Mortality in mute swans in Southern Ontario associated with infestation with the thorny-headed worm, Polymorphus boschadis.

Abstract

A supply chain comprises several different kind of actors that interact either in an\nad hoc fashion (e.g., an eventual deal) or in a previously well planned way. In the latter\ncase, how the interactions develop is described in contracts that are agreed on before\nthe interactions start. This agreement may involve several partners, thus a multi-party\ncontract is better suited than a set of bi-lateral contracts. If one is willing to negotiate\nautomatically such kind of contracts, an appropriate negotiation protocol should be at\nhand. However, the ones for bi-lateral contracts are not suitable for multi-party contracts,\ne.g., the way of achieving consensus when only two negotiators are haggling over\nsome issue is quite different if there are several negotiators involved. In the first case,\na simple bargain would suffice, but in the latter a ballot process is needed. This paper\npresents a negotiation protocol for electronic multi-party contracts which seamlessly\ncombines several negotiation styles. It also elaborates on the main negotiation patterns\nthe protocol allows for: bargain (for peer-to-peer negotiation), auction (when there is\ncompetition among the negotiators) and ballot (when the negotiation aims at consensus).\nFinally, it describes an implementation of this protocol based on Web services,\nand built on the YAWL Workflow Management System.