Abstract
This paper presents an experiment concerning the development of two mobile devices applications with the App Inventor 2 for Android operating systems. These applications are intended to support teaching and learning activities in Industrial Automation and Control courses, particularly concerning logic control, logic controller programming and process control. While the reported applications: eLogicum and Automatum are yet in an early development stage, this paper aims to motivate teachers and students to a wider use of mobile devices in the context of university teaching and learning processes. Both applications are reported, focusing in the more relevant development issues concerning the App Inventor 2 use.

Abstract
A dual mode control configuration involving open-loop feedforward control to deal with set-point tracking and proportional integrative and derivative control to deal with disturbance rejection is proposed. The feedforward controller is a Posicast pre-filter shaping the reference input using either two or three steps. The switching between the open-loop and closed-loop control is performed automatically. The particle swarm optimization algorithm is deployed as design tool both for the feedforward and PID controller. Simulation results are presented showing the merits of the proposed technique.

Abstract
This paper presents a Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization (QPSO) applied to hour-ahead scheduling in Smart Grid (SG). The unforeseen events not considered in day-ahead scheduling, must be overcome when approaching intraday operation. This implies new constraints in hour-ahead formulation. The developed methodology aims to complement the day-ahead scheduling tools already available on the literature. The unforeseen events in the hour-ahead can include change of forecasted load demand, market prices and availability of renewable generation. The QPSO solves the problem in adequate execution time under the hour-ahead time scale. This is demonstrated using a scenario with high penetration of distributed generation and gridable vehicles. Furthermore, a comparison with GAMS is presented.

Abstract
There is a need to attract students to science and engineering courses. Robotic contests are one of the most promising ways to attract students to the field of robotics and thereby to science and technology. Micromouse contest is one of promising contests where a small autonomous robot has to navigate its way through an unknown 16 x 16 cells maze. Since the design and construction of robots is interesting but difficult, this paper presents a high performance, low-cost robot kit for high school and university students participate on micromouse robot contests. This micromouse kit, developed at University of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), fits on a 10x8 cm rectangle and uses very small stepper motors allowing a maximum speed of about 4 m/s thus comparing to state-of-the-art micromice. The kit also incorporates a popular microcontroller hardware module (Arduino Leonardo) which facilitates all programming tasks.

Abstract

Abstract
Over the last decade, impelled by the huge open source software community support, the low cost Arduino platform presents itself as an alternative for digital sound processing. Although Arduino is generally used for small applications for the artistic and maker community, its built-in Analog to digital converter can be used for sound capturing, processing and reproduction. Equipped with a powerful AVR 8 bit RISC microcontroller, the Arduino, can achieve up to 200kHz with a 10 bit resolution according to the Atmel ATmega328P datasheet that is the AVR core that we are going to focus on this article. Realizing the hardware potential, software suppliers like Matworks or National instruments, have included the Arduino packages on the software accessories of MATLAB and LABView. This work presents some of the sound capabilities and specific limitations of the Arduino platform, enlacing its connection and installation with MATLAB software. A series of examples of the Arduino interface with MATLAB are detail and shown in order to facilitate users initiation of MATLAB and Arduino Digital Sound Processing enhancing education fostering.