bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
3D efficient simulation of a magnetic probe for characterization of ferromagnetic specimens
Authors: d'Aquino Massimiliano  , Minucci Simone  , Petrarca Carlo  , Rubinacci Guglielmo  , Tamburrino Antonello  , Ventre Salvatore
Published: February 2025

The material microstructure affects both the mechanical and the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic materials. This behavior can be conveniently used for designing systems for electromagnetic nondestructive material characterization (MC) of specimens. In this paper, we present an efficient numerical model of a MC system, which measures the incremental permeability of a specimen along a hysteresis loop in the presence of the eddy currents induced by a suitable coil. The numerical model solves in an efficient way two coupled 3D volume integral equations in the presence of periodic sources, eddy currents and vector hysteretic media. The results highlight the relationship between the incremental permeability tensor and the measured quantity related to the impedance of the excitation coil
Simulation and Analysis of a Piezoelectric Balance
Authors: Lv Zhiguo  , Liu Xi  , Zhang Yahong  , Zhang Xinong  , Luo Yajun
Published: February 2025

The dynamic mechanical-electric coupled finite element models of a piezoelectric balance is built as SOLID5 (piezoelectric couple element type) and SOLID45 (3-D structural element type) by ANSYS software. In the simulating process of calibration of the piezoelectric balance, the first six natural frequencies and mode shapes were calculated by the element modal analysis. And the static analysis of the piezoelectric balance was developed under three loads, which includes axial force, yaw force and pitch force. To analyze the influence of other components by principal components, the output voltages of all twelve piezoelectric pieces were observed. Furthermore, we changed thickness of the piezoelectric pieces, and investigated the relationship between piezoelectric pieces thickness and output voltages. Finally, to reduce the impact on other components of the principal components and to improve the calibration accuracy, the piezoelectric balance can be optimized by modifying all kinds of parameters of the piezoelectric balance.
Magnetic Flux Leakage Detection of Corrosion Damage in Prestressed Concrete Poles
Authors: Szielasko Klaus  , Youssef Sargon  , Sourkov Alexander  , Kurz Jochen  , Pushkarev Sergey  , Birringer Ralf
Published: February 2025

Urban infrastructure includes large amounts of concrete poles which support power lines, communication cables, and street lighting. These poles are made of spun concrete with embedded pre-stressed reinforcement steel. The chemical environment at the ground-air interface, in combination with tensile prestressing and possibly low concrete cover, promotes corrosion of the steel rods. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) has been observed in many concrete structures under these circumstances. Motivated by recent failures of concrete poles in Germany, a mobile, USB-powered magnetic flux leakage (MFL) based inspection system was developed. It was shown that the system allows the identification of artificial flaws starting with approximately 25% loss of cross-section in a single steel rod, through a concrete cover of 3 cm. Results indicate that the orientation of the crack towards or away from the sensor does not affect the detection. Moreover, it was observed that the gap length of a 100% rupture can vary between 0.5 mm and at least 25 mm without strong effect on the signal amplitude. Filters were implemented which suppress the magnetic field gradient of the permanent magnet yoke and emphasize either flaws or the existence and proximity of the rods. First on-site experience was gathered in Bonn, Germany.
Nondestructive Evaluation of Conducting Materials Using a Direct Current Perturbation Method
Authors: Li Donglin  , Kang Yihua  , Sun Yanhua  , Ye Zhijian  , Ding Yiming
Published: February 2025

For the conventional electric current perturbation (ECP) method incapable to detect internal defects in non-ferromagnetic materials, a modified ECP method, direct current perturbation (DCP) method, is proposed. This method employs Giant Magneto Resistive sensors to probe the disturbed magnetic field signals induced by a direct current. Three-dimensional simulations were performed to investigate the variations of magnetic fields due to the perturbation of direct current surrounding defects. Experiments were also carried out to confirm the capability of inspection for external and internal defects in conducting materials. The DCP signal characteristics are obtained by numerical and experimental results, which suggest the potential of the DCP for defect characterization.
Hollow Shaft Array Electromagnetic Testing System Based on Integrated Nondestructive Testing Techniques
Authors: Lin Jun-Ming  , Lin Fa-Bing  , Lin Chun-Jing  , Zhang Kai-Liang  , Yu Xing-Zeng
Published: February 2025

In order to ensure the safety of the high speed railway electric multiple units (EMU), a regular inspection is necessary for hollow shafts. A hollow shaft array electromagnetic testing system is developed with integrated non-destructive testing techniques such as the eddy current testing and the metal magnetic memory testing. A prolonged experiment on both hollow shafts of standard axle and EMU was held. The experimental results indicated that the developed NDT system can fully meet the requirements of inspection during manufacture and the in-service inspection of the EMU hollow shaft.
On-Line Monitoring of Particle in Oil Based on Electromagnetic NDT Technique
Authors: Lin Jun-Ming  , Wang Wei  , Dai Yong-Hong
Published: February 2025

The methods such as vibration monitoring and temperature monitoring are usually adopted in the predictive maintenance of the rotational machinery. However, these methods have limitation, especially for in-service monitoring of motors, as their predictive time of the accidents is short and defective. Detection of metallic particle in engine oil can indirectly predict wear status of its bearings and gear etc., which is important to prevent engine failure caused by over wear. In this paper, an eddy current testing (ECT) method for inspection of metallic particles in engine oils, the design of the ECT system consisting of sensor, hardware and software, and the realization of the on-line monitoring are described. In addition, the prospect for the on-line “cloud” monitoring of engine oil abrasive particle is also discussed.
Analytical model for support plate interference in eddy current tube testing
Authors: Theodoulidis Theodoros  , Reboud Christophe
Published: February 2025

An analytical model is developed for evaluating the eddy current signal from an inspection coil inside a tube under the area of a support plate. The electromagnetic field problem is formulated in terms of the magnetic vector potential and is solved using domain truncation and eigenfunction expansions. Closed-form expressions are derived for the coil impedance and the electromagnetic field. The support plate is effectively replaced by its own surface onto which the Leontovich impedance boundary condition is enforced. The model is quite efficient for the usual configuration that involves a non-ferromagnetic tube and a ferromagnetic support plate and its validity is verified with a commercial FEM package.
A Needs Analysis Survey for Open EAP Courses for Chinese Graduates on Overseas Exchange Programs
Authors: Chen Jia  , Zhang Wenzheng
Published: February 2025

This paper reports a Needs Analysis survey done on Chinese graduate students majoring in science for an open English for Academic Purpose (EAP) course design. By conducting a survey about the sample group, the researchers attempt to discover graduate students' needs, difficulties, and study habits in English learning, what contents and skill instructions should be included in an online EAP course and how designers and instructors can better involve students in online EAP learning activities. This preliminary Needs Analysis research may provide a basis for innovative online EPA courses design and delivery, and help the selection and preparation of open EPA educational resources.
Intelligent Environments Approaches Applied in Water Management
Authors: Mikulecky Peter
Published: February 2025

Recently, we are in the époque of sophisticated Ambient Intelligence (AmI) applications, mainly based on utilisation of wide sensor networks together with advanced AmI approaches. If we concentrate on environmental (that is, open space or outdoor) applications, there is just a few of them, although basically focused on environmental monitoring, that enable more functionalities than just collecting environmentally related data and passing them to further elaboration. In our paper we intend to go further on with the ideas how environmentally oriented wireless sensor networks used in “large-scale” throughout the open natural environment could be enhanced using some recent AmI approaches in order to be beneficial in preventing primarily environmentally related problems, if not even disasters. We focus our attention on the area of water management with accent on two critical water related problems: floods management and drought-stricken periods. We suggest a concept of an approach how to solve a particular water management problem in Czech Republic using large-scale ambient intelligence approach enhancing thus wireless sensor network focused on environmental monitoring.
Another View of the Empire – Camera Control for Heritage Applications
Authors: McRoberts Alexander G.  , Livingstone Daniel  , Abbott Daisy
Published: February 2025

‘Another View of the Empire’ focused on the evaluation of user perspectives and control techniques to help define best practice for the design and implementation of interactive heritage applications. A comparison study was undertaken on two popular avatar control techniques from the field of video games to determine the suitability for integration into interactive heritage environments, where the typical user may not be a regular player of 3D action games. This paper outlines the preliminary research, the design and build of a set of research orientated interactive environments, and the resulting user focused exploratory heuristic qualitative analysis – which found that a hybrid control system may provide the optimum experience for a typical heritage audience.
An Introduction to Continuous Interaction
Authors: Rodríguez-Domínguez Carlos  , Garrido José Luis  , Guerrero-Contreras Gabriel  , Carranza Francisco  , Valenzuela Aurora
Published: February 2025

Users are currently expected to benefit from the concurrent use of different computing devices and applications: Personal computers for an easier content production, mobile devices for increased mobility and context-awareness, wearable devices for more transparent health-related data acquisitions, etc. However, the simultaneous use of different devices and applications could be perceived as disruptive or unproductive, due to the need of additional settings, lack of integration, etc. As a first step to overcome this problem, in this paper we introduce the notion of Continuous Interaction (CoIn) systems. These systems intend to promote the simultaneous use of multiple devices and applications to complete tasks in a more effective, flexible and easy way. To achieve that goal, a set of human-centred design principles have been figured out to enable users to seamlessly share tasks across multiple devices, independently of the software applications supporting their completion. The case study of a Mobile Forensic Workspace (MFW) will be presented to highlight the benefits that CoIn systems could bring to the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) and Ubiquitous Computing research fields.
Differential Cognitive Deterioration in Dementia: A Two Year Longitudinal Study
Authors: Chamberlain Samuel R.  , Blackwell Andrew D.  , Nathan Pradeep J.  , Hammond Geoff  , Robbins Trevor W.  , Hodges John R.  , Michael Albert  , Semple James M.  , Bullmore Edward T.  , Sahakian Barbara J.
Published: February 2025

The ability to predict cognitive deterioration in patients with dementia holds valuable potential for clinical trials and early intervention. This study identified cognitive domains deteriorating differentially over time as well as baseline predictors of subsequent cognitive decline in patients referred to a memory clinic. Twenty-six subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 43 subjects with Subjective Memory Impairment (SMI) were entered into a longitudinal study in which cognitive function was assessed at baseline and at 8-monthly intervals for 2 years, using a range of well-validated measures. Thirty-seven patients with depression and 39 healthy controls were also longitudinally assessed. AD was associated with disproportionate deterioration over time on general measures of cognitive function, multiple measures of mnemonic processing, mental fluency (letter and category), and aspects of motor speed. SMI showed restricted relative cognitive deterioration on general measures of cognitive function, on a subset of memory measures, and on letter but not category fluency. Secondary analysis showed that earliest detectable ADAS-cog and MMSE decline in AD was at 16 months, while several specific neuropsychological indices were sensitive as early as 8 months (graded naming test, semantic naming, and the category/letter fluency tests). In combination, baseline/early changes in cognitive performance, alongside clinical measures, predicted 48% of disease progression over two years in memory impaired patients as a whole. These findings have implications for identifying patients likely to benefit from disease modifying agents, and for designing, powering, enriching, and implementing future clinical trials. Follow-up studies in independent populations are needed to validate predictive algorithms identified.
Cognition, Gender, and Functional Abilities in Alzheimer's Disease: How are They Related?
Authors: Benke Thomas  , Delazer Margarete  , Sanin Günter  , Schmidt Helena  , Seiler Stephan  , Ransmayr Gerhard  , Dal-Bianco Peter  , Uranüs Margarete  , Marksteiner Josef  , Leblhuber Friedrich  , Kapeller Peter  , Bancher Christian  , Schmidt Reinhold
Published: February 2025

Background: Few studies have investigated in detail which factors influence activities of daily (ADL) in Alzheimer's disease (AD).
The Role of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase in a Mouse Model of Neuroinflammation-Induced Depression
Authors: Dobos Nikoletta  , de Vries Erik F.J.  , Kema Ido P.  , Patas Konstantinos  , Prins Marloes  , Nijholt Ingrid M.  , Dierckx Rudi A.  , Korf Jakob  , den Boer Johan A.  , Luiten Paul G.M.  , Eisel Ulrich L.M.
Published: February 2025

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme which is activated by pro-inflammatory cytokines, has been suggested as a potential link between neuroinflammatory processes in neurodegenerative diseases (like Alzheimer's disease) and depression. The present study aimed to determine whether neuroinflammation-induced increased IDO levels in the mammalian brain will lead to depressive-like behavior. Neuroinflammation was initiated in mice by a single intracerebroventricular injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Cerebral inflammation was monitored 1, 2, 3 and 4 days after the injection with small-animal positron emission tomography (PET) using the inflammatory marker [11C]-PK11195. In the presence or absence of systemically applied 1-methyl-tryptophan (1-MT), a competitive IDO-inhibitor, we assessed the development of depressive-like behavioral symptoms in parallel with IDO expression and activity. The PK11195 PET signal reached a highly significant peak 3 days after LPS injection, while these animals displayed a significant increase of depressive-like behavior in the forced swim test compared to vehicle-injected animals. These findings were paralleled by a significant increase of IDO in the brainstem, and an increased kynurenine/tryptophan ratio in the serum. Moreover, we report here for the first time, that inhibition of IDO by 1-MT in centrally induced neuroinflammation under experimental conditions can prevent the development of depressive-like behavior.
Depression and Alzheimer's Disease: Novel Postmortem Brain Studies Reveal a Possible Common Mechanism
Authors: Nihonmatsu-Kikuchi Naomi  , Hayashi Yoshitaka  , Yu Xiu-jun  , Tatebayashi Yoshitaka
Published: February 2025

The relationship between depression and Alzheimer's disease (AD) has always been relevant and controversial. Here, we briefly review epidemiological and biological studies that have investigated these disorders and then introduce our recent research about postmortem brains from patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Our novel methodological approaches have revealed that MDD may be associated with an unknown type of myelin/myelination abnormalities in the frontopolar cortex. Based mainly on our findings, as well as on neuropathological observations by Braak and Braak (Acta Neuropathol 9, 197–201, 1996), we discuss the possible existence of an as yet unknown common mechanism linking the pathophysiologies underlying both depression and AD.
Depressive Symptoms, Antidepressant Use, and Brain Volumes on MRI in a Population-Based Cohort of Old Persons Without Dementia
Authors: Geerlings Mirjam I.  , Brickman Adam M.  , Schupf Nicole  , Devanand Davangere P.  , Luchsinger José A.  , Mayeux Richard  , Small Scott A.
Published: February 2025

We examined whether late-life depression, including depressive symptoms and antidepressant use, was associated with smaller total brain volume, smaller hippocampal volume, and larger white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume in a large community-based cohort of old persons without dementia. Within the Washington/Hamilton Height-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP), a community-based cohort study in northern Manhattan, 630 persons without dementia (mean age 80 years, SD=5) had volumetric measures of the total brain, hippocampus, and WMH at 1.5 Tesla MRI and data on current depression, defined as a score of 4 or higher on the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, or use of antidepressants. Multiple linear regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, education, cardiovascular disease history, and MRI parameters showed that subjects with current depression had smaller relative total brain volume (B= −0.86%; 95% CI −1.68 to −0.05%; p<0.05), smaller relative hippocampal volume (B= −0.07ml; 95% CI −0.14 to 0.00ml; p=0.05), and larger relative WMH volume (natural logtransformed B=0.19ml; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.35ml; p<0.05). When examined separately, antidepressant use was significantly associated with smaller total brain, smaller hippocampal, and larger WMH volume, while high CES-D scores were not significantly associated with any of the brain measures, although the direction of association was similar as for antidepressant use. With the caveat that analyses were cross-sectional and we had no formal diagnosis of depression, our findings suggest that in this community-based sample of old persons without dementia, late-life depression is associated with more brain atrophy and more white matter lesions, which was mainly driven by antidepressant use.
Association of Vascular Factors and Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Comprehensive Approach
Authors: Casado Naranjo Ignacio  , Portilla Cuenca Juan Carlos  , de San Juan Beatriz Duque  , García Alfonso Falcón  , Sevilla Raúl Romero  , Cabrera Ana Serrano  , Hijón Carmen Cámara  , Chala Silvia Romero  , Fuentes José Manuel  , Ramírez Moreno José María
Published: February 2025

Background and objective: Current evidence shows that numerous classic vascular risk factors (VRF) contribute to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but the effects of emerging VRFs are less well-known. Using a comprehensive approach, we assessed the frequency and strength of association between MCI and classic VRFs, subclinical markers of atherosclerosis (cystatin C, lipoprotein(a), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and intima-media thickness) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH).
Regional Coherence Changes in Alzheimer's Disease Patients with Depressive Symptoms: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study
Authors: Guo Zhongwei  , Liu Xiaozheng  , Jia Xize  , Hou Hongtao  , Cao Yulin  , Wei Fuquan  , Li Jiapeng  , Chen Xingli  , Zhang Yingchun  , Shen Yuedi  , Wei Lili  , Xu Luoyi  , Chen Wei
Published: February 2025

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by progressive cognitive decline along with neuropsychiatric symptoms including depression and psychosis. Depression is a common psychiatric disorder occurring in people across the lifespan. Accumulating evidence indicates that depression may be a prodrome and/or a “risk factor” for AD. However, whether AD and depression share a common pathophysiological pathway is still unclear. The aim of this study was to identify regional alterations in brain function associated with depressive symptoms in mild AD patients. Thirty-two mild AD patients were evaluated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and were divided into two groups: 15 AD patients with depressive symptoms (D-AD) and 17 non-depressed AD (nD-AD) patients. Using the approach of regional homogeneity (ReHo), we characterized resting-state regional brain activity in D-AD and nD-AD patients. Compared with nD-AD patients, D-AD patients showed decreased ReHo in the right precentral gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, and right inferior frontal cortex. Our findings show regional brain activity alterations in D-AD patients. Thus, D-AD pathogenesis may be attributed to abnormal neural activity in multiple brain regions.
Phenomenology of Depression in Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Novais Filipa  , Starkstein Sergio
Published: February 2025

Depression is among the most frequent psychiatric comorbid conditions in dementia. There is no strong consensus as to what criteria should be used to diagnose depression in AD. This is at least partially explained by the overlap between symptoms of depression and symptoms of AD. Recent studies using latent class analysis provided clarification to this diagnostic dilemma. All nine DSM-IV symptoms of major depression were found to characterize a class with a high chance (96%) of having a clinical diagnosis of major depression, and symptoms of anxiety were also frequent. Other psychiatric symptoms may also be included under the construct of depression in AD, since both apathy and anxiety are among the most frequent comorbid conditions for major depression in AD. Subtypes of depression should also be validated in this condition. For instance, increased awareness of cognitive and functional deficits is significantly associated with dysthymia but not with major depression, suggesting that different depressive syndromes in AD may have different etiology.
Depression in Alzheimer's Disease: Epidemiology, Mechanisms, and Management
Authors: Chi Song  , Yu Jin-Tai  , Tan Meng-Shan  , Tan Lan
Published: February 2025

Depression occurs with a high prevalence of up to 50% in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and increases the caregivers' burden. Depression symptoms can precede clinical diagnosis of AD for years or occurs around the onset of AD, although the etiology and pathologic mechanism of depression in AD pathogenesis remain unclear. Here, we provide an overview on recent studies, indicating that genetic factors, neuroanatomic changes, vascular risk factors, and the imbalance of neurotransmitters might contribute to depressive symptoms in AD. Tau pathology and amyloid-β accumulation also correlate with depression in AD. In addition, the alteration of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, inflammatory pathway, and neurotrophin deficiency are the possible biological mechanisms linking depression and AD, and might become the potential targets for AD treatment. Current data support that antidepressants are promising to alleviate the symptom, though the efficacy is controversial. Moreover, antidementia medication and non-pharmacological interventions can be potential choices. In this review, we describe the prevalence and clinical course of depression in AD, analyze the underlying mechanisms, and discuss the possible management strategies for depression in patients with AD.
Depression and Suicidal Ideation During Two Psychosocial Treatments in Older Adults with Major Depression and Dementia
Authors: Kiosses Dimitris N.  , Rosenberg Paul B.  , McGovern Amanda  , Fonzetti Pasquale  , Zaydens Hana  , Alexopoulos George S.
Published: February 2025

Background: Depression is prevalent in dementia and contributes to poor outcomes for patients and their families. Antidepressants have limited efficacy in older adults with major depression and dementia, and psychosocial interventions are under-investigated.
Latent Classes of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in NACC Controls and Conversion to Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia
Authors: Leoutsakos Jeannie-Marie S.  , Forrester Sarah N.  , Lyketsos Constantine G.  , Smith Gwenn S.
Published: February 2025

Background: A number of studies have linked neuropsychiatric symptoms to increase risk of dementia.
Neuropsychological Functioning in the Acute and Remitted States of Late-Life Depression
Authors: Koenig Aaron M.  , De Lozier Isaac J.  , Zmuda Michelle D.  , Marron Megan M.  , Begley Amy E.  , Anderson Stewart J.  , Reynolds III Charles F.  , Arnold Steven E.  , Becker James T.  , Butters Meryl A.
Published: February 2025

Late-life depression (LLD, major depression occurring in an adult 60 years or older) is a common condition that frequently presents with cognitive impairment. Up to half of individuals with LLD are estimated to have cognitive impairment greater than that of age- and education-matched comparators, with impairments of episodic memory, speed of information processing, executive functioning, and visuospatial ability being most common. To inform our understanding of the state- versus trait-effects of depression on neuropsychological functioning, and to overcome limitations of previous studies, we utilized baseline data from the longitudinal Pathways study to compare differences in single time point performance on a broad-based neuropsychological battery across three diagnostic groups of older adults, each comprised of unique participants (n=438): currently depressed (n=120), previously depressed but currently euthymic (n=190), and never-depressed (n=128). Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that participants with a history of depression (currently or previously depressed) performed significantly worse than never-depressed participants on most tests of global cognition, as well as on tests of episodic memory, attention and processing speed, verbal ability, and visuospatial ability; in general, differences were most pronounced within the domain of attention and processing speed. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not observe differences in executive performance between the two depression groups, suggesting that certain aspects of executive functioning are “trait deficits” associated with LLD. These findings are in general agreement with the existing literature, and represent an enhancement in methodological rigor over previous studies given the cross-sectional approach that avoids practice effects on test performance.
Mechanisms of Dependence in Engineering Projects as Sociotechnical Systems
Authors: Moser Bryan  , Grossmann William  , Starke Phillip
Published: February 2025

With coordination defined as the management of dependencies, complex engineering projects are well coordinated when teams are aware and able to respond to demands for interaction across product and organization systems. Classic representations of dependence in project management standards and practices emphasize sequence: a single dimensional consequence of dependence. However, underlying mechanisms of dependence which drive remain assumed or hidden, preventing analysis of systemic consequence on scope, quality, schedule, and cost. This paper begins with a review of dependence as viewed commonly in system engineering and project management. Building on our recent work to consider engineering projects as sociotechnical systems, we propose dependence characteristics which more meaningfully capture underlying project activity dynamics. Mechanisms are proposed for dependence which are satisfied by the interplay of demand for interaction and the supply of coordination. Attention allocation and exception handling behaviors in the project organization influence the extent of local satisfaction of dependence. Project architectural characteristics lead to emergent and systemic impacts on cost, schedule, and quality. Our next step in this research is introduced, the instrumentation of teamwork experiments to observe and validate the demand and satisfaction of dependencies by project team during complex project execution.
Glencoe – a Visualization Prototyping Framework
Authors: Schmitt Anna  , Wiersch Sebastian  , Weis Stefan
Published: February 2025

Today product manufacturers are concerned with an ever growing complexity of their respective products. The main complexity driver has been identified as the variability of products. It results from the constantly growing need to individualize products according to customer needs or market constraints. Car manufacturers are typical examples for such companies. Talking about ten to the power of 8 variants of one car, it seems nearly impossible to overlook the corresponding product line and the consequences of changes to the product line. In literature there are several approaches to visualize the variability of such product lines. But according to our review of the corresponding literature we made the experience that there is no one-fits-it-all visualization technique. The Glencoe project, hosted at the Trier University of Applied Sciences, aims at providing a rapid visualization prototyping framework giving the possibility to quickly implement the preferred visualization technique and test it during a proof of concept under industrial conditions. The chosen framework platform allows not only to run the programmed visualization on desktop machines, but also on tablets. In this paper we present a student project realizing different views of features trees as well as views for logical constraints based on the Glencoe platform.
Four Practical Lessons Learned from Multidisciplinary Projects
Authors: Dineva Evelina  , Zill Thomas  , Knodt Uwe  , Nagel Björn
Published: February 2025

In this study we perform extended Lessons Learned interviews concerning collaboration in multidisciplinary engineering projects at DLR, the German Aerospace Center. Interviews are held with all available members out of several project teams. The success of a project is evaluated against a) standard Lessons Learned scales (as used in Project Management, PM) and b) the perceived satisfaction of the interviewees. Furthermore, we inquire about the nature of collaboration and individual experiences. From the interviews we could identify the influence of four main factors: i) organizational structure; ii) organizational practice; iii) leadership and iv) continuity. The above factors cannot be captured with standard PM methods. These rather need to be “discovered anew” by project managers. The goal of our investigation is to let the practice of good “real live” project management flow into future projects and into education.
Technical-Business Design Methodology for PSS
Authors: Peruzzini Margherita  , Marilungo Eugenia  , Germani Michele
Published: February 2025

Concurrent Design (CD) is a systematic approach to integrated product design that emphasizes the response to customer expectations and the combination of creativity and engineering. Such a concept represents also the basis of Product-Service System (PSS), which represents a valid way for companies to add value to their products, create new value propositions, and easily improve their solution portfolio. Indeed, the fulfilling of the customer needs is fundamental for creating successful industrial PSSs (IPSSs), which aim at combining products and services into a marketable solution. However, the integration of technical and business aspects is crucial to succeed. In this context, this paper proposes an integrated methodology for PSS addressing both technical and business aspects; it adopts a QFD-based approach to structure PSS information along the different process stages, considering four main domains: customer, functional, assets and network. It allows technical feasibility to be carried out and business framework to be defined at the same time to have a robust design concept and a reliable business model from the early design stages. The method is based on the direct involvement of the customer voice according to the CD paradigm. The proposed method also allows to define earlier the network of stakeholders and to dynamically reconfigure the network itself along the process, promoting the creation of the lean enterprise.
3.3. Fundamentals of Agile Terrain Mobility Evaluation of Unmanned Ground Vehicles
Authors: Vantsevich Vladimir V.  , Gray Jeremy P.
Published: February 2025

A new method to estimate terrain mobility of a vehicle with a given number of wheels is presented. The method is founded on an estimation of mobility of each drive wheel. The method is based on stochastic terrain characteristics and agile tire slippage characteristics, which create fundamentals for agile tire slippage control and thus vehicle mobility enhancement.
9.1. An Introduction to Tire Modelling
Authors: Blundell Mike
Published: February 2025

This Section introduces the subject of tire modelling, why tire models are important and how they are used in the vehicle dynamics subject area. Tire axis systems and geometry are also covered as are the methods used to test tires and gather the data needed to generate the parameters in a tire model.
2.1. Experimental and Modeling Terramechanics Studies
Authors: Sandu Corina
Published: February 2025

This section gives the reader an overview of the challenges related to dealing with the mobility and performance of vehicles in off-road conditions. It should be emphasized that the material of this section is important for both manned and unmanned vehicle applications. This is particularly relevant to the latter which operate in a wide range of severe terrains. The focus for such studies should be on the evaluation of the vehicle and operating environment as one interconnected system. Thus, a good understanding of soil mechanics is needed, as well as of the running gear of the vehicle.
Architectural Implications for Exascale based on Big Data Workflow Requirements
Authors: Jäkel René  , Müller-Pfefferkorn Ralph  , Kluge Michael  , Grunzke Richard  , Nagel Wolfgang E.
Published: February 2025

The sheer volume of data accumulated in many scientific disciplines as well as in industry is a critical point that requires immediate attention. The handling of large data sets will become a limiting factor - even for data intensive applications running on future Exascale systems. Nowadays, Big Data can be more a collection of challenges for data processing at large scale and less a tool box of solutions used to improve applications, scale well, and handle the constantly growing data sets. There is an urgent need for intelligent mechanisms to acquire, process, and analyze data, which have to run and scale efficiently on current and future computing architectures. The complexity of Big Data applications will highly profit from flexible workflow systems that consider the full data life cycle, from data acquisition to long-term storage and towards the curation of knowledge. To maximize the applicability of HPC systems for Big Data workflows, several changes in the system architecture and its software need to be considered. First, in order to exploit all available I/O capacities an adaptable monitoring system needs to collect information about I/O patterns of application and workflows as well as provide information to model the I/O subsystem. The goal is to collect long term performance data, to evaluate this data, and finally to show how and why resources cannot be used to their full potential. Second, as the complexity of systems is continuously increasing, the level of abstraction that is presented to the user needs to increase with at least the same rate in order to ensure that the current usability is at least maintained. This is accomplished by employing science gateways as well as workflow and metadata technologies.
Networking Materials Data: Accelerating Discovery at Experimental Facilities
Authors: Foster Ian  , Ananthakrishnan Rachana  , Blaiszik Ben  , Chard Kyle  , Osborn Ray  , Tuecke Steven  , Wilde Michael  , Wozniak Justin
Published: February 2025

Advances in both sensor and computing technologies promise new approaches to discovery in materials science and engineering. For example, it appears possible to integrate theoretical modeling and experiment in new ways, test existing models with unprecedented rigor, and infer entirely new models from first principles. But, before these new approaches can become useful in practice, practitioners must be able to work with petabytes and petaflops as intuitively and interactively as they do with gigabytes and gigaflops today. The Discovery Engines for Big Data project at Argonne National Laboratory is tackling key bottlenecks along the end-to-end discovery path, focusing in particular on opportunities at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source. Here, we describe results relating to data acquisition, management, and analysis. For acquisition, we describe automated pipelines based on Globus services that link instruments, computations, and people for rapid and reliable data exchange. For management, we describe digital asset management solutions that enable the capture, management, sharing, publication, and discovery of large quantities of complex and diverse data, along with associated metadata and programs. For analysis, we describe the use of 100K+ supercomputer cores to enable new research modalities based on near-real-time processing and feedback, and the use of Swift parallel scripting to facilitate authoring, understanding, and reuse of data generation, transformation, and analysis software.
Programming Visual and Script-based Big Data Analytics Workflows on Clouds
Authors: Belcastro Loris  , Marozzo Fabrizio  , Talia Domenico  , Trunfio Paolo
Published: February 2025

Data analysis applications often include large datasets and complex software systems in which multiple data processing tools are executed in a coordinated way. Data analysis workflows are effective in expressing task coordination and they can be designed through visual- and script-based programming paradigms. The Data Mining Cloud Framework (DMCF) supports the design and scalable execution of data analysis applications on Cloud platforms. A workflow in DMCF can be developed using a visual- or a script-based language. The visual language, called VL4Cloud, is based on a design approach for high-level users, e.g., domain expert analysts having a limited knowledge of programming paradigms. The script-based language JS4Cloud is provided as a flexible programming paradigm for skilled users who prefer to code their workflows through scripts. Both languages implement a data-driven task parallelism that spawns ready-to-run tasks to Cloud resources. In addition, they exploit implicit parallelism that frees users from duties like workload partitioning, synchronization and communication. In this chapter, we present the DMCF framework and discuss how its workflow paradigm has been integrated with the MapReduce model. In particular, we describe how VL4Cloud/JS4Cloud workflows can include MapReduce tools, and how these workflows are executed in parallel on DMCF enabling scalable data processing on Clouds.
Big Data From Scientific Simulations
Authors: Edwards John  , Kumar Sidharth  , Pascucci Valerio
Published: February 2025

Scientific simulations often generate massive amounts of data used for debugging, restarts, and scientific analysis and discovery. Challenges that practitioners face using these types of big data are unique. Of primary importance is speed of writing data during a simulation, but this need for fast I/O is at odds with other priorities, such as data access time for visualization and analysis, efficient storage, and portability across a variety of supercomputer topologies, configurations, file systems, and storage devices. The computational power of high-performance computing systems continues to increase according to Moore's law, but the same is not true for I/O subsystems, creating a performance gap between computation and I/O. This chapter explores these issues, as well as possible optimization strategies, the use of in situ analytics, and a case study using the PIDX I/O library in a typical simulation.
The War on Islamism
Authors: Bisk Tsvi
Published: February 2025

To fight a war you must accurately identified the enemy. The enemy is not ‘terror’, which is a tactic; it is Islamist Jihadism, which is to Islam what Nazism was to German culture – a perversion rooted in social, psychological and theological pathologies inherent to the culture. This essay is an attempt to identify some of these pathologies and to outline a grand-strategy appropriate to combating and defeating the Islamist/Jihadist threat to 21st century civilization.
Possible Evolution of Lone Wolf and SIMAD Terrorism
Authors: Gordon Theodore  , Sharan Yair  , Florescu Elizabeth
Published: February 2025

A lone wolf terrorist is a single individual acting essentially alone who kills or injures people or inflicts or plans to inflict significant damage on infrastructure at a single instant or over time to bring about their political, religious, or ideological aims. SIMAD stands for Single Individual Massively Destructive – a lone wolf who uses or plans to use a weapon of mass destruction (WMD). The availability WMD's to individuals is increasing, for example, through the availability of synthetic biology. A Real Time Delphi study of the evolution of Lone Wolf terrorism was conducted with 57 worldwide experts. When the group was asked to estimate the year when a lone wolf might kill or wound 100,000 people in a single attack, the average response 2067. However, the group was sharply divided; self-identified security experts judged much later dates or “never.” While the severity of future attacks appears to be growing, the potential for pre-detection is also growing, giving rise to a new kind of arms race. This study provides early warning of a possibly serious and growing threat; the time should be used to help find strategies that can minimize the threat.
Lone Wolf Terrorism: Understanding the Growing Threat
Authors: Simon Jeffrey D.
Published: February 2025

Lone wolf terrorism is a growing threat throughout the world. From Anders Breivik in Norway, who murdered scores of young people in a bombing and mass-shooting attack, to Nidal Malik Hasan in the United States, who killed several of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, lone wolves have demonstrated that they can be as dangerous as organized terrorist groups. Who are these terrorists and how is the Internet influencing their behavior? These are key questions that need to be answered in order to understand the dynamics of lone wolf terrorism. This article will discuss the backgrounds and motivations of lone wolf terrorists, why they have proven to be so innovative and creative in their attacks, and why there have been so few female lone wolves when there have been many women in organized terrorist groups. There will also be a discussion of how the Internet has provided the perfect breeding ground for isolated individuals with terrorist tendencies, but how it may also prove to be their undoing.
Lone Operator Cyberterrorism from the Perspective of a Hacker
Authors: Kessler Gary C.
Published: February 2025

There is very little agreement amongst scholars, practitioners, and others in a definition of terrorism. The “sole practitioner” concept is equally elusive, with terms ranging from lone wolf to lone actor to lone operator. The concept of cyberterrorism appears to be so controversial that the very existence of this threat is disputed. This paper defines the concept of the lone operator cyberterrorist, a topic that is nearly absent in the literature. This paper will present a working definition of these terms with which to start the conversation, and compare and contrast the motivation and characteristics of the lone operator terrorist and lone operator cyberterrorist.
Terrorism in North Africa and the Sahel: Threats and Responses
Authors: Alexander Yonah
Published: February 2025

A series of recent conferences and reports have focused on the problems in North Africa, which can be boiled down to two – Ebola and terrorism. Although the fight against Ebola is getting some attention, the rise in number of terrorist incidents has captured the attention of governments worldwide in order to try to come to grips with actions needed to combat and extinguish this threat. Focusing international attention on the region can help enable the seeds of conflict resolution, political accommodation, economic and social development, and national reconciliation to emerge and reduce the forces of instability and chaos. The emergence of the ‘Islamic State,’ whose stated goal is establishing a ‘caliphate’ across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia, is of particularly ominous concern. ‘Islamic State-affiliates’ have recently carried out deadly attacks in Libya and Egypt's Sinai, and the group is gaining allies elsewhere in the region. Indeed, these extremist political and social entities are becoming increasingly linked, formally or informally, in a ‘holy alliance’ of ‘like-minded’ movements, as well as ‘strange bedfellows’ intent on trafficking, kidnapping, and violent extremism. The war the international community, particularly the West, is waging is generational, institutional, and unavoidable, but there are solutions that can be achieved based on shared values and mutual interests.
Terrorism Financing in North Africa
Authors: Brisard Jean-Charles
Published: February 2025

Financial resources and funding methods of the North African terrorist organizations have been largely influenced by their independence and the change from a centralized organization to a decentralized network of autonomous groups and cells. Although often associated with drug trafficking, this is an indirect source of funds for the groups, but kidnapping foreigners for ransom has been particularly lucrative for them. In the course of these operations, there is increased cooperation between organizations. One of the problems is that kidnapping for ransom is not specifically addressed in any of the terrorist conventions. In order to combat this phenomenon, the international community will need to work together collectively, as well as at the national level, to strengthen the prohibitions against such activity.
Alarm management in a single-patient room intensive care units
Authors: van Pul Carola  , Joshi Rohan  , Dijkman Wouter  , van de Mortel Heidi  , van den Bogaart Jarno  , Mohns Thilo  , Andriessen Peter
Published: February 2025

An international trend in intensive care is the shift from open, bay area intensive care units towards single-patient room care, since this is considered optimal for patient healing and family privacy. However, in the intensive care setting, an increasing number of devices and parameters are being used to treat and monitor the patient. This leads to an increase in the number of alarms that are needed to notify caretakers. In single room care, additional technology is also necessary in order to distribute alarms from the source to the healthcare worker's location such as a distributed alarming system. While single-room care creates a better environment for healing, it poses challenges for managing alarms. This book chapter discusses alarm management in detail. An example of alarm management in a single-patient intensive care situation along with the prevalent rates of different alarms for an adult and a neonatal ICU (NICU) in a general teaching hospital are also discussed. Finally, methods towards improving the alarm chain and reducing alarm pressure are proposed.