Abstract
Olive trees are one of the most economically important perennial crops in Portugal. During the last decade, the Alentejo olive-growing region has suffered a significantly change in the crop production system, with the regional pollen index (RPI) and olive fruit production registering a significant growth. The aim of this study was to ascertain the utility of this highly variable production and pollen data in crop forecasting modeling. Airborne pollen was sampled using a Cour-type trap from 1999 to 2015. A linear regression model fitted with the regional pollen index as the independent variable showed an accuracy of 87% in estimating olives fruit production in Alentejo. However, the average deviation between observed and modeled production was 32% with half of the tested years presenting deviations between 36 and 66%. The low accuracy of this model is a consequence of the great overall variation and significant upward trend observed in both the production and the RPI dataset that conceal the true association between these variables. In order to overcome this problem, a detrend procedure was applied to both time series to remove the trend observed. The regression model fitted with the fruit production and the RPI detrended data showed a lowest forecasting accuracy of 63% but the average deviation between observed and modeled production decrease to 14% with a maximum deviation value of 33%. This procedure allows focusing the analysis on the production fluctuations related to the biological response of the trees rather than with the changes in the production system.

Abstract
We observe the high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) BP Cru using interferometry in the near-infrared K band with VLTI/GRAVITY. Continuum visibilities are at most partially resolved, consistent with the predicted size of the hypergiant. Differential visibility amplitude (Delta|V| similar to 5%) and phase (Delta phi similar to 2 degrees) signatures are observed across the He I 2.059 mu m and Br gamma lines, the latter seen strongly in emission, unusual for the donor star's spectral type. For a baseline B similar to 100 m, the differential phase rms similar to 0 degrees 2 corresponds to an astrometric precision of similar to 2 mu as. We generalize expressions for image centroid displacements and variances in the marginally resolved limit of interferometry to spectrally resolved data, and use them to derive model-independent properties of the emission such as its asymmetry, extension, and strong wavelength dependence. We propose geometric models based on an extended and distorted wind and/or a high-density gas stream, which has long been predicted to be present in this system. The observations show that optical interferometry is now able to resolve HMXBs at the spatial scale where accretion takes place, and therefore to probe the effects of the gravitational and radiation fields of the compact object on its environment.

Abstract
Under specific conditions, there is a formal analogy between the fundamental equations of electromagnetism and relativistic gravitation, described by the Einstein field equations of general relativity. In this paper, we report on how we have used this analogy to implement a solver of the Einstein equations adapting algorithms initially developed for electromagnetism, combined with methods of heterogeneous supercomputing, in GPU that can achieve fast computing and exhibit good performance. We also present the results of the simulations used to validate our solver. © 2017 SPIE.

Abstract
Early diagnosis is crucial in Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), to avoid further complications. The disease can be classified into one of two stages (an early stage of non-proliferative and a later stage of proliferative diabetic retinopathy), diagnosed based on existence and quantity of a characteristic set of lesions, such as micro-aneurysms, hemorrhages or exudates, in Eye Fundus Images (EFI). It is therefore important to segment adequately regions of potential lesions, to highlight and classify the lesions and the degree of DR. Density clustering methods are promising candidates to isolate individual lesions, and should be used together with effective techniques for vascular tree removal, feature extraction and classification. In this work we report on our approach, results, tradeoffs and conclusions for segmenting and detecting individual lesions. © 2017 IEEE.

Abstract
Electricity markets worldwide are complex and dynamic environments with very particular characteristics. The markets' restructuring and evolution into regional and continental scales, along with the constant changes brought by the increasing necessity for an adequate integration of renewable energy sources are the main drivers. Multi-agent based software is particularly well fitted to analyse dynamic and adaptive systems with complex interactions among its constituents, such as electricity markets. This paper proposes the use of ontologies to enable the exchange of information and knowledge, to test different market models and to allow market players from different systems to interact in common market environments. Focusing, namely, on the EPEX electricity market.

Abstract
In this paper, we further explore the concept of phase-conjugated twin waves (PCTW) for nonlinear cancellation in space-division multiplexed (SDM) systems. Previously, we demonstrated that the PCTW technique can successfully provide nonlinear cancellation in SDM systems. In this paper, we investigate the cases where two and four spatial modes are copropagating in a multimode fiber, considering three link lengths (1000, 3200, and 8000 km). Weak-and strong-coupling regimes are also evaluated. Our numerical simulation results show an average performance improvement > 10 dB after a 1000 km transmission link.