Abstract
This paper presents the first phase of the redevelopment of the Electric Vehicle Scenario Simulator (EVeSSi) tool. A new methodology to generate traffic demand scenarios for the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) tool for urban traffic simulation is described. This methodology is based on a Portugal census database to generate a synthetic population for a given area under study. A realistic case study of a Portuguese city, Vila Real, is assessed. For this area the road network was created along with a synthetic population and public transport. The traffic results were obtained and an electric buses fleet was evaluated assuming that the actual fleet would be replaced in a near future. The energy requirements to charge the electric fleet overnight were estimated in order to evaluate the impacts that it would cause in the local electricity network.

Abstract
As e-learning gradually evolved many specialized and disparate systems appeared to fulfil the needs of teachers and students, such as repositories of learning objects, authoring tools, intelligent tutors and automatic evaluators. This heterogeneity raises interoperability issues giving the standardization of content an important role in e-learning. This article presents a survey on current e-learning content aggregation standards focusing on their internal organization and packaging. This study is part of an effort to choose the most suitable specifications and standards for an e-learning framework called Ensemble defined as a conceptual tool to organize a network of e-learning systems and services for domains with complex evaluation.

Abstract
In most transportation infrastructure projects, earthworks are generally associated with the highest percentage costs and durations. Because these tasks are reliant on heavy machinery and repetitive tasks, they are strongly susceptible to optimization. This paper presents a study based on the application of artificial neural networks (ANN) on data originated from an actual earthwork construction project. Results show a good adjustment to the data while emphasizing the importance of optimal equipment allocation throughout the construction site. Finally, the architecture of an intelligent earthwork optimization system is presented, combining both data mining (DM) and modern optimization technologies, among others, to support equipment distribution optimization in earthwork projects. © ASCE 2014.

Abstract
Client-side logic and storage are increasingly used in web and mobile applications to improve response time and availability. Current approaches tend to be ad-hoc and poorly integrated with the server-side logic. We present a principled approach to integrate client-and server-side storage. We support both mergeable and strongly consistent transactions that target either client or server replicas and provide access to causally-consistent snapshots efficiently. In the presence of infrastructure faults, a client-assisted failover solution allows client execution to resume immediately and seamlessly access consistent snapshots without waiting. We implement this approach in SwiftCloud, the first transactional system to bring geo-replication all the way to the client machine. Example applications show that our programming model is useful across a range of application areas. Our experimental evaluation shows that SwiftCloud provides better fault tolerance and at the same time can improve both latency and throughput by up to an order of magnitude, compared to classical geo-replication techniques.

Abstract
Because of the development of enabling technologies such as appropriate metering infrastructures and communication possibilities, the smart-grid vision has started to be implemented. Smart appliances and Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEV) at the residential end-user premises constitute a typical example. Nevertheless, a distribution system (DS) that has been designed and operated by a distribution system operator (DSO) for decades considering only inflexible consumers has to be equipped with appropriate operating strategies and technological upgrades in order to adapt to the new conditions. This study examines the case in which PEV have penetrated in the DS without any supportive operational strategy. Next, a coordination strategy employed from the DSO for EV charging together with the scheduling of smart-appliances is proposed. In both cases, the selection of the daily optimal radial configuration of the DS is considered in order to facilitate the operational goals of the DSO. The optimality criterion is the minimization of the active power losses and both cases are compared by means of operational performance.

Abstract
The IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conferences on Virtual Enterprises (PRO-VE) has created, in 14 editions, a remarkable scientific and professional community intersecting several disciplines and resulting in a new one: collaborative networks. In this paper we present the results of a retrospective study of the conceptual system evolution of PRO-VE providing an instrument to reflect about the field's past and future. Our approach was socio-semantic trying to devise the influence between the researchers social network and the evolution of the conceptual system. Firstly, we made a terminological analysis of every PRO-VE proceeding resulting in a picture of the main concepts used in each edition and their relative importance. Then, we used social network analysis techniques to conclude about the influence of the researchers on the conceptual system evolution. The results suggest a relatively stable set of concepts influenced by a network of core researchers. However, some marked evolution in the relative importance of the concepts can be identified.