Abstract
Several studies have demonstrated the advantages of using IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technologies[5], which allow the users to phone a computer and access services by pressing the appropriate touch-tone keys on their telephones. Because it offers substantial benefits in terms of cost and time efficiency, there is a continuous pursuit for increased automation using IVR. The real challenge lies in providing a user-friendly, yet cost-effective interface to users in order to improve their interaction with existing services, making them more usable and useful, providing an experience that fits their specific objectives and utilization contexts. This paper describes a method and system for providing customizable audio access to email messages kept in several IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) backstorages using an IVR application that takes full advantage of TTS (Text-To-Speech) software.

Abstract
Automatically evaluating source program files is a crucial part of programming contests. The evaluation aims at discriminating programs according to their correctness and efficiency. Given the performance of today's computers, in order to be able to distinguish the complexity of solutions, it is often necessary to use very large data sets. This is awkward, because it is against the nature of the stated problem and puts an unintended burden on the input operations. Besides, by advertizing a limit for the size of the input, the problem description gives away information with which the contestants may guess the algorithmic complexity that their solutions must attain. It would be more realistic to omit that information and let the contestants discover the limits by analyzing the problem, using a scientific approach. The complexity of the solution can then be estimated automatically by measuring the execution time of the function that solves the problem in incremental test cases, and plotting it against the size of the input. By calling the function multiple times and taking the overall time, we may use only data files the size of which is related to the nature of the problem being solved. © 2009 Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Vilnius.

Abstract
In this paper, an accurate method that estimates the HNR from sustained vowels based on harmonic structure modeling is proposed. Basically, the proposed algorithm creates an accurate harmonic structure where each harmonic is parameterized by frequency, magnitude and phase. The harmonic structure is then synthesized and assumed as the harmonic component of the speech signal. The noise component can be estimated by subtracting the harmonic component from the speech signal. The proposed algorithm was compared to others HNR extraction algorithms based on spectral, cepstral and time domain methods, and using different performance measures.

Abstract
Two programs were recently developed for the aesthetic evaluation of results in breast cancer conservative treatment: the Breast Cancer Conservative Treatment cosmetic results (BCCT.core) and the Breast Analyzing Tool (BAT). Both make use of a face-only photographic view of the patient and were developed to overcome the lack of reproducibility observed with subjective visual evaluation. The BCCT.core analyses several parameters related to asymmetry, color differences and scar appearance, while the BAT considers only asymmetry measurements. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of these two methods. Material and methods Digital pictures of 59 patients from Porto and 60 from Vienna were evaluated subjectively by two panels using the four-class Harris scale. The Porto photographs had a similar backlight and better quality, and were evaluated by an international panel of 23 experts. The Vienna photographs had different backlight and lower quality, and were evaluated by four students and two breast cancer specialists. All 119 cases were submitted to analysis using the BCCT.core and BAT. Agreement between the software programs and the subjective evaluation was calculated using kappa (k), weighted kappa statistics (wk) and error rate (er). Results In overall analysis, BCCT.core program obtained a better agreement with the subjective evaluation (k = 0.56; wk = 0,64; er = 0.20) than the BAT software (k = 0.39; wk = 0.46; er = 0.42) (P < 0.0007). Results were again better for the BCCT.core program, when analysing the photographs obtained in Porto (k = 0.71; wk = 0.78; er = 0.14) than for the BAT (k = 0.35; wk = 0.41; er = 0.51) (P < 0.0003) while no significant differences in agreement were obtained regarding the Vienna images (P > 0.1). Conclusions The results suggest that the inclusion of multiple parameters in image analyses of aesthetic results has the potential to improve results. However, picture quality is probably important for analysis of other features besides asymmetry.

Abstract
We present a new R&D investment function in a Cournot competition model inspired in the logistic equation. We do a full characterization of the associated game and study the short- and long-term economical effects derived from using this new R&D investment function. In particular, we find the existence of regions with multiple Nash investment equilibria. For low production costs, that can correspond to the production of old technologies, the long-term economical effects are not very sensitive to small changes in the efficiency of the R&D programmes neither to small changes in the market structure. However, for high production costs, that can correspond to the production of new technologies, the long-term economical effects are very sensitive to small changes in the efficiency of the R&D programmes and also to small changes in the market structure.

Abstract
With the massive migration of real world bureaucratic and business processes to the virtual world comes an ever increasing dependency on the security of the Internet infrastructure. To ensure the secure exchange of sensitive personal information and to help support the provisioning of a multitude of identity mechanisms and protocols there is an increased need for a very flexible, interoperable and user-centric Identity Management infrastructure. OpenID is a decentralized system protocol for user-centric identification and digital identity management in the Internet that is being largely deployed all over the world. In this paper we present Extended OpenID (EOID), an Identity Provider which leverages a secured OpenID 2.0 infrastructure with the recently released Portuguese Citizen Card (CC). EOID is composed by an OpenID server that uses the CC for strong authentication and a Firefox Plugin for an easier much more secure user experience.