Abstract: A potential transaction between a first party and a second party involves multiple issues. A current offer made by the second party is received. A set of candidate counteroffers that satisfy a target utility value for the first party is identified. A counteroffer is selected from among the set of candidate counteroffers and presented to the second party.

Abstract: A negotiation involves multiple issues. A counteroffer to an offer made by an opposing party is identified from among a set of candidate counteroffers and presented to the opposing party.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention pertain to dynamically resizing a virtual machine container. According to one embodiment, an optimal utilization is determined based on a desired performance for a multi-tiered application and transaction mix information that describes a mix of transactions that result from executing the multi-tiered application. Automatic modification of an amount of a physical resource a virtual machine container is entitled to for executing a particular application component associated with the multi-tiered application is enabled where the amount is automatically modified based on the optimal utilization.

Abstract: An encryption key may be fragmented into n encryption key fragments such that k<n fragments are sufficient for reconstructing the encryption key. The encryption key fragments may be distributed across data stores located within first and second geographic regions. For example, at least k of the encryption key fragments may be distributed across data stores realized at N different availability zones within the first geographic region such that less than k of the encryption key fragments are distributed to each of the N availability zones within the first geographic region. Similarly, at least k of the encryption key fragments may be distributed across data stores realized at M different availability zones within the second geographic region such that less than k of the encryption key fragments are distributed to each of the M availability zones within the second geographic region.

Abstract: A switching linear dynamical system (SLDS) transition model accommodating any number of different switching states may be used to model negotiation behavior. Furthermore, a negotiation behavior model that accommodates multiple different negotiation strategies (e.g., an SLDS transition model where individual switching states represent different negotiation strategies) may be used to predict a trajectory of offers to be made by a party to a negotiation, and terms of a counteroffer to the party may be calculated based on the predicted trajectory of offers to be made by the party.

Abstract: An agreement is negotiated on behalf of a first party. A region (32) of acceptable terms for the first party is determined. A plurality of offers (15) from a second party is analyzed to detect values for terms that indicate a change in strategy used by the second party when making the plurality of offers (15). A region (57) of acceptable terms for the second party is estimated based on detected locations of changes in strategy. Terms for a new offer (14) from a first party to the second party are provided. The terms of the new offer (14) are within the region (32) of acceptable terms for the first party within a threshold distance from the estimated region (57) of acceptable terms for the second party.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a data set is received at a network service element of a network service, a location record for that data set is generated, and the location record is sent to a location registry within the network service to monitored locations of that data set within a network service. The network service element is operatively coupled to a communications link. The location record is generated based on a portion of the data set and a cryptographic key associated with the network service element. The location record uniquely identifies the presence of the data set at the network service element.

Abstract: A collaborative work environment is provided that supports collaboration among users for performance of a people service that is associated with ad-hoc activities. An information base is provided that includes information relating to responsibilities of the users and work items for the ad-hoc activities. An interactive guidance structure is presented in the collaborative environment to guide actions of the users with respect to the work items. Materials produced as a result of the actions to update the information base are collected.

Abstract: Service models may be generated in response to services exposed by two or more IaaS service providers, and an interface may be provided for selection and specification of the service models.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and machine-readable and executable instructions are provided for encryption key storage. Encryption key storage may include associating each of a plurality of identifiers with a different one of a plurality of key fragment stores, determining a plurality of indexes, where each of the plurality of indexes is based upon a handle provided by a customer, an authorization token provided by the customer, and a different one of the plurality of identifiers, partitioning an encryption key provided by the customer into a number of encryption key fragments, and distributing the plurality of indexes and the number of encryption key fragments to the plurality of key fragment stores.

Abstract: An exemplary embodiment of the present techniques extracts concepts and relationships from a text. Concepts may be generated from the text using singular value decomposition, and ranked based on a term weight and a distance metric. The concepts that are ranked above a particular threshold may be iteratively extracted, and the concepts may be merged to form larger concepts until the generation of concepts has stabilized. Relationships may be generated based on the concepts using singular value decomposition, then ranked based on various metrics. The relationships that are ranked above a particular threshold may be extracted.

Abstract: A method of generating a set of composite services is provided herein. The method includes receiving standardized service descriptions of a set of component services from service providers. The standardized description of a component service may be translated to an automaton-based description. A specified goal associated with the set of component services may be received. The set of composite services may be generated based on the automaton-based description and the specified goal. Each of the generated composite services may accomplish the specified goal.

Abstract: In one implementation, encrypted data and a virtual machine are stored together as a virtual machine-data image, wherein the virtual machine is configured to EXERT management control over the data based on policies set by an owner of the data. In another implementation, metadata defining or tagging policies for usage of data is associated with the data. Control capabilities of service providers are mapped to the policies, wherein those service provider environments that best satisfy the controls mapped to the policies are identified.

Abstract: A probability that an opposing party in a negotiation will accept the terms of a candidate offer within a given number of rounds of the negotiation may be computed, and the candidate offer may be identified as an offer to present to the opposing party based on the computed probability.

Abstract: Terms are extracted from service description documents describing desired services, and the terms are used to search for candidate service providers operable to provide the desired services. A matrix of terms and documents are determined from the service description documents. Singular value decomposition (SVD) is used to decompose the matrix. Eigen vectors from the SVD decomposition are weighted by top k singular values in a diagonal matrix S of singular values also generated from the decomposition. The weighted eigen vectors are used to rank terms from the matrix X based on relevance of the terms to the requirements for desired services described in the service description documents.

Abstract: In an embodiment, a method of processing a request by a server computer system begins with a step of receiving an object. The object comprises the request, an exception criterion, and a recovery operation. The method continues with a step of determining that the server computer system is unable to fulfill the request due to an exception which meets the exception criterion. The method concludes with a step of applying the recovery operation to resolve the exception. In an embodiment, the server computer system comprises a resource management system for a shared computing environment and the object comprises a resource request object. The resource request object comprises a resource request, the exception criteria, and the recovery operation. The resource request indicates resources requested from the shared computing environment by a start time and for a time period.

Abstract: Candidate service providers for a desired service are ranked. Terms describing service requirements for a desired service are determined. Service capability documents describing the services of the candidate service providers are determined using the terms describing the service requirements. Using singular value decomposition (SVD) and a metric, similarities between the terms describing the service requirements and the service capability documents are determined. The candidate service providers are ranked based on the similarities.

Abstract: According to at least one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, into a capacity planning system, workload information representing an expected workload of client accesses of streaming media files from a site. The method further comprises receiving, into the capacity planning system, at least one service parameter that defines a desired service characteristic to be provided by a media server configuration under the expected workload. The method further comprises determining, by the capacity planning system, for at least one server configuration, how many servers of the at least one server configuration to be included at the site for supporting the expected workload in compliance with the at least one service parameter.

Abstract: A template-based technique for making a best practices framework actionable includes creating a formal representation of a best practices framework, where the representation includes a machine-readable template. A portion of the template is interpreted to link the portion of the template with logic that corresponds to an action. Execution of the logic is triggered to perform the action in response to occurrence of a trigger condition.

Abstract: Dynamic adaptation of a business activity involves creation and updating of the business activity in an ad-hoc and collaborative manner as the business activity executes. User input relating to creation of a business activity is received through a user portal, where the business activity involves interactions among people. A business activity orchestrator orchestrates execution of work in the business activity. The business activity is updated using a business activity adapter, where updating the business activity occurs during execution of the business activity, and the updating is further responsive to collaborative input of the people involved in the business activity.