Consistent data is seldom available for whole-catchment flood modelling in many developing regions, thus this study demonstrates how the complementary strengths of open and readily available geospatial datasets and tools can be leverage to map flood risk within acceptable levels of uncertainty for flood risk management. Available fragmented remotely-sensed and in situ datasets (including hydrological data, altimetry, digital elevation model, bathymetry, aerial photos, optical and radar imageries) are systematically integrated using 2-dimensional CAESAR-LISFLOOD model to quantify and recreate the extent and impact of the historic 2012 flood in Nigeria. Experimental modelling, calibration and validation is undertaken for the whole Niger-South hydrological catchment area of Nigeria, then segmented into sub-domains for re-validation to understand how data variability and uncertainties impact on the accuracy of model outcomes. Furthermore, aerial photos are applied for the first time in the study area for flood model validation and to understand how different physio-environmental properties influence synthetic aperture radar flood delineation capacity in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Mathematical modelling of bioprocesses has a long and notable history, with eminent contributions from fields including microbiology, ecology, biophysics, chemistry, statistics, control theory and mathematical theory. This richness of ideas and breadth of concepts provide great motivation for inquisitive engineers and intrepid scientists to try their hand at modelling, and this collaboration of disciplines has also delivered significant milestones in the quality and application of models for both theoretical and practical interrogation of engineered biological systems. The focus of this review is the anaerobic digestion process, which, as a technology that has come in and out of fashion, still remains a fundamental process for addressing the global climate emergency. Whether with conventional anaerobic digestion systems, biorefineries, or other anaerobic technologies, mathematical models are important tools that are used to design, monitor, control and optimise the process. Both highly structured, mechanistic models and data-driven approaches have been used extensively over half a decade, but recent advances in computational capacity, scientific understanding and diversity and quality of process data, presents an opportunity for the development of new modelling paradigms, augmentation of existing methods, or even incorporation of tools from other disciplines, to ensure that anaerobic digestion research can remain resilient and relevant in the face of emerging and future challenges.

WHO was informed on 31 December 2019 of cases of unknown cause pneumonia in Wuhan City, China. On 7 January 2020 Chinese authorities reported a novel coronavirus as the cause and was temporarily labeled "2019-nCoV." Coronaviruses (CoV) are a wide family of viruses which cause diseases ranging from common cold to more serious illnesses. A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain not previously found in humans. Countries around the globe have stepped up their surveillance to quickly detect any new 2019-nCoV cases. Blockchain is developing into a safe and efficient network for secure data sharing in applications such as the financial industry, operations management, food industry, energy market, the Internet of Things and healthcare. In this paper, we are using blockchain technology as a mean to share authentic data, tracking of relevant information and help speed up the treatment process. At the same time it will preserve person’s identity. Timely deployment and suitable implementation of the proposed model have the opportunity to curb COVID-19 transmissions and associated mortality, especially in environments with inadequate access to testing facilities. This work will also facilitate in the treatment of other infectious diseases. Smart contract have been designed and implemented using the ethereum blockchain platform which has been presented in this paper. This work would facilitate multiple stakeholders who are involved within the medical system to curb the transmission of this disease.

Background & Objectives: The global pandemic caused by novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has claimed several lives worldwide. With the virus gathering rapid spread, the world has witnessed increasing number of confirmed cases and mortality rate, India is not far behind with approximately 37,000 affected individuals as on May 2, 2020. The ongoing pandemic has raised several questions which need to be answered by analysis of transmission of the infection. The data has been collected on daily basis from WHO and other sites. We have represented the data collated graphically using statistical packages, R and other online softwares. The present study provides a holistic overview of the spread of COVID-19 infection in India. Methods: Real-time data query was done based on daily observations using publicly available data from reference websites for COVID-19 and other government official reports for the period (15^th February, 2020 to April 28^th, 2020). Statistical analysis was performed to draw important inferences regarding COVID-19 trend in India. Results: A decrease in growth rate of cases due to COVID-19 in India post lockdown and improvement in recovery rate during the month of April was identified. The case fatality rate was estimated to be 3.22% of the total reported cases. State-wise analysis revealed a deteriorating situation in states of Maharashtra and Gujarat among others as cases continued to increase rapidly there. A positive linear correlation between the number of deaths and total cases and exponential relation between population density and number of cases reported per square km was established. Interpretation & Conclusions: Despite early preventive measures taken up by the Government of India, the increasing number of cases in India is a concern. This study compiles state-wise and district-wise data to report the daily confirmed cases, case fatalities and strategies adopted in the form of case studies. Understanding the transmission spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a diverse and populated country like India will be crucial in assessing the effectiveness of control policies towards the spread of COVID-19 infection.

Cloud infrastructure provides computing services where computing resources can be adjusted on-demand. However, the adoption of cloud infrastructures brings concerns like reliance on the service provider network, reliability, compliance for service level agreements (SLAs), etc. Software-defined networking (SDN) is a networking concept that suggests the segregation of a network’s data plane from the control plane. This concept improves networking behavior. In this paper, we present an SDN-enabled resource-aware topology framework. The proposed framework employs SLA compliance, Path Computation Element (PCE) and shares fair loading to achieve better topology features. We also present an evaluation, showcasing the potential of our framework.

A large amount of data is produced every day by stakeholders of the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, in particular airline operators, airports, and air navigation service provider (ANSP). Most data is kept private for many reasons, including commercial and security concerns. More than data, shared information is precious, as it leverages intelligent decision-making support tools designed to smooth daily operations. We present a framework to detect, identify and characterise anomalies in past aircraft trajectory data. It is based on an open source of ADS-B based aircraft trajectories, and extracted information can benefit a wide range of stakeholders: Air Traffic Control (ATC) training centres could play more realistic simulations; ANSP may improve capacity indicators; academics improve safety models and risk estimations; and commercial stakeholders, like airlines and airports, may use such information to improve short-term predictions and optimise their operations. The technique is based on autoencoding artificial neural networks applied on flows of trajectories, which provide a useful reading grid associating cluster analysis with quantified level of abnormality. In particular, we find that the highest anomaly scores correspond to poor weather conditions, whereas anomalies with a lower score relate to ATC tactical actions.

Deep behavioral covariates (DBCs) introduced in this perspective form a new class of covariates that have the potential to enhance the performance of predictive models and improve analytics in clinical decision support applications. DBCs can measure how engaged a patient tends to be and how he or she tends to respond to events, and they may be highly predictive of the patient’s outcomes for a planned treatment. DBCs may potentially serve as a standard to measure patient engagement and activation and may form highly efficient mechanisms for improving patient outcomes.

Management of demand and capacity for airport operation is important. The effect of capacity setting on slot adjustment, maximum adjustment and flight delay has been extensively investigated and discussed in previous slot adjustment models. But its effect on characteristics of flight waves has not been studied deeply. At present, in order to resolve the problem that Linear Integer Programming (LIP) is limited in slot allocation due to its fast dimension growth and large memory consumption, the general practice is to optimize the slot application according to data-splitting technology. However, the relationship among data splitting method, capacity setting and characteristics of slot wave has not been investigated in detail, which limits the application of LIP in slot allocation. Through the detailed analysis and testing, we found that the waveform and amplitude of slot wave can be controlled and designed by appropriate virtual capacity settings, while the number of capacity constraints and the computing time is reduced by adopting appropriate data feeding method. Our research also provides clues for further research on the construction of the flight waves for airlines operating at specific airports in order to establish direct or indirect connectivity, and increase hit rate by using our approaches.

Tornadoes remain an active subject of observational and numerical research due to the damage and fatalities they cause worldwide as well as poor understanding of their behavior, such as what processes result in their genesis and what determines their longevity and morphology. A numerical model executed on a supercomputer run at high resolution can serve as a powerful tool for exploring the rapidly evolving tornado-scale features within a simulated storm, but saving large amounts data for meaningful analysis can result in unacceptably slow model performance, an unwieldy amount of saved data, and saved data spread across millions of files. In this paper, a system for efficiently saving and managing hundreds of terabytes of compressed model output is described in order to support a supercomputer simulation of a tornadic supercell thunderstorm. The challenges of managing a simulation spanning over a quarter trillion grid volumes across the Blue Waters supercomputer are also described. The simulated supercell produces a long-track EF5 tornado, and the near-tornado environment is described during tornadogenesis, where single upward-growing vortex undergoes several vortex mergers before transitioning into a multiple vortex tornado.

We introduce PyNTA, a modular instrumentation software for live particle tracking. By using the multiprocessing library of Python and the distributed messaging library pyZMQ, PyNTA allows users to acquire images from a camera at close to maximum readout bandwidth while simultaneously performing computations on each image on a separate processing unit. This publisher/subscriber pattern generates a small overhead and leverages the multi-core capabilities of modern computers. We demonstrate capabilities of the PyNTA package on the featured application of nanoparticle tracking analysis. Real-time particle tracking on megapixel images at a rate of 50 Hz is presented. Reliable live tracking reduces the required storage capacity for particle tracking measurements by a factor of approximately 10³, as compared with raw data storage, allowing for a virtually unlimited duration of measurements

This paper focuses on the crucial role that remote sensing plays in divining land features. Data that is collected distantly provides information in spectral, spatial, temporal and radiometric domains, with each domain having the specific resolution to information collected. Diverse sectors such as hydrology, geology, agriculture, land cover mapping, forestry, urban development and planning, oceanography and others are known to use and rely on information that is gathered remotely from different sensors. In the present study, IRS LISS IV Multi-spectral data is used for land cover mapping. It is known, however, that the task of classifying high-resolution imagery of land cover through manual digitizing consumes time and is way too costly. Therefore, this paper proposes accomplishing classifications by way of enforcing algorithms in computers. These classifications fall in three classes: supervised, unsupervised, and object-based classification. In the case of supervised classification, two approaches are relied upon for land cover classification of high-resolution LISS-IV multispectral image. These approaches are Maximum Likelihood and Support Vector Machine (SVM). Finally, the paper proposes a step-by-step procedure for optical image classification methodology. This paper concludes that in optical data classification, SVM classification gives a better result than the ML classification technique.

Compound databases of natural products have a major impact on drug discovery projects and other areas of research. The number of databases in the public domain with compounds from natural origin is increasing. Several countries have initiatives in place to construct and maintain compound databases that are representative of their diversity. Examples are Brazil, France, Panama and recently Vietnam. Herein, we discuss the first version of BIOFACQUIM, a novel compound database with natural products isolated and characterized in Mexico. We discuss its construction, curation, and a complete chemoinformatic characterization of the content and coverage in chemical space. It is reported the profile of physicochemical properties, scaffold content, and diversity, as well as structural diversity based on molecular fingerprints. BIOFACQUIM is freely available.

This work presents a novel approach to construct surrogate models of parametric Differential Algebraic Equations based on a tensor representation of the solutions. The procedure consists in building simultaneously, for every output of the reference model, an approximation given in tensor-train format. A parsimonious exploration of the parameter space coupled with a compact data representation allows to alleviate the curse of dimensionality. The approach is thus appropriate when many parameters with large domains of variation are involved. The numerical results obtained for a nonlinear elasto-viscoplastic constitutive law show that the constructed surrogate model is sufficiently accurate to enable parametric studies such as the calibration of material coefficients.

Freeway travelling time is affected by many factors including traffic volume, adverse weather, accident, traffic control and so on. We employ the multiple source data-mining method to analyze freeway travelling time. We collected toll data, weather data, traffic accident disposal logs and other historical data of freeway G5513 in Hunan province, China. Using Support Vector Machine (SVM), we proposed the travelling time model based on these databases. The new SVM model can simulate the nonlinear relationship between travelling time and those factors. In order to improve the precision of the SVM model, we applied Artificial Fish Swarm algorithm to optimize the SVM model parameters, which include the kernel parameter σ, non-sensitive loss function parameter ε, and penalty parameter C. We compared the new optimized SVM model with Back Propagation (BP) neural network and common SVM model, using the historical data collected from freeway G5513. The results show that the accuracy of the optimized SVM model is 17.27% and 16.44% higher than those of the BP neural network model and the common SVM model respectively.

Power disaggregation aims at determining the appliance-by-appliance electricity consumption leveraging upon a single meter only, which measures the entire power demand. Data-driven procedures based on Factorial Hidden Markov Models have been proven remarkable results on energy disaggregation. Nevertheless, those procedures have various weaknesses: there is a scalability problem as the number of devices to observe raises and the algorithmic complexity of the inference step is severe. DNN architectures, such as Convolutional Neural Networks, have demonstrated to be a viable solution to deal with FHMMs shortcomings. Nonetheless, there are two significant limitations: a complicated and time-consuming training system based on back-propagation has to be employed to estimates the neural architecture parameters, and large amounts of training data covering as many operation conditions as possible need to be collected to attain top performances. In this work, we aim to overcome those limitations by leveraging upon the unique and useful characteristics of the extreme learning machine technique, which is based on a collection of randomly chosen hidden units and analytically defined output weights. Experiment evaluation has been conducted using the UK-DALE corpus. We find that the suggested approach achieves similar performances to recently proposed ANN-based methods and outperforms FHMMs. Besides, our solution generalises well to unseen houses.

Load balancing, energy efficiency and fault tolerance are among the most important data dissemination issues in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In order to successfully cope with the mentioned issues, two main approaches (namely, Data-centric Storage and Distributed Data Storage) have been proposed in the literature. Both approaches suffer from data loss due to memory and/or energy depletion in the storage nodes. Even though several techniques have been proposed so far to overcome the mentioned problems, the proposed solutions typically focus on one issue at a time. In this paper, we integrate the Data-centric Storage (DCS) features into Distributed Data Storage (DDS) mechanisms and present a novel approach, denoted as Collaborative Memory and Energy Management (CoMEM), to overcome both problems and bring memory and energy efficiency to the data loss mechanism of WSNs. We also propose analytical and simulation frameworks for performance evaluation. Our results show that the proposed method outperforms existing approaches in various WSN scenarios.

The spectra currently emerging from modern ground- and space-based astronomical instruments are of exceptionally high quality and resolution. To meaningfully analyse these spectra researchers utilise complex modelling codes to replicate the observations. The main inputs to these codes are atomic data such as excitation and photoionisation cross sections as well as radiative transition probabilities, energy levels and line strengths. In this publication the current capabilities of the numerical methods and computer packages used in the generation of these data are discussed. Particular emphasis is given to Fe-peak species and the heavy systems of tungsten and molybdenum. Some of the results presented to highlight certain issues and/or advances have already been published in the literature, while other sections present, for the first time, new recently evaluated atomic data.

This article aims to analyze household energy data to predict electricity self-sufficiency and identify the key features that impact it. For this purpose, we use SHAP (Shapley Additive Explanations), LightGBM (Light Gradient Boosting Machine), and a correlation heatmap-based framework to analyze 12 months of energy and questionnaire survey data collected from over 200 smart houses in Kitakyushu, Japan. We use the SHAP summary plot to identify the impact-wise order of key features influencing the electricity self-sufficiency rate (ESSR). Using SHAP, we demonstrated that key features are; housing types, average monthly electricity bill, floor heating, electric capacity, number of washing and drying machines, fee plans, occupation of household head, total floor area, average monthly gas bill, cooking equipment, etc. Furthermore, we adopted the LightGBM classifier with $\ell^1$ regularization to extract the most significant features and predict the electricity self-sufficiency rate of households. This LightGBM-based model can also predict the electricity self-sufficiency rate of households that did not participate in the questionnaire survey. A heat map is also used to analyze the correlation among household variables. The findings discussed in this article offer valuable insights for energy policymakers to achieve the targets of energy self-sufficient houses.

Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR) is a radar imaging technique in which the relative motion of the sensor is used to synthesize a very long antenna and obtain high spatial resolution. Standard SAR raw data processing techniques assume uniform motion of the satellite (or aerial vehicle) and a fixed antenna beam pointing sideway orthogonally to the motion path, assumed rectilinear. Despite SAR data processing is a well established imaging technology that has become fundamental in several fields and applications, in this paper a novel approach has been used to exploit coherent illumination, demonstrating the possibility of extracting a large part of the ancillary data information from the raw data itself, to be used in the focusing procedure. In this work an effort has been carried out to try to focus the raw SAR complex data matrix without the knowledge of anyof the parameters needed in standard focusing procedures as Range Doppler (RD) algorithm, ω - K algorithm and Chirp Scaling (CS) algorithm. All the literature references regarding the algorithms needed to obtain a precise image from raw data use such parameters that refer both to the SAR system acquisition geometry and its radiometric specific parameters. In [12], authors introduced a preliminary work dealing with this problem and able to obtain, in the presence of a strong point scatterer in the observed scene, good quality images, if compared to the standard processing techniques. In this work the proposed technique is described and performances parameters are extracted to compare the proposed approach to RD.

Federated learning (FL) is a decentralized machine learning paradigm that allows multiple local clients to collaboratively train a global model by sharing their model parameters instead of private data, thereby mitigating privacy leakage. However, recent studies have shown that gradient-based data reconstruction attacks (DRA) can still expose private information by exploiting model parameters from local clients. Existing privacy-preserving FL strategies provide some defence against these attacks but at the cost of significantly reduced model accuracy. Moreover, the issue of client heterogeneity further exacerbates these FL methods, resulting in drifted global models, slower convergence, and decreased performance. This study aims to address the two main challenges of FL: data heterogeneity, particularly in Non-Identical and Independent Distributions (Non-IID) clients, and client privacy through DRA. By leveraging the Lagrange duality approach and employing a generator model to facilitate knowledge distillation (KD) between clients, thereby enhancing local model performance, this method aims to concurrently address the primary challenges encountered by FL in real-world applications.

Breathing in fine particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM_2.5) has greatly increased an individual’s risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. As climate change progresses, extreme weather events, including wildfires, are expected to rise, exacerbating air pollution. The 2023 Canadian wildfires highlighted the growing threat of PM_2.5 as smoke spread across U.S. cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. This research investigates the application of data augmentation techniques to improve the accuracy of PM_2.5 concentration forecasts in these urban environments. Models trained on imbalanced datasets often struggle to capture extreme pollution events, underestimating high PM_2.5 levels due to the model’s focus on more frequent, low-value samples. To address this, we implemented cluster-based undersampling and trained transformer models using various cutoff thresholds (12.1 µg/m³ and 35.5 µg/m³) and partial sampling ratios (10/90, 20/80, 30/70, 40/60, 50/50). Our results demonstrate that the 35.5 µg/m³ threshold, coupled with a 20/80 partial sampling ratio, provides the best performance regarding RMSE and R², particularly in capturing high PM2.5 events. Overall, models trained on augmented data significantly outperformed those trained on original data, highlighting the importance of resampling techniques in improving air quality forecasting accuracy, especially for high-pollution scenarios. These insights significantly contribute to a better understanding of PM_2.5 pollution with the hopes of more informed public health and environmental policies.

Reliable prediction of building-level energy demand is crucial for the building managers to optimize and regulate energy consumption. Conventional prediction models omit the uncertainties associated with demand over time; hence, they are mostly inaccurate and unreliable. In this study, a Bayesian neural network (BNN)-based probabilistic prediction model is proposed to tackle this challenge. By quantifying the uncertainty, BNNs provide probabilistic predictions that capture the variations in the energy demand. The proposed model is trained and evaluated on a subset of the building operations dataset of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, California, which includes diverse attributes related to climate and key building performance indicators. We have performed thorough hyperparameter tuning and used fixed-horizon validation to evaluate trained models on various test data to assess generalization ability. To validate the results, quantile random forest (QRF) was used as a benchmark. The study compared BNN with LSTM, showing that BNN outperformed LSTM in uncertainty quantification.

The construction industry, characterized by high energy use and carbon emissions, necessitates a thorough and accurate life cycle assessment (LCA). This review investigates how building information modeling (BIM) software can streamline the LCA process to improve both efficiency and precision. Although BIM has considerable potential, challenges remain, such as issues with software interoperability and a lack of standardized options for BIM-integrated LCA tools. The review also evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of various BIM software, LCA tools, and energy consumption tools, and highlights case studies of BIM-LCA integration. It provides a critical analysis of methods and techniques for BIM-LCA integration and data exchange, including the import of bills of quantities, Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), the use of BIM viewers, direct LCA calculations with BIM plugins, and calculations using LCA plugins. The study concludes with future outlooks, aiming to direct the development of improved LCA tools that offer better integration with BIM software, which is crucial for advancing sustainable construction practices.

Deflectometry is a key component in the precise measurement of specular (mirrored) surfaces, however traditional methods often lack an end-to-end approach that performs 3D reconstruction in a single shot with high accuracy and generalizes across different free-form surfaces. This paper introduces a novel deep neural network (DNN)-based approach for end-to-end 3D reconstruction of free-form specular surfaces using single-shot deflectometry. Our proposed network, VUDNet, innovatively combines discriminative and generative components to accurately interpret orthogonal fringe patterns and generate high-fidelity 3D surface reconstructions. By leveraging a hybrid architecture integrating a Variational Autoencoder (VAE) and a modified U-Net, VUDNet excels in both depth estimation and detail refinement, achieving superior performance in challenging environments. Extensive data simulation using Blender, leading to a dataset which we are making available, ensures robust training and enables the network to generalize across diverse scenarios. Experimental results demonstrate the strong performance of VUDNet, setting a new standard for 3D surface reconstruction. The implementation of VUDNet is available on GitHub at https://github.com/hadious/VUDNet.

In this work, we explore Conjecture 1 proposed in the newly released pioneering paper “Volatility transformers: an optimal transport-inspired approach to arbitrage-free shaping of implied volatility surfaces” by Zetocha Valer, which posits that the “One-X” property is both a necessary and sufficient condition for convex order between non-negative continuous strictly increasing distributions with the same mean. We provide a counterexample demonstrating that the conjecture, as originally stated, does not hold. By examining stochastic orders, particularly the increasing convex order, and the “One-X” property, we propose an enhanced version of the conjecture which is shown to be valid. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of these findings in the context of equity implied volatility fitting and the construction of implied volatility surfaces, highlighting the challenges posed by real-market conditions. In the end, we propose several applications in implied volatility surface construction or simulation.

This research explores how regional socioeconomic variables affect the perception of social trust and support networks (PYCC) in Italian regions, and examines the implications for public policy designed to strengthen social cohesion. This study examines the variable "People You Can Count On" (PYCC) from the ISTAT-BES dataset, focusing on its distribution across Italian regions between 2013 and 2022. Using clustering through a k-Means algorithm optimized with the Silhouette coefficient and the Elbow method, three distinct clusters of regions emerged, highlighting significant differences in social support networks. An econometric model was employed to estimate the PYCC variable, factoring in socioeconomic indicators such as employment rates, income inequality, and social participation. The results indicate a complex interplay between socioeconomic conditions and social trust, with regions in the South and Islands showing increased community support, while many Northern regions experienced declines. The study suggests that areas with lower economic conditions often foster stronger social networks, driven by necessity. These findings underline the importance of targeted public policies aimed at fostering social cohesion, particularly in regions facing economic challenges. Policy implications include enhancing education, supporting small enterprises, and promoting social housing and welfare initiatives. Strengthening community participation and volunteering are also highlighted as critical strategies to build resilient support networks. Overall, the research provides valuable insights into the regional disparities of social trust and the role of socioeconomic factors in shaping community support across Italy.

This paper investigates the applicability of deep learning models for predicting the severity of forest wildfires, utilizing an innovative benchmark dataset called EO4WildFires. EO4WildFires integrates multispectral imagery from Sentinel-2, SAR data from Sentinel-1 and meteorological data from NASA Power annotated with EFFIS data for forest fire detection and size estimation. Resulting in a coverage of 45 countries (Figure \ref{Figure1-events}) with a total of 31730 wildfire events from 2018 to 2022. All these various sources of data are archived into data cubes, with the intention of assessing wildfire severity by considering both current and historical forest conditions, utilizing a broad range of data including temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture. The experimental setup has been arranged to test different deep learning architectures’ effectiveness in predicting the size and shape of wildfire burned areas. The study incorporates both Image Segmentation networks and Visual Transformers, employing a consistent experimental design across various models to ensure comparability of results. Adjustments were made to the training data, such as the exclusion of empty labels and very small events, to refine the focus on more significant wildfire events and potentially improve prediction accuracy. The models’ performance was evaluated using metrics like F1 Score, IoU Score, and Average Percentage Difference (aPD). These metrics offer a multi-faceted view of model performance, assessing aspects such as precision, sensitivity, and the accuracy of the burned area estimation. Through extensive testing with Image Segmentation networks and Visual Transformers, the research not only aims at enhancing the accuracy of estimating the burned area but also underscores the significance of quality training data and the comparative effectiveness of traditional segmentation methods over transformer-based models for this specific application. The dataset is published with an Open Access license and is hosted at: \url{10.5281/zenodo.7762564}.

This research explores the feasibility of a data-driven optimization algorithm for placing sparse arrays of artificial hair-cell airflow velocity sensors to enable agile and robust flight-by-feel control of unmanned aircraft. The Sparse Sensor Placement Optimization for Prediction (SSPOP) algorithm exploits the information-rich features of large flow datasets to find a near-optimal set of locations for flow sensors on a wing. The flow information from these sensors can be used to predict flight state parameters such as the angle of attack, mimicking the fly-by-feel control systems observed in nature. We evaluate the effectiveness of this approach for a blunt-edged 45∘ swept delta wing. Exploiting the information in the complex airflow patterns over this wing, the SSPOP algorithm selects a sensor location design point (DP) which reliably ranks within the top 1% of all possible DPs by root mean square error in angle of attack prediction. This performance was consistent across models of various artificial hair lengths, and one model with variable hair lengths. This bioinspired dimension-reducing method for sensor placement optimization exhibits reliability and flexibility benefits when compared with a conventional greedy search algorithm and gradient-based optimization using auto-differentiation. The successful application of SSPOP in complex 3D flows paves the way for experimental evaluation of data-driven sparse sensor placement optimization for artificial hair-cell airflow sensors and is a major step toward biomimetic flight-by-feel.

This paper explores the application of machine learning (ML) in predicting functional recovery in patients with ischemic stroke. As technology advances, ML shows significant potential in the field of stroke medicine, especially in the areas of big data analytics and personalized medicine. Studies have shown that ML algorithms can improve the accuracy of stroke image analysis, subtype classification, risk assessment, treatment guidance, and prognosis prediction. However, the widespread use of ML still faces challenges such as data standardization, model validation, privacy, and bias. This paper reviews the current application status of ML in the field of stroke, discusses the challenges faced, and looks forward to the future development direction, aiming to promote the practical application of ML technology in the diagnosis and treatment of stroke to improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients.

To achieve real-time identification of soybean seedlings and weeds in soybean seedling fields on agricultural intelligent terminal devices, this article constructs a real-time evolutionary identification system ESWIM driven by computational complexity under few-shot training. Firstly, based on the identification task, high-quality image samples are collected and annotated. By analyzing the terrain, the weather during the growth period, image acquisition methods, and the status of equipment fieldwork, we obtained a suitable enhancement algorithm. This algorithm not only effectively simulates the diversity of actual images, but also solves the problem of significant imbalance in the number of targets. Then, using the computational complexity driven approach and YOLOv5n as the foundation model, a soybean seedling and weed recognition model SWIM is constructed. The model's computational space and time complexity are reduced by 45.19% and 42.86%, respectively, while mAP (0.5) increased by 0.1%. Finally, by utilizing human-computer interaction to enable real-time and effective evolution of the dataset, an evolutionary strategy is designed to rapidly iterate and update model parameters, resulting in the development of the evolutionary system ESWIM. Laboratory experiments have shown that the ESWIM system can quickly adjust the recognition system during device operation to achieve target identification tasks in different environments.

This paper reveals some properties of the cumulative entropy of consecutive k-out-of-n:F system's lifetime. First, we introduce a method for calculating the cumulative entropy of their lifetime and explore its preservation properties using established stochastic orders. Ad- ditionally, we obtain useful bounds that can used in situations where the distribution function of the system's component lifetimes are complicated or systems have large components. To support practical applications, we present two nonparametric estimators for the cumulative entropy of these systems. The efficiency and performance of these estimators are illustrated with simulated datasets and further validated with real data sets.

This study investigates the adoption of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in marketing operations, exploring its impact on efficiency, data accuracy, and overall effectiveness. RPA has emerged as a transformative technology, automating routine tasks such as data entry, report generation, and campaign management, which has significantly enhanced operational efficiency within marketing departments. By automating repetitive processes, RPA enables marketing professionals to focus on strategic and creative tasks, resulting in accelerated campaign execution and improved productivity. Additionally, the integration of RPA with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems has led to more accurate and consistent data, providing valuable real-time insights that enhance decision-making and personalization in marketing strategies. Despite these benefits, the study also highlights several challenges associated with RPA adoption. These include concerns about workforce implications, such as job displacement and the need for reskilling, as well as implementation difficulties related to system compatibility and workflow design. Ethical and regulatory considerations, particularly regarding data privacy and compliance, are also critical factors that organizations must address to maintain customer trust and adhere to legal standards. The study further explores the potential of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with RPA to drive future innovations in marketing automation. AI-driven RPA offers advanced capabilities, including predictive modeling and personalized marketing, which promise to enhance the effectiveness of automation strategies. The findings underscore the need for organizations to adopt best practices in RPA implementation and remain adaptable to technological advancements to fully leverage the benefits of automation and maintain a competitive edge in the dynamic marketing landscape.

This research explores the impact of 5G technology on supply chain efficiency and marketing innovations, highlighting its transformative potential and associated challenges. The study delves into how 5G enhances real-time tracking and monitoring within supply chains, significantly improving inventory management, reducing stockouts and overstocking, and ensuring optimal conditions during product transit. The advanced communication capabilities of 5G enable seamless collaboration among supply chain partners, facilitating quicker decision-making and improved risk management. Additionally, the integration of 5G technology with data analytics has optimized processes, improved forecasting accuracy, and led to cost reductions, showcasing the value of data-driven decision-making. In the marketing domain, 5G technology has driven the development of immersive augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications, enhancing customer engagement through interactive and experiential content. Personalized and targeted marketing strategies, supported by real-time data and deeper customer insights, have led to higher customer satisfaction and increased sales. The proliferation of connected devices, such as smart speakers and wearables, has further enabled personalized interactions and convenience, fostering brand loyalty and driving growth. Despite these advancements, the implementation of 5G presents challenges, including significant infrastructure investment, cybersecurity risks, and privacy concerns. Companies must navigate these issues by investing in robust security measures and developing comprehensive policies. The research concludes with an optimistic outlook on the future impact of 5G technology, emphasizing its potential to drive innovation, enhance operational efficiency, and transform customer experiences, ultimately shaping the future of business operations.

This research explores the profound impact of digital transformation on marketing strategies within the retail sector. As the retail landscape evolves, digital technologies have become central to understanding and engaging with consumers. The study examines how data-driven decision-making, enabled by advanced analytics, has replaced traditional intuition-based methods, leading to more targeted and efficient marketing strategies. Personalization has emerged as a key trend, with retailers leveraging customer data to offer tailored experiences, fostering greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. The adoption of omnichannel marketing strategies is highlighted as crucial for providing a seamless and consistent customer experience across various touchpoints, integrating both online and offline channels. The role of social media as a powerful platform for brand engagement and community building is discussed, emphasizing its importance in modern marketing. Mobile technologies are identified as transformative, offering convenience and enhancing the shopping experience through mobile apps and payment solutions. The research also explores the emergence of new business models, such as subscription services and direct-to-consumer approaches, which have been enabled by digital technologies. Challenges associated with digital transformation, including the need for continuous technological investment, skill development, and data privacy concerns, are also addressed. The study concludes by highlighting the acceleration of digital adoption due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and blockchain to shape the future of retail marketing. The findings underscore the necessity for retailers to embrace digital transformation to remain competitive and responsive to changing consumer behaviors.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is undeniably the most important trend in the digitization of the construction sector in recent years. BIM models currently being built are extremely geometrically rich, that is, they are modeled at a high level of detail in terms of geometry. Thanks to object-oriented programming paradigms, BIM models include high-level relationships to ensure interactions between objects, rapid view generation and documentation. However, these models are not always equally rich in non-graphical data. This is true for parameters at the library object level, with which building object models are saturated, but also at the project, site, building or floor level according to the structure of the interoperable Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) format. For this reason, experimental work was undertaken on semantic enrichment in non-graphical data of a public building (Public Kindergarten, Secemin, Poland), which has its BIM model at a high level of geometric detail but is poor in non-graphical data. As a result of the research and development work, all levels of the IFC structure were saturated with non-graphical data, validated, and the possibilities of their use were shown from the perspective of the facility manager. The article contributes to the discussion on semantic enrichment from CAD3D to BIM by presenting a detailed process for entering non-graphical data into a BIM model.

This qualitative research explores the role of digital transformation in procurement through insights gathered from interviews with industry leaders. Digital technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Blockchain are examined for their impact on operational efficiency, strategic procurement management, supplier relationships, and sustainability practices. Findings reveal that these technologies streamline processes, enhance decision-making capabilities, and improve transparency, thereby enabling organizations to achieve greater agility and competitive advantage. Strategic factors including leadership commitment, strategic investments, and digital skills development emerge as crucial for navigating challenges such as organizational resistance, data security, and integration complexities. The study underscores the transformative potential of digital transformation in procurement, emphasizing its role in driving innovation, fostering sustainability, and aligning procurement practices with broader organizational goals. Looking forward, the research suggests that organizations must continue to innovate and adapt to technological advancements to maintain resilience and leadership in a digital economy. By integrating digital strategies effectively, organizations can enhance operational efficiencies, strengthen supplier relationships, and promote ethical business practices, ultimately positioning themselves for sustained success.

The paper explores using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in financial market data management and forecasting. By integrating multiple data sources and feature extraction techniques, such as fundamental analysis, technical indicators, global economic data, and sentiment analysis, generative AI constructs a comprehensive deep learning framework that significantly enhances financial data management efficiency and market forecasts' accuracy. Specifically, technologies like generative adversarial networks (Gans) and variational autoencoders (VAE) demonstrate substantial data augmentation and model optimisation potential. The application value of the model in real-time market prediction and trading strategy optimization is further amplified through reinforcement learning methods.

Increasing nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by improving agricultural practices, soil knowledge and implementing precision agriculture, is essential to reduce the overuse of fertilisers and increase nutrient retention. This study aimed to optimise N management in agriculture by establishing a critical N dilution curve (CNDC) and analysing variations in NUE and N nutrition index (NNI) among different crops under various treatments. Using a Bayesian model, the CNDC was determined as %Nc = 3.63 * PDM-0.71. The results presented that plant dry matter (PDM) and plant N content (PNC) varied significantly with crop type and sampling moments. Strong positive correlations are presented by PDM with N uptake (NUp) (0.89) and NNI (0.88), along with an inverse correlation with critical N concentration (-0.95). The study found that crops under irrigation conditions had higher NUp and higher NNI. This study provides valuable insights into the influence of key management decisions on the N nutritional status of annual ryegrass-based forage crops. The results highlight the critical role of accurate and conscious decision-making in improving NUE and crop yields, emphasising the complex interactions between biomass production and N dynamics in crops. The conclusions allow significant benefits to be realised, contributing to the sustainability of agricultural systems.

53% of adults in the US acknowledge racial bias as a significant issue, 23% of Asian adults experience cultural and ethnic bias, and more than 60% conceal their cultural heritage after racial abuse. AI models like ChatGPT and Google Bard, trained on historically biased data, inadvertently amplify racial and ethnic bias and stereotypes. This paper addresses the issue of racial bias in AI models using scientific, evidence-based analysis and auditing processes to identify biased responses from AI models and develop a mitigation tool. The methodology involves creating a comprehensive database of racially biased questions, terms, and phrases from thousands of legal cases, Wikipedia, and surveys, and then testing them on AI Models and analyzing the responses through sentiment analysis and human evaluation, and eventually creation of an 'AI-BiasAudit,' tool having a racial-ethnic database for social science researchers and AI developers to identify and prevent racial bias in AI models.

The integration of supply chain data analytics with marketing strategies has become increasingly critical for organizations seeking to enhance customer insights and competitive advantage in today's dynamic business environment. This qualitative research explores the intersection of these two disciplines, focusing on implementation strategies, benefits, challenges, and future directions. Through semi-structured interviews with industry experts and stakeholders, key themes emerged, highlighting the importance of cross-functional collaboration, technological integration, and robust data governance in achieving effective integration. The study identifies significant benefits, including enhanced customer insights, improved operational efficiencies, and competitive advantage through personalized marketing strategies and optimized supply chain management. However, challenges such as data silos, technological complexities, and regulatory compliance issues pose barriers that require strategic solutions and organizational commitment. Future directions point towards the continued evolution of predictive analytics, AI-driven solutions, and sustainability integration, shaping the future landscape of supply chain management and marketing. Proactive engagement with regulatory frameworks and ethical considerations will be crucial in navigating these challenges and building trust with consumers. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of how organizations can leverage data analytics to drive strategic decision-making, enhance customer relationships, and achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly data-driven economy.

In response to increasing urbanization and the need for infrastructure resilient to natural hazards, this study introduces an AI-driven predictive model designed to assess the risk of soil liquefaction. Utilizing advanced ensemble machine learning techniques, the model integrates geotechnical and geographical data to accurately predict the potential for soil liquefaction in urban areas, with a specific focus on Yokohama, Japan. This methodology leverages comprehensive datasets from geological surveys and seismic activity to enhance urban planning and infrastructure development in smart cities. The primary outputs include detailed soil liquefaction risk maps that are essential for effective urban risk management. These maps support urban planners and engineers in making informed decisions, prioritizing safety, and promoting sustainability. The model employs a robust combination of neural networks and gradient boosting decision trees to analyze and predict data points, assessing soil susceptibility to liquefaction during seismic events. Notably, the model achieves high accuracy in predicting soil classifications and N-values, which are critical for evaluating soil liquefaction risk. Validation against an extensive dataset from geotechnical surveys confirms the model’s practical effectiveness. Moreover, the results highlight the transformative potential of AI in enhancing geotechnical risk assessments and improving the resilience of urban areas against natural hazards.

Early disease detection is crucial for maximizingcrop yields and minimizing financial losses in agriculture. Inorder to categorise leaf diseases in pepper, tomato, and potato plants, this study suggests a revolutionary CNN design. The algorithm collects disease-specific features from input photos by using data augmentation techniques to artificially enlarge the training dataset. ReLU-activated convolutional layers gradually capture features at different levels, from low to high, while max pooling layers minimise spatial dimensionality. After thecharacteristics are extracted, a fully-connected layers with a softmax activation function classify them into illness groups. A well chosen dataset containing labelled healthy and sick leaves is used to train and validate the model. Generalizability to untesteddata is ensured via performance evaluation on an independent testing set. The field of deep learning for agricultural applications benefits from this research. This strategy has the ability to rev- olutionise agricultural practices by enabling automated disease identification. This might result in early interventions, better crop health, and eventually sustainable agricultural production.

In the past twenty years, the IT industry has moved away from using physical servers for workload management to workloads consolidated via virtualization and, in the next iteration, further consolidated into containers. In the next step, container workloads based on Docker and Podman as underlying container technologies were orchestrated/automated via Kubernetes or OpenShift. On the other hand, high-performance computing (HPC) environments have been lagging in that process, as there’s still much work to figure out how to apply containerization platforms for HPC in real-life scenarios. Kubernetes and OpenShift have many advantages – generally speaking, container technologies use quite a bit less overhead from the computing perspective while providing many benefits in flexibility, modularity, and maintenance. Therefore, they are ideal for tasks requiring a lot of computing power. There are also some tradeoffs regarding the complexity of these two platforms - they’re just not that user-friendly when used by people without years of experience managing them. In this paper, we propose a different architecture based on seamless hardware integration and user-friendly, dynamic workload placement based on real-time performance analysis and prediction coupled with Machine Learning-based scheduling.

This study explores the intricate dynamics of customer-centric supply chains and the pivotal role of marketing innovations in enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction. Employing a qualitative research methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders in supply chain management across various industries, providing rich insights into the practices and perceptions related to customer-centric strategies. The findings highlight the centrality of understanding and anticipating customer needs, which necessitates a cultural shift within organizations to prioritize customer satisfaction at all levels. Digital marketing tools, data analytics, e-commerce platforms, and social media emerged as critical enablers of these customer-centric supply chains, facilitating real-time insights, direct customer engagement, and personalized experiences. The integration of these technologies has led to more accurate demand forecasting, optimized inventory levels, and enhanced agility and responsiveness in operations. Furthermore, the study underscores the importance of collaboration and partnership within the supply chain network, emphasizing joint initiatives and strong relationships with stakeholders as key drivers of improved resource utilization and service levels. Sustainability, entrepreneurship, and emotional intelligence also play significant roles in shaping effective customer-centric supply chains. Sustainable practices meet growing consumer demands for environmental and social responsibility, while an entrepreneurial mindset fosters continuous innovation and competitiveness. Emotional intelligence among leaders and employees enhances trust, conflict resolution, and collaboration, contributing to a positive organizational culture and superior customer satisfaction. Overall, this study provides comprehensive insights and actionable recommendations for businesses seeking to navigate the complexities of customer-centric supply chain management and leverage marketing innovations to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

The Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative ME Research Network (ICanCME), established in 2019, aims to foster research in Canada and contribute to finding the causes and possible treatments for myalgic encephalomyelitis /chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), thereby reducing the impact of ME/CFS on the health of Canadians. The main objectives of this paper are to suggest standards for ME/CFS research for the collection of data from participants (Recommended Data Elements) and to consider other factors, such as design, language, cultural issues, equity, and diversity. Consensus of the relevant contents of this research guideline was reached during the ICanCME working group meetings and were based on existing guidelines. Members of the working group contributed to guideline development based on their respective expertise. The proposed research guidelines could improve research quality and advance knowledge in the field of ME/CFS, and ultimately benefit ME/CFS patients.

A study analyzed financial statements in the beer sectors of Italy and Spain during 2019-2021 using compositional data analysis (CoDa) to gauge pre- and post-pandemic financial health and aid sector-level decision-making. Geometric averages were employed to mitigate statistical issues, offering more accurate insights than arithmetic averages. The exploratory, quantitative methodology calculated key financial ratios and profitability metrics. Results indicated satisfactory short-term solvency. Returns and margins remained subpar despite pandemic policies. Geometric averages proved essential in portraying sector health accurately, underscoring the need for their use in classic brewing sector ratios. The study also showcased CoDa's efficacy in diagnosing sectoral financial health for informed decision-making. Furthermore, a web analysis revealed varying transparency levels in communicating non-financial indicators, with Spain excelling in waste, water, and energy disclosures, while Italy prioritized energy and waste with less transparency.

Heart failure is associated with a significant mortality rate, and an elevated prevalence of this condition has been noted among hypertensive patients. The identification of predictive factors for heart failure progression in hypertensive individuals is crucial for early intervention and improved patient outcomes. In this study, we aimed to identify these predictive factors utilizing medical history data for hypertension patients. Specifically, we focused solely on utilizing medical data preceding the diagnosis of hypertension to enable patients to anticipate the onset of potential heart failure at the time of hypertension diagnosis. Age-specific and ICD system-specific predictive factors were identified utilizing the MIMIC-IV database through the application of two analytical approaches: chi-square tests and XGBoost modeling. Our findings reveal 21 overall predictive factors, encompassing conditions such as atrial fibrillation, the use of anticoagulants, kidney failure, obstructive pulmonary disease, and anemia. These factors were assessed through a comprehensive review of the existing literature. We anticipate that the results will offer valuable insights for the risk assessment of heart failure in hypertensive patients.

The objective of this paper was to verify the applicability of statistical learning (SL) compared to human reasoning with respect to the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), a complex tool for the assessment of outdoor thermal stress. UTCI is an equivalent temperature index based on the 48-dimensional output of an advanced model of human thermoregulation formed by 12 variables at four consecutive 30-minute intervals, which were calculated for 105642 thermal conditions from extreme cold to extreme heat. Comparing the performance of SL algorithms to the results accomplished by an international endeavor involving more than 40 experts from 23 countries, we found that random forests and k-nearest neighbors closely predicted UTCI values, but that clustering applied after dimension reduction algorithms (principal component analysis and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding) were inadequate for risk assessment in relation to the UTCI stress categories. This indicates a potential supportive role for SL, as it will not (yet) fully replace the bio-meteorological expert knowledge.

This work continues the review and illustrative application to energy systems of the “Fourth-Order Best-Estimate Results with Reduced Uncertainties Predictive Modeling” (4th-BERRU-PM) methodology. The 4th-BERRU-PM methodology uses the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) principle to incorporate fourth-order experimental and computational information, in-cluding fourth (and higher) order sensitivities of computed model responses with respect to model parameters. The 4th-BERRU-PM methodology yields the fourth-order MaxEnt posterior distribution of experimentally measured and computed model responses and parameters, in the combined phase-space of model responses and parameters. The 4th-BERRU-PM methodology encompasses fourth-order sensitivity analysis (SA) and uncertainty quantification (UQ), which were reviewed in the accompanying work (Part 1), as well as fourth-order data assimilation (DA) and model calibration (MC) capabilities, which will be reviewed and illustrated in this work (Part 2). The applicability of the 4th-BERRU-PM methodology to energy systems is illustrated by using the Polyethylene-Reflected Plutonium (acronym: PERP) OECD/NEA reactor physics benchmark, which is modeled using the linear neutron transport Boltzmann equation, involving 21976 im-precisely known parameters. This benchmark is representative of “large-scale computations” such as those involved in the modeling of energy systems. The result (“response”) of interest for the PERP benchmark is the leakage of neutrons through the outer surface of this spherical benchmark, which can be computed numerically and measured experimentally. The impact of the high-order sensitivities of the response with respect to the PERP model parameters is quantified for “high-precision” parameters (2% standard deviations) and “medium-precision” parameters (5% standard deviations). Analyzing the best-estimate results with reduced uncertainties for the 1st- through 4th-order moments (mean values, covariance, skewness, and kurtosis) produced by the 4th-BERRU-PM methodology for the PERP benchmark indicates that, even for systems mod-eled by linear equations (e.g., the PERP benchmark), retaining only first-order sensitivities is insufficient for reliable predictive modeling (including SA, UQ, DA, MC). At least second-order sensitivities should be retained in order to obtain reliable predictions.

The importance of detecting and diagnosing the imminence of aneurysm rupture before it occurs cannot be overstated. However, this process is often time-consuming and challenging, with variability in conclusions not uncommon among experts. Furthermore, current state-of-the-art models in medical image segmentation suffer from limited availability of large annotated datasets for training, exacerbated by an immense data imbalance. In most segmentation tasks, 3D segmentation is preferred due to its capacity to leverage more contextual information. However, these models require more data, which is constrained by the aforementioned issues. In the realm of current diagnosis models, those lacking geographic context are notably ineffective. To address these issues, the aim is to develop a model pipeline to accurately detect cerebral intracranial aneurysms and diagnose rupture imminence through 3D magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and tabular input, augmented with the implementation of neuro-symbolic ai. The utilization of data fusion to tackle the lack of context in tabular models is proposed, leveraging extracted geographical features from a segmentation model. To enhance segmentation results and tackle the data imbalance in aneurysm segmentation, a two-stage model pipeline that extracts contextual geographic features before aneurysm segmentation is suggested. Segmentation results are additionally improved through ensemble techniques and novel preprocessing techniques. Finally, a neuro-symbolic aspect is introduced to enhance model diagnosis, interpretability and performance. The multi-step Integrated Neuro-Symbolic Analysis Pipeline for Cerebral Aneurysm Rupture Diagnosis is introduced.

Data on Stark broadening parameters, spectral line widths and shifts, for 15 multiplets of N VI, which spectral lines are broadened by collisions with electrons, protons, alpha particles (He III) and B III, B IV, B V and B VI ions, are presented. They have been calculated, using the semiclassical perturbation theory, for temperatures from 50,000 K to 2,000,000 K, and perturber densities from 1016 cm−3 up to 1024 cm−3. These data are particularly of interest for the analysis and modelling of atmospheres of hot and dense stars, as e.g. white dwarfs, and for investigation of their spectra, but also for analyis ad modelling of laser driven plasma in proton-boron fusion research.

Count data analysis presents unique challenges due to its discrete nature, often exhibiting excessive zeros and overdispersion. To address these complexities, count models, such as Poisson regression and Negative Binomial regression, have been developed, enabling modeling and prediction of count-based phenomena. Additionally, it’s important to notice that zero inflation, a phenomenon commonly observed in count data, requires specialized techniques for robust analysis. This article provides an overview of count data and count models, explores zero inflation, introduces Likelihood Ratio Tests, and explains how the Vuong Test can be used as a model selection criteria. Furthermore, we created a Vuong Test implementation from scratch using the Python programming language. This implementation enhances the accessibility and applicability of the Vuong Test in real-world scenarios, providing a valuable contribution to the academic community, since Python didn’t have an implementation of this statistical test.

The result of the multidisciplinary collaboration of researchers from different areas of knowledge to validate a solar radiation model is presented. The MAPsol is a 3D local-scale adaptive solar radiation model that allows to estimate direct, diffuse and reflected irradiance for clear sky conditions. The model includes the adaptation of the mesh to complex orography and albedo, and considers the shadows cast by the terrain and buildings. The surface mesh generation is based on surface refinement, smoothing and parameterisation techniques and allows the generation of high quality adapted meshes with a reasonable number of elements. Another key aspect of the paper is the generation of a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM). This high-resolution DEM is constructed from LiDAR data and its resolution if two times more accurate than the publicly available DEMs. The validation process uses direct and global solar irradiance data obtained from pyranometers at the University of Salamanca located in an urban area affected by systematic shading from nearby buildings. This work provides an efficient protocol for studying solar resources, with particular emphasis on areas of complex orography and dense buildings where shadows can potentially make solar energy production facilities less efficient.

Microarray gene expression analysis is a powerful technique used in cancer classification and research to identify and understand gene expression patterns that can differentiate between different cancer types, subtypes, and stages. However, microarray databases are highly redundant, inherently nonlinear, and noisy. Therefore, extracting meaningful information from such a huge database is a challenging one. The paper adopts the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Mixture Model (MM) for dimensionality reduction and utilizes the Dragonfly optimization algorithm as the feature selection technique. The classifiers employed in this research are Nonlinear Regression, Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree, Random Forest and SVM (RBF). The classifiers' performances are analyzed with and without feature selection methods. Finally, Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) and Random Adaptive Moment Estimation (RanAdam) hyper-parameter tuning techniques are used as improvisation techniques for classifiers. The SVM (RBF) classifier with the Fast Fourier Transform Dimensionality Reduction method and Dragonfly feature selection achieved the highest accuracy of 98.343% with RanAdam hyperparameter tuning compared to other classifiers.

Accurate power curve modelling is essential to continuously evaluate the performance of a wind turbine (WT). In this work, we characterize the wind power curves using SCADA data acquired at a frequency of 5 minutes in a wind farm (WF) consisting of 5 WTs. Regarding the non-parametric methods, we select artificial neural networks (ANNs) to make curve estimations. Given that, we have the curves provided by the manufacturer of the WTs given by some very precisely measured pair of wind speed and power points. We can evaluate the difference between the manufacturer characterization and the ones estimated with the data provided by the SCADA system. Before the estimation, we propose a method of filtering the anomalies based on the characteristics provided by the manufacturer. We use three-quarters of the available data for curve estimation and one-quarter for the test. One WT suffered a break in the test part, so we can check how the test estimates reflect this problem in its wind-power curve compared to the estimations obtained in the WTs that worked adequately.

With the popularity of solar energy in the electricity market, demand arises for data such as precise locations of solar panels for efficient energy planning, management, and distribution. However, this data is not easily accessible and in some cases, information such as precise locations does not exist. Furthermore, existing data sets for training semantic segmentation models of PV installations are limited, and their annotation is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, for additional remote sensing (RS) data creation, the pix2pix generative adversarial network (GAN) is utilized, enriching the original resampled training data of varying GSDs without compromising its integrity. Experiments done with the DeepLabV3 model, ResNet-50 backbone, and pix2pix GAN architecture were conducted to find the optimal configuration for an accurate RS imagery segmentation model. The result is a fine-tuned solar panel semantic segmentation model, trained using transfer learning and utilizing an optimal amount – 60% of generated RS imagery for additional training data, increasing model accuracy. The findings demonstrate the benefits of using GAN-generated images as additional training data, increasing the size of small data sets, and improving the capabilities of the segmentation model for solar panel detection in RS images.

Machine learning has become more prevalent as a tool used for biogeochemical analysis in agricultural management. However, a common drawback of machine learning models is the lack of interpretability, as they are black boxes that provide little insight into agricultural management. To overcome this limitation, we compared three tree-based models (decision tree, random forest, and gradient boosting) to explain soil organic matter content through Shapley additive explanations (SHAP). Here, we used nationwide data on field crops, soil, terrain, and climate across South Korea (n = 9,584). Using the SHAP method, we identified common primary controls of the models, for example, regions with precipitation levels above 1400 mm and exchangeable potassium levels exceeding 1 cmol+ kg-1, which favor enhanced organic matter in the soil. Different models identified different impacts of nutrients on the organic matter level in the soil. The SHAP method is practical for assessing whether different machine learning models yield consistent findings in addressing these inquiries. Increasing the explainability of these models means determining essential variables related to soil organic matter management and understanding their associations for specific instances.

With the emergence of blockchain and smart contracts, traditional digital applications 1 such as identity management, supply chain management, banking and finance etc. are expected 2 to be transformed into Decentralized Applications (DApps). Blockchain interoperability is a new 3 and exciting aspect of blockchain technology that is quickly gaining popularity in many industries. 4 However, the widespread use of blockchains has not yet been achieved because DApps running on the 5 blockchain using smart contracts require access to authentic off-chain data. Users are more conscious 6 of their personal data privacy and consequently are more reluctant to share their data, posing a 7 challenge in the adoption of DApps. To solve this challenge, we present a novel quantum-resistant, 8 data authentication and zero-knowledge proof scheme named zk-DASTARK. Based on our proposed 9 scheme, we present a novel framework which can be used to feed authenticated off-chain data to 10 DApps without compromising user data privacy. Our proposed framework is quite efficient against 11 well-known off-chain data authentication frameworks. The proposed framework is implemented on 12 state-of-the-art quantum-resistant IOTA Blockchain and is highly efficient as it takes approximately 13 60 ms to generate a proof and approximately 10 ms to verify a proof.

Industrial radiography is a pivotal non-destructive testing (NDT) method that ensures quality and safety in a wide range of industrial sectors. Conventional human-based approaches, however, are prone to challenges in defect detection accuracy and efficiency, primarily due to the high inspection demand from manufacturing industries with high production throughput. To solve this challenge, numerous computer-based alternatives have been developed, including Auto-mated Defect Recognition (ADR) using deep learning algorithms. At the core of training, these algorithms demand large volumes of data that should be representative of real-world cases. However, the availability of digital X-ray radiography data for open research is limited by non-disclosure contractual terms in the industry. This study presents a pipeline that is capable of modeling synthetic images based on statistical information acquired from X-ray intensity distribution from real digital X-ray radiography images. Through meticulous analysis of the intensity distribution in digital X-ray images, the unique statistical patterns associated with the exposure conditions used during image acquisition, type of component, thickness variations, beam divergence, anode heel effect, etc., are extracted. The realized synthetic images were utilized to train deep learning models, yielding an impressive model performance with mean intersection over union (IoU) of 0.93, and mean dice coefficient of 0.96, on real unseen digital X-ray radiography images. This methodology is scalable and adaptable, making it suitable for diverse industrial applications.

Air pollution is one of the biggest problems of this age, not only it contributes to climate change but also it has a negative effect on public and individual health due to rising morbidity and mortality. There are various contaminants that play a significant role in human disease. Numerous toxins are released into the environment as a result of anthropogenic activities including burning fossil fuels for transportation and electricity generation. In order to assist decision-makers in finding a long-term solution for improving environmental quality and population health status, NO2 pollution monitoring and regulation is an essential task. Based on data acquired from Sentinel-5P, the study presented a comparison of NO2 measurements in Sentinel-5P and ground-based stations over the urban area of Fujairah during 2021 and comparison analysis of the tropospheric NO2 column spatial configuration over urban area of Fujairah during comparable periods of pre, mid and post Covid-19 pandemic era as 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. These findings demonstrate remarkable tropospheric NO2 column number density decreases even of 85% in the busier areas of emirate of Fujairah during the pandemic era. Sentinel-5P measurements draw attention to the significant reduction in NO2 pollution over Fujairah during the COVID-19 lockdown where we had less traffic, which is supported by ground stations-based calculations.

Given the recent advances in information technology, speed has become an important requirement in data transmission. Given that an LED (light emitting diode) can turn on and off several thousand or even millions of times per second, then LiFi (light fidelity) technology has strong advantages over WiFi (wireless fidelity) in terms of speed. In this research project, a consortium involving an academic institution decided to evaluate the maturity of LiFi technology and design a demonstrator that could be integrated in a vehicle via an intra-vehicle data transmission system. The demonstrator is to implement a two-way LiFi communication between the reading light of a vehicle and a portable device such as a tablet or smartphone. The nomadic device must display, via an interface, data in real time. The data is RNT (Digital Terrestrial Radio) and TNT (Digital Terrestrial Television) provided by an in-house antenna. LiFi depends on optical technology. The optical characteristics have significant influences on the system. The paper shows ways to improve the system’s throughput, communication range, and reception area. By replacing the reading light with a more powerful one with better optical characteristics, the communication range and reception area improve. By using symmetrical power supply, the throughput improves. Likewise, by using optical filters that eliminate noise, the throughput also improves. We have demonstrated that LiFi data transmission in the vehicle is feasible; low-definition videos were successfully transmitted. The paper acknowledges that there are still various avenues for this work’s improvement.

A systematic and comprehensive review of critical applications of Blockchain Technol-ogy with Differential Privacy integration lies within the privacy and security enhancement. This paper aims to highlight the research issues in the e-health domain (e.g., Electronic Medical Rec-ords) and to review the current research directions in Differential Privacy integration with Blockchain Technology.(1) Background: The current state of the art in the e-health domain is identified as follows: (a) healthcare information poses a high level of security and privacy concerns due to its sensitivity; (b) due to vulnerabilities surrounding the healthcare system, a data breach is common and presents a risk for attacks by an adversary; and (c) the current privacy and security apparatus needs further fortification. (2) Methods: The methodology uses a systematic literature review (SLR) to identify and select relevant research papers and academic journals in DP and BT. (3) Results: The results are categorized into: e-Health Record Privacy, Real-Time Health Data, and Health Survey Data Protection to identify inherent issues with Differential Privacy integra-tion with Blockchain and technical challenges.(4) Conclusion: This review thoroughly surveyed and summarized Differential Privacy mechanisms in EMR privacy, real-time health data, and health survey data protection while highlighting challenges.

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) was developed by Charles Ragin in 1987 for the comparative analysis of small data sets. The method has become widespread in sociological and economic research. There are examples of successful use of QCA in the field of medicine and epidemiology. The purpose of this review is to describe the key stages of QCA with a discussion the application of this method to the analysis of medical and epidemiological data.

For equivalent modeling of mixed wind farms (WFs), existing clustering indicators cannot consider the complex coupling characteristics between different types of wind turbines (WTs). This paper proposes a refined equivalent modeling method for mixed WFs based on artificial intelligence technology. Firstly, the electromechanical transient performance of mixed WFs is analyzed. The WT type, wind speed and direction, and voltage dip are considered the main factors affecting the external dynamic response of mixed WFs. Secondly, the equivalent node model is established, including the selection of independent and dependent variables. Then, the multiple artificial neural networks (ANNs) are trained one by one based on sample data, to explore the nonlinear relationship between the dependent variables and the independent variables. Finally, the electromechanical transient simulations of the power systems with a mixed WF is carried out by using the MATLAB platform. Simulation results show that the proposed model can reflect the external characteristics of the mixed WF in different wind scenarios and voltage dips.

Data Extraction is a technique is called as clustering which is used to retrieve data either from the files or data bases or both. This paper focuses on the performance evaluation parameters of the clustering algorithms based on different parameters or conditions or constraints and parameters which are used to perform the clustering process to get the clusters on the data sets. Therefore best clusters are retrieved when best parameters or conditions or constraints or preferences which are applied on the data sources for the clustering process. These parameters or conditions or constraints are opted by the user called as user preferences.

The Easternmost Mediterranean is a junction zone between the largest Earth's lithospheric segments – Eurasian and African-Arabian, and a transition area from the ocean to the continent. The latest catastrophic earthquakes in eastern Turkey require their geodynamic understanding. The two most decisive events (with magnitude (M) = 7.8 and 7.7) were observed with an interval of 9 hours on February 06, 2023, followed by a whole series of about 10,000 significative aftershocks. These tragic events led to the death of more than 60 thousand people. The above values indicate the colossal tension created in the Earth's crust. The region where these strongest earthquakes occurred is a tectonically very complex junction zone of four tectonic plates: Eurasian, Arabian, African, and Anatolian. The joint movement of these plates (consisting, in turn, of tectonic elements of different ages) occurs at an average rate of 6–15 mm per year. However, after two marked powerful shocks and a series of aftershocks, some sectors of the Anatolian plate shifted to the southwest by more than 11 meters. What happened in eastern Turkey? The interaction of numerous factors complicates the tectonic–geodynamic characteristics of the region. Let us analyze what is the most influencing component. Our recent publications (Eppelbaum et al., 2020, 2021) indicated the presence of a giant, rotating quasi-ring structure below the Easternmost Mediterranean. The GPS vector map coinciding with the gravitational trend displays the counterclockwise rotation of this structure. A review of paleomagnetic data on the projection of the discovered structure into the Earth's surface confirms its mainly counterclockwise rotation. Analysis of the magnetic field ΔZ, geoid anomalies map, and seismic tomography data commonly prove the presence of this deep anomaly. The geodynamic and structural characteristics of the region and paleobiogeographic data are consistent with the proposed physical–geological model. A widespread analysis of tectonic, petrological, and mineralogical data implies a connection between the discovered deep structure and near-surface processes. An examination of numerous publications by different authors confirms the above phenomenon’s existence. A crucial for understanding the nature of the considered seismic stress is its location near the expressed bend of the Mesozoic terrane belt, where the Arabian Plate is deeply intruded into the Alpine-Himalayan belt. Thus, the rotation of this giant deep structure may accumulate the stress effect and be one of the causative reasons for the last catastrophic geodynamic events in Eastern Turkey.

Humans learn from a lot of information sources to make decisions. Once this information is learned in the brain, spatio-temporal associations are made, connecting all these sources (variables) in space and time represented as brain connectivity. In reality, to make a decision, we usually have only part of the infor-mation, either as a limited number of variables, or limited time to make the decision, or both. The brain functions as spatio-temporal associative memory. Inspired by the ability of the human brain, a brain-inspired spatio-temporal associative memory was proposed earlier, that utilizes the NeuCube brain-inspired spiking neural network framework. Here we apply the STAM framework to develop STAM for neuroimaging data, on the cases of EEG and fMRI, resulting in STAM-EEG and STAM-fMRI. The paper shows that once a NeuCube STAM classification model is trained on a complete spatio-temporal EEG or fMRI data, it can be recalled using only part of the time series, or/and only part of the used variables. We evaluate accordingly the temporal association accuracy and spatial association accuracy. This is a pilot study that opens the field for the development of multimodal classification systems on other multimodal neuroimaging data, such as the also shown longitudinal MRI data, trained on complete data, but recalled on partial data collected across different settings, in different labs and clinics, that may vary in terms of variables, time of data collection, and other parameters. The proposed methods will allow also for brain diagnostic/prognostic marker discovery using spatio-temporal neuroimaging data.

Chinese divination of I Ching has a history of thousands of years. The six lines changes in 64 hexagrams have exceeded one billion scenarios, and the inherent laws among them have not been well revealed to this day. By using big data's technology and coin toss method, this paper simulates the change of 64 hexagrams, and explores the probability and proportion of each hexagram during the change from the perspective of quantification, as well as the maximum and minimum conversion rate of hexagram change. This paper summarizes the basic characteristics and the basic law of hexagram change, and accordingly constructs the spatial form of hexagram change, and reveals the hidden secrets of the ancient Book of changes (I Ching). To achieve this goal, we randomly toss three coins 600 million times to generate 100 million hexagrams. According to the basic rules of hexagram divination, we calculate the hexagram changes. The results showed that: (1) Changes of things are mostly simple changes. The probability of 1 billion randomly generated hexagrams from one to three dynamic lines is close to 80%. (2) About 17% of the 64 hexagrams have no dynamic lines, which means that a significant proportion of the 64 hexagrams are invariant. (3) Small probability changing hexagram certainty and large probability changing hexagram uncertainty. (4) After generating one billion hexagrams at random, the topographic map with the probability of changing hexagrams has axial symmetry and fractal geometric characteristics, and the fractal characteristics are mainly manifested in that the changes on both sides of the symmetry are presented based on the triangle background. These results reflect the obvious characteristics and internal regularity of the changes in the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. This article provides new ideas for scientific exploration of the internal laws of the 64 hexagrams in the I Ching.

This article sets out to examine how digital twins have been used in a multi-national corporation, what technologies have been used, what benefits delivered and the significance of people and process related issues in achieving successful implementation. A qualitative, inductive research method is used, based on interviews provided by key personnel involved in three digital twin projects. The article concludes that digital twin projects are likely to involve incremental rather than disruptive change, and that successful implementation is usually underpinned by ensuring technology, people and process change factors are progressed in a balanced and integrated fashion. Building upon existing frameworks, three “properties” are identified as being of particular value in digital twin projects - workforce adaptability, technology manageability and process agility – and a related set of steps and actions is put forward as a template and point of reference for future digital twin implementations. The findings are a contribution to the developing theory around digital twins and digitalization in general, and are also of relevance to professionals embarking on DT projects.

Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is a new paradigm of network architectures that focuses on content, rather than hosts, as first-class citizens of the network. As part of these architectures, in-network storage devices are essential to provide end users with close copies of popular content, to reduce latency and improve overall experience for the user, but also to reduce network congestion and load on the content producers. To be effective, in-network storage devices, such as content storage routers should maintain copies of the most popular content objects. Adversaries that wish to reduce this effectiveness can launch cache pollution attacks to eliminate the benefit of the in-network storage device caches. Therefore, it is crucial to protect these devices and ensure the highest hit rate possible. This paper demonstrates per-face popularity approaches to reducing the effects of cache pollution and improving hit rates by normalizing assessed popularity across all faces of content storage routers. The mechanisms that were developed prevent the consumers, whether legitimate or malicious, on any single face or small number of faces from overwhelmingly influencing the content objects that remain in the cache. The results demonstrate that per-face approaches generally have much better hit rates than currently used cache replacement techniques.

The development of knowledge graphs for water resources as a tool for studying sustainable regional development is a relevant task, as the increasing deterioration of water bodies affects the ecology, economy of the country, as well as the health of the population living near water bodies. Solving this problem requires the development of water resource monitoring methods based on semantic data analysis is required to detect and track sources of pollution and provide recommendations to support decision-making. This research proposes a method of semantic analysis for modeling knowledge graphs and constructing rules that enable the integration of data from heterogeneous sources, semantic compatibility, support for reasoning and inference, facilitate queries and search, and represent knowledge in the field of water resource monitoring. As a result, an ontology based on the SWRL language is created, which enables the expression of complex relationships and derivation of new knowledge, SSN for interaction between the ontology and sensor data, and Time Ontology, which models and analyzes information related to temporal aspects.After populating the ontology and establishing logical connections, SPARQL queries are implemented to retrieve new knowledge about water resources.

In this study, an extensive data set was based on existing literature records in order to enable the suitability of several predictive models, from Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) to Neural Networks (NN). The main objective was to, through regression analyses, generate model computations to correlate tensile properties (UTS- Ultimate Tensile Strength, YTS – Yield Tensile Strength and EF – Elongation-to-Fracture) to a given alloy composition and microstructural spacing. This investigation led to positive results, as the highest accuracies of the trained modules (in 80% of the database) were found to be above ~82% (UTS and EF) and a maximum of ~98% (YTS), when analyzing the results to a test data set. Later, these models were used to define trends for possible next solder alloy commercial compositions. Overall, using the standard model’s setup, the Random Forest and Decision Tree models showed the highest accuracy results, with 0.958 for YTS as opposed to 0.907 for MLR. Moreover, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP)-optimized models yielded the best results for each variable, with the highest increases in accuracy associated with the YTS and EF. The present contribution might imply an important milestone towards alloy design research based on data science guidelines to unlock the full potential of former experiments and their extensive set of results.

Variations in groundwater levels that are noticed in different parts of the world are typically the primary focus of research carried out in hydrology. The fluctuating levels of groundwater can be ascribed to several different factors, some of which include an increase in the demand for water, inappropriate irrigation practices, improper management of soil, and unregulated extraction from aquifers. It is necessary to effectively manage groundwater resources to have a trustworthy method of measuring and forecasting groundwater levels. The dynamics of groundwater are inherently uneven and difficult to understand. As a result, applying methods driven by data could potentially yield significant gains in hydrology. In this study, two data-driven models were utilized to estimate groundwater levels at a total of 4 monitoring wells located in Colorado state, USA. These models included ARIMA and ANN. The comparative analysis of the algorithms made use of a data set that had one month's worth of information from each of the years 1980 to 2019. The models were put through their paces, and the results of those tests were statistically and visually assessed. To evaluate the relative accuracy and precision of the models, the mean absolute error (MAE), mean square error (MSE), and root-mean-square error (RMSE) were used. When compared to ARIMA, the analysis demonstrates that ANN can produce the most accurate forecasts of groundwater levels in Colorado state USA.

Deep learning has been applied in many areas that have had a significant impact on applications that improves real-life challenges. The success of deep learning in a wide range of areas is due in part to the use of activation functions, which are particularly effective at solving non-linear problems. Activation functions are a key focus for researchers in artificial intelligence who aim to improve the performance of neural networks. This article provides a comprehensive explanation and comparison of different activation functions, with a focus on the arc tangent and its variations specifically. The paper presents experimental results that show that variations of the arc tangent using irrational numbers such as pi, the golden ratio, and Euler’s number, as well as a self-arctan function, produce promising results. Since we experimented with promising activation functions on two different problems, and datasets, we reached a result that different irrationals work well for different problems. In other words, arctan ϕ gives the best results mostly for multiclass classification and arctan e gives the best results for time series prediction problems. The paper focuses on a multiclass classification problem applied to the Reuters Newswire dataset and a time-series prediction problem on Türkiye energy trade value to show the impacts of activation functions.

In the context of developing machine learning models, until and unless we have the required data engineering and machine learning development competencies as well as the time to train and test different machine learning models and tune their hyperparameters, it is worth trying out the automatic machine learning features provided by several cloud-based and cloud-agnostic platforms. This paper explores the possibility of generating automatic machine learning models with low-code experience. We have developed criteria to compare different machine learning platforms for generating automatic machine learning models and presenting their results. Thereafter, lessons learned by developing automatic machine learning models from a sample dataset across four different machine learning platforms were elucidated. We have also interviewed machine learning experts to conceptualize their domain-specific problems that automatic machine learning platforms could address. Results showed that automatic machine learning platforms could provide a fast track for organizations seeking digitalization of their businesses. Automatic machine learning platforms help produce results, especially for time-constrained projects where resources are lacking. The contribution of this paper is in the form of a lab experiment in which we demonstrate how low-code platforms could provide a viable option to many business cases and henceforth provide a lane that is faster than the usual hiring and training of already scarce data scientists and to analytics projects that suffer from overruns.

With the spread of compulsory education emerged school management problems continued, and the quality of school management in compulsory education has attracted a great deal of attention in China. However, the application of information technology in the field is not yet detailed and wide, resulting in problems of heavy workload and high difficulty in the whole evaluation process. Accordingly, we use big data technologies such as Apache Spark, Apache Hive, and SPSS to carry out data cleaning, correlation analysis, dynamic factor analysis, principal component analysis, and visual display on 1760 sample data from 40 primary and secondary schools in Q Province in China, and constructs a model school management of quality evaluation in the compulsory education stage, which reduces the 22 management tasks required for previous evaluation to 5, greatly reducing the workload and difficulty of evaluation. It has improved the efficiency and accuracy of evaluation, and further promoted the simultaneous development of education of five domains and education equity in the compulsory education stage.

World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the monkeypox (MPX) epidemic a global public health emergency due to its re-emergence, remarkable increase in the number of MPX cases worldwide, and its potential spread. This paper introduces the symptoms, complications, and features of MPX; its transmission, diagnosis and testing, vaccines and treatment; MPX and sexually transmitted diseases, especially the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); possible natural hosts or reservoirs of the monkeypox virus (MPXV). A useful tool for MPX and surgical safety recommendations are presented. The challenges in fighting the MPX epidemic, One Health strategy, and future research are discussed.

. Accurate coastal wave direction and speed forecasts are crucial in coastal and marine engineering, marine energy, maritime transport, fisheries, naval navigation, environmental research, and risk management. Approximately 269 km of Brunei Darussalam's coastline can generate between 15 and 126 GW of wave energy. As part of the preliminary feasibility study of wave energy harvesting in Brunei Darussalam and net zero commitment, in this study, we used two numerical methods, namely, finite difference and spectral element methods, for modeling and simulation of wave speed and direction. The mean error between numerical and analytical solutions was calculated in each simulation. Explanatory data analysis was used to provide insight into the study data. We then proposed wave direction and speed forecasting models using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) stacking on the data computed from the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) sensor data. A univariate time series forecasting approach was adopted for this research. KerasTuner hyperparameter tuning API was used for tuning and optimizing hyperparameters, leading us to build models with the least training and test errors. Seven separate prediction experiments were conducted for wave speed and direction in degree and radian units for the next 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 24 hours, respectively. Mean squared error (MSE) was used as a metric for both training and testing. The experimental results show that wave speed forecast has the lowest MSEs compared to direction, regardless of the unit of measure, but has a longer runtime. Moreover, the forecast of direction in the degree unit has the least errors compared to the radian unit; the running time of the latter is higher than that of the former. In the future, we intend to use advanced multivariate time series techniques to forecast wave speed and direction.

This research is focused on two key areas. The first is mapping the 2022 flood in the Red River of the North near Grafton, North Dakota, US, and the second is evaluating the scour potential of the Grafton Bridge. Local scour of bridge piers can cause hydraulic structures such as bridge piers and abutments to fail during floods, making it a crucial area of investigation. To collect bathymetry and discharge data during low and high flow conditions, including a flood event with a 16.5-year return period in 2022, an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) incorporated with LiDAR DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data obtained from the US Geological Survey (USGS) National Map was used. Flood mapping and evaluation of local scour around the bridge pier were conducted using the HEC-RAS 6.0.0 software, which utilizes the Colorado State University method as a default equation. This research demonstrates the potential of ASVs in collecting critical data and LiDAR DEM data is an efficient method for flood mapping and determining scour potential, as it integrates bathymetry, flow velocity, and flood prediction.

: Polymer single screw extrusion is a major industrial processing technique used to obtain plastics products. To assure high outputs, tight dimensional tolerances, and excellent product performance, extruder screws may show different design characteristics. Barrier screws, which contain a second flight in the compression zone, have become quite popular as they promote and stabilize polymer melting. Therefore, it is important to design efficiently extruder screws and decide whether a conventional screw will do the job efficiently, or a barrier-screw should be considered instead. This work uses multi-objective evolutionary algorithms to design conventional and barrier screws (Maillefer screws will be studied) with optimized geometry. Processing of two polymers, Low Density Polyethylene and Polypropylene, is analyzed. A methodology based on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, namely data mining, decision making and evolutionary algorithms, is presented and utilized to obtain results with practical significance, based on relevant performance measures (objectives) used in the optimization. For the various case studies selected, Maillefer screws were generally advantageous for processing LDPE, while for PP the use of both types of screws would be feasible.

Machine Learning (ML) methods have become important to enhance the performance of decision-support predictive models. However, class imbalance is one of the main challenges for developing ML models, because it limits the generalization of these models, and biases the learning algorithms. In this paper, we consider oversampling methods for generating synthetic categorical clinical data aiming to improve the predictive performance in ML models, and the identification of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). We performed a comparative study of several categorical synthetic data generation methods, including Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). Then, we assessed the impact of combining oversampling strategies and linear and nonlinear supervised ML methods. Lastly, we conducted a post-hoc model interpretability based on the importance of the risk factors. Experimental results show the potential of GAN-based models for generating high-quality categorical synthetic data, yielding probability mass functions that are highly close to real data, maintaining relevant insights, and contributing to increase the predictive performance. The GAN-based model and a linear classifier outperforms other oversampling techniques, improving 2\% the area under the curve. These results demonstrate the capability of synthetic data to help both in determining risk factors and building models for CVD prediction.

Masons are often overlooked part of impact basins, but play an important role in revealing the lunar history. Previous study in masons were usually limited to gravity data. Few researches were reported on morphology features and chronology, which hampers the construction of a complete geological interpretation for the evolution of each mascons. We use multi source remote sensing data to identify the details characteristic of mascons. Result of topography, gravity and characteristic are combined to prove that a mason beside Copernicus crater is a buried peak-ring basin which is about 130km and 260km in diameter. The underground structure is of confirmed as 890m thick mare basalts by analyzing the spectral feature of the material in a geological outcrop called Copernicus H. Geology evolution analysis joint crater size-frequency distribution (CSDF) dating demonstrate that the buried basin impact event occurred in 3.6Ga. Then a hawaiian-style eruption in late Imbrian formed Sinus Aestuum Ⅰ Dark Mantling Deposit (DMD). Mare basalts filling in 3.4Ga. After that, ejecta from Copernicus impact event in about 820Ma and weathering processes cause the disappearing from lunar surface of the buried basin.

In this paper, we present a framework that automatically labels Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) generated topics using sentiment and aspect terms from COVID-19 tweets to help the end-users by minimizing the cognitive overhead of identifying key topics labels. Social media platforms especially Twitter are considered as one of the most influential sources of information for providing public opinion related to a critical situation like the COVID-19 pandemic. LDA is a popular topic modelling algorithm that extracts hidden themes of documents without assigning a specific label. Thus automatic labelling of LDA-generated topics from COVID-19 tweets is a great challenge instead of following the manual labelling approach to get an overview of wider public opinion. To overcome this problem, in this paper, we propose a framework named \texttt{SATLabel} that effectively identifies significant topic labels using \textit{top unigrams features of sentiment terms and aspect terms clusters from LDA generated topics} of COVID-19 related tweets to uncover various issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The experimental results show that our methodology is more effective, simpler, and traces better topic labels compare to the manual topic labelling approach.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with symptoms other than cough or fever have refrained from seeking medical advice. However, a delay in treatment might lead to serious consequences. At the same time, digital health initiatives have emerged to overcome this bottleneck of healthcare. Herein, we report the results of a multi-center initiative using a combination of patient history and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify individuals with rare neuromuscular diseases. First, a questionnaire with 46 items was developed by interviewing patients with muscular dystrophies, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Morbus Pompe, neuropathies, and myasthenia gravis. Second, patients with proven neurological diseases answered the questionnaire. Third, a combination of classifiers (artificial neural network, support vector, and random forest) was trained and, finally, the system was challenged with new questionnaires. Users with an abnormal questionnaire pattern received a unique code for data privacy and contact details for a neurologist for further advice. The neurologists confirmed or refuted the AI-based diagnosis. The questionnaire was accessed 3122 times, leading to 853 unique codes. Only for a few patients the computer-based diagnoses and the confirmed final diagnoses were reported to us. However, for these few patients, the genetic testing and high CK levels finally ended their long-lasting diagnostic odyssey.

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can greatly benefit from machine learning techniques and Artificial Neural Networks for data mining and vice versa. In the agricultural field, this convergence could result in the development of smart farming systems suitable for use as decision support systems by peasant farmers. This work presents the design of a smart farming system for crop production, which is based on low-cost IoT sensors and popular data storage services and data analytics services on the Cloud. Moreover, a new data mining method exploiting climate data along with crop production data is proposed for the prediction of production volume from heterogeneous data sources. This method was initially validated using traditional machine learning techniques and open historical data of the northeast region of the state of Puebla, Mexico, which were collected from data sources from the National Water Commission and the Agri-food Information Service of the Mexican Government.

In arXiv:2111.15017v1 [1], Dias and Salamat posted some of the measured data for ac magnetic susceptibility of carbonaceous sulfur hydride, a material that was reported in Nature 586, 373 (2020) [2] to be a room temperature superconductor. They provided additional measured data in arXiv:2111.15017v2 [3]. Here I provide an analysis of these data. The results of this analysis indicate that the claim of ref. [2] that magnetic susceptibility measurements support the conclusion that the material is a room temperature superconductor is not supported by valid underlying data.

For every three people on the planet there is approximately two Tonne (Te) of available plastic waste. We show that carbon recovery from polystyrene (PS) plastic is enhanced by the co-addition to solvents to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by liquid injection chemical vapour deposition. Polystyrene was loaded up to 4 wt% in toluene and heated to 780 °C in the presence of a ferrocene catalyst and a hydrogen/argon carrier gas in a 1:19 ratio. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Raman spectroscopy were used to identify multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The PS addition in the range from 0 to 4 wt% showed improved quality and CNT homogeneity; Raman “Graphitic/Defective” (G/D) values increased from 1.9 to 2.3; mean CNT diameters increased from 43.0 to 49.2 nm; and maximum CNT yield increased from 11.3% to 14.2%. Since both the CNT diameters and the percentage yield increased with respect to polystyrene addition, we conclude that carbon from the PS contributes to the carbon within the MWCNTs. The electrical contact resistance of acid washed Bucky papers produced from each loading, ranged from 2.2 to 4.4 Ohm, with no direct correlation to PS loading. Due to this narrow range, the materials with different loading were mixed to create six wires of an Ethernet cable and tested using iPerf to give uplink and downlink speeds of ~99.5 Mbps, comparable to Cu wire of identical dimension (~99.5 Mbps). The lifecycle assessment (LCA) of CNT wire production was compared to copper wire production for the use case in a Boeing 747-400 over the lifespan of the craft. Due to their lightweight nature the CNT wires decreased the CO2 footprint by 21 kTonne (kTe) over the aircraft lifespan.

Machine learning (ML) is increasingly useful as data grows in volume and accessibility as it can perform tasks (e.g. categorisation, decision making, anomaly detection, etc.) through experience and without explicit instruction, even when the data are too vast, complex, highly variable, full of errors to be analysed in other ways , . Thus, ML is great for natural language, images, or other complex and messy data available in large and growing volumes. Selecting a ML algorithm depends on many factors as algorithms vary in supervision needed, tolerable error levels, and ability to account for order or temporal context, among many other things. Importantly, ML methods for explicitly ordered or time-dependent data struggle with errors or data asymmetry. Most data are at least implicitly ordered, potentially allowing a hidden `arrow of time’ to affect non-temporal ML performance. This research explores the interaction of ML and implicit order by training two ML algorithms on Twitter data before performing automatic classification tasks under conditions that balance volume and complexity of data. Results show that performance was affected, suggesting that researchers should carefully consider time when selecting appropriate ML algorithms, even when time is only implicitly included.

Freezing of Gait (FOG) is an impairment that affects the majority of patients in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). FOG can lead to sudden falls and injuries, negatively impacting the quality of life for the patients and their families. Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) can be used to help patients recover from FOG and resume normal gait. RAS might be ineffective due to the latency between the start of a FOG event, it’s detection and initialization of RAS. We propose a system capable of both FOG prediction and detection using signals from tri-axial accelerometer sensors that will be useful in initializing RAS with minimal latency. We compared the performance of several time frequency analysis techniques, including moving windows extracted from the signals, handcrafted features, Recurrence Plots (RP), Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT), Discreet Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Pseudo Wigner Ville Distribution (PWVD) with Deep Learning (DL) based Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). We also propose three Ensemble Network Architectures that combine all the time frequency representations and DL architectures. Experimental results show that our ensemble architectures significantly improve the performance compared with existing techniques. We also present the results of applying our method trained on publicly available dataset to data collected from patients using wearable sensors in collaboration with A.T. Still University.

The growth of social media has changed the face of many aspects of marketing such as online, digital, etc. It also has changed the way modern human communicates and connects with others. Moreover, the behavior on this platform could not and should not be justified with strategies of other marketing channels and media. Due to the nature of social media, they are rich in precise and lean data, but processing these data and extracting knowledge and insights from them are problematic. Evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing endeavor is also a task related to these data. The current research attempts to assess the effectiveness of an advertising campaign on Instagram via advertising cost and sentiment classification of audience opinion regarding the campaign. The methodology used in this research is the standard process of data mining, i.e., CRISP-DM. Furthermore, multiple machine learning models and approaches were studied to train a prediction model based on data. In order to find the most accurate algorithm, grid search was used among the trained models and different algorithms with different combinations of hyper-parameters. The obtained results revealed that although the number of not profitable advertising media was higher than the profitable media, the overall status of the campaign was profitable, both in the cost-effectiveness approach and sentiment analysis approach. The other valued outcome of this research was important general and specific insights which can be used to shape a better-performing and effective advertising campaign on Instagram.

Eastern boundary upwelling systems feature strong zonal gradients of physical and biological ocean properties between cool, productive coastal oceans and warm, oligotrophic subtropical gyres. Zonal currents and jets (striations) are therefore likely to contribute to the transport of water properties between coastal and open oceanic regions. Multi-sensor satellite data are used to characterize the signatures of striations in sea surface temperature (SST), salinity (SSS), and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) in subtropical eastern North/South Pacific (ENP/ESP) upwelling systems. In the ENP, tracers exhibit striated patterns extending up to ~2500 km offshore. Striations in SST and SSS are highly correlated with quasi-zonal jets, suggesting that these jets contribute to SST/SSS mesoscale patterns via zonal advection. Chl-a striations are collocated with sea surface height (SSH) bands, a possible result of mesoscale eddy trains trapping nutrients and forming striated signals. In the ESP, striations are only found in SST and coincide with SSH bands, consistently with quasi-zonal jets located outside major zonal tracer gradients. An interplay between large-scale SST/SSS advection by the quasi-zonal jets, mesoscale SST/SSS advection by the large-scale meridional flow and eddy advection may explain the persistent ENP hydrographic striations. These results underline the importance of quasi-zonal jets for surface tracer structuring at the mesoscale.

Hopfield Neural Networks (HNNs) are recurrent neural networks used to implement associative memory. Their main feature is their ability to pattern recognition, optimization, or image segmentation. However, sometimes it is not easy to provide the users with good explanations about the results obtained with them due to mainly the large number of changes in the state of neurons (and their weights) produced during a problem of machine learning. There are currently limited techniques to visualize, verbalize, or abstract HNNs. This paper outlines how we can construct automatic video generation systems to explain their execution. This work constitutes a novel approach to get explainable artificial intelligence systems in general and HNNs in particular building on the theory of data-to-text systems and software visualization approaches. We present a complete methodology to build these kinds of systems. Software architecture is also designed, implemented, and tested. Technical details about the implementation are also detailed and explained. Finally, we apply our approach for creating a complete explainer video about the execution of HNNs on a small recognition problem.

Proposed as a response to the increasing global need for environmental protection, a green port balances economic vibrancy and environmental protection. However, because exhaust emissions (e.g., CO2 or sulfide) are difficult to monitor in and around ports, data on such emissions are often incomplete, which hinders research on this topic. To remedy this problem, this study aimed to formulate a method for collecting CO2 emissions data at their source; this method was applied to collect real-world operating data from a large container-handling company in Taiwan. Specifically, to account for undesirable outputs, we formulated a method that combines (1) data envelopment analysis based on a modified slack-based measure and (2) a multichoice goal programming approach. We found that rubber-tired gantry cranes are the greenest and should be used. Our findings aid port managers in selecting port equipment that best balances between environmental protection and profitability.

Species distribution models have become tools of great importance in ecology since the advanced knowledge of suitable habitat of species is needed in the process of the world's biodiversity conservation. Models that use presence-only data are of great interests and are widely used in ecology due to their easy access. However, these models do not estimate accurately the true spatial species distribution based solely on presence-only data since they do not account for biases induced by the sampling techniques used and imperfect detection. To address this gap, Hierarchical integrated models have been recently introduced. Through this study, we assessed the relative performance of these new SDMs models using simulated data. The performance of the models was tested by comparing the estimates of parameters of the distribution models they provide with parameters used to simulate the distribution of the virtual species. The best model was the one whose estimates were close to the true distribution parameters of the virtual species. Results showed that analyzing Presence-only data in conjunction with Point-counts data through the Dorazio's Hierarchical model produced estimates of the coecients of the species intensity models with high precision and less bias while the Koshkina integrated model showed poor performance. Site-occupancy data, being not informative of species abundance, did not allow reducing biases in Presence-only data. The Dorazio's Hierarchical model produced estimates with high precision even with low detection probability. We have also found that the species rarity tends to in ate the variability of the models' estimates making modelling abundant species to be more accurate than modelling less abundant species. Hence, to model the species distribution with high precision based on Presence-only data, additional Point-counts data are required to account for sampling bias and imperfect detection.

Multiple governmental agencies and private organisations have made commitments for the colonisation of Mars. Such colonisation requires complex systems and infrastructure that could be very costly to repair or replace in cases of cyber-attacks. This paper surveys deep learning algorithms, IoT cyber security and risk models, and established mathematical formulas to identify the best approach for developing a dynamic and self-adapting system for predictive cyber risk analytics supported with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and real-time intelligence in edge computing. The paper presents a new mathematical approach for integrating concepts for cognition engine design, edge computing and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to automate anomaly detection. This engine instigates a step change by applying Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning embedded at the edge of IoT networks, to deliver safe and functional real- time intelligence for predictive cyber risk analytics. This will enhance capacities for risk analytics and assists in the creation of a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the opportunities and threats that arise when edge computing nodes are deployed, and when Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies are migrated to the periphery of the internet and into local IoT networks.

Now when the whole world is still under COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have transferred the teaching from physical classroom to online platforms. It is highly important for schools and online learning platforms to investigate the feedback to get valuable insights about online teaching process so that both platforms and teachers are able to learn which aspect they can improve to achieve better teaching performance. But handling reviews expressed by students would be a pretty laborious work if they were handled manually as well as it is unrealistic to handle large-scale feedback from e-learning platform. In order to address this problem, both machine learning algorithms and deep learning models are used in recent research to automatically process students' review getting the opinion, sentiment and attitudes expressed by the students. Such studies may play a crucial role in improving various interactive online learning platforms by incorporating automatic analysis of feedback. Therefore, we conduct an overview study of sentiment analysis in educational field presented in recent research, to help people grasp an overall understanding of the sentiment analysis research. Besides, according to the literature review, we identify three future directions that researchers can focus on in automatically feedback processing: high-level entity extraction, multi-lingual sentiment analysis, and handling of figurative language.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the key technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), which can be used for the protection of Internet-connected systems from cyber-threats, attacks, damage, or unauthorized access. To intelligently solve today's various cybersecurity issues, popular AI techniques involving Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) methods, the concept of Natural Language Processing (NLP), Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KRR), as well as the concept of knowledge or rule-based Expert Systems (ES) modeling can be used. Based on these AI methods, in this paper, we present a comprehensive view on "AI-driven Cybersecurity" that can play an important role for intelligent cybersecurity services and management. The security intelligence modeling based on such AI methods can make the cybersecurity computing process automated and intelligent than the conventional security systems. We also highlight several research directions within the scope of our study, which can help researchers do future research in the area. Overall, this paper's ultimate objective is to serve as a reference point and guidelines for cybersecurity researchers as well as industry professionals in the area, especially from an AI-based technical point of view.

Despite recent developments in monitoring and visualizing construction progress, the data exchange between construction jobsite and office lacks automation and real-time recording. To address this issue, a near real-time construction work inspection system called iVR is proposed; this system integrates 3D scanning, extended reality, and visual programming to visualize interactive onsite inspection for indoor activities and provide numeric data. iVR comprises five modules: iVR-location finder (finding laser scanner located in the construction site) iVR-scan (capture point cloud data of jobsite indoor activity), iVR-prepare (processes and convert 3D scan data into a 3D model), iVR-inspect (conduct immersive visual reality inspection in construction office), and iVR-feedback (visualize inspection feedback from jobsite using augmented reality). An experimental lab test is conducted to validate the applicability of iVR process; it successfully exchanges required information between construction jobsite and office in a specific time. This system is expected to assist Engineers and workers in quality assessment, progress assessments, and decision-making which can realize a productive and practical communication platform, unlike conventional monitoring or data capturing, processing, and storage methods, which involve storage, compatibility, and time-consumption issues.

The understanding of water quality and its underlying processes is important for the protection of aquatic environments enabling the rare opportunity of access to a domain expert. Hence, an explainable AI (XAI) framework is proposed that is applicable to multivariate time series resulting in explanations that are interpretable by a domain expert. The XAI combines in three steps a data-driven choice of a distance measure with explainable cluster analysis through supervised decision trees. The multivariate time series consists of water quality measurements, including nitrate, electrical conductivity, and twelve other environmental parameters. The relationships between water quality and the environmental parameters are investigated by identifying similar days within a cluster and dissimilar days between clusters. The XAI does not depend on prior knowledge about data structure, and its explanations are tendentially contrastive. The relationships in the data can be visualized by a topographic map representing high-dimensional structures. Two comparable decision-based XAIs were unable to provide meaningful and relevant explanations from the multivariate time series data. Open-source code in R for the three steps of the XAI framework is provided.

Total cloud cover (TCC) retrieval from ground-based optical imagery is a problem being tackled by a few generations of researchers. The number of human-designed algorithms for the estimation of TCC grows every year. However, there is not very much progress in terms of quality, mostly due to the lack of systematic approach to the design of the algorithms, to the assessment of their generalization ability, and to the assessment of the TCC retrieval quality. In this study, we discuss the optimization nature of data-driven schemes for TCC retrieval. In order to compare the algorithms, we propose the framework for the assessment of the algorithms characteristics. We present several new algorithms that are based on deep learning techniques: a model for outliers filtering, and a few models for TCC retrieval from all-sky imagery. For training and assessment of data-driven algorithms of this study, we present the Dataset of All-Sky Imagery over the Ocean (DASIO) containing over one million of all-sky optical images of visible sky dome taken in various regions of the World Ocean. The research campaigns contributed to DASIO collection took place in the Atlantic ocean, the Indian ocean the Red and Mediterranean seas, and also in the Arctic ocean. Optical imagery collected during these missions are accompanied by standard meteorological observations of cloudiness characteristics made by experienced observers. We assess the generalization ability of the presented models in several scenarios that differ in terms of the regions selected for the train and validation subsets. As a result, we demonstrate that our models based on convolutional neural networks deliver superior quality compared to all previously published schemes. As a key result, we demonstrate considerable drop of the ability to generalize the training data in case of strong covariate shift between training and validation subsets of imagery which may take place in case of region-aware subsampling.