Abstract
Background and aims: For several decades, psychological characteristics associated to obesity have been discussed, and it is important to know them as they could influence the development of the disease. Aim of this study was to describe psychological characteristics of an obese sample using psychometric self-evaluation, to compare psychological characteristics between sexes, between those who had and those who had not already tried to lose weight, and to evaluate the association between psychological parameters and age, education level, current BMI, desired weight BMI and BMI they wished to lose. Methods: An evaluation was carried on 261 females and 48 males (40.9 +/- 13.4; 52.0 +/- 11.3 years), overweight (BMI >= 25.0 kg/m(2)). Psychological characteristics were studied using Hopkins Symptom Distress Checklist 90 revised (SCL-90-R) (direct administration). Results: More than half of females obtained results indicating psychological distress (>1.5) in scales somatization (SOM), obsessive/compulsive (OBS), depression (DEP) and paranoid ideation (PAR). More than 40% of males had >1.5 points in SOM, OBS and PAR. Females showed significantly higher points in 9 subscales, and in positive symptom distress index (PSDI). Females who have tried to lose weight only showed a significantly higher SOM. Both male groups, who have tried to lose weight or not, were similar in the different subscales and in the PSDI. Older and less educated females had higher points in SOM/OBS/DEP/Phobic Anxiety/PSDI. Females with a higher BMI had significantly higher results in SOM/OBS/Interpersonal Sensitivity (IPS)/DEP/PSDI. There were no correlations in males between age or BMI and psychopathological evaluation. However, the lower the level of education the higher the points in SOM/OBS/IPS/Anxiety (ANX)/PAR/Psychoticism (PSY). Conclusions: Psychometric evaluation does not allow clinical diagnostics to be made, but our data suggest potential psychological symptoms in this obese sample. These symptoms seem to be more prevalent and intense in females and seem to be higher in older females, with higher BMI and less educated patients. Obesity and Metabolism 2009; 5: 78-85.

Abstract
Refinement by interpretation replaces signature morphisms by logic interpretations as a means to translate specifications and witness refinements. The approach was recently introduced by the authors [M. A. Martins, A. Madeira, and L. S. Barbosa. Refinement via interpretation. In Proc. of 7th IEEE Int. Conf. on Software Engineering and Formal Methods, Hanoi, Vietnam, November 2009. IEEE Computer Society Press] in the context of equational specifications, in order to capture a number of relevant transformations in software design, reuse and adaptation. This paper goes a step forward and discusses the generalization of this idea to deductive systems of arbitrary dimension. This makes possible, for example, to refine sentential into equational specifications and the latter into modal ones. Moreover, the restriction to logics with finitary consequence relations is dropped which results in increased flexibility along the software development process.

Abstract

Abstract
The environments of software development and software provision are shifting to Web-based platforms supported by Platform/Software as a Service (PaaS/SaaS) models. This paper will make the case that there is equally an opportunity for mobile operators to identify additional sources of revenue by exposing network functionalities through Web-based service platforms. By elaborating on the concepts, benefits and risks of SaaS and PaaS, several factors that should be taken into consideration in applying these models to the telecom world are delineated. © ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2009.

Abstract
Those who work in obesity treatment know that long term success is hard to achieve. The reasons for non compliance in diet therapies are not well understood. In this study, we tried to recognize difficulties and barriers linked to unsuccessful weight reduction. This study was conducted in an outpatient clinic of a central university hospital. 442 overweight patients (371 women and 71 men), with BMI >= 25 kg/m(2), were enquired about diet compliance: a) existence of difficulties; b) difficulty degree (five point scale); 0 barriers of diet therapy (close-ended options). Mean age was 41 years, with SD 13 years. More than half patients mentioned difficulties in the diet maintenance. When asked about the difficulty degree, almost all patients mentioned at least some difficulty with degree 3 "quite difficult" being the most common answer The top five barriers were similar for both genders, but they were differently ranked. Women seem to give more importance to psychological issues. Most overweight patients feel barriers in the compliance of their diet therapy. Although a similar proportion of males and females referred difficulties and similar difficulty degrees regarding their diet therapy, the main difficulty, came from different origins. This enhances the importance of establishing an individual food plan respecting sensorial properties and social environment, together with the patient's habits, psychological condition and motivation, as a way to encourage diet compliance and to achieve success in obesity treatment. Obesity and Metabolism 2009; 5: 107-113.

Abstract
Traditional notions of refinement of algebraic specifications, based on signature morphisms, art often too rigid to capture a number of relevant transformations in the context of software design, reuse and adaptation. This paper proposes an alternative notion of specification refinement, building on recent work on logic interpretation. The concept is discussed, its theory partially developed, its use illustrated through a number of examples.