Abstract
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are remarkable machines that revolutionized the collection of data at sea. There are many examples of highly operational man-portable vehicles for shallow waters, but there was no similar solution for deep water operations. This paper describes the development of a portable, modular, hovering AUV for deep water operations. The vehicle has little over 50kg, 2.4m of length, and a depth rating of 4000m. The first version of the vehicle has been assembled, it has gone through the initial tests in water tanks, and it is being prepared for the first operations at sea. © 2017 Marine Technology Society.

Abstract
In continental Portugal, the publicly financed supply of gastroenterology exams was limited since the end of the last century, restricted to a fixed set of private providers that was hired by the Portuguese state. This way of contracting created market entry barriers and is inefficient, since prices are administratively set. Besides, it produced access inequalities, because of the way that the supply was geographically distributed. This paper applies the Extended Kernel Density 4-Step Floating Catchment Area (EKD4SFCA) method to identify priority districts for the promotion of new supply by the state, in order to choose the appropriate way of contracting new private supply, as determined by current law, and to reduce access inequalities. The applied method enables the identification of the Portuguese regions with strong competition between health care providers and where patients’ access to publicly financed gastroenterology exams is relatively low. In these regions, the state should promote public bids to stimulate new supply, exploring thereby the potential for setting lower prices and reducing access inequalities.

Abstract
This paper describes a new current control method that enhances the dynamic performance of a singlephase bidirectional AC-DC battery charger to provide a high-frequency link between the grid and electric vehicle. The single-stage structure and the bidirectional power flow make the matrix converter an attractive solution for electric vehicle (EV) battery charging applications in the context of smart grids. The operating principles and modulation method are analyzed and discussed in detail. Furthermore, a current controller improved with a Smith predictor is proposed to decrease the phase delay in the measurement of the average current in the battery pack. The SP reduces the rise time to around a third and the settling time to half when compared with a PI controller. Simulations and experimental results from a laboratory prototype are shown to verify the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.

Abstract
The original version of this article unfortunately contained an error in the author affiliation. The corresponding author, “Dr. Borislav Nikoli´c” is currently affiliated in “Technische Universität Braunschweig”, but the work of this paper was performed and funded by CISTER/INESC-TEC, ISEP, IPP. Therefore, the corresponding author is linked to both the affiliations. This has been corrected with this erratum.

Abstract
In this work, we investigate the superfluidic properties of light propagating in a four-level coherent atomic medium. The model is derived under the paraxial approximation in the form of a generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation and features spatially controllable and quantum-enhanced optical properties, which can offer new possibilities in the field of optical analogue systems. In particular, we use this versatility to study the dynamics of an optical vortex beam confined in a nontrivial connected geometry, finding numerical evidence of another superfluidic signature analogue: the persistent current of light. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America

Abstract
BackgroundUltrasound is an effective tool for breast cancer diagnosis. However, its relatively low image quality makes small lesion analysis challenging. This promotes the development of tools to help clinicians in the diagnosis. MethodsWe propose a method for segmentation and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of lesions from ultrasound images acquired using the automated breast volume scanner (ABVS). Segmentation and reconstruction algorithms are applied to obtain the lesion's 3D geometry. A total of 140 artificial lesions with different sizes and shapes are reconstructed in gelatin-based phantoms and biological tissue. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) is used to evaluate the reconstructed shapes. The algorithm is tested using a human breast phantom and clinical data from six patients. ResultsDSC values are 0.860.06 and 0.86 +/- 0.05 for gelatin-based phantoms and biological tissue, respectively. The results are validated by a specialized clinician. ConclusionsEvaluation metrics show that the algorithm accurately segments and reconstructs various lesions. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.