Abstract
The second procedural modelling methodology version that will be addressed in this chapter has a modified treemap-based approach that enables the generation of virtual buildings with floor plans constrained by convex polygons. Other improvements include the input rules simplification and the incorporation of a moderation process to validate each input set (regarding syntax and geometry). © The Author(s) 2016.

Abstract
Grid-enabled vehicles (GEVs) such as plug-in electric vehicles present environmental and energy sustainability advantages compared to conventional vehicles. GEV runs solely on power generated by its own battery group, which supplies power to its electric motor. This battery group can be charged from external electric sources. Nowadays, the interaction of GEV with the power grid is unidirectional by the charging process. However, GEV can be operated bi-directionally by modifying its power unit. In such operating conditions, GEV can operate as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and satisfy a portion or the total energy demand of the consumption center independent from utility grid, which is known as vehicle-to-home (V2H). In this paper, a power unit is developed for GEVs in the laboratory to conduct simulation and experimental studies to test the performance of GEVs as a UPS unit in V2H mode at the time of need. The activation and deactivation of the power unit and islanding protection unit are examined when energy is interrupted.

Abstract
We describe the architecture, problems and lessons learned from building a Health Kiosk from commercial, off-the shelf Personal Health Devices and a computer with a touch-screen interface. The kiosk is used autonomously by patients to measure vital data prior to a consultation, in the scope of a population screening, or for routinely monitoring. The prototype was tested in multiple events with different user groups, aided by observer reporting and user questionnaires to assess problems and difficulties with the interface and device usage.

Abstract
This paper aims to describe a new tool to solve the Transmission Expansion Planning problem (TEP). The Non-Dominative CHA-Climbing Genetic Algorithm uses the standard blocks of Genetic Algorithms (GA) associated with an improvement of the population building block using Constructive Heuristic Algorithms (CHA) and Hill Climbing Method. TEP is a hard optimization problem because it has a non convex search space and integer and nonlinear nature, besides, the difficulty degree can be further increased if it includes more than one objective. In this work, a multi-objective TEP approach is detailed using an AC Optimal Power Flow to generate the set of Pareto solutions using the investment cost and the level of CO2 emissions, i.e. two conflicting objectives.

Abstract

Abstract
In recent years, tools in perceptual coding of high-quality audio have been tailored to capture highly detailed information regarding signal components so that they gained an intrinsic ability to represent audio parametrically. In a recent paper, we described a first validation model to such an approach applied to parametric coding of wideband speech. In this paper we describe specific advances to such an approach that improve coding efficiency and signal quality. A special focus is devoted to the fact that persistent transmission to the decoder of phase information is avoided, to the synthesis of both impulse-like and noise-based plosives using short-term windows, to improved ways of spectral envelope modelling, and to the fact that direct synthesis in the time-domain of the periodic content of speech is allowed in order to cope with fast F0 changes. A few examples of signal coding and transformation illustrate the impact of those improvements.