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To explore whether the brain contains pattern differences in the rock–paper–scissors (RPS) imagery task, this paper attempts to classify this task using fNIRS and deep learning. In this study, we designed an RPS task with a total duration of 25 min and 40 s, and recruited 22 volunteers for the experiment. We used the fNIRS acquisition device (FOIRE-3000) to record the cerebral neural activities of these participants in the RPS task. The time series classification (TSC) algorithm was introduced into the time-domain fNIRS signal classification. Experiments show that CNN-based TSC methods can achieve 97% accuracy in RPS classification. CNN-based TSC method is suitable for the classification of fNIRS signals in RPS motor imagery tasks, and may find new application directions for the development of brain–computer interfaces (BCI).

Altres ajuts: Agència per a la Competitivitat de l'Empresa de la Generalitat de Catalunya by FEDER funds, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, and ERDF funds In this paper, an organic, fully recyclable and eco-friendly 20-bit inkjet-printed chipless RFID tag is presented. The tag operates in the near field and is implemented by means of chains of resonant elements. The characterization and manufacturing process of the tag, printed with a few layers of a commercial organic ink on conventional paper substrate (DIN A4), are presented, and tag functionality is demonstrated by reading it by means of a custom-designed reader. The tags are read by proximity (through the near field), by displacing them over a resonator-loaded transmission line, and each resonant element (bit) of the tag is interrogated by a harmonic signal tuned to the resonance frequency. The coupling between the reader line and the resonant elements of the tag produce and amplitude modulated (AM) signal containing the identification (ID) code of the tag.

Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs) are systems that are developed by seamlessly integrating computational algorithms and physical components, and they are a result of the technological advancement in the embedded systems and distributed systems domains, as well as the availability of sophisticated networking technology. Many industrial CPSs are subject to timing predictability, security and functional safety requirements, due to which the developers of these systems are required to verify these requirements during the their development. This position paper starts by exploring the state of the art with respect to developing timing predictable and secure embedded systems. Thereafter, the paper extends the discussion to time-critical and secure CPSs and highlights the key issues that are faced when verifying the timing predictability requirements during the development of these systems. In this context, the paper takes the position to advocate paramount importance of security as a prerequisite for timing predictability, as well as both security and timing predictability as prerequisites for functional safety. Moreover, the paper identifies the gaps in the existing frameworks and techniques for the development of time- and safety-critical CPSs and describes our viewpoint on ensuring timing predictability and security in these systems. Finally, the paper emphasises the opportunities that artificial intelligence can provide in the development of these systems.

Urbanization is accelerating due to economic and societal development. The accurate identification of urban functional zones is significant for urban structure optimization, urban planning, and resource allocation. This paper reviews the scholarly literature on urban functional zone identification. Based on the retrieval results of databases, we analyzed the overview and current status. The identification methods and classification schemes are summarized from the existing research. The following results were obtained: (1) point of interest (POI) data are widely used for functional zone identification; (2) the block is the most common unit for functional zone identification; (3) cluster analysis is the main approach for urban functional zone identification; (4) most of the classification schemes are based on the dominant land use and characteristics of data sources. We predict future trends of urban functional zone identification based on the reviewed literature. Our findings are expected to be valuable for urban studies.

[EN] Emerging Industry 4.0 applications require ever-increasing amounts of data and new sources of information to more accurately characterize the different processes of a production line. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies, and in particular Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), allow a large amount of data to be digitized at a low energy cost, thanks to their easy scalability and the creation of meshed networks to cover larger areas. In industry, data acquisition systems must meet certain reliability and robustness requirements, since other systems such as predictive maintenance or the digital twin, which represents a virtual mapping of the system with which to interact without the need to alter the actual installation, may depend on it. Thanks to the IEEE 802.15.4e standard and the use of Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) as the medium access mechanism and IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) as the routing protocol, it is possible to deploy WSNs with high reliability, autonomy, and minimal need for re-configuration. One of the drawbacks of this communication architecture is the low efficiency of its deployment process, during which it may take a long time to synchronize and connect all the devices in a network. This paper proposes an analytical model to characterize the process for the creation of downstream routes in RPL, whose transmission of multi-hop messages can present complications in scenarios with a multitude of interfering nodes and resource allocation based on minimal IPv6 over the TSCH mode of IEEE 802.15.4e (6TiSCH). This type of multi-hop message exchange has a different behaviour than the multicast control messages exchanged during the synchronization phase and the formation of upstream routes, since the number of interfering nodes changes in each retransmission., The research leading to these results is part of the i4Q project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement No. 958205.

The AHP–GTMA (analytic hierarchy process and graph theory and matrix approach) has been applied to select the best paper shredder before a company was making a bulk purchase order. However, there is a question as to whether one such relatively recent approach is effective to aid the selection decision problems in industrial/commercial practice. In this paper, a novel multi-measure, rank-based comparative research flow is proposed. The real decision problem case mentioned above is solved using the AHP–GTMA and the AHP–TOPSIS methods, respectively, with relevant datasets sourced. Several measures in the proposed flow, i.e., the arithmetical, geometrical, or even statistical ones, are multiplexed and used to validate the similarity between the rank order vectors (ROVs) (and thus between the final preferential orders determined over the alternatives) that are obtained using these two different methods. While AHP–TOPSIS is a confident multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) approach which has been successfully applied to many other fields, the similarity validated between these individual results using the proposed method is used to confirm the efficacy of the AHP–GTMA approach and to determine its applicability in practice. In addition, along with this study, some contributable points are also rendered for implementing the decision models, e.g., the optimized recursive implementation in R to compute the permanent value of a square ASAM (alternative selection attribute matrix, which is the computational basis required by AHP–GTMA) of any dimension. The proposed methodological flow to confirm the similarity based on the ordinal rank information is not only convenient in operational practice with ubiquitous tool supports (e.g., the vector-based R statistical platform), but also generalizable (to verify between another pair of results obtained using any other MADM methods). This gives options for future research.

A novel nanopositioning platform (referred as NanoPla) in development has been designed to achieve nanometre resolution in a large working range of 50 mm &times, 50 mm. Two-dimensional (2D) movement is performed by four custom-made Halbach linear motors, and a 2D laser system provides positioning feedback, while the moving part of the platform is levitating and unguided. For control hardware, this work proposes the use of a commercial generic solution, in contrast to other systems where the control hardware and software are specifically designed for that purpose. In a previous paper based on this research, the control system of one linear motor implemented in selected commercial hardware was presented. In this study, the developed control system is extended to the four motors of the nanopositioning platform to generate 2D planar movement in the whole working range of the nanopositioning platform. In addition, the positioning uncertainty of the control system is assessed. The obtained results satisfy the working requirements of the NanoPla, achieving a positioning uncertainty of &plusmn, 0.5 &micro, m along the whole working range.

The smart, rapid, and customizable detection of chemical warfare agents is a huge issue for taking the proper countermeasures in a timely fashion. The printing techniques have established the main pillar to develop miniaturized electrochemical biosensors for onsite and fast detection of nerve and mustard agents, allowing for a lab on a chip in the chemical warfare agent sector. In the fast growth of novel technologies, the combination of miniaturized electrochemical biosensors with flexible electronics allowed for the delivery of useful wearable sensors capable of fast detection of chemical warfare agents. The wearable microneedle sensor array for minimally invasive continuous electrochemical detection of organophosphorus nerve agents, as well as the wearable paper-based origami functionalized with nanomaterials for mustard agents in the gas phase, represent two examples of the forefront devices developed in the chemical warfare agent detection field. This review will highlight the most promising electrochemical biosensors developed by exploiting nanomaterials and cross-cutting technologies for the fabrication of smart and sensitive electrochemical biosensors for the detection of chemical warfare agents.

In recent years, reversible data hiding (RDH) has become a research hotspot in the field of multimedia security that has aroused more and more researchers&rsquo, attention. Most of the existing RDH algorithms are aiming at continuous-tone images. For RDH in encrypted halftone images (RDH-EH), the original cover image cannot be recovered losslessly after the watermark is extracted. For some application scenarios such as medical or military images sharing, reversibility is critical. In this paper, a reversible data hiding scheme in encrypted color halftone images (RDH-ECH) is proposed. In the watermark embedding procedure, the cover image is copied into two identical images to increase redundancy. We use wet paper code to embed the watermark into the image blocks. Thus, the receiver only needs to process the image blocks by the check matrices in order to extract the watermarks. To increase embedding capacity, we embed three layers in the embedding procedure and combine the resulting images into one image for convenience of transmission. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that the original image can be restored entirely after the watermarks are extracted. Besides, for marked color halftone images, our algorithm can implement high embedding capacity and moderate visual quality.

Reinforced concrete is the most commonly used material in urban, road, and industrial structures. Quantifying the condition of the reinforcing steel can help manage the human and financial risks that arise from unexpected reinforced concrete structure functional failure. Also, a quantitative time history of reinforcing steel condition can be used to make decisions on rehabilitation, decommissioning, or replacement. The self-magnetic behavior of ferromagnetic materials is useful for quantitative condition assessment. In this study, a ferromagnetic rebar with artificial defects was scanned by a three-dimensional (3D) laser scanner. The obtained point cloud was imported as a real geometry to a finite element software platform, its self-magnetic behavior was then simulated under the influence of Earth&rsquo, s magnetic field. The various passive magnetic parameters that can be measured were reviewed for different conditions. Statistical studies showed that 0.76% of the simulation-obtained data of the rebar surface was related to the defect locations. Additionally, acceptable coincidences were confirmed between the magnetic properties from numerical simulation and from experimental outputs, most noticeably at hole locations.

International audience; The advent of telerobotic systems has revolutionized various aspects of the industry and human life. This technology is designed to augment human sensorimotor capabilities to extend them beyond natural competence. Classic examples are space and underwater applications when distance and access are the two major physical barriers to be combated with this technology. In modern examples, telerobotic systems have been used in several clinical applications, including teleoperated surgery and telerehabilitation. In this regard, there has been a significant amount of research and development due to the major benefits in terms of medical outcomes. Recently telerobotic systems are combined with advanced artificial intelligence modules to better share the agency with the operator and open new doors of medical automation. In this review paper, we have provided a comprehensive analysis of the literature considering various topologies of telerobotic systems in the medical domain while shedding light on different levels of autonomy for this technology, starting from direct control, going up to command-tracking autonomous telerobots. Existing challenges, including instrumentation, transparency, autonomy, stochastic communication delays, and stability, in addition to the current direction of research related to benefit in telemedicine and medical automation, and future vision of this technology, are discussed in this review paper

In this paper, we provide a holistic survey of multimedia content protection applications in which blockchain technology is being used. A taxonomy is developed to classify these applications with reference to the technical aspects of blockchain technology, content protection techniques, namely, encryption, digital rights management, digital watermarking and fingerprinting (or transaction tracking), and performance criteria. The study of the literature reveals that there is currently no complete and systematic taxonomy dedicated to blockchain-based copyright protection applications. Moreover, the number of successfully developed blockchain-based content protection systems is very low. This points towards a research gap. To fill this gap, we propose a taxonomy that integrates technical aspects and application knowledge and can guide the researchers towards the development of blockchain-based multimedia copyright protection systems. Furthermore, the paper discusses some technical challenges and outlines future research directions.

Falling is one of the causes of accidental death of elderly people over 65 years old in Taiwan. If the fall incidents are not detected in a timely manner, it could lead to serious injury or even death of those who fell. General fall detection approaches require the users to wear sensors, which could be cumbersome for the users to put on, and misalignment of sensors could lead to erroneous readings. In this paper, we propose using computer vision and applied machine-learning algorithms to detect fall without any sensors. We applied OpenPose real-time multi-person 2D pose estimation to detect movement of a subject using two datasets of 570 &times, 30 frames recorded in five different rooms from eight different viewing angles. The system retrieves the locations of 25 joint points of the human body and detects human movement through detecting the joint point location changes. The system is able to effectively identify the joints of the human body as well as filtering ambient environmental noise for an improved accuracy. The use of joint points instead of images improves the training time effectively as well as eliminating the effects of traditional image-based approaches such as blurriness, light, and shadows. This paper uses single-view images to reduce equipment costs. We experimented with time series recurrent neural network, long- and short-term memory, and gated recurrent unit models to learn the changes in human joint points in continuous time. The experimental results show that the fall detection accuracy of the proposed model is 98.2%, which outperforms the baseline 88.9% with 9.3% improvement.

In this paper, the performance of a lightning protection system (LPS) on a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) park is studied by simulating different scenarios with the use of an appropriate software tool. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of an LPS and optimize its design for the protection of equipment and personnel in case of a direct lightning strike. In particular, developed potential due to lightning strikes is examined considering isolated and non-isolated external LPS. Moreover, the effect of the separation distance on the lightning performance of the PV installation is investigated for different soil structures and grounding systems. The extracted results are expected to support the design and implementation of a secure PV park and endorse its uninterrupted operation considering techno-economically balanced protection measures.

Several aspects of software product quality can be assessed and measured using product metrics. Without software metric threshold values, it is difficult to evaluate different aspects of quality. To this end, the interest in research studies that focus on identifying and deriving threshold values is growing, given the advantage of applying software metric threshold values to evaluate various software projects during their software development life cycle phases. The aim of this paper is to systematically investigate research on software metric threshold calculation techniques. In this study, electronic databases were systematically searched for relevant papers; 45 publications were selected based on inclusion/exclusion criteria, and research questions were answered. The results demonstrate the following important characteristics of studies: (a) both empirical and theoretical studies were conducted, a majority of which depends on empirical analysis; (b) the majority of papers apply statistical techniques to derive object-oriented metrics threshold values; (c) Chidamber and Kemerer (CK) metrics were studied in most of the papers, and are widely used to assess the quality of software systems; and (d) there is a considerable number of studies that have not validated metric threshold values in terms of quality attributes. From both the academic and practitioner points of view, the results of this review present a catalog and body of knowledge on metric threshold calculation techniques. The results set new research directions, such as conducting mixed studies on statistical and quality-related studies, studying an extensive number of metrics and studying interactions among metrics, studying more quality attributes, and considering multivariate threshold derivation. 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Funding: Authors thanks to the Molde University College-Specialized Univ. in Logistics, Norway for the support of Open access fund. Scopus 2-s2.0-85120897733

Recent advancements in sensor, mobile computing, and wireless communication technologies is creating new opportunities to effectively exploit real-time traffic data. Onboard vehicles collect, process, simulate traffic states in a distributed fashion and a local transportation management center coordinates the overall simulation with an optimistic execution technique. Such a distributed approach can provide more up-to-date and robust estimates with decreased communication bandwidth requirements and increased computing capacity. This paper proposes an online ad hoc distributed simulation. The physical operating platform for the model including operating system, communicational middleware, and traffic simulation model are described. Also, this paper investigates the analytical background of rollback process of the proposed ad hoc distributed simulation model. Flow rate diagram and cumulative number of vehicle diagram show that the overall system simulation speed and estimate accuracy may differ significantly as a function of the selected threshold.

At present, the absolute positioning accuracy and control accuracy of industrial serial robots need to be improved to meet the accuracy requirements of precision manufacturing and precise control. An accurate dynamic model is an important theoretical basis for solving this problem, and precise dynamic parameters are the prerequisite for precise control. The research of dynamics and parameter identification can greatly promote the application of robots in the field of precision manufacturing and automation. In this paper, we study the dynamical modeling and dynamic parameter identification of an industrial robot system with six rotational DOF (6R robot system) and propose a new method for identifying dynamic parameters. Our aim is to provide an accurate mathematical description of the dynamics of the 6R robot and to accurately identify its dynamic parameters. First, we establish an unconstrained dynamic model for the 6R robot system and rewrite it to obtain the dynamic parameter identification model. Second, we establish the constraint equations of the 6R robot system. Finally, we establish the dynamic model of the constrained 6R robot system. Through the ADAMS simulation experiment, we verify the correctness and accuracy of the dynamic model. The experiments prove that the result of parameter identification has extremely high accuracy and the dynamic model can accurately describe the 6R robot system mathematically. The dynamic modeling method proposed in this paper can be used as the theoretical basis for the study of 6R robot system dynamics and the study of dynamics-based control theory.

In-band full-duplex communication offers significant potential to enhance network performance. This paper presents the full-duplex linear transmit delay allocation MAC (FD-LTDA-MAC) protocol for full-duplex based underwater acoustic chain networks (FD-UACNs) for subsea pipeline monitoring. This incorporates a number of extensions to the LTDA-MAC protocol in order to fully exploit advantages of full-duplex communication to enhance the efficiency of underwater facility monitoring. The protocol uses a greedy optimisation algorithm to derive collision-free packet schedules for delivering data packets to the sink node of the underwater chain network. The purpose of this paper is to show the significant improvement that can be achieved in packet scheduling by exploiting temporal spectrum re-use of an underwater acoustic channel through full-duplex communication. Simulation results show that more efficient packet scheduling and reduced end-to-end packet delays can be achieved in large scale scenarios using FD-LTDA-MAC compared with LTDA-MAC and LTDA-MAC with full-duplex enabled nodes. It can provide much higher monitoring rates for long range underwater pipelines using low cost, mid range, low rate, and low power acoustic modems.

Teleportation is an important protocol in quantum communication. Realizing teleportation between arbitrary nodes in multi-hop quantum networks is of great value. Most of the existing multi-hop quantum networks are based on Bell states or Greeberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states. Bell state is more susceptible to noise than GHZ states after purification, but generating a GHZ state consumes more basic states. In this paper, a new quantum multi-hop network scheme is proposed to improve the interference immunity of the network and avoid large consumption at the same time. Teleportation is realized in a network based on entanglement swapping, fusion, and purification. To ensure the robustness of the system, we also design the purification algorithm. The simulation results show the successful establishment of entanglement with high fidelity. Cirq is used to verify the network on the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) platform. The robustness of the fusion scheme is better than the Bell states scheme, especially with the increasing number of nodes. This paper provides a solution to balance the performance and consumption in a multi-hop quantum network.

Due to the difficulty of obtaining statistical energy parameters of complex structures and the complexity of modeling connection and model verification, the hybrid FE-SEA model has many problems in modeling complex structures. Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, this paper provides a reference for the application of the hybrid FE-SEA model in complex structures. In this paper, the hybrid FE-SEA commercial vehicle model is established by an experimental statistical energy parameter modeling method and a modification method. The model division and subsystem connection modeling of a complex substructure of a heavy vehicle cab are studied. In the hybrid model, the hybrid line connection and the hybrid point connection are established. On this basis, the parameters of the cab model were studied, and the statistical energy parameters such as modal density, internal loss factor, and coupling loss factor were obtained by the experimental method. The statistical energy parameters of the cab acoustic model are modified. Finally, the accuracy of the model is verified by vehicle test. In addition, the acoustic performance of the cab was optimized, and airtightness and acoustic packaging were verified. The full parameter modeling and correction method is adopted in this paper, which is an effective supplement to the traditional statistical energy parameter modeling method.

Recent achievements on CNN (convolutional neural networks) and DNN (deep neural networks) researches provide a lot of practical applications on computer vision area. However, these approaches require construction of huge size of training data for learning process. This paper tries to find a way for continual learning which does not require prior high-cost training data construction by imitating a biological memory model. We employ SDR (sparse distributed representation) for information processing and semantic memory model, which is known as a representation model of firing patterns on neurons in neocortex area. This paper proposes a novel memory model to reflect remembrance of morphological semantics of visual input stimuli. The proposed memory model considers both memory process and recall process separately. First, memory process converts input visual stimuli to sparse distributed representation, and in this process, morphological semantic of input visual stimuli can be preserved. Next, recall process can be considered by comparing sparse distributed representation of new input visual stimulus and remembered sparse distributed representations. Superposition of sparse distributed representation is used to measure similarities. Experimental results using 10,000 images in MNIST (Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology) and Fashion-MNIST data sets show that the sparse distributed representation of the proposed model efficiently keeps morphological semantic of the input visual stimuli.

The adversarial samples threaten the effectiveness of machine learning (ML) models and algorithms in many applications. In particular, black-box attack methods are quite close to actual scenarios. Research on black-box attack methods and the generation of adversarial samples is helpful to discover the defects of machine learning models. It can strengthen the robustness of machine learning algorithms models. Such methods require queries frequently, which are less efficient. This paper has made improvements in the initial generation and the search for the most effective adversarial examples. Besides, it is found that some indicators can be used to detect attacks, which is a new foundation compared with our previous studies. Firstly, the paper proposed an algorithm to generate initial adversarial samples with a smaller L2 norm, secondly, a combination between particle swarm optimization (PSO) and biased boundary adversarial attack (BBA) is proposed. It is the PSO-BBA. Experiments are conducted on the ImageNet. The PSO-BBA is compared with the baseline method. Experimental comparison results certificate that: (1) A distributed framework for adversarial attack methods is proposed, (2) The proposed initial point selection method can reduces query numbers effectively, (3) Compared to the original BBA, the proposed PSO-BBA algorithm accelerates the convergence speed and improves the accuracy of attack accuracy, (4) The improved PSO-BBA algorithm has preferable performance on targeted and non-targeted attacks, (5) The mean structural similarity (MSSIM) can be used as the indicators of adversarial attack.

IoT, as an emerging technology along with GIS, can result in advanced and user-friendly features in Smart Cities. In order to investigate the capabilities offered by these technologies, this paper provides an overview of GIS and IoT integration focusing on applications and architecture. Specifically, this paper starts with investigating the role of GIS and IoT separately and jointly in different domains. Then, a review of GIS and IoT integration studies is provided to examine how GIS could be used in IoT architecture. The results showed that the capabilities of GIS in dealing with geospatial data and attributes along with offering visualization and analyzing tools make it possible to develop an integrated system benefiting from real-time data collection and real-time monitoring provided by IoT. The presented details would assist researchers in future studies on utilizing GIS and IoT at the same time.

The study focuses on the application of a nonparametric methodology for evaluating the sustainability of retrofitting interventions to be applied on different typologies of buildings and different climate zones of the Mediterranean area. The paper starts from the analysis of data collected through the HAPPEN project, that is a H2020 European project which proposes a holistic approach for a deep and sustainable renovation of the Mediterranean residential Building stock. Even if the European Commission allocated considerable funds for retrofitting interventions, the choice of the optimal solution is not always that easy because several variables have to be considered. The present manuscript proposes a methodology to compare different retrofitting solutions combining Life-Cycle Cost (i.e., LCC) estimations with the nonparametric Directional Distance Function approach (i.e., DDF). In detail, the literature suggests that the DDF can be effectively used for comparing different observations through efficiency scores. The main result of the paper is the definition of a hybrid methodology that, starting from estimates of LCC and applying a DDF technique, represents a simple method for evaluating the best retrofitting intervention. Results are represented by two scores where the former represents a holistic efficiency measure, while the latter shows an environmental efficiency score.

A space station is a typical phased-mission system, and assessing its reliability during its configuration is an important engineering action. Traditional methods usually require extensive data to carry out a layered reliability assessment from components to the system. These methods suffer from lack of sufficient test data, and the assessment process becomes very difficult, especially in the early stage of the configuration. This paper proposes a reliability assessment method for the space station configuration mission, using multi-layer and multi-type risks. Firstly, the risk layer and the risk type for the space station configuration are defined and identified. Then, the key configuration risks are identified comprehensively, considering their occurrence likelihood and consequence severity. High load risks are identified through risk propagation feature analysis. Finally, the configuration reliability model is built and the state probabilities are computed, based on the probabilistic risk propagation assessment (PRPA) method using the assessment probability data. Two issues are addressed in this paper: (1) how to build the configuration reliability model with three layers and four types of risks in the early stage of the configuration, (2) how to quantitatively assess the configuration mission reliability using data from the existing operational database and data describing the propagation features. The proposed method could be a useful tool for the complex aerospace system reliability assessment in the early stage.

Recently, more and more solutions have utilised artificial intelligence approaches in order to enhance or optimise processes to achieve greater sustainability. One of the most pressing issues is the emissions caused by cars; in this paper, the problem of optimising the route of delivery cars is tackled. In this paper, the applicability of the deep reinforcement learning algorithms with regards to the aforementioned problem is tested on a simulation game designed and implemented to pose various challenges such as constant change of delivery locations. The algorithms chosen for this task are Advantage Actor-Critic (A2C) with and without Proximal Policy Optimisation (PPO). These novel and advanced reinforcement learning algorithms have yet not been utilised in similar scenarios. The differences in performance and learning process of those are visualised and discussed. It is demonstrated that both of those algorithms present a slow but steady learning curve, which is an expected effect of reinforcement learning algorithms, leading to a conclusion that the algorithms would discover an optimal policy with an adequately long learning process. Additionally, the benefits of the Proximal Policy Optimisation algorithm are proven by the enhanced learning curve with comparison to the Advantage Actor-Critic approach, as the learning process is characterised by faster growth with a significantly smaller variation. Finally, the applicability of such algorithms in the described scenarios is discussed, alongside the possible improvements and future work.

This paper reviewed the weed problems in agriculture and how remote sensing techniques can detect weeds in rice fields. The comparison of weed detection between traditional practices and automated detection using remote sensing platforms is discussed. The ideal stage for controlling weeds in rice fields was highlighted, and the types of weeds usually found in paddy fields were listed. This paper will discuss weed detection using remote sensing techniques, and algorithms commonly used to differentiate them from crops are deliberated. However, weed detection in rice fields using remote sensing platforms is still in its early stages; weed detection in other crops is also discussed. Results show that machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) remote sensing techniques have successfully produced a high accuracy map for detecting weeds in crops using RS platforms. Therefore, this technology positively impacts weed management in many aspects, especially in terms of the economic perspective. The implementation of this technology into agricultural development could be extended further.

In this paper, a Lie-algebraic nonholonomic motion planning technique, originally designed to work in a configuration space, was extended to plan a motion within a task-space resulting from an output function considered. In both planning spaces, a generalized Campbell–Baker–Hausdorff–Dynkin formula was utilized to transform a motion planning into an inverse kinematic task known for serial manipulators. A complete, general-purpose Lie-algebraic algorithm is provided for a local motion planning of nonholonomic systems with or without output functions. Similarities and differences in motion planning within configuration and task spaces were highlighted. It appears that motion planning in a task-space can simplify a planning task and also gives an opportunity to optimize a motion of nonholonomic systems. Unfortunately, in this planning there is no way to avoid working in a configuration space. The auxiliary objective of the paper is to verify, through simulations, an impact of initial parameters on the efficiency of the planning algorithm, and to provide some hints on how to set the parameters correctly.

In this paper, an optimized kinematic modeling method to accurately describe the actual structure of a mobile manipulator robot with a manipulator similar to the universal robot (UR5) is developed, and an improved self-collision detection technology realized for improving the description accuracy of each component and reducing the time required for approximating the whole robot is introduced. As the primary foundation for trajectory tracking and automatic navigation, the kinematic modeling technology of the mobile manipulator has been the subject of much interest and research for many years. However, the kinematic model established by various methods is different from the actual physical model due to the fact that researchers have mainly focused on the relationship between driving joints and the end positions while ignoring the physical structure. To improve the accuracy of the kinematic model, we present a kinematic modeling method with the addition of key points and coordinate systems to some components that failed to model the physical structure based on the classical method. Moreover, self-collision detection is also a primary problem for successfully completing the specified task of the mobile manipulator. In traditional self-collision detection technology, the description of each approximation is determined by the spatial transformation of each corresponding component in the mobile manipulator robot. Unlike the traditional technology, each approximation in the paper is directly established by the physical structure used in the kinematic modeling method, which significantly reduces the complicated analysis and shortens the required time. The numerical simulations prove that the kinematic model with the addition of key point technology is similar to the actual structure of mobile manipulator robots, and the self-collision detection technology proposed in the article effectively improves the performance of self-collision detection. Additionally, the experimental results prove that the kinematic modeling method and self-collision detection technology outlined in this paper can optimize the inverse kinematics solution.

There is an obvious trade-off between information obtained from passenger surveys and cost and time investment. This paper offers a new approach for this problem and its detailed step-by-step procedure description. Parsimonious Analytic Hierarchy Process (PAHP) is a recently created methodology that combines the simplicity of direct evaluations with the consistency and reliability of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In the paper, the first large sample survey of passenger satisfaction by a new, PAHP-based model and procedure is presented as a case study. Moreover, a comparison with an AHP survey on the same public transport system and the same pattern are demonstrated. Since the comparative analysis produced a strong correlation between AHP and PAHP outcomes, it can be stated that the new procedure is less time consuming and costly than the AHP, while possessing the same benefits, and thus, it is more trustworthy than satisfaction measured by direct evaluations. Consequently, our proposed model can be applied both in theoretical and practical cases. Theoretically, it solves the problem of avoiding the use of large pairwise comparison matrices, and practically, it is a useful support to public satisfaction surveys, especially in the transportation sector.

The fourth industrial revolution is promoting the Operator 4.0 paradigm, originating from a renovated attention towards human factors, growingly involved in the design of modern, human-centered processes. New technologies, such as augmented reality or collaborative robotics are thus increasingly studied and progressively applied to solve the modern operators’ needs. Human-centered design approaches can help to identify user’s needs and functional requirements, solving usability issues, or reducing cognitive or physical stress. The paper reviews the recent literature on augmented reality-supported collaborative robotics from a human-centered perspective. To this end, the study analyzed 21 papers selected after a quality assessment procedure and remarks the poor adoption of user-centered approaches and methodologies to drive the development of human-centered augmented reality applications to promote an efficient collaboration between humans and robots. To remedy this deficiency, the paper ultimately proposes a structured framework driven by User eXperience approaches to design augmented reality interfaces by encompassing previous research works. Future developments are discussed, stimulating fruitful reflections and a decisive standardization process.

The present paper aims to be useful for public transport operators and municipalities, as it should enable them to make decisions and to optimize public transport schedules during peak hours. In this study, we outline the data and the means necessary for the creation and use of a specific database for a dynamic spatial analysis of the public transportation network. This will facilitate the analysis of public transport vehicle operating programs and the simulation of new transport programs using open-source software. This paper delivers the first digital map of the public transport in Bucharest. Using the QGIS software and the PostgresSQL database, (i) we analyzed the accessibility of public transport stops for residential areas (5-min isochrones, corresponding to walking distances of 400 m), and (ii) we determined the correlation of transport vehicle programs with the existing transport network to optimize the headway of vehicles. These two elements were considered for the analysis of public transport performance. The research study was based on the tram network in Bucharest, but it can be easily upscaled for the entire public transport network and may be replicated in other large cities.

This paper aims to numerically validate the aerodynamic performance and benefits of variable camber rate morphing wings, by comparing them to conventional ones with plain flaps, when deflection angles vary, assessing their D reduction or L/D improvement. Many morphing-related research works mainly focus on the design of morphing mechanisms using smart materials, and innovative mechanism designs through materials and structure advancements. However, the foundational work that establishes the motivation of morphing technology development has been overlooked in most research works. All things considered, this paper starts with the verification of the numerical model used for the aerodynamic performance analysis and then conducts the aerodynamic performance analysis of (1) variable camber rate in morphing wings and (2) variable deflection angles in conventional wings. Finally, we find matching pairs for a direct comparison to validate the effectiveness of morphing wings. As a result, we validate that variable camber morphing wings, equivalent to conventional wings with varying flap deflection angles, are improved by at least 1.7% in their L/D ratio, and up to 18.7% in their angle of attack, with α = 8° at a 3% camber morphing rate. Overall, in the entire range of α, which conceptualizes aircrafts mission planning for operation, camber morphing wings are superior in D, L/D, and their improvement rate over conventional ones. By providing the improvement rates in L/D, this paper numerically evaluates and validates the efficiency of camber morphing aircraft, the most important aspect of aircraft operation, as well as the agility and manoeuvrability, compared to conventional wing aircraft.

The paper presents a mathematical model of the system of repairs and preventive replacements by age of city buses. The mathematical model was developed using the theory of semi-Markov processes. In the model developed, four types of city bus renewal processes are considered and three types of corrective repairs and preventive replacement. Corrective repairs are considered in two types: minimal repairs (repairs carried out by the Technical Service units) and perfect repairs (repairs carried out at the stations of the Service Station). The models of restoration systems that use semi-Markov processes in which minimal repairs, perfect repairs, and preventive replacements by age, have been examined in the literature to a limited extent. The system under consideration is analysed from the point of view of two criteria: profit per time unit and availability of city buses to carry out the assigned transport tasks. Conditions of criterion functions’ extremum (maximum) existence were formulated for the adopted assumptions. The considerations presented in the paper are illustrated by exemplary results of calculations.

When vehicles interact with a bridge, a vehicle–bridge interaction (VBI) system is created. The frequency and modal shape of VBI systems have been widely studied, but the damping of VBI systems has not been adequately investigated. In recent years, several incidents of abnormal bridge vibration due to changes in bridge damping have occurred and aroused widespread concern in society. Damping is an important evaluation index of structural dynamic performance. Knowing the damping ratio of a VBI system is useful for analyzing the damping changes while a bridge is in service. This paper presents a method to extract bridge damping values from a VBI system, which can serve as a guide for bridge damping evaluation. First, a double-beam theoretical model was used to simplify the VBI system for cases involving uniform traffic flow. The damping ratio equation for the simplified VBI system was obtained using the extended dynamic stiffness method (EDSM). A double-beam finite element model and a VBI finite element model were established. The damping ratios of the two models were separately calculated and then compared with the simplified VBI model results. The results verified the accuracy of the simplified method. This paper then explains that bridge damping values can be extracted by estimating the equivalent traffic flow parameters and using the damping formula for the simplified VBI system. The bridge damping ratios extracted using this method in an engineering case ranged from 0.75% to 0.78%, which is smaller than the range that was directly identified using monitoring data (0.83–1.19%). The results show that the method can effectively extract bridge damping ratios and improve damping ratio identification.

Grid-connected inverters (GCI) are commonly used in PV system applications to generate a regulated AC current to feed into the grid. Transformerless inverters are the most advanced inverters that are used in industry, which provide efficiency with smaller size and lower cost. This paper proposes a grid-connected single-phase transformerless inverter with the technology of common ground and the virtual DC bus concept. In this topology, the grid neutral is connected directly to the PV ground, which generates a constant common mode voltage (CMV), thus leading to the elimination of the leakage current caused by the PV array’s parasitic capacitance. The proposed inverter has a buck–boost circuit with a flying capacitor to generate the DC bus for a negative power cycle, four switches, and two diodes. A unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) technique is used which reduces the output filter requirements. In addition, only one switch carries the load current during the active states of both the negative and positive power cycle, thus minimizing the conduction losses. One more advantage presented in the proposed inverter is its ability to charge the flying capacitor during all operation states due to the existence of the buck–boost circuit. Design and theoretical calculations were conducted in this paper to optimize the losses. Moreover, the PSIM simulation was used to validate the proposed topology inverter, verify the performance by showing leakage current elimination, and achieve unipolar voltage in the output bus. The simulation results show a peak efficiency of 98.57% for a 2 kW inverter, which agrees with the theoretical calculations.

This paper aims to improve transfer utility between bike-sharing and subway. For this paper, the transfer costs of three combined travel modes were analyzed, including “Bike-sharing + Subway”, “Walking + Subway” and “Bus + Subway”, and a transfer cost function, including time cost and expense cost, was constructed. Cluster analysis was carried out on the origin and destination of bike-sharing in the transfer-influenced area. The sum of squares of errors and the service radius were used to verify the clustering results. Then the number of alternative facilities, the location of alternative facilities and the initial number of shared bikes were preliminarily predicted. Based on the initial scheme, a bi-level programming model of facility layout and configuration in bike-sharing was established, with the goal of improving ride volume and reducing the transfer cost and facility-operation costs to optimize the initial facility-allocation scheme. Then a heuristic algorithm was used to solve the model. Finally, a typical subway station was selected as a case, and the configuration process for facilities in bike-sharing is discussed in detail in the paper. The research results of this paper may provide reference for the planning and optimization adjustments of facilities for bike-sharing.

Probabilistic shaping (PS) is a promising technique to approach the Shannon limit. In this paper, we design a practical coded modulation scheme based on PS to improve the capacity of coherent free-space optical (FSO) links with quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), where the fading channel follows the Gamma-Gamma distribution. The aim of this paper is to optimize the probability mass function (PMF) of the QAM signal points to achieve the maximum channel capacity. Due to the complexity of the objective function, the heuristic algorithm was employed to solve the optimization problem. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the closed-form pairwise error probability (PEP) is first derived with the non-uniform signals under the turbulence channel. In addition, we measure the average symbol error rate (SER) and post-FEC bit error rate (BER) by the Monte Carlo simulation method. The numerical simulation results of both capacity and BER show that the proposed PS scheme is better than the uniform distribution. The post-FEC BER results show that the proposed PS scheme provides significant gains compared with the uniform scheme.

With the surge of motor vehicle ownership and land intensification, plenty of large parking lots emerge as the times demand. Although it solves the problem of insufficient parking spaces, it intensifies the interaction between dynamic and static traffic. This paper presented an impact assessment method for the interaction of dynamic and static traffic flow in parking lots. Firstly, the average vehicle delay was selected as the evaluation index. The delay effect caused by the interaction of dynamic and static traffic flow was determined according to the driving path of vehicles. Then, the average vehicle delay models of arrival vehicles, departure vehicles, and road vehicles in the parking lot were established. Finally, for the parameters difficult to determine directly in the delay model, this paper proposed a method to calibrate the model parameters by using the simulation experimental data on the VISSIM platform. The results showed that the errors of the three models are within the controllable range, and the delay model parameters had high reliability and feasibility. The delay models can provide a quantitative basis for the parking lot management department to formulate regulation strategies and realize more refined information guidance and navigation in the parking lot.

Modern operating systems set exploit mitigations to thwart the exploit, which has also become a barrier to automated exploit generation (AEG). Many current AEG solutions do not fully account for exploit mitigations, and as a result, they are unable to accurately assess the exploitability of vulnerabilities in such settings.This paper proposes AEMB, an automated solution for bypassing exploit mitigations and generating useable exploits (EXPs). Initially, AEMB identifies exploit mitigations in the system based on characteristics of the program execution environment. Then, AEMB implements exploit mitigations bypassing the payload generation by modeling expert experience and constructs the corresponding constraints. Next, during the program’s execution, AEMB uses symbol execution to collect symbol information and create exploit constraints. Finally, AEMB utilizes a solver to solve the constraints, including payload constraints and exploit constraints, to generate the EXP. In this paper, we evaluated a prototype of AEMB on six test programs and seven real-world applications. Furthermore, we conducted 54 sets of experiments on six different combinations of exploit mitigations. Experiment results indicate that AEMB can automatically overcome exploit mitigations and produce successful exploits for 11 out of 13 applications.

In this paper, a keyword detection scheme is proposed based on deep convolutional neural networks for personal information protection in document images. The proposed scheme is composed of key character detection and lexicon analysis. The first part is the key character detection developed based on RetinaNet and transfer learning. To find the key characters, RetinaNet, which is composed of convolutional layers featuring a pyramid network and two subnets, is exploited to detect key characters within the region of interest in a document image. After the key character detection, the second part is a lexicon analysis, which analyzes and combines several key characters to find the keywords. To train the model of RetinaNet, synthetic image generation and data augmentation are exploited to yield a large image dataset. To evaluate the proposed scheme, many document images are selected for testing, and two performance measurements, IoU (Intersection Over Union) and mAP (Mean Average Precision), are used in this paper. Experimental results show that the mAP rates of the proposed scheme are 85.1% and 85.84% for key character detection and keyword detection, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is superior to Tesseract OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software for detecting the key characters in document images. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively localize and recognize these keywords within noisy document images with Mandarin Chinese words.

Digital cash is a form of money that is stored digitally. Its main advantage when compared to traditional credit or debit cards is the possibility of carrying out anonymous transactions. Diverse digital cash paradigms have been proposed during the last decades, providing different approaches to avoid the double-spending fraud, or features like divisibility or transferability. This paper presents a new digital cash paradigm that includes the so-called no-valued e-coins, which are e-coins that can be generated free of charge by customers. A vendor receiving a payment cannot distinguish whether the received e-coin is valued or not, but the customer will receive the requested digital item only in the former case. A straightforward application of bogus transactions involving no-valued e-coins is the masking of consumption patterns. This new paradigm has also proven its validity in the scope of privacy-preserving pay-by-phone parking systems, and we believe it can become a very versatile building block in the design of privacy-preserving protocols in other areas of research. This paper provides a formal description of the new paradigm, including the features required for each of its components together with a formal analysis of its security. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities grant number MTM2017-83271-R.

Suburban tourist railway is an emerging transportation mode for tourism. Knowing the travel demand and trip distribution patterns of tourists is an important prerequisite to the planning and construction of suburban tourist railways. However, this issue has attracted very little research attention so far. Therefore, this paper proposes a forecasting model focused on the trip distribution of tourists who travel with the suburban tourist railway. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of tourists’ trips and the use of the trip chain method, the frequency, order, distance, and visiting volume of stay points of the trips of tourists have been intensively studied. Then, a tourist trip distribution forecasting model was built in this paper. It uses the Entropy-Maximizing theory to predict trip chain distribution probability and obtain the distribution of tourists within the city. A case study that takes the H city as an example was conducted to test the proposed model. The results of this case show that the output of the model can reflect the real trip distribution characteristics of tourists very well, which demonstrates the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed model.

In recent years, the consumption of social media content to keep up with global news and to verify its authenticity has become a considerable challenge. Social media enables us to easily access news anywhere, anytime, but it also gives rise to the spread of fake news, thereby delivering false information. This also has a negative impact on society. Therefore, it is necessary to determine whether or not news spreading over social media is real. This will allow for confusion among social media users to be avoided, and it is important in ensuring positive social development. This paper proposes a novel solution by detecting the authenticity of news through natural language processing techniques. Specifically, this paper proposes a novel scheme comprising three steps, namely, stance detection, author credibility verification, and machine learning-based classification, to verify the authenticity of news. In the last stage of the proposed pipeline, several machine learning techniques are applied, such as decision trees, random forest, logistic regression, and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms. For this study, the fake news dataset was taken from Kaggle. The experimental results show an accuracy of 93.15%, precision of 92.65%, recall of 95.71%, and F1-score of 94.15% for the support vector machine algorithm. The SVM is better than the second best classifier, i.e., logistic regression, by 6.82%.

Research in the process of internal combustion engines shows that their efficiency can be increased through several technical and functional solutions. One of these is turbocharging. For certain engine operating modes, the available energy of the turbine can also be used to drive an electricity generator. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the possibilities and limitations of this solution. For this purpose, several investigations were carried out in the virtual environment with the AMESim program, as well as experimental research on a diesel engine for automobiles and on a stand for testing turbochargers (Turbo Test Pro produced by CIMAT). The article also includes a comparative study between the power and torque of the naturally aspirated internal combustion engine and equipped with a hybrid turbocharger. The results showed that the turbocharger has a very high operating potential and can be coupled with a generator without decreasing the efficiency of the turbocharger or the internal combustion engine. The main result was the generation of electrical power of 115 W at a turbocharger shaft speed of 140,000–160,000 rpm with an electric generator shaft speed of 14,000–16,000 rpm. There are many constructive solutions for electrical turbochargers with the generator positioned between the compressor and the turbine wheel. This paper is presenting a solution of a hybrid turbocharger with the generator positioned and coupled with the compressor wheel on the exterior side.

This paper addresses the structural-parametric synthesis and kinematic analysis of the RoboMech class of parallel mechanisms (PM) having two sliders. The proposed methods allow the synthesis of a PM with its structure and geometric parameters of the links to obtain the given laws of motions of the input and output links (sliders). The paper outlines a possible application of the proposed approach to design a PM for a cold stamping technological line. The proposed PM is formed by connecting two sliders (input and output objects) using one passive and one negative closing kinematic chain (CKC). The passive CKC does not impose a geometric constraint on the movements of the sliders and the geometric parameters of its links are varied to satisfy the geometric constraint of the negative CKC. The negative CKC imposes one geometric constraint on the movements of the sliders and its geometric parameters are determined on the basis of the Chebyshev and least-square approximations. Problems of positions and analogues of velocities and accelerations of the considered PM are solved to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed formulations and case of study.

Data hiding technology has achieved many technological developments through continuous research over the past 20 years along with the development of Internet technology and is one of the research fields that are still receiving attention. In the beginning, there were an intensive amount of studies on digital copyright issues, and since then, interest in the field of secret communications has been increasing. In addition, research on various security issues using this technology is being actively conducted. Research on data hiding is mainly based on images and videos, and there are many studies using JPEG and BMP in particular. This may be due to the use of redundant bits that are characteristic of data hiding techniques. On the other hand, block truncation coding-based images are relatively lacking in redundant bits useful for data hiding. For this reason, researchers began to pay more attention to data hiding based on block-cutting coding. As a result, many related papers have been published in recent years. Therefore, in this paper, the existing research on data hiding technology of images compressed by block-cut coding among compressed images is summarized to introduce the contents of research so far in this field. We simulate a representative methodology among existing studies to find out which methods are effective through experiments and present opinions on future research directions. In the future, it is expected that various data hiding techniques and practical applications based on modified forms of absolute moment block truncation coding will continue to develop.

This paper investigates the dynamic forecasting of lead-time, which can be performed by a logistics company for optimizing temporal shipment consolidation. Shipment consolidation is usually utilized to reduce outbound shipments costs, but it can increase the lead time. Forecasting in this paper is performed in a make-to-order supply chain using real data, where the logistics company does not know the internal production data of manufacturers. Forecasting was performed in several steps using machine-learning methods such as linear regression and logistic regression. The last step checks if the order will come in the next delivery week or not. Forecasting is evaluated after each shipment delivery to check the possibility of delaying the current arriving orders for a certain customer until the next week or making the delivery to the customer immediately. The results showed reasonable accuracy expressed in different ways, and one of them depends on a type I error with an average value of 0.07. This is the first paper that performs dynamic forecasting for the purpose of shipment temporal consolidation optimization in the consolidation center.

Nowadays, museums are developing chatbots to assist their visitors and to provide an enhanced visiting experience. Most of these chatbots do not provide a human-like conversation and fail to deliver the complete requested knowledge by the visitors. There are plenty of stand-alone museum chatbots, developed using a chatbot platform, that provide predefined dialog routes. However, as chatbot platforms are evolving and AI technologies mature, new architectural approaches arise. Museums are already designing chatbots that are trained using machine learning techniques or chatbots connected to knowledge graphs, delivering more intelligent chatbots. This paper is surveying a representative set of developed museum chatbots and platforms for implementing them. More importantly, this paper presents the result of a systematic evaluation approach for evaluating both chatbots and platforms. Furthermore, the paper is introducing a novel approach in developing intelligent chatbots for museums. This approach emphasizes graph-based, distributed, and collaborative multi-chatbot conversational AI systems for museums. The paper accentuates the use of knowledge graphs as the key technology for potentially providing unlimited knowledge to chatbot users, satisfying conversational AI’s need for rich machine-understandable content. In addition, the proposed architecture is designed to deliver an efficient deployment solution where knowledge can be distributed (distributed knowledge graphs) and shared among different chatbots that collaborate when is needed.