bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identity-Based Encryption and Hierarchical Identity-Based Encryption
Authors: Chatterjee Sanjit  , Sarkar Palash
Published: February 2025

We take a bird's eye view of different identity-based encryption (IBE) and hierarchical identity-based encryption (HIBE) protocols that are available in the literature and use bilinear pairing as the principal building block. We start with the seminal work on IBE by Boneh-Franklin. The concept of IBE has been generalized to HIBE and we illustrate this with Gentry-Silverberg HIBE. The salient features of the security reductions are also discussed along with the protocols. These initial protocols were proven secure in the adaptive setting using random oracle. A non-adaptive security model called the selective-ID model was developed later and protocols secure in this restricted security model are discussed along with an insider's view on their proof technique. Finally, protocols secure in the adaptive setting without the use of random oracle are introduced and their security discussed. The (H)IBE protocols available in the literature are generally shown to be secure against chosen plaintext attack. Generic as well as endogenous techniques from the existing literature are briefly discussed on how to achieve chosen ciphertext security for these protocols.
Flexible IBE and Beyond in the Commutative-Blinding Framework
Authors: Boyen Xavier
Published: February 2025

The cryptographic community has, of late, shown much inventiveness in the creation of powerful new IBE-like primitives that go beyond the basic IBE notion and extend it in many new directions. Virtually all of these “super-IBE” schemes rely on bilinear pairings for their implementation, which they tend to use in a surprisingly small number of different ways: three of them as of this writing.
A Modular Wireless In Vivo Surgical Robot with Multiple Surgical Applications
Authors: Hawks Jeff A.  , Rentschler Mark E.  , Farritor Shane  , Oleynikov Dmitry  , Platt Stephen R.
Published: February 2025

The use of miniature in vivo robots that fit entirely inside the peritoneal cavity represents a novel approach to laparoscopic surgery. Previous work demonstrates that both mobile and fixed-based robots can successfully operate inside the abdominal cavity. A modular wireless mobile platform has also been developed to provide surgical vision and task assistance. This paper presents an overview of recent test results of several possible surgical applications that can be accommodated by this modular platform. Applications such as a biopsy grasper, stapler and clamp, video camera, and physiological sensors have been integrated into the wireless platform and tested in vivo in a porcine model. The modular platform facilitates rapid development and conversion from one type of surgical task assistance to another. These self-contained surgical devices are much more transportable and much lower in cost than current robotic surgical assistants. These devices could ultimately be carried and deployed by non-medical personnel at the site of an injury. A remotely located surgeon could use these robots to provide critical first response medical intervention.
A Framework for Development of Virtual Reality-Based Training Simulators
Authors: Machado Liliane S.  , Moraes Ronei M.  , Souza Daniel F.L.  , Souza Leandro C.  , Cunha Ícaro L.L.
Published: February 2025

CyberMed is a free framework (GPL license) for the development of medical applications for simulation based on virtual reality. The framework allows to decrease development time and offers complete synchronization among several functionalities that can be selected by the programmer, as stereoscopic visualization, haptics and deformation, among others. An important feature of this framework is an online evaluation module that allows the classification of the user performance according to several simulation and interaction data. CyberMed can be used by programmers of any expertise level and offers high-level access for non-experts and low-level access for expert programmers. The low-level access allows the inclusion or extension of the framework functionalities.
A Research Portfolio for Innovation in the Surgical Environment
Authors: Moses Gerald R.  , Park Adrian E.
Published: February 2025

The University of Maryland Medical Center and School of Medicine have sponsored a program of research targeted at the enabling of technologies for enhanced training, clinical effectiveness and patient safety. The pillars of this research included scientific approaches related to Informatics, Smart Image, Simulation and Ergonomics and Human Factors. The evolving research effort opened the door to a revised concept of basic surgical sciences that underpin training and performance in the operative environment.
Citizen Government Interaction: The Promise of the E-Channel
Authors: Schellong Alexander
Published: February 2025

E-government was supposed to change the interactions between citizens and government. However, an analysis of e-government practices around the world shows that this transformation has not happened. In particular, governments have not significantly improved opportunities for public participation. Moreover, citizens prefer not to use the Internet in their interactions with government. Government contact centers accessible through a single, easy to remember three-digit number have been successful in the U.S. and around the world. They offer citizens a new form of participation and facilitate performance management, knowledge sharing and cross-boundary collaboration in government.
Stuck in the Middle? Dutch Provinces in the Information Society
Authors: Kuijper Joost
Published: February 2025

As the intermediate level of government in the Netherlands, the position of provinces might be threatened by such effects of ICT as deterritorialization. However, this has not been the case in the Netherlands during the past 15 years. Provinces have a niche role because of their relative specialization on information with a spatial component (geo-information). Provinces did not experience either an ICT hype or a severe backlash. They merely followed the national trend. Yet provinces can still make a stronger effort to adequately deploy the possibilities of electronic government. By making a combination between the geo-based information assets and the standard e-government components, provinces might improve their visibility as e-services deliverers.
Information Sharing and Public Health: A Case-based Look at the ICT Expectations-Reality Gap
Authors: Pardo Theresa A.  , Gil-García J. Ramón  , Burke G. Brian
Published: February 2025

Sharing information across organizational boundaries is central to efforts to improve government operations and services. However, creating the capability necessary to enable information sharing across the boundaries of organizations is among the most difficult types of information technology projects. New knowledge about information sharing is required; in particular, new understanding about how government, non-governmental and private sector organizations come together to share information is necessary. This chapter draws on the experiences of key actors in three states in the United States as they organized to create new capability to share information as part of their responses to the West Nile virus outbreaks. The cases highlight the gap between expectations and reality, providing opportunity to more fully understand the gaps between expectations (the hype) about ICTs and the reality facing government practitioners who seek to use ICTs to share information. Examining the cases in terms of four contexts of information integration and sharing provides a more specific understanding about the gaps between these expectations and the reality (after the hype). The lessons learned in the context of public health include the central role of information sharing and the implications of resource constraints on data capture and use capability in the context of an outbreak management and surveillance effort. Insight into the interdependence of system design and process support and improvement in the context of public health surveillance was also found to be critical to future planning of public health surveillance systems. This chapter serves to reemphasize to both researchers and practitioners the need to close the gap between expectations and reality; the point is made again through the cases that closing the gap depends on strategies that draw on technology, process, interorganizational, and political perspectives and resources.
Finite State Models for the Generation of Large Corpora of Natural Language Texts
Authors: Cantone Domenico  , Cristofaro Salvatore  , Faro Simone  , Giaquinta Emanuele
Published: February 2025

Natural languages are probably one of the most common type of input for text processing algorithms. Therefore, it is often desirable to have a large training/testing set of input of this kind, especially when dealing with algorithms tuned for natural language texts. In many cases the problem due to the lack of big corpus of natural language texts can be solved by simply concatenating a set of collected texts, even with heterogeneous contexts and by different authors.
Understanding the Impact on Intensive Care Staff Workflow Due to the Introduction of a Critical Care Information System: A Mixed Methods Research Methodology
Authors: Shaw N.T.  , Mador R.L.  , Ho S.  , Mayes D.  , Westbrook J.I.  , Creswick N.  , Thiru K.  , Brown M.
Published: February 2025

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a complex and dynamic tertiary care environment that requires health care providers to balance many competing tasks and responsibilities. Inefficient and interruption-driven workflow is believed to increase the likelihood of medical errors and, therefore, present a serious risk to patients in the ICU. The introduction of a Critical Care Information System (CCIS), is purported to result in fewer medical errors and better patient care by streamlining workflow. Little objective research, however, has investigated these assertions. This paper reports on the design of a research methodology to explore the impact of a CCIS on the workflow of Respiratory Therapists, Pediatric Intensivists, Nurses, and Unit Clerks in a Pediatric ICU (PICU) and a General Systems ICU (GSICU) in Northern Canada.
Hydrological modeling of ungauged basins using Remote Sensing and GIS: a case study of Solaklı Watershed in Turkey
Authors: Alganci U.  , Coskun H.G.  , Usta G.  , Agiralioglu N.  , Cigizoglu H.K.  , Aksoy H.  , Yilmaz L.  , Eris E.  , Dagci M.
Published: February 2025

In Turkey, the population growth and industrial development have caused a scarcity in energy. Turkey has a great hydroelectric energy potential. However, this potential is evaluated only to a certain extent. The major step in the determination of hydroelectric potential is to estimate the river runoff, which is one of the most important hydrological variables used in most of the water resources applications. Reliable estimation of runoff from land surface into streams and rivers is difficult and time consuming for ungauged basins. However, Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies can augment to a great extent the conventional methods used in rainfall-runoff studies. These techniques can be used to estimate the spatial variation of the hydrological parameters, which are useful as input to the rainfall-runoff models.
Urban land cover changes assessment from satellite remote sensing data
Authors: Zoran M.
Published: February 2025

Remote sensing is a key application in global-change science, being very useful for urban climatology and land use/land cover dynamics and morphology analysis. Multi-spectral and multi-temporal satellite imagery (LANDSAT TM, ETM, IKONOS) provide the most reliable technique of monitoring of different urban structures regarding the net radiation and heat fluxes associated with urbanization at the regional scale. Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) technique was used to map the physical components of urban land cover for the city of Constantza, Romania, using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) and IKONOS imagery during period of 1989 and 2007 years. The main objectives of this investigation targeted: to develop and validate new techniques for mapping and monitoring land cover and land use within and around Constantza urban area using satellite sensed images and new digital framework data; to analyze the spatial pattern of land cover and the detailed morphology of urban land use across the study area, and quantify the structure of land use parcels; to devise a methodology for updating of digital urban land-use maps ; to develop an improved information base on urban land-cover and land-use change for land-use/transportation models, urban development planning, urban ecology and local plans.
Service specification and validation in the context of the home
Authors: Du Bousquet Lydie  , Rajan Ajitha  , Oriat Catherine  , Richier Jean-Luc  , Vega German
Published: February 2025

We explore and discuss different ways of expressing service specifications in the context of home automation systems implemented on OSGiTM. We found that the approach used for expressing services affects the amount of service interaction in the system. Some approaches, as opposed to others, artificially increase the number of situations where services are considered to badly interact. We discuss the pros and cons of three approaches for service specification in the context of the home.
Feature Interactions in Aspect-Oriented Scenario Models
Authors: Mussbacher Gunter  , Amyot Daniel  , Weigert Thomas  , Cottenier Thomas
Published: February 2025

Ideally, a feature interaction (FI) approach for scenario models should require minimal additional specification effort and allow for incremental definition of new scenarios. Furthermore, the scenario specification model and the validation model should be clearly separated. The specification model comprises the intrinsic behavioral and structural properties of the application under consideration, while the validation model consists of any additional information required for ensuring compliance with the feature specifications. The usage of pre- and postconditions in scenario models is one lightweight approach for detecting, modeling, and resolving FIs. It requires low effort, allows for incremental development, and if properly structured, allows for separation of the scenario and validation models. Aspect-oriented modeling techniques, however, add further requirements, as aspectual scenarios should remain independent from each other even if FIs are present. We present a specification and validation framework that satisfies the above-mentioned goals and assess its aspect-oriented scenario notation, Aspect-oriented Use Case Maps, against these goals based on a radio software case study.
An ontology for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Application to Obesity
Authors: Zaragozá Irene  , Alcañiz Mariano  , Botella Cristina  , Baños Rosa  , Guixeres Jaime
Published: February 2025

In the last few years the use of medical and biomedical ontologies has increased considerably. It is very common to find applications and semantic webs using this kind of ontologies and a large number of papers have been written explaining why ontologies are useful in these fields. In this paper the use of ontologies for psychology and its benefits is discussed and a first ontology for obesity treatment is presented.
A NeuroVR based tool for cognitive assessment and rehabilitation of post-stroke patients: two case studies
Authors: Carelli Laura  , Morganti Francesca  , Poletti Barbara  , Corra Barbara  , Weiss Patrice L. (Tamar)  , Kizony Rachel  , Silani Vincenzo  , Riva Giuseppe
Published: February 2025

Neuropsychological disorders are common in stroke patients, ranging from an isolated impairment to impairment in multiple cognitive functions. The cognitive domains affected are in particular executive functions. These comprise planning, organising, conducting, assessing and controlling actions. Dual task abilities, that is the ability to perform successive or simultaneous tasks, are not easy to be evaluated and recovered by traditional paper and pencil methods, due to their ecological and contextual nature. NeuroVR 1.5 is a cost-free virtual reality platform based on open-source software, allowing professionals to easily modify a virtual world, to best suit the needs of the clinical setting.The present study was designed to develop and test a NeuroVR based tool for the rehabilitation of shifting of attention and action planning functions using tasks reminiscent of daily life tasks. We present the virtual environment and the cognitive procedure we developed, discussing two stroke patients case studies, which underwent an integrated neuropsychological and VR assessment.
Implementation of an Enterprise-wide Electronic Health Record: A Nurse-Physician Partnership
Authors: Daurio Nancy R.  , Fielding Maxine  , Cholewka Patricia A.
Published: February 2025

Maimonides Medical Center (MMC), a 705-bed tertiary hospital located in Brooklyn, New York, is a not-for-profit, voluntary hospital and the third largest independent teaching hospital in the United States. Its strategic plan includes research and academic initiatives, specifically, physician and nursing leadership development and a nursing scholarship program. In 1996 executive management allocated resources for the development of an information technology environment to improve the quality of care, increase patient satisfaction, reduce costs, and position the hospital for future growth initiatives, all accomplished through the use of an Electronic Health Record (EHR). The result was the Maimonides Access Clinical System (MACS) that has transformed the delivery of health care throughout MMC and serves as a model for other US hospitals. In addition, since 2007, MMC has also participated in the Brooklyn Health Information Exchange (BHIX) a New York State HEAL grant initiative implementing a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO), an exchange of clinical information between Brooklyn hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies that aids in the transition of care for its shared patients.
Development and Evaluation of ICNP-Based Electronic Nursing Record System
Authors: Lee Young-Seon  , Park Kwang-Ok  , Bong Myoung-Rye  , Park Hyeoun-Ae
Published: February 2025

This study was conducted to cross-map nursing statements with International Classification of Nursing Practice (ICNP®) Version 1 and to develop and evaluate ICNP-based Electronic Nursing Record System. Among the 7,631 nursing statements which were cross-mapped, 5,970(78.2%) nursing statements were completely expressed and 1,520(19.9%) statements were partially expressed. ICNP-based Electronic Nursing Record System was developed for the Asan Medical Center in Korea. Most nursing statements (6,671 of 7,931, 87.0%) and Most cross-mapped ICNP terms (965 of 1,015, 94.9%) were documented by user in all the units from July, 2007 to August, 2008.
Development of the Incident Reporting System Using the Nursing Administrative Database
Authors: Seto Ryoma  , Ishigami Kumiko  , Fukui Toshiko  , Muta Kunihiko  , Ohira Masao  , Tsuchiya Kazuya  , Okawa Hironaga  , Ozaki Takeshi
Published: February 2025

A role of incident reporting system has become more important for improving of the patient safety. However, the more various causes managers seek for, the longer time healthcare providers send to report near-miss/ medical errors. The purpose of our work was to try to develop “the incident reporting system” utilized the nursing administrative database. As a result, we found that the system would make us spend less time to report medical errors and easy to analyze of the nursing care structure. The system using the nursing administrative database is effective to improve the patient safety rationally.
Interactive eLearning – a safe place to practice
Authors: Einarson Elisabeth  , Moen Anne  , Kolberg Ragnhild  , Flingtorp Gry  , Linnerud Eva
Published: February 2025

Interactive web-based learning environment offers refreshing opportunities to create innovative solutions to explore and exploit informatics support on-the-job training. We report from a study where a hospital is created a interactive eLearning resource. The modules are creating a safe place to practice – to be used for introduction to the work and preparation for certification or re-certification of competencies.
Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru
Authors: Santana Martin
Published: February 2025

Within the research literature on electronic government (or e-government), understanding the factors that contribute to digital inclusion has received considerable attention over the past several years. Many studies suggest that the delivery of government services online in a user-centric way would contribute to build an inclusive information society. However, digital equality in access to and use of e-government services still remains as one of the most ambitious goals to be achieved by different levels of governments across the world. To this end, a case study of a local government in Peru was conducted to specifically investigate: (1) the adoption of different e-government initiatives over a 10-year period; (2) the measures taken to promoting digital inclusion; and (3) the reasons behind the success of e-government implementation. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of two categories of government initiatives – e-services applications and digital inclusion solutions. The findings also indicate the existence of four e-government success factors: political will, overall strategy, short-term projects, and public-private partnerships. Based on these findings, this study suggests directions to guide further research on inclusive e-government.
ITS in Thailand
Authors: Prathombutr Passakon
Published: February 2025

This article aims to introduce an Intelligent Transport System or ITS that deployed from the use of information and communication technologies, ICT. The ITS can help improve the efficiency of transportation in term of Safety/Security, Comfort/Convenience and Environment friendly. The article also gives details in terms of the ITS components, the needs of ITS in Thailand, the role of the R&D agency, NECTEC in ITS research and development, the role to build up ITS community, the role in international collaboration and the role in standardization.
Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track
Authors: Sunalai Angsumal  , Tubtimhin Jirapon
Published: February 2025

Thailand e-Government at its start, IT 2000 and 2010 were key driving policy frame work. The first ICT Master Plan was the country's ICT and e-Government architecture during 2002-2008. It is about time for reviewing its races and at the same time paving way for future substantial aims. Surveys, Interviews and studies on stakeholders including users, webmasters and CIOs and the present environment conditions have been conducted by the Ministry of ICT to reflect facts and figures of the past e-Government services development as well as future development roadmap has been design as a step forward to leapfrog its maturity level of e-Government development and to keep abreast with the international development arena.
Towards Automatic Assessment for Project Based Learning Groups
Authors: Gweon Gahgene  , Kumar Rohit  , Jun Soojin  , Rosé Carolyn P.
Published: February 2025

Project course instructors routinely perform their formal assessments based on impressions formed from their mostly indirect experience with the groups they oversee. Nevertheless, even with their limited vantage point, instructors trust their ability to make assessments and regulate group work. In this paper we present a 5 dimensional assessment framework based on data from an interview study in which we investigate the assessment goals that project course instructors have. We use this framework to identify specifically where instructors' assessments about students diverge most from that of direct observers of group work. We then demonstrate that indicators extracted automatically from recorded speech from group meetings frequently correlate better with objective observer rating of students than that of the instructor.
Exploiting User Generated Content to Improve Search
Authors: Nejdl Wolfgang
Published: February 2025

More and more information is available on the Web, and the current search engines do a great job to make it accessible. Yet, optimizing for a large number of users, they usually provide good answers only to “most of us”, and have yet to provide satisfying mechanisms to search for audiovisual content. In this talk I will present some ongoing work at L3S addressing these challenges, done in the context of several European Union funded projects on personal information management and web search.
Learner Trust in Learner Model Externalisations
Authors: Ahmad Norasnita  , Bull Susan
Published: February 2025

This paper introduces t-OLM, an open learner model to investigate user trust in a range of learner model externalisations. It was found that, while sufficient levels of use were made to suggest user trust in an externalised learner model, the relationship between trust and perceived utility, perceived accuracy, and level of understanding of the model representations, is not straightforward.
Designing Virtual Animal Companions by Emotional Responsibility Strategy
Authors: Chen Zhi-Hong  , Liao Calvin C.Y.  , Chien Tzu-Chao  , Chan Tak-Wai
Published: February 2025

This paper proposes an emotional responsibility strategy to design educational virtual characters, named animal companions. Different from the cognitive responsibility strategy, animal companions attempt to apply emotional attachment to deepen human-computer-interaction. Meanwhile, game strategies are also adopted to engage students in the interaction. A preliminary usage test was also conducted and reported by three fifth-grade elementary students.
A case study of non-displacement piles in pliocene sands
Authors: Santos Jaime A.  , Fernandes M. Matos  , Costa Mário P.  , Correia André  , Oliveira Pedro
Published: February 2025

The paper focuses on the foundation piles of a very large industrial plant located in the peninsula of Setúbal, Portugal. The ground is composed by a thick deposit of Pliocene sands and silty sands, with the water table close to the surface. Bored piles drilled under bentonite slurry of diameters from 0.5 m to 1.0 m were adopted with lengths up to 22 m. The site was carefully characterized. A number of static and dynamic axial load tests on prototype piles were carried out, providing the evaluation of the base and the shaft resistance. The results of these tests are discussed and compared with the ones obtained from a semi-empirical method based on in situ ground tests.
Settlement and load sharing of a piled raft with ground improvement on soft ground
Authors: Yamashita K.  , Yamada T.
Published: February 2025

This paper offers a case history of design and performance of a seven-story building of a piled raft on loose sand underlain by soft silt layers. In order to reduce consolidation settlement of the soft silt and to cope with the liquefiable loose sand, a piled raft combined with grid-form ground improvement was adopted. The design of the foundation was found appropriate by field measurements which concerned settlement, axial forces of the piles and earth pressures and pore-water pressure beneath the raft from the beginning of construction to the time about four years after the end of construction.
Back analysis of the Chang dam section in the Kachchh region of Gujarat, India
Authors: Sivakumar Babu G.L.  , Srivastava Amit
Published: February 2025

On 26th January, 2001, the Kachchh region of Gujarat, India faced devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.6 (Mw) popularly known as “Bhuj” earthquake. Various man made facilities including earthen dams faced varying level of damages during the earthquake and one of the major causes of failure is attributed to wide spread liquefaction of foundation soil. In the present study, a typical Chang dam sections located in the vicinity of epicenter is considered for the back analysis using dynamic numerical analysis with the help of commercially available software FLAC 5.0. The software has the capacity to model advanced non-linear constitutive material behavior under dynamic loading along with the pore pressure generation capabilities. The results of the back analysis of the dam section indicated that the presence of liquefiable soil beneath the foundation not only caused large deformation but also modified the failure pattern i.e. from slope to a base type failure, the feature which was also observed during field investigations. Dynamic numerical analysis is performed using the acceleration – time history record of the Bhuj earthquake developed by Iyengar and Raghukanth (2006) involving analytical procedures.
Stability of underwater slopes realized by means of a suction dredger
Authors: Maertens Jan  , Van Alboom Gauthier  , Haelterman Koen  , Couck Jan
Published: February 2025

In Flanders (Belgium) large amounts of sands, to be used in the construction and glass industry, are excavated by means of suction dredgers. It showed that for deep excavations the dredging process cannot be modelled by conventional methods. In order to comprehend the process of breaching a laboratory test set up was elaborated and a full scale breaching test was performed.
Importance of Shear Stress Anisotropy and bottom drainage on Tailings Dam Stability: a Case History
Authors: Vanden Berghe Jean-François  , Ballard Jean-Christophe  , Jewell Richard A.  , Pirson Marc  , Reh Uwe
Published: February 2025

In February 2007, a tailings dam used as sedimentation pond of lime particles failed. As a result, an estimated volume of 150,000m3of tailings flowed from the breach in the dam slope. Forensic investigations were carried out to determine the causes of failure, so that suitable changes could be made for the future safe operation of the tailings disposal facility. The investigation identified several features of the tailings material and dam behaviour that it is considered contributed significantly to the slope failure. Among them, a marked anisotropy in the effective shearing resistance of the tailings material and the water accumulation in the tailings were identified as important factors in the failure. The origin of the anisotropy is the method of tailings deposition per layer, and results in a much lower shearing resistance on horizontal planes. The water accumulation was the consequence of a permeability of the tailings being higher than expected due to shrinkage fissures and a significant reduction in drainage efficiency from below the tailings. This loss of drainage was due to precipitation of calcite that lowered dramatically the permeability of the granular soils. The objective of the paper is to illustrate through back-analysis of the tailing dam failure how the shear resistance anisotropy and the efficiency of the drainage system influences the safety factor of the tailings dam.
Review on the applied methods for landslide control in Bulgaria
Authors: Hamova M.  , Frangov G.  , Zayakova H.
Published: February 2025

The territory of Bulgaria is characterized by active tectonics, which had determined the formation of hilly and mountain relief. The geological structure is rather diverse and includes both rocks and dispersed soils. Under the effect of the naturally occurring processes thousands of landslides with different volume, mechanism and dynamics are displayed. The construction of various facilities, roads and buildings under these conditions is connected with the performance of excavations and embankments, changes in the groundwater level and dynamic impacts, leading often to slope instability, appearance of new landslides and activation of old existing landslides.
The mass movement response of tectonics phenomena in urban areas, Albania
Authors: Muceku Y.
Published: February 2025

Albania is a neo-tectonic region with high seismic intensity. Two of thirds of Albania area is built by hills and mountains, which are much affected from tectonics and neotectonics events. These events have played a main role in the slopes stability, from which are formed many landslides, where are damaged and destructed a lot of engineering objects as population buildings; heritage and historic center, roads and geoenvironment of urban areas. In this paper we present the mass movements-earth slides, earth flow, rockslides, which are caused from tectonics phenomena in the main town of Albania. The present paper is based to the engineering geological investigations carried out in the Albanian area during the year 2000–2007. It takes under consideration some more serious stability slopes, where besides engineering objects (buildings, heritage and historic center, roads etc.) are threaten population life from the development of this phenomenon. That's why are carried out a lot of studies in urban areas, as Lezha, Kruja, Tirana, Durresi, Gjirokastra, Vlora etc. towns, where are occurred landslides on hills and mountains slopes, which are much favored by tectonics and neotectonics, processes.
Monitoring and evaluation of movements in gravity quay walls
Authors: Soriano Antonio  , Valderrama Manuel  , González Jesús
Published: February 2025

This paper summarizes the observed foundation settlements of several recently constructed Spanish quays. When the quay walls are founded on soft soils, the settlements observed could be larger than 50 cm. The paper indicates the values of the ground deformations parameters obtained by the back-analysis of the observed settlements and compares those parameters with the original values used to predict settlements at the design stage. The predictions of the movements and the back-analysis have been made using numerical models. In addition, if the monitoring of the movements is good enough, it is possible to study the evolution of the consolidation of the natural ground under different loads.
Assessment of the use of dynamic compaction on double porosity clay landfill
Authors: Pooley Emma J.  , Laue Jan  , Springman Sarah M.
Published: February 2025

Open cast coal mining in Northern Bohemia produces overburden waste of overconsolidated clay lumps that are placed in spoil heaps or used as backfill in exploited mines. This forms landfills with a double porosity structure consisting of voids between lumps (inter-granular) and voids within lumps (intra-granular). The total porosity can be up to 70 %, making the soil highly compressible even after self-weight consolidation. Soil behaviour is characterised by large absolute and differential settlements. Dynamic compaction is one of the ground improvement methods used before construction on these clay landfills. Model tests on scaled double porosity clay landfills were carried out in the ETH Zurich drum centrifuge. A period of self-weight consolidationwas followed by in-flight dynamic compaction. To assess and compare the strength of the clay fill, in-flight displacement-controlled rigid foundation tests were carried out on the centrifuge models. The total load on the foundation, and pressure distribution under it, were measured.
Geotechnical problems during the soil boring in the Seville underground (Spain)
Authors: Mazo C. Oteo  , Arozamena P.  , Mendaña F.  , Álvarez R.
Published: February 2025

In this paper the geomechanical aspects of the Sevilla City (South of Spain) and their general geotechnical problems are summarized. In the Sevilla ground an important thickness of quaternary sediments are detected, with the predominium of gravel and sandy gravel soils. The next substratum is performed by marly clays (Guadalquivir Blue clays), the excavations are conditioned by the presence of a very high phreatic level, due to influence of the Guadalquivir River (one of the most important rivers of the Iberian Peninsula) and the depth of the marly clays. For this motive the tunnel line affect, mainly, to the gravel sediments. Special attention to the zone excavated by a E. P. B. shield (LOVAT kind) are carried out: Two parallel tubes, excavated with a T. B. M. with Ø 6,20 m. The presence of near structures and two parking lots on the tunnels, introduce any special conditions. Several ground treatments have developed for the protection of these structures and the actual channel of the Guadalquivir River. The paper describes the special works carried out and, also, the controls of movements developed. The results of the auscultation principally) and the special events are summarized.
Innovative high capacity anchors to secure a motorway in Austria
Authors: Falk E.
Published: February 2025

More than twenty years after the completion, the motorway A2 from Vienna to Graz still has to be monitored due to possible landslides in a mountainous area. Existing anchors were overloaded and the required additional anchor force could hardly be transferred to the non homogeneous rock within a drilling length of 100 m. The limited space between existing anchors determined very sharp criteria regarding borehole deviation. Works had to be executed on a very steep slope considering the existing concrete beams. Single bore multiple anchors allowed to reduce the number of anchors and their length. They could be tested successfully up to a single anchor load of 5.700 kN!
Changes in anisotropy during liquefaction and effects on reliquefaction resistance produced by developed anisotropy associated with liquefaction
Authors: Yamada S.  , Sato K.  , Takamori T.
Published: February 2025

A distinctive characteristic of the reliquefaction behavior of soils is that there are instances where the phenomenon of a sharp decrease in liquefaction resistance occurs in spite of increases in soil density caused by drainage of water after liquefaction. This fact points to the existence of factors other than density that sway the liquefaction resistance of soils. The current paper demonstrates that, in fact, anisotropy is an important factor influencing liquefaction resistance. This is made clear through the results of systematic triaxial shear tests, which show that the higher the level of developed anisotropy, the lower the liquefaction resistance. In the process of verifying the above, we found that continuous and orderly changes in anisotropy are repeated with dizzying rapidity during liquefaction.
Residual shear strength of saturated sand and silt – an energy approach
Authors: Singh R.  , Roy D.  , Chiranjeevi K.
Published: February 2025

The residual shear strengths of saturated sandy and silty soils are often estimated from the relationships between insitu penetration resistances and residual shear strength obtained from the back analysis of post failure geometries of embankments that suffered varying degrees of distress resulting from static rapid (undrained) loading. The procedures for back analysis employed so far do not account for viscous drag and strain energy. A simple procedure has been proposed herein approximately accounting for viscosity and strain energy. The results from back analysis of ten flow failure case histories using the proposed energy approach were used to develop a correlation between residual shear strength and Standard Penetration Test (SPT) blow counts.
The influence of pore pressures on penetration forces in sand and clay
Authors: Bezuijen A.  , van Tol A.F.  , Hölscher P.  , van Lottum H.
Published: February 2025

The deformation behaviour of soil is rate dependent. In sand, a higher deformation rate generally leads to excess pore water pressures, which influence stiffness and strength. For normally consolidated clay, a higher deformation rate will lead to lower forces because undrained behaviour occurs at a higher deformation rate. This paper describes two experiments that study the rate effects: the penetration of a pile in sand, and the movement of a T-bar in clay. The pile tests were performed in a geotechnical centrifuge, the T-bar test was performed in a 1-g environment in normally consolidated clay. In both tests, the penetration rate was varied to obtain drained and undrained behaviour. Pore pressures were measured in the sand during the centrifuge test. A short description of the tests and the results is presented. A consequence is that a rapid pile loading test may over-predict the static bearing capacity of a pile in sand, while very slow movements in clay (for example during settlement) may lead to higher penetration forces than are measured in undrained tests.
Effect of foundation embedment on consolidation response
Authors: Gourvenec S.M.  , Randolph M.F.
Published: February 2025

Embedment will generally reduce the magnitude and rate of consolidation settlement of shallow foundations due to the resistance of the soil above foundation level, the reduction in foundation load due to side friction and the longer drainage paths. Conversely, embedment provided by foundation skirts may increase the magnitude and rate of consolidation settlement due to additional one-dimensional compression within the soil plug. This paper presents an investigation into the consolidation response of surface and variously embedded foundations in an isotropic elastic half-space. The results show that embedment, the type of embedment and interface roughness can have a marked effect on consolidation response.
Validation d'un modèle d'extraction d'eau par des racines d'arbre implanté dans θ-stock
Authors: Hemmati S.  , Gatmiri B.  , Cui Y.-J.  , Vincent M.
Published: February 2025

Un modèle 2D d'extraction d'eau par des racines d'arbre a été développé (Hemmati et Gatmiri 2008) et implanté dans θ-stock (Gatmiri-CERMES 1997) qui est un code aux éléments finis Thermo-Hydro-Mécanique couplé pour l'analyse des milieux poreux multiphasiques. Le puisement d'eau par des racines est considéré comme un terme d'extraction dans la zone racinaire. Ce terme est fonction de la distribution spatiale de la densité de longueur des racines, de la transpiration potentielle et de la succion du sol. Dans cette étude, afin de valider le modèle implanté, certaines études de cas, présentées par Biddle (1998) sont modélisées. Un bon accord est obtenu entre les variations de la teneur en eau mesurée in-situ et les valeurs calculées. Les tassements correspondants à la variation de teneur en eau sont également calculés.
The Electronic Health Record in Austria: Physicians' Acceptance Is Influenced by Negative Emotions
Authors: Hackl Werner  , Hoerbst Alexander  , Ammenwerth Elske
Published: February 2025

Negative emotions like anxiety and fear due to a lack of information may cause change barriers and drag physicians' acceptance of the national electronic health record (ELGA) in Austria. Qualitative, problem-centric interviews were conducted with eight physicians. The results point out that the physicians feel uninformed and snubbed. They fear unknown changes, increased costs, workload and surveillance without having advantages from using electronic health records in their daily practice. Impartial information campaigns, tailored to the physicians' needs and questions as well as comprehensive cost-benefit analysis could benefit the physicians' opinion of ELGA.
Navigation for People with Mild Dementia
Authors: Hettinga Marike  , De Boer Johannes  , Goldberg Eli  , Moelaert Ferial
Published: February 2025

Community dwelling is a problem for people with dementia. Can GPS route navigation support on a mobile device provide a solution? In a small scale exploratory research with this target group we studied the effects of two different types of audio instructions and assessed the pedestrian safety while operating the device. Methodological issues that limited the size and scope of data collection notwithstanding, evidence of unsafe behaviour was not found. Navigation instructions spoken by a familiar voice seemed to have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the navigation system, while the use of warning sounds seemed to have the opposite effect.
Towards a Framework for Better Management of Patients with Hypertension
Authors: Mabotuwana Thusitha  , Warren Jim
Published: February 2025

Management of patients with hypertension is poor and novel tools are needed to identify patients whose clinical outcomes can be improved. We herein present a framework we have developed that can be used to identify patients who meet specific audit criteria related to poor management of hypertension. Identified patients would benefit from an immediate follow-up by a practice nurse.
Mining Administrative and Clinical Diabetes Data with Temporal Association Rules
Authors: Concaro Stefano  , Sacchi Lucia  , Cerra Carlo  , Bellazzi Riccardo
Published: February 2025

The Regional Healthcare Agency (ASL) of Pavia has been collecting and maintaining a central data repository which stores both administrative and clinical healthcare data about the population of Pavia area. The analysis of such integrated databases could greatly help to extract useful information for the assessment of health care delivery process. In this paper we focus our attention on the care delivery flow of Diabetes Mellitus, and we show the application of an algorithm for the extraction of Temporal Association Rules on sequences of hybrid events. This method allows to properly exploit the integration of different healthcare information sources, and can be used to evaluate the pertinence of the care delivery flow for specific pathologies, in order to reassess or refine the inappropriate practices which lead to unsatisfactory outcomes.
Digital Techniques in Experimental Medicine
Authors: Masic Tarik
Published: February 2025

Color Doppler and intravenous angiography (digital technique) can widely be used in experimental medicine. Their wide clinical application, availability, simplicity and small cost impose their importance. Color Doppler analysis of the vascular activity of certain region is more precise than the classic intravenous angiography, but requires contact of highly sophisticated equipment with the experimental animal. Intravenous angiography gives somewhat rougher image, but is more available and does not require the potentially unwanted contact. In this research, we used both methods to mark the vein bypass of the modified infrahyoid lobe dissected from the dog (used as experimental animal). We marked the horizontally placed vein bypass at the level of the thong bone using Color Doppler and intravenous angiography. Applied vein bypass performed the vein drainage of the modified infrahyoid lobe. Results obtained with these two diagnostic methods were compared with the pathohistological (PH) analysis. Results obtained using Color Doppler (using the probe GE Vivid 3 frequency of 5 to 12 MHz) were somewhat closer to the results of PH analysis which we consider as the most objective. Result obtained using intravenous angiography (digital technique using the Siemens Siregraph machine) were satisfactory in marking the required blood vessel for the experiment. Color Doppler and intravenous angiography as digital diagnostic procedures in experimental surgery are usable and as such significantly objective, widely available and do not require additional financial investments.
No-Frills Software Engineering for Business Information Systems Experience Report
Authors: Gruhn Volker  , Schäfer Clemens
Published: February 2025

After years of heavyweight software process models there is a trend in industry towards agile methods for the development of business information systems. Experience shows that these approaches are promising, but there is still the demand for a lean and practicable, yet predictable approach for developing business information systems.
A formal definition of the structural optimum design application problem
Authors: Bitterberg Tilmann
Published: February 2025

This paper formally defines the structural optimum design application MAST [1] and outlines the approach, for results cf [3].