bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Traumatic Brain Injury due to Landmine Explosions
Authors: İzci Yusuf  , Solmaz Ilker  , Secer Halil I.  , Celik Cemil
Published: February 2025

Landmine explosions cause most of the war injuries on the battlefield and pose a substantial public health risk. Although the lower limbs are usually affected, head injuries may also occur. The aim of this study is to describe the types of head injuries caused by the explosion of landmines, along with the management of the victims. Twenty patients who sustained a head injury due to a landmine explosion were treated in the Department of Neurosurgery between 2000 and 2010. The average age of the patients was 23.5 (range between 20 and 33). Shrapnel, stone and earth were the wounding agents. Six patients underwent neurosurgical treatment and 14 had simple scalp closure and conservative treatment. Twelwe patients had associated lesions in the other parts of the body including thorax, upper and lower limbs, and the abdomen. Three patients died due to massive brain damage. Infection was observed among 6 patients. Five patients were treated by the psychiatry department for memory and cognitive problems. Landmines occasionally cause traumatic brain injury. Surgical intervention is seldom required and survival is likely unless the patient is in a deep coma. Multidisciplinary approaches are required for these patients.
Component-oriented Approaches for Software Development in the Extreme-scale Computing Era
Authors: Getov Vladimir
Published: February 2025

The complexity of high-end computing has been increasing rapidly following the exponential increase in processing speed of the novel electronic digital technologies. Subsequently, the software development productivity has been attracting higher attention by the professional community because of its increasing importance for the development of complex software systems and applications. At the same time, component-based technologies have emerged as a modern and promising alternative with a clear potential to improve significantly the productivity of software development, particularly for extreme-scale computing. However, the lack of longer-term experience and the increasing complexity of the target systems demand much more research results in the field. In particular, the search for the most appropriate component model and corresponding programming environments is of high interest and importance. The higher level of complexity involves a wider range of requirements and resources which demand dedicated support for dynamic properties and flexibility that could be provided in an elegant way by adopting the component-based methodology for software development.
System Level Acceleration with Blue Gene/L: Grand Challenge Problems in Physiological Multi-Scale Modelling
Authors: David Tim  , Moore Steve
Published: February 2025

Architectures for supercomputing have evolved rapidly over the past ten years on essentially two but possibly converging tracks. Firstly those of the Symmetric Multiprocesing cluster type architecture (i.e. the IBM p-series and the Cray XMT-series) and secondly the fully distributed node architecture exemplified by the IBM Blue Gene series. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Problems in the Science and Engineering world have expanded in a fashion exemplified by Parkinson's Law (“work fills the time available”). Science problems, especially those in the physiological domain are themselves defined over vast ranges of scale lengths as will be shown in the following sections. In order to solve problems whose scale lengths vary substantially there are two possible solutions. Either discretise down to the smallest scale with the possibility of producing such large data sets and numbers of equations that the memory requirements become too large for a specific machine or divide the problem into a subset of appropriate length scales and map these discretised sub-domains onto appropriate machine architectures with a fast communication link. The definitions of “appropriate” and “fast” here is determined at present on a case-by-case basis. A generic solution to where the “optimum” boundary should be between differing architectures is a substantial problem in itself. The two architectures each have their own advantages and disadvantages and in the light of this our group at Canterbury have deliberately utilised this to link both compute architectures together to solve a single problem involving the simulation of flow in the cerebro-vasculature. We show that certain mappings of large vascular trees have constraints placed upon them when more than 256 Blue Gene/L processors are used.
Exascale Computing and the Role of Co-Design
Authors: Ang James  , Brightwell Ron  , Donofrio David  , Dosanjh Sudip  , Hemmert K. Scott  , Rodrigues Arun  , Shalf John  , Wheeler Kyle
Published: February 2025

Significant advancements in hardware and software will be required to reach Exascale computing in this decade. The confluence of changes needed in both architectures and applications has created an opportunity for co-design. This paper offers a co-design methodology for high-performance computing and describes several tools that are being developed to enable co-design.
Fast Heterogeneous Computing: Principles and CUDA Programming
Authors: Kowalik Janusz  , Arłukowicz Piotr
Published: February 2025

The current dynamic development of heterogeneous (CPU+GPU) computing and its applications to scientific, engineering and business problems owes the success to several factors. One of them is the maturity of parallel computing after many years of struggle and experimentation with different parallel computer architectures. The second is the relatively low price of processors and our ability to put many of them on a single chip. The third equally important factor is the structure of very many numerical mathematics algorithms containing highly parallelizable operations whose processing can be accelerated by using massively parallel GPU and multicore CPU. In this paper we provide an overview of the field and simple but realistic examples. The paper is targeted for beginner CUDA users. We have decided to show a simple source code of vector addition on GPU. This example does not cover advanced CUDA usage, such as shared memory accesses, divergent branches, optimization coalescing or loop unrolling. To illustrate performance we demonstrate results of matrix-matrix multiplication where some of the optimization techniques were used to gain impressive speedup.
User support via telephone – to elderly and people with disabilities
Authors: Johansson Lars  , Becker Stig
Published: February 2025

Society becomes more and more dependent on information and services provided via Internet, and ICT systems in our homes tend to be more and more complex. Many people have difficulties in using ICT devices to their full potential. Some people don't use them at all. One reason for not being part of the digital society is lack of adequate support when it is trouble. You have a need to ask someone for assistance. A telephone support service could be a way to increase inclusion. The Swedish Institute of Assistive Technology is conducting a project which aims are significantly improve ICT support to people with disabilities and elderly people.
A basic guideline for the provision of assistive products in the Netherlands
Authors: Heerkens Y.F.  , Bougie Th.  , Jonker H.K.
Published: February 2025

Objective. To describe why and how a general (basic) guideline for the provision of assistive products was developed in the Netherlands and to show the structure and content of this guideline.
Braving the Windmill
Authors: Andor Csaba  , Szabó Gyula
Published: February 2025

Objective. The objective of the paper is to show efforts by MEREK to change attitudes towards disability through implementing a new approach into the Hungarian system of providing assistive technology to clients. Main content The Hungarian system of selecting assistive tools to clients is determined almost exclusively by the decisions of medical specialists. The paper describes the Hungarian situation: the process of providing assistive tools to clients, the factors taken into account during the process and the contributing factors of the decisions of doctors. Efforts made by MEREK are detailed to develop services contributing to the independence of clients, people with mobility and communications problems. The House of Tomorrow offers special rehabilitation services according to individual needs. The Guruló (“Rolling”) Project aims at providing clients with assistive tools adapted to their current personal needs justified by ICF-examination. International experiences underline the idea behind the project that funds are efficiently allocated only if a complex service provider's approach is combined with open market competition and regular surveillance of clients' needs. According to the definition of disability in the UN Disability Convention, we hope that the adequate use of assistive technology can decrease the effect of disability.
Fall and Action Detection in Elderly Homes
Authors: Aertssen Jerry  , Rudinac Maja  , Jonker Pieter
Published: February 2025

Objective. Injuries caused by falls of elderly people are a common worldwide problem and ageing of population will even further increase related burdens and costs. In this paper we present a monitoring system that detects dangerous actions of elderly and raises an alarm when necessary. Such a system would improve the quality of life for elderly and reduce costs in healthcare in general. The main requirements in its design are that the system can perform in real time with a high detection rate using realistic data, and to make it affordable so that it can be used as a healthcare monitoring system.
Assisting People with Early Stage Dementia: Monitoring Wandering
Authors: McCullagh Paul  , Augusto Juan Carlos  , Zheng Huiru  , Mulvenna Maurice  , Wang Haying  , Carswell William  , Wallace Jonathan  , Martin Susanne  , Jeffers Paul
Published: February 2025

Objective. A symptom often associated with early stage dementia is the misunderstanding of context. This may be inability to match activities of daily living to time of day and can manifest by wandering behaviour, at dusk or during nighttime. This behaviour is certainly inconvenient to the carer, but can be dangerous should the person trip, misuse a domestic appliance (e.g. cooker) or leave the dwelling. Technology has been used to assist people with dementia. Commercial systems deploy sensors that can raise an alarm and allow a remote carer to intervene via an intercom, for example. In this work we seek to extend the technology to provide reassurance and guidance to the client. In this case the client can be the person with dementia, but the beneficiary may also be their carer.
Supporting autonomy in the aging population by using low tech assistive devices
Authors: Heijkers J.  , Schoonbrood F.J.E.  , de Witte L.P.
Published: February 2025

Objective: The purpose of this project was to develop a toolkit with comfort products, low-tech assistive devices and information, based on the needs and demands of an elderly population living independently, aiming at maintaining independence and autonomy.
What do we know from systematic reviews about the effectiveness of assistive products for communication and information used by people with disability?
Authors: Anttila Heidi  , Samuelsson Kersti  , Salminen Anna-Liisa  , Brandt Åse
Published: February 2025

Objective. To investigate what evidence is available from systematic reviews on the effects of assistive products (AP) for communication and information for people with communication disabilities.
Practical Evaluation Protocol for New Assistive Technology for Elderly with Cognitive Impairment
Authors: Nihei Misato  , Deguchi Genbu  , Ishiwata Rina  , Misegawa Michiko  , Inoue Takenobu
Published: February 2025

The effectiveness of new assistive technologies must be carefully evaluated. The purpose of this study is to develop a protocol to evaluate the efficacy of new assistive devices. As a case study, we describe the evaluation of a simple, fail-safe wheelchair brake that reduces the risk of falls during patient transfers. The evaluation protocol includes a short-term evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the mechanical functions and a long-term evaluation of clinical use. The short-term evaluation confirmed the functionality and safety, and the long-term evaluation confirmed the reduction in the risk of falls.
Memory aid to structure and support daily activities for people with dementia
Authors: Kerkhof Yvonne  , Rabiee Fatemeh  , Willems Charles G.
Published: February 2025

Objective: Use of technology to structure and support the daily activities of the residents in a small scale group accommodation (SSGA) for dementia is a new innovation in the Netherlands. This paper presents: a) the process of development of this new way of structuring activities by describing the making of digital planning boards, b) the findings of a pilot study looking at the experiences of using this device in people with dementia living in a small-scale group accommodation as well as experiences of informal carers and members of staff and c) the process of organizing day structure using this device from the user's perspectives.
An experiment in online AT open innovation
Authors: Draffan E.A.  , Cudd Peter  , Wald Mike  , Skuse Seb  , Lee Steve
Published: February 2025

Objective. To initiate an experiment to see if an online tool can facilitate creation of new Assistive Technology (AT) through open innovation that engages the public (primarily end users and carers), prescribers, innovators and manufacturers. The final results and conclusions of the funded project which focus on AT relevant to access and use of Information Technology will be included in the poster.
UMCL Transcription Tools
Authors: Archambault Dominique  , Guyon Franck
Published: February 2025

Objective. This paper presents a couple of software applications, the UMCL transcription tools, both based on UMCL — the Universal Maths Conversion Library, which aim at providing transcription of mathematical expressions from several mainstream formats to several mathematical Braille codes. We developed UMCL in collaboration with a number of international labs in order to create a software library allowing any mathematical application to output mathematical Braille.
Mis-recognition of Road Surface by The Low Vision
Authors: Matsubara Kayoko  , Hamada Takamaro  , Ito Shin-ichi  , Sato Katsuya  , Booka Masayuki  , Oku Hidehisa  , Fujisawa Shoichiro
Published: February 2025

Objective. There are about 1.6 millions visually disabled persons in Japan. It is well known that about 90% of those are the low vision and the rest is the blind. Some of the low vision can walk independently by confirming position of marks or obstacles placed on road surface. However, it is considered that use of un appropriate parameters such as material, luminance contrast, illumination in road surface may affect visibility for the low vision. Therefore, the low vision sometimes miss-recognize road surfaces as holes or ditches. The purpose of our research is to find parameters of road surface that causes this kind of miss-recognition. As the preliminary result of our research, this paper describes how the low vision recognizes road surface incorrectly.
Introduction of Visible Light Communications to the Walking Support System for People with Low Vision
Authors: Omori Kiyohiro  , Sugimoto Yoshimi  , Kitagawa Hiroshi  , Kitayama Ichiro  , Yanagihara Takao
Published: February 2025

Objective. Many people with low vision have walking difficulty at darkened conditions because it is hard to get sufficient contrast from road surface. We have proposed the walking support system with LED lighting. This system irradiates some beams of the light on road surface at regular interval, and low vision pedestrian uses the spots on the road to find one's way. However, it is difficult for low vision pedestrian to distinguish variations of color or shape of the spots. In this study, we propose the method to give walking support information for the pedestrian to the LED beam at the right time by using visible light communications (VLC).
A Brain Eyes WHEELchair Interface for severely disabled people assistance
Authors: Lamti Hachem A.  , Ben Khelifa Mohamed Moncef  , Alimi Adel M.  , Gorce Philippe
Published: February 2025

Objective. The goal of BEWHEELI project is to command and control a powered wheelchair throughout thoughts and gaze. For this purpose, a bi-modal real time collaborative system is put in place to enhance severely disabled people mobility in hostile indoor environment. Main content For severely disabled people, commanding a wheelchair using conventional joystick is hardly possible especially for locked-In syndrome group. Although many solutions have been proposed such as sip/puff, head or tongue their set of commands still reduced and tiring. But with the emergence of new technologies such as EEG (Electroencephalography) and EOG (Electrooculography), new approaches have been proposed such as brain machine interface and gaze dependant interaction. But still many drawbacks are to come: In fact, brain interfaces are limited to the low signal-to-noise ratio of EEG signals and a typical BCI (Brain Computer Interface) provides between two and four control states while for gaze based ones, it is difficult to discriminate between intended and non-intended commands only by measuring points of gaze. By merging both information, one can develop a bi-modal system that ensures the following functionalities:
AsTeRICS – Towards a Rapid Integration Construction Set for Assistive Technologies
Authors: Nussbaum Gerhard  , Veigl Christoph  , Acedo Javier  , Barton Zdenek  , Diaz Unai  , Drajsajtl Tomas  , Garcia Alvaro  , Kakousis Konstantinos  , Miesenberger Klaus  , Papadopoulos George Angelos  , Paspallis Nearchos  , Pecyna Karol  , Soria-Frisch Aureli  , Weiss Christoph
Published: February 2025

Objective. Nowadays, a considerable number of AT devices based on information and communication technologies has become available. These devices often ask for adaptation of software and/or hardware to fit the user's abilities. All too often, assistive tools that have been optimised for a particular application cannot be used in other situations. The EC-funded project AsTeRICS aims to provide a flexible and affordable construction set for building assistive functionalities which can be highly adapted to individual user's needs.
Chapter 7: Multi-Agent Systems – Theory, Approaches and NASA Applications
Authors: Hinchey Mike  , Vassev Emil
Published: February 2025

This chapter introduces the multi-agent paradigm and presents concepts and approaches related to multi-agent systems and paradigm-inspired popular research topics such as grid computing, intelligent swarms, sensor networks, service-oriented computing, cloud computing and autonomic computing. Additionally, the chapter reflects the authors' experience and presents a review of the NASA multi-agent applications of ground control and space-exploration systems. The Multi-Agent Systems approach helps NASA systems deal efficiently with huge amounts of data and to perform unmanned tasks in deep space where single monolith spacecraft are impractical.
Chapter 9: Implementing GliderAgent – an agent-based decision support system for glider pilots
Authors: Domański Jan J.  , Dziadkiewicz Radosław  , Ganzha Maria  , Gab Andrzej  , Mesjasz Mariusz M.  , Paprzycki Marcin
Published: February 2025

The aim of this chapter is to discuss practical issues encountered when a skeleton of the GliderAgent—a multi-agent system supporting glider pilots in various navigation and pilotage scenarios—was implemented. The GliderAgent implementation integrates two agent environments discussed in chapters 2 and 4 of this book, as well as the XCsoar pilotage software, and the OpenStreetMaps GIS system. In addition to presenting the basic design of the GliderAgent system, the technical issues solved during its implementation are discussed. Finally, examples of implemented capabilities are illustrated.
Chapter 2: JADE: Java Agents DEvelopment Framework
Authors: Caire Giovanni
Published: February 2025

In this chapter the JADE platform is presented. JADE is an Open Source framework that facilitates the development of distributed applications based on the agent oriented paradigm: an application developed on top of JADE is composed of a set of software modules called agents that execute tasks and interact by exchanging asynchronous messages. JADE is used in a variety of domains including network management, simulations, personal assistance and e-commerce both in the Industry and in the Academy worlds. In this chapter in particular we show how it can be fruitfully exploited to create applications in the field of team coordination.
Chapter 13: Management of MAS by Means of Automated Reasoning in the Role Model
Authors: Kazík Ondřej  , Neruda Roman
Published: February 2025

The concept of role allows introducing organizational aspects in the development of multi-agent systems. In this chapter we elaborate the role-based model of computational multi-agent system and formalize this model in description logic. We show that the division of the ontology into axioms interpreted under the open- and closed-world assumption is necessary to express correctness conditions of the system. The ontology agent is proposed and implemented. This agent provides management services, e.g. run-time validation of the system or matchmaking of present groups and agents. An example of the simple computational multi-agent system is shown.
Chapter 1: Modeling Multi-Agent Systems with AML
Authors: Cervenka Radovan
Published: February 2025

The Agent Modeling Language (AML) is a semi-formal visual modeling language for specification of various aspects of multi-agent systems. This chapter gives an overview of AML and demonstrate its application on a series of didactic examples from the emergency management domain.
Role of Information Security in Intelligence
Authors: Mukhashev Aidos Adilkhasimuly
Published: February 2025

The increasing number of Information Security related incidents, organized crimes, intelligent threats deserves much closer attention. It is important to bear in mind that effective security cannot be achieved by relying on technology alone. A tight coordination is required between the people and technology to achieve effective security. Tracking the effects of the Network Society and the Information Revolution on the intelligence agencies of highly developed states will hope to solve the problems of organized crime, intelligent, and terrorist threats. Of course, the analysis of intelligence activities is clearly vital. This study will discuss information security, cryptography, cyber-attacks and cyber threats. Also, study will describe types and forms of intelligence.
Operating SCADA Systems in Potential Risk Intrusion Network Environment and Risk Management
Authors: Stankovski Mile  , Stojanovski Goran  , Mitevski Riste  , Stankovski Dragan
Published: February 2025

The new era in technology has derived new risks in computer security. The cyber security becomes as much important as the security in conventional sense. That is why in the recent years we are witnessing rapid investments in security of the computer systems. As a special type of computer systems, the SCADA systems play their role in defining the security systems. Modern SCADA systems used in infrastructure are threatened by cyber-attacks, as a result of their higher visibility in recent years and the conversion of legacy stovepipe implementations to modern information technology (IT) systems. Nevertheless, the modern SCADA systems are very often crucial for normal operation of the everyday life, and must be fully operable at any time. That is why the existence of effective security governance for SCADA is essential for the future computer/SCADA systems.
Continuous Computing Technologies For Mitigating IT-related Business Risks
Authors: Bajgoric Nijaz
Published: February 2025

Several continuous computing technologies can be applied in order to mitigate the IT-related risks that cause business discontinuance. An IT-infrastructure in the form of an “always-on enterprise information system” must be able to meet the requirements for continuous or “24×7×365” computing – an operating platform that represents main prerequisite for business continuance. Paper explores the most common IT business risks and presents a model for implementation of several continuous computing technologies in order to mitigate the risks and enhance business continuity.
A Comparison of Classification Models on Credit Card Fraud Detection with respect to Cost-Based Performance Metrics
Authors: Duman Ekrem  , Sahin Yusuf
Published: February 2025

With the developments in the information technology and improvements in the communication channels, fraud is spreading all over the world, resulting in huge financial losses. Though fraud prevention mechanisms such as CHIP&PIN are developed for credit cards, these mechanisms do not prevent the most common fraud types such as fraudulent credit card usages over virtual POS terminals or mail orders so called online credit card fraud. As a result, fraud detection is the essential tool and probably the best way to stop such fraud types. In this study, classification models based on well-known data mining algorithms such as decision trees, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Logistic Regression (LR) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) are developed and applied on the credit card fraud detection problem. Furthermore, a new cost-sensitive decision tree algorithm that minimizes the sum of misclassification costs while selecting the splitting attribute at each non-terminal node of the tree is developed. Performances of the models developed are compared with respect to not only a well-known performance metric True Positive Rate (TPR), but also newly defined cost based performance metrics specific to the problem domain. The performance of the model built using this cost-sensitive decision tree algorithm in identifying frauds is compared with the pre-built models. The results show that this cost-based decision tree algorithm outperforms the existing well-known methods in terms of the fraudulent transactions identified and the amount of losses recovered. This method can be readily applied to real-world credit card fraud detection tasks.
The Role of Assistive Technology in Supporting Formal Carers
Authors: Bhachu Amritpal S.  , Hine Nicholas  , Woolrych Ryan
Published: February 2025

In an increasingly ageing population, solutions are being sought to enable older people to live independently in their own homes. Assistive technology has the potential to develop supportive environments for older people through “ambient assisted living”. This chapter is based on results from the implementation of an assistive technology project designed to provide formal carers with patient information to support them in their case management. The study followed the trial use of a telecare system, capturing the experiences of formal carers and documenting the impact of assistive technology. The findings identify that assisted living devices have the potential, once trust is established, to support formal carers to undertake their role more effectively. However, in accepting assistive technology as part of an integrated care solution, there are implications on the role and responsibilities of the formal carer, existing mechanisms for delivering community care and the quality of the relationship between the carer and the cared for. The paper concludes by considering the challenges for assistive technology if it is to be directly supportive of formal care-givers.
The National Health Service in England – Moving to Mainstream Use of Ambient Assisted Living Technology
Authors: MacGinnis George
Published: February 2025

The UK has been an early adopter in the use of ambient assisted living technology for social care and this experience has helped to shape the approach to the use of technology in healthcare. The National Health Service (NHS) in England has benefited from a series of policy measures, supported by grant funding, that have resulted in a significant uptake of ambient assisted living technologies in both health and social care. Over the period 2005–2010 the NHS has moved from a few small scale pilots toward a situation where a growing proportion of local health authorities have implemented some form of service, and a few have moved on to plan or deploy technology on a large scale.
Smart Living Environment: Ubiquitous Computing Approach Based on TRON Architecture
Authors: Sakamura Ken
Published: February 2025

Smart houses that use the results of the ubiquitous computing have been built to assist the residents including the physically-challenged. Similar technological infrastructure is now being applied at the urban landscape level to create a smart town or city to help the citizens including the challenged. Such future infrastructure will become more important as the underlying technology becomes affordable. Assisted living environment will be richer thanks to the services offered by ubiquitous computing, or the IoT.
ICT Infrastructures for Telerehabilitation
Authors: Deiters Wolfgang  , Koch Oliver  , Königsmann Thomas  , Meister Sven
Published: February 2025

Telerehabilitation is an emerging field that aims at optimizing the process of rehabilitation by using efficient information exchange methods between different stakeholders. A wide range of technologies have been developed to facilitate this exchange using monolithic application architectures. These architectures are often the reason why projects fail due to disproportionate investment of money and time as well as lack of knowledge. In this paper, we present an overview of projects in the field of telerehabilitation and telemedicine based on the so called CHOPIN architecture, a toolbox for composition of telemedical services into high quality applications. It facilitates reuse and leverage of existing services and components, thus reducing costs and work efforts with each new application that is implemented on the basis of CHOPIN. Our future prospects will focus on even stronger service orientation of the approach developing the whole technology towards a cloud-based approach driven by the metaphor of “Reha-Apps from an AAL-eHealth-Store”.
Smart Home Technologies for People with Cognitive Impairment: An Affordable, Rehabilitative Approach
Authors: Gentry Tony
Published: February 2025

People with disabilities related to cognitive impairment may be excellent candidates for smart home and ambient technologies that support safety and functional independence. Fortunately, many of the tools that may be leveraged to provide these supports are available and affordable in the consumer marketplace and can be readily implemented within the context of a rehabilitation therapy program. This chapter examines: (1) functional assessment for living at home, (2) a model for retrofitting existing homes for inexpensive smart home solutions that are focused on safety and functional independence, (3) a range of consumer tools available for improving home-based everyday support, (4) psychosocial implications of smart home utilization, and (5) issues surrounding funding for these technologies.
AAL Technologies in Rehabilitation – Lessons Learned from a COPD Case Study
Authors: Farshchian Babak A.  , Holbø Kristine  , Mikalsen Marius  , Reitan Jarl
Published: February 2025

AAL technologies for rehabilitation constitute a major research area within AAL research. A large number of novel technologies and applications has been developed in R&D projects. Our focus in this paper is to see how these technologies support innovation in the field. We document how these technologies and innovations meet the requirements driven by our sample project, called COPD@Home, carried out in the Norwegian settings. We outline the participatory design methodology used in COPD@Home. We document the resulting requirements. We then analyze the definition of AAL provided by some European strategy documents, and briefly survey a number of EU-funded projects in the field. We provide a gap analysis between the requirements from COPD@Home and the results from the surveyed EU-funded R&D projects. Our findings show that existing R&D lacks proper treatment of organizational issues related to AAL technologies such as re-engineering of existing work practices, training and on-the-job learning of care personnel, and support for collaborative workflows. In general we also see a lack of focus on service innovation as an inherent part of the current technological developments in AAL.
Introduction to Section on Future Developments and Visions for the AAL Area
Authors: Augusto Juan Carlos  , Maitland Julie
Published: February 2025

The chapters in this last section of the handbook are gathered around two themes. The first four chapters consider the non-technical challenges that must be addressed if the field of Ambient Assisted Living is to realise its full potential. The last three chapters are similarly forward looking, providing alternative views on the possible future directions for the area. This introduction to the section includes a reflection from the section editors on the state of the art of the Ambient Assisted Living area as a whole as well as a brief description of the contributions included in this section.
Study on Future Trend of the Elderly Care from the Aspect of Assistive Technology Rental System in Japan
Authors: Lee Shao-Huai  , Huang Jui-Chen
Published: February 2025

As Taiwan steps into an aging society, it faces problems of shortage of caregivers in aging society and an increased variety of care demands for elders, even those with serious disabilities. Considering Japan has similar cultural background as Taiwan, this study attempted to introduce an assistive technology rental system in Japan, where long-term care insurance and a rental service of assistive technology has been implemented since 2000. The use of assistive technology could reduce the caregivers' burden, and help elders to become more independent and active. As a result, Japan, the first aging country in the world, is able to reduce the waste of medical resources for the end of life.
Rules of Engagement for Counterterrorism and Crisis
Authors: Aytaç Osman
Published: February 2025

One of the best tools available to policy makers to help manage armed forces during crisis is a set of orders known as rules of engagement (ROE). ROE are guidelines specifying under what conditions or circumstances force may be used to satisfy political and/or military demands. Tension inescapably exits in a system that subordinates armed forces under civilian control while retaining military command. Managing this tension by delineating the boundaries of military action in support of political objectives is another major role of ROE. There are vital links between the strategic and tactical levels of conflict. The strongest of these links are often rules of engagement (ROE); ROE enable mission accomplishment, force protection, and compliance with law and policy. ROE is a kind of tool for politicians to control the level of the “use of force” by the military. ROE are also a kind of tool for military commanders to command and control their units in order to fulfill the requirements of their mission. The ROE for counter terrorist operations are different than wartime ROE in terms of applicable law and the political desire which is less provocative in order to minimize the possibility of escalating the political situation.
Future Trends in Terrorism
Authors: Sütalan Zeynep
Published: February 2025

This article discusses the future trends in terrorism by looking at the changing profile of terrorism in terms of ideology, organization and structure as well as the means and methods used in terrorism. First, the article examines how the ideologies used by terrorist organizations together with their goals and motivations have changed. Second, it elaborates how the organizational structure of terrorist organizations has changed with reference to the network and hierarchical structures of terrorist organizations. Third, the article is dedicated to look at the means and methods of terrorist organizations with special attention to the weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and suicide bombing. Other features of terrorism like cyber terrorism, the growing interconnectedness and interdependency between organized crime and terrorism and the nexus between piracy and terrorism is also addressed. As the final part, the article also touches upon as NATO's study on Multiple Futures, which is about the future threats that the Alliance will be facing in the 21stcentury. In this context, the article argues that there is both change and continuity in terrorism since it is a historical phenomenon and intends to contribute to the discussions on the future of terrorism.
Strategic Communications in Public Safety Organizations
Authors: Mace Robyn R.
Published: February 2025

This article addresses the concept of strategic communications and their importance in the fight against terrorism. Strategic communications are an important vehicle for public security organizations to maintain an information flow to, and positive image with, their publics, since these organizations may be the most visible organization in a crisis situation. However, effective strategic communications in crises situations stem from adequate preparation and practice. It is also crucial that strategic communications be integrated with other efforts, particularly with the variety of formal and informal media available today.
Facing the Challenge of the Evolving Terrorist Threat
Authors: Jerard Jolene
Published: February 2025

In order to be able to combat terrorism, it is necessary to understand that the terrorists are networked on a global scale. Even smaller groups and individuals are able to radicalize themselves through the Internet and other forms of mass media. The terrorists are able to exploit this interconnectivity to recruit and retain members by creating interlinked communities of trust that sustain the effort and provide support and a sense of belonging to members. Therefore, it will take a globally-coordinated effort to combat terrorism effectively. The global war on terror has dominated both domestic and international discourse. The methodology for combating and mitigating the threat of potential terrorist attacks has primarily rested on the operational domain. The networked nature of the global terrorist threat has often been a subject of concern. This paper will explore the practical reality of a social network and what it means to the extremist and terrorist community and in addition, the wider contextual realities that have ensured the sustenance of the threat of the global terrorist network.
Quantitative estimation of strain induced α'-martensite in cold worked AISI type 304 stainless steel using GMR sensor
Authors: Viswanath A.  , Rao B.P.C.  , Mahadevan S.  , Jayakumar T.
Published: February 2025

The residual magnetic field from strain induced α'-martensite phase in cold worked in AISI type 304 stainless steel specimens has been non-destructively measured using Giant Magneto Resistance (GMR) sensor. Correlation has been established between GMR sensor output and volume fraction of martensite accurately determined using X-ray diffraction analysis. Metallographic examination has been carried out to understand the microstructural changes with amount of cold work. Using GMR sensor it is possible to detect 2.8% martensite phase in 10% cold worked specimens. As the GMR sensor saturates after 1.4 mT, identification of severely deformed region i.e. equivalent of more than 40% cold work or 14% martensite phase in components made of AISI type 304 stainless steels is a possibility.
Understanding Sigma Phase Influence on the Magnetic Behavior of Duplex Stainless Steel
Authors: Areiza Maria C.L.  , Sacramento Rodrigo  , Sommer Rubem L.  , Chávez Diego E. González  , Rebello João M.A.
Published: February 2025

Duplex stainless steel (DSS) has a wide application in industrial structures that needs strong corrosion resistance. The properties that make this class of steel very attractive for the oil refinery industry are: high strength, toughness, ductility, stress corrosion cracking resistance, even in H2S containing environments, allied to low cost when compared to conventional stainless steel. DSS are two-phase materials which microstructure consists of grains of ferrite (δ) and austenite (γ). Nonetheless, a drawback is pointed out: exposition to temperatures in the range 300°C - 1000°C may lead to precipitation of a deleterious phase, named sigma (σ). When this occurs, the material becomes brittle and its corrosion resistance to H2S is severely impaired. Eddy currents (EC) testing can be successfully employed to detect and quantify σ phase. The study of magnetic behavior of DSS allows a better understanding of the technological problem of detecting and quantifying the σ phase. The main focus is to understand the difference in EC signals for the different samples with σ phase, because it may be related to either the precipitation of the paramagnetic σ phase or to the decrease of the ferromagnetic δ phase. The present work is a first attempt to understand the origin of the changes observed in EC technique. We considered the hysteresis behavior as the key to understand the differences in magnetic permeability, initially at room temperature. EC measurements were made with a customized probe. It was observed that the changes in the signal of EC are predominantly from deleterious phase
Dipole identification and localization using pseudo-inverse techniques for magnetic flux leakage experiments
Authors: Baskaran R.  , Janawadkar M.P.
Published: February 2025

Magnetic flux leakage (MFL) methods are widely used for the non-destructive evaluation of defects in ferromagnetic materials. The technique involves the measurement of the leakage field profile and its offline evaluation to infer the location of the defect and its size. The flaw shapes considered here will be restricted to small voids deeply buried in the material. As a first approximation, closed-surface voids inside magnetically permeable structures, when exposed to external magnetic field, can be modelled by a magnetic dipole positioned at the defect site. Our objective is to determine the location and the strength of the dipole that represents the defect from simulated flux leakage measurements performed above the surface of the magnetically permeable structure. In the first procedure we utilize the pseudo inverse technique for imaging flaws in a three dimensional structure. The technique enables the algorithm to efficiently search for the unknown space variables corresponding to the positions of defects even in the presence of reasonable levels of noise. In an improvement over this procedure, we have identified the number of defects based on Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) approach and hence determined their locations and strengths in the presence of random noise. In addition, a simplified search algorithm based on Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) approach with rotating dipole model has been proposed to identify the number of defects and their positions. Using the simulated data as an input, it has been possible to identify the number of defects and their locations by this new approach with significant reduction in computations.
3-D finite element modeling of leakage magnetic fields from inclined cracks in carbon steel plates
Authors: Singh W. Sharatchandra  , Rao B.P.C.  , Thirunavukkarasu S.  , Mahadevan S.  , Mukhopadhyay C.K.  , Jayakumar T.
Published: February 2025

Three-dimensional finite element (3-D FE) modeling has been performed to study the leakage magnetic fields from inclined defects in 14 mm thick carbon steel plate using COMSOL 3.4 Multiphysics software. The tangential (Bx) and normal (Bz) components of the leakage fields from slots with inclinations of 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 75° in the carbon steel plate have been predicted. In order to classify inclined or non-inclined slots, nine parameters such as signal amplitude, full width at half maximum (FWHM), skewness, area under the signal, etc. have been determined from the model predicted MFL signals. In order to quantify the angle of inclination accurately, multiple linear regression has been proposed in this paper. The model predicted features of the MFL signals have been experimentally validated for a few cases.
Numerical simulation of electromagnetic acoustic transducers in time domain
Authors: Prémel D.  , Molka D.  , Chatillon S.  , Le Bihan Y.
Published: February 2025

During some ultrasonic non destructive evaluation inspections implying high temperatures conditions, Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers (EMATs) are very useful because, contrary to conventional piezoelectric transducer, they do not require any coupling fluid and they have the capability to generate a great number of mode propagation by interchanging the geometry of the emitting electromagnetic apparatus. However, the poor transduction between ultrasonic energy and electromagnetic energy must be improved in order to increase the performances of these transducers. This paper aims to develop some new simulation tools in order to be able to make some parametric studies by using semi-analytical models with reasonable time computations sufficiently flexible for dealing with a great number of geometric configurations. In order to achieve this goal, time harmonic eddy current modules already implemented into the CIVA software are firstly extended to time domain and then they are connected to ultrasonic semi-analytical models to provide at low cost of computation the response of the EMAT transducer. This paper presents the different steps of the developments which have been followed to obtain the new functionalities into the CIVA platform.
Damage Evaluation of Copper Alloy by Eddy Current Testing with AMR Sensor
Authors: Shiwa Mitsuhara  , He Dongfeng  , Yamawaki Hisashi  , Xinbao Liu  , Sunakawa Hideo  , Kurosu Akihide  , Okita Koichi
Published: February 2025

High temperature damage of combustion chamber material made of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy was evaluated by using dynamic mechanical analyzer, ultrasonic, and eddy current techniques. It was found that at room and high temperatures the Y signals of the eddy current testing of damaged copper alloy specimens were correlated to the applied strain value calculated by finite element method.
Comparison of Detection Abilities between Inductance Sensor and Fluxgate Magnetometer in ECT
Authors: Smetana Milan  , Strapacova Tatiana  , Janousek Ladislav  , Capova Klara
Published: February 2025

The article deals with the utilization of two various types of sensing elements in eddy current non-destructive testing – the inductance coil and the fluxgate magnetometer. The sensitivity and the resolution of the two types of sensors are analysed under the same conditions. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements are carried out to evaluate performances of the sensors while the harmonic signal is used for the driving. The gained results are presented and discussed in the paper.
Application of ACPD Technique for Monitoring Fatigue Crack Growth in Structural Components
Authors: Raghava G.  , Gandhi P.  , Pukazhendhi D.M.  , Vishnuvardhan S.  , Saravanan M.
Published: February 2025

Alternating Current Potential Difference (ACPD) technique is very suitable for measurement of crack depth in structural components made of conducting materials. This paper briefly discusses this technique and presents some selected examples of experimental investigations wherein crack depth measurements have been made using commercially available crack depth measuring devices based on this technique. The technique is effectively utilized to measure crack depths in fatigue and fracture investigations on large size structural components and get crack growth rate at various cycles of loading.