Abstract
In this paper we present and evaluate the spectral response of uniform gratings written in different tapered core sections of single mode fibre. This combination of uniform gratings and tapers leads to three, types of Chirped Fibre Bragg Gratings with different reflection spectra and different mechanical properties. These devices are characterized in function of the applied strain, showing interesting chirp tunability.

Abstract
The use of formal probabilistic modelling together with advanced statistical inference in communications engineering, has the potential of providing a powerful workbench for deriving conclusions about the behaviour of systems and sources of data and therefore developing innovative and efficient control and management strategies of communication systems. Targeting the efficient dimensioning of systems and resources in order to make possible the provision of high-quality and larger-choice services to the end-users, this paper proposes the use of a Bayesian framework in video broadband communications. In the context of the combined transmission of several good-quality video sources, such as a digital television broadcast service, using VBR video encoding algorithms and based on prior beliefs and statistical models, an intelligent multiplexer is capable of predicting the probable amount of free space and fill it with extra services or increase the quality of the transmitted channels. © 2003 IEEE.

Abstract
The use of formal probabilistic modelling together with advanced statistical inference in communications engineering, has the potential of providing a powerful workbench for deriving conclusions about the behaviour of systems and sources of data and therefore developing innovative and efficient control and management strategies of communication systems. Targeting the efficient dimensioning of systems and resources in order to make possible the provision of high quality and larger-choice services to the end-users, this paper proposes the use of a Bayesian framework in video broadband communications. In the context of the combined transmission of several good-quality video sources, such as a digital television broadcast service, using VBR video encoding algorithms and based on prior beliefs and statistical models, an intelligent multiplexer is capable of predicting the probable amount of free space and fill it with extra services or increase the quality of the transmitted channels.

Abstract
This paper describes a method for automatically assessing the quality of manufactured roof-tiles using digital audio signal processing and pattern recognition techniques. A prototype system has been developed that is based on a mixed PC/DSP platform, where the real-time constraint is one of the main key issues. The suitability of the classification process for implementation in an industrial environment is also addressed.

Abstract
The multi-stream based automatic speech recognisers can obtain higher recognition rates than the conventional systems. This advantage is particularly evident on recognition tasks where the robustness to certain types of noise is critical, which is a very important issue in real-world applications. However most of the multi-stream based approaches remain limited to a research topic due to their higher computation complexity. The fact of this problem has not been addressed satisfactorily in the literature is the main motivation for this study. In our work we investigated the acceleration of the acoustic likelihoods computation, the most time consuming part of the whole recogniser. This paper presents results on the computational complexity of the Gaussian mixture emissions estimation in a multi-stream statistical framework. Some results concerning the recognition performance dependence on the numeric precision at different stages of that process are presented too. In order to achieve a higher acceleration of some critical computation blocks, a hardware implementation is proposed, based on the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology.

Abstract
Software engineers use abstraction to better understand, model and reason about the surrounding world. Recently Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) introduced new levels of abstraction with potential use at run-time to support system evolution. In this paper we propose the FORMAware architecture that blends run-time architectural representation with a reflective programming model to address adaptation issues and promote the proximity between design and development. Reflection opens up composition architecture. through a replaceable default style manager that permits to execute architecture reconfigurations. This manager enforces the structural integrity of the architecture through a set of style rules that developers may change to meet other architectural strategies. Each reconfiguration runs in the scope of a transaction that we may commit or rollback.