Abstract
Manufacturing applications address business to business (B2B) with highly customised applications developed for specific requirements, offering highly specialised solution-oriented and service-based software components, systems, and digital tools that aim at a fast and accurate decision-making support system. The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of digital technologies for operations management using manufacturing or engineering apps (eApps), for product design and manufacturing processes. In particular, starting from the specific needs of two companies from mature European industries as automotive and food, this work depicts how this kind of solutions can support companies and improve their operations. In particular, related benefits and challenges faced for the full implementation of the developed tools are highlighted. Moreover a business model to exploit the manufacturing apps is also proposed. The business model proposed for the exploitation of the eApps supports the commercialisation of all the revenue streams offered by this rapidly growing sector taking into account the specific needs of the concerned stakeholders through a diversified value proposition.

Abstract
The reactive paradigm recently became very popular in user-interface development: updates - such as the ones from the mouse, keyboard, or from the network - can trigger a chain of computations organised in a dependency graph, letting the underlying engine control the scheduling of these computations. In the context of the Internet of Things (IoT), typical applications deploy components in distributed nodes and link their interfaces, employing a publish-subscribe architecture. The paradigm for Distributed Reactive Programming marries these two concepts, treating each distributed component as a reactive computation. However, existing approaches either require expensive synchronisation mechanisms or they do not support pipelining, i.e., allowingmultiple "waves" of updates to be executed in parallel. We propose Quarp (Quality-Aware Reactive Programming), a scalable and light-weight mechanism aimed at the IoT to orchestrate components triggered by updates of data-producing components or of aggregating components. This mechanism appends meta-information tomessages between components capturing the context of the data, used to dynamically monitor and guarantee useful properties of the dynamic applications. These include the so-called glitch freedom, time synchronisation, and geographical proximity. We formalise Quarp using a simple operational semantics, provide concrete examples of useful instances of contexts, and situate our approach in the realm of distributed reactive programming.

Abstract
This paper describes an energy management system that is being developed in the AnyPLACE project to support new energy services, like demand response, in residential buildings. In the project end-user interfaces are designed and implemented to allow the input of preferences regarding the flexible use of shiftable and thermal appliances. Monitoring and self-learning algorithm are used to allow additional information to be collected and an automation platform is available for the management and control of appliances. An energy management algorithm is presented that processes end-user preferences and devices characteristics to produce an optimal dispatch considering demand response incentives. Results show the successful implementation of an optimized energy scheduling.

Abstract
Usability is a critical aspect of software systems because poor user experience can lead users to choose other software. One way to improve usability is through testing. But, usability testing is a challenge because, most of the times, it can not be accomplished without the presence of real users, which is complex and requires a lot of effort. However, there are some aspects and usability guidelines that can be tested automatically. This paper presents a test approach that defines generic test strategies (test patterns) to test usability guidelines (or best practices). It is an extension to previous work on testing functional aspects of web applications through the GUI (PBGT - Pattern Based GUI Testing). The main goal of this work is to be the first step in extending PBGT's PARADIGM language with usability testing patterns, so that it is possible to build test models from which usability tests can be generated and automatically executed over a website. This paper presents a new usability test pattern, called 'Reachability Test Pattern', which is validated in a case study performed over an academic software system available on the web. © 2017 IEEE.

Abstract
Vehicle suspension systems are usually based on passive actuators and control modes in which the damping and stiffness parameters are predefined and kept constant for all road profiles and vehicle response. A different approach is to use active systems to monitor and control the suspension motion in order to improve the vehicle handling and comfort. However, these systems have a complex design requiring a relatively high power source to operate. Semi-active systems are also capable to modify the properties of the vehicle suspension but with low power requirements making them a promising technology for demanding vibration control systems. This paper presents the findings of a numerical simulation involving a simplified model of a vehicle suspension system equipped with a MR actuator. The system is designed to improve the behavior (comfort and handling) of the vehicle compared with a traditional passive suspension system. A simple fuzzy logic controller is used to decide the control action in accordance with the measured system response. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017.

Abstract
Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) are tools that help researchers to develop qualitative research projects. These software packages help the users with tasks such as transcription analysis, coding and text interpretation, writing and annotation, content search and analysis, recursive abstraction, grounded theory methodology, discourse analysis, data mapping, and several other types of analysis. This paper focus the new paradigm of self-learning, that presents itself increasingly as a competence to support learning in a proactive way. It further analyses education and CAQDAS with emphasis on the use of CAQDAS in educational research and the self-learning of CAQDAS. The study conducted had two main goals: (1) analyse the self-learning tools of CAQDAS and (2) identify CAQDAS's users learning profile. Six software packages were selected: NVivo, Atlas.ti, Dedoose, webQDA, MAXQDA, and QDA Miner. They were reviewed, taking into account their transversality, language, (self-learning) tools, among other criteria. The results show that there is a considerable demand for information from users regarding the execution of processes in CAQDAS, and that the packages analysed do not guide users towards the self-learning tools that best fit their learning style.