bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Implementing the UN Convention in Euregio/ NRW – a (Re-)View on Accessibility of the Built Environment
Authors: Bühler Christian  , Philippi Martin
Published: February 2025

Based on the requirement of article 9 of the UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities, access to the built environment has taken renewed focus. In many countries plans and activities have been launched to improve the situation. Footing on national actions of various kind the cooperation in European regions deals with boarding countries. As a concrete example activities in the Euregion Rhine-Maas and Northrhine- Westfalia are presented. The EureWelcome presents the attempt to develop a common label. The data collection in Northrhine- Westfalia describes the effort of a survey on public buildings aiming at better information for the public. This is a cooperative action in the framework of the NRW action plan on the UN convention.
Accessibility for Elderly using a Four-Wheeled Walker – an Interview and Observation Analysis
Authors: Hjalmarson Jenny  , Svensson Hanna  , Glimskär Bo
Published: February 2025

Accessibility for all is an overall goal in many communities around the world. The UN has the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Sweden along with many other countries has agreed to follow. The aim with this project was to analyse which environmental difficulties elderly people over 65 years of age experience in their daily life when walking with a four-wheeled walker. The focus area was the surroundings close to their home. It is necessary to learn more about the difficulties for people with disabilities as a base for future development of the built environment. The group of elderly is increasing daily. In Sweden the four-wheeled walker is a commonly used assistive device by the elderly when, for example, their balance decreases; this is why we chose to focus on this specific assistive device.
Development of Versatile Voice-Output Communication Aid VCAN/2A and Its Customizing Support System
Authors: Hayashi Toyohiko  , Yamaguch Toshimitsu  , Iriyama Maiko  , Aoki Satsuki  , Aiba Yukiko
Published: February 2025

We have been developing a versatile voice-output communication aid named VCAN and its customizing support system. VCAN has an innovative feature of being fully customizable in both page design and hierarchical page structure. It was verified to have high versatility in application through several case studies. Then we could apply VCAN effectively to children with a wide variety of intellectual and developmental disabilities. The customizing support system is also effective for middle users to easily design and update VCAN.
Applying Human-Centred Design to Create a Collecting Tool of Needs and Preferences for the Personalisation of ATMs
Authors: Madrid R. Ignacio  , Turrero Mercedes  , Ortega-Moral Manuel
Published: February 2025

This paper reports a successful implementation of a Human-Centred Design (HCD) approach, especially focused on accessibility, during the design and development of an online tool aimed to collect users' needs and preferences when using ATMs. It includes initial user research activities (e.g. desk research and field studies) as well as final user experience (UX) evaluations (e.g. user testing and surveys). Results showed an overall ‘Excellent’ UX with the online tool which was improved along the HCD process for the different user groups involved.
eACCESS+ and ETNA: Two Different Approaches Conquering the Low Take-up of eAccessibility
Authors: Petz Andrea  , Miesenberger Klaus
Published: February 2025

Within the last decades, eAccessibility has established a solid body of knowledge, including guidelines, methodologies, techniques, training and reference materials and examples how to implement eAccessibility in Information Society products, systems and services. This consolidated body of knowledge is intended to be applied to mainstream design as an integral part of systems and services in society.
The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure, Cloud4all and Prosperity4all
Authors: Vanderheiden Gregg C  , Treviranus Jutta  , Markus Kasper  , Clark Colin  , Basman Antranig
Published: February 2025

As access to ICT is becoming mandatory for meaningful participation, independence, and self-sustenance, we find that we not only are nowhere near providing access to everyone who needs it, but we are actually losing ground due to reasons such as technical proliferation across platforms, increasing product churn (breaking existing solutions), decreasing social resources to address it, and an inability to effectively serve the tails of these populations because of the higher cost to do so. At the same time the incidence of disabilities is increasing as our population ages. This paper describes the Cloud4all and Prosperity4All projects and progress in building the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure, an infrastructure based on cloud, web and platform technologies that can increase dissemination and international localization while lowering the cost to develop, deploy, market, and support a broad range of access solutions. Abstract goes here.
Introducing Assistive Technology in the Formal Education of Healthcare Professionals
Authors: Queirós Alexandra  , Alvarelhão Joaquim  , Gonçalves Ana Luísa  , Rocha Nelson Pacheco
Published: February 2025

The paper addresses the issue of a curriculum innovation for nursing and allied health professions and presents the inclusion of assistive technology as a mandatory subject of the formal education of future health professionals.
Application of Cursor Movement Control Software to People with Physical Disabilities: Two Case Studies
Authors: Watanabe Takashi  , Hatakeyama Takuro  , Okuyama Toshihiro  , Tejima Noriyuki
Published: February 2025

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cursor movement control (CMC) software and develop useful techniques for pointing device operation by people with physical disabilities. To accomplish this, experiments were conducted with the cooperation of users with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The results showed that, for a user who faced difficulty in operating a pointing device in specific directions, the CMC (separate control mode) application was effective because improvements in the usability could be achieved while making use of the user's ability. For a user whose operation was found to alter the direction and amount of cursor movement, the results suggested that an appropriate control mode would be to adjust the cursor movement by the same amount in all directions, which could reduce the physical burden on the user. In future work, we will make the CMC software available and will consider additional case studies.
Cognitive Impairments Simulation in a Holistic GUI Accessibility Assessment Framework
Authors: Tsakiris A.  , Moschonas P.  , Kaklanis N.  , Paliokas I.  , Stavropoulos G.  , Tzovaras D.
Published: February 2025

In this paper, we present a novel methodology to assess the accessibility and usability of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) using virtual user models to describe the users' cognitive capacities and applying these models in simulated interaction with virtual prototypes of ICT products' UIs. We have implemented two tools, to facilitate GUI accessibility assessment: VerSEd-GUI, which supports the creation of custom GUI interaction scenario sequences in an implementation-agnostic manner and VerSim-GUI, for the simulated reproduction of these interactions by virtual users with cognitive impairments. Using these tools, we create a holistic methodology to assess the cognitive accessibility of GUIs.
Outcome Assessment of Electronic Mobility Aids for Persons Who Are Visually Impaired
Authors: Roentgen Uta R.  , Gelderblom Gert Jan  , De Witte Luc P.
Published: February 2025

Mobility is essential for participating in daily life. For people who are visually impaired besides traditional aids Electronic Mobility Aids (EMA) can enhance their independent mobility. Despite technological advances EMA are only used to a limited extent and are not inherently incorporated in orientation and mobility training programs. This study describes the state of the art in EMA and their reported effects, it investigates the usability of several types of EMA and finally a methodology for assessing the effects of EMA on the level of participation was developed. Methods. The study was executed in three phases. The first phase involved two literature reviews, the second phase consisted of usability testing (n=26), in the third phase the developed measurement method was deployed in a group of persons who are visually impaired (n=53). Results. 146 systems were found and could be categorized in EMA for obstacle detection and for navigation. 13 studies described the effects of 6 EMA. The usability of the tested products underlined the need for individual selection of an EMA. The developed assessment method involved a combination of diaries and GPS data collection. Conclusion. The study underlined the need for personalized provision of EMA and contributed to a protocol for assessment, selection and training to support professionals in counseling persons who are visually impaired.
Usability and Usefulness in Assistive Technology for Cognitive Support in Respect to User Goals
Authors: Lindqvist Eva  , Larsson Tore J  , Borell Lena
Published: February 2025

The aim of this study was to examine the usability of different assistive technology (AT) products for cognitive support by identifying features that promoted and/or impeded cognitively impaired users' performance of tasks that were identified as hindering engagement in valued activities. An additional aim was to examine how the users could reach their goals and expected gains as a result of the support of the AT, that is, the usefulness of the AT.
How Individual Should Digital AT User Interfaces Be for People with Dementia?
Authors: Cudd Peter  , Greasley Philippa  , Gallant Zoe  , Bolton Emily  , Mountain Gail
Published: February 2025

A literature review of papers that have explored digital technology user interface design for people with dementia is reported. Only papers that have employed target user input directly or from other works have been included. Twenty four were analysed. Improvements in reporting of studies are recommended. A case is made for considering the population of people with dementia as so heterogeneous that one design does not suit all, this is illustrated through some case study reports from people with dementia. Furthermore it is proposed that by grouping people into functionally similar sub-groups interfaces may be designed for these groups that will collectively establish a sequence of ‘stepping stone’ interfaces that better address appropriate functioning and maintain self-efficacy.
The Person Living with Dementia, their Carer and their Digital Technology
Authors: Cudd Peter  , Bolton Emily  , Gallant Zoe  , Greasley Philippa
Published: February 2025

The paper focuses on appropriate consideration of end users in the development of software that is part of an ICT or AT intended for use by people with dementia and their carers. Extracting data from a literature review leads to the conclusion that papers exploring the design of such technologies do not adequately report all that is needed to have a detailed understanding of the roles of carers, their ICT skills and likely workload. In the light of this the paper goes on to propose use of a research framework which if operated appropriately would ensure correct consideration of all end users – that's people with dementia and their carers – needs and feedback ion the design and evaluation phases of innovation. It is noted that the framework would work for individuals, populations or situations where there were only one type of end user, what makes it different is what you do within the framework steps.
Technological Mediation for Visually impaired People in exhibition Context
Authors: Clair Godefroy  , Sangare Lassana  , Hamant Pierre  , Uzan Gérard  , Dupire Jérome  , Archambault Dominique
Published: February 2025

Interactive multimedia displays are more and more present in the context of museum exhibitions. Vision is mostly involved as the base of most perceptive modalities used to receive information or feedback, and to control interaction with these displays and therefore there is a big risk to exclude visually impaired people. The “OUI” project is the result of a collaboration between cultural bodies and research laboratories. It aims at defining and developing a tangible prototype device allowing to give access to visually impaired people to information and interaction with displays of this kind.
Development of a New System to Produce DAISY Textbooks for Math and Science from PDF
Authors: Yamaguchi Katsuhito  , Kanahori Toshihiro  , Suzuki Masakazu
Published: February 2025

A new system to produce DAISY textbooks for math and science from PDF is shown. In it, correct aloud-reading and speech control can be assigned to technical contents including math expressions. What are required in accessible math/science e-textbooks concerning speech and Braille output capabilities are also discussed. By making use of our system, we work on a collaborative project with the Japan Braille Library to produce accessible e-textbooks and to provide them to various print-disabled students.
A Sensor-based Telemonitoring and Home Support System to Improve Quality of Life through BNCI: Preliminary Experience in BackHome
Authors: Vargiu Eloisa  , Fernández Juan Manuel  , Torrellas Sergi  , Dauwalder Stefan  , Solà Marc  , Miralles Felip
Published: February 2025

In this paper, we present the sensor-based telemonitoring and home support system currently under development in the BackHome project. The proposed system is aimed at supporting and assisting Brain/Neuronal Computer Interaction users by providing intelligent techniques to give both physical and social support, the final goal being to improve quality of life of users.
Devising Participatory Design Workshops for Individuals with Diverse Disabilities
Authors: O'Rourke Pearl  , Ekins Ray  , Timmins Bernard  , Timmins Fiona  , Long Siobhan  , Coyle Eugene
Published: February 2025

Effective user participation during the creation of new assistive products can help to identify design criteria which may not be otherwise evident to product developers. This paper describes the formulation of a series of participatory design workshops which are currently underway in the Republic of Ireland. It focuses on the development of a plan to both foster participant empowerment while generating actionable results, along with the activities, games and structure that constituted the primary workshop. The need for flexible methods and challenges regarding recruitment and communication are also discussed.
Frontiers in Context Modelling to Enhance Personalisation of Assistive Technologies
Authors: Iglesias-Pérez Andrés  , Peinado Ignacio  , Chacón Jonathan  , Ortega-Moral Manuel
Published: February 2025

The concept of frontiers as a way to complement the research on user needs and preferences with context-aware capabilities is presented. A frontier is then the fringe of space between two access modes. Several components were implemented in an Android testbed to check the usefulness of the concept in the selection of Assistive Technology enriched with environmental and device related information, that in the coarse grain are able to suggest a change in the access mode that improve the users' performance on their tasks using a smartphone.
Innovative Technology to Stimulate Physical Activity in Nursing Home Residents with Cognitive Impairments: Introduction and First Results on Feasibility
Authors: Lexis M.  , Kleynen M.  , Beurskens A.  , Van Rossum E.  , Bleijlevens M.  , De Witte L.  , Braun S.
Published: February 2025

Due to the ageing population, the number of nursing home residents with cognitive impairments is substantially increasing. Treatment and instruction of elderly with cognitive impairments by care professionals (e.g. physio- or occupational therapists) is difficult, since not only motor performance may be impaired, but also the understanding of verbal instructions can be limited. Understanding of information may be further limited by a decrease in the capacity of information processing and speed of processing. Nursing homes residents are in general physically inactive. Physical activity during but also outside of supervised therapy should be stimulated in order to prevent secondary complications, enhance movement skills and to achieve or maintain a certain level of autonomy. Innovative technology may be a promising tool to stimulate physical activity; challenging and inviting environments can be created, which can ‘seduce’ nursing home residents to become more active in a fun way. This article presents three potentially suitable technologies to stimulate physical activity in nursing home residents with cognitive deficits or dementia: ‘interactive surfaces’, ‘Tri-Bot’ and ‘virtual cycling’. Results on feasibility indicate that the technologies were accepted by the users and they all seem to be promising tools to stimulate physical activity in nursing home residents.
An Affordable Anti Rollback Brake for Wheelchairs
Authors: Katz Reuven
Published: February 2025

Each year, hundreds of thousands of elderly or disabled patients across the world, that use wheelchairs, fall during the attempt to stand up from the wheelchair. The main cause of these falls is the fact that either the caregiver or the patient himself forgot to engage the brakes. While standing up the patient exerts load backwards and as a result the free wheelchair rolls back and the patient loses balance and fall on his back or his side. As a result elderly people are seriously injured due to this falls which in severe cases may lead to patient's death.
On the Assessment of an Orthosis for Pathological Tremor Suppression
Authors: Belda-Lois Juan-Manuel  , Barberà-Guillem Ricard  , Bonilla Javier  , Prieto Luis  , Clarke Jason  , Abeysuriya Manilka  , Castillo Ascensión  , Gargallo Eduardo
Published: February 2025

An orthosis for pathological tremor suppression at wrist level has been designed emphasizing on user acceptance. The orthoses has been tested in 12 patients. These patients used the orthoses as part of their daily life for one month. An assessment on efficiency and acceptance has been made using objective measurements and questionnaires. Results obtained from use show that orthoses has been well accepted by users and are effective suppressing tremor.
Development of a Low-Cost BCI Application using Neurosky Mindband and Lego Mindstorms
Authors: Duarte Diogo  , Ferreira Hugo Alexandre
Published: February 2025

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are a major technological breakthrough. These systems were first developed mostly for clinical purposes and their usage was limited to specific patient populations. Consequently, BCI technology and applications were quite expensive. In recent years this technology has become increasingly low-cost while maintaining suitable performances, making it available to the general population. Consequently, novel applications are sprouting. In this paper we present a simple and low-cost BCI application, which uses two off-the-shelf items: Neurosky Mindband, a novel consumer-electronics BCI, and Lego Mindstorms NXT, a robotic system based on Lego bricks. These two devices were bridged with Matlab. By using brainwave-related “Attention” and “Meditation” values, two-dimensional control of the robotic system was achieved: the Lego robot was able to move forwards and to the left/right, and was positively evaluated by 8 healthy subjects. Due to its low-cost and simple set-up and usage we believe that this application could be used not only for entertainment but also for paving the way for simple control of motorized devices by the elderly and patients with motor impairments.
Response To Nuclear Mass Casualty Events: The Nuclear Medical Approach
Authors: Santoro Antonio
Published: February 2025

Associated European Health Services cannot afford the etiologic treatment of nuclear mass casualty in emergency; however medical doctors have to be informed about nuclear events and geopolitical scenarios connected to World Nuclear Power. A Nuclear Warheads Classification is proposed to improve specific knowledge. Then Peaceful Nuclear Plants Accidents are historically reported up to 2012. Nuclear Safety statements are shared, while statistic conclusions come from criticized analysis of numbers in Mass Casualty, crossing with Chemical Plants Accidents.
National Protection and Rescue Directorate
Authors: Gace Nikola
Published: February 2025

Mr. Nikola Gace made the introduction on the Croatian case study. He delivered the basis for the Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate through “Protection and Rescue Act”. In his protection was included the Objective of the Croatian National and Rescue Directorate, making a single protection and rescue system through: unified preparation, planning, establishing of procedures, equipping and training; establishing a system of public authorizations and competences; unified coordination of operations of the protection and rescue system; effective and economic use of resources; response time reduction and effective supervision of preparedness.
Capabilities for Emergency Relief - National Challenges and Perspectives
Authors: Brahja Ertust
Published: February 2025

Mr. Ertust BRAHJA started his presentation with Albanian national threats and risks, as: Earthquakes, rock falls, landslides and avalanches, snowstorms and high snowfall, windstorms etc. He emphasized Albanian Constitution and Albanian National Security Strategy as legal framework for the functioning of the system for Crisis Management. He added that these documents, and few others, are so important for the Albanian government because through them they are planning to increase intergovernmental cooperation and constitutional approach. Furthermore, he emphasized the National Civil Emergency Plan and explained that it reflects the policy and main priorities of Albania in the Civil Emergency Service. After that he explained Albanian and international experience in the field of civil emergencies. In continuation he was presenting Albanian legal framework, standards and widely accepted procedures. Other talking point was the systematization and clarification of the roles and responsibilities of all relevant governmental institutions and civil society organizations for the Civil Emergency management. Furthermore he explained about the National Plan has been prepared based on a precise and logical procedure and methodology, which includes Risk Assessment study, large consultations, information sharing, wide consensus of all relevant institutions and organizations. He finished his speech with mentioning the importance of upcoming challenges on bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Regional Cooperation in SEE in the Field of Disaster Management – Slovenian Perspective
Authors: Dervodel Branko
Published: February 2025

Mr. Branko Dervodel presented the national view on “Regional cooperation on SEE in the field of disaster management – Slovenian perspective”. He explained the Slovenian system on protection and rescue, nature and man-made disaster profile, and international cooperation. Mr. Dervodel specially emphasized the cooperation in SEE, regional initiatives and activities. The accent was on the value of the regional initiatives and more in details about the joint training. He suggested that the regional initiatives should be used as much as possible and to increase the joint training and exercises. The countries from the SEE have developed significant national resources and have to offer a lot in the joint cooperation. Abstract goes here.
A Smart (Comprehensive) Approach
Authors: Somer Evert G.J.
Published: February 2025

Mr. Evert G.J. Somer gave his remarks related to the Smart Defense. As part of his presentation there was highlight on the importance of:
Protection and Rescue Capacities of the Republic of Macedonia
Authors: Petrovski Ljupce
Published: February 2025

Mr. Ljupco Petrovski presented the protection and rescue capacities of the Republic of Macedonia. As one of the main references in his presentation were the legal basis and normative of the work of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue of the Republic of Macedonia. After that he continued with the capacities and resources of the Direction and the goals that they have achieved in their field of work. Next was the joint cooperation and joint exercises that the Directorate for Protection and Rescue has done in the past with the countries from the region. On the end he finished with the future developments of the work of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue and the need of increased regional cooperation, increased regional training and joint exercises.
The Ecosystem of Innovations in Nanotechnologies in Support of Counterterrorism
Authors: Vaseashta Ashok
Published: February 2025

Rapid advances in both science and technology, coupled with universal access to the Internet, have inspired both state-sponsored and non-state sponsored actors to new levels of creativity in the development of novel and non-traditional agents. It has become apparent that asymmetric threats have changed the traditional nature of the battlefield. Accompanying the evolution of asymmetric threats is their relative ease of transport and deployment, thus broadening the potential battlefield. Implementation of effective countermeasures demands an understanding of transformational emerging sciences, concepts and theories, and their potential applications. Recent progress in nanostructured materials, coupled with advanced synthesis methods, has significantly contributed to sensor platforms capable of direct detection of chemical and biological agents in a label-free, parallel, multiplexed, and with broad dynamic range, allowing fast and accurate detection with high sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, the use of bio-mimetic nanomaterials is a game-changing technology as it provides ultrasensitive reconnaissance and remote maneuverability in a combat theatre. The development of integrated solution paths through use of nanotechnology and its integration through the convergence of advanced sciences, presents unique and novel opportunities for identifying effective countermeasures to emerging unconventional threats. An ecosystem of technological innovations provides tactical superiority in support of effective countermeasures for various threat vectors.
A Cloud Framework for Big Data Analytics Workflows on Azure
Authors: Marozzo Fabrizio  , Talia Domenico  , Trunfio Paolo
Published: February 2025

Since digital data repositories are more and more massive and distributed, we need smart data analysis techniques and scalable architectures to extract useful information from them in reduced time. Cloud computing infrastructures offer an effective support for addressing both the computational and data storage needs of big data mining applications. In fact, complex data mining tasks involve data- and compute-intensive algorithms that require large and efficient storage facilities together with high performance processors to get results in acceptable times. In this chapter we present a Data Mining Cloud Framework designed for developing and executing distributed data analytics applications as workflows of services. In this environment we use data sets, analysis tools, data mining algorithms and knowledge models that are implemented as single services that can be combined through a visual programming interface in distributed workflows to be executed on Clouds. The first implementation of the Data Mining Cloud Framework on Azure is presented and the main features of the graphical programming interface are described.
The Role of Non-strict Fine-grain Synchronization
Authors: Ributzka Juergen  , Manzano Joseph B.  , Gao Guang R.
Published: February 2025

Many-core architectures are omnipresent in today's modern life. They can be found in mobile phones, tablet computers, game consoles, laptops, desktop and server systems. Although, many-core systems are common in powerful mainstream systems, their core count is still in the lower tens and has not increased much over the last years. Truly massively parallel systems with core counts in the higher tens or even hundreds have only been seen so far in custom-made architectures for High Performance Computing systems or innovative new architectures from startup companies. Nevertheless, the core count has already reached acritical mass that shows the difficulty of increasing performance and reducing power. This requires careful orchestration of the many cores with efficient synchronization constructs such that they reduce the idle time of waiting cores and use power efficient synchronization operations.
Uniform High-Level Programming of Many-Core and Multi-GPU Systems
Authors: Kegel Philipp  , Steuwer Michel  , Gorlatch Sergei
Published: February 2025

Application programming for modern heterogeneous systems which comprise multi-core CPUs and multiple GPUs is complex and error-prone. Approaches like OpenCL and CUDA are relatively low-level as they require explicit handling of parallelism and memory, and they do not offer support for multiple GPUs within a stand-alone computer, nor for distributed systems that integrate several computers. In particular, distributed systems require application developers to use a mix of programming models, e.g., MPI together with OpenCL or CUDA.
Achieving the 20MW Target: Mobilizing the HPC Community to Accelerate Energy Efficient Computing
Authors: Bates Natalie J.  , Patterson Michael K.
Published: February 2025

The growth rate in energy consumed by data centers in the United States has been declining in the past five years compared to its earlier accelerating pace. This reduced growth rate was achieved in large part due to energy efficiency improvements. Measuring, monitoring and managing usage has been key to making these improvements in energy efficiency. The metric Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) has been effective in driving the energy efficiency of data centers, but it has limitations. PUE does not account for the power distribution and cooling losses inside the IT equipment, which is particularly problematic for HPC. Similarly, reporting performance and analyzing the amount of power used to run High Performance Linpack for a Top500 and/or Green500 submission has been successful in helping to drive improvements in supercomputing system energy efficiency. Power efficiency, (Megaflops per watt) shows average efficiency nearly tripling between 2007 and 2011. But just as PUE isn't perfect for the data center, so are there problems with the power/energy measurement methodologies, workloads and metrics for supercomputer systems. Work is actively being done on both of these topics. The ability to achieve the 20MW target for an Exascale system is challenging and will require shifts in architecture, technology and application usage models as well as tighter coupling between the data center infrastructure and the computer system. This paper will describe initiatives led by the Energy Efficient High Performance Computing Working Group that will help us hit our 20 MW target.
Reliability Assessment of EMAT-NDE System for Pipe Wall Thinning Management
Authors: Kojima Fumio  , Nakamoto Hiroyuki  , Tabata Hiroki  , Katoh Sho  , Kosaka Daigo
Published: February 2025

A reliability assessment method for pipe wall thinning management using electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) is discussed. In the series of laboratory experiments, we collect the measurement data for carbon steel test pipes fabricated to simulate flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC). Those data are used for the reliability assessment of EMAT based NDE system. The reliability of the system can be derived from the so-called probability of detection (POD). The POD evaluation is carried out and evaluated using a signal response model. The final part of this paper is devoted to the applicability and the validity of the POD based assessment method considered here.
Field Application of Electromagnetic Acoustic Resonance to Inspection of Pipe Wall Thinning in a Nuclear Power Plant
Authors: Takagi Toshiyuki  , Urayama Ryoichi  , Ichihara Toshiaki  , Uchimoto Tetsuya  , Ohira Taku  , Kikuchi Takayoshi
Published: February 2025

Electromagnetic acoustic resonance (EMAR) with “superposition of the nthcompression” signal processing was applied to measure the thickness of pipes in nuclear power plants and to assess its feasibility. Thickness values evaluated by EMAR agreed well with those obtained using an ultrasonic thickness gauge. In addition, as a non-contact measurement method, EMAR decreases measurement times of pipe inspections in nuclear power plants.
Lorentz Force Eddy Current Testing – Model Experiments and Numerical Calculations for Deep Lying Defects
Authors: Uhlig Robert P.  , Zec Mladen  , Brauer Hartmut
Published: February 2025

This paper reports the most recent investigations on the detection of deep lying defects in nonmagnetic materials using Lorentz force eddy current testing (LET). Whereas classical eddy current testing techniques are limited due to the frequency dependent skin depth LET is expected to overcome this particular disadvantage by exploiting the induction of eddy currents by moving an electrical conductor in the vicinity of a permanent magnet. The detection of deep lying defects is examined at relatively high testing velocities and with high spatial resolution. Without target-oriented improvements defects in a depth of up to 6 mm under the surface can be detected and localized.
Critical infrastructure Protection in a Post-9/11 World
Authors: Klain David
Published: February 2025

This paper focuses on CIP (Critical infrastructure Protection) and posits an approach to implementing it following the attacks of 11 September 2001 (hereafter referred to as 9/11). While the phrase ‘Critical infrastructure Protection’ is used frequently in government, academia, the private sector, and within the NATO alliance, there are many different approaches and constructs to the topic. What is clear is that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 changed how organizations defined Critical infrastructure and what strategies were used to protect it.
Advanced Technologies/Tactics Techniques, Procedures: Closing the Attack Window, and Thresholds for Reporting and Containment
Authors: Stewart John N.
Published: February 2025

New techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) are now available to strengthen security postures and become more resilient to cyber threats. Most of these technologies are accessible and affordable, and they are showing promising results. This paper exemplifies eight specific advanced techniques, tactics, and procedures to counter cyber threats, including using moving target architectures to confuse the adversary, monitoring the dark space of the Internet, and using honey pots to detect adversaries and infected machines within an organization's infrastructure. It also explains what is required to enable these techniques and what metrics should be used to measure their results. These advanced practices should become common security standards.
ForestClaw: Hybrid forest-of-octrees AMR for hyperbolic conservation laws
Authors: Burstedde Carsten  , Calhoun Donna  , Mandli Kyle  , Terrel Andy R.
Published: February 2025

We present a new hybrid paradigm for parallel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) that combines the scalability and lightweight architecture of tree-based AMR with the computational efficiency of patch-based solvers for hyperbolic conservation laws. The key idea is to interpret each leaf of the AMR hierarchy as one uniform compute patch in Rdwith mddegrees of freedom, where m is customarily between 8 and 32. Thus, computation on each patch can be optimized for speed, while we inherit the flexibility of adaptive meshes. In our work we choose to integrate with the p4est AMR library since it allows us to compose the mesh from multiple mapped octrees and enables the cubed sphere and other nontrivial multiblock geometries. We describe aspects of the parallel implementation and close with scalings for both MPI-only and OpenMP/MPI hybrid runs, where the largest MPI run executes on 16,384 CPU cores.
Extreme Scaling of Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics
Authors: Brayford David  , Allalen Momme  , Weinberg Volker
Published: February 2025

As the complexity and size of challenges in science and engineering are continually increasing, it is highly important that applications are able to scale strongly to very large numbers of cores (>100,000 cores) to enable HPC systems to be utilised efficiently. This paper presents results of strong scaling tests performed with an MPI only and a hybrid MPI + OpenMP version of the Lattice QCD application BQCD on the European Tier-0 system SuperMUC at LRZ.
End-to-end Parallel Simulations with APES
Authors: Klimach Harald  , Jain Kartik  , Roller Sabine
Published: February 2025

Simulations at extreme scale generate large amounts of data. As sufficiently large resources to handle the large data sets are generally available only in a distributed form, the complete tool chain deployed to obtain simulation results needs to be usable on distributed systems. In this work we present the APES framework which provides such a tool chain for mesh based simulations. We show the scaling behavior of two solvers from that framework, both of which are capable to deal with complex geometries but target different application domains. The scalability is investigated on the SuperMUC system installed at the Leibniz-Rechenzentrum in Munich including an analysis of single node behavior and the sustained performance.
Binary Instrumentation for Scalable Performance Measurement of OpenMP Applications
Authors: Jaeger Julien  , Philippen Peter  , Petit Eric  , Charif Rubial Andres  , Rössel Christian  , Jalby William  , Mohr Bernd
Published: February 2025

In this paper we present a binary instrumentation methodology to monitor runtime events. We demonstrate our approach on OpenMP constructs for the Intel and GNU compilers. A binary-level static analysis detects the compiler patterns and the runtime function calls corresponding to OpenMP regions. To this effect we integrate the software tool MAQAO with the scalable measurement infrastructure Score-P. We design a new interface and modify both tools to support the new events. The main advantages of using binary instrumentation are the possibility to retrieve implicit runtime events, to instrument without recompilation, to be independent from the language, and not to interact with compiler optimization. Our validation experiments and first results shows that binary instrumentation has not introduced any additional overhead.
A Case Study: Holistic Performance Analysis on Heterogeneous Architectures using the Vampir Toolchain
Authors: Dietrich Robert  , Winkler Frank  , William Thomas  , Stolle Jonas  , Henschel Robert  , Berry Donald K.
Published: February 2025

State-of-the-art high performance computing (HPC) applications have to scale over an increasing number of processing elements, meanwhile application developers recently have to face the programming of special accelerator hardware. Although computing languages like CUDA and programming standards like OpenACC provide a fairly easy way to exploit the computational power of general purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs), their programming is still challenging. Performance analysis is a vital procedure to efficiently use the available hardware and programming models. This paper presents the Vampir performance analysis capabilities by taking the example of a molecular dynamics code, which uses message passing (MPI), threading (OpenMP) and offloading to accelerators (OpenACC and CUDA). It is shown that the Vampir tool-set allows a holistic view on the combined usage of all commonly utilized programming paradigms in heterogeneous HPC applications.
Practical Software Synthesis
Authors: Yahav Eran
Published: February 2025

Software is becoming increasingly complex. For system-level programmers, the transition of hardware providers to multi-core architectures exposes new sources of complexity. Additional complexity is introduced by systems using heterogenous concurrency and massively data-parallel architectures such as GPUs. For application-level programmers, the proliferation of libraries and frameworks, intended to reduce complexity, often requires programmers to be aware of intricate library internals for effective and correct usage of the library. Furthermore, despite the ability to hide some aspects of concurrency in the library, even application-level programmers might still need to reason about atomicity.
Towards a Full Understanding of Terrorist Leadership Elimination: a Research Agenda
Authors: Van Dongen Teun
Published: February 2025

This chapter will make some suggestions to take the research on terrorist leadership elimination forward. Although recent studies into the effectiveness of leadership elimination are impressive in their scope, they suffer from three main flaws. First, too little attention is paid to the various kinds authority wielded by terrorist leaders. Different types of terrorist leadership should be identified to see whether leadership elimination works better against certain types of leadership. Second, the research into leadership elimination is focused too narrowly on terrorist organisations that have a clearly identifiable leader. Broadening the scope to include the elimination of cell and ring leaders will allow for the application of the concept of leadership elimination to loosely structured terrorist networks. Third, the impact of terrorist leadership elimination is defined too narrowly in terms of attack numbers or organisational survival. Instead, different kinds of effects should be formulated for different kinds of leaders. To address these three flaws, analysts and researchers need to go over the cases they know well in order to identify types of terrorist leadership, types of leadership elimination, and possible impacts of terrorist leadership elimination. The testing of the resulting hypotheses will enhance our understanding of the impact of terrorist leadership elimination.
How Terrorists End in the Afpak Region? – the Extermination of Leadership, Mid-Rank Commanders and Foot Soldiers 2004-2012
Authors: Machnikowski Ryszard M.
Published: February 2025

Article presents some empirical data on targeted killing/ assassination of the leaders and members of terrorists' and guerilla groups in the Afpak region 2004 - 2012 with the use of American Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones). I focus my attention on core al Qaeda and its affiliates as well as Taliban leadership assassinated through this program. I disregard in my paper the problems of both legal and moral judgment of targeted killings, concentrating attention on its growing efficiency and scope. It seems that attacks are based on precise and actionable intelligence resulting in its growing number and effectiveness. One can also presume that no more than 10% of the victims of these American attacks can be described as collateral damage. As a result planning and operational capabilities of terrorist groups, primarily al Qaeda central have been effectively limited. However, this statement is not precise as far as so called Taliban groups are concerned.
Psychological Profile and Types of Leaders of Terrorist Structures – Generic Views and Experiences From the Activities of Illegal Groups and Organizations in the Republic of Macedonia
Authors: Batkovski Tome  , Rajkovcevski Rade
Published: February 2025

The paper intents to elaborate a part of the important issues relating to the establishment and operation of illegal structures that use violence as a main method for realizing political goals, and are called terrorist groups and organizations. Namely, it is a clarification of the role of leaders of terrorist groups and organizations through interpenetration in their psychological profile, which is the basis for trying to get to the typology of the leaders of these illegal structures. It starts by explaining the objective importance of social conflicts, from whose opposition the formation and activities of terrorist groups and organizations is derived, that leads to individuals to clearly and directly project their goals and interests and determine the specific methods available in order to achieve the most immediate change. In terms of the psychological profile of leaders of terrorist groups and organizations, these aspects are taken into consideration: motives; motivating processes; opinions that affect planning and organization and implementation of specific violent acts that lead to the realization of the given political purposes. The typology of leaders is established according to five criteria - political-ideological matrix, consistency, readiness for physical sacrifice, the radius of action and linkage to external factors. In the second part of the paper three cases of leaders of illegal structures in Macedonia are presented, with drawing conclusions based on theoretical settings psychological profile and typology of leaders of terrorist groups and organizations.
Falls in the elderly and accessibility traffic environment in neighborhood districts
Authors: Yanagihara Takao  , Takahashi Fumi  , Ishimi Ryota
Published: February 2025

To be able to walk around in the neighborhood is an important part of daily life. There are elderly people who cannot go for a walk or cannot go to shop in their neighborhood because of not accessible pathway or pavements, feelings of being insecure or fear of traffic accidents. The purpose of this study is to investigate the realities of the falling accident in the elderly people in neighborhood districts. The elderly people who had the falling experiences were about 30%, some people had severe injury by bone fracture. But they did not think to be dangerous the falling places. In the future, when the local governments make an accessibility basic plan, it is a problem how to find dangerous places of falling before the accident happens.
How Usable is the City for Older Bicyclists?
Authors: Rosenkvist Jenny  , Svensson Helena  , Wretstrand Anders
Published: February 2025

The aim of this paper was to examine how useable and inclusive the city is from the perspective of older bicyclists. Methods used were quantitative questionnaires and qualitative focus group interviews. Participants were people aged 65 years or older. The results showed that respondents were fairly satisfied with the transport infrastructure design. However, other road users seemed to complicate cycling, e.g. as communication and interaction between other road users was perceived as difficult and poor.
Research on continuity among assistive devices for personal mobility of visually impaired persons around crossings
Authors: Hirono Kyohei  , Miyazaki Tatsuya  , Ito Shin-ichi  , Sato Katsuya  , Fujisawa Shoichiro
Published: February 2025

Tactile walking surface indicators are necessary for visually impaired persons to walk independently. Audible pedestrian signals are also necessary for them to cross intersections. TWSIs support approaching the intersection, and audible pedestrian signals support crossing the intersection. However, the support of audible pedestrian signals may not necessarily be related to the support of the TWSIs. This research sought to verify how visually impaired persons are guided by different positions where the audible pedestrian signals are set up.
The Smart Bathroom: UD through Integrating Physical and Digital Worlds
Authors: Sanford Jon A.  , Jones Brian
Published: February 2025

Although the abilities of people with disabilities are diverse, many accessible toilets are fixed. As a result, they can only support some abilities some of the time. The purpose of this project is to develop a smart bathroom capable of assessing an individual's abilities at any point in time and spontaneously adjusting supportive environmental features to accommodate those abilities. Specifically, the study will: 1) observe simulated toilet and shower/bathtub use in a state-of-the-art bathroom laboratory with embedded sensors and automated adjustment of fixtures and hardware; 2) develop algorithms that predict support needs; 3) integrate algorithms with the smart technologies to control the physical environment; and 4) evaluate the effectiveness of the smart bathroom system.