Abstract
Motivation: Ebola virus causes high mortality hemorrhagic fevers, with more than 25 000 cases and 10 000 deaths in the current outbreak. Only experimental therapies are available, thus, novel diagnosis tools and druggable targets are needed. Results: Analysis of Ebola virus genomes from the current outbreak reveals the presence of short DNA sequences that appear nowhere in the human genome. We identify the shortest such sequences with lengths between 12 and 14. Only three absent sequences of length 12 exist and they consistently appear at the same location on two of the Ebola virus proteins, in all Ebola virus genomes, but nowhere in the human genome. The alignment-free method used is able to identify pathogen-specific signatures for quick and precise action against infectious agents, of which the current Ebola virus outbreak provides a compelling example.

Abstract
We present ParTypes, a type-based methodology for the verification of Message Passing Interface (MPI) programs written in the C programming language. The aim is to statically verify programs against protocol specifications, enforcing properties such as fidelity and absence of deadlocks. We develop a protocol language based on a dependent type system for message-passing parallel programs, which includes various communication operators, such as point-to-point messages, broadcast, reduce, array scatter and gather. For the verification of a program against a given protocol, the protocol is first translated into a representation read by VCC, a software verifier for C. We successfully verified several MPI programs in a running time that is independent of the number of processes or other input parameters. This contrasts with alternative techniques, notably model checking and runtime verification, that suffer from the state-explosion problem or that otherwise depend on parameters to the program itself. We experimentally evaluated our approach against state-of-the-art tools for MPI to conclude that our approach offers a scalable solution.

Abstract
Carpooling is a car sharing practice first adopted in the United States of America during the fuel crisis in the 1970s. Since then, and after some ups and downs, this practice has been growing in recent years, being currently used throughout the world. With the evolution of mobile technologies, carpooling had the opportunity to expand, especially through mobile applications and web pages. With these technologies, it is possible for anyone in any part of the globe to search for others that wish to go to the same place and want to share their car. With this practice, people intend to save money, help preserve the environment, reduce congestions in cities, increase the number of places available to park and meet new people. This paper introduces MoCaS Mobile Carpooling System, a carpool service offered for registered users. In this system, each user can enter his travels and make appointments, assign ratings, register vehicles and add travel preferences. All this is possible via a web interface and also via a mobile application that together give greater support to those seeking such services. MoCaS distinguishes itself from other systems by offering innovative services, namely in the mobile component, that through location services allows for the booking of trips in real-time; in other words, not only trips that have not started, but trips that are already underway and that end up intersecting the user's position. Besides this novelty, this system provides a real-time map, where all trip stops are visible, as well as the location of carpoolers who are currently traveling. Both the web and the mobile applications were successfully developed, achieving good results in the performed tests, and are currently being prepared for deployment.

Abstract

Abstract
The objective of this work is to identify the relevant factors that have influenced the changes in the level of CO2 emissions among four groups (eastern, western, northern and southern) of European countries. Our results show that CO2 emissions are correlated with the energy consumption of the economy for the group of countries under analysis, which is determined by the change of population among the various countries. Similarly, renewable energy consumption is also determined by the size and structure of the countries, as reflected by the value added to the economy. When comparing the results of the post-Kyoto period to the previous period for the four groups of European countries, one concludes that there are clear improvements in the reductions of emissions. This resulted primarily from changes to the energy mix, switching to cleaner fuels for end-user energy production (a volte-face in the behaviour of the energy mix effect), while the changes in the factors driving emissions resulted from a reduction in the usage of fossil fuels for producing energy. In general, the relative contributions of these two factors show the importance of the impact of changing the structure of the mix for producing energy, with a view to complying with the targets for reductions in CO2 emissions, reflecting the value placed on the significant impact assigned to emissions levels.

Abstract
A new procedure is proposed for estimating actual basal crop coefficients from vegetation indices (K-cb VI) considering a density coefficient (K-d) and a crop coefficient for bare soil. K-d is computed using the fraction of ground cover by vegetation (f(c VI)), which is also estimated from vegetation indices derived from remote sensing. A combined approach for estimating actual crop coefficients from vegetation indices (K-c VI) is also proposed by integrating the K-cb VI with the soil evaporation coefficient (K-e) derived from the soil water balance model SIMDualKc. Results for maize, barley and an olive orchard have shown that the approaches for estimating both f(c VI) and K-cb VI compared well with results obtained using the SIMDualKc model after calibration with ground observation data. For the crops studied, the correlation coefficients relative to comparing the actual K-cb VI and K-c VI with actual K-cb and K-c obtained with SIMDualKc were larger than 0.73 and 0.71, respectively. The corresponding regression coefficients were close to 1.0. The methodology herein presented and discussed allowed for obtaining information for the whole crop season, including periods when vegetation cover is incomplete, as the initial and development stages. Results show that the proposed methods are adequate for supporting irrigation management.