Hybridisation is a systematic process along which the characteristic features of hybrid logic, both at the syntactic and the semantic levels, are developed on top of an arbitrary logic framed as an institution. It also captures the construction of first-order encodings of such hybridised institutions into theories in first-order logic. The method was originally developed to build suitable logics for the specification of reconfigurable software systems on top of whatever logic is used to describe local requirements of each system’s configuration. Hybridisation has, however, a broader scope, providing a fresh example of yet another development in combining and reusing logics driven by a problem from Computer Science. This paper offers an overview of this method, proposes some new extensions, namely the introduction of full quantification leading to the specification of dynamic modalities, and exemplifies its potential through a didactical application. It is discussed how hybridisation can be successfully used in a formal specification course in which students progress from equational to hybrid specifications in a uniform setting, integrating paradigms, combining data and behaviour, and dealing appropriately with systems evolution and reconfiguration.

Álbum fotográfico de homenagem aos Cuidadores do Património da Rota do Românico que, de forma dedicada e incondicional, cuidam e acarinham os bens patrimoniais que integram o projeto, constituindo também uma inestimável memória viva do local.

This paper reports on the modem techniques used for the restoration of flexible pavements, begining with the terminology adopted at the XVII Word Road Congress (Sidney 1983). Explains how new techniques have been developed. Describes three types of available techniques: removal of materials, restoration of in situ pavements and plant recycling of pavements. Indicates the equipment used in the different techniques. Presents guidelines concerning the economical and technical studies to be carried out before the plant recycling of pavements.

We assess the information content and value relevance of trade debt for external equity providers deploying the Kauffman Survey Data on early-stage firms. Our findings indicate that trade debt attracts external equity by virtue of its information content and determines its amount by virtue of its value relevance in unprofitable but growing firms. These findings remain robust after controlling for nonfinancial information on firms and their owners, macroeconomic conditions, and tests of reverse causality. The findings persist for firms that are labor-intensive, use simple technologies, and recur to high levels of trade debt. Our findings highlight critical links between debt and equity markets in early-stage firms, and the need to factor the signaling earnings potential (information content), and the relation between book and market estimates (value relevance), when it comes to assessing and valuing early-stage firms. We detail the academic, practice, and policy implications of these findings.

Software is a critical factor in the reliability of computer systems. While the development of hardware is assisted by mature science and engineering disciplines, software science is still in its infancy. This situation is likely to worsen in the future with quantum computer systems. Actually, if quantum computing is quickly coming of age, with potential groundbreaking impacts on many different fields, such benefits come at a price: quantum programming is hard and finding new quantum algorithms is far from straightforward. Thus, the need for suitable formal techniques in quantum software development is even bigger than in classical computation. A lack of reliable approaches to quantum computer programming will put at risk the expected quantum advantage of the new hardware. This position paper argues for the need for a proper quantum software engineering discipline benefiting from precise foundations and calculi, capable of supporting algorithm development and analysis.

A problemática que se desenvolve neste texto procura responder a duas necessidades. Primeira: alargar o conceito de “Investigação-Acção” para “investigação-Acção/Formação”. Segunda: demonstrar que a extensibilidade anterior pode ser conseguida ao criar-se um regime de complementaridade metodológica entre a Investigação-Acção/Formação e certos procedimentos típicos da Grounded Theory. Porquê porém as preocupações anteriores? Porque o carácter auto-formativo da InvestigaçãoAcção é demasiado interveniente nas decisões de pesquisa, sem que disso muitas vezes se tenha a noção, e porque a subjectividade que os investigadores colam às práticas de inferenciação com que desenvolvem as suas metodologias não garante justas leituras do real. Recorrendo à análise de um processo de investigação em curso procura demonstrar-se: primeiro que efectivamente quem investiga e age impõe, a si e aos actores com quem trabalha, um processo formativo que interfere com a adequada leitura da realidade que se analisa; segundo, que o recurso às técnicas hermenêuticas de analisar os dados seguidas nas metodologias da Grounded Theory aligeiram os processos formativos anteriores e colocam os investigadores mais perto da efectiva realidade.

The success of any information system in any area can be assessed by the voluntary accession of users. In an institution where there is a single system available to the users, this evaluation has to be done through user surveys. SIDE is a portal based on information systems architecture to support teaching, academic management of courses and the learning process, in order to support the needs of integration of information flows in several university information systems. This portal, which is in operation at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro since 2002, allows data management coming from the operation of courses, providing to the management entities one platform to support executive and decision support. This portal proved to be an architectural solution that meets the needs of the institution where it was implemented. The longevity of its use as the main information system to support teaching in the institution proves that. However these facts are not enough to conclude about the quality of the system and the relationship with the users of the services they utilize. In order to conclude about this we proceeded to carry out an opinion survey in order to get some feedback about the usability and quality of these same services. The surveys had a good participation in terms of number of people and that allowed us to take what good conclusions.

Este trabalho apresenta o portal SIDE que é um sistema de informação de apoio ao ensino, centrado na gestão académica e no apoio ao processo de ensino e aprendizagem, indo de encontro às necessidades de integração dos fluxos de informação dos diversos sistemas universitários. O Portal SIDE representa um papel fundamental na instituição, possibilitando a aprendizagem, avaliação e comunicação sem limitações ao nível do espaço e tempo, permitindo dar resposta aos desafios das instituições de ensino superior – aumentar a capacidade de formação e simultaneamente tornar mais eficientes os processos de gestão académica.

The assessment of rainfall-runoff transformation mechanisms with high temporal resolution data has proven crucial to the improving of hydrological studies, by providing detailed knowledge and information about the properties and the characteristics of their main variables. This study aimed at assessing the influence of rainfall event definition criteria in determining the characteristics of hyetographs, as well as in investigating the hydrological relations of rainfall events and antecedent soil moisture with those of the runoff hydrograph, by means of statistical techniques, in experimental basins in Northeast Brazil. To this end, a portion of the data was acquired, in sub-hourly scale, from the databases maintained by the partners of the research since 2003 and the other one was monitored and taken along the hydrological year of 2013-2014 through frequent measurements, performing essays and data processing. Then, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, exploratory data analysis, multivariate statistical techniques and multiple linear regression were carried out either for visual inspection or for statistical data investigation, in order to establish variation patterns and evaluate the association degree among variables. The first study revealed that the variation in minimum inter-event time criteria has reduced by almost 50% the number of events, and underestimated the average intensity of events by 4 times on average. The second study showed that the tropical coastal basin has approximately 4 times more events than those of semiarid, of which 6% of all events that remain unshaped, contribute to 38% of the total precipitation, and could be reduced by up to 97%, becoming mainly on unimodal events with peak to the left. The third study showed that soil moisture has a similar variation pattern up to 3 days in advance and exerts a significant influence, along with the precipitation and duration of rainfall events on both the runoff coefficient, the peak and the discharge of hydrographs; on the other hand, the principal component responsible for the peak and intensities of hyetographs was significant only on the runoff coefficient, which was, in turn, the best feature set for the multiple linear regression analysis, as it the coefficient of determination was 0.66. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of continuous and systematic hydro-climatological data monitoring for the experimental studies that may provide input to decision-making in water resources management measures.