Abstract
In clinical practice, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is a reference in the diagnosis, quantification, and follow-up of lung emphysema. In this study, differential lacunarity analysis was applied to HRCT images of the chest in order to quantify the texture of healthy and emphysematous regions of the lung parenchyma. The used approach to compute lacunarity is a multiscale technique that takes advantage of the extensive scale used in the acquisition of CT images. The results show that the extracted features are discriminatory of the considered lung patterns, being suitable to integrate clinical applications for the characterization of disease patterns in HRCT images.

Abstract
This work presents numerical results related to an in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer used as a refractive index sensor. The in-line Mach-Zehnder is based on abrupt tapers in standard single mode optical fiber. Numerical simulations were carried out using commercial software based on Beam Propagation Method in order to analyze the sensitivity response in terms of wavelength shift when this sensor is bent at certain radii of curvature. We realized that application of bending in the In-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer enhanced considerably the sensitivity of this sensor to the external refractive index. The best result was achieved for a radius of curvature of 10 mm (similar to 500 nm/RIU for the refractive index range of 1.33 to 1.41) improving the sensitivity about eight times in comparison with the case with no bent.

Abstract
This book provides techniques to tackle the design challenges raised by the increasing diversity and complexity of emerging, heterogeneous architectures for embedded systems. It describes an approach based on techniques from software engineering called aspect-oriented programming, which allow designers to control today's sophisticated design tool chains, while maintaining a single application source code. Readers are introduced to the basic concepts of an aspect-oriented, domain specific language that enables control of a wide range of compilation and synthesis tools in the partitioning and mapping of an application to a heterogeneous (and possibly multi-core) target architecture. Several examples are presented that illustrate the benefits of the approach developed for applications from avionics and digital signal processing. Using the aspect-oriented programming techniques presented in this book, developers can reuse extensive sections of their designs, while preserving the original application source-code, thus promoting developer productivity as well as architecture and performance portability. Describes an aspect-oriented approach for the compilation and synthesis of applications targeting heterogeneous embedded computing architectures. Includes examples using an integrated tool chain for compilation and synthesis. Provides validation and evaluation for targeted reconfigurable heterogeneous architectures. Enables design portability, given changing target devices. Allows developers to maintain a single application source code when targeting multiple architectures.

Abstract
Large deployment of distributed generation into distribution systems brings new challenges regarding the shift from the passive to the active control paradigm. These challenges have been extended to the field of dynamic equivalence. Developing effective reduced order models for active distribution network cells for dynamic and stability studies require a careful evaluation of the techniques that have been used in conventional power systems. Thus, a survey of the existing approaches is presented in this paper. Also a critical overview is provided regarding their application to active distribution network cells and microgrids. Technical requirements are identified and recommendations are provided.

Abstract
A new hybrid between the particle swarm optimization (PSO) and Boids is presented to design PID controllers applied to the mean arterial pressure control problem. While both PSO and Boids have been extensively studied separately, their hybridization potential is far from fully explored. The PSOBoids algorithm is proposed to perform both system identification and PID controller design. The advantage over a standard particle swarm optimization algorithm is the promotion of the diversity of the search procedure. Preliminary simulation results are presented.

Abstract
The stacking problem is a hard combinatorial optimization problem with high practical interest in, for example, steel storage or container port operations. In this problem, a set of items is stored in a warehouse for a period of time, and a crane is used to place them in a limited number of stacks. Since the entrance and exit of items occurs in an arbitrary order, items may have to be relocated in order to reach and deliver other items below them. The objective of the problem is to find a feasible sequence of movements that delivers all items, while minimizing the total number of movements. We study the scalability of an exact approach to this problem, and propose two heuristic methods to solve it approximately. The two heuristic approaches are a multiple simulation algorithm using semi-greedy construction heuristics, and a stochastic best-first tree search algorithm. The two methods are compared in a set of challenging instances, revealing a superior performance of the tree search approach in most cases.