Abstract
Notable Byzantine Fault Tolerant protocols have been designed so far. These protocols are often evaluated on simple benchmarks, and few times on NFS systems. On the contrary, studies that addressed the behavior of BFT on large back-ends, like Directories, are few. We believe that studying such systems is crucial for practice community due to their popularity. In this paper, we integrate BFT with OpenLDAP Directory. We introduce the design of the integrated system, that we call BFT-LDAP. Then, we study its behavior accompanied with some useful observations. In addition, we discuss the cost overhead of this integration. Our approach ensures that OpenLDAP legacy code remains completely intact, and that the integration with BFT is straightforward using APIs. Moreover, we convey that the additional performance cost of BFT-LDAP is negligible as compared to that of stand-alone OpenLDAP. We conducted our experiments on Emulab. The experiments indicate that the performance discrepancy of BFT-LDAP is negligible whenever different state-of-the-art BFT protocols are used. Other experiments demonstrate that a little sacrifice in throughput (less than 10%) is needed in order to leverage the resiliency of OpenLDAP against Byzantine faults (i.e., through applying BFT). © 2012 IEEE.

Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present an adaptation model for an Adaptive Educational Hypermedia System, PCMAT. The adaptation of the application is based on progressive self-assessment (exercises, tasks, and so on) and applies the constructivist learning theory and the learning styles theory. Our objective is the creation of a better, more adequate adaptation model that takes into account the complexities of different users.

Abstract
Research indicates that music therapists are likely to make use of computer software, designed to measure changes in the way a patient and therapist make use of music in music therapy sessions. A proof of concept study investigated whether music analysis algorithms (designed to retrieve information from commercial music recordings) can be adapted to meet the needs of music therapists. Computational music analysis techniques were applied to multi-track audio recordings of simulated sessions, then to recordings of individual music therapy sessions: these were recorded by a music therapist as part of her ongoing practice with patients with acquired brain injury. The music therapist wanted to evaluate two hypotheses: one, whether changes in her tempo were affecting the tempo of a patient's play on acoustic percussion instruments, and two, whether her musical interventions were helping the patient reduce habituated, rhythmic patterning. Automatic diagrams were generated that gave a quick overview of the instrumental activity contained within each session: when, and for how long each instrument was played. From these, computational analysis was applied to musical areas of specific interest. The results of the interdisciplinary team work, audio recording tests, computer analysis tests, and music therapy field tests are presented and discussed.

Abstract
Among the many opportunities offered by electric vehicles (EVs), the design of power trains based on in-wheel electric motors represents, from the vehicle dynamics point of view, a very attractive prospect, mainly due to the torque-vectoring capabilities. However, this distributed propulsion also poses some practical challenges, owing to the constraints arising from motor installation in a confined space, to the increased unsprung mass weight and to the integration of the electric motor with the friction brakes. This last issue is the main theme of this work, which, in particular, focuses on the design of the anti-lock braking system (ABS). The proposed structure for the ABS is composed of a tyre slip controller, a wheel torque allocator and a braking supervisor. To address the slip regulation problem, an adaptive controller is devised, offering robustness to uncertainties in the tyre-road friction and featuring a gain-scheduling mechanism based on the vehicle velocity. Further, an optimisation framework is employed in the torque allocator to determine the optimal split between electric and friction brake torque based on energy performance metrics, actuator constraints and different actuators bandwidth. Finally, based on the EV working condition, the priorities of this allocation scheme are adapted by the braking supervisor unit. Simulation results obtained with the CarSim vehicle model, demonstrate the effectiveness of the overall approach.

Abstract

Abstract
Spurred by the problem of identifying, in real-time, the adhesion levels between the tyre and the road, a practical, linear parameterisation (LP) model is proposed to represent the tyre friction. Towards that aim, results from the theory of function approximation, together with optimisation techniques, are explored to approximate the non-linear Burckhardt model with a new LP representation. It is shown that, compared with other approximations described in the literature, the proposed LP model is more efficient, that is, it requires a smaller number of parameters, and provides better approximation capabilities. Next, a modified version of the recursive least squares, subject to a set of equality constraints on parameters, is employed to identify the LP in real time. The inclusion of these constraints, arising from the parametric relationships present when the tyre is in free-rolling mode, reduces the variance of the parametric estimation and improves the convergence of the identification algorithm, particularly in situations with low tyre slips. The simulation results obtained with the full-vehicle CarSim model under different road adhesion conditions demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed LP and the robustness of the friction peak estimation method. Furthermore, the experimental tests, performed with an electric vehicle under low-grip roads, provide further validation of the accuracy and potential of the estimation technique.