Abstract
The wastewater plumes show to be very difficult to observed in detail. The several studies already conducted exhibit very complex and patchy structures both in vertical and horizontal sections. It is not clear if this plume patchiness is due to physical processes or measurement limitations. Rapid tow-yo sampling is expected to reduce the time variability during and between transects. The AUVs may be a useful instrument to map and detect wastewater plumes. This paper presents several prediction studies using time series files of actual in-situ measurements integrated in a near field model. The model predictions of the plume characteristics at the end of near field support the definition of the best sampling strategy for an AUV monitoring mission in a Portuguese west coast outfall.

Abstract
The UML is recognized to be the dominant diagrammatic modeling language in the software industry. However, it's support for building interactive systems is still acknowledged to be insufficient. In this paper we discuss and identify the major problems using the UML framework for interactive system development, specifically, in what concerns the architectural issues. Here we present a conceptual architectural model that expands the analysis framework of the Unified Process and the UML profile for software development processes. Our proposal leverages on user-interface domain knowledge, fostering coevolutionary development of interactive systems and enabling artifact change between software engineering and human-computer interaction, under the common notation and semantics of the UML.

Abstract
The practical application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) presents a range of procedural issues to be examined and resolved including those relating to the homogeneity of the units under assessment, the input/output set selected, the measurement of those selected variables and the weights attributed to them. Each of these issues can present difficulties in practice. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the pitfalls that have been identified in application papers under each of these headings and to suggest protocols to avoid the pitfalls and guide the application of the methodology. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.

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Abstract
In this paper we present a new constructive algorithm for nesting problems. The layout is built by successively adding a new piece to a partial solution, i.e. to the set of pieces previously nested. Several criteria to choose the next piece Co place and its orientation are proposed and tested. Different objective functions are also proposed to evaluate and compare partial solutions. A total of 126 variants of the algorithm, generated by the complete set of combinations of criteria and objective functions, are computationally tested. The computational experiments are based on data sets published in the literature or provided by other authors. In some cases this new algorithm generates better solutions than the best known (published) solutions.