Complexity in forecasting and predictive models

Te challenge of this special issue has been to know the state of the problem related to forecasting modeling and the creation of a model to forecast the future behavior that supports decision making by supporting real-world applications. Tis issue has been highlighted by the quality of its research work on the critical importance of advanced analytical methods, such as neural networks, sof computing, evolutionary algorithms, chaotic models, cellular automata, agent-based models, and fnite mixture minimum squares (FIMIX-PLS).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

El reto de vincular reputación online de destinos turísticos con competitividad

The aim of this study is to evidence how 2.0 conversations in social media impact the reputation of destinations. Additionally, the influence of co-creation practices is analysed. The five most competitive destinations worldwide have been chosen for the research. This paper demonstrates that monitoring social media is a challenge in tourism and is a strategic tool to support process decision making and for destination brand building in a sustainable way. Currently, there are several monitoring and analytic tools, but there is a lack of models to systematise and harness it for the Destination Management Organization (DMOs). In conclusion, how tourists play the main role in the competitiveness of Destinations with their experiences and opinions are considered, along with some keys for successful management of social media are given in the view of the results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On the roles of redundancy and neutrality in evolutionary optimization

An experimental study was performed to explore whether it is neutrality itself or simply the larger neighborhoods associ- ated with neutral representations that influence the results achieved by evolutionary algorithms on NK fitness landscape problems. Markov chains were used to model the behaviour of a stochastic hill-climber on NK fitness landscapes, using two different types of representation: a neutral network rep- resentation which exhibits neutrality and a redundant rep- resentation without neutrality which implements the same neighborhood induced by the corresponding neutral repre- sentation

Developing redundant binary representations for genetic search

This paper considers the development of redundant representations for evolutionary computation. Two new families of redundant binary representations are proposed in the context of a simple mutationselection evolutionary model. The first is a family of linear encodings in which the connectivity of the search space may be designed directly via a decoding matrix. The second is a family of representations exhibiting various degrees of neutrality, and is constructed using mathematical tools from error-control coding theory. The study of these representations provides additional insight into the properties of redundant encodings, such as synonymity, locality, and connectivity, and into their interrelationships

How redundancy and neutrality may affect evolution on NK fitness

An experimental study was performed to determine whether it is neutrality itself or the larger neighborhoods associated with neutral representations that allow good results to be achieved on NK fitness landscape problems. Markov chains were used to model a stochastic hill climber on NK fitness landscapes, using three types of representation: a neutral network representation, a redundant representation without neutrality which exhibits the same neighborhood of the neutral representation and a non-redundant representation

Referencial para a caracterização de websites de hotéis de acordo com as necessidades dos consumidores

Online presence is essential for tourism organisations, and the quality of websites can influence customers. In the case of hotels, there are many studies to evaluate website performance based on functionality, usability and other factors, much less on the amount of different information available to the consumer. In the near future by using Big Data it is expected that hotel websites will be dynamic, they will adapt themselves on-the-fly, showing personalized information to each consumer. Different consumers will have different websites (information? available) from the same hotel. This paper presents a framework for the characterisation of hotel websites, focusing on the amount of information available to the consumer in each website, which was applied in a case study during the last months of 2013 to the websites of five-star hotels that operate in the tourist region of the Algarve, Portugal. The framework allowed to identify a set of exhaustive indicators for hotel website characterisation, which were then grouped into ten fundamental information dimensions. These dimensions further fell into four dimension groups. Finally, it is presented and discussed quantitative and qualitative evaluations, that illustrates which indicators and dimensions are more often considered on hotel websites to satisfy the consumer?s information needs

Elaboração de planos de transporte de pessoas

Dissertação mest., Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Instituto Superior Técnico, 1996O objectivo deste estudo é definir e apresentar as etapas necessárias para elaborar planos de transporte de pessoas e, de entre estes, escolher os melhores em função dos critérios indicados pelo utilizador. Este estudo apresenta, em primeiro lugar, o conhecimento adquirido sobre os transportes e uma possível representação deste utilizando os enquadramentos como método de representação. Para se estabelecerem planos de transportes, foi necessário definir uma base de dados, de modo a se poder guardar e gerir a informação adquirida sobre estes. A base de dados é relacional, tendo-se utilizado como Sistema de Gestão de Base de Dados Relacional (SGBDR) o Microsoft Access 2.0. Analisou-se o universo dos transportes utilizando a abordagem Entidade-Associação. Os diagramas obtidos foram posteriormente convertidos em relações, de modo a poderem ser suportados pelo SGBDR. Os planos são construídos com base em algoritmos e heurísticas que foram desenvolvidos tendo presente as restrições e situações que ocorrem na realidade. Os algoritmos permitem construir planos com transportes directos e planos constituídos por vários transportes, incluindo o táxi. Para determinar os melhores planos, foram utilizadas as técnicas de decisão multi-atributo, especificamente o método da Pesagem Simples Aditiva. Os algoritmos foram desenvolvidos no próprio SGBDR, utilizando a linguagem Microsoft Access Basic 2.0

Public transport travel planning application

Here it is presented an application that plans out travel on public transports and that chooses the best ones, according to preference criteria provided by the user. These criteria are: the time spent on the travel, the price of the tickets and the quality of the transports. The application combines different means of transport. Algorithms and heuristics were developed to draw up transport plans and to choose the best ones. The best plans are determined using the multi-attributes decision techniques. The application uses a database that was developed in a Relational Database Management System. To draw the database at the conceptual and the applicational level, it was used one of the models based on the object, the Entity-Relationship Mod

Transforming a company’s staffing process: implementing E-recruitment

This project discusses the importance of evaluating a company's staffing methods, in order to improve and optimize people recruitment, selection, as well as integration and socialization in the organization. The particular focus is the implementation of Social Media (SM) and e-recruitment in a private sector company, reveling the importance of these digital media to recruit candidates with the desired profile and to support the new collaborators' integration and socialization. A business project is presented, following a scientific-technical approach, in the analysis of functions and in the profiles definitions and on information obtained through semi-structured interviews with human resources specialists who are responsible for recruitment and selection as well as interviews with newly hired workers in the company, demonstrating the effectiveness of these means for jobseekers. At the same time, a project study for the implementation of new digital tools in the company is prepared. This study shows that the development of a new website articulated with SM, for which business pages have been built, in addition to the use of e-recruitment portals, is a real benefit for the organization because they facilitate and increase the performance of the recruitment and selection process at the same time promoting the company's image

Exploring user-generated content for improving destination knowledge: the case of two world heritage cities

This study explores twoWorld Heritage Sites (WHS) as tourism destinations by applying several uncommon techniques in these settings: Smart Tourism Analytics, namely Text mining, Sentiment Analysis, and Market Basket Analysis, to highlight patterns according to attraction, nationality, and repeated visits. Salamanca (Spain) and Coimbra (Portugal) are analyzed and compared based on 8,638 online travel reviews (OTR), from TripAdvisor (2017–2018). Findings show that WHS reputation does not seem to be relevant to visitors-reviewers. Additionally, keyword extraction reveals that the reviews do not di er from language to language or from city to city, and it was also possible to identify several keywords related to history and heritage; in particular, architectural styles, names of kings, and places. The study identifies topics that could be used by destination management organizations to promote these cities, highlights the advantages of applying a data science approach, and confirms the rich information value of OTRs as a tool to (re)position the destination according to smart tourism design tenets.FCT: UIDB/04470/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio