International audienceWe investigate the accuracy of a set of surface patterns in identifying ironic sentences in comments submitted by users to an on-line newspaper. The initial focus is on identifying irony in sentences containing positive predicates since these sentences are more exposed to irony, making their true po-larity harder to recognize. We show that it is possible to find ironic sentences with relatively high precision (from 45% to 85%) by exploring certain oral or gestural clues in user comments, such as emoticons, onomatopoeic expressions for laughter, heavy punctuation marks, quotation marks and positive interjections. We also demonstrate that clues based on deeper linguistic information are relatively inefficient in capturing irony in user-generated content, which points to the need for exploring additional types of oral clues

In this paper we are proposing an approach for coordinating a team of homogeneous agents based on a flexible common Team Strategy as well as on the concepts of Situation Based Strategic Positioning and Dynamic Positioning and Role Exchange. We also introduce an Agent Architecture including a specific high-level decision module capable of implementing this strategy. Our proposal is based on the formalization of what is a team strategy for competing with an opponent team having opposite goals. A team strategy is composed of a set of agent types and a set of tactics, which are also composed of several formations. Formations are used for different situations and assign each agent a default spatial positioning and an agent type (defining its behaviour at several levels). Agent’s reactivity is also introduced for appropriate response to the dynamics of the current situation. However, in our approach this is done in a way that preserves team coherence instead of permitting uncoordinated agent behaviour. We have applied, with success, this coordination approach to the RoboSoccer simulated domain. The FC Portugal team, developed using this approach won the RoboCup2000 (simulation league) European and World championships scoring a total of 180 goals and conceding none.