UNIT - V

INTELLIGENT AGENTS

DEFINITION
Intelligent

agents are computer

programs that possess aspects of
intelligence, and can act
independently of their users.
These programs can be thought of
as autonomous applications acting
on the initial instructions of the
user, in effect acting as an agent of
the user.

What could an agent

do?

The agent will:

gather enough information from the

customer's activities at the e-commerce
site to determine the wants and needs of
that customer;
gather information regarding the decision
of the customer not to buy a product;
determine the criteria to be used in
determining when to alert the customer;
automatically and periodically request
information from the e-commerce site
regarding the products of interest to the
customer;
alert the customer of information changes
on the product(s) of interest.

Agent based
programming provides
three important
abstractions:
1. the autonomous agent abstraction;
2. the cognitive agent abstraction;
3. the society of agents abstraction.

The autonomous agent

abstraction:

Autonomy implies ability to make

decisions and to initiate actions
without direct human supervision.
This allows us to view agents as
entities that have goals to achieve
and are capable of initiating actions
to achieve their goals.
Autonomy implies the existence of
other autonomous entities. This
allows us to see agents as members
of a society of agents.

The cognitive agent

abstraction:
In everyday life, we use a folk psychology
to explain and predict the behavior of
complex intelligent systems (such as
people).
For Ex: Maria intended to prepare her
slides.
Jane believed it was raining.
The intentional stance is a convenient
way of talking about complex systems,
which allows us to predict and explain
their behavior without having to
understand how their mechanism actually
works.

The society of agents

abstraction:

To be members of a society agents need

to communicate. They need:
Shared transfer semantics: Agents need to be
able to share data (for example, CORBA, OLE,
etc).
Shared domain semantics: Agents need to
share the semantics of the domain on which
they operate (for example, ontology's, process
handbooks, STEP, etc.)
Shared task communication semantics: Agents
need to share activities to accomplish their
tasks.
Shared coordination semantics: Agents need
to coordinate their activities.

Approaches to
implementation.

Architectures for
Agents
Simple reflex agent The agent works by finding a rule

whose condition matches the current situation, as defined

by perception, and then doing the action associated with
the rule. The agent has no memory.
A reflex agent with internal state The agent works by
finding a rule whose condition matches the current
situation, as defined by perception and by the stored
internal state, and then doing the action associated with the
rule. The internal state acts as a memory and allows for a
better selection of the rule to apply.
An agent with explicit goals The agent has an explicit
goal, and when choosing an action it will select an action
that achieves the goal. The decision process requires some
planning ("what will happen if I do action A"). This agent is
more flexible than the simple reflex agent, and is capable of
achieving goals.
A utility-based agent The agent has a utility function that
maps a state onto real number that describes how well the
agent is performing. This agent not only achieves goals, but
it maximizes some measure of performance.

How to Design and

Implement
Agents
Two major approaches:
procedural

approach: use a
scripting language or write
mobile code (such as Java
applets);
declarative approach: define a
universal agent communication
language.

Procedural approach
A universal language is needed for all
platforms and applications.
Major issues:
Portability: scripts must run
everywhere. Higher level language is
better.
Connectivity: language must be
embeddable. Must allow gluing and
composition.
Security: environment needs to be
protected from agent (and vice versa)

Declarative approach

Software agents are software

components that communicate with their
peers by exchanging messages in an
expressive agent communication
language. The language must be
sufficiently expressive to communicate
all sorts of information, but also
reasonably compact.
Example: ARPA Knowledge Sharing Effort
in which intercommunication between
agents is performed using speech acts.
This implements situated interactions
more than ``intelligent'' behavior in
isolation.

There are two agent roles:

the

Contractor. A Contractor is an
agent who has a plan to satisfy
some goal, and needs resources
outside its direct control in order to
carry out that plan.
the Supplier. In response to a callfor-bids, some Supplier agents may
offer to provide the requested
resources or services, for specified
prices, over specified time periods.

ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES

autonomy: agents operate without direct

intervention of humans, and have control
over their actions and internal state;
social ability: agents interact with other
agents (and possibly humans) via an agent
communication language;
reactivity: agents perceive their
environment and respond in a timely and
rational fashion to changes that occur in it;
pro-activeness: agents do not simply act
in response to their environment, they are
capable of taking the initiative (generate
their own goals and act to achieve them).

OTHER PROPERTIES
mobility: agents can move around
from one machine to another and
across different system architectures
and platforms;
veracity: agents do not knowingly
communicate false information;
benevolence: agents always try to do
what they are asked of;
rationality: agents will try to achieve
their goals and not act in such a way to
prevent their goals from being
achieved.

INTELLIGENT AGENT
CAPABILITIES

Connectivity via:
TCP-IP

sockets,
Remote Method Invocation (RMI),
and
Common Object Request Broker
Architecture (CORBA)

Protocols supported:
Foundation

for Intelligent Physical

Agents (FIPA)
EnerTalk, developed by Connected
Energy Corp.
Knowledge Query and Manipulation
Language (KQML)
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
Extensible Markup Language (XML)

Security methods
supported:
Authentication

using Public Key

Cryptography Standard (PKCS)
Encryption using symmetric
encryption with TripleDES
algorithm

Database Management
Database

query generation
compatible with most common
databases including:
Microsoft Access and SQLServer,
DB2,
MySQL,
Oracle, and
Other databases supported via
JDBC drivers.

Data Analysis
Data

validation - Missing or partial

data, user configurable range
validation
Forecasting - On-going site electric
load prediction using multi-variant
regression
Assessment and tracking
Report generation - Analysis of
hourly and daily results with ability
to export CSV-formatted text files.

Autonomous Operation
Agent

state monitoring /
awareness
Agent state configuration
management
Agent auto restart, state
recovery and synchronization

Graphical User Interface

(GUI) Support
Browser-based

- GUI access by
way of an Applet
Stand alone - GUI access by way of
an application installed locally.
Web-based - Java-based
application that allows full-featured
Java client applications to be
launched, deployed, and updated
from a standard Web server.

Intelligent Agents as
Personal Assistants to a
Financial Trader

LIMITATIONS OF
INTELLIGENT AGENTS

As with any technology-based

solution, a number of limitations
and concerns exist regarding the
usage of intelligent agents.
1.No overall system controller:
2.No global perspective:
3.Trusting delegation:

Applications that are highly

suited for intelligent agent
usage
are:
Data filtering and analysis.
Information

brokering.
Condition monitoring and alarm
generation.
Workflow management.
Personal assistance.
Simulation and gaming.

Advantages of intelligent
agents
Higher

efficiency in work, i. e.
less time is
needed by the user as agents
work autonomously and more
effectively

SECURITY

Security Overview
Computer security is the protection of assets from
unauthorized access, use, alteration, or
destruction.
Two types of security:

1. Physical security: Physical security

includes tangible protection
devices, such as alarms and guards.
2. Logical security: Protection of assets
using nonphysical means is called
logical security.

Computer Security
Classification
Three computer security categories:
Secrecy: Secrecy refers to
protecting against unauthorized
data disclosure and ensuring the
authenticity of the datas source.
Integrity: Integrity refers to
preventing unauthorized data
modification.
Necessity: Necessity refers to
preventing data delays or denials.

Computer Security
Classification
An

eavesdropper is a person or
device that can listen in on and
copy Internet transmissions.

People

who write programs or

manipulate technologies to obtain
unauthorized access to
computers and networks are
called crackers or hackers.

Security Policy and

Integrated Security
A

security policy is a written statement

describing which assets to protect and
why they are being protected, who is
responsible for that protection, and which
behaviors are acceptable and which are
not.

The

first step an organization must take in

creating a security policy is to determine
what assets to protect and from whom.

Security Policy and

Integrated
Security
Specific elements of a security policy address the
following points:

Authentication: Who is trying to access

the electronic commerce site?
Access control: Who is allowed to log on
to and access the electronic commerce
site?
Secrecy: Who is permitted to view
selected information?
Data integrity: Who is allowed to
change data, and who is not?
Audit: Who or what causes selected
events to occur and when?

Ecommerce Security
Issues

Keeping your site and customer

data safe.
Customer Security: Basic
Principles
Most ecommerce merchants
leave the mechanics to their
hosting company
or IT staff,
but it helps to understand
the
basic principles.

Any system has to meet four

requirements:
privacy:

information must be kept

from unauthorized parties.
integrity: message must not be
altered or tampered with.
authentication: sender and recipient
must prove their identities to each
other.
non-repudiation: proof is needed that
the message was indeed received.

PKI (public key

infrastructure)

Privacy is handled by encryption. In

PKI message is encrypted by a
public key, and decrypted by a
private key.
The public key is widely distributed,
but only the recipient has the
private key. For authentication the
encrypted message is encrypted
again, but this time with a private
key.

Digital Signatures and

Certificates
Digital signatures meet the need
for authentication and integrity
a plain text message is run
through a hash function
the hash function and the plain
text encrypted with the recipient's
public key is sent to the recipient.
The recipient decodes the
message with their private key

What about
authentication?
Customer

checks the digital

certificate.
digital document is issued by the
CA (certification authority:
Verisign, Thawte, etc.)
Digital certificates are sold for
emails, e-merchants and webservers.

Secure Socket Layers

Information

sent over the Internet

commonly uses the set of rules called
TCP/IP
The information is broken into packets,
numbered sequentially, and an error
control attached.
Individual packets are sent by different
routes. TCP/IP reassembles them in
order.
SSL uses PKI and digital certificates to
ensure privacy and authentication.

SSL
PROCEDURE

The client sends a message to the server,

which replies with a digital certificate.
Using PKI, server and client negotiate to
create session keys.
These session keys are secret keys
specially created for that particular
transmission.
Once the session keys are agreed,
communication continues with these
session keys and the digital certificates.

Peripheral Component
Interconnect
Credit

card details can be safely

sent with SSL, but once stored on
the server they are vulnerable to
outsiders hacking into the server
and accompanying network.
A PCI (hardware) card is often
added for protection or another
approach SET (Secure Electronic
Transaction) is used.

SET (Secure Electronic

Transaction).
Developed

by Visa and
Mastercard, SET uses PKI for
privacy, and digital certificates to
authenticate the three parties:
merchant, customer and bank.
sensitive information is not seen
by the merchant, and is not kept
on the merchant's server.

Firewalls
Firewalls

(software or hardware)
protect a server, a network and
an individual PC from attack by
viruses and hackers.
Many companies use the
Kerberos protocol, which uses
symmetric secret key
cryptography to restrict access to
authorized employees.

Practical Consequences
store

sensitive information and

customer details on zip-disks, a
physically separate PC.
Always keep multiple back-ups of
essential information, and ensure
they are stored safely off-site
payment should be made by
specially
encrypted checks and ordering soft
ware
.

Security

is a vexing, costly and

complicated business, but a
single lapse can be expensive in
lost funds, records and
reputation.

WEB BASED MARKETING &

ADVERTISING

Market Mixing

The 8 Layers of a B2B

Web Marketing Plan
One

way to think about designing

a B2B technology web marketing
plan is as a series of layers, like
an onion.
At the core is SEOsimply
making your website "findable"
through organic search to buyers
who are looking for what you
offer.

 Small

companies and start-ups with

modest budgets will focus most of their
efforts on the inner layers or rings, which
are primarily designed for lead generation.
As the company and its marketing budget
grow, efforts can be expanded to the outer
layers.
Ideally, a company eventually reaches the
outer layer where pure branding activities
(such as print advertising) help to
maximize the effectiveness of lead
generation programs (such as SEM) near
the center of the circle.

Layer 1. Search Engine

Optimization
(SEO)
75% of b2b buyers
use search

engines to research vendors when

making a purchase decision
and 75% of clicks are on organic
search results rather than paid links
SEO alone has the potential to
expose your company to half of all
sales prospects.
That makes SEOkeyword research,
meta tag and content optimization,
and link buildingthe logical
starting point for web marketing.

Level 2: Search Engine

Marketing
(SEM)
running text
ads on search engines

offers potential exposure to

roughly another 20% of buyers.
Since Google is the dominant
search engine, it's AdWords search
program is the place to start
then progressively to Yahoo Search
Marketing, Yahoo's content
network, MSN AdCenter, and finally
to Microsoft's content network.

Level 3. IndustryBrains
B2c

marketers have a wide variety

of ad networks to choose from, but
for technology-focused b2b
vendors, IndustryBrains
This networks enables you to run
text and print ads across popular
technology websites like PC
Magazine, Network World, PC
World, Intelligent Enterprise,
InformationWeek and InfoWorld
with a single buy.

Level 4. White Paper

Syndication and Guaranteed
Guaranteed lead gen programs
Lead
Generation Programs

generally promise X leads for Y dollars.

These are also referred to as white
paper syndication programs as white
papers are most commonly used as
the incentive for response.
Though primarily used for lead gen,
these programs provide some
branding benefit as well. The quality of
the leads tends to improve as more
targeted media are used.

Level 5: Banner Advertising

Unlike

search marketing and targeted

network ads, which are priced on a costper-click (CPC) basis, banner advertising is
sold on a cost-per-thousand impressions
(CPM) basis.
While network buys are common in b2c
marketing, b2b banner advertising is
generally purchased directly from media
publishers.
Because of the low click-through rate of
banner ads, they are generally viewed as
primarily branding, secondarily lead
generation.

Level 6: Email Marketing

Email marketing comes in two
varieties:
o E newsletter advertising
o email blasts to targeted, purchased
(or rented) lists.

Level 7: Webinar
Sponsorships

Many publications sell "turnkey"

webinar sponsorship packages
where the publisher
provides most (or all) of the content,
promotes the webinar and delivers it;
sponsoring vendors are then provided
with contact information for all
registrants and attendees.
Although webinar sponsorship is
primarily a lead generation activity, it is
in an outer layer of the web marketing.

Level 8: Print Advertising

Although various types of "print-to-web"
programs are offered, and some
publications offer print advertisers
comparable space in their digital editions
at no extra charge, the value of print
advertising is almost strictly branding.
Because companies willing to invest in print
advertising are often perceived as industry
leaders, this activity definitely supports
online advertising and other lead
generation efforts.
However, costs are high and benefits
difficult to measure with any precision

TYPES OF ADS
Floating

ad: An ad which moves

across the user's screen or floats
above the content.
Expanding ad: An ad which changes
size and which may alter the
contents of the webpage.
Polite ad: A method by which a large
ad will be downloaded in smaller
pieces to minimize the disruption of
the content being viewed

Wallpaper

ad: An ad which changes the

background of the page being viewed.
Trick banner: A banner ad that looks like a
dialog box with buttons. It simulates an error
message or an alert.
Pop-up: A new window which opens in front of
the current one, displaying an advertisement,
or entire webpage.
Pop-under: Similar to a Pop-Up except that the
window is loaded or sent behind the current
window so that the user does not see it until
they close one or more active windows.

Video

ad: similar to a banner ad,

except that instead of a static or
animated image, actual moving
video clips are displayed.
Map ad: text or graphics linked
from, and appearing in or over, a
location on an electronic map such
as on Google Maps.
Mobile ad: an SMS text or multimedia message sent to a cell phone.

Interstitial

ad: a full-page ad that

appears before a user reaches
their original destination.
In addition, ads containing
streaming video or
streaming audio are becoming
very popular with advertisers.

WHAT MARKETING
COMMUNITY SAYS?

4 CS OF COMMUNITY

Content:
Quality

content is a great way to

attract the people who are needed to
form the elusive community that your
brand is hoping will to help build.
When considering community
initiatives, there are three questions
to ask yourself.
1. Where will the content come from?
2. Does it provide indisputable value?
3. Can a regular flow of quality content be
maintained?

Context:
Context

means understanding how to meet

people where they are up and serving up
the right experience at the right time.
Well designed applications and functionality
have great opportunities to deliver on
context.
For example, Facebooks recently updated
iPhone example is perfectly designed for
contextual usage in the go.
Context means investing time in knowing
how your users will want to engage with
their communitythen enabling them to do
so.

Connectivity
Designing

experiences which support

thousands of micro-interactions means you
are making a commitment vs. trying to
produce a one-hit wonder.
Communities can in theory be the new CRM
(Customer Relationship Management), but
require people to be minding it.
Community software platforms such as
Liveworld software offer moderation
services.
This should tell you that if youve invested
in building a community framework, you
need to play host if youre lucky enough for
guests to arrive.

Continuity
Communities

which thrive often evolve

over time to meet the evolving needs of
users.
For Ex: Pampers Village which includes
functionality such as a baby name
finder, parent blogs, forums and a nontraditional navigation design which tags
topics and references relevant products.
Communities such as this and others
need to be flexible to evolve over time
while still providing a valuable and
consistent user experience which can
be sustained over time.

Why e-mail marketing?

4 main reasons to choose

email
marketing
strategy:
1. It is inexpensive:
Email marketing is a low cost method to
promote any business effectively.
Not like direct mail, there is nearly no material,
production or postage charges.
Compared to direct mail, email marketing is 20
times reasonable and you hardly have to pay
as little as fraction of penny for each email.
Email marketing helps you to practically
communicate with your present and potential
clients rather than inertly waiting for visitors
to comeback to your website or storefront.

2.

It is instant:
Compared to other marketing tools, email
marketing has two major advantages.
Firstly, the independent tools enables
anybody
to create and send inducing
email news-mails,
announcements,
offers and schemes etc.
Secondly, you get an instant response.
The call to action is evident: Click here to
gain benefit for this scheme or Click here
to learn more about the product etc. The
resulting response may take around 48
hours of the time the emails are sent.

3. It is measurable:
Results can be measured easily
with this effective marketing tool.
The results are clearly presented as
opens which shows the number of
people who saw your news letter
CTRs- Click Through Rates, this
shows how many people clicked the
link provided in emails.

4. It is simple:
For small and medium sized business,
there are several web-based email
marketing tools available.
Majority of them contain HTML
templates, targeting abilities, list
segmentation along with automated
tracking and reporting.
This helps you to focus on your special
message whereas the remaining is taken
care of.

Email Marketing Strategy

* Invite customers to come back for
business.
* Campaign management promote your
business during Christmas, Holidays, etc.
* Promote your latest products and
services through email marketing.
* Building your business credentials and
create a strong marketing message to
your targeted customers.
* Engage your customers and drive traffic
to your web sites.
* Online surveys and polls and Online
campaign management.

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing to power your
Usebusiness:
Leverage

your Web site as a Lead generation

machine.
Get Top 10 rankings in Google, Yahoo and MSN
for your Website's Keywords.
Select Keywords that drive the most traffic to
your site.
Optimize your Internet marketing campaigns to
meet specific revenue or profit goals.
Get noticed by the very prospects you are trying
to reach.
Connect to customers when they are seeking
the products and services you sell.
Convert leads into new business.

How Search Engines Work:

Purpose of Search Engines

Helping

people find what theyre

looking for
Starts with an information need
Convert to a query
Gets results

In

the materials available

Web pages
Other formats
Deep Web

Search Looks Simple

But It's Not

Index

Find files or records

Open each one and read it
Store each word in a searchable index
Provide

search forms

Match the query terms with words in

the index
Sort documents by relevance
Display

results

Search is Mostly Invisible

Like an iceberg,
2/3 below water
user
interfac
e

content

search
functionali
ty

Making a Searchable
Index
Store

text to search it later

Many ways to gather text

Crawl (spider) via HTTP

Read files on file servers
Access databases (HTTP or API)
Data silos via local APIs
Applications, CMSs, via Web Services

Security

and Access Control

Robot Indexing Diagram

Sou

What the Index Needs

Basic

information for document or

record
File name / URL / record ID
Title or equivalent
Size, date, MIME type

Full

text of item
More metadata
Product name, picture ID
Category, topic, or subject
Other attributes, for relevance ranking and
display

Simple Index Diagram

More Complex Index

Processing

Search Engine
Positioning
sort the matching items, so the most
relevant ones appear first
Sorting documents on various criteria
Start with words matching query terms
Can't really know what the user wants
Relevance is hard to define and situational
What do people mean when they type bank?
First

10 results are the most important

Why Searches Fail

Empty

search
Nothing on the site on that topic
(scope)
Misspelling or typing mistakes
Vocabulary differences
Restrictive search defaults
Restrictive search choices
Software failure

Web Site Naming Issues

The

legal and marketing aspects of Web site

naming can be complicated.

Obtaining

identifiable names to use for branded

products on the Web is important.

URL
The

brokers sell or auction domain names.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and

Numbers (ICANN) maintains a list of accredited
domain name registrars.

Website Design issues

Attracting New
Customers

The Internet offers an excellent

opportunity to publicize your
company or organization to a
worldwide audience.
It gives the opportunity to sell
products and services to an
international market place.

A web presence
The

first stage of developing an

Internet presence is often a small
website that gives good factual
information about the company, its
products or services and the
company contact information.
The website should have the correct
'look and feel', give the appropriate
information and it should work (no
broken links, missing pages).

Company information /
customer
Websites areservice
increasingly being
used as a contact point.
This may just be providing the
contact telephone number, but
often also an email address or
contact form.
Contact forms are increasingly
important with the recent ecommerce regulations in consent to
email marketing.

On-line Catalogue
An

on-line catalogue is effectively

the web-based equivalent of a
glossy company catalogue.
It provides the potential
customer with product details,
enabling them to contact the
company to purchase the goods
or service required.
increases brand awareness

On-line payments
Any

website that accepts online payments

must give the user the full contact details
of the business, including the VAT number
if relevant.
There must also be a clear indication of
prices and if relevant any delivery or tax
charges.
When accepting credit card payments, the
users credit card numbers must not be
emailed or entered into a webpage unless
encryption or a secure server is used.

Setting up an Ecommerce
Website

Setting up Ecommerce
Website
Domain
Names
Unless you are adding
ecommerce functionality to an
established website you will have
to think about a domain name.
The words used in the domain
names can have a major impact
on an ecommerce website's
ability to get found in the search
engines.

Finding an Ecommerce
Website
You must Hosting
decide if you are going
Company
to set up your ecommerce website
on a shared or dedicated server.
Shared servers are shared by
several websites
while dedicated servers have only
one website installed on them.
Dedicated servers cost much
more than shared servers.

Taking Credit Card

Payments
Online
credit card transaction minimize
the amount of work involved in
processing sales from the
website.
The process of taking online
payments is called a "Cardholder
not Present" transaction.

Shopping Cart Setup on

Ecommerce
Websites
This is the system
that allows the
customer to find the products they
are seeking and to make the
purchase quickly and effectively.
Online shopping carts also have
administration areas that allow the
e- business owner to log on and
make changes to stock, prices,
images, categories, shipping and
postage rates, etc.

Ecommerce Website
Setup
Open
Source
groups using
of people
who contribute
Software
to the development of software
applications as volunteers.
The finished applications are
offered for download at no
charge.
For Ex: OSCommerce.
One of the problems with Open
Source software is security.

Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) on
People won't visit
Ecommerce
Websites
your website

unless they can find it easily and

it's on the first couple of pages of
results for the competitive search
terms.
SEO is your best chance so
ensure that your designers have
a track record

5 common e-commerce
site
mistakes
1. Too many
dynamic pages that take
2.
3.

4.
5.

valuable seconds to load.

Overestimating concurrent traffic and
spending too much as a result.
No consideration of resolving performance
issues with software rather than buying
new hardware.
4. Not making the site compatible with
more than one Web browser.
5. Failure to get outside feedback on
usability.