Abstract
The IEC 61499 standard proposes an event driven execution model for distributed control applications for which an informal execution semantics is provided. Consequently, run-time implementations are not rigorously described and therefore their behavior relies on the interpretation made by the tool provider. In this paper, as a step towards a formal semantics, we focus on the Execution Control Chart semantics, which is fundamental to the dynamic behavior of Basic Function Block elements. In particular we develop a well-formedness criterion that ensures a finite number of Execution Control Chart transitions for each triggering event. We also describe the first step towards the mechanization of the well-formedness checking algorithm in the Coq proof-assistant so that, ultimately, we are able to show, once and for all, that this algorithm is effectively correct with respect to our proposed execution semantics. The algorithm is extractable from the mechanization in a correct-by-construction way, and can be directly incorporated in certified toolchain for analysis, compilation and execution of IEC 61499 models. As a proof of concept a prototype tool RTFM-4FUN has been developed. It performs well-formedness checks on Basic Function Blocks using the extracted algorithm's code.

Abstract
This paper reviews the main characteristics of cloud computing, where they are exposed their main components and ways of use. In addition to the technological review that is done, is also carried out a critical analysis of their potential and challenges in the context of SMEs. To understand how cloud computing can lead to a powerful ally of SMEs in the context of organizational competitiveness in a world where the role of information systems for a long time proved decisive, it is a reflection that the SMEs, whose core business is not technology, need to carry out.

Abstract
Spectroscopy can be historically traced down to the study of the dispersion of light by a glass prism. In the early 19th century, inspired by Newton's experiment, Fraunhofer creates a device where an illuminated slit and a lens are placed before the prism; such a device is later transformed, by Kirchoff and Bunsen, into a much handier and more precise observation and measurement instrument, the spectroscope. In the 1930's, the Physics Laboratory of the Faculty of Science of the University of Porto would buy, from Adam Hilger, Ltd., London, a constant deviation spectrometer. The ultimate purpose was to set up a spectroscopy laboratory for teaching and research. This model's robust construction (the telescope and the collimator are rigidly fixed) makes it adequate for student's practice. To sweep across the spectrum, all it takes is to rotate the high quality, constant deviation prism -known as Pellin-Broca prism. Spectra in the 390-900 nm interval are observed, either directly, or through photographic recording, or even by using a thermopile and associated galvanometer, when working in the infra-red range. The wavelength of the line under observation is read straight on a drum, which is fixed to the prism's rotation mechanism. Details of the construction and operation of this spectrometer are explored, against the background of present day spectrometers, automatic and computerized, thereby offering a deeper understanding of spectroscopic analysis: for instance, the use of the raies ultimes powder, a mixture of 50 chemical elements whose emission spectra provide a way of calibrating the instrument.

Abstract
This paper explores the behavior of parallel forkjoin tasks on multicore platforms by resorting to a semi-partitioned scheduling model. This model offers a promising framework to embedded systems which are subject to stringent timing constraints as it provides these systems with very interesting properties. The proposed approach consists of two stages-an offline stage and an online stage. During the offline stage, a multi-frame task model is adopted to perform the forkjoin task-to-core mapping so as to improve the schedulability and the performance of the system, and during the online stage, work-stealing is exploited among cores to improve the system responsiveness as well as to balance the execution workload. The objective of this work is twofold: (1) to provide an alternative technique that takes advantage of the semi-partitioned scheduling properties by offering the possibility to accommodate forkjoin tasks that cannot be scheduled in any pure partitioned environment, and (2) to reduce the migration overhead which has shown to be a traditional major source of non-determinism in global approaches. The simulation results show an improvement of the proposed approach over the state-of-the-art of up to 15% of the average response-time per task set.

Abstract
In this chapter the Basic Multi-Project Scheduling Problem (BMPSP) is described, an overview of the literature on multi-project scheduling is provided, and a solution approach based on a biased random-key genetic algorithm (BRKGA) is presented. The BMPSP consists in finding a schedule for all the activities belonging to all the projects taking into account the precedence constraints and the availability of resources, while minimizing some measure of performance. The representation of the problem is based on random keys. The BRKGA generates priorities, delay times, and release dates, which are used by a heuristic decoder procedure to construct parameterized active schedules. The performance of the proposed approach is validated on a set of randomly generated problems. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.

Abstract