This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the First International Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts, WRAC 2002, held in McLean, VA, USA in January 2002. The 32 revised full papers presented together with an invited article, 6 poster papers, and 2 panel reports were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers are organized in topical sections on adaptation and learning, agent-based software engineering, agent architectures, agent communication and coordination, and innovative applications.

This collection represents the proceedings of the 1st GSFC/JPL Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts (WRAC), which was held on 16–18 January, 2002 at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Conference Center in McLean, VA, USA. Over the past few years, agent technologyhas emerged as a powerful force in computing. Agent technology may well form the foundation for the next gen- ation of computing systems. New and innovative agent concepts and techniques may bring further developments to this exploding area of research. Such work is often strongly inspired by theoretical or empirical studies of human behavior, social intelligence, psychology, arts, biology, computer science and philosophy. Thisworkshopaimedatbringingtogether,inaninterdisciplinaryevent,or- inal thinkers, practitioners and academics with an interest in radical (very - novative) concepts for agent-based systems. The workshop provided a forum to present the latest research?ndings in many aspects of agent technology. The - ganizers welcomed participation by those working in agent architectures, agent communities, agent communications, agent modeling, agent applications and other agent-related areas. We were particularly seeking papers on novel and - novative ideas, pushing the envelope of current agent technology. Contributions without a prototype or working system, i.e., purely conceptual contributions, were welcomed, and ”out-of-the-box” thinkers were especially encouraged to participate. The workshop was structured so as to allow the participants adequate time for discussion and interaction, to exchange ideas and re?ect on the motivations, scienti?c grounds and practical consequences of the concepts presented.

This collection represents the proceedings of the 1st GSFC/JPL Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts (WRAC), which was held on 16–18 January, 2002 at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Conference Center in McLean, VA, USA. Over the past few years, agent technologyhas emerged as a powerful force in computing. Agent technology may well form the foundation for the next gen- ation of computing systems. New and innovative agent concepts and techniques may bring further developments to this exploding area of research. Such work is often strongly inspired by theoretical or empirical studies of human behavior, social intelligence, psychology, arts, biology, computer science and philosophy. Thisworkshopaimedatbringingtogether,inaninterdisciplinaryevent,or- inal thinkers, practitioners and academics with an interest in radical (very - novative) concepts for agent-based systems. The workshop provided a forum to present the latest research?ndings in many aspects of agent technology. The - ganizers welcomed participation by those working in agent architectures, agent communities, agent communications, agent modeling, agent applications and other agent-related areas. We were particularly seeking papers on novel and - novative ideas, pushing the envelope of current agent technology. Contributions without a prototype or working system, i.e., purely conceptual contributions, were welcomed, and ”out-of-the-box” thinkers were especially encouraged to participate. The workshop was structured so as to allow the participants adequate time for discussion and interaction, to exchange ideas and re?ect on the motivations, scienti?c grounds and practical consequences of the concepts presented.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts, WRAC 2005, held in Greenbelt, MD, USA in September 2005. The 27 full papers presented are fully revised to incorporate reviewers' comments and discussions at the workshop. Topics addressed are social aspects of agents, agent architectures, autonomic systems, agent communities, and agent intelligence.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts, WRAC 2005, held in Greenbelt, MD, USA in September 2005. The 27 full papers presented are fully revised to incorporate reviewers' comments and discussions at the workshop. Topics addressed are social aspects of agents, agent architectures, autonomic systems, agent communities, and agent intelligence.

Decision makers in large scale interconnected network systems require simulation models for decision support. The behaviour of these systems is determined by many actors, situated in a dynamic, multi-actor, multi-objective and multi-level environment. How can such systems be modelled and how can the socio-technical complexity be captured? Agent-based modelling is a proven approach to handle this challenge. This book provides a practical introduction to agent-based modelling of socio-technical systems, based on a methodology that has been developed at TU Delft and which has been deployed in a large number of case studies. The book consists of two parts: the first presents the background, theory and methodology as well as practical guidelines and procedures for building models. In the second part this theory is applied to a number of case studies, where for each model the development steps are presented extensively, preparing the reader for creating own models.