Abstract
Process mining techniques are able to extract knowledge from event logs commonly available in today's information systems. These techniques provide new means to discover, monitor, and improve processes in a variety of application domains. There are two main drivers for the growing interest in process mining. On the one hand, more and more events are being recorded, thus, providing detailed information about the history of processes. On the other hand, there is a need to improve and support business processes in competitive and rapidly changing environments. This manifesto is created by the IEEE Task Force on Process Mining and aims to promote the topic of process mining. Moreover, by defining a set of guiding principles and listing important challenges, this manifesto hopes to serve as a guide for software developers, scientists, consultants, business managers, and end-users. The goal is to increase the maturity of process mining as a new tool to improve the (re)design, control, and support of operational business processes. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Abstract
Domain-specific optimizations on matrix computations exploiting specific arithmetic and matrix representation formats have achieved significant performance/area gains in Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) hardware designs. In this article, we explore the application of data-driven optimizations to reduce both storage and computation requirements to the problem of signal recognition from a known dictionary. By starting with a high-level mathematical representation of a signal recognition problem, we perform optimizations across the layers of the system, exploiting mathematical structure to improve implementation efficiency. Specifically, we use Walsh wavelet packets in conjunction with a BestBasis algorithm to distinguish between spoken digits. The resulting transform matrices are quite sparse, and exhibit a rich algebraic structure that contains significant overlap across rows. As a consequence, dot-product computations of the transform matrix and signal vectors exhibit significant computation reuse, or repeated identical computations. We present an algorithm for identifying this computation reuse and scheduling of the row computations. We exploit this reuse to derive FPGA hardware implementations that reduce the amount of computation for an individual matrix by as much as 6.35x and an average of 2x for a single dot-product unit. The implementation that exploits reuse achieves a 2x computation reduction compared to three concurrently-executing simpler accumulator units with the same aggregate design area and outperforms software implementations on high-end desktop personal computers.

Abstract
The Theory of Planned Behavior studies the decision-making mechanisms of individuals. We construct a game theoretical model to understand the role of leaders in decision-making of individuals or groups.We study the characteristics of the leaders that can have a positive or negative influence over others’ behavioral decisions. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.

Abstract
Network clustering problem (NCP) is the problem associated to the detection of network community structures. Building on Markov random walks we address this problem with a new ant colony optimization strategy, named as ACOMRW, which improves prior results on the NCP problem and does not require knowledge of the number of communities present on a given network. The framework of ant colony optimization is taken as the basic framework in the ACOMRW algorithm. At each iteration, a Markov random walk model is taken as heuristic rule; all of the ants' local solutions are aggregated to a global one through clustering ensemble, which then will be used to update a pheromone matrix. The strategy relies on the progressive strengthening of within-community links and the weakening of between-community links. Gradually this converges to a solution where the underlying community structure of the complex network will become clearly visible. The performance of algorithm ACOMRW was tested on a set of benchmark computer-generated networks, and as well on real-world network data sets. Experimental results confirm the validity and improvements met by this approach.

Abstract
The economical and environment impacts of fossil energies increased the interest for hybrid, battery and fuel-cell electric vehicles. Energy management systems (EMS) have a fundamental role in achieving high efficiency levels in vehicle performances, without compromise its drivability features. This is a complex task, since one is dealing with the integration of different physical subsystems. In addition, several vehicle electric power-train architectures must be considered, requiring different energy management approaches. Considering EMS for real-time applications will bring a higher complexity level. This paper aims at putting these efforts into perspective deriving a more holistic view of the literature in this topic. We start the analysis on the general requirements for EMS to identify the more demanding ones for real-time applications. Based on this analysis, we suggest some open challenges and describe new research opportunities. © 2011 INESC Coimbra.

Abstract
We consider a methodology for flexible software design, runtime programming, defined by recurrent, incremental software modifications to a program at runtime, called runtime patches. The principles we consider for runtime programming are model preservation and scalability. Model preservation means that a runtime patch preserves the programming model in place for programs - in terms of syntax, semantics, and correctness properties - as opposed to an "ad-hoc", disruptive operation, or one that requires an extra level of abstraction. Scalability means that, for practicality and performance, the effort in program compilation required by a runtime patch should ideally scale in proportion to the change induced by it. We formulate runtime programming over an abstract model for component-based concurrent programs, defined by a modular relation between the syntax and semantics of programs, plus built-in notions of initialization and quiescence. The notion of a runtime patch is defined over these assumptions, as a model-preserving transition between two programs and respective states. Additionally, we propose an incremental compilation framework for scalability in patch compilation. The formulation is put in perspective through a case-study instantiation over a language for distributed hard real-time systems, the Hierarchical Timing Language (HTL). © 2011 IEEE.