Abstract The context of this work is the selection of the services among a list of similar services. To differentiate between similar web services, the best approach to use is the one based on service quality (QoS) criteria. However, these criteria most of the time are imprecise and sometimes uncertain and ambiguous because they are based on discrete numerical data. In... The context of this work is the selection of the services among a list of similar services. To differentiate between similar web services, the best approach to use is the one based on service quality (QoS) criteria. However, these criteria most of the time are imprecise and sometimes uncertain and ambiguous because they are based on discrete numerical data. In some situation, we need to apply the concept of partial truth, where the partial truth values are between two numerical values. The fuzzy logic can be applied to support the representation of imprecise, uncertain and ambiguous. It is based on the observation that people make decisions based on imprecise and non-numerical information. In this work, we propose an approach for selecting Web services based on the fuzzy logic. Indeed, we use fuzzy logic by translating translate the QoS values that are attributed to services into linguistic terms. In addition, we allow also the service client to formulate its requests in the form of linguistic terms. In this, the system selects and render the desired web service to the client. Our solution is represented as three layers, i) User Layer, that receives functional or fuzzy requests from clients which treat and forward them to the next layer, ii) Basic Layer that implements the service-oriented architecture and also, obtains the QoS values from service repository iii) Fuzzy Layer that takes as input the quality criteria of each web service then proceeds to their fuzzification, ranking and finally assign the scores to the different web services. To validate our solution, we implemented it as a multi-agent system. The use of the notion of agent for web services is, therefore, a major challenge to equip web services with interesting capabilities of software agents and also improve the performance of the services selection system. Read More Read Less

Abstract Backgrounds: Opinions in forums and social networks are released by millions of people due to the increasing number of users that use Web 2.0 platforms to opine about brands and organizations. For enterprises or government agencies it is almost impossible to track what people say producing a gap between user needs/expectations and organizations actions. Methods: To bridge this gap we... Backgrounds: Opinions in forums and social networks are released by millions of people due to the increasing number of users that use Web 2.0 platforms to opine about brands and organizations. For enterprises or government agencies it is almost impossible to track what people say producing a gap between user needs/expectations and organizations actions. Methods: To bridge this gap we create Viscovery, a platform for opinion summarizing and trend tracking that is able to analyze a stream of opinions recovered from forums. To do this we use dynamic topic models, allowing to uncover the hidden structure of topics behind opinions, characterizing vocabulary dynamics. We extend dynamic topic models for incremental learning, a key aspect needed in Viscovery for model updating in near-real time. In addition, we include in Viscovery sentiment analysis, allowing to separate positive/negative words for a specific topic at different levels of granularity. Results: Viscovery allows to visualize representative opinions and terms in each topic. At a coarse level of granularity, the dynamic of the topics can be analyzed using a 2D topic embedding, suggesting longitudinal topic merging or segmentation. Conclusions: In this paper we report our experience developing this platform, sharing lessons learned and opportunities that arise from the use of sentiment analysis and topic modeling in real world applications. Read More Read Less

Abstract Modelling human behavior is important as it helps preparing for the situation of emergency to save lives. In this paper we present new methods to simulate crowd evacuation phenomena by using a physical model. We focus on applying more effective forces focusing on Spring-Force as general forces affecting agents as well as repulsive danger-force, in addition, we propose a new algorithm for an interaction behavior. We implement... Modelling human behavior is important as it helps preparing for the situation of emergency to save lives. In this paper we present new methods to simulate crowd evacuation phenomena by using a physical model. We focus on applying more effective forces focusing on Spring-Force as general forces affecting agents as well as repulsive danger-force, in addition, we propose a new algorithm for an interaction behavior. We implement our algorithm in a real-world application which shows that our model provides results approaching reality and is promising compared to the other models. Read More Read Less

Abstract Diverse factors such as the development of globalisation processes and an ever-changing economic environment are encouraging companies to access external markets. Localisation, the activity that makes a certain product -for example, a website- linguistically and culturally appropriate for a particular country and language, is an extremely valuable tool for companies who want to pursue internationalisation strategies. In Spain, small and... Diverse factors such as the development of globalisation processes and an ever-changing economic environment are encouraging companies to access external markets. Localisation, the activity that makes a certain product -for example, a website- linguistically and culturally appropriate for a particular country and language, is an extremely valuable tool for companies who want to pursue internationalisation strategies. In Spain, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make up over 99% of the country's business structure. However, the localisation of their websites is often deficient. An analysis of 70 Spanish SME corporate websites was performed with the purpose of assessing the degree and characteristics of website localisation in the SME sector in Spain. It was found out that the web presence of Spanish SMEs presents serious deficiencies and that the contents offered on their websites are often poorly localised, if at all. The information gathered enabled us to put forward a series of practical recommendations for SME corporate website localisation. Read More Read Less