Abstract
This paper is on the problem of short-term hydro scheduling, particularly concerning head-dependent reservoirs under competitive environment. We propose a new nonlinear optimization method to consider hydroelectric power generation as a function of water discharge and also of the head. Head-dependency is considered on short-term hydro scheduling in order to obtain more realistic and feasible results. The proposed method has been applied successfully to solve a case study based on one of the main Portuguese cascaded hydro systems, providing a higher profit at a negligible additional computation time in comparison with a linear optimization method that ignores head-dependency. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract
We study the European river Danube and the South American river Negro daily water levels. We present a fit for the Negro daily water level period and standard deviation. Unexpectedly, we discover that the river Negro and Danube are mirror rivers in the sense that the daily water levels fluctuations histograms are close to the universal non-parametric BHP and reversed BHP, respectively. Hence, the probability of a certain positive fluctuation range in the river Negro is, approximately, equal to the probability of the corresponding symmetric negative fluctuation range in the river Danube.

Abstract
In this work, it is presented a Sagnac interferometric configuration based on a suspended twin-core fibre for sensing applications. Using the suspended twin-core fibre, the fringe pattern is due to the differential optical path of the light in the two cores associated with a refractive index difference of similar to 10(-3), which indicates an advantage of this approach compared with those based on Hi-Bi fibres, namely the possibility to use a small length of suspended twin-core fibre. The sensing configuration was characterized for torsion, temperature and strain. Using the Fast Fourier Transform technique it is possible to obtain the measurand induced amplitude variations of the fringe pattern. The results obtained indicate the viability of a temperature and strain independent torsion sensor.

Abstract
This paper is on the problem of short-term hydro, scheduling, particularly concerning head-dependent cascaded hydro systems. We propose a novel mixed-integer quadratic programming approach, considering not only head-dependency, but also discontinuous operating regions and discharge ramping constraints. Thus, an enhanced short-term hydro scheduling is provided due to the more realistic modeling presented in this paper. Numerical results from two case studies, based on Portuguese cascaded hydro systems, illustrate the proficiency of the proposed approach.

Abstract
We developed and tested the performance of a new wavelet based algorithm for Augmentation Index (AIx) determination. The evaluation method relies on reference cardiac-like pulses that are synthesized using a weighted combination of exponentially shaped sub-pulses that represent the three main components of real pulses: the systolic stroke, its reflected replica and the carotid reservoir or windkessel effect. The pulses are parameterized so as to reproduce the main types of cardiac waveforms. The values of AIx yielded by the new algorithm are compared with the ones computed directly from the synthesized waveform and with the values produced by standard Probability Density Function (PDF) analysis.

Abstract
This paper describes an approach and an implementation for the semantic integration of social and domain ontologies in a collaborative platform. The platform, built based on the Drupal CMS framework, aims to offer SMEs possibilities to access specific knowledge by means of a collaborative community. A model to semantically express the socio-collaborative activities of the platform connected with the domain knowledge related to the project is presented. The model is based on existing W3C ontologies such as FOAF, SIOC and SIOC-types for the socio-collaborative semantics and SKOS to describe the domain knowledge. An architecture to support the model and related applications of the semantic metadata generated in the platform are also described.