Abstract
Weather and sea-related forecasts provide crucial insights for the practice of nautical sports such as surf and kite surf, and mobile devices are appropriate interfaces for the visualization of meteorology and operational oceanography data. Data are collected and processed by several agencies and are often obtained from forecast models. Their use requires adaptation and refinement prior to visualisation. We describe a set of semantic data services using standard common vocabularies and interoperable interfaces following the recommendations of the INSPIRE directive. NautiCast, a mobile application for forecast delivery illustrates the adaptation of data at two levels: 1) semantic, with the integration of data from different sources via standard vocabularies, and 2) syntactic, with the manipulation of the spacial and temporal resolution of data to get effective mobile communication. Copyright 2016 ACM.

Abstract
The inclusion of perceptual information in the operation of a dynamic robot (interacting with its environment) can provide valuable insight about its environment and increase robustness of its behaviour. In this regard, the concept of Associative Skill Memories (ASMs) has provided a great contributions regarding an effective and practical use of sensor data, under a simple and intuitive framework [2, 13]. Inspired by [2], this paper presents a data mining solution to the fall prediction problem in humanoid biped robotic locomotion. Sensor data from a large number of simulations was recorded and four data mining algorithms were applied with the aim of creating a classifier that properly identifies failure conditions. Using Support Vector Machines, on top of sensor data from a large number of simulation trials, it was possible to build an accurate and reliable offline fall predictor, achieving accuracy, sensitivity and specificity values up to 95.6%, 96.3% and 94.5%, respectively.

Abstract

Abstract
The complexity of electronic systems embedded in modern vehicles has led to the adoption of distributed implementations where different communication protocols are used. Although literature addressing vehicular networks presents several methods for the timing analysis of automotive systems, there is not a reference model for the holistic time analysis of heterogeneous systems where FlexRay/CAN protocols are used. In this work we propose a reference model for timing and schedulability analysis of heterogeneous FlexRay/CAN networks. The proposed reference model can be used to compute end-to-end response times and to analyze local components, such as response times in a specific network segment.

Abstract
Sustainability plays a key role in EPS@ISEP programme - the European Project Semester programme at the School of Engineering of the Polytechnics of Porto. Not just the environmental, but also economical (marketing) and social (ethics) perspectives are explored by multicultural teams during this one semester capstone/internship programme. In 2015, a team of EPS@ISEP students choose to design and develop an insectarium to grow insects for reptile feeding. The team, after exploiting the topic, contemplated growing insects not only for animal feed, but also for human food. Their motivation resulted from the fact that insects, when compared with traditional sources of protein, are more sustainable, i.e., require considerably less resources per kg of protein. This approach, in the current Earth’s population growth scenario, contributes to minimise the resources required for meeting food needs. The main goal of the proposal was to raise the awareness of the participants regarding sustainable development while creating a functional, cost-effective, eco-friendly and attractive prototype. The team, driven by this multidisciplinary problem, performed: (i) a survey of competing products; (ii) a selection of the insect species to grow based on the study and comparison of the life cycle and habitat requirements of different species of insects; (iii) a marketing plan; (iv) a sustainability and an ethic and deontological analysis of the proposed solution; and (v) the design, assembling and testing of the prototype. Furthermore, the students also developed cross-cultural understanding, teamwork and communication skills. The project provided an excellent opportunity to foster the concept of sustainable development amongst the students.

Abstract
Renewable energy sources (RES) are becoming the main players for the sustainability of the planet and achieving a 100% RES energy system has been attested as a good strategy to go forward in many countries. This target however defies the system to integrate highly variable RES in a system that does not allow for shortage on the energy supply. This work presents a possible 100% RES scenario for an electricity system close to the Portuguese estimating and analysing the economic and technical impacts. The sensitivity of the results to aspects related to RES availability, electricity demand, peak load and interconnection capacity for electricity trading were also analysed. The results highlighted the excess of electricity produced in 100% RES systems and the importance of including interconnection capacity to contribute to overcome this problem.