Search results for: query complexity

Authors: Cesar Vazquez-Gonzalez, Sophie Avila-Foucat, Leonardo Ortiz-Lozano, Patricia Moreno-Casasola, Alejandro Granados-Barba

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In the last twenty years, academic and scientific literature has been focused on understanding the processes and factors of coastal social-ecological systems vulnerability and resilience. Some scholars argue that resilience and vulnerability are isolated concepts due to their epistemological origin, while others note the existence of a strong resilience-vulnerability relationship. Here we present an ordinal logistic regression model based on the analytical framework about dynamic resilience-vulnerability interaction along adaptive cycle of complex systems and disasters process phases (during, recovery and learning). In this way, we demonstrate that 1) during the disturbance, absorptive capacity (resilience as a core of attributes) and external response capacity explain the probability of households capitals to diminish the damage, and exposure sets the thresholds about the amount of disturbance that households can absorb, 2) at recovery, absorptive capacity and external response capacity explain the probability of households capitals to recovery faster (resilience as an outcome) from damage, and 3) at learning, adaptive capacity (resilience as a core of attributes) explains the probability of households adaptation measures based on the enhancement of physical capital. As a result, during the disturbance phase, exposure has the greatest weight in the probability of capital’s damage, and households with absorptive and external response capacity elements absorbed the impact of floods in comparison with households without these elements. At the recovery phase, households with absorptive and external response capacity showed a faster recovery on their capital; however, the damage sets the thresholds of recovery time. More importantly, diversity in financial capital increases the probability of recovering other capital, but it becomes a liability so that the probability of recovering the household finances in a longer time increases. At learning-reorganizing phase, adaptation (modifications to the house) increases the probability of having less damage on physical capital; however, it is not very relevant. As conclusion, resilience is an outcome but also core of attributes that interacts with vulnerability along the adaptive cycle and disaster process phases. Absorptive capacity can diminish the damage experienced by floods; however, when exposure overcomes thresholds, both absorptive and external response capacity are not enough. In the same way, absorptive and external response capacity diminish the recovery time of capital, but the damage sets the thresholds in where households are not capable of recovering their capital.

Keywords: absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity, capital, floods, recovery-learning, social-ecological systems

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Authors: Suneet Jagdev

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The development of the original Bauhaus occurred at a time in the beginning of the 20th century when the industrialization of Germany had reached a climax. The cities were a reflection of the new living conditions of an industrialized society. The Bauhaus can be interpreted as an ambitious attempt to find appropriate answers to the challenges by using architecture-urban development and design. The core elements of the conviction of the day were the belief in the necessary crossing of boundaries between the various disciplines and courage to experiment for a better solution. Even after 100 years, the situation in our cities is shaped by similar complexity. The urban consequences of developments are difficult to estimate and to predict. The paper critically reflected on the central aspects of the history of the Bauhaus and its role in bringing the modernism in India by comparative studies of the methodology adopted by the artists and designer in both the countries. The paper talked in detail about how the Bauhaus Exhibition in 1922 offered Indian artists a new weapon of anti-colonial resistance. The original Bauhaus fought its aesthetic and political battles in the context of economic instability and the rise of German fascism. The Indians had access to dominant global languages and in a particular English. The availability of print media and a vibrant indigenous intellectual culture provided Indian people a tool to accept technology while denying both its dominant role in culture and the inevitability of only one form of modernism. The indigenous was thus less an engagement with their culture as in the West than a tool of anti-colonial struggle. We have shown how the Indian people used Bauhaus as a critique of colonialism itself through an undermining of its typical modes of representation and as a means of incorporating the Indian desire for spirituality into art and as providing the cultural basis for a non-materialistic and anti-industrial form of what we might now term development. The paper reflected how through painting the Bauhaus entered the artistic consciousness of the sub-continent not only for its stylistic and technical innovations but as a tool for a critical and even utopian modernism that could challenge both the hegemony of academic and orientalist art and as the bearer of a transnational avant-garde as much political as it was artistic, and as such the basis of a non-Eurocentric but genuinely cosmopolitan alternative to the hierarchies of oppression and domination that had long bound India and were at that moment rising once again to a tragic crescendo in Europe. We have talked about how the Bauhaus of today can offer an innovative orientation towards discourse around architecture and design.

Keywords: anti-colonial struggle, art over architecture, Bauhaus exhibition of 1922, industrialization

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Authors: Sathwik Sarvadevabhatla Kasyap, Kostas Senetakis

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The mechanical behavior of geological materials is very complex, and this complexity is related to the discrete nature of soils and rocks. Characteristics of a material at the grain scale such as particle size and shape, surface roughness and morphology, and particle contact interface are critical to evaluate and better understand the behavior of discrete materials. This study investigates experimentally the micro-mechanical behavior of quartz sand grains with emphasis on the influence of the presence of microparticles in their contact region. The outputs of the study provide some fundamental insights on the contact mechanics behavior of artificially coated grains and can provide useful input parameters in the discrete element modeling (DEM) of soils. In nature, the contact interfaces between real soil grains are commonly observed with microparticles. This is usually the case of sand-silt and sand-clay mixtures, where the finer particles may create a coating on the surface of the coarser grains, altering in this way the micro-, and thus the macro-scale response of geological materials. In this study, the micro-mechanical behavior of Leighton Buzzard Sand (LBS) quartz grains, with interference of different microparticles at their contact interfaces is studied in the laboratory using an advanced custom-built inter-particle loading apparatus. Special techniques were adopted to develop the coating on the surfaces of the quartz sand grains so that to establish repeatability of the coating technique. The characterization of the microstructure of coated particles on their surfaces was based on element composition analyses, microscopic images, surface roughness measurements, and single particle crushing strength tests. The mechanical responses such as normal and tangential load – displacement behavior, tangential stiffness behavior, and normal contact behavior under cyclic loading were studied. The behavior of coated LBS particles is compared among different classes of them and with pure LBS (i.e. surface cleaned to remove any microparticles). The damage on the surface of the particles was analyzed using microscopic images. Extended displacements in both normal and tangential directions were observed for coated LBS particles due to the plastic nature of the coating material and this varied with the variation of the amount of coating. The tangential displacement required to reach steady state was delayed due to the presence of microparticles in the contact region of grains under shearing. Increased tangential loads and coefficient of friction were observed for the coated grains in comparison to the uncoated quartz grains.

Keywords: contact interface, microparticles, micro-mechanical behavior, quartz sand

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Authors: M. Gowri, E. K. Girija, V. Ganesh

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Background and Significance: Among the dental infections, inflammation and infection of the root canal are common among all age groups. Currently, the management of root canal infections involves cleaning the canal with powerful irrigants followed by intracanal medicament application. Though these treatments have been in vogue for a long time, root canal failures do occur. Treatment for root canal infections is limited due to the anatomical complexity in terms of small micrometer volumes and poor penetration of drugs. Thus, infections of the root canal seem to be a challenge that demands development of new agents that can eradicate C. albicans. Methodology: In the present study, we synthesized and screened silver-curcumin nanoparticle against Candida albicans. Detailed molecular studies were carried out with silver-curcumin nanoparticle on C. albicans pathogenicity. Morphological cell damage and antibiofilm activity of silver-curcumin nanoparticle on C. albicans was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Biochemical evidence for membrane damage was studied using flow cytometry. Further, the antifungal activity of silver-curcumin nanoparticle was evaluated in an ex vivo dentinal tubule infection model. Results: Screening data showed that silver-curcumin nanoparticle was active against C. albicans. Silver-curcumin nanoparticle exerted time kill effect and post antifungal effect. When used in combination with fluconazole or nystatin, silver-curcumin nanoparticle revealed a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) decrease for both drugs used. In-depth molecular studies with silver-curcumin nanoparticle on C. albicans showed that silver-curcumin nanoparticle inhibited yeast to hyphae (Y-H) conversion. Further, SEM images of C. albicans showed that silver-curcumin nanoparticle caused membrane damage and inhibited biofilm formation. Biochemical evidence for membrane damage was confirmed by increased propidium iodide (PI) uptake in flow cytometry. Further, the antifungal activity of silver-curcumin nanoparticle was evaluated in an ex vivo dentinal tubule infection model, which mimics human tooth root canal infection. Confocal laser scanning microscopy studies showed eradication of C. albicans and reduction in colony forming unit (CFU) after 24 h treatment in the infected tooth samples in this model. Conclusion: The results of this study can pave the way for developing new antifungal agents with well deciphered mechanisms of action and can be a promising antifungal agent or medicament against root canal infection.

Keywords: C. albicans, ex vivo dentine model, inhibition of biofilm formation, root canal infection, yeast to hyphae conversion inhibition

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Authors: Z. Razi, S. M. J. Mortazavi, N. Shokrpour, Z. Shayan, F. Amiri

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Long-term exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation occurs in radiation health care workplaces. Although doses in health professions are generally very low, there are still matters of concern. The radiation safety program promotes occupational radiation safety through accurate and reliable monitoring of radiation workers in order to effectively manage radiation protection. To achieve this goal, it has become mandatory to implement health examination periodically. As a result, based on the hematological alterations, working populations with a common occupational radiation history are screened. This paper calls into question the effectiveness of blood component analysis as a screening program which is mandatory for medical radiation workers in some countries. This study details the distribution and trends of changes in blood components, including white blood cells (WBCs), red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets as well as received cumulative doses from occupational radiation exposure. This study was conducted among 199 participants and 100 control subjects at the medical imaging departments at the central hospital of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences during the years 2006–2010. Descriptive and analytical statistics, considering the P-value<0.05 as statistically significance was used for data analysis. The results of this study show that there is no significant difference between the radiation workers and controls regarding WBCs and platelet count during 4 years. Also, we have found no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to RBCs. Besides, no statistically significant difference was observed with respect to RBCs with regards to gender, which has been analyzed separately because of the lower reference range for normal RBCs levels in women compared to men and. Moreover, the findings confirm that in a separate evaluation between WBCs count and the personnel’s working experience and their annual exposure dose, results showed no linear correlation between the three variables. Since the hematological findings were within the range of control levels, it can be concluded that the radiation dosage (which was not more than 7.58 mSv in this study) had been too small to stimulate any quantifiable change in medical radiation worker’s blood count. Thus, use of more accurate method for screening program based on the working profile of the radiation workers and their accumulated dose is suggested. In addition, complexity of radiation-induced functions and the influence of various factors on blood count alteration should be taken into account.

Keywords: blood cell count, mandatory testing, occupational exposure, radiation

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Authors: Temmuz Gönç Şavran

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Migration is a multidimensional and health-related concept that has important consequences for both migrants and the host society. Due to past conflicts and poor living conditions that lead to migration, the dangerous and difficult journey, and the problems they face upon arrival in the destination country, migrants are at higher risk for poor health. Health is a human right, and all societies and communities, including migrant groups, must receive adequate health care. In addition, the health of migrants must be improved to protect the health of the host society and ensure social integration. The main determinants of health are employment, income, education, good housing, and adequate nutrition. It can be said that migrants are among the most vulnerable groups in society in these respects, and migrant health is negatively affected by this situation. Rigid immigration policies or financial constraints in destination countries, the complexity and bureaucracy of health systems, the low health literacy of migrant groups, and the inadequate provision of translation services in health facilities are among the other main factors affecting migrant health. Migrants are also at risk of stigma, exclusion, detection, and deportation when seeking medical care. Based on data from a qualitative study with a descriptive case study design, this paper aims to highlight and sociologically assess the health-related problems of international migrants in Eskisehir, Turkey. The sample consists of 30 international migrants living in Eskisehir, two-thirds of whom are from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Those who are citizens of the Republic of Turkey are excluded from the study; otherwise, the legal status of the participants is not considered in the selection of the sample. This makes it possible to distinguish the different needs and problems of subgroups and to consider migrant health as a comprehensive concept. The research is supported by Anadolu University in Eskisehir, and data will be collected through semi-structured interviews between November 2022 and February 2023. With holistic sociology of health approach, this study considers migrant health as a comprehensive sociological concept. It aims to reveal the health-related resources and needs of the international migrant groups living in the center of Eskisehir, the problems they encounter in meeting these needs, and the strategies they use to solve these problems. The results are expected to show that the health of migrants is not only influenced by legislation but is shaped by many processes, from housing conditions to cultural habits. It is expected that the results will also raise awareness of discrimination, exclusion, marginalization, and hate speech in migrants’ access to health services.

Keywords: migrant health, sociology of health, sociology of migration, Turkey, refugees

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Authors: Hernando Santamaría-García, Sandra Báez, Pablo Reyes, José Santamaría-García, Diana Matallana, Adolfo García, Agustín Ibañez

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The study of moral emotions (i.e., Schadenfreude and envy) is critical to understand the ecological complexity of everyday interactions between cognitive, affective, and social cognition processes. Most previous studies in this area have used correlational imaging techniques and framed Schadenfreude and envy as monolithic domains. Here, we profit from a relevant neurodegeneration model to disentangle the brain regions engaged in three dimensions of Schadenfreude and envy: deservingness, morality, and legality. We tested 20 patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), 24 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as a contrastive neurodegeneration model, and 20 healthy controls on a novel task highlighting each of these dimensions in scenarios eliciting Schadenfreude and envy. Compared with the AD and control groups, bvFTD patients obtained significantly higher scores on all dimensions for both emotions. Interestingly, the legal dimension for both envy and Schadenfreude elicited higher emotional scores than the deservingness and moral dimensions. Furthermore, correlational analyses in bvFTD showed that higher envy and Schadenfreude scores were associated with greater deficits in social cognition, inhibitory control, and behavior. Brain anatomy findings (restricted to bvFTD and controls) confirmed differences in how these groups process each dimension. Schadenfreude was associated with the ventral striatum in all subjects. Also, in bvFTD patients, increased Schadenfreude across dimensions was negatively correlated with regions supporting social-value rewards, mentalizing, and social cognition (frontal pole, temporal pole, angular gyrus and precuneus). In all subjects, all dimensions of envy positively correlated with the volume of the anterior cingulate cortex, a region involved in processing unfair social comparisons. By contrast, in bvFTD patients, the intensified experience of envy across all dimensions was negatively correlated with a set of areas subserving social cognition, including the prefrontal cortex, the parahippocampus, and the amygdala. Together, the present results provide the first lesion-based evidence for the multidimensional nature of the emotional experiences of envy and Schadenfreude. Moreover, this is the first demonstration of a selective exacerbation of envy and Schadenfreude in bvFTD patients, probably triggered by atrophy to social cognition networks. Our results offer new insights into the mechanisms subserving complex emotions and moral cognition in neurodegeneration, paving the way for groundbreaking research on their interaction with other cognitive, social, and emotional processes.

Keywords: social cognition, moral emotions, neuroimaging, frontotemporal dementia

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Authors: Lujain Khraiba

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Recently, there is a broad recognition that micro-climate conditions contribute to the quality of life in urban spaces outdoors, both from economical and social viewpoints. The consideration of urban micro-climate and outdoor thermal comfort in urban design and planning processes has become one of the important aspects in current related studies. However, these aspects are so far not considered in urban planning regulations in practice and these regulations are often poorly adapted to the local climate and culture. Therefore, there is a huge need to adapt the existing planning regulations to the local climate especially in cities that have extremely hot weather conditions. The overall aim of this study is to point out the complexity of the relationship between urban planning regulations, urban design, micro-climate and outdoor thermal comfort in the hot dry city of Damascus, Syria. The main aim is to investigate the temporal and spatial effects of micro-climate on urban surface temperatures and outdoor thermal comfort in different urban design patterns as a result of urban planning regulations during the extreme summer conditions. In addition, studying different alternatives of how to mitigate the surface temperature and thermal stress is also a part of the aim. The novelty of this study is to highlight the combined effect of urban surface materials and vegetation to develop the thermal environment. This study is based on micro-climate simulations using ENVI-met 3.1. The input data is calibrated according to a micro-climate fieldwork that has been conducted in different urban zones in Damascus. Different urban forms and geometries including the old and the modern parts of Damascus are thermally evaluated. The Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index is used as an indicator for outdoor thermal comfort analysis. The study highlights the shortcomings of existing planning regulations in terms of solar protection especially at street levels. The results show that the surface temperatures in Old Damascus are lower than in the modern part. This is basically due to the difference in urban geometries that prevent the solar radiation in Old Damascus to reach the ground and heat up the surface whereas in modern Damascus, the streets are prescribed as wide spaces with high values of Sky View Factor (SVF is about 0.7). Moreover, the canyons in the old part are paved in cobblestones whereas the asphalt is the main material used in the streets of modern Damascus. Furthermore, Old Damascus is less stressful than the modern part (the difference in PET index is about 10 °C). The thermal situation is enhanced when different vegetation are considered (an improvement of 13 °C in the surface temperature is recorded in modern Damascus). The study recommends considering a detailed landscape code at street levels to be integrated in urban regulations of Damascus in order to achieve a better urban development in harmony with micro-climate and comfort. Such strategy will be very useful to decrease the urban warming in the city.

Keywords: micro-climate, outdoor thermal comfort, urban planning regulations, urban spaces

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Authors: Sven Tackenberg, Sönke Duckwitz, Andreas Petz, Christopher M. Schlick

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This paper introduces an extension to the well-established Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) to apply it to complex maintenance problems. The problem is to assign technicians to a team which has to process several tasks with multi-level skill requirements during a work shift. Here, several alternative activities for a task allow both, the temporal shift of activities or the reallocation of technicians and tools. As a result, switches from one valid work process variant to another can be considered and may be selected by the developed evolutionary algorithm based on the present skill level of technicians or the available tools. An additional complication of the observed scheduling problem is that the locations of the construction sites are only temporarily accessible during a day. Due to intensive rail traffic, the available time slots for maintenance and repair works are extremely short and are often distributed throughout the day. To identify efficient working periods, a first concept of a Bayesian network is introduced and is integrated into the extended RCPSP with pre-emptive and non-pre-emptive tasks. Thereby, the Bayesian network is used to calculate the probability of a maintenance task to be processed during a specific period of the shift. Focusing on the domain of maintenance of the railway infrastructure in metropolitan areas as the most unproductive implementation process at construction site, the paper illustrates how the extended RCPSP can be applied for maintenance planning support. A multi-criteria evolutionary algorithm with a problem representation is introduced which is capable of revising technician-task allocations, whereas the duration of the task may be stochastic. The approach uses a novel activity list representation to ensure easily describable and modifiable elements which can be converted into detailed shift schedules. Thereby, the main objective is to develop a shift plan which maximizes the utilization of each technician due to a minimization of the waiting times caused by rail traffic. The results of the already implemented core algorithm illustrate a fast convergence towards an optimal team composition for a shift, an efficient sequence of tasks and a high probability of the subsequent implementation due to the stochastic durations of the tasks. In the paper, the algorithm for the extended RCPSP is analyzed in experimental evaluation using real-world example problems with various size, resource complexity, tightness and so forth.

Keywords: maintenance management, scheduling, resource constrained project scheduling problem, genetic algorithms

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Authors: Rene Hellmuth

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Factory planning has the task of designing products, plants, processes, organization, areas, and the construction of a factory. The requirements for factory planning and the building of a factory have changed in recent years. Regular restructuring of the factory building is becoming more important in order to maintain the competitiveness of a factory. Restrictions in new areas, shorter life cycles of product and production technology as well as a VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity) lead to more frequent restructuring measures within a factory. A building information model (BIM) is the planning basis for rebuilding measures and becomes an indispensable data repository to be able to react quickly to changes. Use as a planning basis for restructuring measures in factories only succeeds if the BIM model has adequate data quality. Under this aspect and the industrial requirement, three data quality factors are particularly important for this paper regarding the BIM model: up-to-dateness, completeness, and correctness. The research question is: how can a BIM model be kept up to date with required data quality and which visualization techniques can be applied in a short period of time on the construction site during conversion measures? An as-is analysis is made of how BIM models and digital factory models (including laser scans) are currently being kept up to date. Industrial companies are interviewed, and expert interviews are conducted. Subsequently, the results are evaluated, and a procedure conceived how cost-effective and timesaving updating processes can be carried out. The availability of low-cost hardware and the simplicity of the process are of importance to enable service personnel from facility mnagement to keep digital factory models (BIM models and laser scans) up to date. The approach includes the detection of changes to the building, the recording of the changing area, and the insertion into the overall digital twin. Finally, an overview of the possibilities for visualizations suitable for construction sites is compiled. An augmented reality application is created based on an updated BIM model of a factory and installed on a tablet. Conversion scenarios with costs and time expenditure are displayed. A user interface is designed in such a way that all relevant conversion information is available at a glance for the respective conversion scenario. A total of three essential research results are achieved: As-is analysis of current update processes for BIM models and laser scans, development of a time-saving and cost-effective update process and the conception and implementation of an augmented reality solution for BIM models suitable for construction sites.

Keywords: building information modeling, digital factory model, factory planning, restructuring

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Authors: Luminiţa Duţică, Gheorghe Duţică

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Many of the interrogations or dilemmas of the contemporary world found the answer in what was generically called the appeal to matrix. This genuine spiritual exercise of re-connection of the present to origins, to the primary source, revealed the ontological condition of timelessness, ahistorical, immutable (epi)phenomena, of those pure essences concentrated in the archetypal-referential layer of the human existence. The musical creation was no exception to this trend, the impasse generated by the deterministic excesses of the whole serialism or, conversely, by some questionable results of the extreme indeterminism proper to the avant-garde movements, stimulating the orientation of many composers to rediscover a universal grammar, as an emanation of a new ‘collective’ order (reverse of the utopian individualism). In this context, the music of oral tradition and therefore the world of the ancient modes represented a true revelation for the composers of the twentieth century, who were suddenly in front of some unsuspected (re)sources, with a major impact on all levels of edification of the musical work: morphology, syntax, timbrality, semantics etc. For the contemporary Romanian creators, the music of rituals, existing in the local archaic culture, opened unsuspected perspectives for which it meant to be a synthetic, inclusive and recoverer vision, where the primary (archetypal) genuine elements merge with the latest achievements of language of the European composers. Thus, anchored in a strong and genuine modal source, the compositions analysed in this paper evoke, in a manner as modern as possible, the atmosphere of some ancestral rituals such as: the invocation of rain during the drought (Paparudele, Scaloianul), funeral ceremony (Bocetul), traditions specific to the winter holidays and new year (Colinda, Cântecul de stea, Sorcova, Folklore traditional dances) etc. The reactivity of those rituals in the sound context of the twentieth century meant potentiating or resizing the archaic spirit of the primordial symbolic entities, in terms of some complexity levels generated by the technique of harmonies of chordal layers, of complex aggregates (gravitational or non-gravitational, geometric), of the mixture polyphonies and with global effect (group, mass), by the technique of heterophony, of texture and cluster, leading to the implementation of some processes of collective improvisation and instrumental theatre.

Keywords: archetype, improvisation, polyphony, ritual, instrumental theatre

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Authors: Till Gramberg

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In the dynamic world of machine and plant engineering, stagnation in the growth of new product sales compels companies to reconsider their business models. The increasing shift toward service orientation, known as "servitization," along with challenges posed by digitalization and sustainability, necessitates an adaptation of product portfolio management (PPM). Against this backdrop, this study investigates the current challenges and requirements of PPM in this industrial context and develops a framework for the application of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance agility and efficiency in PPM processes. The research approach of this study is based on a mixed-method design. Initially, qualitative interviews with industry experts were conducted to gain a deep understanding of the specific challenges and requirements in PPM. These interviews were analyzed using the Gioia method, painting a detailed picture of the existing issues and needs within the sector. This was complemented by a quantitative online survey. The combination of qualitative and quantitative research enabled a comprehensive understanding of the current challenges in the practical application of machine and plant engineering PPM. Based on these insights, a specific framework for the application of generative AI in PPM was developed. This framework aims to assist companies in implementing faster and more agile processes, systematically integrating dynamic requirements from trends such as digitalization and sustainability into their PPM process. Utilizing generative AI technologies, companies can more quickly identify and respond to trends and market changes, allowing for a more efficient and targeted adaptation of the product portfolio. The study emphasizes the importance of an agile and reactive approach to PPM in a rapidly changing environment. It demonstrates how generative AI can serve as a powerful tool to manage the complexity of a diversified and continually evolving product portfolio. The developed framework offers practical guidelines and strategies for companies to improve their PPM processes by leveraging the latest technological advancements while maintaining ecological and social responsibility. This paper significantly contributes to deepening the understanding of the application of generative AI in PPM and provides a framework for companies to manage their product portfolios more effectively and adapt to changing market conditions. The findings underscore the relevance of continuous adaptation and innovation in PPM strategies and demonstrate the potential of generative AI for proactive and future-oriented business management.

Keywords: servitization, product portfolio management, generative AI, disruptive innovation, machine and plant engineering

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Authors: Lalith Edirisinghe

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Due to the variability in global trading patterns, some ports in the world experience a shortage of shipping containers while the rest of the ports have excess container stocks. According to this study, carriers operate and manage their container inventories independently, leading to enormous container repositioning costs. In contrast, the researcher suggests that costs can be minimized if carriers exchange containers among them. In other words, rather than repositioning excess containers, a carrier could offer them to another carrier in the same port that has a shortage and vice versa. However, this is easier said than done because there is huge complexity in global container management as it involves many operational parameters such as multiple types and sizes of containers, the varying transit times of different carriers, etc., and the exchange may take place in various ports globally. Therefore, the exchange should be facilitated through a fully comprehensive automated computer system that could consider all the parameters that impact the possibility of exchange containers. Accordingly, the research used mixed research methods, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. Data analysis is conducted using SPSS tools, and a prototype is developed as the output of the research. The proposed mathematical solution will proactively scan through the container size, type, and volume of every member carrier in each port and map how the deficit and excess quantities could be shared among them and set off the imbalance of empty container reposition at ports of their interest. The approach includes obtaining and processing container inventory information from multiple parties in real time for assessing container data associated with each party for each port at a given time. Using the container data, container inventories for each party at each port for a defined time are forecasted. A first party having surplus (offeror) and deficit (offeree) of empty containers at a first and a second port at a first time, respectively, is determined. A second party having a deficit and surplus of empty containers at the first time, respectively, is determined. Offering the first and the second party a container exchange opportunity to enable the first party to supply surplus empty containers to the second party at the first port based on the first container characteristics and the second party to supply surplus empty containers to the first party at the second port based on the second container characteristics. After the offeree obtains containers, they will be shipped to a port determined by the exporters. To ensure the sustainability of this method, the system should provide equal benefits to both the offeror and the offeree. Accordingly, the system will consider not only the number of containers exchanged but also the duration the offeree may hold them in its custody. This reduces container repositioning costs by utilizing mathematical modeling, algorithms, big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. This method and system may reduce the container repositioning cost by twenty percent.

Keywords: container inventory, benefit of exchange, reposition, imbalance, shipping, carriers, offeree, offeror

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Authors: Brad Stappenbelt

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The phenomenon of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) for elastically restrained cylindrical structures in cross-flows is relatively well investigated. The utility of this mechanism in harvesting energy from marine current and tidal flows is however arguably still in its infancy. With relatively few moving components, a flow-induced vibration-based energy conversion device augers low complexity compared to the commonly employed turbine design. Despite the interest in this concept, a practical device has yet to emerge. It is desirable for optimal system performance to design for a very low mass or mass moment of inertia ratio. The device operating range, in particular, is maximized below the vortex-induced vibration critical point where an infinite resonant response region is realized. An unfortunate consequence of this requirement is large buoyancy forces that need to be mitigated by gravity-based, suction-caisson or anchor mooring systems. The focus of this paper is the testing of a novel VIV marine current energy harvesting configuration that utilizes a symmetrical and balanced pair of horizontal pivoted cylinders. The results of several years of experimental investigation, utilizing the University of Wollongong fluid mechanics laboratory towing tank, are analyzed and presented. A reduced velocity test range of 0 to 60 was covered across a large array of device configurations. In particular, power take-off damping ratios spanning from 0.044 to critical damping were examined in order to determine the optimal conditions and hence the maximum device energy conversion efficiency. The experiments conducted revealed acceptable energy conversion efficiencies of around 16% and desirable low flow-speed operating ranges when compared to traditional turbine technology. The potentially out-of-phase spanwise VIV cells on each arm of the device synchronized naturally as no decrease in amplitude response and comparable energy conversion efficiencies to the single cylinder arrangement were observed. In addition to the spatial design benefits related to the horizontal device orientation, the main advantage demonstrated by the current symmetrical horizontal configuration is to allow large velocity range resonant response conditions without the excessive buoyancy. The novel configuration proposed shows clear promise in overcoming many of the practical implementation issues related to flow-induced vibration marine current energy harvesting.

Keywords: flow-induced vibration, vortex-induced vibration, energy harvesting, tidal energy

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Authors: Ramin Mehdiabadi, Neda Menbari, Mohammad Nazir Menbari

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As a pressing public health concern, breast cancer stands as the predominant oncological diagnosis and principal cause of cancer-related mortality among women globally, accounting for 11.7% of new cancer incidences and 6.9% of cancer-related deaths. The annual figures indicate that approximately 230,480 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States alone, with 39,520 succumbing to the disease. While developed economies have reported a deceleration in both incidence and mortality rates across various forms of cancer, including breast cancer, emerging and low-income economies manifest a contrary escalation, largely attributable to lifestyle-mediated risk factors such as tobacco usage, physical inactivity, and high caloric intake. Breast cancer is distinctly characterized by molecular heterogeneity, manifesting in specific subtypes delineated by biomarkers—Estrogen Receptors (ER), Progesterone Receptors (PR), and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2). These subtypes, comprising Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched, triple-negative/basal-like, and normal-like, necessitate nuanced, subtype-specific therapeutic regimens, thereby challenging the applicability of generalized treatment protocols. Within this molecular complexity, the transcription factor Forkhead Box M1 (FoxM1) has garnered attention as a significant driver of cellular proliferation, tumorigenesis, metastatic progression, and treatment resistance in a spectrum of human malignancies, including breast cancer. Concurrently, microRNAs (miRs), specifically miR-216b-5p, have been identified as post-transcriptional gene expression regulators and potential tumor suppressors. The overarching objective of this academic investigation is to explicate the multifaceted interrelationship between FoxM1 and miR-216b-5p across the disparate molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Employing a methodologically rigorous, interdisciplinary research design that incorporates cutting-edge molecular biology techniques, sophisticated bioinformatics analytics, and exhaustive meta-analyses of extant clinical data, this scholarly endeavor aims to unveil novel biomarker-specific therapeutic pathways. By doing so, this research is positioned to make a seminal contribution to the advancement of personalized, efficacious, and minimally toxic treatment paradigms, thus profoundly impacting the global efforts to ameliorate the burden of breast cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, fox m1, microRNAs, mir-216b-5p, gene expression

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Authors: Muhammad Abdul Basit Memon

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The importance of organizational knowledge sharing and knowledge management has been documented in numerous research studies in available literature, since knowledge sharing has been recognized as a founding pillar for superior organizational performance and a source of gaining competitive advantage. Built on this, most of the successful organizations perceive knowledge management and knowledge sharing as a concern of high strategic importance and spend huge amounts on the effective management and sharing of organizational knowledge. However, despite some very serious endeavors, many firms fail to capitalize on the benefits of knowledge sharing because of being unaware of the individual characteristics, interpersonal, organizational and contextual factors that influence knowledge sharing; simply the antecedent to knowledge sharing. The extant literature on antecedents to knowledge sharing, offers a range of antecedents mentioned in a number of research articles and research studies. Some of the previous studies about antecedents to knowledge sharing, studied antecedents to knowledge sharing regarding inter-organizational knowledge transfer; others focused on inter and intra organizational knowledge sharing and still others investigated organizational factors. Some of the organizational antecedents to KS can relate to the characteristics and underlying aspects of knowledge being shared e.g., specificity and complexity of the underlying knowledge to be transferred; others relate to specific organizational characteristics e.g., age and size of the organization, decentralization and absorptive capacity of the firm and still others relate to the social relations and networks of organizations such as social ties, trusting relationships, and value systems. In the same way some researchers have highlighted on only one aspect like organizational commitment, transformational leadership, knowledge-centred culture, learning and performance orientation and social network-based relationships in the organizations. A bulk of the existing research articles on antecedents to knowledge sharing has mainly discussed organizational or environmental factors affecting knowledge sharing. However, the focus, later on, shifted towards the analysis of individuals or personal determinants as antecedents for the individual’s engagement in knowledge sharing activities, like personality traits, attitude and self efficacy etc. For example, employees’ goal orientations (i.e. learning orientation or performance orientation is an important individual antecedent of knowledge sharing behaviour. While being consistent with the existing literature therefore, the antecedents to knowledge sharing can be classified as being individual and organizational. This paper is an endeavor to discuss a conceptual framework of the individual and organizational antecedents to knowledge sharing in the light of the available literature and empirical evidence. This model not only can help in getting familiarity and comprehension on the subject matter by presenting a holistic view of the antecedents to knowledge sharing as discussed in the literature, but can also help the business managers and especially human resource managers to find insights about the salient features of organizational knowledge sharing. Moreover, this paper can help provide a ground for research students and academicians to conduct both qualitative as well and quantitative research and design an instrument for conducting survey on the topic of individual and organizational antecedents to knowledge sharing.

Keywords: antecedents to knowledge sharing, knowledge management, individual and organizational, organizational knowledge sharing

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Authors: Khair Al-Deen Bsisu, Osama Mahmoud Abuzeid

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Significant technological advances have been achieved in the design and building construction of steel and glass in the last two decades. The metal glass support frame has been replaced by further sophisticated technological solutions, for example, the point fixed glazing systems. The minimization of the visual mass has reached extensive possibilities through the evolution of technology in glass production and the better understanding of the structural potential of glass itself, the technological development of bolted fixings, the introduction of the glazing support attachments of the glass suspension systems and the use for structural stabilization of cables that reduce to a minimum the amount of metal used. The variability of solutions of tension structures, allied to the difficulties related to geometric and material non-linear behavior, usually overrules the use of analytical solutions, letting numerical analysis as the only general approach to the design and analysis of tension structures. With the characteristics of low stiffness, lightweight, and small damping, tension structures are obviously geometrically nonlinear. In fact, analysis of cable truss is not only one of the most difficult nonlinear analyses because the analysis path may have rigid-body modes, but also a time consuming procedure. Non-linear theory allowing for large deflections is used. The flexibility of supporting members was observed to influence the stresses in the pane considerably in some cases. No other class of architectural structural systems is as dependent upon the use of digital computers as are tensile structures. Besides complexity, the process of design and analysis of tension structures presents a series of specificities, which usually lead to the use of special purpose programs, instead of general purpose programs (GPPs), such as ANSYS. In a special purpose program, part of the design know how is embedded in program routines. It is very probable that this type of program will be the option of the final user, in design offices. GPPs offer a range of types of analyses and modeling options. Besides, traditional GPPs are constantly being tested by a large number of users, and are updated according to their actual demands. This work discusses the use of ANSYS for the analysis and design of tension structures, such as cable truss structures under wind and gravity loadings. A model to describe the glass panels working in coordination with the cable truss was proposed. Under the proposed model, a FEM model of the glass panels working in coordination with the cable truss was established.

Keywords: Glass Construction material, Facades, Finite Element, Pre-Tensioned Cable Truss

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Authors: Kitty Kioskli, Theofanis Fotis, Nineta Polemi

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The European Union (EU) directive Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act in Article 9 requires that risk management of AI systems includes both technical and human oversight, while according to NIST_AI_RFM (Appendix C) and ENISA AI Framework recommendations, claim that further research is needed to understand the current limitations of social threats and human-AI interaction. AI threats within social contexts significantly affect the security and trustworthiness of the AI systems; they are interrelated and trigger technical threats as well. For example, lack of explainability (e.g. the complexity of models can be challenging for stakeholders to grasp) leads to misunderstandings, biases, and erroneous decisions. Which in turn impact the privacy, security, accountability of the AI systems. Based on the NIST four fundamental criteria for explainability it can also classify the explainability threats into four (4) sub-categories: a) Lack of supporting evidence: AI systems must provide supporting evidence or reasons for all their outputs. b) Lack of Understandability: Explanations offered by systems should be comprehensible to individual users. c) Lack of Accuracy: The provided explanation should accurately represent the system's process of generating outputs. d) Out of scope: The system should only function within its designated conditions or when it possesses sufficient confidence in its outputs. Biases may also stem from historical data reflecting undesired behaviors. When present in the data, biases can permeate the models trained on them, thereby influencing the security and trustworthiness of the of AI systems. Social related AI threats are recognized by various initiatives (e.g., EU Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI), standards (e.g. ISO/IEC TR 24368:2022 on AI ethical concerns, ISO/IEC AWI 42105 on guidance for human oversight of AI systems) and EU legislation (e.g. the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, the NIS 2 Directive 2022/2555, the Directive on the Resilience of Critical Entities 2022/2557, the EU AI Act, the Cyber Resilience Act). Measuring social threats, estimating the risks to AI systems associated to these threats and mitigating them is a research challenge. In this paper it will present the efforts of two European Commission Projects (FAITH and THEMIS) from the HorizonEurope programme that analyse the social threats by building cyber-social exercises in order to study human behaviour, traits, cognitive ability, personality, attitudes, interests, and other socio-technical profile characteristics. The research in these projects also include the development of measurements and scales (psychometrics) for human-related vulnerabilities that can be used in estimating more realistically the vulnerability severity, enhancing the CVSS4.0 measurement.

Keywords: social threats, artificial Intelligence, mitigation, social experiment

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Authors: Rawan K. Al-Duaij, Salem A. Al-Salem

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Projects, the unique and temporary process of achieving a set of requirements have always been challenging; Planning the schedule and budget, managing the resources and risks are mostly driven by a similar past experience or the technical consultations of experts in the matter. With that complexity of Projects in Scope, Time, and execution environment, Adjustment Orders are tools to reflect changes to the original project parameters after Contract signature. Adjustment Orders are the official/legal amendments to the terms and conditions of a live Contract. Reasons for issuing Adjustment Orders arise from changes in Contract scope, technical requirement and specification resulting in scope addition, deletion, or alteration. It can be as well a combination of most of these parameters resulting in an increase or decrease in time and/or cost. Most business leaders (handling projects in the interest of the owner) refrain from using Adjustment Orders considering their main objectives of staying within budget and on schedule. Success in managing the changes results in uninterrupted execution and agreed project costs as well as schedule. Nevertheless, this is not always practically achievable. In this paper, a detailed study through utilizing Industrial Engineering & Systems Management tools such as Six Sigma, Data Analysis, and Quality Control were implemented on the organization’s five years records of the issued Adjustment Orders in order to investigate their prevalence, and time and cost impact. The analysis outcome revealed and helped to identify and categorize the predominant causations with the highest impacts, which were considered most in recommending the corrective measures to reach the objective of minimizing the Adjustment Orders impacts. Data analysis demonstrated no specific trend in the AO frequency in past five years; however, time impact is more than the cost impact. Although Adjustment Orders might never be avoidable; this analysis offers’ some insight to the procedural gaps, and where it is highly impacting the organization. Possible solutions are concluded such as improving project handling team’s coordination and communication, utilizing a blanket service contract, and modifying the projects gate system procedures to minimize the possibility of having similar struggles in future. Projects in the Oil and Gas sector are always evolving and demand a certain amount of flexibility to sustain the goals of the field. As it will be demonstrated, the uncertainty of project parameters, in adequate project definition, operational constraints and stringent procedures are main factors resulting in the need for Adjustment Orders and accordingly the recommendation will be to address that challenge.

Keywords: adjustment orders, data analysis, oil and gas sector, systems management

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Authors: Usharani Rathinam

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Although policies directing inclusion of marginalized were in effect, majority of chronically impoverished in India belonged to schedule caste and schedule tribes. Also, taking into account that poverty is gendered; destitute women belonged to lower social order whose need is not largely highlighted at policy level. This paper discusses on social relations poverty which highlights on how social order that existed structurally in the society can perpetuate chronic poverty, followed by a critical review on social inclusion policies of India, its merits and demerits in addressing chronic poverty. Multiple case study design is utilized to address this concern in four districts of India; Jhansi, Tikamgarh, Cuddalore and Anantapur. These four districts were selected by purposive sampling based on the criteria; the district should either be categorized as a backward district or should have a history of high poverty rate. Qualitative methods including eighty in-depth interviews, six focus group discussions, six social mapping procedures and three key informant interviews were conducted in 2011, at each of the locations. Analysis of the data revealed that irrespective of gender, schedule castes and schedule tribe participants were found to be chronically poor in all districts. Caste based discrimination is exhibited at both micro and macro levels; village and institutional levels. At village level, lower caste respondents had lesser access to public resources. Also, within institutional settings, due to confiscation, unequal access to resources is noticed, especially in fund distribution. This study found that half of the budget intended for schedule caste and schedule tribes were confiscated by upper caste administrative staffs. This implies that power based on social hierarchy marginalize lower caste participants from accessing better economic, social, and political benefits, that had led them to suffer long term poverty. This study also explored the traditional ties between caste, social structure and bonded labour as a cause of long-term poverty. Though equal access is being emphasized in constitutional rights, issues at micro level have not been reflected in formulation of these rights. Therefore, it is significant for a policy to consider the structural complexity and then focus on issues such as equal distribution of assets and infrastructural facilities that will reduce exclusion and foster long-term security in areas such as employment, markets and public distribution.

Keywords: caste, inclusion policies, India, social order

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Authors: Peter. M. Kusen, Georg Wandrey, Christopher Probst, Dietrich Kohlheyer, Jochen Buchs, Jorg Pietruszkau

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Light as a stimulus provides the capability to develop regulation techniques for customizable gene expression. A great advantage is the extremely flexible and accurate dosing that can be performed in a non invasive and sterile manner even for high throughput technologies. Therefore, light regulation in a multiwell microbioreactor system was realized providing the opportunity to control gene expression with outstanding complexity. A light-regulated gene expression system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was designed applying the strategy of caged compounds. These compounds are photo-labile protected and therefore biologically inactive regulator molecules which can be reactivated by irradiation with certain light conditions. The “caging” of a repressor molecule which is consumed after deprotection was essential to create a flexible expression system. Thereby, gene expression could be temporally repressed by irradiation and subsequent release of the active repressor molecule. Afterwards, the repressor molecule is consumed by the yeast cells leading to reactivation of gene expression. A yeast strain harboring a construct with the corresponding repressible promoter in combination with a fluorescent marker protein was applied in a Photo-BioLector platform which allows individual irradiation as well as online fluorescence and growth detection. This device was used to precisely control the repression duration by adjusting the amount of released repressor via different irradiation times. With the presented screening platform the regulation of complex expression procedures was achieved by combination of several repression/derepression intervals. In particular, a stepwise increase of temporally-constant expression levels was demonstrated which could be used to study concentration dependent effects on cell functions. Also linear expression rates with variable slopes could be shown representing a possible solution for challenging protein productions, whereby excessive production rates lead to misfolding or intoxication. Finally, the very flexible regulation enabled accurate control over the expression induction, although we used a repressible promoter. Summing up, the continuous online regulation of gene expression has the potential to synchronize gene expression levels to optimize metabolic flux, artificial enzyme cascades, growth rates for co cultivations and many other applications addicted to complex expression regulation. The developed light-regulated expression platform represents an innovative screening approach to find optimization potential for production processes.

Keywords: caged-compounds, gene expression regulation, optogenetics, photo-labile protecting group

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Authors: Kim Norgaard Helmersen, Jan Silberberger

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Questions of style and reproducibility in relation to architectural design are not only continuously debated; the very concepts can seem quite provocative to architects, who like to think of architectural design as depending on intuition, ideas, and individual personalities. This standpoint - dominant in architectural discourse - is challenged in the present paper presenting early findings from a comparative STS-inspired research study of architectural design teaching and research at different architecture schools in varying national contexts. In philosophy of science framework, the paper reflects empirical observations of design teaching at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and presents a tentative theoretical framework for the on-going research project. The framework suggests that architecture – as a field of knowledge production – is mainly dominated by three epistemological positions, which will be presented and discussed. Besides serving as a loosely structured framework for future data analysis, the proposed framework brings forth the argument that architecture can be roughly divided into different schools of thought, like the traditional science disciplines. Without reducing the complexity of the discipline, describing its main intellectual positions should prove fruitful for the future development of architecture as a theoretical discipline, moving an architectural critique beyond discussions of taste preferences. Unlike traditional science disciplines, there is a lack of a community-wide, shared pool of codified references in architecture, with architects instead referencing art projects, buildings, and famous architects, when positioning their standpoints. While these inscriptions work as an architectural reference system, to be compared to codified theories in academic writing of traditional research, they are not used systematically in the same way. As a result, architectural critique is often reduced to discussions of taste and subjectivity rather than epistemological positioning. Architects are often criticized as judges of taste and accused that their rationality is rooted in cultural-relative aesthetical concepts of taste closely linked to questions of style, but arguably their supposedly subjective reasoning, in fact, forms part of larger systems of thought. Putting architectural ‘styles’ under a loop, and tracing their philosophical roots, can potentially open up a black box in architectural theory. Besides ascertaining and recognizing the existence of specific ‘styles’ and thereby schools of thought in current architectural discourse, the study could potentially also point at some mutations of the conventional – something actually ‘new’ – of potentially high value for architectural design education.

Keywords: architectural theory, design research, science and technology studies (STS), sociology of architecture

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Authors: E. Gaury, P. Mandausch, O. Picot, A. R. Thomas, L. Veisblat, L. Ralambozanany, C. Delsart

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In Dakar, demographic and spatial growth was accompanied by a 50% increase in household waste between 1988 and 2008 in the city. In addition, a change in the nature of household waste was observed between 1990 and 2007. The share of plastic increased by 15% between 2004 and 2007 in Dakar. Plastics represent the seventh category of household waste, the most produced per year in Senegal. The share of plastic in household and similar waste is 9% in Senegal. Waste management in the city of Dakar is a complex process involving a multitude of formal and informal actors with different perceptions and objectives. The objective of this study was to understand the motivations that could lead to sorting action, as well as the perception of plastic waste sorting within the Dakar population (households and institutions). The problematic of this study was as follows: what may be the factors playing a role in the sorting action? In an attempt to answer this, two approaches have been developed: (1) An exploratory qualitative study by semi-structured interviews with two groups of individuals concerned by the sorting of plastic waste: on the one hand, the experts in charge of waste management and on the other the households-producers of waste plastics. This study served as the basis for formulating the hypotheses and thus for the quantitative analysis. (2) A quantitative study using a questionnaire survey method among households producing plastic waste in order to test the previously formulated hypotheses. The objective was to have quantitative results representative of the population of Dakar in relation to the behavior and the process inherent in the adoption of the plastic waste sorting action. The exploratory study shows that the perception of state responsibility varies between institutions and households. Public institutions perceive this as a shared responsibility because the problem of plastic waste affects many sectors (health, environmental education, etc.). Their involvement is geared more towards raising awareness and educating young people. As state action is limited, the emergence of private companies in this sector seems logical as they are setting up collection networks to develop a recycling activity. The state plays a moral support role in these activities and encourages companies to do more. The study of the understanding of the action of sorting plastic waste by the population of Dakar through a quantitative analysis was able to demonstrate the attitudes and constraints inherent in the adoption of plastic waste sorting.Cognitive attitude, knowledge, and visible consequences have been shown to correlate positively with sorting behavior. Thus, it would seem that the population of Dakar is more sensitive to what they see and what they know to adopt sorting behavior.It has also been shown that the strongest constraints that could slow down sorting behavior were the complexity of the process, too much time and the lack of infrastructure in which to deposit plastic waste.

Keywords: behavior, Dakar, plastic waste, waste management

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Authors: Nasser S. Shebka

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Fuzzy logic is used in complex adaptive systems where classical tools of representing knowledge are unproductive. Nevertheless, the incorporation of fuzzy logic, as it’s the case with all artificial intelligence tools, raised some inconsistencies and limitations in dealing with increased complexity systems and rules that apply to real-life situations and hinders the ability of the inference process of such systems, but it also faces some inconsistencies between inferences generated fuzzy rules of complex or imprecise knowledge-based systems. The use of fuzzy logic enhanced the capability of knowledge representation in such applications that requires fuzzy representation of truth values or similar multi-value constant parameters derived from multi-valued logic, which set the basis for the three t-norms and their based connectives which are actually continuous functions and any other continuous t-norm can be described as an ordinal sum of these three basic ones. However, some of the attempts to solve this dilemma were an alteration to fuzzy logic by means of non-monotonic logic, which is used to deal with the defeasible inference of expert systems reasoning, for example, to allow for inference retraction upon additional data. However, even the introduction of non-monotonic fuzzy reasoning faces a major issue of conflict resolution for which many principles were introduced, such as; the specificity principle and the weakest link principle. The aim of our work is to improve the logical representation and functional modelling of AI systems by presenting a method of resolving existing and potential rule conflicts by representing temporal modalities within defeasible inference rule-based systems. Our paper investigates the possibility of resolving fuzzy rules conflict in a non-monotonic fuzzy reasoning-based system by introducing temporal modalities and Kripke's general weak modal logic operators in order to expand its knowledge representation capabilities by means of flexibility in classifying newly generated rules, and hence, resolving potential conflicts between these fuzzy rules. We were able to address the aforementioned problem of our investigation by restructuring the inference process of the fuzzy rule-based system. This is achieved by using time-branching temporal logic in combination with restricted first-order logic quantifiers, as well as propositional logic to represent classical temporal modality operators. The resulting findings not only enhance the flexibility of complex rule-base systems inference process but contributes to the fundamental methods of building rule bases in such a manner that will allow for a wider range of applicable real-life situations derived from a quantitative and qualitative knowledge representational perspective.

Keywords: fuzzy rule-based systems, fuzzy tense inference, intelligent systems, temporal modalities

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Authors: Ilyas Khan. Liliane Pintelon, Harry Martin, Michael Shömig

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The increasing costs of healthcare on one hand, and the rise in aging population and associated chronic disease, on the other hand, are putting increasing burden on the current health care system in many Western countries. For instance, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common disease and in Europe, the cost of renal replacement therapy (RRT) is very significant to the total health care cost. However, the recent advancement in healthcare technology, provide the opportunity to treat patients at home in their own comfort. It is evident that home healthcare offers numerous advantages apparently, low costs and high patients’ quality of life. Despite these advantages, the intake of home hemodialysis (HHD) therapy is still low in particular in Germany. Many factors are accounted for the low number of HHD intake. However, this paper is focusing on patients’ safety-related factors of current HHD practices in Germany. The aim of this paper is to analyze the current HHD practices in Germany and to identify risks related factors if any exist. A case study has been conducted in a dialysis center which consists of four dialysis centers in the south of Germany. In total, these dialysis centers have 350 chronic dialysis patients, of which, four patients are on HHD. The centers have 126 staff which includes six nephrologists and 120 other staff i.e. nurses and administration. The results of the study revealed several risk-related factors. Most importantly, these centers do not offer allied health services at the pre-dialysis stage, the HHD training did not have an established curriculum; however, they have just recently developed the first version. Only a soft copy of the machine manual is offered to patients. Surprisingly, the management was not aware of any standard available for home assessment and installation. The home assessment is done by a third party (i.e. the machines and equipment provider) and they may not consider the hygienic quality of the patient’s home. The type of machine provided to patients at home is similar to the one in the center. The model may not be suitable at home because of its size and complexity. Even though portable hemodialysis machines, which are specially designed for home use, are available in the market such as the NxStage series. Besides the type of machine, no assistance is offered for space management at home in particular for placing the machine. Moreover, the centers do not offer remote assistance to patients and their carer at home. However, telephonic assistance is available. Furthermore, no alternative is offered if a carer is not available. In addition, the centers are lacking medical staff including nephrologists and renal nurses.

Keywords: home hemodialysis, home hemodialysis practices, patients’ related risks in the current home hemodialysis practices, patient safety in home hemodialysis

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Authors: Paola Molteni, Luigi d’Alonzo

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Background: Sensory issues are now considered one of the key aspects in defining and diagnosing autism, changing the perspectives on behavioural analysis and intervention in mainstream educational services. However, Italian teachers’ training is yet not specific on the topic of autism and its sensory-related effects and this research investigates the teacher’s capability in understanding the student’s needs and his/her challenging behaviours considering sensory perceptions. Objectives: The research aims to analyse mainstream schools teachers’ awareness on students’ sensory perceptions and how this affects classroom inclusion and learning process. The research questions are: i) Are teachers able to identify student’s sensory issues?; ii) Are trained teachers more able to identify sensory problems then untrained ones?; iii) What is the impact of sensory issues on inclusion in mainstream classrooms?; iv) What should teachers know about autistic sensory dimensions? Methods: This research was designed as a pilot study that involves a multi-methods approach, including action and collaborative research methodology. The designed research allows the researcher to catch the complexity of a province school district (from kindergarten to high school) through a deep detailed analysis of selected aspects. The researcher explored the questions described above through 133 questionnaires and 6 focus groups. The qualitative and quantitative data collected during the research were analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Mainstream schools teachers are not able to confidently recognise sensory issues of children included in the classroom. The research underlines: how professionals with no specific training on autism are not able to recognise sensory problems in students on the spectrum; how hearing and sight issues have higher impact on classroom inclusion and student’s learning process; how a lack of understanding is often followed by misinterpretations of the impact of sensory issues and challenging behaviours. Conclusions: As this research has shown, promoting and enhancing the importance of understanding sensory issues related to autism is fundamental to enable mainstream schools teachers to define educational and life-long plans able to properly answer the student’s needs and support his/her real inclusion in the classroom. This study is a good example of how the educational research can meet and help the daily practice in working with people on the autism spectrum and support the training design for mainstream school teachers: the emerging need of designed preparation on sensory issues is fundamental to be considered when planning school district in-service training programmes, specifically declined for inclusive services.

Keywords: autism spectrum condition, scholastic inclusion, sensory overload, teacher's training

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Authors: Elisabetta Cianfanelli, Paolo Pupparo, Maria Claudia Coppola

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The recent evolutions in the innovation processes and in the intrinsic tendencies of the product development process, lead to new considerations on the design flow. The instability and complexity that contemporary life describes, defines new problems in the production of products, stimulating at the same time the adoption of new solutions across the entire design process. The advent of Additive Manufacturing, but also of IOT and AI technologies, continuously puts us in front of new paradigms regarding design as a social activity. The totality of these technologies from the point of view of application describes a whole series of problems and considerations immanent to design thinking. Addressing these problems may require some initial intuition and the use of some provisional set of rules or plausible strategies, i.e., heuristic reasoning. At the same time, however, the evolution of digital technology and the computational speed of new design tools describe a new and contrary design framework in which to operate. It is therefore interesting to understand the opportunities and boundaries of the new man-algorithm relationship. The contribution investigates the man-algorithm relationship starting from the state of the art of the Made in Italy model, the most known fields of application are described and then focus on specific cases in which the mutual relationship between man and AI becomes a new driving force of innovation for entire production chains. On the other hand, the use of algorithms could engulf many design phases, such as the definition of shape, dimensions, proportions, materials, static verifications, and simulations. Operating in this context, therefore, becomes a strategic action, capable of defining fundamental choices for the design of product systems in the near future. If there is a human-algorithm combination within a new integrated system, quantitative values can be controlled in relation to qualitative and material values. The trajectory that is described therefore becomes a new design horizon in which to operate, where it is interesting to highlight the good practices that already exist. In this context, the designer developing new forms can experiment with ways still unexpressed in the project and can define a new synthesis and simplification of algorithms, so that each artifact has a signature in order to define in all its parts, emotional and structural. This signature of the designer, a combination of values and design culture, will be internal to the algorithms and able to relate to digital technologies, creating a generative dialogue for design purposes. The result that is envisaged indicates a new vision of digital technologies, no longer understood only as of the custodians of vast quantities of information, but also as a valid integrated tool in close relationship with the design culture.

Keywords: decision making, design euristics, product design, product design process, design paradigms

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Authors: Christofas Stergianos, Jason Atkin, Herve Morvan

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As air traffic increases, more airports are interested in utilizing optimization methods. Many processes happen in parallel at an airport, and complex models are needed in order to have a reliable solution that can be implemented for ground movement operations. The ground movement for aircraft in an airport, allocating a path to each aircraft to follow in order to reach their destination (e.g. runway or gate), is one process that could be optimized. The Quickest Path Problem with Time Windows (QPPTW) algorithm has been developed to provide a conflict-free routing of vehicles and has been applied to routing aircraft around an airport. It was subsequently modified to increase the accuracy for airport applications. These modifications take into consideration specific characteristics of the problem, such as: the pushback process, which considers the extra time that is needed for pushing back an aircraft and turning its engines on; stand holding where any waiting should be allocated to the stand; and runway sequencing, where the sequence of the aircraft that take off is optimized and has to be respected. QPPTW involves searching for the quickest path by expanding the search in all directions, similarly to Dijkstra’s algorithm. Finding a way to direct the expansion can potentially assist the search and achieve a better performance. We have further modified the QPPTW algorithm to use a heuristic approach in order to guide the search. This new algorithm is based on the A-star search method but estimates the remaining time (instead of distance) in order to assess how far the target is. It is important to consider the remaining time that it is needed to reach the target, so that delays that are caused by other aircraft can be part of the optimization method. All of the other characteristics are still considered and time windows are still used in order to route multiple aircraft rather than a single aircraft. In this way the quickest path is found for each aircraft while taking into account the movements of the previously routed aircraft. After running experiments using a week of real aircraft data from Zurich Airport, the new algorithm (A-star QPPTW) was found to route aircraft much more quickly, being especially fast in routing the departing aircraft where pushback delays are significant. On average A-star QPPTW could route a full day (755 to 837 aircraft movements) 56% faster than the original algorithm. In total the routing of a full week of aircraft took only 12 seconds with the new algorithm, 15 seconds faster than the original algorithm. For real time application, the algorithm needs to be very fast, and this speed increase will allow us to add additional features and complexity, allowing further integration with other processes in airports and leading to more optimized and environmentally friendly airports.

Keywords: a-star search, airport operations, ground movement optimization, routing and scheduling

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Authors: Gideon C. Joseph

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The ability to localize mobile devices is quite important, as some applications may require location information of these devices to operate or deliver better services to the users. Although there are several ways of acquiring location data of mobile devices, the WLAN fingerprinting approach has been considered in this work. This approach uses the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurement as a function of the position of the mobile device. RSSI is a quantitative technique of describing the radio frequency power carried by a signal. RSSI may be used to determine RF link quality and is very useful in dense traffic scenarios where interference is of major concern, for example, indoor environments. This research aims to design a system that can predict the location of a mobile device, when supplied with the mobile’s RSSIs. The developed system takes as input the RSSIs relating to the mobile device, and outputs parameters that describe the location of the device such as the longitude, latitude, floor, and building. The relationship between the Received Signal Strengths (RSSs) of mobile devices and their corresponding locations is meant to be modelled; hence, subsequent locations of mobile devices can be predicted using the developed model. It is obvious that describing mathematical relationships between the RSSIs measurements and localization parameters is one option to modelling the problem, but the complexity of such an approach is a serious turn-off. In contrast, we propose an intelligent system that can learn the mapping of such RSSIs measurements to the localization parameters to be predicted. The system is capable of upgrading its performance as more experiential knowledge is acquired. The most appealing consideration to using such a system for this task is that complicated mathematical analysis and theoretical frameworks are excluded or not needed; the intelligent system on its own learns the underlying relationship in the supplied data (RSSI levels) that corresponds to the localization parameters. These localization parameters to be predicted are of two different tasks: Longitude and latitude of mobile devices are real values (regression problem), while the floor and building of the mobile devices are of integer values or categorical (classification problem). This research work presents artificial neural network based intelligent systems to model the relationship between the RSSIs predictors and the mobile device localization parameters. The designed systems were trained and validated on the collected WLAN fingerprint database. The trained networks were then tested with another supplied database to obtain the performance of trained systems on achieved Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and error rates for the regression and classification tasks involved therein.

Keywords: indoor localization, WLAN fingerprinting, neural networks, classification, regression

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Authors: Gamaliel Salazar, Adriana Chazaro, Oscar Madrigal

Abstract:

The evolution of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) has made it possible to develop new vehicles capable to perform microgravity experiments which due its cost and complexity were beyond the reach for many institutions. In this study, the aerodynamic behavior of an UAS is studied through its deceleration stage after an initial free fall phase (where the microgravity effect is generated) using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Due to the fact that the payload would be analyzed under a microgravity environment and the nature of the payload itself, the speed of the UAS must be reduced in a smoothly way. Moreover, the terminal speed of the vehicle should be low enough to preserve the integrity of the payload and vehicle during the landing stage. The UAS model is made by a study pod, control surfaces with fixed and mobile sections, landing gear and two semicircular wing sections. The speed of the vehicle is decreased by increasing the angle of attack (AoA) of each wing section from 2° (where the airfoil S1091 has its greatest aerodynamic efficiency) to 80°, creating a circular wing geometry. Drag coefficients (Cd) and forces (Fd) are obtained employing CFD analysis. A simplified 3D model of the vehicle is analyzed using Ansys Workbench 16. The distance between the object of study and the walls of the control volume is eight times the length of the vehicle. The domain is discretized using an unstructured mesh based on tetrahedral elements. The refinement of the mesh is made by defining an element size of 0.004 m in the wing and control surfaces in order to figure out the fluid behavior in the most important zones, as well as accurate approximations of the Cd. The turbulent model k-epsilon is selected to solve the governing equations of the fluids while a couple of monitors are placed in both wing and all-body vehicle to visualize the variation of the coefficients along the simulation process. Employing a statistical approximation response surface methodology the case of study is parametrized considering the AoA of the wing as the input parameter and Cd and Fd as output parameters. Based on a Central Composite Design (CCD), the Design Points (DP) are generated so the Cd and Fd for each DP could be estimated. Applying a 2nd degree polynomial approximation the drag coefficients for every AoA were determined. Using this values, the terminal speed at each position is calculated considering a specific Cd. Additionally, the distance required to reach the terminal velocity at each AoA is calculated, so the minimum distance for the entire deceleration stage without comprising the payload could be determine. The Cd max of the vehicle is 1.18, so its maximum drag will be almost like the drag generated by a parachute. This guarantees that aerodynamically the vehicle can be braked, so it could be utilized for several missions allowing repeatability of microgravity experiments.

Keywords: microgravity effect, response surface, terminal speed, unmanned system

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