Abstract
Humanoid robots should be capable of adjusting their walking speed and walking direction. Due to the huge design space of the controller, it is very difficult to control the balance of humanoids walk. The position of the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) is widely used for dynamic stability measurement in biped locomotion. The reference trajectory of the Center of Mass (CoM) of a humanoid can be computed from a predefined ZMP trajectory. In order to generate the CoM trajectory, many researchers represent the ZMP equation using the motion equations of simple physical system, e. g. the cart-table model. A Fourier series approximation based method, which generates the CoM trajectory, was previously proposed for straight and curve walking. This paper extends these techniques to generate side and diagonal walking. In order to generate diagonal walking, straight and side walking are combined. The proposed CoM generation approach was tested on a simulated NAO robot. Experiments indicate that the method is successful in generating stable side and diagonal walking. Comparison results of the proposed method with ZMP preview control method show the benefits of the proposed technique.

Abstract
The Linear inverted pendulum model is widely used in biped walking approaches. This model assumes that the hip height is fixed while the robot walks. In this paper, the hip height movement, or vertical Center of Mass (CoM) trajectory, is used by a robot to achieve a faster and more stable walk. For the first time, the hip height movement is modeled in a formal way and its parameters are learned. The inverted pendulum model and a numerical approach are used to control the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) for generating a balanced walk. Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES) is applied to optimize the hip height trajectory and walking parameters with respect to walking speed and stability. Experimental results are achieved on a simulated NAO robot. A comparison of the results of the proposed gait model (and development approach) with those obtained using fixed hip height shows that fixed height walking is slower than variable height walking.

Abstract
The work described in this paper is part of the development of a framework to support the joint execution of cooperative missions by a group of robotic vehicles, in a simulated, augmented or real environment. Such framework brings forward the need for formal languages in which to specify the group of vehicles that compose a team; the scenario in which they will operate; and the definition of the mission to be performed (surveillance, pollution detection, search and rescue operations, and so on). This paper presents the Mission Description Language (MDL), a XML dialect that describes the specifics of a mission to be performed by a team of autonomous vehicles. The MDL definition decomposes a mission into a number of possibly dependent phases and uses high-level concepts that facilitate the specification of a mission by both experts and non-experts. The dialect was defined using XML Schema, with all the required information being integrated in the definition. An interface was developed and incorporated into the framework, as to allow for the creation and edition of XML files following the defined schema. Once the information is correctly specified, it can be used in the framework, thus facilitating the process of mission specification and deployment. A survey answered by both practitioners and researchers shows that the degree of satisfaction with MDL is elevated (the overall evaluation of MDL achieved a 3.97 score (out of 5), with 82.05% of the answers being equal to or above 4); also, the usability of the interface was evaluated, having achieved a score of 82.9 in the SUS scale. These results imply that MDL is flexible enough to represent several types of missions, through a user-friendly interface.

Abstract
In order to study the mechanisms behind the human motion and its disorders, and to comprehend how do neuromuscular impairments affect the human movements, it is crucial to know the human musculoskeletal system. This knowledge is also essential to effectively model and analyse the musculoskeletal system, and to classify the human movement. With this work we conducted preliminary studies over a musculoskeletal model in motion, and performed a comparative analysis in gait between two models: one with a non-pathological gait and another with a disordered gait.

Abstract
Universities and polytechnics are educational institutions that make decisions within the university management, taking into account various factors such as the number of vacancies to offer ( not only the university, as each course itself), the courses setting strategy and his regime, the type of the course and publication. This paper presents a study on the evolution of vacancies and students placed in higher education in Portugal, taking into account an analysis of data from the page of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education from 2004 until 2015. The results show that vacancies available experienced a positive increase. However, since 2010 until the last year, there has been a progressive decrease. In relation to the number of students placed, this has been subject to fluctuations and some turning points, but in the last two years showed an increase. The most popular courses were Management and Medicine, and those who had more students were Nursing and Management.

Abstract