bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modeling of the Small Strain Shear Modulus on a Fiber Reinforced Sand
Authors: Clariá Juán José  , Vettorelo Paula
Published: February 2025

The mechanical behavior of fiber reinforced soils has been extensively studied in the last decades. Previous studies have shown that inclusion of fibers increases the shear strength of the reinforced soil. However in some cases the presence of fibers can reduce the stiffness of the composite material. In this paper, we study the change on the initial stiffness in an alluvial sand reinforced with polypropylene fibers. A model based on Hertz elastic contact theory is developed in order to explain the trends of the maximum shear modulus in the fiber reinforced sand as the fiber content is varied. The model assumes that the shear wave is transmitted through elastic distortions at the contacts, so the stiffness of the contacts governs the initial shear modulus, which in turn is affected due to fibers addition. Furthermore, the ratio between the amount of grain to fiber contacts and the total of contacts on the shear wave path influence the maximum shear modulus. An experimental testing program involving confined compression tests with shear wave velocity measurements of unreinforced and fiber-reinforced sand specimens was undertaken to validate the proposed model trends. The model predictions were found to agree well with the experimental results.
A Rheological Model for Peat that accounts for Creep
Authors: Boumezerane Djamalddine  , Grimstad Gustav
Published: February 2025

The rheological model of Gibson and Lo is revisited for peat behavior including creep. A top linear spring is used to account for macro-compressibility of the peat skeleton, combined with a linear spring and dashpot that simulate the compressibility and viscous behavior of porous peat structure.
Stress-strain behavior of a cement-based stabilized soft soil
Authors: Correia António A.S.  , Venda Oliveira Paulo J.  , Lemos Luís J.L.
Published: February 2025

This paper presents the results of a laboratory study carried out on Coimbra soft soil specimens in order to evaluate the effect of the artificial cementation on the mechanical properties. A series of triaxial tests following a compression path with undrained conditions were conducted on natural remolded specimens and on laboratory prepared cemented-based specimens. Based on the experimental results, the effect of the cementation on the stress-strain behavior and strength property are discussed. For lower consolidation stress states, the behavior of the cement-based stabilized soft soil under triaxial shear is characterized by an initial elastic section, limited by a structural yield point (defined as the point from where the plastic deformations significantly increase, i.e., the start point of the breakage of the cementitious bonds), followed by a brittle failure (characterized by the sudden breakage of the cementitious bonds with the consequent decrease of the shear stress).
Study of the hot mix asphalt used in middle west region of Brazil
Authors: Arantes Carolina Q.  , Rezende Lilian R.  , Bernucci Liedi L.B.
Published: February 2025

Flexible or asphalt pavements compose the Brazilian highway network, which have to promote security on traffic on the highways, to support the effects of changes in climate and to resist the traffic of vehicles. By this reasons, the structure of the pavement is particularly important and must be constituted by layers, which can distribute the loads into the structure, reducing the vertical load produced by the action of traffic and, consequently, providing protection to the subgrade. In the middle western Brazil, in the state of Goiás, there is not advanced studies on asphalt mixtures used in highways and in urban pavements, and there is not a technical scientific proofing that the local aggregates available in the region, is the best option considering the local conditions. Forward better conditions of infrastructure, it is proposed to develop more efficient asphalt mixtures for pavements, by submitting the mixtures through testing and analysis of mechanical strength, analyzing if the most used asphalts mixtures are satisfactory or not. The hot asphalt mixture are composed by aggregates and asphalt binders that are design in order to attend the parameters set in the projects according to demand and traffic types. In this research, it was proposed the study of three asphalt mixture design with different types of asphalt binders with the same aggregates origin in a specific grain size range. The binders used in this study are the conventional cement asphalt in the region, CAP 30/45 e 50/70 (Brazilian penetration grade), with low and medium penetration, respectively, and the polymer modified asphalt (AMP). The CAP 50/70 is the most used in the region considering the conventional binders, and right after we have the CAP 30/45. The characterization tests of the materials that composed the mixture are presented and their selection and characterization attended the standardized procedures and requirements by the brazilian department responsible for highway structures (DNIT). In a second stage, the design tests were performed, combining aggregates and binders in different rates, by the Marshall Mix Design Method using manual compression, until the great design was obtained. The laboratory tests were realized with this great design to obtain its mechanical properties, given by the tensile strength. This study presents that CAP 30/45 showed the best stability and tensile strength for the mixture with regional aggregates.
EU Policies in Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament
Authors: Frandi Nico
Published: February 2025

This article analyzes the European Union policies in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, including nuclear security. The European Union is a hybrid between a federation of States and supra-national entity. Its very nature might actually result in a set of actions – some ambitious and unlikely to generate immediate results, some fruit of a necessary common minimum denominator approach, thus not entirely adequate to the pressing needs – that in the long term would fit the changing nature of the challenges at stake in such a field.
Optimized variant-selection code generation for loops on heterogeneous multicore systems
Authors: Hansson Erik  , Kessler Christoph
Published: February 2025

We consider the general problem of generating code for the automated selection of the expected best implementation variants for multiple subcomputations on a heterogeneous multicore system, where the program's control flow between the subcomputations is structured by sequencing and loops. A naive greedy approach as applied in previous works on multi-variant selection code generation would determine the locally best variant for each subcomputation instance but might miss globally better solutions. We present a formalization and a fast algorithm for the global variant selection problem for loop-based programs. We also show that loop unrolling can additionally improve performance, and prove an upper bound of the unroll factor which allows to keep the run-time space overhead for the variant-dispatch data structure low. We evaluate our method in case studies using an ARM big.LITTLE based system and a GPU based system where we consider optimization for both energy and performance.
Drivers for Device to Device Streaming
Authors: Eschweiler Dominic  , Lindenstruth Volker
Published: February 2025

PCIe is the common way for integrating high-speed interconnects and manycore accelerators into cluster nodes. In this paper we describe a zero copy approach for communicating between two PCIe devices involving shared DMA memory buffers. Furthermore, we show the requirements for transferring data directly between two PCIe devices without using the main memory of the host computer. We included the support for direct device communication into our PDA (Portable Driver Architecture) which is a library for implementing user-space drivers.
Improving Energy-Efficiency of Static Schedules by Core Consolidation and Switching Off Unused Cores
Authors: Melot Nicolas  , Kessler Christoph  , Keller Jörg
Published: February 2025

We demonstrate how static, energy-efficient schedules for independent, parallelizable tasks on parallel machines can be improved by modeling idle power if the static power consumption of a core comprises a notable fraction of the core's total power, which more and more often is the case. The improvement is achieved by optimally packing cores when deciding about core allocation, mapping and DVFS for each task so that all unused cores can be switched off and overall energy usage is minimized. We evaluate our proposal with a benchmark suite of task collections, and compare the resulting schedules with an optimal scheduler that does however not take idle power and core switch-off into account. We find that we can reduce energy consumption by 66% for mostly sequential tasks on many cores and by up to 91% for a realistic multicore processor model.
A Many-Core Machine Model for Designing Algorithms with Minimum Parallelism Overheads
Authors: Haque Sardar Anisul  , Moreno Maza Marc  , Xie Ning
Published: February 2025

We present a model of multithreaded computation with an emphasis on estimating parallelism overheads of programs written for modern many-core architectures. We establish a Graham-Brent theorem so as to estimate execution time of programs running on a given number of streaming multiprocessors. We evaluate the benefits of our model with fundamental algorithms from scientific computing. For two case studies, our model is used to minimize parallelism overheads by determining an appropriate value range for a given program parameter. For the others, our model is used to compare different algorithms solving the same problem. In each case, the studied algorithms were implemented and the results of their experimental comparison are coherent with the theoretical analysis based on our model.
A Massively Parallel Barnes-Hut Tree Code with Dual Tree Traversal
Authors: Steinbusch Benedikt  , Henkel Marvin-Lucas  , Winkel Mathias  , Gibbon Paul
Published: February 2025

Hierarchical methods like the Barnes-Hut (BH) tree code and the Fast Multipole Method (FMM) are important tools to decrease the algorithmic complexity of solving the N-body problem. We report on recent efforts to achieve massive scalability on IBM BlueGene/Q and other highly concurrent supercomputers with our BH tree code PEPC by replacing a thread synchronization strategy based on traditional lock data structures with atomic operations. We also describe the integration of the Dual Tree Traversal a more recent algorithm that combines advantages of both BH tree code and FMM into PEPC. We explain how the scalability of this algorithm is influenced by the existing communication scheme and we propose a modification to achieve better distributed memory scalability.
SMT Solvers: Foundations and Applications
Authors: Bjørner Nikolaj
Published: February 2025

Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) solvers are used in many modern program verification, analysis and testing tools. They owe their scale and efficiency thanks to advances in search algorithms underlying modern SAT solvers and first-order theorem provers. They owe their versatility in software development applications thanks to specialized algorithms supporting theories, such as numbers and algebraic data-types, of relevance for software engineering. This lecture introduces algorithmic principles of SMT solving, taking as basis modern SAT solvers and integration with specialized theory solvers and quantifier reasoning. We detail some of the algorithms used for main theories used in current SMT solvers and survey newer theories and approaches to integrating solvers. The lectures also outline some application scenarios where SMT solvers have found use, including program verification, network analysis, symbolic model checking, test-case generation, and white-box fuzzing.
Parameterized Verification of Crowds of Anonymous Processes
Authors: Esparza Javier
Published: February 2025

We survey some results on the automatic verification of parameterized programs without identities. These are systems composed of arbitrarily many components, all of them running exactly the same finite-state program. We discuss the complexity of deciding that no component reaches an unsafe state. A former version of this paper was published in the Proceedings of STACS 2014 [8].
Synthesis of Reactive Systems
Authors: Finkbeiner Bernd
Published: February 2025

These lecture notes trace the developments triggered by Church's classic synthesis problem from the early solutions in the 1960s to the practical tools that have come out in the past few years. The article gives an overview on the automata- and game-theoretic foundations of the synthesis problem. We then explore the spectrum of logics for the synthesis of reactive systems, from reduced logics, like GR(1), to advanced logics such as strategy and coordination logic. Finally, we discuss the ideas behind recent synthesis approaches, like bounded synthesis and symbolic and SAT-based methods.
Multiphysics Integrated NDT&E and Progress on Eddy Current Pulsed Thermography
Authors: Tian Gui Yun  , Gao Yunlai
Published: February 2025

The paper introduces multimodality non-destructive testing and evaluation. Multiphysics integrated NDT&E approaches e.g. dual probe of EMAT and PEC, integrative MFL system, are reviewed. Different strengths and weakness are reported. Recent work on eddy current pulsed thermography as a new integrative ENDE system, is discussed. Their multiphysics and their interaction and quantitative analysis including simulation and data processing are investigated and evaluated. Case studies and future work are also reported.
Numerical Simulations of Wave Generation by Differently-Configured EMATs
Authors: Yamamoto Toshihiro  , Urayama Ryoichi  , Furukawa Takashi  , Uchimoto Tetsuya  , Komura Ichiro  , Takagi Toshiyuki
Published: February 2025

An electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) generates ultrasonic waves using the electromagnetic interaction and does not require a coupling medium. The final goal of this study is to provide a method to optimize the configuration of an EMAT for obtaining a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). As the first step, this paper shows the results of numerical simulations performed to seek an EMAT configuration that makes shear waves or longitudinal waves dominant.
Monotonicity Imaging Method for Flaw Detection in Aeronautical Applications
Authors: Tamburrino Antonello  , Vento Antonio  , Ventre Salvatore  , Maffucci Antonio
Published: February 2025

In this work a fast Non-iterative method for EM imaging of surface-breaking defects in a conductive specimen is presented. It exploits the Monotonicity Property in the frame of Eddy Current Tomography (ECT). The imaging strategy is based on a criterion for checking whether a prescribed elementary anomaly (test domain) is included or not into the unknown anomaly. The reconstructed anomaly may be evaluated by comparing the regions given by the union of test domains completely contained into the anomaly and those given by the intersection of test domains completely containing the anomaly. The strength of the proposed technique is represented by its low computational cost, suitable for real-time applications.
Improvement of Surface RFECT Probe Aiming at Quantitative Evaluation of Pipe Wall Thinning
Authors: Nakajima Kazuhiro  , Urayama Ryoichi  , Uchimoto Tetsuya  , Takagi Toshiyuki
Published: February 2025

Remote Field Eddy Current Testing (RFECT) can detect defects in a wider range of a specimen than conventional ECT, and is used for inspection of outer pipe wall thinning using inner coils. The aim of this study is to apply surface coil RFECT to pipe wall thinning and to propose the design of probe that can evaluate thinning with various size. Experiments and numerical analyses are performed on SUS316 austenitic stainless steel plates with grooves. First, numerical analyses are verified through the comparison with experimental results. Then, the survey of probe parameters is performed, such as distance of between exciting and pick-up coils, and the test frequency. Capability of the optimized probe shows that surface coil RFECT can be used as a screening tool of inspection of pipe wall thinning.
The Prospects for Solving Frozen Conflicts by Supporting Civil Society Activity. The Case of the Transnistrian Region of the Republic of Moldova
Authors: Postica Alexandru
Published: February 2025

This article considers the performance of activities by activities of civil society representatives in post-conflict regions. It analyzes the activities of organizations promoting human rights – activities related to the democratization of society and the promotion of universally recognized values of human rights. The development of civil society in the Republic of Moldova, in particular the current situation in Moldova's Transnistrian region, was selected on the grounds that it may be regarded as a genuine post-conflict region in the post-Soviet era.
The East Zone Conflict in the Republic of Moldova – a New Approach
Authors: Nantoi Oazu
Published: February 2025

As a result of the USSR break up, 15 new independent states appeared on the world map. One of them was the Republic of Moldova, which became known mainly due to the bloody conflict of spring-summer 1992 that took place in Transnistria – the East zone of the Republic of Moldova. Despite the fact that more than 20 years have passed since the armed confrontations ceased and despite the efforts of the international community, the conflict is not yet solved. And the future of the Moldovan State is unclear and insecure. The situation is getting more and more complicated also because in Transnistria a new generation is entering the active life. This is a generation that does not know other realities than the existing ones, even if anti-constitutional. At the same time, new stereotypes have taken roots into the public opinion. These stereotypes act as psychological barriers in the process of looking for efficient solutions. It is obvious that the solution of this conflict will influence the future existence of the Moldovan State, and its placement into the interest geography of other states and international organizations (CIS – EU).
Old and New in Hybrid Warfare
Authors: Anuţa Costinel
Published: February 2025

The use of strategies and tactics that might be labeled as hybrid, either by state or non-state actors caused a debate on the history and development of such approaches. While they are not entirely new, by comparing, for instance, the current Russian approach in this respect to its older versions, one might notice some elements of novelty. Starting with the 1920 concept of maskirovka and further building on the idea of information war or the well-known “active measures”, Moscow created an entire infrastructure designed to blur the lines between the states of war and peace, as General Valery Gherasimov, Russia's Chief of the General Staff, pointed out in an article in 2013. Furthermore, the rapid development of information technology offered new tools in support of a hybrid approach, including means for amplifying messaging and propaganda to unprecedented levels, far more difficult to counter without proper mechanisms.
A Study of Linear Heat Transfer Gradients on 3D Printed Specimens
Authors: Benham Robert  , Rehman Fayyaz
Published: February 2025

Whilst 3D printing has shown to be extremely popular, little exists in literature regarding the specific thermal behaviour of the finished materials. This study utilises a rudimentary experiment to look at the variation of temperature gradients across 3D printed specimens, of varying thicknesses. Three materials are tested: an ABS-grade polymer used in Fused Disposition Modelling (FDM), a powder-based material with binder in a binder jetting machine and a resin-based polymer in a Steoreolithography (SLA) machine. The equipment used is to determine linear heat transfer conductivity coefficients for linear sections of materials. Based on its minimalism, values obtained are based on the one-dimensional heat transfer equation and there often is a high degree of variation of results. However, the gradients can be plotted for different thicknesses and at different powers for steady-state heat transfer conditions. By determining the gradients and thermal conductivity coefficients a better understanding of the component design in terms of thermal properties can be achieved.
Integrating Optimisation with Simulation for Flexible Manufacturing System
Authors: Song Boyang  , Hutabarat Windo  , Tiwari Ashutosh  , Enticott Shane
Published: February 2025

When compared with conventional manufacturing systems, operational management of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) is generally more intrinsically difficult due to the increased complexity inherent therein. FMS are rarely fully optimised because there is a lack of readily available tools with which one may effectively evaluate and address this complexity. This work aims to apply an integrated and interactive approach using both Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimisation techniques to understand and address the optimisation problems in the FMS. The chosen platform is SimEvents, selected because of the relative ease with which the complex logic in the FMS can be simulated, as well as its ability to connect to powerful MATLAB optimisation tools. A multi-machine FMS case study is modelled in this paper. The result demonstrated the integration of optimisation and simulation approach will be a more efficient and flexible tool to understand and address the problems in such complex system as FMS.
Investigating the Sensitivities of Tool Wear When Applied to Monitoring Various Technologies for Micro Milling and Drilling
Authors: Griffin James M.  , Abdelaziz Hala
Published: February 2025

By using acoustic emission (AE) it is possible to control deviations and surface quality during micro milling operations. The controlling of such deviations are based on large amounts of associated wear especially in rapid micro machining environments With an increase in AE it is possible to see when tool wear is approaching critical levels and requires swap out. AE is very sensitive to tool wear especially in some micro environments where other measurements can be prone to errors and difficulties. In addition, in the case of drilling both force and power are considered sensitive to tool wear. In the case of drilling it was possible to use rules based on both Classification and Regression Trees (CART) and Neural Networks (NN) to implement a simulation displaying how such a control regime could be used in a real time environment; corrective measures correlated to wear levels providing control automated tool changes.
Vibro-Impact Machining – An Application in Surface Grinding
Authors: Batako Andre D.L.  , Ewad Heisum  , Bechcinski Grzegorz  , Pawlowski Witold
Published: February 2025

It is well known that vibration plays a major role in human live, though it is mainly seen as negative. However, sciences and engineering have exploited positive aspects of vibration by intelligently applying it to various processes. This paper presents the application of vibration to grinding that accounts for 25% of all manufacturing processes. Here, model of surface grinding is elaborated along with a superimposition of oscillation to the workpiece. Conventional and vibratory grinding are explored and some key findings are reported. The results show that superimposing low vibration to the grinding process leads to a reduction of cutting forces, improved surface quality and results into less energy requirement.
A Case Study Analysis of the Application of Design for Manufacture Principles by Industrial Design Students
Authors: Marshall Russell  , Page Tom
Published: February 2025

This paper describes a case study evaluation of a module that engages students on product and industrial design programmes with the principles of Design for Manufacturing (DFM). The primary element of the module is to expose students to the constraints of a full design to manufacture process. The module explores the design of a small polymer promotional item, together with the means of mass producing that item. This is done through the process of injection moulding and students design an injection mould tool to allow the production of the promotional item out of a suitable polymer. This module brings together CAD, CNC part programming, injection moulding tooling design, polymeric material selection and production considerations. The paper will highlight the benefits of practical engagement with the DFM process.
Component Detection with an On-Board UHF RFID Reader for Industrie 4.0 Capable Returnable Transit Items
Authors: Neal Aaron  , Segura-Velandia Diana  , Conway Paul  , West Andrew
Published: February 2025

Industrie 4.0, Cyber-Physical Systems and Smart Manufacturing are all terms used to describe a vision of how intelligent products, processes and services can provide connectivity and real time information based technologies to improve manufacturing. This can be realised by embedding intelligence at the product and operational level to provide predictive, risk preventative and high performing manufacturing systems. The work outlined in this paper details how a Returnable Transit Item (RTI) can become an integral part of the Industrie 4.0 vision as an intelligent container that can interact with components, machines and other manufacturing services.
A Data Management System for Identifying the Traceability of Returnable Transit Items Using Radio Frequency Identification Portals
Authors: Goodall Paul  , Neal Aaron  , Segura-Velandia Diana  , Conway Paul  , West Andrew
Published: February 2025

The advancement of paradigms such as Industry 4.0 and cyber physical systems herald increased productivity and efficiency for manufacturing businesses through increased capture and communication of data, information and knowledge. However, interpreting the raw data captured by sensing devices into useful information for decision making can be challenging as it often contains errors and uncertainty. This paper specifically investigates the challenges of analysing and interpreting data recorded using Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) portals to monitor the movements of Returnable Transit Items (RTI), such as racks and stillage, within an automotive manufacturing environment. Data was collected over a yearlong pilot study using an RFID portal system installed across two automotive facilities to trace the movement of RTIs between the sites. Based upon the results key sources of errors and uncertainty have been identified and a data management framework is proposed to alleviate these errors.
Finite Element Analysis of Single Point Incremental Forming
Authors: Kotsis Spyridon  , Corney Jonathan
Published: February 2025

Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) is an innovative approach to manufacturing sheet components. It has many advantages over traditional sheet forming processes, such as the absence of tooling and the reduced (per part) costs, which reveal its great potential. However, currently SPIF is not widely used in industrial production. In order to increase its applicability and to guarantee its viability, challenges, such as the control of thinning or the dimensional inaccuracies of the formed parts have to be mastered. Furthermore, in order to reduce pre-production trials and to improve the forming process's performance reliable computational simulation methods are needed. Computational modelling and analysis of SPIF, however, is complex due to several nonlinearities inherent in the process. For the efficient use of available software systems advanced simulation methods and methodologies are required. This paper presents a summary of the challenges and limitations of computation modelling applications in incremental sheet forming.
An Investigation into the Management of Design for Manufacturing Knowledge in an Aerospace Company
Authors: El Souri Mohammed  , Gao James  , Owodunni Oladele  , Simmonds Clive  , Martin Nick
Published: February 2025

Design engineers are under constant pressure to improve product design for better manufacturability and product performance. However, design issues and areas for improvements are normally identified in the aerospace industry during the production phase of a product's lifecycle when design engineers have begun working on other projects under tight schedules for delivery. This investigation focuses on the issues and limitations for managing the production line manufacturing knowledge that can benefit design engineers to implement design for manufacturing strategies at a large aerospace systems manufacturer in the UK. The findings aim to describe the current system and its limitations in order to improve the management of manufacturing knowledge for the design engineers. Recommendations for a solution are proposed to apply in the industry to improve knowledge management for design for manufacturing in the engineering function.
Networked Engineering Notebooks for Smart Manufacturing
Authors: Denno Peter  , Dickerson Charles  , Harding Jennifer
Published: February 2025

A goal of the industrial internet is to make information about manufacturing processes and resources available wherever decision making may be required. Agile use of information is a cornerstone of data analytics, but analytical methods more generally, including model-based investigations of manufacturability and operations do not so easily benefit from this data. Rather than relating anonymous patterns of data to outcomes, these latter analytical methods are distinguished as relying on conceptual or physics-based models of the real world. Such models require careful consideration of the fitness of the data to the purpose of the analysis. Verification of these analyses, then, is a significant bottleneck. A related problem, that of ascertaining reproducible results in scientific claims, is being addressed through executable notebook technology. This paper proposes to use notebook technologies to address that bottleneck. It describes how this notebook technology, linked to internet-addressable ontologies and analytical metamodels, can be used to make model-based analytical methods more verifiable, and thus more effective for manufacturers.
Organizational Learning Capability: An Empirical Assessment of Innovative Supply Chain Development
Authors: Thomas Andrew  , Dorrington Peter  , Costa Filipa  , Loudon Gareth
Published: February 2025

The aim of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of Organizational Learning in to a four tier supply chain system. Its focus is on identifying how each organization within the supply chain developed its OLC as a result of taking part in a one-year supplier innovation development program which tasked the supply chain companies to collaborate to develop a new and innovative product. The companies within the supply chain had not previously worked with each other and so the project monitored the level of collaborative activity as well as innovative output from the supply chain. The results suggest that organizational learning capability and innovative capability of the supply chain are strongly linked. The paper concludes with an identification of a number of factors which are considered useful for managers and engineers to consider when implementing innovation projects.
An Investigation into Re-Shoring Decision: Case Study Approach
Authors: Moradlou Hamid  , Backhouse Chris
Published: February 2025

It is over two decades that businesses are obliged to collaborate within a globalized supply chains in areas such as automotive, computer and apparel industries. This is evident as the western industries began to move their production to low-cost countries such as China and India, also known as offshoring. This paper studies the applicability of Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a supporting technology for further re-shoring of the UK supply chain. Whilst the forth-industrial revolution called “Industrie 4.0”, is gaining popularity among the industries. AM technology is listed as an important enabler of this phenomenon. This paper aims to bridge the new generation of technologies to the re-shoring movement. The investigation was carried out by conducting an in-depth interview with a British Manufacturing company that has repatriated its production back to the UK. The results indicate that AM technology enables the company to be more responsive towards the customer demand.
A Review of Resilience Within the UK Food Manufacturing Sector
Authors: Colwill James  , Despoudi Stella  , Bhamra Ran
Published: February 2025

Research on food security and resilience has focused primarily on improving production of traditional crops and livestock (agriculture, crop science, genetics etc.). However significant losses occur after this initial production phase during storage, transportation, processing and preparation. Whilst increased competition and margin pressures within this sector are constant drivers for efficiency improvements and waste reduction, they can also have unintended consequences on the resilience of food manufacturers and their supply chains. This paper examines how current trends and initiatives could impact the resilience of the UK food manufacturing sector and their wider impacts on UK food security.
Process Selection Using Variation and Cost Relations
Authors: McKenna Vincent  , Jin Yan  , Murphy Adrian  , Morgan Michael  , McClory Caroline  , Higgins Colm  , Collins Rory
Published: February 2025

Variations are inherent in all manufacturing processes and can significantly affect the quality of a final assembly, particularly in multistage assembly systems. Existing research in variation management has primarily focused on incorporating GD&T factors into variation propagation models in order to predict product quality and allocate tolerances. However, process induced variation, which has a key influence on process planning, has not been fully studied. Furthermore, the link between variation and cost has not been well established, in particular the effect that assembly process selection has on the final quality and cost of a product. To overcome these barriers, this paper proposes a novel method utilizing process capabilities to establish the relationship between variation and cost. The methodology is discussed using a real industrial case study. The benefits include determining the optimum configuration of an assembly system and facilitating rapid introduction of novel assembly techniques to achieve a competitive edge.
Sales Forecasting in Retail Industry Based on Dynamic Regression Models
Authors: Pinho José Manuel  , Oliveira José Manuel  , Ramos Patrícia
Published: February 2025

Sales forecasts gained more importance in the retail industry with the increasing of promotional activity, not only because of the considerable portion of products under promotion but also due to the existence of promotional activities, which boost product sales and make forecasts more difficult to obtain. This study is performed with real data from a Portuguese consumer goods retail company, from January 2012 until April 2015. To achieve the purpose of the study, dynamic regression is used based on information of the focal product and its competitors, with seasonality modelled using Fourier terms. The selection of variables to be included in the model is done based on the lowest value of AIC in the train period. The forecasts are obtained for a test period of 30 weeks. The forecasting models overall performance is analyzed for the full period and for the periods with and without promotions. The results show that our proposed dynamic regression models with price and promotional information of the focal product generate substantially more accurate forecasts than pure time series models for all periods studied.
Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process for the Selection of Maintenance Policies Within Petroleum Industry
Authors: Mohamed Abdel M.  , Saad Sameh M.
Published: February 2025

The selection of the maintenance policies is considered to be a complex matter at the strategic level and a trade-off between the criteria that should be considered is required to achieve the optimum maintenance selection. The purpose of this study is to develop a Fuzzy-Analytic Hierarchy Process multi criteria decision making model for the selection of maintenance policies within the petroleum industry. The model enables practitioners to decompose the structure of the hierarchy which assists in identifying the main criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives that impact on the selection of maintenance activities. The proposed AHP model is validated and in addition a comparison between classic and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is conducted in terms of different derivation methods. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is performed to validate the response of each derivation method at different inconsistency ratio which proved that the proposed model can be considered as the most accurate presentation of the criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives that should be used to decide upon the strategic maintenance policies within petroleum industry.
Toolpath Geometry and High Speed Machine Axis Motion
Authors: Chanda L.  , Cripps R.J.
Published: February 2025

A path traversed by the tip of a cutting tool, as it manufactures a component, is called a toolpath. Undesirable geometric properties of a toolpath can cause undesirable kinematic behaviour in a machine's axes. To ensure a tool's motion is more controlled, look-ahead and toolpath smoothing algorithms anticipate and change kinematic demands of machine axes. Often the effect is that the actual toolpath is different to the intended toolpath. In such cases, the shape of the manufactured component is different to the desired shape. This paper considers the effect of toolpath geometry on machine axis motion. The results of the investigation motivate the control of toolpath geometry to produce smoother axis motion. This smoother motion can result in the manufacturing of components closer in shape to their desired designs.
Smart Classroom Study Design for Analysing the Effect of Environmental Conditions on Students' Comfort
Authors: Cech Pavel
Published: February 2025

This paper presents a work in progress study focusing on evaluating the environmental conditions and its influence on students' academic performance. The motivation is to find link between the environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, indoor air quality, lightning and the sense of comfort of individual students measured by the specific body movements. The paper elaborates on the sensor network architecture and the movement identification as well as on the multi-factor study design. The results of this study will be used to design a smart classroom that would control for identified influencing factors in order to improve students' comfort and provide for better academic performance.
Harnessing the Potential of Augmented and Virtual Reality for Military Education
Authors: Greenwood Andrew T.  , O'Neil Michael P.
Published: February 2025

Augmented Reality, Virtual reality and technologies have been pointed to as the next wave of technical innovation. As the capability matures, many possibilities exist to integrate into military education. This paper will provide the theoretical foundations and will show how to improve and advance to new frontiers in education and design innovation. Simulations applied for military purposes for many years. Virtual and Augmented Reality can provide application to various industries that again can be modeled after military educational design. This paper explores existing and potential applications in intelligent environmental design in military education.
Smart Office Automation Based on Semantic Event-Driven Rules
Authors: Muñoz Sergio  , Llamas Antonio F.  , Coronado Miguel  , Iglesias Carlos A.
Published: February 2025

The emerging Internet of Things opens endless possibilities to the contemporary notion of smart offices, where employees can benefit for automations so that the workplace can maximize employees productivity and enterprise performance. However, usually the integration of new components in smart environments is not straightforward. In this article we propose the use of a semantic vocabulary to define this automation, and an architecture consisting of a web task automation server and mobile task automation components that enable contextual services. One the one hand, the architecture exhibits flexibility to interconnect internet services and devices. On the other side, the use of semantic technologies provides semantic interoperability and expressivity for the automation definition.
Including Affect as a Part of the Context in Assistive Technologies for Cognition
Authors: Torrado Juan C.  , Gomez Javier  , Montoro Germán
Published: February 2025

In this paper, the affective component of context analysis is commented regarding cognitive impairment issues. First, we argue the importance of the inclusion of affective computing in context analysis, particularly when cognitive impaired users are involved. After that, three assistive systems previously developed by the authors are described, and hence we propose affective-aware improvements that are likely to be implemented in order to improve the emotional management of the behavior issues that characterize these users. Finally, we describe a wearable system entirely focused on the assistance in the emotional self-regulation of people with autism spectrum disorders.
RFID-Based Object Localisation with a Mobile Robot to Assist the Elderly with Mild Cognitive Impairments
Authors: Broughton George  , Krajník Tomáš  , Fernandez-Carmona Manuel  , Cielniak Grzegorz  , Bellotto Nicola
Published: February 2025

Mild Cognitive Impairments (MCI) disrupt the quality of life and reduce the independence of many elderly at home. People with MCI can increasingly become forgetful, hence solutions to help them finding lost objects are useful. This paper presents a framework for mobile robots to localise objects in a domestic environment using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. In particular, it describes the development of a new library for interacting with RFID readers, readily available for the Robot Operating System (ROS), and introduces some methods for its application to RFID-based object localisation with a single antenna. The framework adopts occupancy grids to create a probabilistic representations of tags location in the environment. A robot traversing the environment can then make use of this framework to keep an internal record of where objects were last spotted, and where they are most likely to be at any given point in time. Some preliminary results are presented, together with directions for future research.
Fuzzy Modeling of Duality Security/Independence in Patients with Alzheimer
Authors: Meza J.  , Zamudio V.  , Rojas A.  , Baltazar R.  , Lino C.  , Doctor F.  , Lopez M.
Published: February 2025

Alzheimer's disease International estimates that more than 35 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Patients with the disease at an early stage need regular checkups to monitor their care needs or problems that may arise, such as the development of confusion and loss of short term memory among others. Most of the time the person with the dementia has support provided by family or experts, in some cases not always need to be aware of the person, it depends on the degree of dementia suffered by the person but in all cases when the dementia occurs immediate attention is required. The objective of this paper is to present a fuzzy logic model system that allows granting a balance between independence and safety in an intelligent environment for monitoring and carefulness of people with Alzheimer. This model reacts according to the data that already have and those receiving throughout the process. The parameters and information considered by the model include activities, time spent in an area, when the person enters on a state of wandering, repetitive actions (perseverance) and displacement in the environment.
POSEIDON – Personalized Smart Environments to Increase Inclusion of People with Down's Syndrome – Results of the First and the Extended Pilot Study
Authors: Schulze E.  , Engler A.
Published: February 2025

The POSEIDON project aims to increase the independence and autonomy of people with Down's syndrome with the help of technical assistants. Therefore, several personalized and smart technology solutions were developed (e.g. a Navigation app, a Home Navigation System, a Money Handling Game, a Calendar app) to help people with Down's syndrome to become more independent and more included in society. A first pilot study (and in an extended pilot in form of a one-day-event) was conducted in three countries, wherein the prototypes of these technical devises were tested by people with Down's syndrome and their parents/care givers. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect comprehensive feedback, which is used to develop new technical requirements for revision and further development.
Characterization of Ultrasonic Wave Propagation for Intra-Body Communication
Authors: Rivet Francois  , Redois Samuel  , Deval Yann
Published: February 2025

Intra-body area network will enable healthcare applications. Sensors and actuators are supposed to be interconnected thanks to wireless communications. But radio frequency (RF) are limited when intra body communications are concerned. This paper investigates ultrasonic waves as an alternative wireless carrier of information. Indeed, many studies has shown that water and biological environments are most suited to propagating ultrasonic waves. Our goal is to characterize how ultrasonic waves propagate in the human body for intra-body communications. We present trade off in terms of frequency and dimensions of the transmitter based on theory, simulations and experimental setup demonstration.
Critical Infrastructure Protection Against Hybrid Warfare Security Related Challenges
Authors: Baldassarre Gianluca
Published: February 2025

Physical and Cybersecurity are converging. This convergence has created a new security threat that both public and private organizations are struggling to combat. Nowadays, an interruption in a network can impact not just online operations, but also the physical operations of an organization. To address this issue, Vitrociset begun to treat both cyber and physical security as one and has developed a unified response for Critical National Infrastructure protection against Hybrid attacks.
A Product Conceptualization Strategy Based on Crowd-Innovation
Authors: Chang Danni  , Chen Chun-Hsien  , Kuo Jo-Yu
Published: February 2025

In this work, a product conceptualization strategy based on crowd-innovation is proposed consisting of two sub-systems: crowdsourcing concept generation and collection sub-system (CCGC), and concept screening and evaluation sub-system (CSE). Specifically, a crowdsourcing development approach based on neuro-fuzzy network is established in CCGC with careful considerations regarding target analysis and task allocation. An improved concept evaluation and selection approach based on domain ontology and fuzzy clustering is established in CSE for dealing with crowdsourcing results more efficiently. To illustrate the proposed strategy, a cased study of future PC design was presented.
A Case Study of Marketing Research for Academic Spin-Offs: Challenges and Future Prospects
Authors: Atayde Gisele Rodrigues  , Amaral Daniel Capaldo
Published: February 2025

Academic spin-offs usually develop products and services that can be applied for different markets. This peculiarity makes it difficult to carry out marketing research, considering the diversity of segments, channels and segments to be prioritized. This article describes the problem based on the experience of an academic and medical device industry spin-off. Applying an observer-participant research method, the paper describes the development of a marketing research plan for this case and the team´s solutions for the problem. Finally, the paper identifies practices that should be investigated to improve the interface between marketing, technology management and product development.