Abstract
Virtual reconstructions are commonly used in archaeology to represent cultural heritage monuments that had been lost or damaged by natural causes. Traditionally, these reconstructions require a huge number of human resources and large ranges of time, resulting in high costs of production. To tackle with this issue, many researchers developed semi-automatic techniques to produce virtual models expeditiously. These procedural techniques provide different ways of represent buildings, including interiors and outer facades, in an archaeological or modern context. However, the existing techniques focusing building interiors only support the production of virtual models composed mainly by regular shapes such as rectangles. In this paper it will be presented the first steps of a novel methodology to provide a solution for the generation of building interiors constrained by arbitrary convex shapes. This methodology uses a specific ontology with a set of rules in order to regulate the generation process. The sequence of steps includes the room placement and area definition, section cuts and area readjustments, room linking and finally the extrusions and roof placement to deliver the final 3D model. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Abstract
In this paper, we present GTE-Cluster an online temporal search interface which consistently allows searching for topics in a temporal perspective by clustering relevant temporal Web search results. GTE-Cluster is designed to improve user experience by augmenting document relevance with temporal relevance. The rationale is that offering the user a comprehensive temporal perspective of a topic is intuitively more informative than retrieving a result that only contains topical information. Our system does not pose any constraint in terms of language or domain, thus users can issue queries in any language ranging from business, cultural, political to musical perspective, to cite just a few. The ability to exploit this information in a temporal manner can be, from a user perspective, potentially useful for several tasks, including user query understanding or temporal clustering. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.

Abstract
The integrate-and-fire model of a biological neuron is an amplitude to time encoding in the spacing between action potentials (spikes). In principle, this encoding can be used to modulate signals in an Impulse Radio Ultra Wide-Band (IRUWB) transmitter suitable for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). This paper presents a system level study on power efficiency using MATLAB/ Simulink to evaluate the required energy for an IR-UWB Transmitter using integrate-and-fire encoding technique. Also, a simple but clear comparison with common systems utilizing Nyquist rate Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC) is presented. This study has been carried out on a band-limited random Gaussian signal and the results show that IR-IF transmitter consumes roughly seven times less energy than a digital UWB transmitter; moreover, in the proposed architecture the need for power hungry ADC is relaxed.

Abstract
This paper describes and evaluates a fully digital circuit for one-way master-to-slave highly precise time synchronization in a low-power, wearable system equipped with a set of sensor nodes connected in a mesh network. Sensors are connected to each other with conductive yarns that are used as one-wire bidirectional communication links. The circuit is designed to perform synchronization in the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. In each sensor node, the synchronization circuit provides a synchronized, programmable clock signal and a real-time counter for time stamping. Experimental results obtained with an implementation in 0.35 mu m CMOS technology for a network of electromyography sensors show that the circuit keeps the one-hop average clock skew below 4.6 ns, a value small enough to satisfy many wearable application requirements.

Abstract
This study introduces a new theoretical interruption model for assessing more accurately the moment in time when interruptions of electricity customers are likely to occur. Recordings of short and long interruptions from two power supply systems are analysed and the similarity between their patterns is identified and then used to introduce a general interruption probability distribution model, defined in stages as multi-zone theoretical curves. The effectiveness of the proposed theoretical interruption model is firstly verified for a basic test system supplying an aggregate load point whose power profiles (residential, commercial, industrial and mixed load) are engaged in assessing the energy not supplied, and afterwards for a typical UK power supply system consisting of about 15 000 electricity customers. The results show that a correct representation of the moment of interruption performed with the proposed model leads to completely different results than those obtained based on the conventional assumption that the time when interruption occurs is given by a known probability distribution. Moreover, comparisons against reported figures of reliability indices determine the most suitable probability distribution that shall be used to model the initial conditions of the Monte Carlo simulation and accompany the proposed theoretical model throughout the simulation process. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014.

Abstract
Laparoscopic surgery (LS) has revolutionized traditional surgical techniques introducing minimally invasive procedures for diagnosis and local therapies. LSs have undeniable advantages, such as small patient incisions, reduced postoperative pain and faster recovery. On the other hand, restricted vision of the anatomical target, difficult handling of the surgical instruments, restricted mobility inside the human body, need of dexterity to hand-eye coordination and inadequate and non-ergonomic surgical instruments may restrict LS only to more specialized surgeons. To overcome the referred limitations, this work presents a new robotic surgical handheld system - the EndoRobot. The EndoRobot was designed to be used in clinical practice or even as a surgical simulator. It integrates an electromechanical system with 3 degrees of freedom. Each degree can be manipulated independently and combined with different levels of sensitivity allowing fast and slow movements. As other features, the EndoRobot has battery power or external power supply, enables the use of bipolar radiofrequency to prevent bleeding while cutting and allows plug-and-play of the laparoscopic forceps for rapid exchange. As a surgical simulator, the system was also instrumented to measure and transmit, in real time, its position and orientation for a training software able to monitor and assist the trainee's surgical movements.