@InProceedings{mailler04b,
  author =	 {Roger T. Mailler and Victor Lesser},
  title =	 {Solving Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems
                  Using Cooperative Mediation},
  booktitle =	 {Proceedings of the Third International Joint
                  Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent
                  Systems},
  crossref =	 {aamas04},
  pages =	 {438--445},
  year =	 2004,
  publisher =	 {{ACM}},
  abstract =	 {Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOP)
                  have, for a long time, been considered an important
                  research area for multi-agent systems because a vast
                  number of real-world situations can be modeled by
                  them. The goal of many of the researchers interested
                  in DCOP has been to find ways to solve them
                  efficiently using fully distributed algorithms which
                  are often based on existing centralized
                  techniques. In this paper, we present an optimal,
                  distributed algorithm called optimal asynchronous
                  partial overlay (OptAPO) for solving DCOPs that is
                  based on a partial centralization technique called
                  cooperative mediation. The key ideas used by this
                  algorithm are that agents, when acting as a
                  mediator, centralize relevant portions of the DCOP,
                  that these centralized subproblems overlap, and that
                  agents increase the size of their subproblems as the
                  problem solving unfolds. We present empirical
                  evidence that shows that OptAPO performs better than
                  other known, optimal DCOP techniques.},
  keywords =     {multiagent dcop},
  url = 	 {http://jmvidal.cse.sc.edu/library/mailler04b.pdf},
  googleid = 	 {Bg3qwJOvq1wJ:scholar.google.com/},
  cluster = 	 {6677623921638509830}
}