Abstract
Cutting and Packing problems are hard Combinatorial Optimization problems that naturally arise in all industries and services where raw-materials or space must be divided into smaller non-overlapping items, so that waste is minimized. All the Cutting and Packing problems have in common the existence of a geometric sub-problem, originated by the natural item non-overlapping constraints. An important class of Cutting and Packing problems are the Irregular Packing problems that occur when raw materials have to be cut into items with irregular shapes. Irregular Packing problems, also known as Nesting problems, naturally arises in the garment, footwear, tools manufacturing and shipbuilding industries, among others. Each industrial application has its owns particular issues mainly related to the raw material's specific characteristics. Several challenges remain open in the Irregular Packing problems field. Some are due to the combinatorial nature of these problems. Others are of geometric nature, due to the non-convex and non-regular geometry of the items involved. Moreover these geometric challenges do not allow the combinatorial ones being properly tackled. This paper is mainly focused on presenting and discussing efficient tools and representations to tackle the geometric layer of nesting algorithms that capture the needs of the real-world applications of Irregular Packing problems. © 2013 IFAC.

Abstract
Interactive products are appealing objects in a technology-driven society and the offer in the market is wide and varied. Most of the existing interactive products only provide either light or sound experiences. Therefore, the goal of this project was to develop a product aimed for children combining both features. This project was developed by a team of four thirdyear students with different engineering backgrounds and nationalities during the European Project Semester at ISEP (EPS@ISEP) in 2012. This paper presents the process that led to the development of an interactive sound table that combines nine identical interaction blocks, a control block and a sound block. Each interaction block works independently and is composed of four light emitting diodes (LED) and one infrared (IR) sensor. The control is performed by an Arduino microcontroller and the sound block includes a music shield and a pair of loud speakers. A number of tests were carried out to assess whether the controller, IR sensors, LED, music shield and speakers work together properly and if the ensemble was a viable interactive light and sound device for children.

Abstract
We present a computer-aided framework for proving concrete security bounds for cryptographic machine code implementations. The front-end of the framework is an interactive verification tool that extends the EasyCrypt framework to reason about relational properties of C-like programs extended with idealised probabilistic operations in the style of code-based security proofs. The framework also incorporates an extension of the CompCert certified compiler to support trusted libraries providing complex arithmetic calculations or instantiating idealized components such as sampling operations. This certified compiler allows us to carry to executable code the security guarantees established at the high-level, and is also instrumented to detect when compilation may interfere with side-channel countermeasures deployed in source code. We demonstrate the applicability of the framework by applying it to the RSA-OAEP encryption scheme, as standardized in PKCS#1 v2.1. The outcome is a rigorous analysis of the advantage of an adversary to break the security of assembly implementations of the algorithms specified by the standard. The example also provides two contributions of independent interest: it bridges the gap between computer-assisted security proofs and real-world cryptographic implementations as described by standards such as PKCS,and demonstrates the use of the CompCert certified compiler in the context of cryptographic software development. © 2013 ACM.

Abstract
In some Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications, it may be necessary to keep a large number of nodes sensing and transmitting data to a base station in order to have unbiased measurement values. Therefore, in addition to the traditional energy consumption issues, the spatial diversity of the monitored area is another relevant metric to evaluate the performance of a WSN. Nevertheless there is a clear trade-off between these two parameters, as keeping the sensors active all the time will deplete the nodes batteries and therefore will shorten the network lifetime. Fortunately, for the case of some applications it is possible to specify as a Quality of Service (QoS) parameter the number of periodically expected messages in the base station. Therefore, it will be possible to balance QoS against energy consumption. This paper proposes an approach called (m, k)-Gur Game that aims a trade-off between the expected QoS and the spatial coverage diversity. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Abstract
In an idea generation meeting, the facilitator role is essential to obtain good results. Also the emotional context of the meeting partially determines the (un) success of the meeting, being it of idea generation or decision selection. So the facilitator needs to obtain and process this information in order to assist the participants to reach their goals in different processes of decision making. In this paper is proposed a multi-agent framework able to be used in the support of persons in a affective context-aware and ubiquitous group decision process. Insights of the context-aware model are provided. It allows the gathering of certain typical variables of the affective context (emotions and mood) and transform those values in advises to the facilitator.

Abstract
This paper explores the changes in value added (VA) of a sample of schools for cohorts of students finishing secondary education between 2005 and 2008. VA estimates are based on distance measures obtained from DEA models. These measures are computed for each pupil in each school, and evaluate the distance between the school frontier in a given year and a pooled frontier comprising all schools analysed. The school VA is then computed by aggregating the VA scores for the cohort of pupils attending that school in a given year. The ratio between VA estimates for two consecutive cohorts, that attended the school in different years, is taken as the index of VA change. However, the evolution of school performance over time should consider not only the movements of the school frontier, but should also take into account other effects, such as the proximity of the students to the best-practices, represented by the school frontier, observed over time. For that purpose we developed an enhanced Malmquist index to evaluate the evolution of school performance over time. One of the components of the Malmquist index proposed measures VA change, and the other measures the ability of all school students to move closer to their own school best practices over time. The approach developed is applied to a sample of Portuguese secondary schools.