bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Collaborative Maritime Transportation Under System Dynamics Simulation
Authors: Silva Vanina M. Durski  , Fernandes Christiane W. Nogueira  , Taglialenha Silvia L. de Sena
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a model is presented to analyse the systemic effects of collaboration among manufacturing industries that use maritime transportation for export purposes. The Collaborative Logistics era and Collaborative Transportation Management were researched to validate the proposed study and to obtain data for use in the model. Entrepreneurs and specialists were interviewed. Subsequently, a study was conducted on System Dynamics (SD) methodin order to analyse systemic effects from the collaborative policies of manufacturing industries, which increase bargaining power when the industries are allied to each other and can reduced maritime freight rates. This work helped to elucidate the importance of using an interdisciplinary approach to address problems in maritime transportation.
Collaborative Design and Manufacturing of Prosthodontics Wire Clasp
Authors: Ito Teruaki  , Hamid Rahimah Abdul  , Ichikawa Tetsuo
Published: February 2025

The core idea behind the concurrent engineering is an integration of upstream and downstream activities of design/manufacturing in order to produce better products in a timely manner. Digital engineering is one of the critical approaches towards this integration, and this approaches enables the promising area of digital dentistry. Digital dentistry is defined as a dental technology or device that incorporates digital or computer-controlled tools, for example, dental CAD/CAM systems. This research focuses on the area of dental wire clasp, which has been manufactured by manual bending operation performed by the skilled dental technicians. Normally, a team of dental doctor and dental technician works collaboratively to design and manufacture the dental wire clasp. However, the accuracy of the bending operation is inconsistent and depends mainly on the expertise of the technicians. This paper describes the current situation of dental wire clasp manufacturing, reviews some of the innovative computer-aided wire bending systems, and proposes a framework of collaborative prosthodontics wire clasp design and fabrication using an idea of virtual engineering approach in digital dentistry.
Human-Driven Design-to-Cost Methodology for Industrial Cost Optimization
Authors: Peruzzini Margherita  , Pellicciari Marcello
Published: February 2025

Over the years cost optimization has gained a strategic importance to realize competitive products. However, traditional approaches are no longer efficient in modern highly competitive industrial scenarios, where numerous factors have to be contemporarily considered and optimized. In order to be effective, design has to care about cost along all its phases. This paper presents a methodology that integrates Design-To-Cost (DTC), Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA), Human Factors (HF) and Feature-Based Costing (FBC) to include costs from the early conceptual design stages and properly drive the product design. Thanks to a structured knowledge base and a FBC approach, it predicts both manufacturing and assembly processes from the 3D geometrical models and estimate the global costs, more accurately than existing tools. The research demonstrates the method validity by an industrial case study focusing on cost optimization of packaging machines. Thanks to the proposed method, the main design inefficiencies are easily identified from the early design stages and optimization actions are taken in advanced, in respect to traditional design process. Such actions allowed reducing total industrial costs of 20%, improving machine assemblability and human ergonomics due to structure simplification, part number reduction, and production processes modification, and reducing the time spent for cost estimation (until -60%).
Inflammasome Involvement in Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Olsen Ingar  , Singhrao Sim K.
Published: February 2025

Inflammasomes are responsible for the maturation of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1&bgr;, IL-18, and IL-33 and activation of inflammatory cell death, pyroptosis. They assemble in response to cellular infection and stress or to tissue damage, promote inflammatory reactions, and are important in regulating innate immunity particularly by acting as platforms for activation of caspase proteases. They appear to be involved in several pathological processes activated by microbes including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Best characterized in microbial pathogenesis is the nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat (NLR)-protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. AD is a neurodegenerative condition in which the neuropathological hallmarks are the deposition of amyloid-&bgr; (A&bgr;)and hyperphosphorylated tau protein coated neurofibrillary tangles. For decades, the role of the innate immune system in the etiology of AD was considered less important, but the recently discovered inflammatory genes by genome-wide association studies driving inflammation in this disease has changed this view. Innate immune inflammatory activity in the AD brain can result from the pathological hallmark protein A&bgr; as well as from specific bacterial infections that tend to possess weak immunostimulatory responses for peripheral blood myeloid cell recruitment to the brain. The weak immunostimulatory activity is a consequence of their immune evasion strategies and survival. In this review we discuss the possibility that inflammasomes, particularly via the NLR family of proteins NLRP3 are involved in the pathogenesis of AD. In addition, we discuss the plausible contribution of specific bacteria playing a role in influencing the activity of the NLRP3 inflammasome to AD progression.
Borrelia Burgdorferi Persists in the Brain in Chronic Lyme Neuroborreliosis and may be Associated with Alzheimer Disease
Authors: Miklossy Judith  , Khalili Kamel  , Gern Lise  , Ericson Rebecca L.  , Darekar Pushpa  , Bolle Lorie  , Hurlimann Jean  , Paster Bruce J.
Published: February 2025

The cause, or causes, of the vast majority of Alzheimer's disease cases are unknown. A number of contributing factors have been postulated, including infection. It has long been known that the spirochete Treponema pallidum, which is the infective agent for syphilis, can in its late stages cause dementia, chronic inflammation, cortical atrophy and amyloid deposition. Spirochetes of unidentified types and strains have previously been observed in the blood, CSF and brain of 14 AD patients tested and absent in 13 controls. In three of these AD cases spirochetes were grown in a medium selective for Borrelia burgdorferi. In the present study, the phylogenetic analysis of these spirochetes was made. Positive identification of the agent as Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto was based on genetic and molecular analyses. Borrelia antigens and genes were co-localized with beta-amyloid deposits in these AD cases. The data indicate that Borrelia burgdorferi may persist in the brain and be associated with amyloid plaques in AD. They suggest that these spirochetes, perhaps in an analogous fashion to Treponema pallidum, may contribute to dementia, cortical atrophy and amyloid deposition. Further in vitro and in vivo studies may bring more insight into the potential role of spirochetes in AD.
Role of the Civil Socity in Ensuring Accountable Border and Customs Services in Armenia and Supporting SMEs in International Trade
Authors: Hovhannisyan Mikayel
Published: February 2025

Armenia is currently suffering from various internal and external challenges: closed borders, dependence on foreign capital, unresolved conflict, systemic corruption, oligarchy and monopolies. Such challenges are negatively affecting the country's economy and endangering the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises. This paper identifies the major economic and international trade challenges for Armenian business entities and suggests possible activities the civil society can implement to address these issues.
Fighting Corruption in Customs: Some Theoretical Insights and Empirical Lessons
Authors: Cantens Thomas  , Polner Mariya
Published: February 2025

Based on both theoretical underpinning and empirical knowledge, this paper addresses the issue of corruption in customs through the analysis of the conditions necessary for the implementation of successful anti-corruption policies. It aims to provide an intellectual framework, a mode of thinking that could be used in Ukraine and beyond, rather than a model to follow. To reach this objective, the paper addresses a number of areas, starting from exploring the specificity of corruption at borders and particularly in customs. The reflection proceeds by providing counter-arguments to some common ideas on the fight against corruption, exploring the political choices that should serve as a basis for any reflection on anti-corruption policies, and proposing an extensive use of quantification or the ‘reform by numbers’. Drawing upon this analysis, the paper develops four conditions necessary for the design of the anti-corruption instruments in customs that could eventually lead to containing this scourge.
Sustainable Development as a Tool Against Environmental Vulnerability
Authors: Galatchi Liviu-Daniel
Published: February 2025

Sustainable development can be used as a tool against environmental vulnerability. Environmental vulnerability can be identified by applying risk analysis and assessment to define hazards to persons and the environment, determine the probability of occurrence of these hazards, the possible magnitude of events, consequence analysis, and quantitative analysis of system failure probability). Identifying risk limits entails defining the acceptability of the risk, (which can be classified as acceptable or in need of reduction), and to reduce risk by designing and implementing risk-reduction measures and controls. Risk is a probability of an adverse combination of the probability of occurrence of an event, and the possible extent of that event's adverse effects and consequences on ecosystems and persons. There are important links between the environment, vulnerability and threats. Such risks include terrorist acts against the environment and human beings using resources as tools and/or targets.
Reasoning with Relational Models for Maritime Domain Security
Authors: Snidaro Lauro  , Visentini Ingrid
Published: February 2025

Situation Assessment (SA) is a key process in Information Fusion (IF) for security systems. The observed scenario generally involves multiple entities and actors, with possibly only a few being under the direct control of the decision-maker. SA aims at explaining the observed events (mainly) by establishing the entities and actors involved, understanding the relations existing between them, the surrounding environment, and past and present events. It is therefore evident how the SA process inherently hinges on understanding and reasoning about relations. This task is particularly demanding and important for dynamic large-scale scenarios such as those related to border and port security, where suspicious activities need to be detected as the needle in a haystack of largely predominant “pattern of life” activities involving many entities and actors. In this chapter, we highlight the capabilities of the recent Statistical Relational Learning framework of Markov Logic Networks for SA in maritime scenarios, and provide some examples and practical advice on their use, further detailing our previous work [1].
Security Issues of the e-Infrastructure for Environmental Research
Authors: Astsatryan Hrachya
Published: February 2025

Environmental studies contribute to increasing understanding of complex and system-oriented phenomena. The State-of-the-art in e-infrastructures are an inventive and exceptional way to efficiently share and access different types of resources, which can effectively enhance the potential of scientific research and productivity. The aim of the paper is to introduce a developed e-Infrastructure and its security components for environmental research.
Military Usages of Speech and Language Technologies: A Review
Authors: Griol David  , García-Herrero Jesús  , Molina José Manuel
Published: February 2025

Research advances on speech technologies and Natural Language Processing have contributed to their incorporation into a large number of applications and research fields, many of them with a growing interest in the military domain. Clear examples of this are automatic speech recognition and synthesis, automatic translation, virtual training environments, emotional state detection, automatic speaker recognition, detection of topics, automatic language identification, evaluation techniques, standards development, etc. This chapter is focused on the description of the value of these technologies for military applications, covering different systems that have been developed for improving military health care, screening mental status in military situations, developing fighting simulations and videogames, establishing ecologically-valid virtual environments, training military staff to communicate with civilians in foreign countries, or managing critical situations. In addition, the chapter provides a detailed survey on the main technologies behind such applications, with a special emphasis on natural language communication and speech interaction.
Towards an Integration of Fusion of Information and Analytics Technologies (FIAT) to Improve Dependability and Security in Complex Systems
Authors: Bossé Éloi  , Solaiman Basel
Published: February 2025

Information overload is a core problem that both complex military and civilian organizations referred to as Cyber-Physical and Social Systems (CPSS) are facing today. Executives or commanders want better ways to communicate complex insights so they can quickly absorb the meaning of the data and act on it. In recent literature, this problem has been referenced as BigData and data deluge. BigDatadata deluge are contextual to CPSS complex dynamic environments. Addressing the Big Data 4Vs (volume, veracity, variety and velocity) requires that Fusion of Information and Analytics Technologies (FIAT) be integrated. Integration is proposed here via a FIAT computational model to provide analysis (analytics) and synthesis (fusion) support to decision-makers in order to make sense (measuring, organizing, understanding and reasoning) of the data-information-knowledge hierarchy present in numerous domains of application.
Telemedicine and Disaster Response – An Historical Review
Authors: Doarn Charles R.  , Latifi Rifat
Published: February 2025

The integration of telecommunications and information technology in healthcare is referred to as telemedicine. While there may be numerous definitions, its application in disaster response has been well documented. This chapter is meant to introduce the reader to what has been done historically and how this historical context will help build the foundation for a Multinational Telemedicine System (MnTS). The application of telemedicine in disaster is neither new nor novel. With the advent of satellite communications and the introduction of real-time communications, other than telephony, medical personnel could interact with first responders and populations impacted by disasters. From the early uses of telemedicine in the aftermath of an earthquake in Armenia to the development of the MnTS, an historical summary is provided.
Telemedicine Evaluation Measures of Military and NATO Missions
Authors: Poropatich Ronald  , Lam Dave  , Latifi Rifat  , Doarn Charles R.
Published: February 2025

In 2000, NATO created the Telemedicine Expert Team (TMED ET) when few nations had deployed telemedicine systems to support military field operations. This group and its successor has been encouraging the nations to deploy telemedicine (TMED) in support of their forces, and has been developing the doctrine and technical standards which will facilitate the use of TMED within NATO. This has been a highly successful effort, and TMED is increasingly being used within the military medical structures of some NATO and Partnership for Peace nations to provide medical care to deployed military personnel. This chapter describes a general overview of telemedicine evaluation measures and contrasts civilian measures with the outcome measures used to assess the effectiveness of military and NATO telemedicine programs in austere overseas locations. It provides important examples of the U.S. military telemedicine programs in Iraq and Afghanistan and their outcome measures many of which are shared in NATO telemedicine programs. The evaluation measures describe the unique military and NATO uses for telemedicine such as impact on medical evacuation and types of medical problems encountered in deployed settings critical for future military and NATO manpower planning and staffing. The chapter further describes a multinational telemedicine study conducted in 2005 called the Telemedicine Interoperability Study (TIOPS) that showed the usability and clinical comparability of diagnoses made by consultants from different nations. The TIOPS provides an important framework for future NATO telemedicine evaluations for demonstration projects that can establish long-term measures of effectiveness in NATO missions.
Contributions of NATO's Science for Peace and Security Programme to the Field of Telemedicine
Authors: Turmus Eyup  , Beten Deniz  , Hostiuc Filip
Published: February 2025

The Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Program is a policy tool that enhances cooperation and dialogue with all partners, based on scientific research, innovation, and knowledge exchange. Founded in 1958, the Program contributes to NATO's objectives and promotes regional cooperation through scientific projects and activities. Over time, the SPS Program has continuously adapted to new demands and in 2013 the focus shifted on larger scale strategic activities which go beyond purely scientific cooperation. The SPS Program now promotes civil, security-related practical cooperation, and focuses on a growing range of contemporary security challenges, including terrorism, defense against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents, cyber defense, energy security and environmental concerns, as well as human and social aspects of security, such as the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325). The Program provides the Alliance with distinctive, non-military communication channels, including in situations where other forms of dialogue are difficult to establish. Accordingly, SPS often serves as the first concrete link between NATO and partner nations.
Development, Structure, and Organization of the MnTS
Authors: Doarn Charles R.  , Hostiuc Filip  , Zoicas Claudiu  , Latifi Rifat
Published: February 2025

The development of an international or multinational telemedicine system has been discussed several times over the past 30 years or so. The integration of telecommunications and information technology in the aftermath of a disaster can be of tremendous value in addressing acute and chronic medical needs. The growing consequences of disasters increase the need for more medical support in response actions. The financial realities of recent years however have led to a decreased level of expertise and size of the medical “footprint” on-site. Effective use of telemedicine can close this gap by allowing provision of clinical healthcare from a distance. In 2012, the NATO Russia Council was asked to setup a telemedicine project funded by NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS). In 2013, SPS Program funded a project to develop and demonstrate a Multinational Telemedicine System (MnTS) for Emergency Response. This project aimed to address the identified shortfalls with multi-national pre-defined emergency measures and augment disaster response care with telemedicine technologies based on agreed procedures with trained personnel and interoperable equipment. In February 2014, the inaugural MnTS conference was convened at NATO Headquarters in Brussels with teams of telemedicine experts assembled to develop a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for this 3-year project. Topics identified and described in the CONOPS included Governance, Medical Care, Legal Issues, and Information Technologies. Subsequent meetings were held in Romania, Belgium and the United States to further develop the plans and programs for the MnTS. The system also participated in a proof of concept disaster response field exercise in September 2015 in Ukraine.
The Presence of Militant Religious Extremism in the Cyber Battlefield
Authors: Bogdanoski Mitko  , Veljovski Gjorgji
Published: February 2025

In the last decade of the twentieth century, the rapid development of computer technology and its application in the military doctrine prompted the idea of network-centric warfare. Besides sea, air, land and space, the contemporary strategy defines cyberspace as the fifth battlefield and important part to conduct information operations. The purpose of this was to introduce a new revolution in military affairs, but also to demonstrate the superiority of the Western way of war. However, the opponent always adapts. Computers and internet are available to everyone, so the new paradigm did not become an exclusive right to the rich nations and powerful armies. Terrorist organizations around the world quickly recognized the usefulness of cyberspace, first to collect information, then for communication, planning and conducting terrorist actions. Especially the militant religious extremists from the beginning started to use cyberspace for propaganda, recruitment and training of new members, and trying to carry out cyber attacks. There is skepticism that the threat of terrorist cyber attacks is exaggerated, but the analysis of the most recent attempts shows that we have to understand the seriousness of their intention to cause severe damage on computer systems of critical infrastructure. In this context, the intention of this chapter is to show that the terrorists not only recognized cyberspace as the new battlefield, but there is a trend of their increased presence, suggesting the necessity to monitor their adaptation to new technologies and to estimate their capacities and capabilities, or to bring the war against terrorism into cyberspace as well.
Building Social Inclusion and Community Engagement of Youth: Pathways to Resilience as Alternatives to Violence
Authors: Ungar Michael
Published: February 2025

A focus on resilience shifts attention from what causes young people to radicalize to explaining the protective and promotive factors and processes that inhibit violence. This paper uses case examples to examine the culturally and contextually relevant processes that make young people resilient. It also shows that the absence of these factors puts children at risk of violence. Using a social-ecological lens to examine the way communities can prevent violence, a complex multisystemic understanding of resilience is discussed that details nine experiences which predict positive outcomes. Application of this model to individuals and communities in the Balkans that have been affected by war and mass migrations can help to inform interventions to prevent politically and religiously motivated violence.
Select Terrorism Theories
Authors: Regan Joshua
Published: February 2025

The purpose of this paper is to use criminological theories to explain the root causes of terrorism and why it prevails. Three criminological theories will be implemented to describe this behavior: rational choice theory, social learning theory, and anomie/strain theory. Using these theoretical concepts, the researcher will first contend that some terrorists are rational actors who learn criminal behavior from social and non-social sources. The researcher will then illustrate that institutional decay and lack of opportunity contributes to political extremism. This paper will conclude with theoretical limitations and policy recommendations.
Who Acts–Cyber Identity Issues
Authors: Maric Milan
Published: February 2025

This Millennium started with an intensive development of ICT E-Government systems and online applications as a support of almost all Governments and local authorities for better communication between Government bodies, as well with citizens and commercial entities. The Internet was hailed as an integrator of cultures and a medium for business, consumers, and governments to communicate with one another. We noticed certain vulnerabilities with opening ICT systems and architecture to open community, which could lead to cyberattacks and potential blocking of normal functions of government institutions. On the other side, widely developed online services, Open National registers and knowledge base, at E-Government as well Smart Cities in local municipalities, could be used for better preventive control of possible terrorist attacks. But such measures could lead authoritarian governments and agencies with low level of public accountability to violate privacy, decrease the free flow and transparency of information, and restrict freedom of expression, thus adding a heavy price by diminishing civil liberties more than terrorism itself. This article addresses Cyber Identity measures which could lead to better prevention of cyber and other terrorist attacks.
OSINT, HUMINT and Terrorism
Authors: Félix Paulo
Published: February 2025

OSINT is a powerful tool but a bigger investment in HUMINT is needed to successfully address terrorism.
Counter-Terrorism in Europe 2030; Managing Efficiency and Civil Rights
Authors: Destatte Philippe
Published: February 2025

Although knowledge and traditions of fighting against terrorism have existed in Europe since the 19thcentury, the crisis that has developed in the early 21stcentury seems very particular, as it has both internal and external origins. This contribution about terrorism trends in Europe is based on a year-long research seminar, using the foresight bifurcations method, organized during the 2015–2016 foresight course at the University of Paris-Diderot. The work, entitled Counter-terrorism in Europe 2030, managing efficiency and civil rights, describes and analyses trajectories of terrorism and counterterrorism in Germany, United Kingdom and Spain, in comparison with the French and Belgian systems, which have been hit hard in 2015 and 2016. It aims to define long-term issues and outline some answers to the present terrorism challenges.
Preventing Terroristic Attacks Against Cultural Heritage as Part of a Critical Infrastructure Protection Strategy
Authors: Niglia Alessandro  , Torretta Letizia
Published: February 2025

Western countries have proven to be powerless in the face of the most recent attacks committed by ISIS against humanity's cultural heritage sites in the Middle East and North Africa. The perpetration of these terrorist attacks forms part of a global strategy to destabilize the region by striking key infrastructure of the occupied territories. This new threat, defined by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova as “cultural cleansing”, adds to the mosaic of the terrorist organization's infamous modus operandi.Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, UNESCO deplores ‘cultural cleansing’ of Iraq as armed extremists ransack Mosul libraries, UN News Center, 3 February 2015 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49982#.WLArLPkrKUk.
Foreign Fighters in Ukraine: Risk Analysis from the Point of View of NATO
Authors: Mareš Miroslav
Published: February 2025

This contribution deals with the phenomenon of foreign fighters in Ukraine. The author analyses risks and threats to the security of NATO countries connected with the activities of such fighters on the territory of Ukraine (including the separatist republics) and their return to their home countries. The development of the foreign fighter issue during the so-called Ukrainian crisis is described. Significant risks and threats connected with their engagement in the conflict and return home (i.e., propaganda, involvement in paramilitary units, threatening political opponents, etc.) are identified and assessed.
Caliphate Citizens: Revisiting the Concept of “Foreign Fighters”
Authors: Račius Egdūnas
Published: February 2025

Routinely, people who have over the past five years travelled to Western Asia are being referred to as “foreign fighters”. Though, admittedly, many among them did join various armed groups, a fairly significant number of them did not or even could not become fighters. This is true first of all for children who travelled with their parents as well as for young females, who in the West pejoratively are called “jihadi brides”. However, even these categories aside, the (young) men who did join armed groups in Syria and Iraq, though they may be identified as “fighters”, may also not be regarded (and certainly many among them do not see themselves) as “foreign”. For the overwhelming number of people who travelled to West Asia and joined the Islamic State, their status in the entity is more like naturalized citizens whose naturalization process is epitomized by the joining of the armed forces of the Islamic State. Those who did not (or could not) join the IS armed forces became citizens by pledging allegiance to khilafa and by performing what they themselves regard as compulsory hijra – relocation from the lands of unbelievers to the land of Islam under the declared khilafa. The khilafa project initiated by the Islamic State is a unique phenomenon not only from the point of view of the theories of international relations but also with respect to classical notions of state formation and nation-building, and it puts the conceptualization of citizenship in a new light.
Cybercrime-Funded Terrorism and the Threats Posed by Future Technologies: Appealing Economics and Targets
Authors: Bottazzi Giovanni  , Me Gianluigi
Published: February 2025

The large scale Internet penetration in processes and activities, from manufacturing to end users, has reinforced the time-invariant pillars of cybercrime, namely social engineering, and software vulnerability, e.g., respectively, ransomware and bugs in banking software. Both these pillars spin off two dichotomous results: the goal is an economic profit for the author or confidential information steal/damage of the target of the attack (e.g. to critical infrastructures). Moreover, enabling technologies for anonymity facilitate the progressive shift of criminal markets on the Internet, as TOR marketplaces and cryptocurrencies show, raising the costs of successful investigation. These phenomena can be carried out by isolated criminals, by serious organized criminals or, mostly, from organized crime benefitting from the Crime as a Service (CaaS) model. Hence only apparently cybercrimes, e.g. digital frauds, are not connected to serious criminal organizations, in particular, terrorism, using these activities to fund the core mission. Cybercrime attractiveness, in terms of expected revenues per action, drives the choice of the organized crime, impacting on its willingness to pay in the CaaS model. This paper, firstly, will explore the economic value of cybercrime, overviewing the revenues from different online crimes in the past, highlighting the most attractive, then will overview the potential targets of terrorism enabled by the adoption of new technologies.
Anglosphere Approaches to Counter-Terrorism in Cyberspace
Authors: Legrand Tim
Published: February 2025

The ease, speed and sophistication with which extremist groups have exploited cyberspace for operational coordination and ideological proselytising have taken Western governments by surprise. From brazen digital advocacy of extreme and violent ideology to deft recruitment and fundraising, the Internet has proven to be a remarkably useful medium for non-state actors and hostile terrain for states seeking to curtail the growing global influence of violent extremism. This chapter charts the trajectories of policy frameworks of one distinct cluster of states confronting similar challenges in this respect: the “Anglosphere” states of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The apparent challenge for these Anglosphere states is that policy officials recognise that transnational counter-terrorism challenges cannot be resolved unilaterally but require collaboration in two crucial dimensions. First, to achieve meaningful sovereignty over cyberspaces requires government to acquire the cooperation of private sector actors – including large multi-national digital technology firms. For these companies, relinquishing commercial data or giving up encryption to authorities is anathema. Second, as extremist operational and proselytising activities can transfer across jurisdictions effectively instantly, states have sought to build multi-jurisdictional coalitions, pooling expertise, intelligence and, most importantly, resources. This chapter articulates how these imperatives have played out in domestic institutional settings and goes on to describe how Anglosphere states have forged robust though low-profile networks of security collaboration that facilitate policy and operational interchange. The Anglosphere transgovernmental alliance, it is contended, operates as a persistent and influential mode of policy-making for all partners, cognitively framing the “problem” of extremism in cyberspace and underpinning significant technical and strategic collaboration.
Prosecuting Terrorist Activity in Canada
Authors: Gendron Angela
Published: February 2025

This chapter focuses on Canada's law enforcement approach to countering terrorism and, in particular, the prosecution of terrorist-related or terrorist-associated non-violent activities (precursor offences). The threat from right wing and jihadist-inspired homegrown violent extremism, especially from lone actors seemingly disconnected from hierarchical organizations, has reinforced the need for preventative counterterrorism measures, one component of which is a law enforcement response. Canada also utilizes non-legislative measures to support and prevent individuals from becoming radicalized and involved in violent extremism, but there is also a determination to denounce and deter those already radicalized from engaging whether online or offline in activities which advocate, facilitate, finance and support terrorist acts including the recruitment of vulnerable individuals.
Cyberterrorism: A Challenge for External and Internal Security
Authors: Röhrig Wolfgang  , Llopis Salvador
Published: February 2025

The threat of Cyberterrorism is a sub-category of the overall threat environment that can emerge from cyberspace. In consequence military commanders have to take this into account for planning and executing operations when the strategic threat assessment indicates the presence of this specific threat to the operation. The article provides a practitioner's perspective along the military Operational Planning Process (OPP) and the recent developments to integrate cyber considerations in this process along the questions “what ... if ...” a commander of an (EU-led) Crisis Management Operation (CMO) has to respond inter alia to the (so far fictional) tasking, “... in cooperation with all relevant partners and stakeholders take appropriate means and actions to counter Cyberterrorism in the Area of Responsibility (AoR)...”. It provides considerations, which are the relevant planning aspects and factors that the commander should take into account in order to respond to the tasking. This includes the characteristics of cyberspace, the phenomenon of cyberterrorism as such, the type of the military operation, the mandate, the legal framework, the (cyber) situation in the theatre, the necessary information and capabilities, necessary processes/procedures, as well as the relationship with other “Cyber Security Providers” like Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) in the AoR. It provides an assessment of the use of military capabilities in countering cyberterrorism in crisis management operations, and draws conclusions on the different options and limitations for a complementary use of LEAs and the Military in countering cyberterrorism as it occurs in current and future CMO outside of EU boundaries.
Predicting the Emergence of Self-Radicalisation Through Social Media: A Complex Systems Approach
Authors: Bradbury Roger  , Bossomaier Terry  , Kernot David
Published: February 2025

We are using a complex systems approach in a pilot project to create a data-driven real-time empirical analysis of the self-radicalisation phenomenon. The project, if successful, will generate actionable predictions about the likelihood that particular individuals of interest will become self-radicalised. In the pilot project, we use validated open source data to empirically test three hypotheses: individuals reveal their ‘identity’ – a personal signature – through their texts; there exist tipping-point phenomena where ‘identity’ may shift rapidly from one metastable state to another; and an individual's ‘identity’ will show critical slowing down – the characteristic dynamics that predict the approach of a tipping point.
Preliminary Analysis of Cyberterrorism Threats to Internet of Things (IoT) Applications
Authors: Balogun Mobolarinwa  , Bahşi Hayretdin  , Karabacak Bilge
Published: February 2025

The era of Internet of Things (IoT) is currently being ushered in. IoT is a combination of various networking and computing technologies that heralds a new age of data aggregation and ubiquitous connectivity among physical objects. However, most of the cyber threats emanating from this remain unsolved and may have huge impact on our lives. One of the possible major changes in the impact landscape is the imminent physical results of cyber threats as IoT technologies enable closer interactions between humans and information systems. Although the cyber threats to critical infrastructures have been widely considered by the cyber security community, cases of catastrophic physical impacts are rare which means the impact posture has not yet shifted from information centric impacts to physical ones. However, widespread use of IoT technologies has the potential to accelerate this shift which may bring the threat of cyber terrorism into the picture. This paper provides a preliminary comparison of a typical IoT application in the area of health with an industrial control system (ICS) in order to show that IoT applications require careful consideration as terrorists may attack them with easy-to-implement cyberattacks for the purpose of creating physical harm.
Composite Defects Evaluation Using the Hybrid NDT Methods of PECT and EMAT
Authors: Xie Shejuan  , Tian Mingming  , Pei Cuixiang  , Chen Hong-En  , Chen Zhenmao  , Takagi Toshiyuki
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a hybrid nondestructive testing (NDT) method combined with the pulsed eddy current testing (PECT) method and the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) method has been proposed and validated through numerical simulations and experiments. First, a numerical code is developed for the simulation of hybrid EMAT/PECT signals. Second, based on the numerical simulation, the influences of the eddy current induced by the excitation coil and the eddy current due to the velocity effect of the ultrasonic wave are compared and analyzed. Third, several signal separation and extraction methods are proposed on the basis of the spectral analysis and filtering strategies. Finally, hybrid EMAT/PECT experiments are conducted. Based on the numerical and experimental results, the proposed hybrid PECT/EMAT NDT method is demonstrated both high detectability and high efficiency.
Impedance Matching Using Variable Capacitors in Electromagnetic Ultrasonic Flaw Detection
Authors: Nishimura Yoshihiro  , Akimoto Naoki  , Fukuda Katsumi  , Hayashi Takeharu  , Ikeda Eiki  , Uchibe Ginji
Published: February 2025

Centrifugal casting tubes have uneven surfaces and cannot be inspected by Ultrasonic Testing (UT). Therefore, not all products are checked. Electromagnetic acoustic tests (EMATs) were conducted on centrifugal casting tubes, and their effectiveness was examined. However, signals derived by EMAT is very poor and weak. Acoustic attenuation of centrifugal casting tubes is very high due to their large grains. We developed a C-C impedance-matching circuit to produce electromagnetic acoustic waves, applied it to aluminum specimens, and examined the C-C matching effectiveness.
Eddy Current Sensor and Inversion Technique for Estimation of the Electrical Conductivity Profile of the Graphite Bricks in an Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor Core
Authors: Tesfalem Henok  , Peyton Anthony  , Fletcher Adam  , Brown Matthew  , Chapman Bob
Published: February 2025

This paper presents a conductivity profiling technique of a graphite brick and a Finite Element (FE) model study of an eddy current (EC) probe, which may be used to inspect graphite bricks in an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) core. This work was initially concerned with investigation and optimisation of EC probes in terms of their sensitivity to the conducting graphite, particularly with depth, followed by the implementation of an optimised probe prototype, which was used to validate the FE model. The graphite inverse problems in this paper were solved using the measured data from a sample graphite brick and adapting an iterative inversion technique. During the inversion process two different approaches have been adopted: constrained and unconstrained along with two different initial estimates. The FE-based sensitivity study results show an average of 43.7 % sensitivity improvement compared with an existing probe and reasonable agreement between the simulated and measured data. The inverse solutions in this work show negligible effect on the accuracy of the reconstructed profile when applying different initial estimates within the algorithm. It was found that the constrained profiles yield a minimum profile error of 3 % compared with the experimentally-determined graphite electrical conductivity values.
Electromagnetic Nondestructive Characterization of Different Strip Gratings Structures as Bioactive Surfaces
Authors: Savin Adriana  , Iftimie Nicoleta  , Steigmann Rozina  , Ruch Marta  , Faktorova Dagmar  , Faktor Jakub
Published: February 2025

For the biosensors based on electromagnetic waves, the material deposited as biosensitive element essentially determines the functioning characteristics. Ag/ZnO/ITO/glass and Ag/ZnO/SiO2/Si mesostructures were analyzed in order to use ZnO as bioactives surface. This paper presents the results obtained at the testing of metallic strip gratings, deposited on different substrates, using the electromagnetic sensor with metamaterials (MM) lens in order to prove its capability to gather the evanescent waves appeared on the edge of strips when the slits are filled with immobilized enzymes.
Maritime Cyber Security: System Analysis and Evolution of AIS
Authors: Kucukkaya Goksel  , Hester Patrick
Published: February 2025

The global maritime safety system depends on the effective use of Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). Ease of use, simple and modular structure, along with cost efficiency have accelerated the deployment of AIS equipment and enlarged the network of these systems. AIS-based maritime safety systems are subject to cyber attacks, and the impact of these attacks may be strategic. This paper categorizes the errors occurred during the evolution of the AIS-based maritime system and provides an ecosystem of cyber-physical spaces to provide potential solutions to the errors.
Big Data Analysis with LDA for Cybersecurity in Organizations
Authors: Huang Jingwei  , LaCerte Yves  , Kalbarczyk Zbigniew
Published: February 2025

Cyber security is a great challenge for organizations. Big Data and Machine Learning can be used to improve cyber security protection mechanisms for organizations. This article presents two applications of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model for cyber defense. In the first application, we present how to use LDA to discover users' possible hidden intentions from a collection of the user's operations extracted from a very large volume of security monitoring data. This new application can help intrusion detection and malicious activities conducted by insiders. In the second application, we present an architecture used for identifying and redacting sensitive information from outgoing emails in an organization, which may help an enterprise or organization to protect their sensitive information from both intended or unintended leak.
Commercial Satellites, Critical Information Infrastructure Protection, and Preventing Today's Threat Actors from Becoming Tomorrow's Captain Midnight
Authors: Young Brian
Published: February 2025

This paper analyzes the commercial satellite (ComSat) segment within the communications sector of the critical infrastructure framework, and the intersection between ComSats as part of United States (US) critical infrastructure as well as national space policy. In assessing the vulnerabilities present within ComSat constituent components, as well as means to mitigate the risks associated with those vulnerabilities, the paper identifies apparent tacit or even active state actor support directed at exploiting US ComSat vulnerabilities. This paper concludes that efforts to reduce ComSat risks, especially those emanating from state and non-state threat actors, requires an adaptation in both critical infrastructure and space policies to account for the convergence that has resulted from ComSat usage within the federal government, and recommends that US Cyber Command be included a key coordinating entity as those policies are updated.
The Relevance and Potential of the Energy Charter Treaty for the South Caucasus
Authors: Larkin Patrick
Published: February 2025

This intervention outlines the relevance and potential of the Energy Charter Treaty for the South Caucasus; for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The Energy Charter is an example of a means of energy cooperation that has already existed in the South Caucasus for over 20 years. It discusses the problems that may arise in the South Caucasus, of what fault lines may develop among different economic spheres. In that context the author also discusses the new International Energy Charter, a new political declaration based on the principles of the Energy Charter Treaty as a good example of regional and international cooperation.
Utilizing Cyber Physical System to Achieve Intelligent Product Design: A Case Study of Transformer
Authors: Chen Yi-Hong  , Ho Pei-Hsun  , Chiu Ming-Chuan
Published: February 2025

Industry 4.0 is known as a powerful supportive system that enterprises can enhance their competitiveness. One of critical techniques of industry 4.0 is Cyber-Physical System (CPS). CPS is a mechanism which can control or monitor physical equipment in the front end and utilize the cloud computing in the back end to achieve intelligent production or services. Although the concept of CPS has been understood by industries, how to implement CPS and accomplish the goal of enterprises remains vogue. This study utilizes the framework of CPS to achieve intelligent product design. Based on the data collected from sensors of CPS, Principal Components Analysis (PCA) is firstly employed to figure out key factors. Next, A Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method is developed to build a forecast model to identify parameters which have better yield in the backend. CPS then modify these parameters improve the yield as well as future product design. As a result, the yield issue can be solved not only in the manufacturing but also in the product design stage.