Abstract
Causality plays a central role as a building block in solving important problems in distributed systems, such as replication, debugging, group communication and global snapshots. To be useful, causality must be realised by actual mechanisms that can track it and encode it. Existing causality tracking mechanisms, such as vector clocks and version vectors, rely on mappings from globally unique identifiers to integer counters. In a system with a well known set of entities these identifiers can be pre-configured and given distinct positions in a vector or distinct names in a mapping. Identity management is more problematic in dynamic systems, with a large and highly variable number of entities, being worsened when network partitions occur. Present solutions for causality tracking are not appropriate to these increasingly common scenarios. This work introduces novel causality tracking mechanisms that can be used in scenarios with a dynamic number of entities. These allow completely decentralised creation of entities (processes or replicas) with no need for global identifiers or global coordination. These mechanisms have a variable size representation that adapts automatically to the number of entities, growing or shrinking appropriately. This book is the published version of the first half of my PhD thesis, and focus its discourse on logical clock systems and the challenges of autonomous operation.

Abstract
In this paper it is intended to solve an Economical Dispatch (ED) problem with a new tool, named Sensing Cloud Optimization (SCO). It is a technique based on clouds of particles which allow a dynamic change in search space. It has appropriate heuristic characteristic to solve not convex, not differentiable and highly constrained optimisation problems. It is provided with a statistical analysis which determines the cloud's dimension with dynamic adjustments in search space in order to accelerate the convergence and to avoid to get trapped in local minima. Two case studies are presented in which SCO demonstrated good performances reaching lower cost values where compared with other techniques.

Abstract
Controlling, maintaining, and improving quality is a central topic in manufacturing. Total Quality Management (TQM) provides several tools and techniques to deal with quality related topics, which are not always applicable. With the increased use of Information Technology (IT) in manufacturing there is a higher availability of data with great potential of further improvements. At the same time this results in higher requirements for data storage and processing with demanding, time consuming sessions for interpretation. Without suitable tools and techniques knowledge remains hidden in databases. This paper presents a methodology to help analyzing root causes of nonconformities (NCs) through a pattern identification approach. Hereby a methodology of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) is adapted and used as a quality tool. As the core element of the KDD methodology, the data mining, a well-known statistical measure from the field of economics—the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI)—is integrated. After presenting the theoretical background a new methodology is proposed and validated through an application case of the automotive industry. Results are obtained and presented in the form of patterns in matrices. They suggest that concentration indices may indicate possible root causes of NCs and invite for further investigations. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013.

Abstract
The motivational orientation of an athlete aims to improve their skills (task) and getting a good result in a given competition (ego). Thus, the purpose of the present study was to compare players of one Portuguese team handball club. The independent variables were: competitive levels, years as competitors, time presence as player in the club and competitive position. The dependent variables were motivational orientations: task and ego. The sample consisted of 57 male athletes borne between 1977 and 1997. The Task and Ego Orientation Questionnaire in Sport (TEOSQp), validated by Fernandes and Vasconcelos-Raposo (2010) was used. Results revealed that the handball players in the club studied present high scores on both task and ego orientation with a higher score at the level of task orientation. The present results are not in accordance with previous studies. However they do not contradict consolidated theoretical proposal. Senior athletes presented higher scores in task orientation and lower on ego. Comparisons by years in competition, time presence in the club and competitive position in the do influence significantly the motivational orientation among this club team handball players.

Abstract
Delimitation and classification of each heart sound is a rather difficult task. Elevated heart rates, as found in pediatrics and in some adults as well, influence some of the most reliable features used by existing methods. Furthermore, in real life scenarios, cardiologists will not have the time to acquire the signal's length required by some of the existing algorithms, which make us think that different approaches ought to be pursued. This paper presents the work on heart sound segmentation using structural and energy based features. It is an attempt to not rely on features considered crucial to most existing approaches. Yet, it achieves a high sensitivity and specificity comparable to some literature.

Abstract
In this work a fiber optic interferometric system for differential refractive index measurement is described. The system is based on a white light Mach-Zehnder configuration, with serrodyne phase modulation, used to interrogate two similar non-adiabatic tapered optical fiber sensors in a differential scheme. In this situation the system is able to measure the refractive index independent of temperature. Signal processing with low cost digital instrumentation developed in Labview environment allows a detectable change in refractive index of Delta n approximate to 1.46 x 10(-6), which is, from the best of our knowledge the highest resolution achieved using a bare fiber taper device for a range of refractive index close to the water index. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed scheme to operate as a self-referenced chemical and biological sensing platform.