The popularity of smartphones makes them the most suitable devices to ensure access to services provided by smart cities; furthermore, as one of the main features of the smart cities is the participation of the citizens in their governance, it is not unusual that these citizens generate and share their own data through their smartphones. But, how can we know if these data are reliable? How can ...

First, this paper derives the prefix sum-of-products expression (PreSOP) and the number of products in a PreSOP for an interval function. Second, it derives Ψ(n, τp), the number of n-variable interval functions that can be represented with τp products. Finally, it shows that more than 99.9% of the n-variable interval functions can be represented with 2n − 1 products, when n is sufficiently larg...

In this paper we present a new unsupervised approach, “Attraction to Topics” – A2T , for the detection of argumentative units, a sub-task of argument mining. Motivated by the importance of topic identification in manual annotation, we examine whether topic modeling can be used for performing unsupervised detection of argumentative sentences, and to what extend topic modeling can be used to clas...

We describe an extensive application of argument-based decision making and negotiation to a real-world scenario in which an investor agent and an estate manager agent negotiate to lease a land for a computer assembly factory. Agents are equipped with beliefs, goals, preferences, and argument-based decision-making mechanisms taking uncertainties into account. Goals are classified as either struc...

A method for storing analog vectors in Hopfield's continuous feedback model is proposed. By analog vectors we mean vectors whose components are real-valued. The vectors to be stored are set as equilibria of the network. The network model consists of one layer of visible neurons and one layer of hidden neurons. We propose a learning algorithm, which results in adjusting the positions of the equi...

Multi-issue negotiation can lead negotiators to bi-beneficial outcomes which are not applicable in single issue negotiation. In a multiissue negotiation, a negotiator’s preference has a significant impact on the negotiation result. Most existing multi-issue negotiation strategies are based on an assumption that a negotiator will fix its predefined preference throughout a negotiation, and the ne...

Complex ecosystem models are often used as a means for gaining insight into ecosystem processes and as a management tool for resource managers. The uncertainty associated with these models present, however, a major stumbling block in their acceptance as a main stream management tool. Even if used, there is often a lack of confidence in the results and predictions due to the uncertainty. In addi...

Abstract Salient region detection is very useful in video analysis. A salient region detection method based on spatiotemporal visual attention model is proposed in this paper. Visual attention mechanism is used to generate saliency map of the image sequence. Spatial saliency map is computed in accordance with some predefined features including intensity, color and orientation. Temporal visual s...

Information technology (IT) has changed the dynamics of competition in the U.S. economy. Firms are gaining competitive advantage by competing on technology-enabled processes. For the retail industry, technology is breaking down the barriers between different retail channels and is making omnichannel retailing inevitable—an integrated sales experience that melds touch-and-feel information in the...