This volume, the 6th volume in the DRUMS Handbook series, is part of the after math of the successful ESPRIT project DRUMS (Defeasible Reasoning and Un certainty Management Systems) which took place in two stages from 1989-1996. In the second stage (1993-1996) a work package was introduced devoted to the topics Reasoning and Dynamics, covering both the topics of 'Dynamics of Rea soning', where reasoning is viewed as a process, and 'Reasoning about Dynamics', which must be understood as pertaining to how both designers of and agents within dynamic systems may reason about these systems. The present volume presents work done in this context. This work has an emphasis on modelling and formal techniques in the investigation of the topic "Reasoning and Dynamics," but it is not mere theory that occupied us. Rather research was aimed at bridging the gap between theory and practice. Therefore also real-life applications of the modelling techniques were considered, and we hope this also shows in this volume, which is focused on the dynamics of reasoning processes. In order to give the book a broader perspective, we have invited a number of well-known researchers outside the project but working on similar topics to contribute as well. We have very pleasant recollections of the project, with its lively workshops and other meetings, with the many sites and researchers involved, both within and outside our own work package."

This volume, the 7th volume in the DRUMS Handbook series, is part of the aftermath of the successful ESPRIT project DRUMS (Defeasible Reasoning and Uncertainty Management Systems) which took place in two stages from 1989- 1996. In the second stage (1993-1996) a work package was introduced devoted to the topics Reasoning and Dynamics, covering both the topics of "Dynamics of Reasoning," where reasoning is viewed as a process, and "Reasoning about Dynamics," which must be understood as pertaining to how both designers of and agents within dynamic systems may reason about these systems. The present volume presents work done in this context extended with some work done by outstanding researchers outside the project on related issues. While the previous volume in this series had its focus on the dynamics of reasoning pro cesses, the present volume is more focused on "reasoning about dynamics', viz. how (human and artificial) agents reason about (systems in) dynamic environments in order to control them. In particular we consider modelling frameworks and generic agent models for modelling these dynamic systems and formal approaches to these systems such as logics for agents and formal means to reason about agent based and compositional systems, and action & change more in general. We take this opportunity to mention that we have very pleasant recollections of the project, with its lively workshops and other meetings, with the many sites and researchers involved, both within and outside our own work package."

This volume, the 7th volume in the DRUMS Handbook series, is part of the aftermath of the successful ESPRIT project DRUMS (Defeasible Reasoning and Uncertainty Management Systems) which took place in two stages from 1989- 1996. In the second stage (1993-1996) a work package was introduced devoted to the topics Reasoning and Dynamics, covering both the topics of "Dynamics of Reasoning," where reasoning is viewed as a process, and "Reasoning about Dynamics," which must be understood as pertaining to how both designers of and agents within dynamic systems may reason about these systems. The present volume presents work done in this context extended with some work done by outstanding researchers outside the project on related issues. While the previous volume in this series had its focus on the dynamics of reasoning pro cesses, the present volume is more focused on "reasoning about dynamics', viz. how (human and artificial) agents reason about (systems in) dynamic environments in order to control them. In particular we consider modelling frameworks and generic agent models for modelling these dynamic systems and formal approaches to these systems such as logics for agents and formal means to reason about agent based and compositional systems, and action & change more in general. We take this opportunity to mention that we have very pleasant recollections of the project, with its lively workshops and other meetings, with the many sites and researchers involved, both within and outside our own work package."

This volume, the 6th volume in the DRUMS Handbook series, is part of the after math of the successful ESPRIT project DRUMS (Defeasible Reasoning and Un certainty Management Systems) which took place in two stages from 1989-1996. In the second stage (1993-1996) a work package was introduced devoted to the topics Reasoning and Dynamics, covering both the topics of 'Dynamics of Rea soning', where reasoning is viewed as a process, and 'Reasoning about Dynamics', which must be understood as pertaining to how both designers of and agents within dynamic systems may reason about these systems. The present volume presents work done in this context. This work has an emphasis on modelling and formal techniques in the investigation of the topic "Reasoning and Dynamics," but it is not mere theory that occupied us. Rather research was aimed at bridging the gap between theory and practice. Therefore also real-life applications of the modelling techniques were considered, and we hope this also shows in this volume, which is focused on the dynamics of reasoning processes. In order to give the book a broader perspective, we have invited a number of well-known researchers outside the project but working on similar topics to contribute as well. We have very pleasant recollections of the project, with its lively workshops and other meetings, with the many sites and researchers involved, both within and outside our own work package."

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Deontic Logic in Computer Science, DEON 2006, held in Utrecht, Netherlands in July 2006. Presents 18 revised full papers together with the abstracts of 3 invited talks. The papers are devoted to the relationship between normative concepts and computer science, artificial intelligence, philosophy, organization theory, and law. Special emphasis is placed on artificial normative systems.

In recent years, concepts in object-oriented modeling and programming have been extended in several directions, giving rise to new paradigms such as age- orientation and feature-orientation. This volume came out of a Dagstuhl seminar exploring the relationship - tween the original paradigm and the two new ones. Following the success of the seminar, the idea emerged to edit a volume with contributions from parti- pants - including those who were invited but could not come. The participants' reaction was very positive, and so we, the organizers of the seminar, felt - couraged to edit this volume. All submissions were properly refereed, resulting in the present selection of high-quality papers in between the topics of objects, agents and features. The editors got help from a number of additional reviewers, viz. Peter Ahlbrecht, Daniel Amyot, Lynne Blair, Jan Broersen, Mehdi Dastani, Virginia Dignum, Dimitar Guelev, Benjamin Hirsch, Maik Kollmann, Alice Miller, Stephan Rei?-Marganiec, Javier Vazquez-Salceda, and Gerard Vreeswijk. Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the persons - volvedintherealizationoftheseminarandthisbook: attendees, authors, revi- ers, and, last but not least, the sta? from Schloss Dagstuhl and Springer-Verlag. February 2004 The Editors TableofContents Objects, Agents, and Features: An Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 John-Jules Ch. Meyer, Mark D. Ryan, and Hans-Dieter Ehrich Coordinating Agents in OO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Frank S. de Boer, Cees Pierik, Rogier M. van Eijk, and John-Jules Ch. Meyer On Feature Orientation and on Requirements Encapsulation Using Families of Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Jan Bredereke Detecting Feature Interactions: How Many Components Do We Need?. . . .