bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Service-Oriented Architecture for Cloud Application Development
Authors: Benfenatki Hind  , Kemp Gavin  , Ferreira Da Silva Catarina  , Benharkat Aïcha-Nabila  , Ghodous Parisa
Published: February 2025

Software engineering used several approaches for the development of application such as service oriented approaches. Nowadays, with the advent of cloud computing and the convergence toward “Everything as a Service”, application development is moving to a new paradigm, abstracting the underlying architecture and infrastructure. The literature does provide some work describing frameworks and architectures for cloud software development, but not one that covers the whole application development lifecycle. Furthermore, these papers are mainly dedicated to developers and do not provide a business stakeholder a method or an easy to use service to deploy their business application without the help of an IT-professional. Our work fits into the perspective of defining a Service-Oriented Architecture for Cloud Application Development. The architecture we propose is designed for non-IT professional users. It avoids the huge technical background needed for cloud application development by automating the process of development; avoids PaaS dependency and advocates the implicit collaboration by reusing and composing services. This article will give a proposed architecture for this objective as well as an example of its implementation.
Product Development Model for Application in R&D Projects of the Brazilian Electricity Sector
Authors: Pereira João Adalberto  , Canciglieri Júnior Osíris  , Antunes Guimarães Ana Maria
Published: February 2025

Through a broad approach about reputable methodologies of Product Development Process (PDP), this paper proposes a model of development to be considered in designing and management of R&D project of the Research and Development Program of the Brazilian Electricity Sector regulated by the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL). Such projects, guided by the search for innovative products and technologies in response to technological challenges of the power sector, are well defined by PMBOK Guide of Project Management Institute as “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a product, service or result”. This means that, for a R&D project to fulfill the principle of temporariness, its management should seek to achieve pre-established goals, following appropriate processes, technologies and teams involved in problem solving principles for development until it gets the achievement of the planned product. In this sense, the objective of this work is to demonstrate that, as in the industry, PDP methodologies may be also suitable for these R&D projects, ensuring better adaptation of the results to customer needs and strengthening the relationship between university and industry in the R&D process of the electricity sector. This research addresses a compilation about several PDP models already established by the industry with a view to creating a suitable development model to the R&D projects of the electricity sector. The model emphasizes the constructive interaction between the various stages of development methodology (concepts of Concurrent Engineering) and multidisciplinary teams fully integrated with the innovation process. The proposal shows to be promising to induce to the reduction of the typical limitations of segregated and sequential activities observed in many of the projects in R&D of electric sector.
3D Printing, a New Digital Manufacturing Mode
Authors: Hu Chagen  , Yin Guofu
Published: February 2025

In this paper, the concept of 3D printing technology was introduced, and its development history was also reviewed; Then the status-quo of 3D printing, at abroad and home, has been deeply studied; The applications in different fields were elaborated; By analyzing the advantages and the technical barriers of 3D printing, the development tendency was put forward. Finally, the paper pointed out that 3D printing technology, regarded as a milestone in the industrial revolution in future, would bring about far-reaching effect and reformation in such aspects as modern manufacturing industry, social production mode and the way of human life etc.
Design for Assembly in Series Production by Using Data Mining Methods
Authors: Kretschmer Ralf  , Rulhoff Stefan  , Stjepandić Josip
Published: February 2025

Decision making in early production planning phases is often based on vague expert knowledge due to lack of a reliable knowledge base. Virtual planning has been prevailed as a method used to evaluate risks and costs before the concrete realization of production processes. This paper introduces a new concept and the corresponding data model for Design for Assembly by using Data Mining (DM) methods in the field of series production. The approach adopts the usage of existing planning data in order to extrapolate assembly processes. Especially linked product and process data allow the innovative usage of Data Mining methods. The concept presents assistance potentials for development of new products variants along the product emergence process (PEP). With this approach an early cost estimation of assembly processes in series production can be achieved using innovative Data Mining methods as shown in an industrial use case. Furthermore, design and planning processes can be supported effectively.
Interoperability of Simulation Applications for Dynamic Network Enterprises Based on Cloud Computing - Aeronautics Application
Authors: Ottino Anaïs  , Ghodous Parisa  , Ladjal Hamid  , Shariat Behzad  , Figay Nicolas
Published: February 2025

The objective of this paper is to propose a solution to the problem of interoperability of simulation applications. Improving simulation data exchange to reduce the development time and cost for design products is one of the major issues of collaborative design environments. Currently, sharing engineering simulation information is still technically challenging due to the complexity and the size of data. Furthermore, in industries including Aeronautics, there are many subcontractors using their own simulation tools with data heterogeneity. In this paper, firstly we analyze the problems of interoperability of simulation applications in the virtual environment of dynamic network enterprises. Then, a novel approach and architecture based on cloud computing technology will be presented. An example of application in the field of Aeronautics will be used to illustrate our research works.
Configuration Optimization of Additive Manufacturing Based Supply Chain Using Simulation Approach
Authors: Lin Yi-Hsuan  , Chen Yu-Ting  , Chiu Ming-Chuan
Published: February 2025

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a process which can directly produce a three-dimensional solid object by stacking up layers of materials. As the AM technology advances, 3D printing becomes a new approach for manufacturing industry, which will potentially reconfigure Supply Chain (SC) network. However, there are only a few pilot studies with simple assumptions on AM based supply chain optimization, which are far from the real situations. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to figure out how AM would reorganize supply chain network. Furthermore, we will investigate what factors should be taken into consideration while establishing an AM based supply chain. This study aims to identify the best configuration of AM supply chain using simulation approach. Various scenarios will be generated with the consideration of demands level, the machine types, cost and other supply chain performance. This study finds that an appropriate proportion of AM machine and conventional machine could sufficiently decrease the amount of WIP, processing time and material cost. Furthermore, this research aims to figure out how configuration and machine type would affect the SC through cost and time performance indicators.
Composite Aircraft Components Maintenance Cost Analysis
Authors: Zhao Xiaojia  , Urdu Massoud  , Verhagen Wim J.C.  , Curran Richard
Published: February 2025

Maintenance cost of composite aircraft components are generally estimated based on the actual maintenance practices. The estimate is only available for the operating group while not for the design and manufacturing engineers. Moreover, the influence of component attributes are not considered, missing the link from component to maintenance task scheduling, till cost estimation. In this paper, a detailed maintenance cost estimation method is presented. Rules related to component maintenance are extracted to simulate the rationale behind the task scheduling process. Analyses based on a set of maintenance intervals and statistical maintenance times are carried out to determine maintenance cost. In order to identify the influence of composite material, maintenance labor cost for composite component is highlighted in particular. A study case is applied on the A330 composite rudder. The result shows that composite maintenance has a major influence on the overhaul of aircraft component. This research illustrates the capability to perform maintenance cost estimation by linking the component design to the maintenance operations. Assisted by the knowledge based engineering techniques and genetic-causal cost modeling, the influences of sub-assembly design to life cycle implications are identified.
Old Stuff and New Combinations in Product-Service Bundling
Authors: Beckett Ronald C.
Published: February 2025

Product-Service System implementation is being promoted as a source of competitive advantage (e.g. Isaksson et al 2009). At the same time, ICT developments may provide new communication and delivery pathways, and using these pathways firms like Amazon.com can deliver established products using established infrastructure in new ways. Hardagon (2005) suggests many firms pursue an innovation strategy he calls “'technology brokering”. Others use the term ‘bricolage’ to describe working with what is accessible. Rather than chasing wholly new ideas, these firms focus on recombining old ideas in new ways. In this context, just what are we designing, and how should we do it? In this paper we draw on observations from two studies; one involving larger Defence Industry firms, and the other involving an SME pursuing environmental innovation. It is suggested that a combination of system thinking to frame what is being designed and service thinking to deliver value to customers is needed.
Integrating Music Therapy and Music Information Retrieval Using Music Pattern Analysis
Authors: Ko Li-Wei  , Chen Yu-Ting  , Chiu Ming-Chuan
Published: February 2025

Recent studies indicated that depression is the main cause of mental disability. Therefore, reducing the incidence of depression has become an important issue nowadays. Among numerous therapies for depression, music therapy could effectively relieve depression and other psychological disorders. Currently, therapeutic music is selected according to subjective judgments of therapist. No objective mechanism has been developed to select therapeutic music. Music information retrieval (MIR) is the most prevalent method for music classification, which is an emerging research field that received growing attention from both academia and music industry. However, only a few research integrated the application of music therapy with music information retrieval with holistic music pattern analysis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to extract positive/negative music pattern by analyzing amplitude, frequency and tempo through data mining and reverse engineering. Three hundred 30-second-long song were adopted as training data. The pattern of pleasant/negative music will be identified and classified. This induction contributed to the creation of therapeutic music. The results of this study not only can be applied in the music therapy, but also practice in music services of related fields.
Investigating the Relationship between Therapeutic Music and Emotion: A Pilot Study on Healthcare Service
Authors: Hsu Ya-Wen  , Chiu Ming-Chuan  , Hwang Sheue-Ling
Published: February 2025

Life of modern people becomes more convenient and rich in material side but worse in mental side due to life stress. This results in bloom of some diseases such as insomnia. Listening to music could be one way to make people feel smooth. Some previous literature had advocated the efficiency of music therapy, however, only a few previous studies discussed and connected personal cognition (subjective indicators) with music features (objective indicators). Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate what kind of music characteristics can spiritually relax people and obtain the therapeutic music from above results. Firstly, this study collected 25 different styles of music as samples. These songs were classified with Fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithm. According to our experimental result, music with mild amplitude, slow speed, and positive feelings can enable soothing in mind. The findings would also fit in with physiological signals (Heart Rate Variability) to ensure the consistency in psychology and physiology. This finding can provide suggestions on selection of therapeutic music. In addition, musicians can compose appropriate therapeutic music for patients of different mental illness.
Maintaining High Reliability Service in the Transformation to a Service Dominant Product Service System
Authors: Zeuschner Marcus  , Mo John P.T.
Published: February 2025

The Product Service System (PSS) is a new business concept that aims to integrate all phases of the life cycle of a complex engineering product from acquisition to sustainment. However, the PSS design has imposed significant risks to the manufacturer not only in the manufacture of the product itself, but also in the provision of support services over long periods of time at a pre-determined price. It is imperative that servitization transformations are linked to people's expectations and the acknowledgement that no two service experiences or pathways to service are the same. Research of High Reliability Organisations (HROs) has shown that HROs have the required characteristics that can be merged to PSS to overcome these issues. This paper explores correlations between HRO causal factors and PSS requisite capabilities along with service business model to define a new high reliability service dominant product service system.
The Modular Affordance Deployment Method for Module Clustering Process of the Integrated Service Generalized Product
Authors: Wu Chunlong  , Ji Yangjian  , Lu Wenbo  , Qi Guoning  , Gu Xinjian
Published: February 2025

In the new century of global competition, the wise companies try to supply the modular generalized product which integrates tangible physical product and intangible service. To deal with the module clustering process of the integrated service generalized product, we adopt a broader concept “Affordance” as the base of generalized product design and propose a practical matrix based method-Modular Affordance Deployment (MAD). And we use vacuum cleaner as an illustrated example to show the complete MAD process that cluster modules for the integrated service generalized product.
Short Time Forecast of Wind Speed Based on EMD and SVM
Authors: Xiao Yancai  , Li Chunya  , Wang Peng
Published: February 2025

As an important renewable energy, wind power is paid great attention by all countries. It is of great significance to predict wind speed accurately for the power system which includes large amounts of wind power. The wind speed time series appears typical non-stationary, as a result, the outcome obtained from applying single prediction method directly will be unsatisfied. In order to improve the accuracy of wind speed prediction, a model based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and support vector machines (SVM) is proposed in the paper. The wind speed time series is made by EMD at first, then appropriate support vector machine model is established with different frequency bands, finally the output value of each model is summed equal right to get the final prediction result. The radial kernel is selected by the SVM, the parameters that necessary are obtained through cross-validation. The actual cases are employed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach. The results are compared with those obtained by the single SVM model, which shows that the given model can effectively improve the accuracy of wind speed forecasting.
Research of Context Requirement Analysis Method for Customer Collaborative Design
Authors: Qin Jianjun  , Yao Yan-an  , Cha Jianzhong
Published: February 2025

In spite of the current lack of theories and methods to effectively support customer demands, there exists great potential to better serve collaborative design customers in open innovation through increased access and involvement. In order to generate high-quality demands, it is necessary to provide product usage information that is easy for customers to understand. Based on the premise that customers participate in collaborative design as designers, this paper describes contexts in which customers are involved in four aspects of demand: clients, products, environments, and tasks. An analysis is then made regarding the actual impact of demand factors on the realization of these contexts. By considering the relationship between demand factors and functional specification parameters of products, this paper surmises that the way customers apply products affects the functional combination and parametric variables of products. The paper furthermore considers the impact of customer demand factors on product functions, and obtains the functional collection of the products to be developed. Also taken into consideration is the need for customers to communicate with each other in order to negotiate the practical problems of certain products. After a formal analysis on customers' abstract behaviors of product usage, the paper establishes a dynamic relationship between demand factors and the products to be developed, assisting vendors to better understand customer demand in the process of collaborative design and the actual product development process. To conclude, the effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by example, using an improved design of a product called the escape hammer.
Exploration of a Concept Screening Method in a Crowdsourcing Environment
Authors: Chang Danni  , Chen Chun-Hsien
Published: February 2025

As an effective way to aggregate a crowd's wisdom, crowdsourcing has attracted much research attention in recent years. Especially for product design and development, crowdsourcing shows huge potential for creativity and has been regarded as one important approach to acquire innovative concepts. However, there is still a challenge to make use of crowdsourcing in product design: how to review the large number of crowdsourcing concepts efficiently. To tackle this problem, a concept screening method is proposed in this article so as to i) improve the efficiency of evaluating crowdsourcing results; and ii) assist designers in identifying promising design candidates for further evaluation. Firstly, web mining technique is applied to extract textual information from Webs and tokenize text contents into word tags. Secondly, a concept similarity estimation process is designed to calculate the similarity between design requirements and crowdsourced concepts. During the estimation process, three situations are considered: 1) similarity caused by repeated tokens; 2) similarity caused by synonymous tokens; and 3) similarity in terms of design knowledge hierarchy. Finally, concepts are clustered based on their similarities, and the ones, which meet design requirements better, will be identified as promising candidates to be further reviewed by designers. To validate the proposed method, a pilot study on future PC design is presented.
Protecting and Preserving Ground Water with Monitoring Systems and Vulnerability Maps
Authors: Papatheodorou Konstantin  , Evangelidis Konstantinos
Published: February 2025

As Ground Water (GW) is a natural resource of vital importance, its protection against all types of threats is an absolute necessity. GW as a natural source can be effectively protected and managed using GW monitoring systems provided that, when developing such a system for a specific area of implementation, certain conditions are met and parameters are taken into account including GW recharge conditions, hydrogeological regime, land uses and GW vulnerability from surface pollution (as GW is often hydraulically connected to surface and surface water). To assess those parameters, reliable and accurate data are needed. The acquisition of such required data, regarding their economic cost and time needed, poses obstacles sometimes difficult to overcome. At this point, contemporary technologies as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) can provide solutions. In the present paper, a combination of case studies including the identification and delineation of GW recharge areas using RS, the GW vulnerability assessment using GIS and the development of a Web based GW monitoring system that can also be used as an early warning system for GW protection, is presented. The methodologies proposed have been tested in various areas of Northern Greece providing reliable results at minimal costs. Their combined application can provide the tools to constantly monitor GW quality, to detect GW pollution at a very early stage, to select and apply remediation measures and to continuously rate them, to detect pollution sources, to support decision making regarding land uses, to help raise public awareness and overall, to ensure GW protection and sustainability.
Cyber Security Challenges in Smart Homes
Authors: Boyanov Luben  , Minchev Zlatogor
Published: February 2025

This chapter addresses cyber security issues related to smart homes. With the introduction of smart devices and systems in our homes, the risks and threats linked to them, and respectively to the smart home inhabitants is growing. The digital world has gradually developed standards, protocols, interfaces, operating systems, programming models and architectures, making both computing and networking a type of plug-and-play environment. The smart house and its services, as we know them at present, form a highly heterogeneous environment, which presents a significant challenge for future users and manufacturers. Healthcare services contain unknown danger for human's life and present real vulnerabilities in interconnected medical devices. The chapter discusses details of cyber security risks, available technologies and methodologies to minimize and mitigate threat vectors.
Three techniques for the study of soil structure interface properties; 3D roughness parameter; contact stress mapping; artificially manufactured sand
Authors: Baykal Gökhan
Published: February 2025

Three techniques for the study of the soil structure interface properties will be presented. The first technique involves the development of a 3D surface roughness parameter to evaluate the skin friction. The second technique is used to map contact stress concentrations at the soil structure interface using sensitive films developed for medical profession. The third technique is manufacturing artificial crushable sand at the desired properties to study static and dynamic interface behavior of soil and concrete. All of the techniques presented have a potential to understand the interface behavior in more detail. The techniques presented are implementable and practical.
Methods of Research on Frost Heave of Soil and Foundation – Freezing Soil Bulk Interaction in Terms of Seasonal Deep Frost Penetration including Areas of Pressure Migration
Authors: Khalimov O.Z.
Published: February 2025

Based on long-term research on soil frost heave conducted in laboratory and in situ including both experimental and expert investigation sites the influence of groundwater level on frost heave-induced deformations has been identified. Nature of change of moisture during frost penetration has been studied, parameters of changes of water accumulation coefficient for the main types of soil in Minusinsk cavity have been obtained. Options of anti-heave activities during construction for driven and end-bearing piles have been proposed.
Oblique pullout capacity of a single drilled pile in sandy grains cemented by methane hydrates: DEM analyses
Authors: Liu Fang  , Jiang Mingjing
Published: February 2025

This study investigates the oblique capacity of a drilled pile embedded in a marine ground containing methane hydrates using the distinct element method. Results indicate that the presence of methane hydrates significantly enhances the uplift and lateral capacity of the pile. The peak shaft resistance of the pile decreases with the decrease of the inclination angle of pile displacement due to de-bonding, while the residual shaft resistance increases as a result of increasing lateral earth pressure mobilized at large pile displacement. The uplift component of the oblique forces has detrimental effect on the lateral capacity of the pile. The oblique capacity of the pile can be empirically correlated to the inclination angle of the displacement of the pile head.
Soft grouting for the seismic protection of existing buildings
Authors: Lombardi D.  , Nappa V.  , Flora A.
Published: February 2025

The paper introduces an original approach to face seismic hazard on existing buildings by treating with a soft grout a thin layer of soil at a certain depth. The paper presents a parametric analysis with reference to the case of a typical clayey soil, considering the ideal cases of an horizontal or vertical layer. The information gained from these two extreme cases are essential to understand the true behavior of a real soft caisson, whatever its shape. Surprisingly, the seismic isolation capacity of the vertical layer depends not only on shear stiffness but also on bulk stiffness, and this has to be taken into account in the design of a seismic barrier composed of both vertical and horizontal layers.
Soil Structure Interaction: An analysis of the effect of creep and shrinkage of concrete
Authors: da Rosa Luciana de Moraes Pereira  , Carvalho Eliane Maria Lopes  , Danziger Bernadete Ragoni
Published: February 2025

The paper presents some results of a joint research of three universities from Rio the Janeiro, Brazil, aiming at the observation of concrete creep and shrinkage effect on soil structure interaction. In this paper an 18 story building resting on shallow and deep foundations was submitted to a site instrumentation to monitor settlements and loads of some columns close to the ground floor during the construction phase. Particular attention is given to the effect of concrete creep and shrinkage in soil structure interaction effects. Due to the extent of the experimental results, only part of the database is presented.
Analysis of soil-structure interaction by Ménard pressuremeter tests and ground improvement case histories
Authors: Varaksin S.  , Hamidi B.
Published: February 2025

The pressuremeter is one of the leading tools that allow direct measurement of the soil structure interaction. Its almost full scale loading of soils during testing, its applicability to most soil types, and recently, to soft rocks has allowed major progress in the understanding, design and control of soil improvement, where treated soils will have to meet preset criteria. Structures can be designed based on Menard's rules ,this with a tested volume allowing the 98 % confidence in predicting the soil structure behavior, which is by far more than current practice. Indeed the approach of Louis Menard directly uses the limit pressure, PLM, as the parameter governing bearing capacity, without relying on failure criteria and hypotheses, and the pressuremeter modulus, EM, is directly related to deviatoric deformation and adopted for volumetric deformations as well. The selected case histories illustrate the essential input of the Menard Pressuremeter in various applications.
Determination of bearing capacity of the precast piles by dynamic cone penetration test (DCPT)
Authors: Zhussupbekov A.Zh.  , Alibekova N.T.  , Morev I.O.  , Utepov Ye.B.
Published: February 2025

This paper presents the recommendations of determination of the bearing capacity of driven piles according to dynamic cone penetration test (DCPT). As well as the sufficiently close correlation between the main parameters of dynamic cone penetration test (DCPT) and static cone penetration test (CPT) was identified during the work and presented in this article.
Soil-structure interaction for sheet pile walls considering ground surface and sub-wall soil conditions
Authors: Bilgin Ö.
Published: February 2025

The current design practice of sheet pile walls are based on horizontal force and moment equilibrium using active and passive earth pressures. The methods consider soils only in direct contact with the wall to determine the pressures, and do not take into account the effect of existing ground surface profile and conditions below the wall. However, the initial ground and sub-wall soil conditions affect the wall behavior and deformations. The effect of ground conditions and varying sub-wall soil conditions on the behavior of sheet pile walls are presented in this paper.
Monitoring results for construction of a building with a complex underground space in soft soils in St. Petersburg
Authors: Bogov S.G.  , Bochkarev N.P.  , Smolak V.Y.
Published: February 2025

Construction of deep excavations in congested housing conditions in St. Petersburg without damaging adjacent buildings is rather a pressing challenge. The paper presents a case of underground construction and associated monitoring of deformations on existing buildings and structures. The obtained data on deformations are studied and collated with calculation results.
Verification of deck on piles quay wall structures for operational and seismic load conditions
Authors: Lengkeek H.J.  , Besseling F.
Published: February 2025

This paper discusses a typical soil-structure interaction analysis related to a quay wall design. The quay wall consists of a deck on piles combined with a closed frontwall. The quay wall has been verified for both operational and seismic load conditions. The earthquake conditions have been verified both pseudo-statically and dynamically. The analysis has been performed using PLAXIS FEM software. A new type of embedded pile element has been used to model the piles in a 2D model. The verification is based on Eurocode and PIANC. This paper presents the general findings regarding the performance of integrated retaining wall and piled deck structure behavior and the comparison between the load conditions.
San Pasquale station of the Linea 6 in Napoli: dewatering field tests, measurements and back-analyses
Authors: Russo Gianpiero  , Autuori Silvia  , Nicotera Marco Valerio
Published: February 2025

Since 1839, when the historical railway Napoli – Portici was inaugurated, Napoli has been characterized by a significant system of urban and suburban railways. The idea of a fully integrated urban rail network dates back to the 1950s, but only in 1990s construction began. At present, the system includes 54 km of tracks and 69 stations belonging to 6 lines currently operating; when the City Transport Plan will be completed, 10 lines with 93 km of track and a further 30 km of new light rail linking 114 stations with 21 interchanges are foreseen.
Pile group action under vertical compression loads
Authors: El-Mossallamy Y.
Published: February 2025

Piles are powerful geotechnical foundation elements which are suitable for most subsoil conditions where structure loads should be transmitted to deeper layers either to fulfill the required bearing capacity or to control the deformation to acceptable values regarding the structural serviceability requirements. In most cases, the pile foundations consist of group of piles. Realistic considerations of the pile group action regarding both the ultimate bearing capacity as well as the deformation behavior of the pile group are necessary to achieve a reliable, efficient and economic design. This paper deals with performance of pile groups under vertical compression loads. Simple analytical methods to estimate the settlement of pile groups will be presented and compared with enhanced three dimensional numerical analyses. The field monitoring of a well documented pile group under vertical compression loads and the feed-back of this information into the analyses procedure of the same pile group applying different analytical models will be demonstrated and discussed.
Analysis of long-term settlement of buildings in St. Petersburg based on monitoring results
Authors: Vasenin V.A.
Published: February 2025

The paper contains results of long-term settlement monitoring of historic buildings in St. Petersburg. Based on results of repeated surveying, statistical processing of settlement rates of more than 2300 historic buildings was performed. Basic conclusions are drawn as to distribution of maximum settlement values throughout the city area. Also, the paper contains settlement monitoring results for 30 buildings constructed on soft soils in St. Petersburg (monitoring period extending from 23 to 77 years). Basic conclusions as to the character of settlement development are offered alongside primary comparisons of monitoring results with engineering methods of settlement calculations. The analysis thus performed is necessary for development and verification of engineering calculation methods, as well as of numerical rheological models of subgrade behaviour.
The Road to Jihad in Syria
Authors: Barna Cristian
Published: February 2025

Romania has a Muslim community coming from Syria and its neighboring countries. Unfortunately, some of these Muslims are known sympathizers of al-Qaeda-aligned groups in Syria and are recruiting new members on their behalf once in Romania. For instance, in December 2013, an al-Qaeda website announced the death of Abu Mohammad al Rumani (from Romania) on the battlefield in Syria. This paper analyzes the way sympathizers of al-Qaeda-aligned groups in Syria are trying to find new adepts within the Romanian Muslim community using the new media, mainly forums, blogs and social networks. Romania and European countries are exposed to this powerful trend of jihadist social networking. This fact, compounded by the situation in Syria, compels us to pay more attention the jihadist influence in cyberspace. Using SOCMINT, the paper identifies several potential strategies for countering the radicalization of young Muslims in Romania, including several that might also prove viable in other NATO member states.
Police Officers' Perception of Community Policing in Countering Violent Extremism: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Sozer M. Alper  , Sevinc Ali  , Ozeren Suleyman
Published: February 2025

Terrorism has been at the top of the global security agenda since 9/11. Starting in 2010, the Arab rising has escalated tension in North Africa and Middle East. Several countries suddenly turned into conflict areas, and this situation sparked support for an armed struggle not only among many people living in chaotic regions, but also among people living in various Western countries. Community policing has been implemented in various settings as a response to this rapidly spreading problem. Turkey has been fighting against all sorts of violent extremism and terrorism for over 40 years through different strategies. Community policing projects in countering violent extremism has been implemented since 2009. Few studies have examined how it is implemented in the field. The study reported here attempted to explore the perceptions of community policing officer because to what extent community policing is implemented as it is intended strongly depends on the perception of these officers. For the study, a total of 71 officers from seven Turkish cities participated in face-to-face interviews. Findings show that majority of community policing officers held a positive viewof community policing and that was encouraging for the future success of the program. A few officers among those who had negative perceptions thought that the philosophy of community policing is valuable, but that the activities they were currently involved in did not really constitute a community policing activity. The remaining officers (3) were totally against the idea of community policing in countering violent extremism.
Human Security: A Promising Concept to Address Terrorism-related Threats
Authors: de Divitiis Valerio
Published: February 2025

After the end of the Cold War, the attention of the international community shifted towards the promotion of the rule of law and the protection of human rights in the field of security. Later, the notion of human security appeared and challenged the dominance of the concept of state security in defining and guiding national security policies. These developments are clearly relevant to counter-terrorism policies and suggest some significantly different approaches to prevent the recruitment of individuals by violent-extremist organizations and the spread of terrorism. Concurrently, the globalization of the threat of terrorism has required responses at various levels, demanded greater international cooperation and forced multilateral organizations to mobilize themselves and attempt to define a basis upon which to collaborate in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism. The paper argues that a commitment to human rights and broad human security objectives is the most promising basis upon which to proceed in preventing the recruitment and radicalization of vulnerable segments of the population. It draws attention to recent initiatives to prevent prisons from becoming incubators of violent extremism and terrorism.
Security of Classified Information as Part of the National Critical Infrastructure Protection: Macedonian Experience
Authors: Slaveski Stojan  , Bakreski Oliver
Published: February 2025

The system of the information protection is part of the national critical infrastructure protection. Handling of classified information is one of the critical infrastructure protection components by which individual segments of the national security system are safeguarded. In organizational terms, crisis management in cyber defense implies engaging the capacities of the relevant state bodies responsible for national security. Their activities are coordinated and guided by organizations of the executive branch and usually by the National Security Authority, as a body responsible for the coordination of the national security activities in the domain of classified information. Protection of the classified information is a crucial part of the overall critical infrastructure protection in Macedonia. The leading governmental agency for classified information protection (including information regarding terrorist activities) that plays a role of the National Security Authority in the international context is the Directorate for the Security of Classified Information. In our paper we will analyze the Macedonian experience in the protection of classified information as part of national critical infrastructure protection.
Potential Vulnerability and Threats of Natural Disasters or Malicious Human Activity to the Water Supply Network: A Case Study of Chernivtsi, Ukraine
Authors: Winkler Igor  , Choban Alla
Published: February 2025

The potential vulnerability of the Chernivtsi water supply systems is analyzed in light of some basic shortcomings committed in the general planning, the poor realization of the project and some natural conditions imposing potential threats. Also the potential threat of intentional and unintentional human malicious activity is evaluated. Two potential strategies of mitigation are considered: the deep restructuration of the water supply system and some minor targeted steps aimed at the minimization of the threats. The latter option requires a smaller investment and promises quite reliable results in the short-term prospect.
Terrorist Threats to Critical Infrastructure in BiH and Protection Measures
Authors: Šikman Mile  , Vranješ Nevenko
Published: February 2025

Terrorism, as a global negative threat, endangers not only the security of individual countries, but also of the international community. Still, individual countries and protected values (the life and health of people, assets, etc.) are predominantly affected by it. Terrorist threats pose special danger to critical infrastructure. The risk from endangering critical infrastructure is on the rise, considering “the domino effect” of endangering critical infrastructure. The domino effect does not only imply the negative consequences within the borders of a country, but it also has a wider influence (a regional and even international dimension). Of course, the entire critical infrastructure system is at risk from terrorist activities, in particular cyber terrorist offences, which can endanger the key infrastructure of the country, burden communication systems, and even cause serious consequences for the security system within the country. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not an exception. In that sense, the list of critical infrastructure sectors poses a potential target for terrorist attacks, but also for cyber terrorism. Thus, it is extremely important to identify the sectors of critical infrastructure, and create adequate measures for their protection. In that regard, the paper points to some key European standards for the protection of critical infrastructure, and concrete antiterrorist and counterterrorist activities for their protection.
Outsourcing as an Important Source of Risk in the Management of Terrorist Threats
Authors: Vršec Miran  , Vršec Milan  , Murgel Vito
Published: February 2025

This paper critically deals with outsourcing as a more complex source of risk in the system for ensuring corporate security, especially when talking about subjects that are part of the critical infrastructure of the country. The Republic of Slovenia has become an integral part of the global market, which is why it is essential to recognize that the outsourcing entities that work in the Slovenian market operate more and more globally, but on the other hand global corporations are entering the market. When addressing the risks of outsourcing it is therefore essential to take into account a broader global perspective, especially if these risks are discussed in terms of the risk of terrorist attacks. Globalization requires the integration and aggregation of organizations from different geographical and cultural backgrounds, which is why there is a growing openness of the labor market and an increase in the free passage of the workforce and as a result new risks are brought by outsourcing entities. Regarding this in particular I mean the risks associated with human resources and humans as individuals. In the future, a comprehensive approach to risk management outsourcing needs to provide a different perception of outsourcing and its impact on the organization’s risk and social environment. Therefore in the future, corporate security mechanisms must significantly pay more attention to outsourcing risk in so far as they would like to fulfill their basic mission, which is to allow continuous operation under normal as well as emergency situations (natural disasters, accidents, large-scale, international organized crime, terrorist acts, etc.). Therefore, there is a need for a broader discussion including more scientific research dealing with the risks of outsourcing. The real world has revealed that too little attention or even no attention has been given to establishing systems of risk management and building comprehensive integrated security systems for outsourcing risk since there is a lack of awareness of what constitutes outsourcing risk for the organization and the wider local community. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance and the role of the outsourcing in ensuring corporate security at both the operational as well as the strategic level and to indicate the risks associated with the integration process of outsourcing in the provision of corporate security.
Use of the Enhanced Structural Model for Attack Analysis and Education
Authors: Ivanc Blaž  , Klobučar Tomaž
Published: February 2025

Ensuring cyber security is a dynamic, demanding, and complex task. Due to the pace of development in this area, cyber security experts are forced to engage in constant education and have access to test environments and develop both offensive and defensive cyber techniques. The qualitative analyses of past attacks and other security incidents can present a significant contribution to the development of knowledge. In an effort to improve the attack modeling in critical infrastructure and remedy certain weaknesses of the existing models, we have developed a model called the Enhanced Structural Model. The purpose of this paper is to present both the possibilities of the attack modeling and our model for the analysis of past incidents and for educational purposes. The model is suitable for presenting the knowledge in the form of an analytical presentation of the attacks as well as for performing laboratory work and the examination of students.
Improving Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience against Terrorism Cyber Threats
Authors: Bologna Sandro  , Lazari Alessandro  , Mele Stefano
Published: February 2025

Nowadays business continuity and disaster management procedures and policies are increasingly based on the notion of resilience. This relatively young topic is gaining increasing importance now that more recent experiences have shown that not all the attacks or accidents to critical information infrastructures (CIIs) can be avoided even if protection measures are correctly implemented. Such a circumstance implies that the response to ‘protection’ needs, which has mainly shown the use of technology as a possible solution to all of the issues, is not sufficient in covering the entire lifecycle of modern information infrastructures which requires instead the implementation of redundancy measures together with specific procedures that are designed and implemented in view to facilitate a faster recovery of an asset that has suffered an unavoidable accident. The aforementioned scenario is somehow confirmed by the reorientation of the EU policies in the field and, more specifically, by the 2014-2020 European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) which now mainly rotates around key resilience concepts like prevention, preparedness and response. This paper, after a short description of the most significant vectors of attacks directed towards CIIs, offers a review of the main principles of resilience and a basic scheme that should guide those stakeholders that are in the phase of studying how to effectively implement those measures in the management lifecycle of technology driven infrastructures.
Indomitability, Resilience, and Posttraumatic Growth
Authors: Suedfeld Peter
Published: February 2025

This chapter examines responses to severe stress at the individual, community, and mass levels. The social and behavioral sciences, and their cognate helping professions, have long functioned with the assumption that traumatic-level stressors cause significant psychological damage to most, if not all, people who endure them. Concepts of indomitability, resilience, and posttraumatic growth challenge that orthodoxy, and are increasingly being supported by the evidence. In the chapter, I discuss such stressful events as major accidents, natural disasters, war, and genocide, and present data that affirm human strength.