Abstract
Long-term travel time prediction (TTP) can be an important planning tool for both freight transport and public transport companies. In both cases it is expected that the use of long-term TTP can improve the quality of the planned services by reducing the error between the actual and the planned travel times. However, for reasons that we try to stretch out along this paper, long-term TTP is almost not mentioned in the scientific literature. In this paper we discuss the relevance of this study and compare three non-parametric state-of-the-art regression methods: Projection Pursuit Regression (PPR), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forests (RF). For each one of these methods we study the best combination of input parameters. We also study the impact of different methods for the pre-processing tasks (feature selection, example selection and domain values definition) in the accuracy of those algorithms. We use bus travel time's data from a bus dispatch system. From an off-the-shelf point-of-view, our experiments show that RF is the most promising approach from the three we have tested. However, it is possible to obtain more accurate results using PPR but with extra pre-processing work, namely on example selection and domain values definition.

Abstract
The impact of human capital on foreign direct investment has been assessed in an essentially descriptive manner. Most quantitative studies focus on the macroeconomic level. Microeconomic studies are scarce internationally and even more so in the case of China. Based on a survey of innovative firms located in China, this study assesses the importance of human capital in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to China. Using a sample of 77 innovative firms, and logistic estimation techniques, we concluded that even though human capital does not constitute a direct factor in attracting FDI to China, it is a positive indirect factor through firms' R&D efforts. Moreover, we found that connections with universities have a positive impact on the attraction of FDI, although the impact of human capital on the attraction of FDI is not sustained on the basis of additional contacts with universities. Evidence gathered suggests that it is important that public authorities recognize the interconnections between education and innovation policies and the implementation of FDI policies - human capital is only capable of attracting innovative foreign capital when associated with high levels of R&D.

Abstract
A high-birefringent (Hi-Bi) Sagnac loop interferometer for torsion measurement is demonstrated. The sensing head is formed by a section of standard single mode fiber spliced between the output ports of a Hi-Bi coupler at 3 dB. The sensing configuration is characterized in torsion, temperature and strain. The results obtained indicate the viability of a torsion sensor independent of the temperature and strain cross-sensitivity effects. Additionally, in the proposed configuration all measurements are performed without the need of a polarization controller, a device most often required in standard Sagnac loops applied for sensing.

Abstract
This paper highlights findings of the European Commission funded project called MERGE (Mobile Energy Resources in Grids of Electricity). MERGE is a collaborative research project that includes utilities, regulators, commercial organisations and universities with interests in the power generation, automotive, electronic commerce and hybrid and electric vehicle sectors across the entire European Union (EU). This major two-year research initiative began in January 2010. The MERGE project mission is to evaluate the impacts that electric vehicles (EV) will have on the European Union (EU) electric power systems with regards to planning, operation and market functioning. The focus is placed on EV and SmartGrid/MicroGrid simultaneous deployment, together with renewable energy increase, leading to CO2 emission reduction through the identification of enabling technologies and advanced control approaches. In this paper indicative results from the impact of the additional EV load will have in the daily and yearly system load diagrams and in the operation of the transmission and distribution networks of five European countries (Greece, UK, Spain, Portugal, and Germany) in 2020 are presented. General conclusions are drawn.

Abstract
This paper presents and evaluates a method of generating partial bitstreams at run-time for dynamic reconfiguration of sections of an FPGA. The method is intended for use in adaptive embedded systems that employ run-time reconfiguration to achieve high flexibility and performance. The proposed approach combines partial bitstreams of coarse-grained components to produce a new partial bitstream implementing a given circuit netlist. Topological sorting of the netlist is used to determine the initial positions of individual components, whose placement is then improved by simulated annealing. Connection routing is done by a breadth-first search of the reconfigurable area based on a simplified resource model of the reconfigurable fabric. The desired partial bitstream is constructed by merging together the default bitstream of the reconfigurable area, the relocated partial bitstreams of the components, and the configurations of the switch matrices used for routing. The approach is embodied in a code library that applications can use to create new bitstreams at run-time. For the members of a set of 29 benchmarks (both synthetic and application-derived) having between five and 41 components, the complete process of bitstream generation takes between 8 s and 35 s when running on an embedded PowerPC 405 microprocessor clocked at 300 MHz.

Abstract
The foreseeable increase in the use of electric vehicles (EV) led to the discussion on intermediate entities that could help manage a great number of EV. An aggregation agent for electric vehicles is a commercial middleman between a system operator (SO) and plug-in EV. From the SO perspective, the aggregator is seen as a large source of generation or load, which could provide ancillary services such as spinning and regulating reserve. Generally, these services will be provided in the day-ahead and intraday electricity markets. In addition, the aggregator also participates in the electricity market with supply and demand energy bids. This paper provides a comprehensive bibliographic survey on the aggregator role in the power system operation and electricity market. The scope of the survey covers 59 references divided in journal, conference proceedings, thesis, research papers, and technical reports published after 1994. These papers are put into several technical categories: electricity market and EV technical and economic issues; aggregation agent concept, role and business model; algorithms for EV management as a load/resource. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.