Abstract
In this paper we present the main concepts of a domain-specific aspect language for specifying cross-cutting concerns of MATLAB programs, together with a suite of metrics that is capable of assessing the overall advantage of introducing aspects in the development cycle of MATLAB software. We present the results of using our own suite to quantify the advantages of using aspect oriented programming, both in terms of programming effort and code quality. The results are promising and show a good potential for aspect oriented programming in MATLAB while our suite proves to be capable of analyzing the overall characteristics of MATLAB solutions and providing interesting results about them.

Abstract
The development of applications for high-performance embedded systems is typically a long and error-prone process. In addition to the required functions, developers must consider various and often conflicting non-functional application requirements such as performance and energy efficiency. The complexity of this process is exacerbated by the multitude of target architectures and the associated retargetable mapping tools. This paper introduces an Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) approach that conveys domain knowledge and non-functional requirements to optimizers and mapping tools. We describe a novel AOP language, LARA, which allows the specification of compilation strategies to enable efficient generation of software code and hardware cores for alternative target architectures. We illustrate the use of LARA for code instrumentation and analysis, and for guiding the application of compiler and hardware synthesis optimizations. An important LARA feature is its capability to deal with different join points, action models, and attributes, and to generate an aspect intermediate representation. We present examples of our aspect-oriented hardware/software design flow for mapping real-life application codes to embedded platforms based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. © 2012 ACM.

Abstract
Meeting safety requirements typically require substantial invasive extensions to applications. Even in the absence of faults, the overhead associated with these invasive extensions may unacceptably increase execution time. In this paper we focus on a number of experiments with schemes for error detection, having a 3D Path Planning application for an avionics system as case study. We analyze how these error detection schemes can be implemented to meeting system's time budget. The experiments allowed us to acquire the requirements for automating the application of the error detection schemes in the context of a hardware/software design-flow, and to determine how those schemes can be addressed using a novel approach where safety requirements are described using an aspect- and strategy-oriented programming language, named LARA. For our experiments and validation, we consider an FPGA-based embedded system consisting of a general purpose processor (GPP) coupled to custom computing units which are primarily used for hardware acceleration and for implementing fault detection schemes. © 2012 IEEE.

Abstract
The development of applications for high-performance Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based embedded systems is a long and error-prone process. Typically, developers need to be deeply involved in all the stages of the translation and optimization of an application described in a high-level programming language to a lower-level design description to ensure the solution meets the required functionality and performance. This paper describes the use of a novel aspect-oriented hardware/software design approach for FPGA-based embedded platforms. The design-flow uses LARA, a domain-specific aspect-oriented programming language designed to capture high-level specifications of compilation and mapping strategies, including sequences of data/computation transformations and optimizations. With LARA, developers are able to guide a design-flow to partition and map an application between hardware and software components. We illustrate the use of LARA on two complex real-life applications using high-level compilation and synthesis strategies for achieving complete hardware/software implementations with speedups of 2.5x and 6.8x over software-only implementations. By allowing developers to maintain a single application source code, this approach promotes developer productivity as well as code and performance portability.

Abstract

Abstract
Intelligence is increasingly emerging in our ambients. Evidences of this emergence are the existence of smart homes, smart vehicles, intelligent manufacturing systems and most importantly, the appearance of the concept of intelligent cities. Humans are presently surrounded by technology that is intended to increase their quality of life and simplify their daily activities. Multi-Agent Systems are an example of technology that can be used in these activities. The concept of ubiquitous computing is implicit in these technologies and can generate an invisible ambient of interactivity. This paper presents a survey and a comparative analysis of some of the research projects concerning Ambient Intelligence (AmI). The main objective of this work was to understand the current necessities, devices and the main results in the development of these projects. By analysing these projects using several evaluation criteria one of the main conclusions is that most projects do not explore the potential of human profiles in the context of ambient adaptation. Thus, this may be a very intersting research area for future work.