Abstract
The application of organic wastes to agricultural soils may have adverse effects on soil quality. Different end-points are proposed to be analysed and included in organic waste management programmes. The aim of this laboratory study was to determine how the application of increasing concentrations of broiler chicken litter, dairy sludge and cattle slurry can affect survival, body mass change and metal accumulation in Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826). Generally, no mortality occurred for the different organic wastes concentrations at the end of the study. In addition, significant increases of body mass were observed on earthworms exposed to the highest concentrations of the organic wastes. Organic wastes increased concentration of some metals in soil (mainly, Cu and Zn in broiler litter and dairy sludge mixtures) and in E. fetida tissue (mainly, Cu in earthworms from broiler litter containers), although metal contents in soil-waste mixtures were always below legal limits. The negligible toxic effect of organic wastes on earthworms was due to the low heavy metal levels of those organic wastes and due to some nutritional or habitat advantages promoted by them. Results obtained demonstrated that body mass change was the most sensitive end-point and, therefore, should be integrated on a battery of ecotoxicological assays to evaluate the ecotoxicity of this type of organic wastes.

Abstract
Hand gesture recognition for human computer interaction is an area of active research in computer vision and machine learning. The primary goal of gesture recognition research is to create a system, which can identify specific human gestures and use them to convey information or for device control. This paper presents a comparative study of four classification algorithms for static hand gesture classification using two different hand features data sets. The approach used consists in identifying hand pixels in each frame, extract features and use those features to recognize a specific hand pose. The results obtained proved that the ANN had a very good performance and that the feature selection and data preparation is an important phase in the all process, when using low-resolution images like the ones obtained with the camera in the current work.

Abstract
This paper proposes a methodology for the evaluation of the performance of multistage multiproduct production lines, based on discrete-event simulation models, and developed in an Arena simulation environment. Its purpose is that of analysing blockage and starvation phenomena on a complex production line so as to assist in the decision-making process, since it allows for a greater understanding of the functioning of the production line. This is undertaken through the variation of different parameters, thus contributing to a better specification, characterization and definition of the most efficient planning and control system to be implemented in multistage multiproduct manufacturing processes. The methodology was validated by performing different simulation experiments and will be applied to a multistage multiproduct production line, based on a real case, with a closed-loop network configuration of machines and intermediate buffers consisting of conveyors, which is very common in the automobile sector. There are, in fact, very few studies undertaken which use simulation as a support tool in the decision-making process in the context of networks of closed-loop production lines.

Abstract
There is an increasing demand for efficient and robust systems able to cope with today's global needs for intensive data dissemination, e.g., media content or news feeds. Unfortunately, traditional approaches tend to focus on one end of the efficiency/robustness design spectrum, by either leveraging rigid structures such as trees to achieve efficient distribution, or using loosely-coupled epidemic protocols to obtain robustness. In this paper we present BRISA, a hybrid approach combining the robustness of epidemic-based dissemination with the efficiency of tree-based structured approaches. This is achieved by having dissemination structures such as trees implicitly emerge from an underlying epidemic substrate by a judicious selection of links. These links are chosen with local knowledge only and in such a way that the completeness of data dissemination is not compromised, i.e., the resulting structure covers all nodes. Failures are treated as an integral part of the system as the dissemination structures can be promptly compensated and repaired thanks to the underlying epidemic substrate. Besides presenting the protocol design, we conduct an extensive evaluation in a real environment, analyzing the effectiveness of the structure creation mechanism and its robustness under faults and churn. Results confirm BRISA as an efficient and robust approach to data dissemination in the large scale.

Abstract
This paper briefly presents the main points on the development and testing of an extremum seeking controller used to maximize the longitudinal velocity of surface sailing vehicles by changing the angle of the sail. The algorithm is suitable for sailing purposes since it requires only the measurements of the vehicle's velocity and the sail angle. As an illustration, we present a few simulation results on our previously-obtained sailing yacht simulator, which was developed based on a 4 DOF nonlinear dynamic model for surface sailing vehicles, showing that the proposed extremum seeking controller is capable of maximizing the sailing yacht's speed performance through online sail tuning. Furthermore, the proposed sail optimization algorithm is tested at sea on an experimental platform, i.e. a small scale autonomous sailboat, illustrating the potential of the controller.

Abstract
The aim of the work presented in this paper consists of the development of a decision-making support system, based on discrete-event simulation models, of an automobile assembly line which was implemented within an Arena simulation environment and focused at a very specific class of production lines with a four closed-loop network configuration. This layout system reflects one of the most common configurations of automobile assembly and preassembly lines formed by conveyors. The sum of the number of pallets on the intermediate buffers, remains constant, except for the fourth closed-loop, which depends on the four-door car ratio (x) implemented between the door disassembly and assembly stations of the car body. Some governing equations of the four closed-loops are not compatible with the capacities of several intermediate buffers for certain values of variable x. This incompatibility shows how the assembly line cannot operate in practice for x<0,37 and for x>0,97 in a stationary regime, due to the starvation phenomenon or the failure of supply to the machines on the production line. We have evaluated the impact of the pallet numbers circulating on the first closed-loop on the performance of the production line, translated into the number of cars produced / hour, in order to improve the availability of the entire manufacturing system for any value of x. Until the present date, these facts have not been presented in specialized literature.