bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Depressive Symptoms and Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease in Cognitively Normal Older Adults
Authors: Donovan Nancy J.  , Hsu David C.  , Dagley Alexander S.  , Schultz Aaron P.  , Amariglio Rebecca E.  , Mormino Elizabeth C.  , Okereke Olivia I.  , Rentz Dorene M.  , Johnson Keith A.  , Sperling Reisa A.  , Marshall Gad A.
Published: February 2025

Even low levels of depressive symptoms are associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline in older adults without overt cognitive impairment (CN). Our objective was to examine whether very low, “subthreshold symptoms of depression” are associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers of neurodegeneration in CN adults and whether these associations are specific to particular depressive symptoms. We analyzed data from 248 community-dwelling CN older adults, including measurements of cortical amyloid burden, neurodegeneration markers of hippocampal volume (HV) and cerebral18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) metabolism in a composite of AD-related regions and the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Participants with GDS >10 were excluded. General linear regression models evaluated the cross-sectional relations of GDS to HV or FDG in separate backward elimination models. Predictors included GDS total score, age, gender, premorbid intelligence, a binary amyloid variable and its interaction with GDS. Principal component analyses of GDS item scores revealed three factors (the Dysphoria, Apathy-Anhedonia, and Anxiety-Concentration Factors). In secondary analyses, GDS total score was replaced with the three factor scores in repeated models. Higher GDS score (p=0.03) was significantly associated with lower HV and was marginally related (p=0.06) to FDG hypometabolism. In secondary models, higher Dysphoria (p=0.02) and Apathy-Anhedonia (p=0.05) were related to lower HV while higher Apathy-Anhedonia (p=0.003) was the sole factor related to FDG hypometabolism. Amyloid was not a significant predictor in any model. In conclusion, very low-level dysphoria, apathy and anhedonia may point to neurodegeneration in AD-related regions but this association appears to be independent of amyloid burden.
Brain Structure and Function Related to Depression in Alzheimer's Disease: Contributions from Neuroimaging Research
Authors: Brommelhoff Jessica A.  , Sultzer David L.
Published: February 2025

The development of minimally invasive in vivo methods for imaging the brain has allowed for unprecedented advancement in our understanding of brain-behavior relationships. Structural, functional, and multimodal neuroimaging techniques have become more sophisticated in detecting structural and physiological abnormalities that may underlie various affective disorders and neurological illnesses such as depression in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In general, neuroimaging studies of depression in AD investigate whether depression is associated with damage to structures in specific neural networks involving frontal and subcortical structures or with functional disruption of cortical neural systems. This review provides an overview of how various imaging modalities have contributed to our understanding of the neurobiology of depression in AD. At present, the literature does not conclusively support any specific pathogenesis for depression, and it is not clear whether patients with AD and depression have histopathological and neurochemical characteristics that contribute to mood symptoms that are different from cognitively intact individuals with depression. Neuroimaging studies suggest that atrophy of temporal or frontal structures, white matter lesions in frontal lobe or subcortical systems, reduced activity in dorsolateral frontal cortex, or small vessel cerebrovascular disease may be associated with depression in AD. Conceptual, clinical, and methodological challenges in studying this relationship are discussed. Further work is needed to understand the specific brain structures, relevant white matter tracts, and interactions among them that are most important. This review concludes with potential directions for future research.
Depression and Mild Cognitive Impairment in the General Population: Results of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study
Authors: Dlugaj Martha  , Winkler Angela  , Dragano Nico  , Moebus Susanne  , Jöckel Karl-Heinz  , Erbel Raimund  , Weimar Christian
Published: February 2025

Background: The literature suggests an association between depression and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, but not all studies have examined this association with regard to MCI subtypes reflecting different dementia etiologies.
Heuristic Systems Engineering of a Web Based Service System
Authors: Mo John P.T.  , Maud Sholto
Published: February 2025

Complex engineering systems development comprises many technological elements that have to be integrated together to function as one system. Traditionally, a project based approach will create a new product. However after many years of product engineering, the systems engineer can now be faced with engineering of technologies that need to integrate with legacy systems which may continue their deployment over a long period of time. Legacy integration poses problems for traditional systems engineering methods, such that the success of a complex engineering product cannot be measured simply in terms of the successful commissioning of the system, but requires a measure of product performance within the larger scale system and pre-existing development system over the course of the product's deployment. This paper uses the development of a hydrological smart phone system to illustrate the concept of a “Heuristic” approach to Systems Engineering. The authors propose that the traditional systems engineering method needs flexibility to perform a Heuristic translation to provide error correction shortcuts in the legacy engineering methodology.
An Architecture for Remote Guidance Service
Authors: Siltanen Pekka  , Valli Seppo  , Ylikerälä Markus  , Honkamaa Petri
Published: February 2025

Modern maintenance service requires better support for maintenance teams when local maintenance personnel do not have knowledge to manage complicated maintenance tasks, but needs to be guided by a remote expert. In this paper, a software architecture for a service enabling a remote expert to guide a maintenance person via video connection is proposed. The service allows maintenance technicians to send video stream from site to remote support center, where an expert can give feedback and instructions by adding virtual objects (e.g. pointers or 3D models of the object maintained) to the video stream. The maintenance technician can see the virtual objects in the live video stream on her mobile terminal. In the proposed service, a maintenance person has a mobile terminal equipped with screen and camera (such as smartphone or tablet, in a future Augmented Reality headset), capable for sending and receiving video stream. Remote expert has a standard computer with a modern browser. Both users are connected to an application server, running a WebRTC capable media server, such as open source Kurento platform. Augmenting the virtual objects into video stream is implemented on the media server. The manipulated stream is then rerouted to the users. Previous architectures are based on either proprietary technologies (e.g. Microsoft HoloLens or native mobile terminal apps) or restricted by capabilities of the mobile terminals (e.g. browser based Augmented Reality applications). Proposed architecture allows use of the best available video manipulation technologies even if they are not implemented in the mobile terminal used.
Stakeholder Management as an Approach to Integrated Management System (IMS
Authors: Genaro Andreia F.S.  , Loureiro Geilson
Published: February 2025

This paper aims to present a new approach to Integrated Management System (IMS), as a management system able to manage all stakeholders identified by an organization. A worldwide trend to integrate the requirements of different standardized management systems is observed, but organizations have faced an increasing number of standardized systems, motivating many researchers to focus on new integration methodologies. Taking as reference the management systems used by the most organizations (e.g.: quality, environmental, safety and occupational health and social responsibility), this paper intends to present the existing commonalities among the requirements of these standards and after that, to present the existing commonalities among stakeholders identified for each integrable requirements. Stakeholder management can also be interpreted as an effective way to map out requirements for processes and products, as well as a way to map out management requirements for an organization, which enables to implement requirements in addition to those already defined in standardized systems such as ISO standards. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the traditional IMS approach allows a generalization of the IMS concept towards stakeholder management by analyzing the commonalities among the most used standardized systems and its stakeholders. The Integrated Stakeholders Management proposed in this paper is unlimited, making organizations do not become dependent only on standardized systems. This new approach helps to incorporate requirements provided by an analysis of stakeholders demand. In this context, it is concluded that the new concept of IMS proposed herein is an alternative solution organizations that aim to achieve better levels of satisfaction of stakeholders, focusing on meeting their requirements and also in overcoming their expectations in an integrated manner within their management processes, not depending only on the standardized systems.
Big Data: Insight and the Scientific Method
Authors: Joubert Gerhard R.
Published: February 2025

The general concept of the scientific method or procedure consists in systematic observation, experiment and measurement, and the formulation, testing and modification of hypotheses. In many cases a hypothesis is formulated in the form of a model, for example a mathematical or simulation model. The correctness of a solution of a problem produced by a model is verified by comparing it with collected data. Alternatively, observational data may be collected without a clear specification that the data could also apply to the solution of other, unforeseen problems. In such cases data analytics are used to extract relationships from and detect structures in data sets. In accordance with the scientific method, the results obtained can then be used to formulate one or more hypotheses and associated models as solutions for such problems. This approach allows for ensuring the validity of the solutions obtained. The results thus obtained may lead to a deeper insight in such problems and can represent significant progress in scientific research. The increased interest in so-called Big Data resulted in a growing tendency to consider the structures detected by analysing large data sets as solutions in their own right. A notion is thus developing that the scientific method is becoming obsolete. In this paper it is argued that data, hypotheses and models are essential to gain deeper insights into the nature of the problems considered and to ensure that plausible solutions were found. A further aspect to consider is that the processing of increasingly larger data sets result in an increased demand for HTC (High Throughput Computing) in contrast to HPC (High Performance Computing). The demand for HTC platforms will impact the future development of parallel computing platforms.
MPI communication on MPPA Many-core NoC: design, modeling and performance issues
Authors: Ho Minh Quan  , Tourancheau Bernard  , Obrecht Christian  , Dupont de Dinechin Benoît  , Reybert Jérôme
Published: February 2025

Keeping up with the performance trend of the last decades cannot be achieved anymore by stepping up the clock speed of processors. The usual strategy is nowadays to use lower frequency and to increase the number of cores, where data communication and memory bandwidth can become the main barrier. In this paper, we introduce an MPI design and its implementation on the MPPA-256 (Multi Purpose Processor Array) processor from Kalray Inc., one of the first worldwide actors in the many-core architecture field. A model was developed to evaluate the communication performance and bottlenecks on MPPA. Our achieved result of 1.2 GB/s, e.g. 75% of peak throughput, for on-chip communication shows that the MPPA is a promising architecture for next-generation HPC systems, with its high performance-to-power ratio and high-bandwidth network-on-chip.
Model-Driven Development of GPU Applications
Authors: Winter Christoph  , Dünnweber Jan
Published: February 2025

Programming GPUs with low-level libraries like CUDA and OpenCL is a tedious and error-prone task. Fortunately, algorithmic skeletons can shield developers from the complexity of parallel programming by encapsulating common parallel computing patterns. However, this simplification typically constrains programmers to write their applications using the GPU library employed by the skeleton implementation. In this work, we combine skeletal programming with model-driven software development (MDSD) to increase the freedom of choice regarding the employed GPU library instead of leaving all technical decisions to the skeleton implementation. We present a code-generator that transforms models comprising skeletons, their input data and input functions to parallel C++ code while taking care of data-offset calculations. The generator has been tested using different GPU and multi-GPU communication libraries such as Thrust and CUDA-MPI. We demonstrate our novel approach to GPU programming with two example applications: affinity propagation and n-body simulation.
Exploring the Offload Execution Model in the Intel Xeon Phi via Matrix Inversion
Authors: Benner Peter  , Ezzatti Pablo  , Quintana-Ortí Enrique S.  , Remón Alfredo
Published: February 2025

The explicit inversion of dense matrices appears in a numerous key scientific and engineering applications such as model reduction or optimal control, asking for the exploitation of high performance computing techniques and architectures when the problem dimension is large. Gauss-Jordan elimination (GJE) is an efficient in-place method for matrix inversion that exposes large amounts of dataparallelism, making it very convenient for hardware accelerators such as graphics processors (GPUs) or the Intel Xeon Phi. In this paper, we present and evaluate several practical implementations of GJE, with partial row pivoting, that especially exploit the off-load execution model available on the Intel Xeon Phi to carry out a significant fraction of the computations on the accelerator. Numerical experiments on a system with two Intel Xeon E5-2640v3 processors and an Intel Xeon Phi 7120P compare the efficiency of these implementations, with the most efficient case delivering about 700 billions double-precision floating-point operations per second.
Streams as an alternative to halo exchange
Authors: Holmes Daniel J.  , Laoide-Kemp Caoimhín
Published: February 2025

Many scientific problems can be solved computationally by using linear algebra to calculate numerical solutions. The data dependencies in linear algebra operations are often expressed in a stencil structure. The ubiquitous parallelisation technique for stencil codes, to enable the solution of large problems on parallel architectures, is domain decomposition.
On-the-fly memory compression for multibody algorithms
Authors: Eckhardt Wolfgang  , Glas Robert  , Korzh Denys  , Wallner Stefan  , Weinzierl Tobias
Published: February 2025

Memory and bandwidth demands challenge developers of particle-based codes that have to scale on new architectures, as the growth of concurrency outperforms improvements in memory access facilities, as the memory per core tends to stagnate, and as communication networks cannot increase bandwidth arbitrary. We propose to analyse each particle of such a code to find out whether a hierarchical data representation storing data with reduced precision caps the memory demands without exceeding given error bounds. For admissible candidates, we perform this compression and thus reduce the pressure on the memory subsystem, lower the total memory footprint and reduce the data to be exchanged via MPI. Notably, our analysis and transformation changes the data compression dynamically, i.e. the choice of data format follows the solution characteristics, and it does not require us to alter the core simulation code.
Flexible and Generic Workflow Management
Authors: Lührs Sebastian  , Rohe Daniel  , Schnurpfeil Alexander  , Thust Kay  , Frings Wolfgang
Published: February 2025

Running and combining HPC applications often leads to complex scientific workflows, even more when code is to be executed in several different computing platforms. We present a flexible and platform independent framework for workflow definition and execution based on a redesigned version of the benchmarking environment JUBE. By means of a generalised configuration method this new version of JUBE can now be applied to more complex production, development and testing scenarios. It provides user-defined parameter substitution at all workflow stages, automated job submission, extensive directory and result handling and customisable analysis steps. In this report we demonstrate how it can be used to implement a given workflow representation and how it relates to and differs from other generic workflow management systems.
Performance modeling of a compressible hydrodynamics solver on multicore CPUs
Authors: Poncet Raphaël  , Peybernes Mathieu  , Gasc Thibault  , De Vuyst Florian
Published: February 2025

This work is devoted to the performance modeling of a vectorized multi-threaded implementation of a compressible hydrodynamics solver on current multicore CPUs. The underlying explicit time-advance scheme is based on a Lagrange+remap discretization. The algorithm consists in nine elementary kernels that exhibit, for most of them, a stencil update pattern. Using the Execution Cache Memory (ECM) model — a refinement of the Roofline model —, we devise a high fidelity performance model, allowing us to finely understand and overcome bottlenecks of the algorithm and accurately predict global code performance.
Performance improvements of polydisperse DEM simulations using a loose octree approach
Authors: Stein G.  , Wirtz S.  , Scherer V.
Published: February 2025

Numerical simulations using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) are used at LEAT in the context of several important, energy related particulate flow systems. The focus of these investigations is the understanding of the heat and mass transfer processes on the micro-scale and the prediction of the related macroscopic behaviour. Most of the currently available DEM implementations, especially if the required number of particles is large, only allow for small variations in particle size if the computational effort must be kept within reasonable bounds. This is contrary to the actual requirements of many technically relevant processes where a broad size spectrum must be considered. Parallel processing helps to ease this situation to a certain degree, but the ongoing search for algorithmic improvements has not yet accomplished a definitive solution.
Coordination with Structured Composition for Cyber-physical Systems
Authors: Maurer Simon  , Kirner Raimund
Published: February 2025

Structured programming has become a very successful programming paradigm as it provides locality of a program's control flow. Similar concepts of locality are desired for the specification and development of concurrent and parallel systems. In the domain of cyber-physical systems or embedded computing it is challenging to identify such structured compositions since control flow tends to be driven by concurrently acting reactive components with often circular dataflow relations. In this paper we discuss foundations for a structured coordination language for cyber-physical systems. We study car platooning as a use case, exhibiting typical challenges of cyber-physical systems. Based on that use case we show a possible structured composition pattern and outline coordination network construction mechanisms.
Utilizing Hybrid Programming Environments: CSCS Case Studies
Authors: Sawyer William  , Kozhevnikov Anton  , Solcà Raffaele
Published: February 2025

Hybrid platforms — those combining multicore and many-core processors — have made extensive inroads into high performance computing, with 101 of the top 500 supercomputers being based on such technology. The addition of coprocessors ensures higher memory bandwidth and peak performance at the price of special programming or meticulous optimization. But how effective is hybrid multicore in increasing productivity of real applications? The answer depends to no small extent on the efficacy of the programming environment — compilers, debuggers, profilers, as well as black-box components, such as platform-specific numerical libraries — to port applications correctly and with good performance to the underlying hardware.
“K-scale” applications on the K computer and co-design effort for the development of “post-K”
Authors: Tsuji Miwako
Published: February 2025

K computer is the first supercomputer to achieve a LINPACK benchmark performance for 10 PFLOPS in the world. The K computer shows sustained performance in real world applications as well as the LINPACK benchmark. In this paper, through describing a wide range of applications, we present problems and solutions in porting and scaling applications on the K computer. Additionally, we briefly introduce our approach to develop the post K computer.
Acceleration of Large Scale OpenFOAM Simulations on Distributed Systems with Multicore CPUs and GPUs
Authors: Krasnopolsky Boris  , Medvedev Alexey
Published: February 2025

The SparseLinSol library for solving large sparse systems of linear algebraic equations is presented in the paper. The key implementation features for multicore CPUs and GPUs are discussed. Performance characteristics are compared for “solve” part of the methods for MPI and hybrid code implementations and GPU-accelerated implementation against the hypre library for a set of matrices of 41–99 mln. unknowns on up to 128 GPU-equipped compute nodes. Preliminary results on coupling the developed library with OpenFOAM package to speedup the hydrodynamic modelling problems are discussed.
Correlation between Conductivity and Magnetic Hysteresis Measurements in Flake Graphite Cast Iron
Authors: Vértesy Gábor  , Uchimoto Tetsuya  , Takagi Toshiyuki  , Tomáš Ivan
Published: February 2025

A recently developed nondestructive method, called Magnetic Adaptive Testing (MAT) was applied for investigation of flake graphite cast iron samples having various metallic matrices and graphite structures. MAT is typical by its low required magnetization of samples, because it is based on measurement of families of minor magnetic hysteresis loops. The flat samples were magnetized by an attached yoke and sensitive descriptors of their magnetic/structural state were obtained from evaluation of the measured data. Conductivity measurements were performed and results of the non-destructive magnetic tests were compared with these data. A very good correlation was found between the magnetic descriptors and conductivity. Based on these results, MAT is recognized as a highly promising non-destructive alternative of destructive tests for monitoring structural changes in cast iron.
Magnetic Flux Leakage Testing for Defect Characterization
Authors: Cheng Weiying  , Kamiyama Yoshinori  , Tsukada Keiji
Published: February 2025

As a further study on the low-level magnetized magnetic flux leakage testing, numerical simulations and measurements were conducted to investigate the influence of liftoff variation, applicability of the approach to local thinning and material characterization. The results showed that by magnetizing a test object to a low strength level and acquiring the weak magnetic flux leakage signals by a highly sensitive magneto-impedance sensor, local thinning and the change of magnetic property can be detected.
Detection of Wear-out of Friction Bearings Through Airgap Eccentricity with an Electromagnetic Sensor
Authors: Perrin Stéphane  , Mawatari Shingo  , Kayata Ryo  , Tsunokai Manabu
Published: February 2025

This paper introduces a new monitoring technique for detecting the presence of wear-out in friction bearings with an electromagnetic sensor. This new method detects the presence of wear-out indirectly, through the detection of airgap eccentricity. Firstly, the electromagnetic sensor and the airgap eccentricity are introduced. Then, the effectiveness of the method is illustrated by experimental results on a pump with a 3-phase induction motor.
Effect of Phase Transformation on Damage-induced Magnetization of 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel
Authors: Li Hongmei  , Zhang Dongli  , Cai Wenlu  , Li Yong  , Chen Zhenmao  , Uchimoto Tetsuya  , Takagi Toshiyuki  , Yoshihara Kensuke
Published: February 2025

Effect of phase transformation on damage-induced magnetization of 304 austenitic stainless steel is experimentally studied in this paper. Firstly, relationship between plastic deformation and the deformation-induced phase transformation of 304 austenitic steel is investigated. Then, compositions and distributions of phases in the 304 austenitic steel specimens are observed by an X-ray diffractometer and a magnetic force microscopy, respectively. Finally, relationship between the damage-induced magnetization and the deformation-induced ferromagnetic phase for the 304 austenitic steel is summarized. It is found that 1) the ferromagnetic α'-martensite phase increases systematically with the plastic deformation and distributes mainly at the in-grain slip lines. 2) the intensity of damage-induced magnetization depends linearly on the amount of ferromagnetic phase for 304 austenitic steel. It is also clarified that the reason why the damage-induced magnetization increases with plastic strain in the 304 steel is due to the increasing amount of ferromagnetic phase caused by plastic deformation.
Non-destructive Testing by Inovated Approach Using Swept Frequency with Various Eddy Current Probes
Authors: Stubendekova Andrea  , Karban Pavel  , Janousek Ladislav  , Mach Frantisek  , Smetana Milan
Published: February 2025

This study deals with innovated eddy current testing – swept frequency eddy current technique, which allows non-destructive evaluation of materials with non-zero conductivity. The basis of this novel method is a change of frequency of exciting signal in a wide range while the testing probe is in a fixed position. The swept frequency technique enables investigation of conductive objects with uneasily scanning surface. A plate of austenitic steel with three artificial EDM notches differing in their depths is inspected in this paper. Various eddy current probes placed above defects and supplied with a time-varying electric current of changing frequency are employed for the testing in order to evaluate the detection and the resolution characteristics concerning the depth of detected notches. Frequency characteristics of the induced voltage for different defect depths are evaluated in order to assess the resolution capabilities. Numerical model of inspection from COMSOL Multiphysics software connects a model of high frequency coil with a measurement chain. The purpose of this study is the confirmation of applicability of swept frequency eddy current technique using experimental results, the verification by numerical simulations and comparison of different types of probes.
Impedance of an Induction Coil Accounting for the End-Effect in Eddy-Current Inspection of Steam Generator Tubes
Authors: Pipis Konstantinos  , Skarlatos Anastassios  , Theodoulidis Theodoros  , Lesselier Dominique
Published: February 2025

A fast model for the eddy-current signal calculation of thin cracks at the vicinity of a conducting tube edge is presented. The model is based on the surface integral equation formalism using a dedicated Green's function. The approach followed for the construction of the Green's kernel and the primary field is the Truncated Region Eigenfunction Expansion (TREE) method.
Coil Design of The Semicirucular ∞ Coils for Practical use
Authors: Hyuga Takahiro  , Marinova Iliana  , Saito Yoshifuru  , Ohuch Manabu  , Mogi Hideo  , Oikawa Yoshiro
Published: February 2025

Previously we have succeeded in exploiting a new high sensibility eddy current testing (ECT) sensor called the infinite (∞) coil. Operating principle of this ∞ coil is that two adjacent coils constructing the north and south poles alternatively set a zero magnetic potential region and keep the same situation when eddy currents are flowing along the paths in parallel to the exciting coils. If the eddy currents could not flow the paths in parallel to the exciting coil on the test specimen, then a zero magnetic potential region between the two exciting coils moves toward the other positions. This means that a sensing coil located at a zero magnetic potential region between the two exciting coils is possible to detect the disturbed magnetic fields, i.e., the defect in the test specimen could be detected from sensing coil signal. In this paper, we improve the ∞ coil in an optimum manner which leads to a practical factory product. Employment of the two planar semicircular exciting coils has made it possible to enlarge the zero magnetic potential region. Further a planar rectangular shape exciting coils may be considered as a deterministic design from the viewpoints of practical production.
Crack Detection of CFRP Cable Using ECT with Saw-Wave Excitation
Authors: He Dongfeng  , Shiwa Mitsuharu  , Naito Kimiyoshi
Published: February 2025

We developed eddy current testing (ECT) devices with saw-wave excitation. The saw wave has many harmonics, which can be used to get more information about defects. Multi-frequency digital lock-in amplifier for the harmonics was developed based on labview program. Using the saw-wave ECT, we did the experiments of crack detection for CFRP cable. An excitation coil and differential receiver coil were wrapped around a tube. The CFRP cable was moved through the tube for crack detection. The diameter of the CFRP cable was 1.3 mm and the diameter was 2.5 mm with the plastic coating. Three artificial defects with the interval of 50 mm were made. The depths of the cracks were about 1/4, 2/4, and 3/4 of the diameter of the cable respectively. Using the saw-wave ECT with the fundamental frequency of 200 kHz and the excitation current of 20 mA, the artificial defects in the CFRP cable was successfully detected.
Detection of Wall Thickness of Stainless Steel Using Transient Eddy Current Oscillations Method
Authors: Angani Chandra S.  , Ramos Helena G.  , Ribeiro Artur L.
Published: February 2025

In this study a new nondestructive testing (NDT) method called transient eddy current oscillations (TECO) is used to detect a change in the thickness of stainless steel plates. The TECO method uses a probe that includes a capacitor and an induction coil, which are connected in parallel, to generate a transient oscillatory regime in the excitation current to induce eddy currents in the test object. A Hall-effect sensor is used to measure the resultant magnetic field in the vicinity of the test material. The experimental results were analyzed to conclude about the thickness variation of the test object using the absolute integral value of the decay of oscillations that are obtained from the probe at different thicknesses of test material in the time domain and their frequency was calculated using fast Fourier transform (FFT). If there is a decrease in the thickness of the test specimen, experimental data shows an increase in the integral value of the sensor output signal and a decrease in the frequency. A differential FFT method is being proposed in this paper to separate any unwanted lift-off variation from the local wall thinning. In fact, with the thickness change in specimen, the differential spectrum show two differential FFT amplitude peaks in which one is positive and other is negative. However, if there is a change in lift-off on the reference thickness of specimen, the differential FFT shows three differential FFT amplitude peaks in which two peaks appeared in the positive side of the differential FFT. This enables an easy identification of any lift-off change, which is very useful in real time applications.
Multi-Frequency ECT for a Multi-Coils System using 3D FEM Simulations of FBR SG Tubes Covered by Sodium
Authors: Mihalache Ovidiu  , Yamaguchi Toshihiko  , Ueda Masashi
Published: February 2025

New dynamic window multi-frequency algorithms are investigated to be used with signals from multi-coils remote-field eddy current (ECT) system in order to suppress tube support plate signal in steam generator tubes of fast breeder reactors (FBR) and enhance outer tube defect signal/noise ratio. The applicability of the method is confirmed using three dimensional FEM simulations to assess the ECT signal variations due to sodium accumulated inside of defects volume.
Principles of Conflict Management for Conflict Management Institutions: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Authors: Hopmann Terrence
Published: February 2025

This paper analyzes theories of conflict management and their relevance for multilateral security institutions in coping with continuing violent conflict in the Euro–Atlantic region. It begins with an emphasis on the “diagnosis” of conflicts, noting that tools for conflict management must be adapted to the particular circumstances of each conflict, even while drawing on general principles of conflict management. It then surveys the range of conflict management approaches through the cycle of conflict – prevention of violent conflict, management of escalation, crisis management, negotiation of cease-fire and other peace agreements, peacekeeping and peace-enforcement, resolution of the underlying drivers of conflict, post-conflict peace-building, and finally promotion of reconciliation between former enemies and the construction of stable peace. It concludes with some implications of this approach for the special role that multilateral security institutions – in particular NATO, the OSCE, and the EU – may play in the prevention, management, and resolution of violent conflicts in the contemporary Euro-Atlantic security environment. The focus here is on facilitation, mediation, monitoring, and peacekeeping roles for multilateral institutions.
Three Lessons to Massively and Openly Learn From: on Political and Analytical Errors, Deterrence, and Popular Reactions
Authors: Diaconu Florin
Published: February 2025

Events unfolding in Ukraine starting with early spring of 2014 are teaching us several important lessons, significant for different types of target groups/ audiences. First of all, an obviously not at all comfortable lesson directly connected to major risks and threats generated for NATO by both severe analytical plus political errors and what we usually call ‘wishful thinking’. Another lesson is that deterrence still is, even if implemented by using limited means, a very potent military and, above all, political and /or strategic tool. A third major lesson is one connected in several ways to various popular reactions generated by the Russian open – or almost open – aggression in the Eastern Ukraine. The ability of both the average citizen and the senior policy-maker in the Western world to learn as much as possible from all these lessons is vital, we think, for the long-term dynamics and effectiveness of NATO.
Crisis in Ukraine: a Platform for the Expansion of “Hybrid War” or Another “Frozen Conflict”
Authors: Malai Irina
Published: February 2025

Ukraine's lack of preparedness to oppose Russia's “hybrid aggression” as well as Russia's official denial of its military participation in the conflict allowed the Kremlin to control the initiative up to a particular point. Therefore, the Ukrainian Parliament's decision to launch a counter terrorist operation on the territories, taken under control by the separatists, was a logical step. At the same time, despite the fact that the warfare acquired the character of a local armed conflict and direct military interference on the part of Russia became obvious (use of heavy artillery from the Russian territory, border crossings by the units of the Armed Forces of RF, etc.),the Ukrainian government did not declare martial law.
Application of Design Thinking Towards a PSS Concept Definition: A Case Study
Authors: Rosa Maiara  , Campese Carina  , Pieroni Marina  , Macul Victor  , Rozenfeld Henrique
Published: February 2025

Product-service systems (PSS) have been seen in literature as a new solution towards sustainable competitive advantage. Many companies have been migrating to this novel business model, which looks forward fulfilling the customers needs and desires. One approach that could be useful to support the generation of ideas and concepts for those offers is design thinking (DT), a human-centered design approach that has been used to stimulate innovation on several business processes, including the development process. Although some authors in literature have shown what the results of using this approach to generate concepts and ideas may be, there is sparse investigation on the application of DT regarding the generation of a PSS offer. This work aims to identify some particularities and insights about the DT application in the generation of new concepts as part of a methodology for transforming a product-oriented company into a PSS provider. The DT process was performed through workshops in a participatory case study in a mid-size Brazilian dental and hospital equipment manufacturer. The DT approach was in synergy with a method to define new business models. The main findings were: the synergic application of both methods that allowed the creation of a human-centered business model; the improvement of the existing product architecture and features to support the value proposition; and a roadmap of the future developments for PSS implementation. This work presents insights to manufacturing companies that intend to add value to their traditional offerings.
Digital Master as an Enabler for Industry 4.0
Authors: Biahmou Alain  , Emmer Christian  , Pfouga Alain  , Stjepandić Josip
Published: February 2025

Regardless of whether it is a question of business or private lives, education, economy, public management and services or politics – the digital revolution covers all areas of our daily life. For enterprises, this inevitable move means in particular: New technologies and changes in customer behavior and demands throw established business processes off track, opening entirely new possibilities and opportunities. Nowadays, digitization is often mentioned in the same breath with other buzzwords such as Mobile and Cloud Computing, Big Data, Business Intelligence, Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 or 3D Printing. However, this does not go far enough – there are more important drivers pushing the digitization and digital transformation for business organizations. Globalization is one of them, for instance, but also social changes with a new generation of customers – the Digital Natives. In this paper we illuminate the background of the digital transformation, and introduce the term Digital Master or 3D Master for the industrial purpose. We highlight the specific needs and expectations of the automotive industry. In a case study the application of Digital Master is shown in the production planning and quality assurance, based on a practical approach.
A Transdisciplinary Process Oriented Framework to Support Generic PLM Implementation for Use by Small and Medium Enterprises
Authors: Kienbaum Germano S.  , Fernandez Renato  , Silva Elaino K.T.  , Maria Rodrigo  , Coicev Marcelo  , Gartenkraut Eduardo  , Rodrigues Márcio  , Neto Alvaro Augusto  , Ferreira Maurício
Published: February 2025

This paper describes the application of a transdisciplinary process oriented framework named Transdisciplinary Process Science and Technology, which employs the key concepts and techniques from diverse disciplines that deal with complex discrete event processes - namely Model Based System Engineering, Project Management, Business Process Management, and Simulation – as a base for the creation and implementation of generic Product Lifecycle Management supporting systems for use by Small and Medium Enterprises. The friendly and affordable applications created can be put to work together in a Product Lifecycle Management generic environment that is used to support the automated execution and management of the essential procedures in the development of short lifecycle engineering projects, as an alternative to complete and/or tailored Product Lifecycle Management and Business Process Management systems, which are usually costly, complex, difficult to customize and to integrate with the other organisations's legacy software applications.
Putative Association of Periodontitis with Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Singhrao Sim K.  , Kesavalu Lakshmyya  , Crean St John
Published: February 2025

The mechanisms of disease processes resulting in dementia of which, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common example, remain elusive. To this end, a number of theories as plausible explanations have been suggested. Of these, the microbial, peripheral infection theory of Hunter and Miller (1900s) and Naguchi and Moore (1913) is the earliest proposal to explain possible causation of AD. Periodontal disease is a polymicrobial inflammatory disease reported to associate with AD via periodontal bacteria/bacteraemia, systemic inflammation, blood-brain barrier erosion, intra-cerebral inflammation and tissue injury, this chapter describes the original finding of four out of 10 confirmed AD brains with incidental infection of Porphyromonas gingivalis [P. gingivalis] outer membrane component lipopolysaccharide. A follow-on study examined the possibility of P. gingivalis translocation from the gingivae to the brain in the orally infected (n=12), apoliporprotein E knockout (ApoE−/−) mouse model at 12 and 24 weeks of monoinfections. Sensitive bacterial molecular speciation techniques confirmed the invasion of P. gingivalis into the brain at 12 weeks (p=0.006), and at 24 weeks of infection (p=0.0001). Immunolabeling using antibodies against complement proteins demonstrated the innate immune system activation via C3 fragmentation and its subsequent opsonisation onto vulnerable pyramidal neurons (p=0.032) in the hippocampus as ongoing bystander injury. These studies confirm the initiation of an infection mediated inflammasome assembly with implications for remote body organ inflammatory pathologies from periodontitis to dementia.
A Bacterial Component to Alzheimer's-Type Dementia Seen via a Systems Biology Approach that Links Iron Dysregulation and Inflammagen Shedding to Disease
Authors: Pretorius Etheresia  , Bester Janette  , Kell Douglas B.
Published: February 2025

The progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is accompanied by a great many observable changes, both molecular and physiological. These include oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and (more proximal to cognitive decline) the death of neuronal and other cells. A systems biology approach seeks to organize these observed variables into pathways that discriminate those that are highly involved (i.e., causative) from those that are more usefully recognized as bystander effects. We review the evidence that iron dysregulation is one of the central causative pathway elements here, as this can cause each of the above effects. In addition, we review the evidence that dormant, non-growing bacteria are a crucial feature of AD, that their growth in vivo is normally limited by a lack of free iron, and that it is this iron dysregulation that is an important factor in their resuscitation. Indeed, bacterial cells can be observed by ultrastructural microscopy in the blood of AD patients. A consequence of this is that the growing cells can shed highly inflammatory components such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS). These too are known to be able to induce (apoptotic and pyroptotic) neuronal cell death. There is also evidence that these systems interact with elements of vitamin D metabolism. This integrative systems approach has strong predictive power, indicating (as has indeed been shown) that both natural and pharmaceutical iron chelators might have useful protective roles in arresting cognitive decline, and that a further assessment of the role of microbes in AD development is more than highly warranted.
Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Asti Annalia
Published: February 2025

Data found in literature have reported that bacterial endotoxins may be involved in the inflammatory and pathological processes associated with amyloidosis and Alzheimer's disease (AD). In fact, it has been observed that the chronic infusion of the bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the outer cell wall component of Gram negative bacteria, into the fourth ventricle of rats reproduces many of the inflammatory and pathological features seen in the brain of AD patients. In this context, a key player in the pathogenesis of AD is the amyloid-&bgr; peptide (A&bgr;) that is capable of aggregating in fibrils that represent the main component of amyloid plaques. These deposits that accumulate among brain cells are indeed one of the hallmarks of AD. This aggregation in fibrils seems to correlate with A&bgr; toxic effects. However, recent data have shown that amyloid fibril formation not only results in toxic aggregates but also provides biologically functional molecules; such amyloids have been identified on the surface of fungi and bacteria. The aim of this work was to get a better insight on the influence of bacterial endotoxins on A&bgr; fibrillogenesis; factors that influence fibril formation may be important for A&bgr; toxic potential. Following 3 days of incubation at 37°C, A&bgr; was organized in compact fibrils and the in vitro A&bgr; fibrillogenesis was potentiated by the Escherichia coli endotoxin. This suggests the importance of infectious events in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and proposes a new aspect related to the putative pathological factors that can be implicated in the mechanisms involved in A&bgr;25–35fibrillogenesis.
Alzheimer's Disease: Assessing the Role of Spirochetes, Biofilms, the Immune System, and Amyloid-&bgr; with Regard to Potential Treatment Prevention
Authors: Allen Herbert B.
Published: February 2025

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an infectious disease caused by spirochetes,and these spirochetes form biofilms, which attract the innate immune system. The innate immune system first responder, Toll-like receptor 2, generates both NF-&kgr;B and TNF-which try to kill the spirochetes in the biofilm, but cannot penetrate the “slime”. NF-&kgr;B is also responsible for the generation of amyloid-&bgr; (A&bgr;) which itself is anti-microbial. A&bgr; cannot penetrate the biofilm either, and its accumulation leads to destruction of the cerebral neurocircuitry. Treatment with penicillin (as in tertiary syphilis, the comparator to AD) is outlined; a biofilm dispersing agent may need to be added to the protocol.
Critical Aviation Information Systems Cybersecurity
Authors: Gnatyuk Sergiy
Published: February 2025

The criticality level of the civil aviation information infrastructure is considerably amplified by the high degree of connectivity and interaction between ground and aircraft systems. Malicious interference with mentioned systems puts passengers, crew and ground staff security at threat. Unauthorized access to so-called critical aviation information system may have serious and tragic consequences (hundreds of passengers' lives, significant financial losses, etc.). In this context, the security of critical aviation information systems must be ensured in accordance with international control aviation security documents.