Abstract
The current paper proposes a new parametric local color correction technique. Initially, several color transfer functions are computed from the output of the mean shift color segmentation algorithm. Secondly, color influence maps are calculated. Finally, the contribution of every color transfer function is merged using the weights from the color influence maps. The proposed approach is compared with both global and local color correction approaches. Results show that our method outperforms the technique ranked first in a recent performance evaluation on this topic. Moreover, the proposed approach is computed in about one tenth of the time.

Abstract
In this paper, which deals with an work in progress, we present the results of a prototype that aims to enable blind people to autonomously acquire consumer goods in hypermarkets. The prototype implements an architecture that combines inertial, magnetic and multilateration techniques, supported by 802.11 networks and mobile devices. We present the preliminary results of positioning and orientation obtained in tests carried out in a hypermarket, and we discuss the main constraints observed as well as the challenges for future work. © 2011 AISTI.

Abstract
Organizations have in-built social responsibility to society. The evolution of technology have enable organizations to interact in an innovatively and more close approach to their clients. But this evolution has not included people with special needs like blind people. And, even those organizations that have enable some kind of support-approach to blind people, have typically disjointed, incomplete and typically parallel approaches; compared to their mass-client standard approach. This paper discusses the potential of Pervasive and Mobile Computing to support, not just an innovative and unified approach, but also a real possibility of promoting real inclusion of blind people in what concerns to the delivery of information and services organizations offer. This paper also represents a reflection and a mind shaking attempt, while the authors are working in allowing blind people an autonomous buying process, in hypermarkets, supported by the use of wireless networks and modern mobile devices, with multiple technologies support, like Wi-Fi and inertial and magnetic sensors.

Abstract
In critical situations, such as decision making in healthcare, is necessary to have access to all of the patient's information, the information must be reliable, and must be accessed in an easy and fast way. These requirements make medical information systems of extreme importance. However in today's molds and with the advent of the Internet and mobile devices, a paradigm shift, from the current isolated systems to interoperable distributed systems, that take advantage of ubiquitous computing, is needed. The present work proposes an architecture that aims to answer the needs of interoperability between heterogeneous systems and the need of ubiquity of medical information systems. A prototype was developed that tries to provide interoperability through a service-oriented architecture using web services. A mobile component was also developed to enable ubiquitous access to medical information. This work was based on the author's knowledge about the Portuguese National Health Service.

Abstract
Wireless sensor networks have found multiple applications in precision viticulture. Despite the steady progress in sensing devices and wireless technologies, some of the crucial items needed to improve the usability and scalability of the networks, such as gateway infrastructures and in-field processing, have been comparatively neglected. This paper describes the hardware, communication capabilities and software architecture of an intelligent autonomous gateway, designed to provide the necessary middleware between locally deployed sensor networks and a remote location within the whole-farm concept. This solar-powered infrastructure, denoted by iPAGAT (Intelligent Precision Agriculture Gateway), runs an aggregation engine that fills a local database with environmental data gathered by a locally deployed ZigBee wireless sensor network. Aggregated data are then retrieved by external queries over the built-in data integration system. In addition, embedded communication capabilities, including Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11 and GPRS, allow local and remote users to access both gateway and remote data, as well as the Internet, and run site-specific management tools using authenticated smartphones. Field experiments provide convincing evidence that iPAGAT represents an important step forward in the development of distributed service-oriented information systems for precision viticulture applications.

Abstract
Supercooling is still today one of the most challenging physical phenomena to be modelled in food bioprocess engineering. In this study, we evaluate the capacity of a finite-element-cellular automata (FEM-CA) approach to model the propagation of nucleation inside supercooled strawberries with five different morphologies (higher and lower volumes of vascular tissue, pulp, and central air void) frozen inside an air blast freezer under different operational conditions: initial temperature (0 to +20 A degrees C), air temperature (-45 to -20 A degrees C), and velocity (1 to 10 m s (-aEuro parts per thousand 1)). Results show that nucleation is highly affected by the initial temperature and heat transfer rate during phase change. The stochastic nature of nucleation only allowed us to consider it a random variable inside the model temperature restriction interval, it not yet being possible to know what triggers nucleation. However, this study allowed us to conclude that: (1) the structure of liquid water in the supercooled region plays a very significant role during the supercooling effect, (2) nucleation temperatures increase in the supercooled region due to the release of latent heat, and (3) strawberry morphology and operational variables have a profound effect on the supercooling capacity. In our opinion, supercooling is still an open subject, and only a deeper understanding of the structuring of water and dynamics of nucleation at the molecular level may lead to significant advances in the quality of frozen foods and cryopreservation.