The search for coalition formation in costly environments

David Sarne; Sarit Kraus

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-45217-1_9

The search for coalition formation in costly environments

David Sarne, Sarit Kraus

Department of Computer Science

University of Maryland, College Park

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study the dynamics of forming coalitions of self-interested autonomous buyer agents, for the purpose of obtaining a volume discount. In our model, agents, representing coalitions of various sizes, may choose to be acquainted with other agents, hopefully ending up with a joint coalition structure, which will improve the overall price. Upon encountering potential partnering opportunities for extended coalitions, the agent needs to decide whether to accept or reject them. Each coalition partnership encapsulates expected benefit for the agent; however the process of finding a potential partner is associated with a cost. We explore the characteristics of the agent's optimal strategies in the equilibrium and develop the equations from which these strategies can be derived. Efficient algorithms are suggested for a specific size-two variant of the problem, in order to demonstrate how each agent's computation process can be significantly improved. These algorithms will be used as an infrastructure from which the general case algorithms can be extracted.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Cooperative Information Agents VII
Editors	Matthias Klusch, Andrea Omicini, Sascha Ossowski, Heimo Laamanen
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Pages	117-136
Number of pages	20
ISBN (Electronic)	3540407987, 9783540407980
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-45217-1_9
State	Published - 2003
Event	7th International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents, CIA 2003 - Helsinki, Finland Duration: 27 Aug 2003 → 29 Aug 2003

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
Volume	2782
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743

Conference

Conference	7th International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents, CIA 2003
Country/Territory	Finland
City	Helsinki
Period	27/08/03 → 29/08/03

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Springer-Verlag 2003.

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-540-45217-1_9

Cite this

@inproceedings{6c5bbd77d0f24eeb81d8c85140136f62,

title = "The search for coalition formation in costly environments",

abstract = "We study the dynamics of forming coalitions of self-interested autonomous buyer agents, for the purpose of obtaining a volume discount. In our model, agents, representing coalitions of various sizes, may choose to be acquainted with other agents, hopefully ending up with a joint coalition structure, which will improve the overall price. Upon encountering potential partnering opportunities for extended coalitions, the agent needs to decide whether to accept or reject them. Each coalition partnership encapsulates expected benefit for the agent; however the process of finding a potential partner is associated with a cost. We explore the characteristics of the agent's optimal strategies in the equilibrium and develop the equations from which these strategies can be derived. Efficient algorithms are suggested for a specific size-two variant of the problem, in order to demonstrate how each agent's computation process can be significantly improved. These algorithms will be used as an infrastructure from which the general case algorithms can be extracted.",

author = "David Sarne and Sarit Kraus",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Springer-Verlag 2003.; 7th International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents, CIA 2003 ; Conference date: 27-08-2003 Through 29-08-2003",

year = "2003",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-540-45217-1_9",

language = "אנגלית",

series = "Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science)",

publisher = "Springer Verlag",

pages = "117--136",

editor = "Matthias Klusch and Andrea Omicini and Sascha Ossowski and Heimo Laamanen",

booktitle = "Cooperative Information Agents VII",

address = "גרמניה",

}

Sarne, D & Kraus, S 2003, The search for coalition formation in costly environments. in M Klusch, A Omicini, S Ossowski & H Laamanen (eds), Cooperative Information Agents VII. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science), vol. 2782, Springer Verlag, pp. 117-136, 7th International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents, CIA 2003, Helsinki, Finland, 27/08/03. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-45217-1_9

The search for coalition formation in costly environments. / Sarne, David ; Kraus, Sarit.
Cooperative Information Agents VII. ed. / Matthias Klusch; Andrea Omicini; Sascha Ossowski; Heimo Laamanen. Springer Verlag, 2003. p. 117-136 (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science); Vol. 2782).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - The search for coalition formation in costly environments

AU - Sarne, David

AU - Kraus, Sarit

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Springer-Verlag 2003.

PY - 2003

Y1 - 2003

N2 - We study the dynamics of forming coalitions of self-interested autonomous buyer agents, for the purpose of obtaining a volume discount. In our model, agents, representing coalitions of various sizes, may choose to be acquainted with other agents, hopefully ending up with a joint coalition structure, which will improve the overall price. Upon encountering potential partnering opportunities for extended coalitions, the agent needs to decide whether to accept or reject them. Each coalition partnership encapsulates expected benefit for the agent; however the process of finding a potential partner is associated with a cost. We explore the characteristics of the agent's optimal strategies in the equilibrium and develop the equations from which these strategies can be derived. Efficient algorithms are suggested for a specific size-two variant of the problem, in order to demonstrate how each agent's computation process can be significantly improved. These algorithms will be used as an infrastructure from which the general case algorithms can be extracted.

AB - We study the dynamics of forming coalitions of self-interested autonomous buyer agents, for the purpose of obtaining a volume discount. In our model, agents, representing coalitions of various sizes, may choose to be acquainted with other agents, hopefully ending up with a joint coalition structure, which will improve the overall price. Upon encountering potential partnering opportunities for extended coalitions, the agent needs to decide whether to accept or reject them. Each coalition partnership encapsulates expected benefit for the agent; however the process of finding a potential partner is associated with a cost. We explore the characteristics of the agent's optimal strategies in the equilibrium and develop the equations from which these strategies can be derived. Efficient algorithms are suggested for a specific size-two variant of the problem, in order to demonstrate how each agent's computation process can be significantly improved. These algorithms will be used as an infrastructure from which the general case algorithms can be extracted.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=7044248187&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-540-45217-1_9

DO - 10.1007/978-3-540-45217-1_9

M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontobookanthology.conference???

AN - SCOPUS:7044248187

T3 - Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

SP - 117

EP - 136

BT - Cooperative Information Agents VII

A2 - Klusch, Matthias

A2 - Omicini, Andrea

A2 - Ossowski, Sascha

A2 - Laamanen, Heimo

PB - Springer Verlag

T2 - 7th International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents, CIA 2003

Y2 - 27 August 2003 through 29 August 2003

ER -

The search for coalition formation in costly environments

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this