Norms

In the last decades norms have been an issue of growing concern in Multi Agent Systems and the importance of these mechanisms to regulate electronic institutions and electronic commerce and to deal with coordination and security issues has been largely recognized. The study of norms has been opened up to new approaches, such as cognitive science, behavioural and evolutionary economics, and has largely profited from the advent of computational and simulation-based social science. This interdisciplinary approach results in an innovative understanding of norms and their dynamics, both at the individual and social level. This part aims to provide an overview of current advances, approaches and problems related to the study of norms in the context of Multi-Agent Systems. Both formal and computational models of norms and normative systems are presented, including formal analysis of normative concepts and foundational models of norms; agent and systems architectures for implementing norms, and implemented systems. Finally the role of norms in combination with other agreement technologies, such as argumentation and trust, is discussed.