Abstract
This work presents a low cost RTK-GPS system for localization of unmanned surface vehicles. The system is based on the use of standard low cost L1 band receivers and in the RTKlib open source software library. Mission scenarios with multiple robotic vehicles are addressed as the ones envisioned in the ICARUS search and rescue case where the possibility of having a moving RTK base on a large USV and multiple smaller vehicles acting as rovers in a local communication network allows for local relative localization with high quality. The approach is validated in operational conditions with results presented for moving base scenario. The system was implemented in the SWIFT USV with the ROAZ autonomous surface vehicle acting as a moving base. This setup allows for the performing of a missions in a wider range of environments and applications such as precise 3D environment modeling in contained areas and multiple robot operations.

Abstract
This paper proposes the concept of refraction, a principled means to lower the cost of managing reflective meta-data for pervasive systems. While prior work has demonstrated the bene fits of reflective component-based middleware for building open and reconfigurable applications, the cost of using remote reflective operations remains high. Refractive components address this problem by selectively augmenting application data flows with their reflective meta-data, which travels at low cost to reflective pools, which serve as loci of inspection and control for the distributed application. Additionally reflective policies are introduced, providing a mechanism to trigger reconfigurations based on incoming reflective meta-data. We evaluate the performance of refraction in a case-study of automatic con figuration repair for a real-world pervasive application. We show that refraction reduces network overhead in comparison to the direct use of reflective operations while not increasing development overhead. To enable further experimentation with the concept of refraction, we provide RxCom, an open-source refractive component model and supporting runtime environment.

Abstract
This work reports the theoretical investigation of optical fiber surface plasmon resonance sensors incorporating an internal metallic layer of silver covered with an oxide layer. This research is supported by the application of an effective analytical model combining geometrical optics with the transfer matrix theory for stratified optical media. Different oxide materials like titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, and aluminum oxide are considered aiming to achieve increased/enhanced sensitivity to refractive index variations of the external medium, particularly when addressing phase interrogation. It is shown that the combination of a 50-nm thickness silver inner layer with a dielectric titanium oxide layer of a specific thickness enables high-performance phase sensitivity reading and is compatible with tailoring the sensor working region to the third telecommunication wavelength window around 1550 nm.

Abstract
Smart Grids (SGs) have emerged as the new paradigm for power system operation and management, being designed to include large amounts of distributed energy resources. This new paradigm requires new Energy Resource Management (ERM) methodologies considering different operation strategies and the existence of new management players such as several types of aggregators. This paper proposes a methodology to facilitate the coalition between distributed generation units originating Virtual Power Players (VPP) considering a game theory approach. The proposed approach consists in the analysis of the classifications that were attributed by each VPP to the distributed generation units, as well as in the analysis of the previous established contracts by each player. The proposed classification model is based in fourteen parameters including technical, economical and behavioural ones. Depending of the VPP strategies, size and goals, each parameter has different importance. VPP can also manage other type of energy resources, like storage units, electric vehicles, demand response programs or even parts of the MV and LV distribution network. A case study with twelve VPPs with different characteristics and one hundred and fifty real distributed generation units is included in the paper.

Abstract
Background: A vast amount of DNA variation is being identified by increasingly large-scale exome and genome sequencing projects. To be useful, variants require accurate functional annotation and a wide range of tools are available to this end. McCarthy et al recently demonstrated the large differences in prediction of loss-of-function (LoF) variation when RefSeq and Ensembl transcripts are used for annotation, highlighting the importance of the reference transcripts on which variant functional annotation is based. Results: We describe a detailed analysis of the similarities and differences between the gene and transcript annotation in the GENCODE and RefSeq genesets. We demonstrate that the GENCODE Comprehensive set is richer in alternative splicing, novel CDSs, novel exons and has higher genomic coverage than RefSeq, while the GENCODE Basic set is very similar to RefSeq. Using RNAseq data we show that exons and introns unique to one geneset are expressed at a similar level to those common to both. We present evidence that the differences in gene annotation lead to large differences in variant annotation where GENCODE and RefSeq are used as reference transcripts, although this is predominantly confined to non-coding transcripts and UTR sequence, with at most similar to 30% of LoF variants annotated discordantly. We also describe an investigation of dominant transcript expression, showing that it both supports the utility of the GENCODE Basic set in providing a smaller set of more highly expressed transcripts and provides a useful, biologically-relevant filter for further reducing the complexity of the transcriptome. Conclusions: The reference transcripts selected for variant functional annotation do have a large effect on the outcome. The GENCODE Comprehensive transcripts contain more exons, have greater genomic coverage and capture many more variants than RefSeq in both genome and exome datasets, while the GENCODE Basic set shows a higher degree of concordance with RefSeq and has fewer unique features. We propose that the GENCODE Comprehensive set has great utility for the discovery of new variants with functional potential, while the GENCODE Basic set is more suitable for applications demanding less complex interpretation of functional variants.

Abstract
Linear logic programs are challenging to implement efficiently because facts are asserted and retracted frequently. Implementation is made more difficult with the introduction of useful features such as rule priorities, which are used to specify the order of rule inference, and comprehensions or aggregates, which are mechanisms that make data iteration and gathering more intuitive. In this paper, we describe a compilation scheme for transforming linear logic programs enhanced with those features into efficient C++ code. Our experimental results show that compiled logic programs are less than one order of magnitude slower than hand-written C programs and much faster than interpreted languages such as Python.