Intelligent Agents and Their Applications

Intelligent agents are one of the most promising business tools in our information rich world. An intelligent agent consists of a software system capable of performing intelligent tasks within a dynamic and unpredictable environment. They can be characterised by various attributes including: autonomous, adaptive, collaborative, communicative, mobile, and reactive. Many problems are not well defined and the information needed to make decisions is not available. These problems are not easy to solve using conventional computing approaches. Here, the intelligent agent paradigm may play a major role in helping to solve these problems. This book, written for application researchers, covers a broad selection of research results that demonstrate, in an authoritative and clear manner, the applications of agents within our information society.

1. Agent-based intelligent information dissemination in dynamically changing environments. - 2. Automating human information agents. - 3. Knowledge robots for knowledge workers: self-learning agents connecting information and skills. - 4. Ontologies in Web intelligence. - 5. Software agents for Internet-based systems and their design. - 6. Compositional design and maintenance of broker agents. - 7. Collective behavior evolution in a group of cooperating agents. - 8. Applications of information agent systems. - 9. The use of virtual worlds and animated personas to improve healthcare knowledge and self-care behavior: the case of the Heart-Sense game. - 10. Using agents to build a practical implementation of the INCA (Intelligent Community Alarm) system. - List of contributors.