Forwarded message from [zakaria.maamar@drev.dnd.ca (Zakaria Maamar)] sent originally on Mon, 06 Dec 1999 11:54:40 -0500: : Call for papers for special session on: : Software Agents-Oriented Workflows : (Concepts - Methods - Tools) : at : The 2000 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IC-AI'2000) : June 26 - 29, 2000, Monte Carlo Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA : Due Date: March 6, 2000 : : The Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) defines a WF as the automation of : a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information : or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according : to a set of procedural rules. Currently, organisations tend to use WFs in : order to streamline and coordinate their business processes. : : Generally, WFs are designed and saved for later use. Therefore, these WFs : are pre-defined and static. In this context, one potential drawback of the : WFs results from their no-adaptability. Moreover, with the recent progress : of communication middlewares, for instance object request brokers, and : programming languages for distributed applications, for instance JAVA, WFs : need to be flexible and scalable. In order to cope with these requirements, : a promising approach consists of viewing a WF as a dynamic collection of : collaborative processes that need to be clustered together. Clustering : processes and managing their performance could be assigned to intelligent : components, namely Software Agents (SAs). SAs are attracting much attention : for their autonomy, cooperative behavior, and lately mobility. Whenever : needed, and taking into account the characteristics of the environment in : which they evolve, SAs cluster processes and order them in order to : constitute the required WFs. Such an approach offers a great flexibility : since process combination could be directly based on the agent's states, : rather than being pre-defined in advance. : : Topics of interests include but are not limited to: : * Modeling, designing, and developing software agents-oriented workflows. : * Software agents for managing cross-organisational workflows. : * Software agents for adaptive workflows. : * Applications such as e-commerce, Internet, etc. : : Session organizer : Dr. Zakaria MAAMAR, Defence Scientist : Interoperability Group, Information System Technology Section : Defence Research Establishment Valcartier (DREV) : 2459 Pie-XI Blvd North, Val-Bélair QC G3J 1X5, Canada : Phone: (418) 844-4000 ext. 4427. : Fax: (418) 844-4538. : Email: zakaria.maamar@drev.dnd.ca : : Submission of papers : Authors who wish to submit to the session should send either PostScript or : PDF versions of their paper by email to the session organizer, or else : provide a URL for an online version of the paper. Hardcopy submission is : possible if arranged in advance. Submissions should be no more than 4000 : words length (approx. 10 printed pages). The first page of each submission : should list the full contact details (including full name, postal address, : email address, phone and fax number) of at least one author. All accepted : papers will be published in the IC-AI'2000 proceedings : : Important dates : March 6, 2000 (Monday): deadline for paper submission : April 3, 2000 (Monday): notification of acceptance/rejection : May 1, 2000 (Monday): camera-Ready papers & Pre reg. due : June 26 - 29, 2000: IC-AI'2000 Conference : : Note : For information regarding the IC-AI'2000 conference, contact: : Prof. Hamid R. Arabnia, General Chair, IC-AI'2000 : The University of Georgia, Department of Computer Science : 415 Graduate Studies Research Center : Athens, Georgia 30602-7404, USA : Phone: (706) 542-3480 : Fax: (706) 542-2966 : Email: hra@cs.uga.edu

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