Abstract
This paper proposes a novel Case Based Reasoning (CBR) application for intelligent management of energy resources in residential buildings. The proposed CBR approach enables analyzing the history of previous cases of energy reduction in buildings, and using them to provide a suggestion on the ideal level of energy reduction that should be applied in the consumption of houses. The innovations of the proposed CBR model are the application of the k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm (k-NN) clustering algorithm to identify similar past cases, the adaptation of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) meta-heuristic optimization method to optimize the choice of the variables that characterize each case, and the development of expert systems to adapt and refine the final solution. A case study is presented, which considers a knowledge base containing a set of scenarios obtained from the consumption of a residential building. In order to provide a response for a new case, the proposed CBR application selects the most similar cases and elaborates a response, which is provided to the SCADA House Intelligent Management (SHIM) system as input data. SHIM uses this specification to determine the loads that should be reduced in order to fulfill the reduction suggested by the CBR approach. Results show that the proposed approach is capable of suggesting the most adequate levels of reduction for the considered house, without compromising the comfort of the users.

Abstract
The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in power systems intensifies the need of enhancing the flexibility in grid operations in order to accommodate the uncertain power output of the leading RES such as wind and solar generation. Utilities have been recently showing increasing interest in developing Demand Response (DR) programs in order to match generation and demand in a more efficient way. Incentive and price-based DR programs aim at enabling the demand side in order to achieve a range of operational and economic advantages, towards developing a more sustainable power system structure. The contribution of the presented study is twofold. First, a complete and up-to-date overview of DR enabling technologies, programs and consumer response types is presented. Furthermore, the benefits and the drivers that have motivated the adoption of DR programs, as well as the barriers that may hinder their further development, are thoroughly discussed. Second, the international DR status quo is identified by extensively reviewing existing programs in different regions.

Abstract
With the expansion of smart meters, like the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), each smart city is equipped with various kinds of electronic devices. Therefore, equipment and technologies enable us to be smarter and make various aspects of smart cities more accessible and applicable. The goal of the current paper is to provide an inclusive review on the concept of the smart city besides their different applications, benefits, and advantages. In addition, most of the possible IoT technologies are introduced, and their capabilities to merge into and apply to the different parts of smart cities are discussed. The potential application of smart cities with respect to technology development in the future provides another valuable discussion in this paper. Meanwhile, some practical experiences all across the world and the key barriers to its implementation are thoroughly expressed.

Abstract
Understanding the impact of corruption in modern societies, namely in standard of living, health and education services, is an issue that has attracted increased attention in recent years. This paper examines the relationship between the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) provided by Transparency International and the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Program and its components. The analysis is done for clusters of countries with similar levels of development. For the countries with high levels of development, it was found a negative relationship between corruption and human development. Moreover, for these countries, higher corruption levels are related to poor health care services, poor education services and low standard of living. For the other clusters of countries, these relationships were not statistically significant. The results obtained reinforce the importance of efforts by international politicians and organizations in fighting corruption, particularly in highly developed countries, to promote development.

Abstract
Transmission and reception of high-speed short range signal is important for successful underwater water communications between an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) or Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and a docking station or underwater sensor nodes during a survey mission. The need for this form of application is currently receiving global attention from scientific groups and industries. Hence, underwater antennas are therefore required to provide these links and achieve good data rates and propagation distances for these applications either in fresh or sea water scenario. In this paper, the performance of loop antenna placed at a specified distance and parallel to the ground plane is assessed through simulation for usage in fresh water and operating in the High Frequency (HF) band. Three variations of this antenna namely; the circular loop, the square loop and the delta loop antennas has been placed on two different ground plane shapes (circular and square) for analyses of their performances. These antennas were designed in FEKO, an electromagnetic simulation software and their performance is assessed in terms of bandwidth and directivity. The results obtained shows that the antennas exhibit wideband and high directivity with square loop antenna placed on a square ground plane having slight advantages over the other antennas with respect to their bandwidth and directivity. Experimental results added for the same antenna, confirmed its performance in terms of the measured parameters are in good agreement with simulation results.

Abstract
This paper describes an optimization procedure for a robot with 12 degrees of freedom avoiding the inverse kinematics problem, which is a hard task for this type of robot manipulator. This robot can be used to pick and place tasks in complex designs. Combining an accurate and fast direct kinematics model with optimization strategies, it is possible to achieve the joints angles for a desired end-effector position and orientation. The optimization methods stretched simulated annealing algorithm and genetic algorithm were used. The solutions found were validated using data originated by a real and by a simulated robot formed by 12 servomotors with a gripper.