[Modeling] roles, UN and agents

[Renato Levy]

>Let's have a more concrete example and see how interaction diagram to
>represent a protocol. Consider the procedure that UN security council passes
>a resolution. It seems the protocol consists of the following steps:
>
>(1) At least one member of the security council submit a proposal;
>(2) By a given date that the council members all agreed, a vote from the
>members must be made;
>(3) Each member of the security council can vote either FOR or AGAINST or
>SUSTAIN;
>(4) The proposal becomes a resolution of UN security council's resolution,
>if the majority of the members voted FOR, and no permanent member voted
>AGAINST.
>
>Here, we have two castes (i.e. agent types): One for security council
>members and one for permanent members. Agents of these two castes are
>autonomous, but they together form another agent - UN security council.

Good example! here we have the roles being the same (security council 
representative), the types being different (permanent, non-permanent), and 
the type of who voted AGAINST being relevant for the result of the 
protocol. Note that in all cases the agent is of the diplomat class.

The big question is, should we create two roles for the same functionality 
or represent somehow that the type of agent impacts the role's and 
therefore the protocol behavior?



Renato Levy
Principal Scientist
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
7519 Standish Place, ste 200
Rockville, MD 20855
phone: (301)294-5241
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