Abstract
The existence of replicated code in a system makes that system harder to maintain and evolve. To remove replicated code the usual way is to use refactorings. However there are always clones that cannot be removed by refactorings alone. Some are due to lack of composition mechanisms in the underlying programming language. We propose the use of roles to remove such clones since roles provide a finer degree of composition. We sketch four role refactorings to remove code clones and apply them in a case study using the JHotDraw framework. Results show that roles have a positive impact in clone reduction as they were able to remove almost all clones traditional refactorings could not. © 2013 IEEE.

Abstract
The chapter is conceptual, based on analysis and synthesis of social network theory and e-consumer literature. Despite a broad spectrum of disciplines that investigate social networks and the interest of marketing practitioners in the consequences of social networks, there are still areas open for research into networked-consumer behavior in marketing. Based on previous theoretical and empirical research, this study examines and discusses the influence of social network structure and ties in matched dyads, recommendation diffusion, social contagion and co-consumption influence, and individual motivations to spread market information. The chapter proposes a theory of matched dyadic ties in close networks of connections as a proxy for information about the potential market that is difficult and expensive for businesses to measure or access directly. © 2014, IGI Global.

Abstract
New and more natural human-robot interfaces are of crucial interest to the evolution of robotics. This paper addresses continuous and real-time hand gesture spotting, i.e., gesture segmentation plus gesture recognition. Gesture patterns are recognized by using artificial neural networks (ANNs) specifically adapted to the process of controlling an industrial robot. Since in continuous gesture recognition the communicative gestures appear intermittently with the non-communicative, we are proposing a new architecture with two ANNs in series to recognize both kinds of gesture. A data glove is used as interface technology. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed solution presents high recognition rates (over 99% for a library of ten gestures and over 96% for a library of thirty gestures), low training and learning time and a good capacity to generalize from particular situations.

Abstract
The low-complexity encoding, as fundamental requirement of Distributed Video Coding, relies on performing the bulk of computation at decoder, including tasks as the generation of side information and particularly, inter-camera registration in the case of multi-view systems with complete-overlapped views and free motion of the cameras (e.g., video surveillance). In Ciobanu and Corte-Real (Multimedia Tools Appl 48(3):411-436, 2010) we introduced a codec-independent solution for such tasks at decoder. In this paper, we present a multi-view Wyner-Ziv codec (IWZ) designed for the architecture and scenarios from Ciobanu and Corte-Real (2010) (e.g., free motion of the cameras, no a priori knowledge of the instant camera positions, no feedback channel), based on transform domain (DCT), block-based coset coding. We aimed to achieve a compromise between the low encoder complexity and the rate-distortion performance. A detailed evaluation is presented for comparison with conventional coding (Intra 4x4 and Intra 16x16). Practical results show a better overall performance of the proposed codec at low bitrates.

Abstract
The present paper addresses the path following problem of nonholonomic systems by considering a predictive control-based framework. The particularity of the present study resides in the use of differential flatness formalism for a reference trajectory generation. Furthermore, having the reference trajectory available in a parameterized form, an optimization-based problem which minimizes the tracking error for the nonholonomic system can be formulated and further enhanced via path following. The proposed method exhibits effective performance validated through simulations for the control of autonomous aerial vehicles.

Abstract
s This paper presents a complete, quadratic programming formulation of the standard thermal unit commitment problem in power generation planning, together with a novel iterative optimisation algorithm for its solution. The algorithm, based on a mixed-integer formulation of the problem, considers piecewise linear approximations of the quadratic fuel cost function that are dynamically updated in an iterative way, converging to the optimum: this avoids the requirement of resorting to quadratic programming, making the solution process much quicker. From extensive computational tests on a broad set of benchmark instances of this problem, the algorithm was found to be flexible and capable of easily incorporating different problem constraints. Indeed, it is able to tackle ramp constraints, which although very important in practice were rarely considered in previous publications. Most importantly, optimal solutions were obtained for several well-known benchmark instances. including instances of practical relevance, that are not yet known to have been solved to optimality. Computational experiments and their results showed that the method proposed is both simple and extremely effective.