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Prediction on emotions in Education 2050 is both an important problem and a guiding force behind the search for the inter-connections that underlie natural and social phenomena. The aim of this work is to analyse the links and regularities between emotions and Education 2050. The present research is prognostic. The methodology in the present work is forecasting. The method of trend analysis, based on expert opinion investigation, was deployed. The research showed the trend - the emotions’ shift from a psychological phenomenon to the educational category. The trend is based on the analysis of experts’ opinions about the incorporation of “emotional skills” into Education 2050. The forecast for the inter-connections between emotions in Education 2050 is that emotional skills will play the key role in future education as emotions are the drivers of the educational process. During the educational process emotional skills are processed via cognitive evaluation, and, therefore emotional skills become the output/outcome/result of the educational process. Emotional skills will require further investigation of their sub-skills, structure and developmental dynamics. The novel contribution of this research is that the analysis of experts’ opinions is revealed as well as trend and forecast for emotions in Education 2050 are proposed.

Quantum mechanical phenomena are revolutionizing classical engineering fields such as signal processing or cryptography. When randomness plays an important role, like in cryptography where random bit sequences guarantee certain levels of security, quantum mechanical phenomena allow new ways of generating random bit sequences. Such sequences have a lot of applications in the communication sector, e.g., regarding data transmission, simulation, sensors or radars, and beyond. They can be generated deterministically (e.g., by using polynomials, resulting in pseudo-random sequences) or in a non-deterministic way (e.g., by using physical noise sources like external devices or sensors, resulting in random sequences). Important characteristics of such binary sequences can be modelled by gap processes in conjunction with the probability theory. Recently, all-optical approaches have attracted a lot of research interest. In this work, an adaptation of the quantum key distribution setup is utilized for generating randomised bit sequences. The simulation results show that all-optically generated sequences very well resemble the theoretically ideal probability density characteristic. Additionally, an experimental optical setup is developed that confirms the simulation results. Furthermore, m-sequences show very promising results as well as Gold sequences. Additionally, the level of burstiness, i.e., the distribution of ones and zeros throughout the sequence, is studied for the different sequences. The results enable the finding that generator polynomials with concentrated non-zero coefficients lead to more bursty bit sequences.

Higher education institutions are the important chain in provision of the inter-connections between the workforce (school graduates, youth, or adults), representatives from different economic sectors, experts from research and innovation development organisations, and all the interested contributors. The research purpose is to build a new development model of sustainable communication for higher education institutions. This research is qualitative as it aims at constructing a new model. The research integrates the use of theoretical analysis, comparative analysis of existing models, theoretical modelling, model creation, summarising analysis. Very often the researchers think of the process of communication as a one-way process. The present work allowed for the establishment of the inter-connections between the development of the system of the external and internal perspectives, on the one hand, and the implementation of the process of sustainable communication, on the other hand. The novel contribution of this research is that the sender and the receiver of the information in the sustainable communication process act at the same time, their information meets and exchanges, thereby promoting information interaction or quasi-knowledge creation. Future research intends to include the empirical methods of research. Collection of quantitative data is a future research direction, too.

Gender based discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault are the factors that impact youth engagement in the labour market and society. Monitoring of gender based discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault among young people in the European countries remains under-developed. The research aim is to analyse beliefs of young people in the European Union in gender based discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault. The research is built on the basis of both theoretical and empirical methods. The theoretical analysis shaped the conceptual framework of the research. The empirical study was based on the survey implementation. Data were collected in five European Union countries in March-April 2022. The data were analysed via the mean calculation as well as ranking. Data interpretation was applied in order to summarise the study findings. The theoretical analysis allows for the establishment of the inter-connections between beliefs and values. The data analysis reveals that young people believe in gender based discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault. The results show that physical appearance and people race are the Top 2 beliefs that coincide in all the three phenomena, namely gender based discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Research limitations are outlined. Future work is proposed.

Abstract A joint pre‐ and post‐equalization scheme is proposed for an optical intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) system. At the transmitter, a linear feed‐forward pre‐equalizer with just two, three, or four filter taps is suggested to limit the transmitter's complexity and to allow the use of multi‐level modulation. Finally, this concept is combined with a zero‐forcing post‐equalizer at the receiver. By utilizing numerical optimization to design the multi‐level signals, the intersymbol‐interference originating from the channel is mitigated pre‐equalizer taps, a reduction of 3 % in received power compared to a conventional zero‐forcing design is achieved. The equalization scheme is tailored for an optical IM/DD system. Therefore, the specific power constraints of such a setup are taken into account in the equalizer design process. In contrast to existing research, the approach is tested for a multi‐mode fiber system, which is affected by increased inter‐symbol interference due to modal dispersion. The simulation results show that by shifting a small portion of the equalization complexity to the transmitter side, the required optical power to reach a bit‐error rate of 10−3$10^{-3}$ is reduced by 7.3% for zero‐forcing and 6.8% for minimum mean square error post‐equalizers. the noise increase by the post‐equalizer is reduced by 6.9 % when including the pre‐equalizer with just two filter taps. Compared to an equalization scheme that solely relies on a zero‐forcing post‐equalizer, the suggested joint pre‐ and post‐equalization scheme is able to improve the bit‐error rate performance by an average of 7.15 %. A testbed experiment with a 250 m multi‐mode fiber channel and a data rate of 2.5 Gbps operating at 1550 nm confirms these simulation results.

This paper proposes a novel linear precoding method for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based on the employment of the chaotic waveforms generated by the fourth-order chaotic oscillator and orthonormalized by the Gram-Schmidt process. The proposed linear precoding method is aimed to increase resilience to the multipath propagation issues and reduce the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signal. Moreover, the chaotic waveform enables novel timing synchronization methods to be implemented in the receiver. The modelling of baseband Linear Precoded OFDM (LP-OFDM) data transmission system with Rayleigh channel has been performed in Simulink environment to validate the proposed method and to compare the performance to the classic precoding methods, such as Walsh-Hadamard Transform (WHT). Experiments have shown that in a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) scenario, the employment of the novel precoding scheme allows reducing Bit Error Ratio (BER) by several dB compared to non-precoded OFDM. The proposed precoding method leads to the reduction of PAPR; however, it is not as efficient as classical precoding schemes, such as WHT. Experimental evidence of synchronization of the chaotic oscillators within 50 samples long time interval is presented.

High-quality and comprehensive exposure-related data are critical for different decision contexts, including environmental and human health monitoring, and chemicals risk assessment and management. However, exposure-related data are currently scattered, frequently of unclear quality and structure, not readily accessible, and stored in various—partly overlapping—data repositories, leading to inefficient and ineffective data usage in Europe and globally. We propose strategic guidance for an integrated European exposure data production and management framework for use in science and policy, building on current and future data analysis and digitalization trends. We map the existing exposure data landscape to requirements for data analytics and repositories across European policies and regulations. We further identify needs and ways forward for improving data generation, sharing, and usage, and translate identified needs into an operational action plan for European and global advancement of exposure data for policies and regulations. Identified key areas of action are to develop consistent exposure data standards and terminology for data production and reporting, increase data transparency and availability, enhance data storage and related infrastructure, boost automation in data management, increase data integration, and advance tools for innovative data analysis. Improving and streamlining exposure data generation and uptake into science and policy is crucial for the European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and European Digital Strategy, in line with EU Data policies on data management and interoperability.

In optical fiber communication, recent advances in multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) systems using space-division multiplexing have helped achieve higher spectral efficiency and data rates. Propagating higher-order modulation formats over MIMO systems further strengthens the capacity of the transmission link. In the optical-MIMO system, the dispersion impairments originating from a 1.4 km long multi-mode fiber (MMF) are mitigated using the proposed joint-transceiver equalization technique. A numerical convex optimization algorithm is used to compute and optimize the pre- and post-equalization (PPE) coefficients jointly restricted by cost and power budgets. The potential of the proposed joint-PPE technique is tested on an MMF link, which is severely degraded by dispersion compared to a single-mode fiber channel. From the experimental results, the average optical received power gain necessary to reach 10−4 bit-error rate is improved by nearly 2.5 dB using the joint-PPE compared to the post-equalization only based on the minimum mean-squared error principle. When the efficiency of the conventional zero-forcing (ZF) principle-based PPE and the joint-PPE is compared, the joint-PPE scheme outperforms the ZF-PPE by approximately 1.5 dB. The enhancement in the transmission quality is observed with experimentally measured eye diagrams using the joint-PPE scheme. Under the analyzed scenarios, computer simulation also confirms the hypothesis, which establishes the effectiveness of the proposed joint-transceiver equalization over the conventional ZF-PPE scheme. Moreover, the simulated performance benefits of the joint-PPE are evaluated using the singular value decomposition (SVD) technique. Improvement of ≈3.86 dB in the average optical received power gain required to reach 10−4 bit-error rate is witnessed with the PAM-4 format. Overall, the joint-transceiver equalization technique is proven to be beneficial in optical MIMO systems.

The paper aims to explore sustainability from both the external and internal perspectives underpinning the implementation of the empirical study within an English for Academic Purposes course at a Master level in the COVID-19 pandemic. The research is based on the methodology of the development of the system of the external and internal perspectives. The exploratory type of the case study was employed. The interpretive paradigm was used in the research. The observation was conducted on the 23rd August 2020. The sample was composed of the 10 international students of the Master programme “Information and Electrical Engineering” at Hochschule Wismar, Germany. The theoretical research defines the external and internal sustainability. The empirical finding is that the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the organizational aspect of the English for Academic Purposes course (timetable, classroom arrangements, group work organization). Another finding is that the implemented English for Academic Purposes course is partially sustainable and requires its dynamic equilibrium and localized robustness to be adjusted. Implications for higher education aimed at increasing both the external and internal sustainability in education imply the implementation of the combination of evaluation, namely external evaluation, mutual evaluation, and self-evaluation, jointly carried out by all the process participants.

Ranking implemented in the English for Academic Purposes course helps in selecting appropriate sub-topics to be obtained by students. The aim of the present research is to compare teacher’s and students’ ranking of topics of the English for Academic Purposes course delivered to master of engineering students underpinning the elaboration of implications for the advancement of the English for Academic Purposes course. Research methods applied include the use of theoretical as well as empirical methods. Theoretical methods imply analysis of theoretical sources and theoretical modelling. The empirical study was characterized by its explorative nature. The empirical study was based on a survey carried out with 10 engineering master students of the Master programme “Information and Electrical Engineering” at Hochschule Wismar, Germany. The data were interpreted and summarized. The summarizing content analysis allows proposing that the students positively evaluated the majority of the sub-topics of the delivered English for Academic Purposes course. The hypothesis was formulated. Implications for the advancement of the English for Academic Purposes course were identified. Directions of future work were proposed. The novelty of the research is revealed by the formulated hypothesis as well as implications

The multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technology is a promising area of research to cope up with the demands of higher data rates and capacity. In the optical communication domain, the combination of space-division multiplexing (SDM) with higher-order modulation (HOM) formats over an optical MIMO system actively addresses these challenges. By allowing multi-level signaling with limited increment in the transmitter’s complexity, a jointly designed pre- and post-equalization (PPE) for an optical MIMO system with a multi-mode fiber (MMF) link is proposed. Cost-effectiveness of the system is incorporated by utilizing intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) with HOM formats such as pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) schemes. With the aid of a numerical optimization algorithm, the proposed joint-PPE filter coefficients are optimized with respect to the MMF channel and the transmit power constraint. In contrast to existing research on the single-mode fiber (SMF) based optical systems, the effectiveness of the proposed joint-PPE filter is analyzed on an MMF link, which is considerably degraded by the modal dispersion. In the analyzed experimental scenario, the proposed joint-PPE scheme confirms to be beneficial as compared to the post-equalization only (PE-only) in terms of bit-error rate (BER) performance. Furthermore, the required average received optical power to reach a BER 10−4 by the joint-PPE scheme is improved by 2 dB with comparison to the minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) PE-only.

Polynomial singular value decomposition (PSVD) plays a very important role in broadband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. One of its applications lies in the decoupling of MIMO convolutive mixing channel matrix in order to recover the transmitted signals corrupted by the channel interference (CI) at the receiver. In this paper, a novel algorithm, known as multiple shift second order sequential best rotation (MS-SBR2), is proposed to compute the approximate PSVD of the broadband MIMO channel matrix. Experimental examples, including a measured (2 × 2) optical MIMO channel impulse response using the multi-mode fiber (MMF) testbed, are presented to examine the proposed algorithm. Bit error rate (BER) performances are evaluated among different transmission schemes. In addition, power allocation (PA) schemes are investigated to further optimize the BER performance.

Ocena ryzyka związana z bezpieczeństwem cybernetycznym jest przedmiotem dużego zainteresowania badawczego, ze względu na to, że bezpieczeństwo cybernetyczne stanowi nowy, dynamiczny segment rynku o znacznym potencjale wzrostu dla ubezpieczycieli. Ponieważ praktyki i procesy klienta w ciągły sposób wpływają na końcową ocenę, zachowanie klienta musi być szczegółowo opisane. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest opracowanie instrumentu (kwestionariusza) do oceny ryzyka cybernetycznego klienta w ramach weryfikacji ubezpieczenia. Metoda budowy instrumentu (kwestionariusz) to badania empiryczne. Badania empiryczne opierają się na wykorzystaniu dowodów empirycznych. Zaproponowano kwestionariusz składający się z 11 pytań.

Optical fiber sensors have reached a high state of maturity. Besides the high number of sensor groups, multi-mode fiber evanescent field sensors can be found in a lot of applications. Here, the signal source commonly excites many optical modes under steady-state conditions. Perturbations of the fiber then produce leaky modes. Thus, a simple intensity detector measures the degree of perturbation. In some cases also restricted mode launching conditions have been applied. They resulted in higher sensitivity but showed a narrower measurement range. Considering the individual modes as carriers of information we adapted multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) signal processing which is well studied in the telecommunications community, for improvements on both the sensor sensitivity and its measurement range. In this paper MIMO signal processing is investigated for fiber optic sensor applications. A (2x2) MIMO implementation is realized by using lower-order and higher-order mode groups of a gradient-index multi-mode fiber as separate transmission channels. A micro-bending pressure sensor changes these separate transmission characteristics and introduces additional crosstalk. By observing the layer specific weight-factors of the MIMO system the amount of load applied was determined. Experiments verified a good correlation between the change of the MIMO weight coefficients and the load applied to the sensor and thus verified that MIMO signal processing can beneficially be used for fiber optic sensor applications. The experimental results also verified the superior sensitivity and measurement range when MIMO signal processing is utilized.