In the rapidly evolving landscape of wireless communication, each successive generation of networks has achieved significant technological leaps, profoundly transforming the way we connect and interact. From the analog simplicity of 1G to the digital prowess of 5G, the journey of mobile networks has been marked by constant innovation and escalating demands for faster, more reliable, and more efficient communication systems. As 5G becomes a global reality, laying the foundation for an interconnected world, the quest for even more advanced networks leads us to the threshold of the sixth-generation (6G) era. This paper presents a hierarchical exploration of 6G networks, poised at the forefront of the next revolution in mobile wireless technology. This study delves into the technological advancements that underpin the need for 6G, examining its key features, benefits, and the key enabling technologies. We dissect the intricacies of cutting-edge innovations like terahertz communication, ultra-massive MIMO, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, quantum communication, and re-configurable intelligent surfaces. Through a meticulous analysis, we evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and state-of-the-art research in these areas, offering a wider view of the current progress and potential applications of 6G networks. Central to our discussion is the transformative role of AI in shaping the future of 6G networks. By integrating AI and machine learning, 6G networks are expected to offer unprecedented capabilities, from enhanced mobile broadband to groundbreaking applications in areas like smart cities and autonomous systems. This integration heralds a new era of intelligent, self-optimizing networks that promise to redefine the parameters of connectivity and digital interaction. This paper also addresses critical challenges in the deployment of 6G, from technological hurdles to regulatory concerns, providing a holistic assessment of potential barriers. By highlighting the interplay between 6G and AI technologies, this study not only maps out the current landscape but also lights the path forward in this rapidly evolving domain. This paper aims to be a cornerstone resource, providing essential insights, addressing unresolved research questions, and stimulating further investigation into the multifaceted realm of 6G networks. By highlighting the synergy between 6G and AI(Artificial Intelligence) technologies, we aim to illuminate the path forward in this rapidly evolving field.

The variability of the material properties of steel from different suppliers causes problems in achieving the required surface quality after turning. Therefore, the manufacturer needs to be able to estimate the resulting quality before starting production, especially if it is an expensive, small-batch production from stainless steel. Predictive models will make it possible to estimate the surface roughness from the mechanical properties of steel in the Mill Test Certificate (MTC) and thus support decision-making about the supplier selection or the acceptance of a material supply. Multivariate second-order polynomial model and feedforward back-propagation Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model were used to enhance the methodological robustness in formulating the decision if the predicted surface roughness is outside the required range, even before accepting the delivery. Both models can accurately predict surface roughness, while the ANN model is more accurate than the polynomial model; however, the predictive model is sensitive to the accuracy of the input data, and the model’s prediction is valid only under precisely defined conditions. The prediction model is used in a step-by-step decision-making procedure, which enables the trained staff to make a quick decision.

Knowledge is a property that measures the degree of awareness of an agent about a target in an environment. The goal in conventional intelligent and cognitive agent development is to build agents that can be trained to gain knowledge about a target. The definition and operations of this knowledge associated to the agent is not clear, whereas these are required for developing a reliable, scalable and flexible agent. In this paper, we provide a concise theoretical framework for the description and quantification of the knowledge property needed for an efficient design of cognitive and rational intelligent agents. We relate the quantification scheme to the epistemological description of knowledge and present many illustrative examples on the usefulness of the quantification scheme.

The migration from MATLAB to Python (M-to-PY) has gained significant traction in recent computational research. While MATLAB has long served as a linchpin in myriad scientific endeavors, there's an emerging trend to rejuvenate these projects using Python's extensive AI tools and libraries. This study presents a semi-automated process for M-to-PY conversion, using a detailed case study of an image skeletonization project comprising fifteen MATLAB files and a 1404-image dataset. Skeletonization is foundational for ongoing 3D motion detection research using AI transformers, predominantly developed in Python. The utilization of ChatGPT-4, acting as an AI co-programmer, is pivotal in this conversion. By leveraging the public OpenAI API, we developed an M-to-PY converter prototype, evaluated its efficacy using test cases from the Bard bot, and subsequently employed the converted code in an AI application. The dual contributions encompass a well-tested M-to-PY converter and a Skeleton App capable of sketching and skeletonizing any given image, enriching the AI toolset. This study accentuates how AI resources, like ChatGPT-4, can simplify code transitions, opening doors for innovative AI implementations using primarily MATLAB-coded scientific research.

The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for biodiversity monitoring and conservation, shortened to Conservation GIS, is an influential tool that has revolutionized conservation efforts by providing spatially explicit data to inform conservation decision-making. However, Conservation GIS also faces challenges related to data quality and availability, technical limitations, as well as policy and governance issues. The diverse and rising uses of GIS for conservation has resulted in a need for continued research and development of Conservation GIS, including advancements in technology and data collection, integration with other fields such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, and collaborative approaches to Conservation GIS. Conservation GIS has the potential to make a significant impact on conservation efforts, and this article emphasizes the importance of its implementation to achieve the broader goal of biodiversity conservation for planetary health. In this review, we discuss the various applications of Conservation GIS, including biodiversity conservation and monitoring, habitat mapping and restoration, climate change mitigation and adaptation, wildlife tracking and management, and protected area management. We highlight some of the key knowledge gaps or research questions that need to be addressed in the future to further advance the field of Conservation GIS. By addressing these challenges and knowledge gaps, Conservation GIS can become a powerful tool for addressing the challenges facing biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide, and for promoting sustainable land-use practices.

Effective sports training should be attuned to the athlete's specific conditionings and characteristics. In motor learning research, two often neglected factors that influence this resonance are the learner's athletic background and the structural diversity of exercises (e.g., relative similarity). This study examines the effects of three learning approaches (i.e., contextual interference (CI), differential learning (DL), and free-play control condition (CO)) on the parallel learning of Handball (HB), Volleyball (VB), and Basketball (BB) skills, considering participants' prior sport backgrounds. Forty-five males (15 HB, 15 VB, and 15 BB players) with a mean age of 22±1.4 years and at least 6 years of experience in the mastered discipline voluntarily participated in this study. A pre-post-retention test design including a 6-week-intervention program was employed. In terms of short-term (pre-post) gain, only the DL- group significantly improved their performance in both non-mastered disciplines (p=0.03 for the BB free-throw and p=0.05 for the HB shooting tests), with a trend (ES=0.53) towards an improvement in the performance of the mastered VB underarm-pass skill. In terms of relatively permanent gains, the CI group significantly improved their performances from pre- to retention-test only in the non-mastered BB free-throw skill (p=0.018). In contrast, the DL group significantly improved their performance at retention compared to the pre-test in both non-mastered BB (p=0.004) and HB (p=0.003) skills, with a trend (ES=0.4) towards improvement in the mastered VB test. In both short, and relatively permanent terms, higher composite score gains were observed in DL compared to CI (p=0.001 and 0.002) and CO (p=0.001 and <0.0001). In conclusion, the present findings provide additional support for the potential advantages of the DL model over those of CI. These findings can serve as the basis for tailored training and intervention strategies and provide a new perspective for addressing various issues related to individual and situational learning.

Computed tomography (CT) offers detailed insights into the internal anatomy of patients, partic-ularly for spinal vertebrae examination. However, CT scans are associated with higher radiation exposure and cost compared to conventional X-ray imaging. In this study, we applied a Genera-tive Adversarial Network (GAN) framework to reconstruct 3D spinal vertebrae structures from synthetic biplanar X-ray images, specifically focusing on anterior and lateral views. The synthetic X-ray images were generated using the DRRGenerator module in 3D Slicer, by incorporating segmentations of spinal vertebrae in CT scans for the region of interest focussing. The approach leverages a novel feature fusion technique based on X2CT-GAN to combine information from both views and employs a combination of Mean Squared Error (MSE) loss and adversarial loss to train the generator, resulting in high-quality synthetic 3D spinal vertebrae CTs. A total of n=440 CT data were processed. We evaluated the performance of our model using multiple metrics, in-cluding Mean Absolute Error (MAE) (for each slice of the 3D volume [MAE0] and for the entire 3D volume [MAE]), Cosine Similarity, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), 3D Peak Sig-nal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR-3D), and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). The average PSNR was 28.394 dB, PSNR-3D was 27.432, SSIM was 0.468, cosine similarity was 0.484, MAE0 was 0.034, and MAE was 85.359. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach in reconstruct-ing 3D spinal vertebrae structures from biplanar X-rays, although some limitations in accurately capturing the fine bone structures and maintaining the precise morphology of the vertebrae were present. This technique has the potential to enhance the diagnostic capabilities of low-cost X-ray machines while reducing radiation exposure and cost associated with CT scans, paving the way for future applications in spinal imaging and diagnosis.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a key molecule in promoting neurogenesis, dendritic and synaptic health, and neuronal survival, plasticity, and excitability, all of which are disrupted in neurological and cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Extracellular aggregates of amyloid-β (Aβ) in the form of plaques and intracellular aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau protein have been identified as major pathological insults in AD brain, along with immune dysfunction, oxidative stress, and other toxic stressors. Although aggregated Aβ and tau lead to decreased brain BDNF expression, early losses in BDNF prior to plaque and tangle formation may be due to other insults such as oxidative stress and contribute to early synaptic dysfunction. Physical exercise, on the other hand, protects synaptic and neuronal structure and function, with increased BDNF as a major mediator of exercise-induced enhancements in cognitive function. Here, we review recent literature on mechanisms behind exercise induced BDNF upregulation and its effects on improving learning and memory and on Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Mechanisms include elevations in peripheral BDNF-inducing hormones such as osteocalcin, FNDC5/irisin, and lactate. The fundamental mechanisms of how exercise impacts BDNF and cognition are unclear but are a prerequisite to developing new biomarkers and therapies to delay or prevent cognitive decline.

Foundational and state-of-the-art anomaly detection methods through power system state estimation are reviewed. The traditional components for bad data detection such as chi-square testing, residual-based methods, and hypothesis testing are discussed to explain the motivations for recent anomaly detection methods given the increasing complexity of power grids, energy management systems, and cyber-threats. In particular, state estimation anomaly detection based on data-driven quickest change detection and artificial intelligence are discussed and directions for research are suggested with particular emphasis on considerations of the future smart grid.

Accurately predicting electrical signals of three-phase Direct Torque Control (DTC) induction motors is crucial for optimal motor performance and effective condition monitoring. However, multiple DTC motors’ complexity and operating conditions’ variations pose challenges for traditional prediction methods. To overcome these challenges, we propose an innovative approach that combines Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to transform electrical motor simulation data and a Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) network to forecast processed motor data. By transforming the DTC induction motor signals from the time domain to the frequency domain, we enhance the capability of learning models to capture subtle differences and generate various input features. The Bi-LSTM model effectively captures both forward and backward dependencies in time series data, enabling accurate prediction of electrical signals. We evaluate the proposed approach using our simulated dataset and compare the proposed method to a state-of-the-art model, the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), demonstrating its effectiveness in improving the accuracy and reliability of induction motor signals forecasting. The finding provides valuable insights for advancing motor control and operation in industrial applications.

For many years, energy monitoring at the most disaggregate level has been mainly sought through the idea of Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM). Nevertheless, a practical application of this concept in the residential sector should address the underlying concerns raised by the technical specifications of case studies. From one side, such an operation must handle common matters related to the essence of any NILM system. Although this aspect has been thoroughly investigated by basic research, it is limited to the properties of public datasets. On the other side, it must deal with specific concerns corresponding to uncommon situations. These circumstances impose further restrictions on existent NILM schemes, however, they have been overlooked due to the lack of pertinent databases to scrutinize. Accordingly, this paper presents applied research on a potential solution to NILM for Quebec residences. It carries out a relevant investigation into the multi-faceted nature of this problem in order to reveal barriers to feasible implementations in the context of Quebec. This work commences with a concise discussion about the NILM idea to highlight its essential requirements for a fruitful practice. Afterward, it provides a comparative statistical analysis to represent the specificity and potential challenges of the case study in accordance with NILM necessities. For this purpose, the examination exploits data from real-world measurement systems in the same and European regions. Subsequently, this study focuses on a load identification exercise by proposing a combinatory approach that utilizes the promise of sub-meter smart technologies to integrate the intrusive aspect of load monitoring with the non-intrusive one. The former is aimed at extracting overall heating demand from the aggregate one by a supervised procedure based on Deep Learning (DL) models while the latter is designed for disaggregating the residual load through an unsupervised process on the basis of clustering techniques. The results demonstrate that geographically-dependent cases create electricity consumption scenarios under which existing NILM methods can be questioned. From a realistic standpoint, this research elaborates on critical remarks to realize viable NILM systems, particularly, in Quebec houses.

The main channel for disseminating information is now the Internet. Users have different expectations for the calibre of websites regarding the posted and presented content. The WEB site's quality is influenced by up to 120 factors, each represented by two to fifteen attributes. A major challenge is quantifying the features and evaluating the quality of a website based on the feature counts. One of the aspects that determines a website's quality is its completeness, which focuses on the existence of all the objects and their connections with one another. It isn’t easy to build an expert model based on feature counts to evaluate website quality, so this paper has focused on that challenge. Both a methodology for calculating a website's quality and a parser-based approach for measuring feature counts are offered. We provide a multi-layer perceptron model that is an expert model for forecasting website quality from the "Completeness" perspective. The accuracy of the predictions is 98%, whilst the accuracy of the nearest model is 87%.

In modern security situations, tracking multiple human objects in real-time within challenging urban environments is a critical capability for enhancing situational awareness, minimizing response time, and increasing overall operational effectiveness. Tracking multiple entities enables informed decision-making, risk mitigation, and the safeguarding of civil-military operations to ensure safety and mission success. This paper presents a multi-modal electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) and radio frequency (RF) fused sensing (MEIRFS) platform for real-time human object detection, recognition, classification, and tracking in challenging environments. By utilizing different sensors in a complementary manner, the robustness of the sensing system is enhanced, enabling reliable detection and recognition results across various situations. Specifically designed Radar tag and thermal tag can be used to discriminate friendly and non-friendly objects. The system incorporates deep learning-based image fusion and human object recognition and tracking (HORT) algorithms to ensure accurate situation assessment. After integrating into an all-terrain robot, multiple ground tests were conducted to verify the consistent HORT in various environments. The MEIRFS sensor system has been designed to meet the Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) requirements for installation on autonomous ground and aerial vehicles.

Digital Twin Cities (DTCs) play a fundamental role in city planning and management. They allow three-dimensional modeling and simulation of cities. 3D semantic segmentation is the foundation for automatically creating enriched DTCs, as well as their updates. Past studies indicate that prior level fusion approaches demonstrate more promising precisions in 3D semantic segmentation compared to point level fusion, features level fusion, and decision level fusion families. In order to improve point cloud enriched semantic segmentation outcomes, this article proposes a new approach for 3D point cloud semantic segmentation through developing and benchmarking three prior level fusion scenarios. A reference approach based on point clouds and aerial images was proposed to compare it with the different developed scenarios. In each scenario, we inject a specific prior knowledge (geometric features,classified images ,etc) and aerial images as attributes of point clouds into the neural network’s learning pipeline. The objective is to find the one that integrates the most significant prior knowledge and enhances neural network knowledge more profoundly, which we have named the "smart fusion approach". The advanced Deep Learning algorithm "RandLaNet" was adopted to implement the different proposed scenarios and the reference approach, due to its excellent performance demonstrated in the literature. The introduction of some significant features associated with the label classes facilitated the learning process and improved the semantic segmentation results that can be achievable with the same neural network alone. Overall, our contribution provides a promising solution for addressing some challenges, in particular more accurate extraction of semantically rich objects from the urban fabric. An assessment of the semantic segmentation results obtained by the different scenarios is performed based on metrics computation and visual investigations. Finally,the smart fusion approach was derived based on the obtained qualitative and quantitative results.

Nurses and paramedics play a pivotal role when Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) occur, yet they often feel unprepared for such events. Implementation strategies for training activities, including Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) simulations, offer realistic and immersive learning experiences, enhancing skills and competencies for nursing students. The aim of this work was to investigate the adopted tools in studies on VR&amp;AR simulations for training nursing and paramedic students in managing MCI. A scoping review was performed following the PRISMA-ScR statement, and the search strategy was conducted through five electronic databases from December 2022 to March 2023. Of 162 records identified, 27 full-text were screened and, six studies were included in this review. These studies involved students who were assigned to different training methods, including immersive VR simulation, written instruction, and traditional lecture. VR&amp;AR and immersive simulation generally show promising evidences in enhancing practical skills and knowledge in MCI management. VR&amp;AR showed to be promising in disaster education and preparedness training, offering different levels of immersiveness and engagement, encouraging active and experential learning. Further research is needed to determine their long-term effectiveness. The choice of training method should consider program goals, target population, and available resources.

Urban spatial perception critically influences human behavior and emotional reactions, emphasizing the necessity of aligning urban spaces with human needs for enhanced urban living. However, functionality-based categorization of urban architecture is prone to biases, stemming from disparities between objective mapping and subjective perception. These biases can result in urban planning and designs that fail to cater adequately to the needs and preferences of city residents, negatively impacting their quality of life and the city's overall functionality. In this study, we apply machine learning to elucidate these biases within urban spatial perception research, utilizing a three-step methodology: objective mapping, subjective perception analysis, and perception deviation assessment. Our findings reveal that machine learning can expose hidden patterns within this research field, bearing substantial implications for urban planning and design. Of particular note, the study revealed significant discrepancies in the distribution centroids between commercial buildings and residential or public buildings. This result illuminates the spatial organization characteristics of urban architectural functions, serving as a valuable reference for urban planning and development. Moreover, it uncovers the advantages and disadvantages of different data sources and techniques in interpreting urban spatial perception, paving the way for a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. These findings underscore the importance of integrating both objective mapping and subjective perspectives in urban architectural functionality classification.

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the major cause of elders’ vision loss, early screening and treatment are the most efficient way to reduce the rate of blindness. AI-based methods based on ophthalmic images play great potential for AMD diagnosis. However, low levels of accuracy, robustness, and explainability are challenges for AI approaches applied in clinics. Thus, this study proposed a multi-type of data source fusion method and a multi-model fusion approach for AMD detection. Typical unsupervised (Hierarchical Clustering and K-Means), typical supervised (SVM, VGG-16, and ResNet) methods, and proposed methods (multi-source data fusion-based method and multi-model fusion-based approach) are compared based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), Fundus Autofluorescence (FAF), regular color fundus photography (CFP) and Ultra-Wide field Fundus (UWF) images. Data preprocessing and enhancements of each type of data are discussed. A feature extraction based on unsupervised ML models, feature combination and normalization, and multi-layer perception (MLP) algorithm are involved in the proposed multi-source data fusion-based method. Supervised ML and DL models and a voting mechanism are involved in the multi-model fusion-based approach. Findings show that the proposed methods present a high performance of accuracy and robustness. A real-world UWF database is involved from Shenzhen Aier Hospital. Practical and theoretical contributions are delivered. A reference value for medical diagnosis based on multiple digital images is contributed.

Document deskewing is a fundamental problem in document image processing. While existing methods have limitations, such as Hough Line Transformation that can deskew images upside down, and Deep Learning models that require huge amounts of human labour and computational resources and still fail to deskew while taking care of orientation, OCR-based methods also struggle to read text when it is tilted. In this paper, we propose a novel, simple, cost-effective deep learning method for fixing the skew and orientation of documents. Our approach reduces the search space for the machine learning model to predict whether an image is upside down or not, avoiding the huge search space of predicting an angle between 0 and 360. We finetuned a MobileNetV2 model, which was pre-trained on imagenet, using only 200 images and achieve good results. This method is useful for automation-based tasks, such as data extraction using OCR technology, and can greatly reduce manual labour.

In an era of rapid technological improvements, state-of-the-art methodologies and tools dedicated to protecting and promoting our cultural heritage should be developed and extensively employed in the contemporary built environment and lifestyle. At the same time, sustainability principles underline the importance of the continuous use of historic or vernacular buildings as part of the building stock of our society. Adopting a holistic, integrated, multi-disciplinary strategy can bridge technological innovation with conserving and restoring heritage buildings. The paper presents ongoing research and results of the application of Machine Learning methods for the remote monitoring of the built environment of the historic cluster in Cypriot cities. This study is part of an integrated, multi-scale, and multi-discipline study of heritage buildings towards the creation of an online HBIM platform for urban monitoring.

Advanced state-of-the-art technologies, mainly computational intelligence including Machine/Deep Learning and Fuzzy Computing, through applied research, can provide added value to modern science and, in general, to entrepreneurship and the economy. Artificial intelligence is the field of computer science that attempts to model concepts such as learning, adaptability and perception to synthesize intelligent behavior in solving complex problems, utilizing elements of adaptation to the environment and philosophical reasoning. About the science of civil engineering and, in general, the construction industry, which is one of the most important in economic entrepreneurship, both in terms of the size of the workforce employed and the amount of capital invested, the penetration of artificial intelligence is possible to change industry business models, eliminate costly mistakes, reduce Jobsite injuries and generally make large-scale engineering projects more efficient. The purpose of the paper is to present the recent research on artificial intelligence methods (machine-deep learning, computer vision, natural language processing, fuzzy systems, robotics, etc.) and the corresponding related technologies related to it (extensive data analysis, blockchain, cloud computing, internet of things, augmented reality), in the fields of application of civil engineering science, including structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydraulics and water resources management, marine and coastal technology, transport and transportation infrastructure, planning and technical project management, critical infrastructure security and disaster mitigation..

Drone and aerial remote sensing images are widely used, but their imaging environment is complex and prone to image blurring. Existing CNN deblurring algorithms usually use multi-scale fusion to extract features in order to make full use of aerial remote sensing blurred image information, but images with different degrees of blurring use the same weights, leading to increasing errors in the feature fusion process layer by layer. Based on the physical properties of image blurring, this paper proposes an adaptive multi-scale fusion blind deblurred generative adversarial network (AMD-GAN), which innovatively applies the degree of image blurring to guide the adjustment of the weights of multi-scale fusion, effectively suppressing the errors in the multi-scale fusion process and enhancing the interpretability of the feature layer. The research work in this paper reveals the necessity and effectiveness of a priori information on image blurring levels in image deblurring tasks. By studying and exploring the image blurring levels, the network model focuses more on the basic physical features of image blurring. Meanwhile, this paper proposes an image blurring degree description model, which can effectively represent the blurring degree of aerial remote sensing images. The comparison experiments show that the algorithm in this paper can effectively recover images with different degrees of blur, obtain high-quality images with clear texture details, outperform the comparison algorithm in both qualitative and quantitative evaluation, and can effectively improve the object detection performance of aerial remote sensing blurred images. Moreover, the average PSNR of this paper's algorithm tested on the publicly available dataset RealBlur-R reached 41.02dB, surpassing the latest SOTA algorithm.

Due to the rising dependency on digital technology, cybersecurity has emerged as a more prominent field of research and application that typically focuses on securing devices, networks, systems, data and other resources from various cyber-attacks, threats, risks, damages, or unauthorized access. Artificial Intelligence (AI), also referred to as a crucial technology of the current Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0 or 4IR), could be the key to intelligently dealing with these cyber issues. Various forms of AI methodologies, such as analytical, functional, interactive, textual as well as visual AI can be employed to get the desired cyber solutions according to their computational capabilities. However, the dynamic nature and complexity of real-world situations and data gathered from various cyber sources make it challenging nowadays to build an effective AI-based security model. Moreover, defending robustly against adversarial attacks is still an open question in the area. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive view on "Cybersecurity Intelligence and Robustness", emphasizing multi-aspects AI-based modeling and adversarial learning that could lead to addressing diverse issues in various cyber applications areas such as detecting malware or intrusions, zero-day attacks, phishing, data breach, cyberbullying and other cybercrimes. Thus the eventual security modeling process could be automated, intelligent, and robust compared to traditional security systems. We also emphasize and draw attention to the future aspects of cybersecurity intelligence and robustness along with the research direction within the context of our study. Overall, our goal is not only to explore AI-based modeling and pertinent methodologies but also to focus on the resulting model's applicability for securing our digital systems and society.

Miscanthus holds a great potential in the frame of the bioeconomy and yield prediction can help improving Miscanthus logistic supply chain. Breeding programs in several countries are attempting to produce high-yielding Miscanthus hybrids better adapted to different climates and end-uses. Multispectral images acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Italy and in the UK in 2021 and 2022 were used to investigate the feasibility of high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) of novel Miscanthus hybrids for yield prediction and crop traits estimation. An intercalibration procedure was performed using simulated data from the PROSAIL model to link vegetation indices (VIs) derived from two different multispectral sensors. Random forest algorithm estimated with good accuracy yield traits (light interception, plant height, green leaf biomass and standing biomass) using VIs time series and predicted yield using peak descriptor derived from VIs time series with 2.3 Mg DM ha-1 of RMSE. The study demonstrates the potential of UAVs multispectral in HTP applications and in yield prediction for providing important information needed to increase sustainable biomass production.

With the increase in life expectancy and consequent aging of the world’s population, the prevalence of many neurodegenerative diseases is increasing, without concomitant improvement in diagnostics and therapeutics. These diseases share neuropathological hallmarks, including mitochondrial dysfunction. In fact, as mitochondrial alterations appear prior to neuronal cell death at an early phase of the disease onset, the study and modulation of mitochondrial alterations rise as promising strategies to predict and prevent neurotoxicity and neuronal cell death before the onset of cell viability alterations. In this work, differentiated SH-SY5Y cells were treated with the mitochondrial-targeted neurotoxicants 6-hydroxydopamine and rotenone. These compounds were used at different concentrations and for different time points to understand the similarities and differences in their mechanisms of action. To accomplishing this, data on mitochondrial parameters was acquired and analyzed using unsupervised (hierarchical clustering) and supervised (decision tree) machine learning methods. Both biochemical and computational analyses resulted in an evident distinction between the neurotoxic effects of 6-hydroxydopamine and rotenone, specifically for the highest concentrations of both compounds.

Plant geneticists and breeders have used marker technology since the 1980s in quantitative trait locus (QTL) identification. Marker-assisted selection is effective for large-effect QTL but has been challenging to use with quantitative traits controlled by multiple minor effect alleles. Therefore, genomic selection (GS) was proposed to estimate all markers simultaneously, thereby capturing all their effects. However, breeding programs are still struggling to identify the best strategy to implement it into their programs. Traditional breeding programs need to be optimized to implement GS effectively. This review explores the optimization of breeding programs for variety release based on aspects of the breeder’s equation. Optimizations include reorganizing field designs, training populations, increasing the number of lines evaluated, and leveraging the large amount of genomic and phenotypic data collected across different growing seasons and environments to increase heritability estimates, selection intensity, and selection accuracy. Breeding programs can leverage their phenotypic and genotypic data to maximize genetic gain and selection accuracy through GS methods utilizing multi-trait and, multi-environment models, high-throughput phenotyping, and deep learning approaches. Overall, this review describes various methods that plant breeders can utilize to increase genetic gains and effectively implement GS in breeding .

Classical methods for inverse problems are mainly based on regularization theory. In particular those which are based on optimization of a criterion with two parts: a data-model matching and a regularization term. Different choices for these two terms and great number of optimization algorithms have been proposed. When these two terms are distance or divergence measures, they can have a Bayesian Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) interpretation where these two terms correspond, respectively, to the likelihood and prior probability models.

The online learning necessitated by COVID-19 social distancing limitations has resulted in the utilization of hybrid online formats focused on maintaining visual contact among learners and teachers. The preferred option of video conferencing for academic meetings has become that of Zoom. The needs of one voluntary, democratic, self-reflective university research group—grounded in responses to writing prompts—differed in learning focus. Demanding a safe space to encourage and record both self-reflection and creative questioning of other participants, the private Facebook group was chosen over video conferencing to maintain the concentration on group members’ written responses rather than how they saw themselves (and thought others saw them) on screen. A narrative research model initiated in 2015, the 2020/21 interaction of the group in the year’s worth of Facebook entries, and the yearend feedback received from group participants, will be compared with previous years when the weekly group met in-person. The results in relation to COVID-19 limitations indicate that an important aspect of self-directed learning related to trust that comes from team mindfulness is lost when face-to-face interaction is eliminated regarding the democratic nature of these meetings. With online meetings the new standard, maintaining trust requires improvements to online virtual meeting spaces.

The aim of this work is to explain the behaviour of the multiresistance percentage of Pseudomona aeruginosa in some countries of Europe through a multivariate statistical analysis and machine learning validation, using data from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. First, we will use a descriptive analysis and a principal components analysis. Then, we use a k-means clustering to determine the countries and regions that are most affected by the antibiotic resistance. Second, we expand the database by adding some socioeconomic, governance and antibiotic-consumption variables. We then run a data panel regression analysis to determine some functions that relates the multiresistance percentage with those new variables. Finally, we use machine learning techniques to validate a pooling panel data case, using XGBoost and random forest algorithms. The results of the data panel analysis indicate that the most important variables for the multiresistance percentage are corruption control and the rule of law. Similar results are found with the machine learning validation analysis, where the human development index is an additional important variable for the multiresistance percentage.

With the automotive industry moving towards automated driving, sensing is increasingly important in enabling technology. The virtual sensors allow data fusion from various vehicle sensors and provide a prediction for measurement that is hard or too expensive to measure in another way or in the case of demand on continuous detection. In this paper, virtual sensing is discussed for the case of vehicle suspension control, where information about the relative velocity of the unsprung mass for each vehicle corner is required. The corresponding goal can be identified as a regression task with multi-input sequence input. The hypothesis is that the state-of-art method of Bidirectional Long-Short Term Memory (BiLSMT) can solve it. In this paper, a virtual sensor has been proposed and developed by training a neural network model. The simulations have been performed using an experimentally validated full vehicle model in IPG Carmaker. Simulations provided the reference data which was used for Neural Network (NN) training. The extensive dataset covering 26 scenarios has been used to obtain training, validation and testing data. The Bayesian Search was used to select the best neural network structure using root mean square error as a metric. The best network is made of 167 BiLSTM, 256 fully connected hidden units and 4 output units. Error histograms and spectral analysis of the predicted signal compared to the reference signal are presented. The results demonstrate the good applicability of neural network-based virtual sensors to estimate vehicle unsprung mass relative velocity.

The aerospace industry develops prognosis and health management algorithms to ensure better safety on board. Particularly for in-flight controls where jamming is dreaded. For that, vibration signals are monitored to predict future defect occurrences. However, time series are not labeled according to severity level, and the user can only assess the system health from the data mining procedure. To that extent, we developed a clustering algorithm using a deep neural network core. We encoded the time series into pictures to be feed into an artificially trained neural network: U-NET. From the segmented output, one-dimensional information on cluster frontiers is extracted and filtered without any parameter selection. Then, a kernel density estimation finally transforms the signal into an empirical density. Ultimately, a Gaussian mixture model extracts the latter independent components. The method empowered us to reveal different degrees of severity faults in the studied data, with their respective likelihood without prior knowledge. We compared it to state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms. However, internal clustering results evaluation for time series is an open question. As state-of-the-art indexes were not producing relevant results, we built a new indicator to fulfill this task. We applied the whole method to an actuator consisting of an induction machine linked to a ball screw. This study lays the groundwork for future training of diagnosis and prognosis structures in the health management framework.

Imaging systems mounted to ground vehicles are used to image fruit tree canopies for estimation of fruit load, but frequently need correction for fruit occluded by branches, foliage or other fruits. This can be achieved using an orchard ‘occlusion factor’, estimated from a manual count of fruit load on a sample of trees (referred to as the reference method). It was hypothesised that canopy images could hold information related to the number of occluded fruit. Five approaches to correct for occluded fruit based on canopy images were compared using data of three mango orchards in two seasons. However, no attribute correlates to the number of hidden fruit were identified. Several image features obtained through segmentation of fruit and canopy areas, such as the proportion of fruit that were partly occluded, were used in training Random forest and multi-layered perceptron (MLP) models for estimation of a correction factor per tree. In another approach, deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were directly trained against harvest fruit count on trees. The supervised machine learning methods for direct estimation of fruit load per tree delivered an improved prediction outcome over the reference method for data of the season/orchard from which training data was acquired. For a set of 2017 season tree images (n=98 trees), a R2 of 0.98 was achieved for the correlation of the number of fruits predicted by a Random forest model and the ground truth fruit count on the trees, compared to a R2 of 0.68 for the reference method. The best prediction of whole orchard (n = 880 trees) fruit load, in the season of the training data, was achieved by the MLP model, with an error to packhouse count of 1.6% compared to the reference method error of 13.6%. However, the performance of these models on new season data (test set images) was at best equivalent and generally poorer than the reference method. This result indicates that training on one season of data was insufficient for the development of a robust model. This outcome was attributed to variability in tree architecture and foliage density between seasons and between orchards, such that the characters of the canopy visible from the interrow that relate to the proportion of hidden fruit are not consistent. Training of these models across several seasons and orchards is recommended.

The presented study demonstrates the bi-sensor approach suitable for rapid and precise up-to-date mapping of forest canopy gaps for the larger spatial extent. The approach makes use of UAV RGB images on smaller areas for highly precise forest canopy mask creation. Sentinel-2 was used as a scaling platform for transferring information from UAV to a wider spatial extent. The various approaches of the improvement of the predictive performance were examined: (I) the highest R2 of the single satellite index was up to 0.57, (II) the highest R2 using multiple features obtained from the single date, S-2 image was 0.624 and, (III) the highest R2 on the multi-temporal set of S-2 images, was 0.697. Satellite indices such as ARVI, IPVI, NDI45, PSSRa, MCARI, CI, RI, and NDTI were the dominant predictors in most of the ML algorithms. The more complex ML algorithms such as SVM, Random Forest, GBM, XGBoost, and Catboost that provided the best performance on the training set exhibited weaker generalization capabilities. Therefore, a simpler and more robust Elastic Net algorithm was chosen for the final map creation.

Automated lying-posture tracking is important in preventing bed-related disorders such as pressure injuries, sleep apnea, and lower-back pain. Prior research studied in-bed lying posture tracking using sensors of different modalities (e.g., accelerometer and pressure sensors). However, there remain significant gaps in research about how to design efficient in-bed lying posture tracking systems. These gaps can be articulated through several research questions as follows. First, can we design a single-sensor, pervasive, and inexpensive system that can accurately detect lying postures? Second, what computational models are most effective in the accurate detection of lying postures? Finally, what physical configuration of the sensor system is most effective for lying posture tracking? To answer these important research questions, in this article, we propose a comprehensive approach to design a sensor system that uses a single accelerometer along with machine learning algorithms for in-bed lying posture classification. We design two categories of machine learning algorithms based on deep learning and traditional classification with handcrafted features to detect lying postures. We also investigate what wearing sites are most effective in accurate detection of lying postures. We extensively evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms on nine different body locations and four human lying postures using two datasets. Our results show that a system with a single accelerometer can be used with either deep learning or traditional classifiers to accurately detect lying postures. The best models in our approach achieve an F-Score that ranges from 95.2% to 97.8% with a coefficient of variation from 0.03 to 0.05. The results also identify the thighs and chest as the most salient body sites for lying posture tracking. Our findings in this article suggest that because accelerometers are ubiquitous and inexpensive sensors, they can be a viable source of information for pervasive monitoring of in-bed postures.

AI is leveraging all aspects of life. Medical services are not untouched. Especially in the field of medical image processing and diagnosis. Big IT and Biotechnology companies are investing millions of dollars in medical and AI research. The recent outbreak of SARS COV-2 gave us a unique opportunity to study for a non interventional and sustainable AI solution. Lung disease remains a major healthcare challenge with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. The predominant lung disease was lung cancer. Until recently, the world has witnessed the global pandemic of COVID19, the Novel coronavirus outbreak. We have experienced how viral infection of lung and heart claimed thousands of lives worldwide. With the unprecedented advancement of Artificial Intelligence in recent years, Machine learning can be used to easily detect and classify medical imagery. It is much faster and most of the time more accurate than human radiologists. Once implemented, it is more cost-effective and time-saving. In our study, we evaluated the efficacy of Microsoft Cognitive Service to detect and classify COVID19 induced pneumonia from other Viral/Bacterial pneumonia based on X-Ray and CT images. We wanted to assess the implication and accuracy of the Automated ML-based Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment in the field of Medical Image diagnosis. This study will better equip us to respond with an ML-based diagnostic Decision Support System(DSS) for a Pandemic situation like COVID19. After optimization, the trained network achieved 96.8% Average Precision which was implemented as a Web Application for consumption. However, the same trained network did not perform like Web Application when ported to Smartphone for Real-time inference, which was our main interest of study. The authors believe, there is scope for further study on this issue. One of the main goals of this study was to develop and evaluate the performance of AI-powered Smartphone-based Real-time Applications. Facilitating primary diagnostic services in less equipped and understaffed rural healthcare centers of the world with unreliable internet service.

Genomic selection (GS) can accelerate variety improvement when training set (TS) size, and its relationship with the breeding set (BS) are optimized for prediction accuracies (PA) of genomic prediction (GP) models. Sixteen GP algorithms were run on phenotypic best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs) and estimators (BLUEs) of resistance to both fall armyworm (FAW) and maize weevil (MW) in a tropical maize panel. For MW resistance, 37% of the panel was the TS, and BS was the remainder whilst for FAW, random-based training sets (RBTS) and pedigree-based training sets (PBTS) were designed. PAs achieved with BLUPs varied from 0.66 to 0.82 for MW resistance traits, and, for FAW resistance, 0.694 to 0.714 for RBTS of 37%, and 0.843 to 0.844 for RBTS of 85%, and, these were at least two-fold those from BLUEs. For PBTS, FAW resistance PAs were generally higher than those for RBTS, except for one dataset. GP models generally showed similar PAs across individual traits whilst the TS designation was determinant since a positive correlation (R=0.92***) between TS size and PAs was observed for RBTS and, for the PBTS, it was negative (R=0.44**). This study pioneers the use of GS for maize resistance to insect pests in sub-Saharan Africa.

An optimal scheduling strategy for cooling, heating and power (CCHP) joint-power-supply system is proposed to improve energy utilization and minimize costs in this paper. Firstly, the mathematical model of CCHP system is established. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to optimize the regularization coefficient C and the kernel parameter λ which can affect the prediction accuracy of KELM(PSO-KELM). Then PV generation and load prediction model are established by PSO-KELM. In order to jump out of local optimal solution, Cauchy variation is introduced in SFLA local update, and adaptive mutation operation is carried out on SFLA individuals. The predictions of PV generation and load power by PSO-KELM are imported into the objective function, and the microgrid dispatching model is solved by the improved SFLA algorithm. Compared with the traditional GA-KELM and KELM, PSO-KELM has faster convergence and prediction accuracy. Compared with the power supply division, the operation cost of the power grid is reduced by the proposed optimization dispatching strategy of CCHP micro-grid.

Floods are one of the most wide-spread, frequent, and devastating natural disasters that continue to increase in frequency and intensity. Remote sensing, specifically synthetic aperture radar (SAR), has been widely used to detect surface water inundation to provide retrospective and near-real time (NRT) information due to its high-spatial resolution, self-illumination, and low atmospheric attenuation. However, the efficacy of flood inundation mapping with SAR is susceptible to reflections and scattering from a variety of factors including dense vegetation and urban areas. In this study, the topographic dataset height above nearest drainage (HAND) was investigated as a potential supplement to Sentinel-1A C-Band SAR along with supervised machine learning to improve the detection of inundation in heterogeneous areas. Three machine learning classifiers were trained on two sets of features SAR only (VV & VH) and VV, VH & HAND to map inundated areas. Three study sites along the Neuse River in North Carolina, USA during the record flood of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 were selected. The binary classification analysis (inundated as positive vs. non-inundated as negative) revealed significant improvements when incorporating HAND in several metrics including classification accuracy (ACC) (+37.1%), true positive rate (TPR) (+51.2%), and negative predictive value (NPV) (+23.7%), A marginal improvement of +1.4% was seen for positive predictive value (PPV), but true negative rate (TNR) fell -15.1%. By incorporating HAND, a significant number of areas with high SAR backscatter but low HAND values were detected as inundated which increased true positives. This in turn also increased the false positives detected but to a lesser extent as evident in the metrics. This study demonstrates that HAND could be considered a valuable feature to enhance SAR flood inundation mapping especially in areas with heterogeneous land covers with dense vegetation that interfere with SAR.

Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into effect, both UNESCO and other international organisations recommend empowering youth to implement the SDGs in universities. Getting started with the SDGs at university level is of special relevance in pre-service teacher training since future teachers are powerful agents of change in the lives of young people. Future teachers need to acquire competencies in sustainability to be able to promote meaningful changes in sustainable behaviour. To that end, holistic approaches to facilitate their acquirement need to be developed. The aim of this study is to explore which teaching methodologies are suitable for the development of competencies in sustainability in Higher Education (HE) and how to empower students to take a leading role in implementing the SDGs in universities. The participants in the study are a group of 23 students in pre-service teacher training. The experimental educational model used for the development of sustainable competencies consists of a methodological sequence of Project-Oriented Learning (POL) and a Cross-disciplinary Workshop on Sustainable Food. This study provides evidence that a holistic approach is appropriate for developing sustainable competencies and contributes to empowering students to implement SDG 12 at their university.

This study aims to put forth a new method to study the socio-spatial boundaries by using georeferenced community-authored reviews for restaurants. In this study, we show that food choice, drink choice, and restaurant ambience can be good indicators of socio-economic status of the ambient population in different neighborhoods. To this end, we use Yelp user reviews to distinguish different neighborhoods in terms of their food purchases and identify resultant boundaries in 10 North American metropolitan areas. This data-set includes restaurant reviews as well as a limited number of user check-ins and rating in those cities. We use Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to select a set of potential features pertaining to food, drink and ambience from Yelp user comments for each geolocated restaurant. We then select those features which determine one’s choice of restaurant and the rating that he/she provides for that restaurant. After identifying these features, we identify neighborhoods where similar taste is practiced. We show that neighborhoods identified through our method show statistically significant differences based on demographic factors such as income, racial composition, and education. We suggest that this method helps urban planners to understand the social dynamics of contemporary cities in absence of information on service-oriented cultural characteristics of urban communities.

A reinforcement learning algorithm is proposed to improve the accuracy of short-term load forecasting (STLF) in this article. The proposed model integrates radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), support vector regression (SVR), and adaptive annealing learning algorithm (AALA). In the proposed methodology, firstly, the initial structure of RBFNN is determined by using SVR. Then, an AALA with time-varying learning rates is used to optimize the initial parameters of SVR-RBFNN (AALA-SVR-RBFNN). In order to overcome the stagnation for searching optimal RBFNN, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) is applied to simultaneously find promising learning rates in AALA. Finally, the short-term load demands are predicted by using the optimal RBFNN. The performance of the proposed methodology is verified on the actual load dataset from Taiwan Power Company (TPC). Simulation results reveal that the proposed AALA-SVR-RBFNN can achieve a better load forecasting precision as compared to various RBFNNs.

Mobile devices (MD) are used by mobile cloud computing (MCC) customers users because of their 11 portability and robust connectivity and the ability to house and operate third-party applications 12 (apps). However, the apps installed on a MD may pose data security risks to the MD owner and to 13 other MCC users, especially when the requested permissions include access to sensitive data (e.g., 14 user’s location and contacts). Calculating the risk score of an app or quantifying its potential 15 harmfulness based on user input or on data gathered while the app is actually running may not 16 provide reliable and sufficiently accurate results to avoid harmful consequences. This study 17 develops and evaluates a risk assessment framework for Android-based MDs that does not depend 18 on user input or on actual app behaviour. Rather, an app risk evaluator assigns a risk category to 19 reach resident app based on the app’s classification (benign or malicious) and the app’s risk score. 20 The app classifier (a trained machine learning model) considers the permissions and the intents 21 requested by the app. The apps risk score is calculated by a probabilistic function based on the 22 app’s use of a set of selected dangerous permissions. The results from the testing of an instance of 23 the framework on a MD with real-life resident apps indicated that the proposed security solution 24 was effective and feasible.

- Early and accurate detection of pneumonia from chest X-ray images is crucial for timely treatment and patient care. In study presents a robust computational framework leveraging the CheXnet algorithm, a deep learning model, to identify pneumonia from chest X-rays. Developed a neural network architecture trained on a substantial dataset of chest X- ray images labeled as 'Normal' and 'Pneumonia'. The user- friendly interface of the system allows for seamless uploading of images, with the model subsequently providing predictions, a confusion matrix, accuracy metrics, and layer activations visualizations. The algorithm's performance was rigorously evaluated, with a confusion matrix indicating a high number of true positives and true negatives. Specifically, the model detected pneumonia with an accuracy of 92.47%, as shown by the results displayed in the system's interface. The precision, recall, and F1-score for pneumonia detection were 0.90, 0.96, and 0.93 respectively, with the overall system achieving an accuracy of 0.91 across the test set of 624 images. Visualizations of the neural network layers reveal the complex feature mappings the model uses to differentiate between normal and pathological findings. These insights could be vital for enhancing the interpretability of deep learning models in medical diagnostics. The Results indicate that the CheXnet-based neural network is a promising tool for automating pneumonia detection in clinical settings, which can assist radiologists in the diagnostic process and potentially improve patient outcomes through earlier intervention.

: Leveraging the sustainability of the power system market, researchers have developed various ML models for forecasting electricity demand. The LSSVM is well suited to handle complex non-linear power load series. However, the less optimal regularization parameter and the Gaussian kernel function in the LSSVM model have contributed to flawed forecasting accuracy and random generalization ability. Thus, these parameters of LSSVM need to be chosen appropriately using intelligent optimization algorithms. This study proposes a hybrid model based on the LSSVM optimized by the IBFOA for forecasting the daily electricity load in Peninsular Malaysia. The IBFOA for parameter optimization of LSSVM is introduced. The IBFOA based on the sine cosine equation is proposed to adjust the constant step size in the BFOA, which creates an imbalance between the exploration and exploitation during optimization. Finally, the load forecasting model based on LSSVM-IBFOA is constructed using MAPE as the objective function. Comparative analysis demonstrates the model, achieving the highest R2 (0.9880) and significantly reducing error metrics (MAPE, MAE, RMSE, MSE, NRMSE) compared to the baseline LSSVM (average reduction of 27.72% to 47.72%). Additionally, IBFOA exhibits faster convergence and higher accuracy compared to BFOA, highlighting the accuracy of LSSVM-IBFOA for short-term load forecasting.

The increasing prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), a serious condition associated with elevated risks of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, underscores the urgent need for effective diagnostic tools. This research carefully examines the effectiveness of 16 diverse machine learning (ML) models in predicting MetS, a multifaceted health condition linked to increased risks of heart disease and other serious health complications. Utilizing a comprehensive, unpublished dataset of imbalanced blood test results, spanning from 2017 to 2022, from the Laboratory Information System of the General Hospital of Amfissa, Greece, our study embarks on a novel approach to enhance MetS diagnosis. By harnessing the power of advanced ML techniques, we aim to predict MetS with greater accuracy using non-invasive blood test data, thereby reducing the reliance on more invasive diagnostic methods. Central to our methodology is the application of the Borda count method, an innovative technique employed to refine the dataset. This process prioritizes the most relevant variables, as determined by the performance of the leading ML models, ensuring a more focused and effective analysis. Our selection of models, encompassing a wide array of ML techniques, allows for a comprehensive comparison of their individual predictive capabilities in identifying MetS. This study not only illuminates the unique strengths of each ML model in predicting MetS but also reveals the expansive potential of these methods in the broader landscape of health diagnostics. The insights gleaned from our analysis are pivotal in shaping more efficient strategies for the management and prevention of Metabolic Syndrome, thereby addressing a significant concern in public health.

The paper describes an application of machine learning approach for parameter optimization. The method is demonstrated for the elasto-viscoplastic model with both isotropic and kinematic hardening. It is shown that the proposed method based on long-short term memory networks enabled to obtain reasonable agreement of stress-strain curves for cyclic deformation in low-cycle fatigue regime. The main advantage of the proposed approach over traditional optimization schemes lies in the possibility to get parameters for a new material without the necessity to conduct any further optimizations. As the power and robustness of the developed method was demonstrated on the very challenging problem (cyclic deformation, crystal plasticity, self-consistent model, isotropic and kinematic hardening), it is directly applicable to other experiments and models.

This paper proposes a novel concept within Quantum Natural Language Processing (QNLP) to encode the interpersonal metafunction of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), particularly tenor, into quantum circuits by treating Japanese honorifics seriously. Because of English language bias in the literature, the incorporation of nuanced aspects of interpersonal communication evident in languages, such as the aforesaid Japanese, remains under-developed and overlooked. Utilizing lambeq, monoidal categories, and string diagrams, this study extends lambeq’s quantum computing framework to capture not only grammar but also social context—specifically the roles and relationships that define interpersonal interactions in quantum circuits. This approach represents a significant step toward that end simply by defining the honorific type h in lambeq. This innovative strategy exposes the capability of quantum circuits to model the complex structures of language, moving beyond grammar and even semantics—the horizontal, textual dimension of language—to embrace the vertical, hierarchical dimension of human communication and social interaction. Through this lens, the paper underscores the potential of QNLP to transcend traditional linguistic analysis, advocating for a broader and more nuanced understanding of language that includes not only what is said but also the social persona of the interlocutors. An algorithm for parsing Japanese grammar into pregroup diagrams containing the h type is introduced along with a codebase for other researchers to use and to which to contribute. Lastly, a toy experiment is performed to demonstrate that the circuits generated from these pregroup diagrams are suitable for Quantum Machine Learning (QML) applications.

In today's world, the significance of reducing energy consumption globally is increasing, making it imperative to prioritize energy efficiency in the 5th Generation (5G) networks. However, it is crucial to ensure that these energy-saving measures do not compromise the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as user experience, quality of service (QoS), or other important aspects of the network. To address this challenge, advanced wireless technologies have been incorporated into the design of 5G networks across various network layers. Given the rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technology trends such as Machine Learning (ML), which is considered a subset of AI, the integration of such trends into 5G networks has become a significant area of research. The primary objective of this survey is to analyze AI integration into 5G networks for enhanced energy efficiency. By exploring this intersection between AI and 5G, we aim to identify potential strategies and techniques for optimizing energy consumption while maintaining the desired network performance and user experience.

The recent past has witnessed a growing interest in technologies for creating chatbots. Advances in Large Language Models for natural language processing are underpinning rapid progress in chatbot development, and experts predict revolutionary changes in the labour market as many manual tasks are replaced by virtual assistants in a range of business functions. As the new technology becomes more accessible and advanced, more companies are exploring the possibilities of implementing virtual assistants to automate routine tasks and improve service. This article reports on qualitative inductive research undertaken within a chatbot development team operating in a major international enterprise. The findings identify critical success factors for chatbot projects, and, based on the in-depth case study, a model is put forward to aid the manageability of chatbot implementation. The presented model can serve as an exemplar guide for researchers and practitioners working on the design, development and implementation of virtual assistants. It is flexible and applicable in a wide range of business contexts, linking strategic business goals with execution steps. It is particularly applicable for teams with no experience of chatbot implementation, reducing uncertainty and managing decisions and risks throughout the project lifecycle, thereby increasing the likelihood of project success.

Shared public buildings have become centers of innovation, integrating advanced technologies to meet evolving societal needs. With a heightened emphasis on occupants’ health and well-being, these buildings serve as hubs for technological convergence, facilitating seamless connectivity and intelligent data analysis and management. Within this context, environmental monitoring emerges as a foundational element, pivotal to all aspects of building management. This article provides findings from the nationally funded RE-START project, which focuses on shared public buildings, with special regard to educational and medical facilities. The project explores enhanced indoor air quality monitoring, focusing in particular on CO2 concentration that is directly correlated with occupancy, as a fundamental element for developing health and safety protocols, energy efficiency strategies, integration of smart building technologies, and data-driven energy management. The intersection of environmental monitoring, energy efficiency, security, and IoT technologies in in indoor spaces are relevant. The outcomes of the study reveal the delicate nature of all the involved components, that need to be carefully developed in an integrated manner.

Intestinal parasitic infections pose a significant public health challenge in Northern Nigeria, with prevalence rates ranging from 20% to 70%. Traditional diagnostic methods, primarily microscopic examination of stool samples, face limitations such as low sensitivity and high costs. This research addresses these challenges by proposing an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based platform for the identification and counting of intestinal parasites. A total of 651 samples were collected from the 7 Northern State of Nigeria along with questionnaire collecting data on demographic, socio-economic, hygiene habits and environmental factors. Leveraging the You Only Look Once (YOLO) V8 model, trained on a dataset of 360 pre-processed and 467 annotated images, the AI model demonstrated promising performance metrics. Information-Theory-Based approaches including (CIFE, CMIM, DISR and ICAP) were used on various machine learning models (Naïve Bayes, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine and Decision Tree) to analyse the risk factors associated with the parasitic disease. The precision-recall curve, average precision, mean average precision, and F1 score indicated reliable detection and classification across various parasite classes. The accuracy (97%) and AUC (99%) scores shows that CIFE with Random Forest has the best performance indicating the significant risk factors associated with the parasitic diseases. The model exhibited a well-balanced trade-off between precision and recall, showcasing its potential as a cost-effective and accessible tool for improving the diagnosis and treatment of intestinal parasitic infections in resource-limited settings.

Noninvasive brain stimulation technique can be used for modulation of motor behaviors such as reaction time (RT). The main aim of this study was to investigate whether RT during a sequential visual isometric pinch task (SVIPT) can be affected by anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) over three different stimulation sites such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), primary motor cortex (M1) or posterior parietal cortex (PPC). We also aimed to assess if stimulation of these cortical sites affect the transfer of learning during SVIPT. A total of 48 right-handed healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of the four a-tDCS groups: 1) left M1, 2) left DLPFC, 3) left PPC and 4) sham. A-tDCS was applied concurrent with SVIPT in which the participants were precisely controlled their forces to reach seven different target forces from 10 to 40% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) presenting on a computer screen with right dominant hand. Four test blocks were randomly performed at baseline and 15 min after the intervention including sequence and random blocks with either hand. Our results showed significant differences between a-tDCS groups on ratio RT in the sequence blocks of both the right trained (P = .041) and left untrained hands (P = .023) for target forces of 15% and 30 % of MVC, respectively. In sequence blocks, M1 showed significant elongation in ratio RT for the target force of 15% and 30 % MVC compared to PPC and Sham groups in the right hand. In sequence blocks with left hand, this negative effect were found between M1-DLPFC and M1-Sham groups. In random blocks, no significant differences were found among four groups at each target forces for the left hand while there were significant differences for 15% (P =. 04) and 40% MVC (P =. 035) in the right hand. Our findings suggest that three different stimulation sites (DLPFC, M1 or PPC) were differentially affected by a single session of a-tDCS at some target forces during SVIPT. The effects of a-tDCS on ratio RT were transferred in the left untrained hand for sequence blocks but not random blocks. Further research is needed to understand fundamental aspects of these main areas of the brain on temporal processing in a precision control task such as SVIPT.

The paper aims to develop and test an algorithm for classifying Russian-language text reviews of patients’ experiences with medical facilities and physicians, extracted from social media. This is motivated by the limitations of conventional methods of surveying consumers to assess their satisfaction with the quality of services, which are being replaced by automatic processing of text data from social media. This approach enables to get more objective results due to the increased representativeness and independence of the sample of service consumers. The authors have tested machine learning methods using various neural network architectures. A hybrid method was developed to classify text reviews of medical facilities posted by patients on the two most popular physician review websites in Russia. Overall, more than 60,000 reviews were analysed. The main results are as follows: 1) the classification algorithm developed by the authors has a high efficiency, the best result being achieved by the GRU-based architecture (val_accuracy = 0.9271); 2) applying the named entity search method to text messages following their partitioning improved the classification efficiency for each of the classifiers based on artificial neural networks. To further enhance the classification quality, reviews need to be semantically partitioned by target and sentiment and the resulting fragments need to be analysed separately.

Remediation of IT issues encoded into domain-specific or user-defined alerts occurring in cloud environments and customer ecosystems in a vast majority of cases suffers from accurate recommendations which could be timely supplied for recovery of performance degradations. That, of course, is hard to realize through furnishing those abnormality definitions with an appropriate expert knowledge which varies from one environment to another. At the same time, in a large proportion of support cases, the reported problems under Global Support Services (GSS) or Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) treatment ultimately go down to the product teams making them waste costly development hours on investigating self-monitoring metrics of our solutions. Therefore, the mean-time-to-resolution (MTTR) rates of problems/alerts are significantly impacted from lack of a systematic approach towards adopting AI Ops. That would imply building, maintaining, and continuously improving/annotating a data store of insights that ML models are trained and generalized across the whole customer base and corporate cloud services. Our ongoing study is in line with such a vision and validates an approach that learns the alert resolution patterns in such a global setting and explains them using interpretable AI methodologies. The knowledge store of causative rules is then applied in predicting potential sources of the application degradation reflected in an active alert instance. In this communication, we share our experiences with a prototype solution and up to date analysis demonstrating how root conditions are discovered with a high accuracy for a specific type of problem. It is validated against the historical data of resolutions performed by heavy manual development efforts. We also offer a Dempster-Shafer theory-based rule verification framework for experts as a what-if analysis tool to test their hypotheses about underlying environment.

How crucial is big data in contemporary molecular design? In this publication we elucidate fundamental concepts and terminology in this field, critically addressing overlooked issues. We thoroughly examine the size, accessibility, quality, and structural aspects of big data alongside the primary methodologies employed for their analysis. Within chemical compounds, properties and descriptors represent two distinct data types, forming the basis for categorizing molecular big data. The primary objective of chemistry is property production, which means we are searching for novel drugs or materials rather than chemical compounds, and big data is the central issue of this philosophy. The increasing availability of data in computer-aided technology propels advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL). Accordingly, a broad chemical audience must comprehend these methods to understand data-centered chemistry. Thus, we aim to systemize big data issues through a simple illustrative framework with fundamental descriptor categories: coding, computer-generated descriptors, and property correlates. Although we employ computer-generated descriptors as big data for predictions, the measured data are irreplaceable for achieving high-quality and reliable outcomes and controlling molecular effects. The scarcity of property data remains a significant hurdle limiting comprehensive studies on the structure-property relationships within big data. Accordingly, guided by pragmatics not-so-big data is an option for drug design. We presented also a brief review of the recent big data literature.

Several studies in computer vision have examined specular removal, which is crucial for object detection and recognition. This research has traditionally been divided into two tasks: specular highlight removal, which focuses on removing specular highlights on object surfaces, and reflection removal, which deals with specular reflections occurring on glass surfaces. In reality, however, both types of specular effects often coexist, making it a fundamental challenge that has not been adequately addressed. Recognizing the necessity of integrating specular components handled in both tasks, we constructed a Specular-Light (S-Light) DB for training single-image-based deep learning models. Moreover, considering the absence of benchmark datasets for quantitative evaluation, the Multi-Scale Normalized Cross Correlation (MS-NCC) metric, which considers the correlation between specular and diffuse components, was introduced to assess the learning outcomes.

In the dynamic landscape of drug discovery, Computer-rAided Drug Design (CADD) emerges as a transformative force, bridging the realms of biology and technology. This paper overviews CADD's historical evolution, categorization into structure-based and ligand-based approaches, and its crucial role in rationalizing and expediting drug discovery. As CADD advances, incorporating diverse biological data and ensuring data privacy become paramount. Challenges persist, demanding the optimization of algorithms and robust ethical frameworks. Integrating Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence amplifies CADD's predictive capabilities, yet ethical considerations and scalability challenges linger. Collaborative efforts and global initiatives, exemplified by platforms like Open Source Malaria, underscore the democratization of drug discovery. The convergence of CADD with personalized medicine offers tailored therapeutic solutions, though ethical dilemmas and accessibility concerns must be navigated. Emerging technologies like quantum computing, immersive technologies, and green chemistry promise to redefine the future of CADD. The trajectory of CADD, marked by rapid advancements, anticipates challenges in ensuring accuracy, addressing biases in AI, and incorporating sustainability metrics. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for proactive measures in navigating the ethical, technological, and educational frontiers of CADD to shape a healthier, brighter future in drug discovery.

This paper presents a) the novel hybrid learning method to train the type-1 non-singleton interval type-3 (IT3) fuzzy logic systems (IT3 NSFLS-1) and b) the novel method named enhanced Wagner-Hagras (EWH) IT3 NSFLS-1 fuzzy systems which includes the level alpha 0 output to calculate the output y alpha using the average of the outputs y alpha k instead of their weighted average. The development of the proposed methodology uses the orthogonal least square (OLS) method to train the consequent parameters and the back propagation (BP) method to train the antecedent parameters. This proposal dynamically changes the parameters of only the level alpha 0 minimizing some criterion function as new information becomes available to each level alpha k. The antecedent sets are type-2 fuzzy sets, the consequent sets are fuzzy centroids, the inputs are type-1 non-singleton fuzzy numbers with uncertain standard deviations, and the secondary membership functions are modeled as two Gaussians with uncertain standard deviation and the same mean. Based on the firing set of the level alpha 0, the proposed methodology calculates each firing set of each level alpha k to dynamically construct and update the EWH IT3 NSFLS-1 (OLS-BP) system. The algorithm was tested in a hot strip mill facility to predict the transfer bar surface temperature showing its superior capability to obtain the industrial pyrometer’s knowledge uncertainty for tuning and its better performance when compared with IT2 SFLS, IT2 NSFLS-1, GT2 SFLS, GT2 NSFLS-1, IT3 SFLS, and IT3 NSFLS-1 trained with the BP-BP algorithm.

Recently, smart mobility intelligent traffic services have become a critical task in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This involves not only the use of advanced sensors and controllers but also the ability to respond to real-time traffic situations at intersections, alleviate congestion, and generate policies to prevent traffic jams. DRL (Deep Reinforcement Learning) provides a natural framework for processing tasks. In DRL, each intersection can control itself and coordinate with neighbors to achieve optimal network-wide policies. However, comparing approaches remains a challenging task due to the existence of numerous possible configurations. This research performs a critical comparison of various traffic controllers found in the literature. It demonstrates that using a nonlinear approximator for coordination mechanisms and enhancing observability at each intersection are key performance drivers.

Background:As cyber-physical systems (CPS) continue to grow, it is progressively crucial to address the challenges of data protection using artificial intelligence (AI). Objective:The goal of this research is to provide an up-to-date overview of the security and privacy issues of CPS that incorporate AI techniques. Method:To achieve this, the author conducted a systematic literature review, focusing on 35 relevant articles. Results:The data collected from these studies was then categorized into three main areas: 1) different security and privacy issues, 2) application areas and vulnerabilities, and 3) the AI techniques used to address security and privacy concerns. The literature review highlights that intrusion detection and cyberattacks are the most commonly studied areas in CPS, while Machine Learnning (ML)-based attacks and vessel trajectory are less explored. The review identifies various CPS applications such as water treatment, energy, healthcare, and transportation that address security and privacy concerns. However, a relatively small proportion of studies focused on the manufacturing domain. The review also notes that while supervised machine learning algorithms under the classification category are commonly used to address data protection issues, there are comparatively fewer studies that have implemented automation processes using robots and deep learning. Limitations:The articles related to blockchain-based research were not included in this review to focus solely on AI techniques. Conclusion:The results of this analysis indicate that there is a significant need for innovative AI/ML techniques to protect intelligent systems and networks from ML-based security threats.

Applications for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) range from monitoring the environment to automating factories. However, sustained and effective functioning is made more difficult by Sensor Nodes (SNs) limited energy supplies in which optimization is the main issue. So with the aim of increasing the lifespan by decreasing the energy consumption of WSN, Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocol with Deep Learning (DL) algorithm is analyzed in this paper. LEACH is a hierarchical mechanism that elects Cluster Heads (CHs) and regularly rotates their positions in order to allocate energy use effectively by using the same amount of energy. However, Deep Learning (DL) method is used to further improve energy optimization. In many applications, the types of Deep Learning methods like Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have shown to be very useful. Using this method, WSNs may make more efficient decisions that reduce energy consumption. Data aggregation, duty cycling, and transmission protocols may all be optimized by Deep Learning model's ability to recognize patterns and forecast network behavior. This results in lower energy consumption, a longer lifespan for the network, and better overall performance.

Despite several studies on learner-to-teacher workplace violence and harassment, the problem persists in some South African schools. Learner-to-teacher violence and harassment is a form of workplace violence and harassment as schools are workplaces for teachers. Learner-to-teacher violence and harassment is therefore an important occupational health and safety issues for teachers. The employer is obliged to provide a safe working environment for the teachers to enable quality teaching and learning in the schools. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of high school teachers who have been targets of workplace violence and harassment perpetrated by learners at selected schools in Limpopo province of South Africa. Many teachers were willing to share their lived-experiences but due to data saturation, only eleven participated after being selected through purposive sampling from seven high schools under a particular circuit. Research ethics of voluntary participation, informed consent, ethical clearance and gatekeeper permission were observed. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews using an interview guide. Interviews were audio-taped, and field notes were also taken. Voice recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis into themes and sub-themes. Findings were confirmed by an independent coder to achieve trustworthiness. Teachers experienced physical workplace violence and harassment, verbal workplace violence and harassment as well as nonverbal workplace violence and harassment from learners. Learner-to-teacher workplace violence and harassment affects teachers emotionally and in turn affects quality teaching and learning in the schools. Some teachers propose involvement of community policing forum, strengthening of School Governing Bodies as well as reducing overcrowding in the classroom as possible solutions to deal with learner-to-teacher bullying.

Thanks to the continued development of experimental structural biology and the half-a-century old Protein Data Bank, 2021 saw a big step forward in the development of protein structure prediction with deep learning algorithms. Recently, DeepMinds AlphaFold has determined the structures of ∼ 200 million proteins from 1 million species. The speed of this progress raise the question of what becomes possible for computational drug discovery and design when we have a systems-wide account of the structures and motions of most proteins. Therefore, this article puts forward the concept of a general intermolecular binding affinity calculator (GIBAC): Kd = f(molA, molB, envPara), towards the acceleration of traditional computer-aided drug design (CADD) and artificial intelligence-integrated drug discovery (AIDD), for both small molecules and biologics such as therapeutic proteins.

Nowadays, technological advancement has transformed traditional vehicles into Au-tonomous Vehicles (A.V.s). In addition, in our daily lives, A.V.s play an important role since they are considered an essential component of smart cities. A.V. is an intelligent vehicle capable of main-taining safe driving by avoiding crashes caused by drivers. Unlike traditional vehicles, which are fully controlled and operated by humans, A.V.s collect information about the outside environment using sensors to ensure safe navigation. Furthermore, A.V.s reduce environmental impact because they usually use electricity to operate instead of fossil fuel, thus decreasing the greenhouse gasses. However, A.V.s could be threatened by cyberattacks, posing risks to human life. For example, re-searchers reported that Wi-Fi technology could be vulnerable to cyberattacks through Tesla and BMW AVs. Therefore, more research is needed to detect cyberattacks targeting the components of A.V.s to mitigate their negative consequences. This research will contribute to the security of A.V.s by detecting cyberattacks at the early stages. First, we inject False Data Injection (FDI) attacks into an A.V. simulation-based system developed by MathWorks. Inc. Second, we collect the dataset generated from the simulation model after integrating the cyberattack. Third, we implement an intelligent symmetrical anomaly detection method to identify FDI attacks targeting the control system of the A.V. through a compromised sensor. We use long short-term memory (LSTM) deep networks to detect FDI attacks in the early stage to ensure the stability of the operation of A.V.s. Our method classifies the collected dataset into two classifications: normal and anomaly data. The ex-perimental result shows that our proposed model's accuracy is 99.95%. To this end, the proposed model outperforms other state-of-the-art models in the same study area.

Machine learning (ML) has found increasing use in research on energy conversion and storage technologies, in particular, so-called sustainable technologies. While often ML is used to directly optimize the parameters or phenomena of interest in the space of features, in this perspective, we focus on using ML to construct objects and methods that help in or enable the modeling of the underlying phenomena. We highlight the need for machine learning from very sparse and unevenly distributed numeric data in multidimensional spaces in these applications. After a brief introduction of some common regression-type machine learning techniques, we will focus on more advanced ML techniques which use these known methods as building blocks of more complex schemes and thereby allow working with extremely sparse data and also allow generating insight. Specifically, we will highlight the utility of using representations with sub-dimensional functions by combining the high-dimensional model representation ansatz with machine learning methods like neural networks or Gaussian process regressions in applications ranging from heterogeneous catalysis to nuclear energy.

This paper presents a two-dimensional mathematical model of compound eye vision. Such a model is useful for solving navigation issues for autonomous mobile robots on the ground plane. The model is inspired by the insect compound eye that consists of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units, each of which combines a cornea, lens, and rhabdom. The model describes the planar binocular compound eye vision, focusing on measuring distance and azimuth to a circular feature with an arbitrary size. The model provides a necessary and sufficient condition for the visibility of a circular feature by each ommatidium. On this basis, an algorithm is built for generating a training data set to create two deep neural networks (DNN): the first detects the distance, and the second detects the azimuth to a circular feature. The hyperparameter tuning and the configurations of both networks are described. Experimental results showed that the proposed method could effectively and accurately detect the distance and azimuth to objects.

Rapid search and localization for nuclear sources can be an important aspect in preventing human harm from illicit material in dirty bombs or from contamination. In the case of a single mobile radiation detector, there are numerous challenges to overcome such as weak source intensity, multiple sources, background radiation, and the presence of obstructions, i.e., a non-convex environment. In this work, we investigate the sequential decision making capability of deep reinforcement learning in the nuclear source search context. A novel neural network architecture (RAD-A2C) based on the actor critic (A2C) framework and a particle filter gated recurrent unit for localization is proposed. Performance is studied in a randomized 20 x 20 m convex and non-convex environment across a range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)s for a single detector and single source. RAD-A2C performance is compared to both an information-driven controller that uses a bootstrap particle filter and to a gradient search (GS) algorithm. We find that the RAD-A2C has comparable performance to the information-driven controller across SNR in a convex environment and at lower computational complexity per action. The RAD-A2C far outperforms the GS algorithm in the non-convex environment with greater than 95% median completion rate for up to seven obstructions.

One of the key components of application performance monitoring (APM) software is 2 AI/ML empowered data analytics for predictions, anomaly detection, event correlations and root 3 cause analysis. Time series metrics, logs and traces are three pillars of observability and the valuable 4 source of information for IT operations. Accurate, scalable and robust time series forecasting and 5 anomaly detection are desirable capabilities of the analytics. Approaches based on neural networks 6 (NN) and deep learning gain increasing popularity due to their flexibility and ability to tackle complex 7 non-linear problems. However, some of the disadvantages of NN-based models for distributed cloud 8 applications mitigate expectations and require specific approaches. We demonstrate how NN-models 9 pretrained on a global time series database can be applied to customer specific data using transfer 10 learning. In general, NN-models adequately operate only on stationary time series. Application 11 to non-stationary time series requires multilayer data processing including hypothesis testing for 12 data categorization, category specific transformations into stationary data, forecasting and backward 13 transformations. We present the mathematical background of this approach and discuss experimental 14 results from the productized implementation in Wavefront by VMware (an APM software) while 15 monitoring real customer cloud environments.

This paper used the decolonial theory to analyse provision of Assistive Technology and assistive devices at an institution of higher education in South African. It was an empirical study, in which data were collected through interviews with students with disabilities and the Disability Rights Centre staff members. The paper sought to understand the invisible hidden implications of provision of Assistive Technology and assistive devices. The finding was that it is students with disabilities who were provided with Assistive Technology and assistive devices at the institution. The institution provided them through the Centre, to support their learning. However, this way of provision was found to be stigmatising and segregative. Furthermore, while the provision on one hand enabled students with disabilities’ learning, on the other, it constrained it. The argument of the paper is that when provision of Assistive Technology and assistive devices is for a particular group of students it defeats the whole purpose for it is intended, and could hinder rather than promote learning. It is hoped that the paper will contribute to contemporary debate on provision of Assistive Technology and support services for people with disabilities in low resource settings, from a South African context specifically, and in higher education broadly.

Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic has resulted into massive damage to various platforms of global economy which has caused disruption to human livelihood. Natural Language Processing has been extensively used in different organizations to categorize sentiments, perform recommendation, summarizing information and topic modelling. This research aims to understand the non-medical impact of COVID-19 on global economy by leveraging the natural language processing methodology. This methodology comprises of text classification which includes topic modelling on unstructured COVID-19 media articles dataset provided by Anacode. Like other Natural Language Processing algorithms, Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) and Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) has been proposed to classify the media articles dataset in order to analyze COVID-19 pandemic impacts in the different sectors of global economy. Model Accuracy was examined based on the coherence and perplexity score which came out to be 0.51 and -10.90 using LDA algorithm. Both the LDA and NMF algorithm identified similar prevalent topics that was impacted by COVID-19 pandemic in multiple sectors of economy. Through intertopic distance map visualization produced by LDA algorithm, it can be reciprocated that general industries which includes children schooling, parental care, and family gatherings had the major impact followed by business sector and the financial industry.

In cricket, particularly the twenty20 format is most watched and loved by the people, where no one can guess who will win the match until the last ball of the last over. In India, The Indian Premier League (IPL) started in 2008 and now it is the most popular T20 league in the world. So we decided to develop a machine learning model for predicting the outcome of its matches. Winning in a Cricket Match depends on many key factors like a home ground advantage, past performances on that ground, records at the same venue, the overall experience of the players, record with a particular opposition, and the overall current form of the team and also the individual player. This paper briefs about the key factors that affect the result of the cricket match and the regression model that best fits this data and gives the best predictions. Cricket, the mainstream and widely played sport across India which has the most noteworthy fan base. Indian Premier League follows 20-20 format which is very unpredictable. IPL match predictor is a ML based prediction approach where the data sets and previous stats are trained in all dimensions covering all important factors such as: Toss, Home Ground, Captains, Favorite Players, Opposition Battle, Previous Stats etc, with each factor having different strength with the help of KNIME Tool and with the added intelligence of Naive Bayes network and Eulers strength calculation formula.

Objectives: Studies evaluating machine learning (ML) algorithms on cross-lingual RadLex® mappings for developing context-sensitive radiological reporting tools are lacking. Therefore, we investigated whether ML-based approaches can be utilized to assist radiologists in providing key imaging biomarkers – such as The Alberta stroke programme early CT score (APECTS). Material and Methods: A stratified random sample (age, gender, year) of CT reports (n=206) with suspected ischemic stroke was generated out of 3997 reports signed off between 2015-2019. Three independent, blinded readers assessed these reports and manually annotated clinico-radiologically relevant key features. The primary outcome was whether ASPECTS should have been provided (yes/no: 154/52). For all reports, both the findings and impressions underwent cross-lingual (German to English) RadLex®-mappings using natural language processing. Well-established ML-algorithms including classification trees, random forests, elastic net, support vector machines (SVMs) and boosted trees were evaluated in a 5 x 5-fold nested cross-validation framework. Further, a linear classifier (fastText) was directly fitted on the German reports. Ensemble learning was used to provide robust importance rankings of these ML-algorithms. Performance was evaluated using derivates of the confusion matrix and metrics of calibration including AUC, brier score and log loss as well as visually by calibration plots. Results: On this imbalanced classification task SVMs showed the highest accuracies both on human-extracted- (87%) and fully automated RadLex® features (findings: 82.5%; impressions: 85.4%). FastText without pre-trained language model showed the highest accuracy (89.3%) and AUC (92%) on the impressions. Ensemble learner revealed that boosted trees, fastText and SVMs are the most important ML-classifiers. Boosted trees fitted on the findings showed the best overall calibration curve. Conclusions: Contextual ML-based assistance suggesting ASPECTS while reporting neuroradiological emergencies is feasible, even if ML-models are restricted to be developed on limited and highly imbalanced data sets.

Currently, the most important challenge in any assessment of state-of-the-art sensor technology and its reliability is to achieve road traffic safety targets. The research reported in this paper is focused on the design of a procedure for evaluating the reliability of Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors and the use of a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) for the implementation of that evaluation procedure to gauge reliability. An important requirement for the generation of real critical situations under safety conditions is the capability of managing a co-simulation environment, in which both real and virtual data sensory information can be processed. An IoT case study that consists of a LiDAR-based collaborative map is then proposed, in which both real and virtual computing nodes with their corresponding sensors exchange information. Specifically, the sensor chosen for this study is a Ibeo Lux 4-layer LiDAR sensor with IoT added capabilities. Implementation is through an artificial-intelligence-based modeling library for sensor data-prediction error, at a local level, and a self-learning-based decision-making model supported on a Q-learning method, at a global level. Its aim is to determine the best model behavior and to trigger the updating procedure, if required. Finally, an experimental evaluation of this framework is also performed using simulated and real data

Several studies have analyzed human gait data obtained from inertial gyroscope and accelerometer sensors mounted on different parts of the body. In this article, we take a step further in gait analysis and provide a methodology for predicting the movements of the missing parts of the legs. In particular, we propose a method, called GaIn, to control non-invasive, robotic, prosthetic legs. GaIn can infer the movements of both missing shanks and feet for humans suffering from double trans-femoral amputation using biologically inspired recurrent neural networks. Predictions are performed for casual walking related activities such as walking, taking stairs, and running based on thigh movement. In our experimental tests, GaIn achieved a 4.55 degree prediction error for shank movements on average. However, a patient's intention to stand up and sit down cannot be inferred from thigh movements. In fact, intention causes thigh movements while the shanks and feet remain roughly still. The GaIn system can be triggered by thigh muscle activities measured with electromyography (EMG) sensors to make robotic prosthetic legs perform standing up and sitting down actions. The GaIn system has low prediction latency and is fast and computationally inexpensive to be deployed on mobile platforms and portable devices.

The ongoing revolution in Deep Learning is redefining the nature of computing that is driven by the increasing amount of pattern classification and cognitive tasks. Specialized digital hardware for deep learning still holds its predominance due to the flexibility offered by the software implementation and maturity of algorithms. However, it is being increasingly desired that cognitive computing occurs at the edge, i.e. on hand-held devices that are energy constrained, which is energy prohibitive when employing digital von Neumann architectures. Recent explorations in digital neuromorphic hardware have shown promise, but offer low neurosynaptic density needed for scaling to applications such as intelligent cognitive assistants (ICA). Large-scale integration of nanoscale emerging memory devices with Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) mixed-signal integrated circuits can herald a new generation of Neuromorphic computers that will transcend the von Neumann bottleneck for cognitive computing tasks. Such hybrid Neuromorphic System-on-a-chip (NeuSoC) architectures promise machine learning capability at chip-scale form factor, and several orders of magnitude improvement in energy efficiency. Practical demonstration of such architectures has been limited as performance of emerging memory devices falls short of the expected behavior from the idealized memristor-based analog synapses, or weights, and novel machine learning algorithms are needed to take advantage of the device behavior. In this work, we review the challenges involved and present a pathway to realize ultra-low-power mixed-signal NeuSoC, from device arrays and circuits to spike-based deep learning algorithms, with ‘brain-like’ energy-efficiency.

Sensors available on mobile devices allow the automatic identification of Activities of Daily Living (ADL). This paper describes an approach for the creation of a framework for the identification of ADL, taking in account several concepts, including data acquisition, data processing, data fusion, pattern recognition, and machine learning. These concepts can be mapped in a module of the framework, including the use and creation of several algorithms. For the development of a framework that works in several conditions, e.g., without Internet connection, these algorithms should take in account the hardware and software limitations of the mobile devices to run all main tasks locally. The main purpose of this paper is related to the presentation the sensors, algorithms, and architecture of the proposed approach.

This paper presents MADS (Multi-Agents for Data Science), an innovative and simple open-source multi-agent framework designed for systemic pipeline execution in applied supervised machine learning. By leveraging the capabilities of multi-agent systems (MAS), we introduce a universal approach to optimize and streamline machine learning pipelines. Our framework highlights the differences between various types of agents, such as reinforcement learning (RL) agents and large language model (LLM) agents, and their distinct contributions to the process. While we currently employ LLM agents to automate and enhance machine learning tasks, we acknowledge the potential of incorporating RL agents in future iterations to further improve performance and adaptability. The primary objective is to enhance the efficiency, scalability, and adaptability of supervised learning applications across various domains. This integration addresses the complexity and manual effort typically associated with machine learning workflows, paving the way for more automated, robust, and scalable solutions. Our approach demonstrates significant improvements in task automation, reduced human intervention, and enhanced model performance. The MADS framework, which will soon be available as an open-source implementation, represents a pivotal contribution to the field of machine learning, promising to facilitate broader adoption and collaborative advancement.

The editorial explores the realm of emerging translational research in neurology and psychiatry, providing insights into various subjects, including neurodegenerative disorders and innovative therapeutic methods. The main objective is to study neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, with a particular emphasis on techniques for neural regeneration and repair. The editorial highlights the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to studying and treating complex neurological and psychiatric conditions. This involves thoroughly reviewing research papers on the causes, development, biomarkers, and treatment options for these conditions. The editorial emphasizes the necessity of using multidisciplinary and integrative methods to gain a deeper understanding and improve the treatment of these conditions. The development of an animal model for recurrent primary dysmenorrhea showcases the innovative techniques employed in the investigation of gynecological disorders, illustrating the capacity of translational research to connect fundamental scientific knowledge with practical medical applications. The cooperative endeavors of researchers and clinicians emphasized in this editorial lay the foundation for revolutionary advancements that hold the potential to enhance outcomes for individuals afflicted with neurological and psychiatric disorders globally.

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the applicability and performance of two prominent growth models, namely the Verhulst model and the Montroll model, in the context of modeling tumor cell growth dynamics. Leveraging the power of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs), we aim to assess and compare the predictive capabilities of these models against experimental data obtained from the growth patterns of tumor cells. We employ a dataset comprising detailed measurements of tumor cell growth to train and evaluate the Verhulst and Montroll models. By integrating PINNs, we not only account for experimental noise but also embed physical insights into the learning process, enabling the models to capture the underlying mechanisms governing tumor cell growth. Our findings reveal the strengths and limitations of each growth model in accurately representing tumor cell proliferation dynamics. Furthermore, the study sheds light on the impact of incorporating physics-informed constraints on the model predictions. The insights gained from this comparative analysis contribute to advancing our understanding of growth models and their applications in predicting complex biological phenomena, particularly in the realm of tumor cell proliferation.

The ever-evolving ways attacker continues to im prove their phishing techniques to bypass existing state-of-the-art phishing detection methods pose a mountain of challenges to researchers in both industry and academia research due to the inability of current approaches to detect complex phishing attack. Thus, current anti-phishing methods remain vulnerable to complex phishing because of the increasingly sophistication tactics adopted by attacker coupled with the rate at which new tactics are being developed to evade detection. In this research, we proposed an adaptable framework that combines Deep learning and Randon Forest to read images, synthesize speech from deep-fake videos, and natural language processing at various predictions layered to significantly increase the performance of machine learning models for phishing attack detection.

In recent times, using image-based deep learning techniques has been very useful for classifying fruits. However, mango is a particular challenge because its shelf life is directly related to the degree of maturity at the time of harvest, which is determined mainly through the visual assessment of the operators when sorting them, doing it incorrectly, coupled with the blows and compressions exposed during storage and transport, trigger the deterioration in their quality, hence the importance of this operation. In this sense, the purpose of this study focuses on designing a computational model based on Deep Learning that uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) parameterized to select mangoes according to their color tone based on their maturity stage. A dataset was established from 201 labeled images, then a CNN architecture was built, obtaining a model on which 3 criteria were evaluated: the number of convolution and grouping layers, the resolution of the input images and the number of training epochs required. As a result, an input image resolution of 32 x 32 pixels was achieved, the process included a convolution layer followed by pooling that fed another layer that processed the results and ended in an output layer with 2 neurons under the One Hot Encoding representation. The model required 20 epochs to perfect its training, achieving 96.04 % accuracy in mango image selection. This study supports the potential of CNNs in quality analysis through mango color selection, even in uncertainty scenarios.

Cooling fans are one of the critical components of air-forced (AF) dry-type transformers for regulating internal temperatures. Therefore, effective malfunction detection is crucial to maintain the transformer temperature within an acceptable range and prevent overheating. Regular maintenance occurs periodically and issues with cooling fans may arise between maintenance periods, leading to prolonged operation under malfunctioning conditions and potential failures. In addition, utilities typically have online information about whether a fan works or not without providing information about cooling fan malfunctioning circumstances. To address these challenges, this study proposes learning-based online monitoring techniques to detect malfunctions in AF transformer cooling fans. Random forests (RFs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are developed to classify the audio signals from cooling fans into normal and malfunctioning classes. Unlike RFs, which require separate feature extraction, CNNs are trained based on spectrogram images derived from audio signals. Thus, various time-frequency techniques are utilized for feature extraction in RFs. Besides, multiple data augmentation techniques are employed to enhance the dataset size and diversity. Algorithmic performance is optimized through hyperparameter tuning and classifier threshold adjustment. Simulations reveal that CNNs outperform RFs, whereas the latter provides superior interpretability of acoustic features compared to the former.

Accurate agricultural commodity price models enable efficient allocation of limited natural resources, leading to improved sustainability in agriculture. Because of climate change, price volatility and uncertainty for the sector are expected to increase in the future, increasing the need for improved price modeling. With the emergence of machine learning (ML) algorithms, novel tools are now available to enhance the modeling of agricultural commodity prices. This research uses both univariate and multivariate ML techniques to perform probabilistic price prediction modelling for the Canadian beef industry, taking into account beef production, commodity market, and international trade features to enhance accuracy. We apply multivariate algorithms by using support vector regression (SVR), random forest (RF), and adaboost (AB) and univariate algorithms by using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), seasonal ARIMA (SARIMA), and the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average with exogenous factors (SARIMAX). We apply these models to monthly fed steer price data between January 2005 and September 2023 and compare predicted prices with observed prices using several validation metrics. The outcomes indicate that both random forest (RF) and adaboost (AB) in multivariate modeling show superior performance in accurately predicting Alberta fed steer prices in comparison to other algorithms. To better account for the variance of the best model performance, we subsequently adopted a probabilistic approach by considering uncertainty in our best-selected ML model. The beef industry can use these improved price models to minimize resource waste and inefficiency in the sector and improve the long-term sustainability prospects for beef producers in Canada.

In this paper, intrusion detection systems are thoroughly investigated utilizing the CSE-CIC-IDS-2018 dataset. The research is divided into three key phases: first, applying Data Cleaning, Exploratory Data Analysis, and Data Normalization techniques (min-max and z-score) for preparing data across distinct classifiers. Second, feature importance is reduced using a combination of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Random Forest (RF), with the goal of improving processing speed and decreasing model complexity. This stage comprises a comparison with the entire dataset. Finally, machine learning algorithms (XGBoost, CART, DT, KNN, MLP, RF, LR, and Bayes) are applied to specific features and preprocessing approaches. Surprisingly, the XGBoost, DT, and RF models outperform in both ROC values and CPU runtime. Following evaluation, which includes PCA and RF feature selection, an optimal set is produced.

This study aims to clarify the influence of photographic environments under different light sources on image-based SPAD value prediction. Radish leaf patches of 1.5 cm diameter were photographed under halogen or LED light. The input variables for the SPAD value prediction using random forests were RGB values, HSL values, and HSV values. Additionally, the light color temperature (LCT) and illuminance (ILL) were used as the input variables. Model performance was assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient (COR), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and root mean squared error (RMSE). SPAD value prediction resulted in high accuracy in a stable light environment; CORRGB+ILL+LCT and CORHSL+ILL+LCT were 0.929 and 0.922, respectively. Image-based SPAD value prediction was effective under halogen light with a similar color temperature at dusk; CORRGB+ILL and CORHSL+ILL were 0.895 and 0.876, respectively. The HSL value under LED could be used to predict the SPAD value with high accuracy; COR, NSE, and RMSE were 0.972, 0.944, and 2.07, respectively. The partial dependence plots of the H value indicate a change from blue to green with increasing SPAD values. Further studies are required to examine this method under outdoor conditions in spatiotemporally dynamic light environments.

There is no well-defined threshold for intra-operative blood transfusion (BT) in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) surgery. We developed a Machine Learning (ML)-driven prediction algorithm to trigger and explain a communication alert for BT based on anticipated peri-operative events irrespective of BT policies. We analysed prospectively collected data from 403 EOC patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery between 2014 and 2019. We calculated the estimated blood volume (EBV) using the formula EBV = weight x 80 and set off 10%EBV as threshold for individual intervention. Based on the known estimated blood loss (EBL) we identified two groups. We employed Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for performance metrics. The model performance for the above threshold prediction was satisfactory (AUC 0.823, 95% CI 0.76-0.88). The top feature commonly shared between interrogators was operative time (OT). Intra-operative blood loss of at least 10%EBV was associated with OT&gt;250 minutes, primary surgery, serous histology, performance status 0, R2 resection and surgical complexity score &gt;4. Large bowel resection, stoma formation, ileocecal resection/right hemicolectomy, mesenteric resection, bladder and upper abdominal peritonectomy were amongst sub-procedures clearly associated with increased intervention risk. Precise prediction of blood requirements is not possible unless a rough estimate of OT is known in advance.

The information technology has brought in a revolution in the area of digital agriculture and hydrological modeling . With the advent of IOT and AI such as machine learning is now capable of Predicating flood forecast , drought forecast and farms based water predications. In this article various machine learning algorithms , multiple sensors for environmental and agricultural has been proposed and used . The purpose is to acquire data of soil moisture , temperature , crop stages, irrigation and precipitation on a region constitute of two farms and then performed machine learning predications for total discharge predications at farms outlets so that in case of excessive rainfall or an irrigation event the water is adjusted in the second nearby farm or reroute to a reservoir for future use to avoid flooding. The focus is mostly to work on the concept and building of an andriod -ardiuno based mobile application for the endusers (agricultural system analyst, farmers) to provide an ease. The whole system of smart agricultural based on two farms and reservoir will provide an efficient ,fully automatic, proactive and decision support system to save water waste and reuse. In future the work is also in progress for developing a desktop based application .

Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) is a highly contagious bacteria that can cause significant harm in commercial poultry populations while not prevented. Rapid detection of its presence in a flock is crucial from the perspective of animals' health and economic income. Authors propose spectral measurements strongly backed up by the AI data processing algorithms for classifying egg origin: from healthy hens or MS-infected ones. The newest obtained classification factors are F-scores for white eggshells 99% and for brown eggshells 99%—all data used for classification were taken by the portable multispectral fibre-optics reflectometer.

The technical capabilities of modern Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 are rather vast and growing exponentially daily. The present-day Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) combines manifold underlying technologies that require real-time interconnections and communications among heterogeneous devices. Smart cities are established with sophisticated designs and control for seamless Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication to optimize resources, costs, performances, and energy distribution. All the sensory devices within a building interact to maintain a sustainable climate for residents and intuitively optimize the energy distribution to optimize energy production. However, it encompasses quite a few challenges for devices that lack compatible and interoperable designs. Conventional solutions are restricted to limited domains or rely on engineers to design and deploy translators for each pair of ontologies. This is a costly process in terms of engineering efforts and computational resources. The issue persists that a new device with a different ontology must be integrated into an existing IoT network. We propose a self-learning model that can determine the taxonomy of devices given their ontology meta-data and structural information. The model finds matches between two distinct ontologies using the Natural Language Processing (NLP) approach for learning linguistic contexts. Then, by visualizing the ontology network as a knowledge graph, it is possible to learn the structure of the meta-data and understand the device's message formulation. Finally, it can align entities of both ontology graphs similar in context and structure. Furthermore, the model performs dynamic M2M translation without requiring extra engineering or hardware efforts.

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is a crucial ecological zone and an environmentally vulnerable re-gion in China. Understanding the temporal and spatial trends of terraced-field areas (TRAs) and the factors underlying them in the YRB is essential for improving land use, conserving water re-sources, promoting biodiversity, and preserving cultural heritage. In this study, we employed ma-chine learning on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to obtain spatial distribution images of TRAs from 1990 to 2020 using Landsat 5 (1990－2010) and Landsat 8 (2015－2020) remote sens-ing data. The GeoDa software platform was used for spatial autocorrelation analysis, revealing distinct spatial clustering patterns. Mixed linear and random forest models were constructed to identify the driving force factors behind TRA changes. The research findings reveal that TRAs were primarily concentrated in the upper and middle reaches of the YRB, encompassing provinc-es such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Qinghai, and Gansu, with areas exceeding 40,000 km2, whereas other provinces had TRAs of less than 30,000 km2 in total. The TRAs exhibited a relatively stable trend, with provinces such as Gansu, Qinghai, and Shaanxi showing an overall upward trajectory. Conversely, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia demonstrated an overall declining trend. When com-pared with other provinces, the variations in TRAs in Ningxia, Shandong, Sichuan, and Henan appeared to be more stable. The linear mixed model (LMM) revealed that farmland, shrubs, and grassland had significant positive effects on the TRA, explaining 41.6% of the variance. The ran-dom forest model also indicated positive effects for these factors, with high R² values of 0.983 and 0.86 for the training and testing sets, respectively, thus outperforming the LMM. The findings of this study can contribute to the restoration of the YRB's ecosystem and support sustainable devel-opment. The insights gained will be valuable for policymaking and decision support in soil and water conservation, agricultural planning, and environmental protection in the region.

The public release of ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence language model, caused wide-spread public interest in its abilities but also concern about the implications of the application on academia, depending on whether it was deemed benevolent (e.g., supporting analysis and simplification of tasks) or malevolent (e.g., assignment writing and academic misconduct). While ChatGPT has been shown to provide answers of sufficient quality to pass some university exams, its capacity to write essays that require an exploration of value concepts is unknown. This paper presents the results of a study where ChatGPT 4 (release May 2023) was tasked with writing a 1500-word essay to discuss the nature of values used in the assessment of cultural heritage significance. Based on an analysis of 36 iterations, ChatGPT writes essays of limited length of about 50% of the stipulated word count which are primarily descriptive without any depth or complexity. The concepts, which are often flawed and suffer from inverted logic, are presented in an arbitrary sequence with limited coherence and without any defined line of argument. Given that it is a generative language model, ChatGPT often splits concepts and uses one or more words to develop tangential arguments. While ChatGPT provides references as tasked, many are fictitious, albeit with plausible authors and titles. At present ChatGPT has the ability to critique its own work but seems unable to incorporate that critique in a meaningful way to improve a previous draft. Setting aside conceptual flaws such as inverted logic, several of the essays could possibly pass as a junior school assignment, but fall far short of what would be expected in senior school, let alone at a college and university level.

This paper presents an overview of EREMI, a two-year project funded under ERASMUS+ KA203, and its results. The project team's main objective was to develop and validate an advanced interdisciplinary higher education curriculum, which includes lifelong learning components. The curriculum focuses on enhancing resource efficiency in manufacturing industries and optimizing poorly or non-digitized industrial physical infrastructure systems. The paper also discusses the results of the project, highlighting the successful achievement of its goals. EREMI effectively supports the transition to Industry 5.0 by preparing a common European pool of future experts. Through comprehensive research and collaboration, the project team has designed curriculum that equips students with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in the evolving manufacturing landscape. Furthermore, the paper explores the significance of EREMI's contributions to the field, emphasizing the importance of resource efficiency and system optimization in industrial settings. By addressing the challenges posed by under-digitized infrastructure, the project aims to drive sustainable and innovative practices in manufacturing. All five project partner organisations have been actively engaged in offering relevant educational content and framework for decentralised sustainable economic development in regional and national contexts through capacity building at local level. A crucial element of the added value is the new channel for feedback from students. The survey results, which are outlined in the paper, offer valuable insights gathered from students, contributing to the continuous improvement of the project.

Detecting, tracking, and classifying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a swarm presents significant challenges due to their small and diverse radar cross-sections, multiple flight altitudes, velocities, and close trajectories. To overcome these challenges, adjustments of the radar parameters and/or position of the radar (for airborne platforms) are often required during runtime. The runtime adjustments help to overcome the anomalies in the detection, tracking, and classification of UAVs. The runtime adjustments are performed either manually or through fixed algorithms, each of which can have its limitations for complex and dynamic scenarios. In this work, we propose the use of multi-agent reinforcement learning (RL) to carry out the runtime adjustment of the radar parameters and position of the radar platform. The radar used in our work is a multibeam multifunction phased array radar (MMPAR) placed onboard UAVs. The simulations show the cognitive adjustment of the MMPAR parameters and position of the airborne platform using RL helps to overcome anomalies in the detection, tracking, and classification of UAVs in a swarm. A comparison with other artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms shows that RL performs better due to runtime learning of the environment through rewards.

In recent years, the analysis of macro- and micro-expression has drawn the attention of researchers since they provide visual cues of an individual's emotions for a broad range of potential applications such as lie detection and criminal detection. In this paper, we address the challenge of spotting facial macro- and micro-expression from videos and present compelling results by using a deep learning approach to analyze the optical flow features. Different from other deep learning approaches that are mainly based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), we propose a Transformer-based deep learning approach that predicts a score indicating the probability of a frame being within an expression interval. In contrast to other Transformer-based models that achieve high performance by being pre-trained on large datasets, our deep learning model, called SL-Swin, which incorporates Shifted Patch Tokenization and Locality Self-Attention into the backbone network Swin Transformer, effectively spots macro- and micro-expressions by being trained from scratch on small-size expression datasets. Our evaluation outcomes surpass the MEGC 2022 spotting baseline result, obtaining an overall F1-score of 0.1366. Additionally, our approach also performs well in the MEGC 2021 spotting task with an overall F1-score of 0.1824 and 0.1357 on CAS(ME)^2 and SAMM Long Videos, respectively. The code is publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/eddiehe99/pytorch-expression-spotting).

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is nowadays one of the respiratory pathologies with a higher in-cidence globally in developed countries. This situation led to an increase in the demand for medical appointments and diagnostic studies related to that condition, especially those based on poly-somnographies and cardiorespiratory polygraphies. These studies are limited in resources, causing long waiting lists with the subsequent impact on the patients’ health. Furthermore, it is necessary to mention that OSA’s symptomatology is not very specific, and it is typically present in the general population (excessive sleepiness, snore, etc.). In this regard, this paper proposes a novel intelligent clinical decision support system for the diagnosis of OSA which could be used to help medical teams, both in primary care settings and in units specialized in respiratory pathologies. The aim of the proposed system is to help discriminate the patients suspected of suffering from the pathology from those who are not. To this end, two types of information sets of heterogeneous nature are consid-ered. The first one encompasses objective data, related to the patient's health profile with infor-mation usually available in electronic health records. The second type comprises subjective data, referred to the symptomatology reported by the patient in a previous interview. To process the first group of information, a Machine Learning classification algorithm is used, Bagged Trees in this case. For processing the second information set, related with the symptomatology of the patient, a col-lection of expert systems based on fuzzy inferential systems arranged in cascade are employed. As a result, the system is able to determine two risk indicators related to the patient's risk of suffering from OSA: the Statistical Risk and the Symbolic Risk respectively. Subsequently, by interpreting both risk indicators mentioned it will be possible to determine the severity of the patients’ health, proposing a preliminary evaluation on their condition. For the initial tests of the system, a software artifact has been built using a dataset with 4,978 selected patients, suspected of suffering from OSA, from the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo. The results obtained are promising, demonstrating the potential usefulness of this type of tools in medical diagnosis. Once the system has been validated with new data from clinical environments, it is considered as possible to obtain a relevant improvement in the quality of the healthcare services, and a reduction in the associated costs.

Long unpunctuated texts containing complex linguistic sentences are a stumbling block to processing any low-resource languages. Thus, approaches that attempt to segment lengthy texts with no proper punctuation into simple candidate sentences are a vitally important preprocessing task in many hard-to-solve NLP applications. In this paper, we propose (PDTS) a punctuation detection approach for segmenting Arabic text, built on top of a multilingual BERT-based model and some generic linguistic rules. Furthermore, we showcase how PDTS can be effectively employed as a text tokenizer for unpunctuated documents (i.e., mimicking the transcribed audio-to-text documents). Experimental findings across two evaluation protocols (involving an ablation study and a human-based judgment) demonstrate that PDTS is practically effective in both performance quality and computational cost.

Deep Learning (DL) and Machine Learning (ML) are widely used in many fields, but rarely used in Frequency Estimation (FE) and Slope Estimation (SE) of signals. Frequency and slope estimation for Frequency-Modulated (FM) and single-tone sinusoidal signals are essential in various applications, such as wireless communications, sonar, and radar measurements. In this work, artificial neural network (ANN) and convolutional neural network (CNN) are used in frequency and slope estimation for FM signals under Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Additive Symmetric alpha Stable Noise (SαSN). SαS distributions are impulsive noise disturbances found in many communication environments like marine systems; their distribution lacks a closed-form Probability Density Function (PDF), except for specific cases, and infinite second-order statistic, hence Geometric SNR (GSNR) is used in this work to determine the impulsiveness of noise in a mixture of Gaussian and SαS noise processes. ANN is a machine learning classifier, designed with few layers for reducing FE and SE complexity while getting higher accuracy as compared with classical techniques. CNN is a deep learning classifier, designed with many layers for FE and SE, and proved to be more accurate than ANN when dealing with big data and finding optimal features. Simulation results show that SαS noise can be much more harmful for FE and SE of FM signals than Gaussian noise. DL and ML can significantly reduce FE complexity, memory cost, and power consumption, which is important in many systems such as some Internet of Things (IoT) sensor applications. After training DCNN for frequency and slope estimation of LFM signals, the performance of DCNN (in terms of accuracy) can give acceptable results at very low signal-to-noise ratios where TFD fails, giving more than 20dB difference in the GSNR working range.

The food system represents a key industry for Europe and particularly Germany. However, it is also the single most significant contributor to climate and environmental change. A food system transformation is necessary to overcome the system's major and constantly increasing challenges in the upcoming decades. One possible facilitator for this transformation are radical and disrup-tive innovations that start-ups develop. There are many challenges for start-ups in general and food start-ups in particular. Various support opportunities and resources are crucial to ensure the success of food start-ups. One aim of this study is to identify how the success of start-ups in the food system can be supported and further strengthened by players in the innovation ecosystem in Germany. There is still room for improvement and collaboration toward a thriving innovation ecosystem. A successful innovation ecosystem is characterised by a well-organised, collaborative, and supportive environment with a vivid exchange between the members in the ecosystem. The interviewees confirmed this, and although the different actors are already cooperating, there is still room for improvement. The most common recommendation for improving cooperation is learning from other countries and bringing the best to Germany.

Solar radiation prediction is an important process in ensuring optimal exploitation of solar energy power. Numerous models have been applied to this problem, such as numerical weather prediction models and artificial intelligence models. However, well-designed hybridization approaches that combine numerical models with artificial intelligence models to yield a more powerful model can provide a significant improvement in prediction accuracy. In this paper, we propose novel hybrid machine learning approaches that exploit auxiliary numerical data. The proposed hybrid methods invoke different machine learning paradigms, including feature selection, classification, and regression. Additionally, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are used in the proposed hybrid models. Feature selection is used for feature space dimension reduction to reduce the large number of recorded parameters that affect estimation and prediction processes. The rough set theory is applied for attribute reduction and the dependency degree is used as a fitness function. We investigate the effect of the attribute reduction process with thirty different classification and prediction models in addition to the proposed hybrid model. Then, different machine learning models are constructed based on classification and regression techniques to predict solar radiation. Moreover, other hybrid prediction models are formulated to use the output of the numerical model of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) as learning elements in order to improve the prediction accuracy. The proposed methodologies are evaluated using a data set that is collected from different regions in Saudi Arabia.

Immunotherapy is an effective therapeutic option for several cancers. In the last years, the introduction of checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has shifted the therapeutic landscape in oncology and improved patient prognosis in a variety of neoplastic diseases. However, to date, the selection of the best patients eligible for these therapies, as well as the response assessment is still challenging. Patients are mainly stratified using immunohistochemical analysis of the expression of anti-gens on biopsy specimens, such as PD-L1 and PD-1, on tumor cells, on peritumoral immune cells, and/or in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Recently, the use and development of imaging biomarkers able to assess in-vivo cancer-related processes are becoming more important. Today, positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) is used routinely to evaluate tumor metabolism, and also to predict and monitor response to immunotherapy. Although highly sensitive, FDG-PET, in general, is rather unspecific. Novel radiopharmaceuticals (immuno-PET radiotracers) able to identify specific immune system targets are under investigation in pre-clinical and clinical settings. In this review, we will provide an overview of the main new immuno-PET radiotracers in development. We will also review the main players (immune cells, tumor cells, and molecular targets) involved in immunotherapy. Furthermore, we report current applications and the evidence of using [18F]FDG PET in immunotherapy, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Remote sensing (RS) has been widely adopted as a tool to investigate several biotic and abiotic factors, directly and indirectly, related to biodiversity conservation. European grasslands are one of the most biodiverse habitats in Europe. Most of these habitats are subject to priority conservation measure, and they are threatened by several human induced process. The broad expansions of few dominant species are widely reported as drivers of biodiversity loss. In this context, using Sentinel-2 (S2) images, we investigate the distribution of one of the most spreading species: <i>Brachypodium genuense</i>. We performed a binary Random Forest (RF) classification of <i>B. genuense</i> using a RS image and field sampled presence/absence points. Then, we integrate the occurrences obtained from RS classification into niche models to identify the topographic drivers of <i>B. genuense</i> distribution. Lastly, the impact of <i>B. genuense</i> distribution in the N2k habitats was assessed by overlay analysis. The RF classification process detected <i>B. genuense</i>'s cover with an overall accuracy of 91.18%. The integration of RS and topographic niche models shows that the most relevant topographic variables that influence the distribution of <i>B. genuense</i> are slope, elevation, solar radiation and Topographic Wet Index (TWI) in order of importance. The overlay analysis shows that 74.04% of the <i>B. genuense</i> identified in the study area falls on the semi-natural dry grasslands. The study highlights the importance of the RS classification and the topographic niche models as an integrated approach for mapping a broad-expansion species such as <i>B. genuense</i>. The coupled techniques presented in this work should be applicable to other plant communities with remotely recognizable characteristics for more effective management of N2k habitats.