Abstract
Vision-based mobile robots have severe limitations related to the computational capabilities that are required for processing their algorithms. The vision algorithms processed onboard and without resorting to specialized computing devices do not achieve the real-time constraints that are imposed by that kind of systems. This paper describes a scheme for streaming image sequences in order to be used by techniques of artificial vision. A mobile robot with this architecture can stream image sequences over the network infrastructure for a device with higher computing power. Therefore, the robot assures the real-time performance with a reduced consumption of energy which increases its autonomy. The experiments conducted without using specialized computers proved that the proposed architecture can stream sequences of images with a resolution of 640x480 at 25 frames per second.

Abstract
In this paper, a management strategy to be used in the scheduling of insular electrical systems with energy storage system (EES) is presented. Integration of ESS allows reducing generation costs and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, as well as improving wind power penetration levels. The methodology presented in this paper is particularly useful for those systems provided with battery ESS, due to it is ability to include the effects of the most relevant components, such as thermal and renewable generation, bidirectional power converter, and charge controller operation. From the analysis of a case study considering a diesel-powered system and a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB), it is possible to estimate the potential reduction on fuel consumption and wind power curtailment, in comparison with a case without EES.

Abstract
Brochures are a versatile and ubiquitous tourism advertising medium. Although almost all types of advertisement message strategies are considered in brochure development and production, the relationship of those strategies with brand destination attributes has not been studied. Likewise an extensive inventory of executional tactics can be applied to put forward a brochure concept. This research shows the relationship among executional tactics, message strategies and destination attributes in 400 tourism brochures from around the world. On average, each message strategy is associated with seventeen executional tactics. A single brand destination attribute may work with many message strategies. However, the connection between destination attributes and executional tactics is rather loose. This media-centered approach study will provide a benchmarking profile to advertising agency and tourism destination managers in their endeavor to develop brochures.

Abstract

Abstract
Hand gesture recognition is a natural way of human computer interaction and an area of very active research in computer vision and machine learning. This is an area with many different possible applications, giving users a simpler and more natural way to communicate with robots/systems interfaces, without the need for extra devices. So, the primary goal of gesture recognition research applied to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is to create systems, which can identify specific human gestures and use them to convey information or controlling devices. For that, vision-based hand gesture interfaces require fast and extremely robust hand detection, and gesture recognition in real time. This paper presents a solution, generic enough, with the help of machine learning algorithms, allowing its application in a wide range of human-computer interfaces, for real-time gesture recognition. Experiments carried out showed that the systemwas able to achieve an accuracy of 99.4%in terms of hand posture recognition and an average accuracy of 93.72%in terms of dynamic gesture recognition. To validate the proposed framework, two applications were implemented. The first one is a real-time system able to help a robotic soccer referee judge a game in real time. The prototype combines a vision-based hand gesture recognition system with a formal language definition, the Referee CommLang, into what is called the Referee Command Language Interface System (ReCLIS). The second one is a real-time system able to interpret the Portuguese Sign Language. Sign languages are not standard and universal and the grammars differ from country to country. Although the implemented prototype was only trained to recognize the vowels, it is easily extended to recognize the rest of the alphabet, being a solid foundation for the development of any vision-based sign language recognition user interface system. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Abstract
This paper describes Cybi, an inexpensive smart companion mobile robot for elderly and disabled people. The software architecture that enables users to perform telepresence and teleoperation tasks with Cybi is based on combining Cloud Computing technologies and Fuzzy Logic. On one hand, the robot can be remotely teleoperated from a thin client by executing a specific module of a distributed software component that uses ROS, WebRTC and Google App Engine. On the other hand, Cybi is capable of understanding simple spoken orders that allow it to navigate through an unknown domestic indoor environment. In both cases, a fuzzy reactive navigation software component is used with the aim of making the teleoperation procedure as easy and safe as possible for both elders' caregivers and elderly users themselves. Finally, several real tests are also presented, demonstrating that Cybi could be considered as a suitable robotic companion, since the proposed methods enhance the performance of teleoperation and telepresence tasks. © 2015 IEEE.