The IoT concept has revolutionised the vision of the future Internet with the advent of standards such as 6LoWPAN making it feasible to extend the Internet into previously isolated environments, e.g., WSNs. The abstraction of resources as services, has opened these environments to a new plethora of potential applications. Moreover, the web service paradigm can be used to provide interoperability by offering a standard interface to interact with these services to enable WoT paradigm. However, these networks pose many challenges, in terms of limited resources, that make the adaptability of existing IP-based solutions infeasible. As traditional service discovery and selection solutions demand heavy communication and use bulky formats, which are unsuitable for these resource-constrained devices incorporating sleep cycles to save energy. Even a registry based approach exhibits burdensome traffic in maintaining the availability status of the devices. The feasible solution for service discovery and selection is instrumental to enable the wide application coverage of these networks in the future. This research project proposes, TRENDY, a new compact and adaptive registry-based SDP with context awareness for the IoT, with more emphasis given to constrained networks, e.g., 6LoWPAN It uses CoAP-based light-weight and RESTful web services to provide standard interoperable interfaces, which can be easily translated from HTTP. TRENDY's service selection mechanism collects and intelligently uses the context information to select appropriate services for user applications based on the available context information of users and services. In addition, TRENDY introduces an adaptive timer algorithm to minimise control overhead for status maintenance, which also reduces energy consumption. Its context-aware grouping technique divides the network at the application layer, by creating location-based groups. This grouping of nodes localises the control overhead and provides the base for service composition, localised aggregation and processing of data. Different grouping roles enable the resource-awareness by offering profiles with varied responsibilities, where high capability devices can implement powerful profiles to share the load of other low capability devices. Thus, it allows the productive usage of network resources. Furthermore, this research project proposes APPUB, an adaptive caching technique, that has the following benefits: it allows service hosts to share their load with the resource directory and also decreases the service invocation delay. The performance of TRENDY and its mechanisms is evaluated using an extensive number of experiments performed using emulated Tmote sky nodes in the COOJA environment. The analysis of the results validates the benefit of performance gain for all techniques. The service selection and APPUB mechanisms improve the service invocation delay considerably that, consequently, reduces the traffic in the network. The timer technique consistently achieved the lowest control overhead, which eventually decreased the energy consumption of the nodes to prolong the network lifetime. Moreover, the low traffic in dense networks decreases the service invocations delay, and makes the solution more scalable. The grouping mechanism localises the traffic, which increases the energy efficiency while improving the scalability. In summary, the experiments demonstrate the benefit of using TRENDY and its techniques in terms of increased energy efficiency and network lifetime, reduced control overhead, better scalability and optimised service invocation time.

Cognitive Computing is a new and quickly advancing technology. In thelast decade Cognitive Computing has been used to assist researchers in theirendeavors in many different scientific fields such as Health & medicine,Education, Marketing, Psychology and Financial Services. On the otherhand, Parallel programming is a more complex concept than sequentialprogramming. The additional complexity of Parallel Programming isintroduced by its nature that requires implementations of more complexalgorithms and it introduces additional concepts to the developers, namelythe communication between the processes (Distributed memory systems)that execute the parallel program and their synchronization (Share memorysystems). As a result of this additional complexity, a lot of novice developersare reserved in their attempts to implement parallel programs. The objectiveof this research project was to investigate whether we can assist parallelprogramming process through cognitive computing solutions. In order toachieve our objective, the MPI Assistant, a Q&A system has been developedand a case study has been carried out to determine our application’s efficiencyin our attempt to assist parallel programming developers. The case studyshowed that our MPI Assistant system indeed helped developers reduce thetime they spend to develop their solutions, but not improve the quality ofthe program or its efficiency as these improvements require features that areout of this research project’s scope. However, the case study had limitednumber of participants, which may affect our results’ reliability. As a nextstep in our attempt to determine if cognitive computing technologies are ableto assist developers in their parallel programming development, we movedto investigate if cognitive solutions can extract better and more completeresponses compared to our manually-created responses that we created forthe MPI Assistant. We have experimented with 2 different approaches to theproblem. An approach where we manually created responses for the MPIAssistant, and an approach where we investigated if cognitive solutions canautomatically extract better and complete responses. We compared the qualityof the latter automatic responses with the quality of the former which weremanually created.

According to the service orientation design paradigm there are business (BS) and electronic services (ES). BS encapsulate business concerns. ES encapsulate computing systems, information systems and software applications. In environments with a high number of BS and ES the decision on which ES provides the most suitable support for a certain BS is not a trivial task. The objective of the thesis is to provide models, methods, and techniques for preselection of ES for a given BS. Preselection is about reducing the large amount of ES to a significant smaller amount under the consideration of a particular BS.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal desenvolver um modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação num ambiente ainda não explorado: os serviços de descoberta em rede. Para este fim, foi aplicada a metodologia da teoria fundamentada, o que permitiu conduzir, controlar e organizar a coleta de dados. Os dados formaram a base da teoria e a análise dos mesmos originou os conceitos que foram construídos. Os dados foram coletados durante a interação dos entrevistados com o serviço de descoberta em rede enquanto realizavam tarefas de busca e recuperação da informação. Os entrevistados foram selecionados aleatoriamente entre os usuários das bibliotecas da Universidad Complutense de Madrid. O modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação encontrado sugere duas etapas. O comportamento durante a busca relaciona-se com a maneira como os entrevistados reconhecem o problema, como exploram as opções de busca e como distinguem a informação para formular a expressão de busca. O comportamento de recuperação está relacionado à navegação e à diferenciação até a obtenção de uma lista de resultados considerados satisfatórios. A partir da lista de resultados é declarada a solução do problema por meio do reconhecimento da relevância, avaliação das fontes e seleção da informação. O referido modelo foi confrontado com modelos já referendados. Foram identificadas semelhanças com aqueles que pretendem entender o comportamento do usuário de forma mais ampla, levando em conta sua história, valores, contexto no qual está inserido e conhecimentos construídos a partir das experiências anteriores. Além disso, a pesquisa pretende colaborar com os aspectos metodológicos relacionados ao entendimento e a construção de uma teoria fundamentada. Conclui-se que é necessário proporcionar um maior conhecimento, aumentar a compreensão e fornecer um guia para a ação, com foco no usuário, para a adoção de serviços de descoberta de web em bibliotecas universitárias. Sugere aprimoramentos na sua customização e treinamentos para dotar os usuários de condições que lhes permitam extrair o máximo proveito possível das potencialidades deste tipo de ferramenta. / This research work aimed to develop a model of information seeking and retrieval behavior in an environment yet unexplored: the web discovery services. To this end, grounded theory methodologies were applied, which enabled the driving, tracking, and organizing of data collection. The data formed the basis of the theory and data analysis originated the concepts that were built. Data was collected during the interaction of interviewees with the web discovery service while performing tasks of information seeking and retrieval. The subjects were randomly selected from among the library users at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The information seeking and retrieval behavior model found suggests two steps. Behavior during searching is related to the way the respondents recognize the problem, exploit the searching options and distinguish information to formulate the expression. Behavior during information retrieval is related to navigation and differentiation to obtain a list of satisfactory results. From the list of results the solution of the problem is declared by recognizing the relevance, evaluation of sources and selection of information. The proposed model was confronted with models already established. Similarities to models that aim to understand user behavior more broadly, taking into account its history, values, context and knowledge constructed from previous experiences were identified. Besides, this research intends to collaborate with the methodological aspects related to the understanding and construction of a grounded theory. It concludes that is necessary to provide greater insight, enhance understanding and provide a guide to action, with a focus on the user, to the adoption of web discovery services in university libraries. It suggest customization and training to provide users with conditions that allow them to extract the maximum possible advantage of this type of tool. / Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo desarrollar un modelo de comportamiento para la búsqueda y recuperación de información en un entorno aún no explorado: las plataformas de descubrimiento. Para ello, se aplicó la metodología de la teoría fundamentada, lo que permitió dirigir, controlar y organizar la recopilación de datos. Los datos fueron la base de la teoría y del análisis se originaron los conceptos que fueron construidos. Los datos fueron recolectados durante la interacción de los participantes con la plataforma de descubrimiento mientras desempeñaban tareas de búsqueda y recuperación de información. Los encuestados fueron seleccionados al azar de entre los usuarios de las bibliotecas de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. El modelo de comportamiento de búsqueda y de recuperación de la información encontrado sugiere dos etapas. El comportamiento durante la búsqueda se refiere a cómo los encuestados reconocen el problema, explotan las opciones de búsqueda y cómo distinguen la información para formular la expresión de búsqueda. El comportamiento durante la recuperación está relacionado con la navegación y la diferenciación para obtener una lista de resultados satisfactorios. En la lista de resultados se declara la solución del problema mediante el reconocimiento de la pertinencia, evaluación y selección de fuentes de información. El modelo se confronta a modelos ya aprobados. Se identificaron similitudes con los que tratan de comprender el comportamiento del usuario de manera más amplia, teniendo en cuenta su historia, valores, el contexto en el que se inserta y el conocimiento construido a partir de las experiencias anteriores. Por otra parte, la investigación tiene la intención de colaborar con los aspectos metodológicos relacionados con la comprensión y la construcción de una teoría fundamentada. Se concluye que es necesario proporcionar un mayor conocimiento, mejorar la comprensión y proporcionar un guía de acción, centrado en el usuario para la adopción de plataformas de descubrimiento en bibliotecas universitarias. Sugiere mejoras en su personalización y formación para dotar a los usuarios de las condiciones que les permitan sacar el máximo provecho posible del potencial de este tipo de herramienta.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal desenvolver um modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação num ambiente ainda não explorado: os serviços de descoberta em rede. Para este fim, foi aplicada a metodologia da teoria fundamentada, o que permitiu conduzir, controlar e organizar a coleta de dados. Os dados formaram a base da teoria e a análise dos mesmos originou os conceitos que foram construídos. Os dados foram coletados durante a interação dos entrevistados com o serviço de descoberta em rede enquanto realizavam tarefas de busca e recuperação da informação. Os entrevistados foram selecionados aleatoriamente entre os usuários das bibliotecas da Universidad Complutense de Madrid. O modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação encontrado sugere duas etapas. O comportamento durante a busca relaciona-se com a maneira como os entrevistados reconhecem o problema, como exploram as opções de busca e como distinguem a informação para formular a expressão de busca. O comportamento de recuperação está relacionado à navegação e à diferenciação até a obtenção de uma lista de resultados considerados satisfatórios. A partir da lista de resultados é declarada a solução do problema por meio do reconhecimento da relevância, avaliação das fontes e seleção da informação. O referido modelo foi confrontado com modelos já referendados. Foram identificadas semelhanças com aqueles que pretendem entender o comportamento do usuário de forma mais ampla, levando em conta sua história, valores, contexto no qual está inserido e conhecimentos construídos a partir das experiências anteriores. Além disso, a pesquisa pretende colaborar com os aspectos metodológicos relacionados ao entendimento e a construção de uma teoria fundamentada. Conclui-se que é necessário proporcionar um maior conhecimento, aumentar a compreensão e fornecer um guia para a ação, com foco no usuário, para a adoção de serviços de descoberta de web em bibliotecas universitárias. Sugere aprimoramentos na sua customização e treinamentos para dotar os usuários de condições que lhes permitam extrair o máximo proveito possível das potencialidades deste tipo de ferramenta. / This research work aimed to develop a model of information seeking and retrieval behavior in an environment yet unexplored: the web discovery services. To this end, grounded theory methodologies were applied, which enabled the driving, tracking, and organizing of data collection. The data formed the basis of the theory and data analysis originated the concepts that were built. Data was collected during the interaction of interviewees with the web discovery service while performing tasks of information seeking and retrieval. The subjects were randomly selected from among the library users at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The information seeking and retrieval behavior model found suggests two steps. Behavior during searching is related to the way the respondents recognize the problem, exploit the searching options and distinguish information to formulate the expression. Behavior during information retrieval is related to navigation and differentiation to obtain a list of satisfactory results. From the list of results the solution of the problem is declared by recognizing the relevance, evaluation of sources and selection of information. The proposed model was confronted with models already established. Similarities to models that aim to understand user behavior more broadly, taking into account its history, values, context and knowledge constructed from previous experiences were identified. Besides, this research intends to collaborate with the methodological aspects related to the understanding and construction of a grounded theory. It concludes that is necessary to provide greater insight, enhance understanding and provide a guide to action, with a focus on the user, to the adoption of web discovery services in university libraries. It suggest customization and training to provide users with conditions that allow them to extract the maximum possible advantage of this type of tool. / Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo desarrollar un modelo de comportamiento para la búsqueda y recuperación de información en un entorno aún no explorado: las plataformas de descubrimiento. Para ello, se aplicó la metodología de la teoría fundamentada, lo que permitió dirigir, controlar y organizar la recopilación de datos. Los datos fueron la base de la teoría y del análisis se originaron los conceptos que fueron construidos. Los datos fueron recolectados durante la interacción de los participantes con la plataforma de descubrimiento mientras desempeñaban tareas de búsqueda y recuperación de información. Los encuestados fueron seleccionados al azar de entre los usuarios de las bibliotecas de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. El modelo de comportamiento de búsqueda y de recuperación de la información encontrado sugiere dos etapas. El comportamiento durante la búsqueda se refiere a cómo los encuestados reconocen el problema, explotan las opciones de búsqueda y cómo distinguen la información para formular la expresión de búsqueda. El comportamiento durante la recuperación está relacionado con la navegación y la diferenciación para obtener una lista de resultados satisfactorios. En la lista de resultados se declara la solución del problema mediante el reconocimiento de la pertinencia, evaluación y selección de fuentes de información. El modelo se confronta a modelos ya aprobados. Se identificaron similitudes con los que tratan de comprender el comportamiento del usuario de manera más amplia, teniendo en cuenta su historia, valores, el contexto en el que se inserta y el conocimiento construido a partir de las experiencias anteriores. Por otra parte, la investigación tiene la intención de colaborar con los aspectos metodológicos relacionados con la comprensión y la construcción de una teoría fundamentada. Se concluye que es necesario proporcionar un mayor conocimiento, mejorar la comprensión y proporcionar un guía de acción, centrado en el usuario para la adopción de plataformas de descubrimiento en bibliotecas universitarias. Sugiere mejoras en su personalización y formación para dotar a los usuarios de las condiciones que les permitan sacar el máximo provecho posible del potencial de este tipo de herramienta.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal desenvolver um modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação num ambiente ainda não explorado: os serviços de descoberta em rede. Para este fim, foi aplicada a metodologia da teoria fundamentada, o que permitiu conduzir, controlar e organizar a coleta de dados. Os dados formaram a base da teoria e a análise dos mesmos originou os conceitos que foram construídos. Os dados foram coletados durante a interação dos entrevistados com o serviço de descoberta em rede enquanto realizavam tarefas de busca e recuperação da informação. Os entrevistados foram selecionados aleatoriamente entre os usuários das bibliotecas da Universidad Complutense de Madrid. O modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação encontrado sugere duas etapas. O comportamento durante a busca relaciona-se com a maneira como os entrevistados reconhecem o problema, como exploram as opções de busca e como distinguem a informação para formular a expressão de busca. O comportamento de recuperação está relacionado à navegação e à diferenciação até a obtenção de uma lista de resultados considerados satisfatórios. A partir da lista de resultados é declarada a solução do problema por meio do reconhecimento da relevância, avaliação das fontes e seleção da informação. O referido modelo foi confrontado com modelos já referendados. Foram identificadas semelhanças com aqueles que pretendem entender o comportamento do usuário de forma mais ampla, levando em conta sua história, valores, contexto no qual está inserido e conhecimentos construídos a partir das experiências anteriores. Além disso, a pesquisa pretende colaborar com os aspectos metodológicos relacionados ao entendimento e a construção de uma teoria fundamentada. Conclui-se que é necessário proporcionar um maior conhecimento, aumentar a compreensão e fornecer um guia para a ação, com foco no usuário, para a adoção de serviços de descoberta de web em bibliotecas universitárias. Sugere aprimoramentos na sua customização e treinamentos para dotar os usuários de condições que lhes permitam extrair o máximo proveito possível das potencialidades deste tipo de ferramenta. / This research work aimed to develop a model of information seeking and retrieval behavior in an environment yet unexplored: the web discovery services. To this end, grounded theory methodologies were applied, which enabled the driving, tracking, and organizing of data collection. The data formed the basis of the theory and data analysis originated the concepts that were built. Data was collected during the interaction of interviewees with the web discovery service while performing tasks of information seeking and retrieval. The subjects were randomly selected from among the library users at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The information seeking and retrieval behavior model found suggests two steps. Behavior during searching is related to the way the respondents recognize the problem, exploit the searching options and distinguish information to formulate the expression. Behavior during information retrieval is related to navigation and differentiation to obtain a list of satisfactory results. From the list of results the solution of the problem is declared by recognizing the relevance, evaluation of sources and selection of information. The proposed model was confronted with models already established. Similarities to models that aim to understand user behavior more broadly, taking into account its history, values, context and knowledge constructed from previous experiences were identified. Besides, this research intends to collaborate with the methodological aspects related to the understanding and construction of a grounded theory. It concludes that is necessary to provide greater insight, enhance understanding and provide a guide to action, with a focus on the user, to the adoption of web discovery services in university libraries. It suggest customization and training to provide users with conditions that allow them to extract the maximum possible advantage of this type of tool. / Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo desarrollar un modelo de comportamiento para la búsqueda y recuperación de información en un entorno aún no explorado: las plataformas de descubrimiento. Para ello, se aplicó la metodología de la teoría fundamentada, lo que permitió dirigir, controlar y organizar la recopilación de datos. Los datos fueron la base de la teoría y del análisis se originaron los conceptos que fueron construidos. Los datos fueron recolectados durante la interacción de los participantes con la plataforma de descubrimiento mientras desempeñaban tareas de búsqueda y recuperación de información. Los encuestados fueron seleccionados al azar de entre los usuarios de las bibliotecas de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. El modelo de comportamiento de búsqueda y de recuperación de la información encontrado sugiere dos etapas. El comportamiento durante la búsqueda se refiere a cómo los encuestados reconocen el problema, explotan las opciones de búsqueda y cómo distinguen la información para formular la expresión de búsqueda. El comportamiento durante la recuperación está relacionado con la navegación y la diferenciación para obtener una lista de resultados satisfactorios. En la lista de resultados se declara la solución del problema mediante el reconocimiento de la pertinencia, evaluación y selección de fuentes de información. El modelo se confronta a modelos ya aprobados. Se identificaron similitudes con los que tratan de comprender el comportamiento del usuario de manera más amplia, teniendo en cuenta su historia, valores, el contexto en el que se inserta y el conocimiento construido a partir de las experiencias anteriores. Por otra parte, la investigación tiene la intención de colaborar con los aspectos metodológicos relacionados con la comprensión y la construcción de una teoría fundamentada. Se concluye que es necesario proporcionar un mayor conocimiento, mejorar la comprensión y proporcionar un guía de acción, centrado en el usuario para la adopción de plataformas de descubrimiento en bibliotecas universitarias. Sugiere mejoras en su personalización y formación para dotar a los usuarios de las condiciones que les permitan sacar el máximo provecho posible del potencial de este tipo de herramienta.

This diploma thesis discusses a modern concept of information retrieval and search engines for libraries and other academic institutions. The concept named "web scale discovery" comprises of search engines, whose main characteristics lie in simplicity and user friendliness for the end users while maintaining all functional qualities of traditional research databases. Users can search in a wide variety of international research databases, and also in local sources of an institution that are combined within a large central index. The theoretical section presents definitions of web scale discovery, which conceptually set the new method of information retrieval within the field of information and library science. A graphic scheme of the basic functionality of a web scale discovery system is presented. Also discussed are requirements for a modern discovery system, an overview of the current situation in the Czech Republic, and a short characteristic of commercially available discovery systems. The theoretical part concludes with a literature review of selected foreign research, studying user satisfaction with the new solution, the impact on electronic and print resources in libraries, and usability testing. The practical part presents an original research study - usability testing of EBSCO Discovery...

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The contribution of this thesis focuses on addressing the challenges of improving and integrating the UniFrame Discovery Service (URDS) and Multi-level Matching (MLM) concepts. The objective was to find enhancements for both URDS and MLM and address the need of a comprehensive discovery service which goes beyond simple attribute based matching. It presents a detailed discussion on developing an enhanced version of URDS with MLM (proURDS). After implementing proURDS, the thesis includes details of experiments with different deployments of URDS components and different configurations of MLM. The experiments and analysis were carried out using proURDS produced MLM contracts. The proURDS referred to a public dataset called QWS dataset. This dataset includes actual information of software components (i.e., web services), which were harvested from the Internet. The proURDS implements the different matching operations as independent operators at each level of matching (i.e., General, Syntactic, Semantic, Synchronization, and QoS). Finally, a case study was carried out with the deployed proURDS. The case study addresses real world component discovery requirements from the earth science domain. It uses the contracts collected from public portals which provide geographical and weather related data.