurrent of intelligent software agents, mobile agents, and MAS running through this workshop. Side by side with the use of semantic Web technologies, there are several foci of interest:

• Software Agents, Mobile Agents, and MAS: issues relating to architecture, implementation, coordination, service levels, etc. of semantic or otherwise agents.

• Agent, MAS and Semantic Web Technologies: concomitant utilization of specific technologies in agent, MAS, and semantic Web implementations; semantic agent communities & applications; case studies of best-practice MAS applications; projects in the making;

• Ontology for Agents and MAS: agent cooperation ontology; ontology of workflow in MAS; ontologies for distributed applications; sharing and semantic interoperability; discovery and operations on ontologies;

• Platforms for agent and MAS implementation: languages, frameworks, tools, integrated development environments and software engineering practices supporting semantic or otherwise software agent & MAS architectures, coordination, trust & security mechanisms, description, discovery and composition of agent-based services.

• Other subjects of relevance in software agents, mobile agents, agent-based and multi-agent systems.

• March 20, 2007: Full Paper due
• April 16, 2007: Decision Notification (electronic)
• April 30, 2007: Camera-Ready copy and Author Pre-registration due

Original papers not being submitted to journals or other conferences will be considered. All submitted papers will be reviewed by the program committee according to its originality, significance, correctness, presentation, and relevance. We encourage authors to present position papers on practical studies and experiments, critiques of existing work, emerging issues, and novel ideas under development.

Papers must be submitted electronically via the ESAS 2007 Submission Site. Manuscripts will be limited to 6 pages including all figures, tables, and references. The format of submitted papers must follow the IEEE conference proceedings guidelines (i.e., 8.5" x 11", Two-Column Format (PDF, DOC); Layout Guide (PDF, DOC).

Accepted papers will be published in the ESAS 2007 Workshop Proceedings of the 31st IEEE Annual International Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2007). It should be noted that all IEEE COMPSAC conference and all workshop proceedings are published by IEEE Computer Society Conference Publishing Services (CPS). All CPS Publications are captured in the online IEEE Digital Library, and professionally indexed through INSPEC and EI Index (Elsevier's Engineering Information Index). At least one of the authors of each accepted paper must register as a full participant of the workshop for the paper to be included in the proceedings.

International Workshop on Engineering Semantic Agent Systems (ESAS 2006) held in conjunction with the 30th COMPSAC was a great success with 35% acceptance rate. Please refer to the Post-Workshop Activity section below for information on ongoing journal publication.

Beginning 2006, COMPSAC is designated as the IEEE Computer Society Signature Conference on Software Technology and Applications.

The Program Committee is being expanded. Those interested in joining may contact the workshop chairperson Atilla.Elci at EMU.edu.tr by supplying the following information:

• Name, position and affiliation
• Contact numbers and mailing address
• E-mail and Web site addresses
• Research interests and a list of relevant publications
• A brief biography.

We expect researchers and practitioners of software agents, mobile agents, MAS and semantic Web technologies to propose papers and to attend the workshop. Those with interests in ontology-based systems, semantic agents, and agent-based systems are welcome. Researchers working on the following are especially encouraged to propose papers: realization of multi-agent systems through semantic web technology, ontology-based agent applications, distributed control and processing applications, security, interoperability, service levels and quality issues in such systems. Enterprises and research centers developing ontgologies, languages, integrated development environments, tools, and middleware that can be employed in engineering the above are encouraged to propose demo and tutorial presentations.

We would like you, the prospective participant, to contribute to the following study aimed at studying conference participation decision-making process. It aims to determine the factors that influence people's decisions to attend conferences and the way they make their decisions. To complete this study, it's neede to survey the academics and business people who may be planning to attend this workshop. Link to the questionnaire is: http://panorama.som.surrey.ac.uk/survey?code=4732565264723957

The authors of a number of selected papers will be invited to submit an extended version of their papers for possible publication in a relevant journal.

Best papers of ESAS 2006 are now being prepared for a special issue of the Multiagent and Grid Systems - An International Journal, IOS Press, ISSN 1574-1702.

CFP in text. This document in htm. For further information, please contact the workshop chairperson.