Abstract
In this research, we present several extensions for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with alternative subgraphs (RCPSP-AS). First of all, we investigate more complex variants of the alternative project structure. More precisely, we consider nested alterative subgraphs, linked alternative branches, multiple selection, caused and closed choices, and split choices. Secondly, we introduce non-renewable resources in the RCPSP-AS in order to implicitly avoid certain combinations of alternatives given a limited availability of this resource over the complete project horizon. We formulate both the basic RCPSP-AS and its extensions as an ILP model and solve it using Gurobi. The computational experiments are conducted on a large set of artificial project instances as well as three case studies. The results show the impact of the different extensions on the project makespan and the computational complexity. We observe that combinations of the proposed extensions might imply complex alternative project structures, resulting in an increasing computational complexity or even infeasible solutions. The analysis of the three case studies shows that it is hard to find feasible solutions with a small time limit or optimal solutions with a larger time limit for projects with a realistic size in terms of the number of activities or alternatives.

Abstract
The competency-based learning approach arose from the Bologna signed declaration. However, a competency definition has never been easy and has been evolving and adapted over time, from indicators and learning goals to learning outcomes, which were formulated in terms of competencies. Meanwhile, the competency concept becomes discussed by pears, in particular, associating knowledge, skills, and human dispositions or attitudes into the competency definition. This information will be an essential update to the previous approaches and certainly contribute to achieving more accurate and reliable competencies information for employers and higher education institutions (HEI). This paper aims to reinforce the relevance of these concepts and suggest how each construct of “knowledge, skills and human dispositions” could be approached to formulate a competency. In addition, due to accelerated digital transformation, an example of a digital competency defined by the DigComp 2.0 framework, with proposed information regarding each of the three constructs, will be presented to consolidate this challenge. As future work, it is intended to analyze the eight different levels, and competency profiles defined by the European Qualification Framework (EQF) and assign a profile to each defined competency. In the end, it is expected altogether to contribute to achieving a competency roadmap definition. © 2023, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Abstract
Palatal consonants in Portuguese are considered complex or marked segments because they are inherently heavy and restricted in terms of their distribution, in relation to other consonants. Moreover, they appear to display differences between themselves, as first language acquisition and creoles' adaptation suggest that /L/ is more complex than /n/. The arguments for complexity are endorsed by some qualitative studies but are still lacking quantitative support. This paper aims at analyzing the phonological restrictiveness of these consonants by comparing their actual frequency in several different corpora, reporting both lexical entries and usage in discourse. In addition to their context-free frequency, we control for their word position and phonetic adjacency. We find that palatals are less frequent than other consonants. However, relative to each other, they do not display proportional lexical and usage frequencies. These results shed new light not only on the representation of /n/ and /L/ but also on the relation between frequency and markedness in language studies.

Abstract
Insect pests are the main cause of loss of productivity and quality in crops worldwide. Insect monitoring becomes necessary for the early detection of pests and thus avoiding the excessive use of pesticides. Automatic detection of insects attracted by traps is a form of monitoring. Modern data-driven methods present great results for object detection when representative datasets are available, but public datasets for insect detection are few and small. Pest24 public dataset is extensive, but noisy resulting in a poor detection rate. In this work, we aim to improve insect detection in the Pest24 dataset. We propose the creation of three sub-datasets selecting the highest represented classes, the highest colour discrepancy, and the one with the highest relative scale, respectively. Several Faster R-CNN and YOLOv5 architectures are explored, and the best results are achieved with the YOLOv5 with an mAP of 95.5%.

Abstract

Abstract
This paper explores a strict relation between two core notions of the semantics of programs and of fuzzy logics: Kleene Algebras and (pseudo) uninorms. It shows that every Kleene algebra induces a pseudo uninorm, and that some pseudo uninorms induce Kleene algebras. This connection establishes a new perspective on the theory of Kleene algebras and provides a way to build (new) Kleene algebras. The latter aspect is potentially useful as a source of formalism to capture and model programs acting with fuzzy behaviours and domains. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.