{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T17:01:48Z","timestamp":1780333308930,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,18]],"date-time":"2023-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1674000000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Research University","award":["DIP-2018-041"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DIP-2018-041"]}]},{"name":"Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Research University","award":["FRGS\/1\/2014\/ICT07\/UKM\/02\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FRGS\/1\/2014\/ICT07\/UKM\/02\/1"]}]},{"name":"Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Research University","award":["FRGS\/1\/2022\/ICT11\/UKM\/02\/02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FRGS\/1\/2022\/ICT11\/UKM\/02\/02"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this paper, the novel heuristic search algorithm called Smart Root Search (SRS) was examined for solving a set of different-sized service time\u2013cost optimization in cloud computing service composition (STCOCCSC) problems, and its performance was compared with those of the ICACRO-C, ICACRO-I, ICA, and Niching PSO algorithms. STCOCCSC is an np-hard problem due to the large number of unique services available as well as the many service providers who provide services with different quality levels. Finding closer-to-optimal solutions supports cloud clients by providing them with higher quality-lower price services. The SRS obtained results proved that the SRS provided 6.74, 11.2, 47.95, and 87.29 percent performance improvement on average to the comparative algorithms, respectively, for all considered five problems. Furthermore, employing symmetry concepts in dividing the problem search space helps the algorithm to avoid premature convergence and any efficiency reduction while facing higher-dimensional search spaces. Due to these achievements, the SRS is a multi-purpose, flexible, and scalable heuristic search algorithm capable of being utilized in various optimization applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym15020272","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,19]],"date-time":"2023-01-19T03:16:52Z","timestamp":1674098212000},"page":"272","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Smart Root Search (SRS) in Solving Service Time\u2013Cost Optimization in Cloud Computing Service Composition (STCOCCSC) Problems"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Narjes Khatoon","family":"Naseri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Software Technology and Management, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2711-0659","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elankovan","family":"Sundararajan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Software Technology and Management, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5157-7921","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Masri","family":"Ayob","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Data Mining and Optimization Research Group (DMO), Centre for Artificial Intelligent (CAIT), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"300","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envpol.2007.02.013","article-title":"Biological degradation of triclocarban and triclosan in a soil under aerobic and anaerobic conditions and comparison with environmental fate modelling","volume":"150","author":"Ying","year":"2007","journal-title":"Environ. 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