Abstract
In this paper, we propose and evaluate six methods for the segmentation of skin lesions in dermoscopic images. This set includes some state of the art techniques which have been successfully used in many medical imaging problems (gradient vector flow (GVF) and the level set method of Chan et al. [(C-LS)]. It also includes a set of methods developed by the authors which were tailored to this particular application (adaptive thresholding (AT), adaptive snake (AS), EM level set [(EM-LS), and fuzzy-based split-and-merge algorithm (FBSM)]. The segmentation methods were applied to 100 dermoscopic images and evaluated with four different metrics, using the segmentation result obtained by an experienced dermatologist as the ground truth. The best results were obtained by the AS and EM-LS methods, which are semi-supervised methods. The best fully automatic method was FBSM, with results only slightly worse than AS and EM-LS.

Abstract
This paper presents a humanoid servomotor model that can be used in simulations. Once simulation is a tool that reduces the software production time, it was developed a realistic simulator that own the humanoid features. Based on a real platform, the simulator is validated when compared with the reality.

Abstract
This paper is concerned with the transient stability of variable-speed wind turbines with permanent magnet synchronous machines at a pitch control malfunction. As wind power generation undergoes rapid growth, new technical challenges emerge: dynamic stability and power quality. We study the influence of a pitch control malfunction on the quality of the energy injected into the electrical grid, analyzing the transient stability with different topologies for the power-electronic converters. Computer simulations obtained by using Matlab/Simulink are presented, and conclusions are duly drawn.

Abstract
The study of individual plant cells and their growth structure is an important focus of research in plant genetics. To obtain development information at cellular level, researchers need to perform in vivo imaging of the specimen under study, through time-lapse confocal microscopy. Within this research field it is important to understand mechanisms like cell division and elongation of developing cells. We describe a tool to automatically search for cell division in the Arabidopsis thaliana using information of nuclei shape. The nuclei detection is based on a convergence index filter. Cell division detection is performed by an automatic classifier, trained through cross-validation. The results are further improved by a stability criterion based on the Mahalanobis distance of the shape of the nuclei through time. With this approach, we can achieve a correct detection rate of 94.7%. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Abstract
For the spatial stochastic epidemic reinfection model SIRI, where susceptibles S can become infected I, then recover and remain only partial immune against reinfection R, we determine the phase transition lines using pair approximation for the moments derived from the master equation. We introduce a scaling argument that allows us to determine analytically an explicit formula for these phase transition lines and prove rigorously the heuristic results obtained previously.

Abstract
This paper is on the problem of short-term hydro scheduling, particularly concerning a head-dependent hydro chain. We propose a novel mixed-integer nonlinear programming approach for optimizing power generation efficiency. The proposed approach considers not only the nonlinear dependence between power generation, water discharge and head, but also discontinuous operating regions, in order to obtain more realistic and feasible results. Numerical results, based on one of the Portuguese cascaded hydro systems, illustrate the proficiency of the proposed approach. Finally, conclusions are duly drawn.