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The article considers innovative methods of conducting business activities of an enterprise based on the use of modern information systems, Web technologies, artificial intelligence technologies for creating digital counterparts of an enterprise, managing business processes and managing technical parameters of production. The introduction of innovations at the enterprises of the agro-industrial complex is due to the established stable system of distribution of new technologies based on modern scientific base, programs to support small-scale enterprises and their positioning in the market, for the purpose of developing regional structures, creation of specialized subcomplexes in the structure of processing enterprises, for example, in the food industry enterprises, where the introduction of innovations is associated with lower financial costsThe author gives the introduction of innovations in the implementation of digitalization measures at low-power enterprises on the basis of the development of measurement and computing complexes containing unified automation tools with a wide range of applications, modern software products for collecting and processing data on the progress of the technological process and generatingalarms, as well as diagnostic systems and instructions for the installation of equipment, operating both independently and managed through cloud servers.The paper proposes the measuring and computing complex for monitoring and regulating the parameters of complex processes for monitoring and regulating the parameters of small-scale food production enterprises, shows methods for predicting the properties of products with specified characteristics.The study determines the positive directions of digitalization that ensure the competitiveness and economic development of the enterprises of the agro-industrial complex.

Weeds are a persistent and significant problem in agricultural production. Weeds, which tend to grow and produce very rapidly, compete with crops for critical resources, which can significantly reduce crop yields (Zimdahl, 2007). Herbicides are one of the most common and inexpensive approaches to controlling weeds; however, their continued and widespread use has prompted concerns due to off-target movement and steadily rising herbicide-resistant weed populations (Westwood et al., 2018). Given the significance of increasing herbicide-resistant weed populations and economic pressures to reduce costs associated with weeding, there is a need to implement more sustainable weed management approaches. Integrated weed management (IWM) is an approach that combines multiple tactics, including genetic, biological, chemical, ecological, and mechanical approaches, for controlling weeds (Harker and O’Donovan, 2013; Pittman et al., 2020). The principle of IWM suggests that any one of these approaches, when used alone, will not result in optimized weed control; instead, development and application of multiple tactics is necessary. Further, Young (2018) argues that IWM is a continuum, and that “true IWM” requires integrating plant ecological and biological knowledge with technological machinery and algorithm-based decision making to respond to changes in weeds and the environment. To achieve this precise and specific integrated weed management paradigm, autonomous weeding systems will likely play a critical role (Young et al., 2017).

The article defines large territorially distributed automated systems, which include systems that collect and process information from spatially spaced sensors on objects. Examples of such automated systems are military systems, such as a missile attack warning system, a space control system, strategic and non-strategic missile defense systems, and civil systems, such as the state automated Control system, the air traffic control system and other systems. The purpose of these systems is the continuous monitoring of the state of a set of certain objects, the environment of their functioning, the constant assessment of the parameters of objects, the identification of dangerous situations in the behavior of objects and the environment, as well as the development of measures to reduce the level of possible security threats and eliminate dangerous situations. The typical structure of large territorially distributed automated systems includes sources and consumers of information, telecommunication facilities, as well as a center for processing input data and preparing information for consumers. The sources of information are operators, technical means of observation and specialized measuring instruments. Telecommunication means of big territorially distributed automated systems are formed in two ways. The first option uses existing global data net-works. In the second variant, self-made data transmission networks are formed on the basis of specially created means of data transmission and the use of dedicated data channels. The center of input data processing and information preparation contains a complex of automation tools and personnel providing maintenance, repair and operation. The functions and the most significant hardware and software components of large territorially distributed automated systems are presented. The main indicators of quality of their functioning and stages of life cycle are characterized: development of requirements, creation of a prototype, certification, mass production, operation, modernization, the end of operation and utilization.

Automated systems have been crucial to reducing medication errors and improving patient safety. However, their use has increased medication-errors associated with other factors:socio-technical interactions, automation bias, workarounds, and overrides. This comprehensive systematic review was conducted to identify types and severity of medication-errors associated with the use of automated system in all stages of the medication use process. This provides new perspectives that contribute significantly to global knowledge in the research area. Three databases were searched to include English-language observational and experimental studies(from 2000-2019) focused on types and severity of medication errors. A data-extraction form was developed, and quality was assessed using Hoy-et-al tool. The search yielded 860 articles after deduplication and thirteen were eligible. The bias risk was low for eight studies(62%) and moderate for five(38%). The medication-error types, and prevalence were omitted information(4-61%), wrong dose(4-30%), incorrect medication(1-18%), incorrect administration time(3-18%), and incorrect frequency(0.6%-21%) and occurred in the prescribing(62%) and administration(69%) stage. The error severity assessment used was NCC-MERP-index(46%), other(23%), or not conducted(31%). Omitted information and incorrect dose were the most common errors associated with automated systems in the prescribing and administration stages. However, the error severity and classification was inconclusive due to differences in study design and assessment criteria.

The spread of automated vehicles (AVs) is expected to disrupt our mobility behavior. Currently, a male bias is prevalent in the technology industry in general, and in the automotive industry in particular, mainly focusing on white men. This leads to an under-representation of groups of people with other social, physiological, and psychological characteristics. The advent of automated driving (AD) should be taken as an opportunity to mitigate this bias and consider a diverse variety of people within the development process. We conducted a qualitative, exploratory study to investigate how shared automated vehicles (SAVs) should be designed from a pluralistic perspective considering a holistic viewpoint on the whole passenger journey by including booking, pick-up, and drop-off points. Both, men and women, emphasized the importance of SAVs being flexible and clean, whereas security issues were mentioned exclusively by our female participants. While proposing different potential solutions to mitigate security matters, we discuss them through the lens of the feminist HCI framework.

Network topology is one of the major factors in defining the behavior of a network. In the present scenario, the demand for network security has increased due to an increase in the possibility of attacks by malicious users. In this paper, a blockchain-based system is suggested for securely discovering and storing networks. Techniques such as cloud-based storage systems are not efficient and are lacking in trust, privacy, security, and data control. The blockchain-based technique suggested in this paper is capable of resolving these challenges. Experiments were performed using Mininet, Cisco Packet Tracer, and Ethereum blockchain with the network inference algorithm. This algorithm is capable of inferring the network topology even when only partial information regarding the network is available. The results obtained clearly show that the network is resistant to malicious users and various external attacks, making the network robust.

Collaborative robots represent an interesting solution to automate tasks that were too difficult or too expensive to automate since they merge the flexibility of a human operator and the accuracy of automated systems. This work presents a framework developed in three levels with a top-down approach. A first offline level will solve the task scheduling problem of a human-robot collaborative workcell addressing both logistic and robotic aspects, represented by physical interferences and performance indexes. A second level will manage the shared workspace in real-time. These first two levels, due to their general nature, will be described in greater detail. The possible application and validation of the model to a specific case study will be discussed in the third level, which will describe the connection of the model towards different devices.

PURPOSE: Broth microdilution (BMD) stays as the reference testing method for determination of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) to colistin and is considered essential for patient management and for monitoring of colistin resistance. This multicenter study aimed to evaluate the performance of automated systems for colistin AST among Enterobacterales as an alternative for BMD since the majority of laboratories use automated systems as first-line method. METHODS: Twenty colistin resistant (COL-R) including 10 MCR producers and 10 colistin-susceptible (COL-S) Enterobacterales isolates were blindly tested for colistin susceptibility with the routine automated AST systems used by 8 laboratories (3 with BD Phoenix, 3 with Vitek2 and 2 with MicroScan). Additionally, 3 reference strains (E. coli ATCC 25922, E. coli NCTC 13846, and one COL-R mcr-negative K. pneumoniae M/14750) were tested in triplicate by each laboratory. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Results were compared with BMD performed at the reference laboratory. BD Phoenix and MicroScan automated AST systems provide accurate and reproducible categorical results for the testing of colistin in Enterobacterales. However, Vitek2 system showed poor performance for the detection of COL-R isolates especially those with MICs close to the susceptibility breakpoint (categorical agreement of 88% and precision categorical agreement of 81%).

As the reliance upon automated systems in the livestock industry increases, technologies need to be developed which can be incorporated into these systems to monitor animal health and welfare. Infrared thermography (IRT) is one such technology that has been used for monitoring animal health and welfare and, through automation, has the potential to be integrated into automated systems on-farm. This study reports on an automated system for collecting thermal infrared images of calves and on the development and validation of an algorithm capable of automatically detecting and analysing the eye and cheek regions from those images. Thermal infrared images were collected using an infrared camera integrated into an automated calf feeder. Images were analysed automatically using an algorithm developed to determine the maximum eye and cheek (3 &times, 3-pixel and 9 &times, 9-pixel areas) temperatures in a given image. Additionally, the algorithm determined the maximum temperature of the entire image (image maximum temperature). In order to validate the algorithm, a subset of 350 images analysed using the algorithm were also analysed manually. Images analysed using the algorithm were highly correlated with manually analysed images for maximum image (R2 = 1.00), eye (R2 = 0.99), cheek 3 &times, 3-pixel (R2 = 0.85) and cheek 9 &times, 9-pixel (R2 = 0.90) temperatures. These findings demonstrate the algorithm to be a suitable method of analysing the eye and cheek regions from thermal infrared images. Validated as a suitable method for automatically detecting and analysing the eye and cheek regions from thermal infrared images, the integration of IRT into automated on-farm systems has the potential to be implemented as an automated method of monitoring calf health and welfare.

Comunicació presentada al NordiCHI '20: The 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society, celebrat del 25 al 29 d'octubre de 2020 a Tallinn, Estonia. The increasing presence of robotics, automated systems, and AI in everyday life is carrying important ethical and social implications for both those who design and develop them as well as for the users. Addressing these complex issues requires active collaboration between multiple stakeholders, including children. Nonetheless, even if emergent technologies are becoming increasingly present in education, most technology-mediated educational projects for children tend to focus on the development of technical skills, leaving little room for critical reflection. This tendency runs the risk of missing opportunities to truly empower children as critical users, (future) responsible designers and skilled stakeholders in the dialogue around ethical concerns on technology. Starting from this perspective, the workshop aims at tracing research lines and opening questions around strategies, methods, tools, and perspectives to support children in developing an ethical and critical sensitivity in the use, design, and development of emergent technologies.

Farming faces challenges that increase the adverse effects on farms&rsquo, economics, labor, and the environment. Smart farming technologies (SFTs) are expected to assist in reverting this situation. In this work, 1064 SFTs were derived from scientific papers, research projects, and industrial products. They were classified by technology readiness level (TRL), typology, and field operation, and they were assessed for their economic, environmental, and labor impact, as well as their adoption readiness from end-users. It was shown that scientific articles dealt with SFTs of lower TRL than research projects. In scientific articles, researchers investigated mostly recording technologies, while, in research projects, they focused primarily on farm management information systems and robotic/automation systems. Scouting technologies were the main SFT type in scientific papers and research projects, but variable rate application technologies were mostly located in commercial products. In scientific papers, there was limited analysis of economic, environmental, and labor impact of the SFTs under investigation, while, in research projects, these impacts were studied thoroughly. Further, in commercial SFTs, the focus was on economic impact and less on labor and environmental issues. With respect to adoption readiness, it was found that all of the factors to facilitate SFT adoption became more positive moving from SFTs in scientific papers to fully functional commercial SFTs, indicating that SFTs reach the market when most of these factors are addressed for the benefit of the farmers. This SFT analysis is expected to inform researchers on adapting their research, as well as help policy-makers adjust their strategy toward digitized agriculture adoption and farmers with the current situation and future trends of SFTs.

Experiences with technology often are described as exciting and outstanding, for instance, in relation to novel technologies at home or at work. In this article, we aim to complement this perspective by emphasizing people’s mundane and ordinary experiences with technology, that is, unremarkable experiences happening in the background of people’s attention. Based on our investigations of user experience in a semiconductor factory, we show how such ordinary experiences are substantial in workers’ everyday interactions with technology, which are mainly shaped by repetitive activities and routines. However, current conceptions of user experience seem to overlook those mundane experiences and how they can contribute to positive experiences with technology, as well as work engagement in the factory. In this article, we describe how ordinary experiences can be understood and described to amend current user experience conceptions by discussing theoretical, methodological, and design consequences. peerReviewed

The demand for high-speed ultrasonic scanning of large and complex components is driven by a desire to reduce production bottlenecks during the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of critical parts. Emerging systems (including robotic inspection) allow for the collection of large volumes of data in short time spans, compared to existing inspection systems. To maximise throughput, it is crucial that the reconstructed inspection datasets are generated and evaluated rapidly without loss of detail. This requires new data visualisation and analysis tools capable of mapping complex geometries while guaranteeing full coverage. This paper presents an entirely new approach for the visualisation of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonic C-scans, suitable for application to high data throughput ultrasonic phased array inspection of large and complex parts. Existing reconstruction approaches are discussed and compared with the new index-based triangulation (IBT) method presented. The IBT method produces 3D C-scan representation, presented as coloured tessellated surfaces, and the approach is shown to work efficiently, even on challenging geometries. An additional differentiating characteristic of the IBT method is that it allows for easy detection of lack of coverage (an essential feature for ensuring that inspection coverage can be guaranteed on critical components). The results demonstrate that the IBT C-scan generation approach runs over 60 times faster than a C-scan display based on Delaunay triangulation and over 500 times faster than surface reconstruction C-scans. In summary, the main benefits of the new IBT technique include: high-speed generation of C-scans on large ultrasonic datasets (orders of magnitude improvement compared to surface reconstruction C-scans); the ability to operate efficiently on 3D mapped datasets (allowing 3D interpretation of C-scans on complex geometry components); and intrinsic indication of lack of inspection coverage.

Manufacturers of automated systems and their components have been allocating an enormous amount of time and effort in R&D activities, which led to the availability of prototypes demonstrating new capabilities as well as the introduction of such systems to the market within different domains. Manufacturers need to make sure that the systems function in the intended way and according to specifications. This is not a trivial task as system complexity rises dramatically the more integrated and interconnected these systems become with the addition of automated functionality and features to them. This effort translates into an overhead on the V&V (verification and validation) process making it time-consuming and costly. In this paper, we present VALU3S, an ECSEL JU (joint undertaking) project that aims to evaluate the state-of-the-art V&V methods and tools, and design a multi-domain framework to create a clear structure around the components and elements needed to conduct the V&V process. The main expected benefit of the framework is to reduce time and cost needed to verify and validate automated systems with respect to safety, cyber-security, and privacy requirements. This is done through identification and classification of evaluation methods, tools, environments and concepts for V&V of automated systems with respect to the mentioned requirements. VALU3S will provide guidelines to the V&V community including engineers and researchers on how the V&V of automated systems could be improved considering the cost, time and effort of conducting V&V processes. To this end, VALU3S brings together a consortium with partners from 10 different countries, amounting to a mix of 25 industrial partners, 6 leading research institutes, and 10 universities to reach the project goal. VALU3S (verification and validation of automated systems' safety and security)

Purpose. The paper is aimed to analyze the functioning of the existing railway informational system, as the data storage, consideration of the ways to changeover to intelligent management system, including the application of semantic approach. It is necessary to change the paradigm of automated traffic management; this determines changing the paradigm in railway operation management. The development and introduction of new Business-Intelligence-type system requires the formalized knowledge on railway transportation process to be implemented, including in the form of ontology as the model and means to formalize the knowledge. New knowledge requires using the terms and concepts to describe the new processes and management objects in railway operations. Methodology. Formalizing the knowledge one should abstract away from classical definitions such as marshaling or freight station, train station, division station, dead-end station, railway junction, railway hub etc. Unified Modeling Languages for engineering the automated systems use the definitions: the objects’ categories, the class diagrams, statechart diagrams, sequence diagrams, activity diagrams, component diagrams, link diagrams in properties etc. These concepts enable formalizing the knowledge, bringing to homogeneous representing and using them for modeling the management processes of goods delivery. Findings. The data on timing the events of goods delivery process, breakings of schedule are taken into account in set-theoretical model on scripting scenarios for goods delivery process. One of the concepts in the model on breaking of schedule ( from the knowledge base of the system ASK VPUZ-E enables to take into account the influence of possible factors and the real railway operations conditions. Originality. The ways to formalize knowledge on railway transportation process as the major premise to form intelligent informational software for management system were analyzed . The set-theoretical models on goods delivery management for scripting goods delivery process’ scenarios have been developed in the paper, the examples of using the means of object-oriented modeling to construct algorithm for technological processes have been given as well. Practical value. The author suggests new terms, definitions and concepts describing the logistic business processes and enabling to changeover to formalizing the knowledge and to forming the conditions of intelligent management system of goods delivery on railways.

In Earth Science, image cross-correlation (ICC) can be used to identify the evolution of active processes. However, this technology can be ineffective, because it is sometimes difficult to visualize certain phenomena, and surface roughness can cause shadows. In such instances, manual image selection is required to select images that are suitably illuminated, and in which visibility is adequate. This impedes the development of an autonomous system applied to ICC in monitoring applications. In this paper, the uncertainty introduced by the presence of shadows is quantitatively analysed, and a method suitable for ICC applications is proposed: The method automatically selects images, and is based on a supervised classification of images using the support vector machine. According to visual and illumination conditions, the images are divided into three classes: (i) No visibility, (ii) direct illumination and (iii) diffuse illumination. Images belonging to the diffuse illumination class are used in cross-correlation processing. Finally, an operative procedure is presented for applying the automated ICC processing chain in geoscience monitoring applications.

Automated truck platooning is getting an increasing interest for its potentially beneficial effects on fuel consumption, driver workload, traffic flow efficiency, and safety. Nevertheless, one major challenge lies in the safe and comfortable transitions of control from the automated system back to the human drivers, especially when they have been inattentive during highly automated driving. In this study, we investigated truck drivers’ take-over response times after a system initiated request to take back control in non-critical truck platooning scenarios. 22 professional truck drivers participated in the truck driving simulator experiment and everyone was instructed to drive under three task conditions during highly automated driving: Driver monitoring condition (drivers were instructed to monitor the surroundings), Driver not-monitoring condition (drivers were provided with a hand-held tablet and were asked to use this), and Eyes-closed condition (drivers were not allowed to open their eyes). The total take-over response time was divided into the perception response time and the movement response time by manual video annotation. Results showed significantly longer total take-over times with high variability in both Driver not-monitoring and Eyes-closed conditions compared to the Driver monitoring condition. Hand movement response time was found to be the dominant component of the total take-over time, being influenced by the motoric manoeuvres to resume physical readiness before taking over control (e.g., putting away the hand-held tablet, or adjusting seating position). These results suggest the importance of a personalized driver readiness predictor as an input parameter for a safe and comfortable transition of control. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

With the big data trend, automated algorithmic decision making will open the door to countless more lines of code. Too many people already worship and revere software as a solution to human needs. And, in a continuous spiral, more data collection accelerates the need for more technology and more automated decision support systems. On a neo-Luddite view, the author is concerned about how such systems will impact our safety, sense of privacy, and psychological well-being, and in the long run replace the best of our humanity-our gut feelings. The author proposes to switch your empathetic button on and consider some of the consequence of building too much software, particularly if you're building automated decision support systems.

This article proposes a solution to improve the efficiency of automated generation of electronic lexicographical resources based on strongly-structured electronic information arrays processing. The developed automated information system for lexicographical resources creation and replenishment have been described is this article. Several supporting subsystems of developed automated system have been characterized. The effectiveness of the information system has been evaluated.

Chronic wounds are a major health concern and they affect the lives of more than 25 million people in the United States. They are susceptible to infection and are the leading cause of nontraumatic limb amputations worldwide. The wound environment is dynamic, but their healing rate can be enhanced by administration of therapies at the right time. This approach requires real-time monitoring of the wound environment with on-demand drug delivery in a closed-loop manner. In this paper, a smart and automated flexible wound dressing with temperature and pH sensors integrated onto flexible bandages that monitor wound status in real-time to address this unmet medical need is presented. Moreover, a stimuli-responsive drug releasing system comprising of a hydrogel loaded with thermo-responsive drug carriers and an electronically controlled flexible heater is also integrated into the wound dressing to release the drugs on-demand. The dressing is equipped with a microcontroller to process the data measured by the sensors and to program the drug release protocol for individualized treatment. This flexible smart wound dressing has the potential to significantly impact the treatment of chronic wounds.

Intelligent digital healthcare systems are becoming an increasingly considered approach to facilitating continued support of our ageing population. Within the remit of such digital systems, ‘Virtual Carer’ is one of the more consistent terms that refers to an artificial system capable of providing various assistive living and communicative functionalities, embodied within a graphical avatar displayed on a screen. As part of the RITA (Responsive Interactive Advocate) project – a proof of concept for one such virtual carer system – a series of semi-structured discussions with various stakeholders was conducted. This paper presents the results of these discussions to highlight data security, replacement of human/physical care and always acting in the user’s best interest. These three ethical concerns and designer responsibilities are identified as highly relevant to both individuals and groups that may, in the future, utilise a system like RITA either as a care receiver or provider. This paper also presents some initial, theoretical safeguard processes relevant to these key concerns.

Aspects of rolling on tandem four-high cold-rolling tube mills are studied. The article examines how the gear ratio of the diagonal transmission of the stand is related to the axial force on the semifinished product and loss of stability by the tube. An improved method is developed for designing the rolls so that the deformation process is divided between a pair of breakdown rolls and a pair of sizing rolls. The study is performed using an expert automated system developed to design technologies for the cold periodic rolling of tubes. The laws that govern the accumulation of damage resulting from the effects of the main process parameters are described and technical recommendations are made on mastering the use of the given type of mill. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

In our work we consider the issues of complex automated systems designing at the stage of engineering design. There is formulated the issue of system decomposition into applied tasks clusters subject to automation and of initial documents used for automated systems functional tasks solving. The problem is solved as a block-symmetric task of discrete programming. Solving the formulated tasks is proved to be effective with interactive algorithm which allows solving the high dimension tasks. The developed decomposition method allows optimizing the automated systems designing.

Power companies usually answer the increase in power demand by building new generation facilities. Nevertheless, an efficient use of energy could reduce and delay the costs of investment in new power plants. This paper shows a software system to manage transformers and evaluate losses when they work with zero loads. This system contributes to reduce the waste of energy with some simple actions such as shutting off an unused transformer or reconnecting disabled equipment based on the customer’s demand. It uses real time measurements collected from Intelligent Electronic Devices as a base for software decisions. It also measures and reports the total power saving. Las compañías eléctricas por lo general responden al aumento de la demanda de energía mediante la construcción de nuevas instalaciones de generación. Sin embargo, un uso eficiente de la energía podría reducir y retrasar los gastos de inversión en nuevas centrales eléctricas. En este trabajo se muestra el sistema de software para gestionar transformadores y evaluar las pérdidas cuando trabajan con cero cargas. Este sistema ayuda a reducir la pérdida de energía con acciones simples como: Desenergizar un transformador no utilizado o volver a conectar el equipo con base en la demanda del cliente. Utiliza las mediciones en tiempo real obtenidas de la base de Intelligent Electronic Devices para el software de Decisiones. También mide e informa el ahorro total de energía.

We consider the problem of extracting accurate average ant trajectories from many (possibly inaccurate) input trajectories contributed by citizen scientists. Although there are many generic software tools for motion tracking and specific ones for insect tracking, even untrained humans are much better at this task, provided a robust method to computing the average trajectories. We implemented and tested several local (one ant at a time) and global (all ants together) method. Our best performing algorithm uses a novel global method, based on finding edge-disjoint paths in an ant-interaction graph constructed from the input trajectories. The underlying optimization problem is a new and interesting variant of network flow. Even though the problem is NP-hard, we implemented two heuristics, which work very well in practice, outperforming all other approaches, including the best automated system., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures

Date of Conference: October 26 - 29, 2011 In the current practice of medicine, histopathological examination is the gold standard for routine clinical diagnosis and grading of cancer. However, as this examination involves the visual analysis of biopsies, it is subject to a considerable amount of observer variability. In order to decrease the variability, it has been proposed to develop systems that mathematically model the histopathological tissue images and automate the analysis. Segmentation constitutes the first step for most of these automated systems. Nevertheless, the segmentation in histopathological images remains a challenging task since these images typically show variances due to their complex nature and may include a large amount of noise and artifacts due to the tissue preparation procedures. In our research group, we recently developed different segmentation algorithms that rely on representing a tissue image with a set of tissue objects and using the structural pattern of these objects in segmentation. In this paper, we review these segmentation algorithms, discussing their clinical demonstrations on colon tissues. © 2011 ACM.

The analysis carried out, as well as the systematisation and generalisation of flight safety problems, has allowed us to propose a model for a flight safety management system and to define directions for priority research. To solve flight safety problems, it is suggested to use the integrated methods of flight safety management on the basis of basic and partial criteria totality, where it is possible to take into account simultaneously the probabilistic indices of the system and informative indices, which are connected by means of using neural networks. Neuroninių tinklų technologijų, skirtų rizikos veiksnių numatymui ir jų valdymui, aiškinimas Santrauka. Atliktas tyrimas, taip pat skrydžio saugumo problemų susisteminimas bei apibendrinimas leido numatyti skrydžių saugumo valdymo sistemos tobulinimo kelius, nustatyti prioritetines jų tyrimo kryptis. Siekiant užtikrinti skrydžių saugumą, siūloma taikyti integruotus skrydžių saugumo valdymo metodus, kurie remiasi bazinių bei dalinių kriterijų visuma; čia galima kartu įvertinti sistemos tikimybinius bei informacinius duomenis, kurių jungiamąja grandimi yra neuroniniai tinklai. Reikšminiai žodžiai: skrydžio sauga, neuroniniai tinklai, tikimybių metodas, rizikos faktoriai, vadybos sprendimai, diagnozė, automatizuotos sistemos, analizė. First published online: 14 Oct 2010

Enhancing the security and reliability of automated systems that control vital national infrastructures, such as energy and water distribution systems, has recently emerged as a critical aspect of maintaining, protecting, and securing such infrastructures against interference or possibly malicious activity. Examples of such automated systems include Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Distributed Control Systems (DCS), and networks of embedded sensors and actuators, most of which were designed without anticipating the security threats that arise due to increasing reliance on common software, public telecommunication networks, and the Internet. In this paper, we discuss how state-based notions of opacity in finite automata models can be used to capture security properties of interest in automated systems that can be modeled as controlled finite automata subject to external disturbances.We also describe when and how control objectives can be achieved while enforcing desirable security and/or privacy objectives. ©2010 IEEE. 1622 1627

INTRODUÇÃO: A tuberculose permanece um problema de saúde pública mundial. OBJETIVO: Avaliar um sistema de diagnóstico automatizado de tuberculose, comparando-o com baciloscopia e cultura em meio de Lowenstein-Jensen. MÉTODO: Estudo comparativo entre os resultados obtidos no sistema automatizado, baciloscopia do escarro e em meio de Lowenstein-Jensen, em 844 amostras de escarro de setembro a dezembro de 1999, em centro de referência para tuberculose em São Paulo (SP). RESULTADOS: Das 844 amostras, 27,1% mostraram-se positivas para bacilo álcool-acidorresistente e 72,9% negativas. Nos cultivos em Lowenstein-Jensen, 34,7% foram positivas e 63% negativas; no sistema automatizado, 37,1% foram positivas e 56,9% negativas. Observou-se sensibilidade de 98,1% e 91.9% no sistema automatizado e no Lowenstein-Jensen, respectivamente. A especificidade e o valor preditivo positivo foram de 100% nos dois métodos. O valor preditivo negativo foi de 98,9% no sistema automatizado e de 95,5% no Lowenstein-Jensen. A acurácia foi de 99,3% no sistema automatizado e 97% no Lowenstein-Jensen e o Kappa de 0,99 no sistema automatizado e 0,94 no Lowenstein-Jensen. O tempo médio de detecção das micobactérias no sistema automatizado (10,5 dias) apresentou diferença estatística significativa quando comparado com o método de Lowenstein-Jensen (34,7 dias). CONCLUSÃO: O rendimento da cultura com o sistema automatizado apresentou diferença estatística significativa quando comparado com o meio de Lowenstein-Jensen. O tempo médio de detecção das micobactérias foi significativamente reduzido no sistema automatizado. O rendimento do sistema automatizado justifica sua utilização em unidade de referência ambulatorial para a tuberculose em São Paulo. BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis continues to be a global health problem. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate an automated system designed to diagnose tuberculosis, comparing it to sputum microscopy and culture in Löwenstein-Jensen medium. METHOD: A comparative study using 844 sputum samples, collected between September and December of 1999 at a reference center for tuberculosis in São Paulo, Brazil, to draw distinctions between the results obtained through the use of the automated system and those obtained through sputum microscopy and culture in Löwenstein-Jensen medium. RESULTS: Of the 844 samples evaluated, 27.1% tested positive for acid-fast bacilli, and 72.9% tested negative. In Löwenstein-Jensen culture, 34.7% were positive and 63% were negative, compared with 37.1% positivity and 56.9% negativity using the automated system. Sensitivity was 98.1% for the automated system and 91.9% for Löwenstein-Jensen culture. Specificity and positive predictive value were 100% for both methods. Negative predictive value was 98.9% for the automated system and 95.5% for Löwenstein-Jensen culture. The degree of accuracy was 99.3% for the automated system and 97% for Löwenstein-Jensen culture, and the Kappa was 0.99 for the automated system and 0.94 for Löwenstein-Jensen culture. The difference between the mean time to detection of mycobacteria using the automated system (10.5 days) and that found using Löwenstein-Jensen culture (34.7 days) was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The difference between the culture yield obtained using the automated system and that achieved with Löwenstein-Jensen culture was statistically significant. Mean time to detection of mycobacteria was significantly shorter with the automated system. The higher yield provided by this new system justifies its use in a reference center for tuberculosis in São Paulo

Automated robotic inspection systems allow the collection of large data volumes, compared to existing inspection systems. To maximize the throughput associated with the non-destructive evaluation phase, it is crucial that the reconstructed inspection data sets are generated and examined rapidly without a loss of detail. Data analysis often becomes the bottleneck of automated inspections. Therefore, new data visualization tools, suitable to screen the NDT information obtained through robotic systems, are urgently required. This paper presents a new approach, for the generation of three-dimensional ultrasonic C-scans of large and complex parts, suitable for application to high data throughput ultrasonic phased array inspection. This approach produces 3D C-scan presented as colored tessellated surfaces and the approach works efficiently on challenging geometry, with concave and convex regions. Qualitative and quantitative results show that the approach runs up to 500 times faster than other C-scan visualization techniques.