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In a randomized controlled cross-over study ten male runners (26.7 ± 4.9 years; recent 5-km time: 18:37 ± 1:07 min:s) performed an incremental treadmill test (ITT) and a 3-km time trial (3-km TT) on a treadmill while wearing either carbon fiber insoles with downwards curvature or insoles made of butyl rubber (control condition) in light road racing shoes (Saucony Fastwitch 9). Oxygen uptake, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate, blood lactate concentration, stride frequency, stride length and time to exhaustion were assessed during ITT. After ITT, all runners rated their perceived exertion, perceived shoe comfort and perceived shoe performance. Running time, heart rate, blood lactate levels, stride frequency and stride length were recorded during, and shoe comfort and shoe performance after, the 3-km TT. All parameters obtained during or after the ITT did not differ between the two conditions [range: p = 0.188 to 0.948 (alpha value: 0.05); Cohen's d = 0.021 to 0.479] despite the rating of shoe comfort showing better scores for the control insoles (p = 0.001; d = −1.646). All parameters during and after the 3-km TT showed no differences (p = 0.200 to 1.000; d = 0.000 to 0.501) between both conditions except for shoe comfort showing better scores for control insoles (p = 0.017; d = −0.919). Running with carbon fiber insoles with downwards curvature did not change running performance or any submaximal or maximal physiological or biomechanical parameter and perceived exertion compared to control condition. Shoe comfort is impaired while running with carbon fiber insoles. Wearing carbon fiber insoles with downwards curvature during treadmill running is not beneficial when compared to running with control insoles.
Garbage in, Garbage out: How does ambiguity in data affect state-of-the-art pedestrian detection?
(2024)
This thesis investigates the critical role of data quality in computer vision, particularly in the realm of pedestrian detection. The proliferation of deep learning methods has emphasised the importance of large datasets for model training, while the quality of these datasets is equally crucial. Ambiguity in annotations, arising from factors like mislabelling, inaccurate bounding box geometry and annotator disagreements, poses significant challenges to the reliability and robustness of the pedestrian detection models and their evaluation. This work aims to explore the effects of ambiguous data on model performance with a focus on identifying and separating ambiguous instances, employing an ambiguity measure utilizing annotator estimations of object visibility and identity. Through accurate experimentation and analysis, trade-offs between data cleanliness and representativeness, noise removal and retention of valuable data emerged, elucidating their impact on performance metrics like the log average miss-rate, recall and precision. Furthermore, a strong correlation between ambiguity and occlusion was discovered with higher ambiguity corresponding to greater occlusion prevalence. The EuroCity Persons dataset served as the primary dataset, revealing a significant proportion of ambiguous instances with approximately 8.6% ambiguity in the training dataset and 7.3% in the validation set. Results demonstrated that removing ambiguous data improves the log average miss-rate, particularly by reducing the false positive detections. Augmentation of the training data with samples from neighbouring classes enhanced the recall but diminished precision. Error correction of wrong false positives and false negatives significantly impacts model evaluation results, as evidenced by shifts in the ECP leaderboard rankings. By systematically addressing ambiguity, this thesis lays the foundation for enhancing the reliability of computer vision systems in real-world applications, motivating the prioritisation of developing robust strategies to identify, quantify and address ambiguity.
The interest of scientists to study motion sequences exists in the fields of sports science, clinical analysis and computer animation for quite some time. While in the last decades mainly markerbased motion capture systems have been used to evaluate movements, the interest in markerless systems is growing more and more. Nevertheless, in the field of clinical analysis, markerless methods have not yet proven their value, partly due to a lack of studies evaluating the quality of the obtained data. Therefore, this study aims to validate two markerless motion capture softwares from Simi Reality Motion Systems. The software Simi Shape, which is a mixture of traditional image-based tracking supported by an artificial intelligence net (AI net), and the software Crush, that uses a completely AI-based method. For this purpose, all motion data was recorded with two in-house motion capture systems. One system for recording the movements for a markerbased evaluation as gold standard and one system for markerless tracking. Within a laboratory environment, eight cameras per system were mounted around the area of motion. By placing two cameras in the same position and using the same calibration, deviations in the image data between those for markerbased and markerless tracking were extremely minimal. Based on this data, markerbased tracking was performed using the Simi Motion program, markerless tracking was performed using the Simi Shape software system and the latest software from Simi Reality Motion Systems, Crush. When comparing the markerless data with the markerbased data, an average root mean square error of 0,038 m was calculated for Simi Shape and a deviation of 0,037 m for Crush. In a direct comparison of the two markerless systems, a root mean square error of 0,019 m was scored. Based on these data, conclusions could be drawn about the accuracies of the two markerless systems. The obtained kinematic data of the tracking are in the range of high accuracy, which is limited to a deviation of less than 0,05 m according to the literature.
As the Industry 4.0 is evolving, the previously separated Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) is converging. Connecting devices in the industrial setting to the Internet exposes these systems to a broader spectrum of cyber-attacks. The reason is that since OT does not have much security measures as much as IT, it is more vulnerable from the attacker's perspective. Another factor contributing to the vulnerability of OT is that, when it comes to cybersecurity, industries have focused on protecting information technology and less prioritizing the control systems. The consequences of a security breach in an OT system can be more adverse as it can lead to physical damage, industrial accidents and physical harm to human beings. Hence, for the OT networks, certificate-based authentication is implemented. This involves stages of managing credentials in their communication endpoints. In the previous works of ivESK, a solution was developed for managing credentials. This involves a CANopen-based physical demonstrator where the certificate management processes were developed. The extended feature set involving certificate management will be based on the existing solution. The thesis aims to significantly improve such a solution by addressing two key areas that is enhancing functionality and optimizing real-time performance. Regarding the first goal, firstly, an analysis of the existing feature set shall be carried out, where the correct functionality shall be guaranteed. The limitations from the previously implemented system will be addressed and to make sure it can be applied to real world scenarios, it will be implemented and tested in the physical demonstrator. This will lay a concrete foundation that these certificate management processes can be used in the industries in large-scale networks. Implementation of features like revocation mechanism for certificates, automated renewal of the credentials and authorization attribute checks for the certificate management will be implemented. Regarding the second goal, the impact of credential management processes on the ongoing CANopen real-time traffic shall be a studied. Since in real life scenarios, mission-critical applications like Industrial control systems, medical devices, and transportation networks rely on real-time communication for reliable operation, delays or disruptions caused by credential management processes can have severe consequences. Optimizing these processes is crucial for maintaining system integrity and safety. The effect to minimize the disturbance of the credential management processes on the normal operation of the CANopen network shall be characterized. This shall comprise testing real-time parameters in the network such as CPU load, network load and average delay. Results obtained from each of these tests will be studied.
The last decades have seen the evolution of industrial production into more sophisticated processes. The development of specialized, high-end machines has increased the importance of predictive maintenance of mechanical systems to produce high-quality goods and avoid machine breakdowns. Predictive maintenance has two main objectives: to classify the current status of a machine component and to predict the maintenance interval by estimating its remaining useful life (RUL). Nowadays, both objectives are covered by machine learning and deep learning approaches and require large training datasets that are often not available. One possible solution may be transfer learning, where the knowledge of a larger dataset is transferred to a smaller one. This thesis is primarily concerned with transfer learning for predictive maintenance for fault classification and RUL estimation. The first part presents the state-of-the-art machine learning techniques with a focus on techniques applicable to predictive maintenance tasks (Chapter 2). This is followed by a presentation of the machine tool background and current research that applies the previously explained machine learning techniques to predictive maintenance tasks (Chapter 3). One novelty of this thesis is that it introduces a new intermediate domain that represents data by focusing on the relevant information to allow the data to be used on different domains without losing relevant information (Chapter 4). The proposed solution is optimized for rotating elements. Therefore, the presented intermediate domain creates different layers by focusing on the fault frequencies of the rotating elements. Another novelty of this thesis is its semi and unsupervised transfer learning-based fault classification approach for different component types under different process conditions (Chapter 5). It is based on the intermediate domain utilized by a convolutional neural network (CNN). In addition, a novel unsupervised transfer learning loss function is presented based on the maximum mean discrepancy (MMD), one of the state-of-the-art algorithms. It extends the MMD by considering the intermediate domain layers; therefore, it is called layered maximum mean discrepancy (LMMD). Another novelty is an RUL estimation transfer learning approach for different component types based on the data of accelerometers with low sampling rates (Chapter 6). It applies the feature extraction concepts of the classification approach: the presented intermediate domain and the convolutional layers. The features are then used as input for a long short-term memory (LSTM) network. The transfer learning is based on fixed feature extraction, where the trained convolutional layers are taken over. Only the LSTM network has to be trained again. The intermediate domain supports this transfer learning type, as it should be similar for different component types. In addition, it enables the practical usage of accelerometers with low sampling rates during transfer learning, which is an absolute novelty. All presented novelties are validated in detailed case studies using the example of bearings (Chapter 7). In doing so, their superiority over state-of-the-art approaches is demonstrated.
Increasing global energy demand and the need to transition to sustainable energy sources to mitigate climate change, highlights the need for innovative approaches to improve the resilience and sustainability of power grids. This study focuses on addressing these challenges in the context of Morocco's evolving energy landscape, where increasing energy demand and efforts to integrate renewable energy require grid reinforcement strategies. Using renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic systems and energy storage technologies, this study aims to develop a methodology for strengthening rural community grids in Morocco.
Traditional reinforcement measures such as line and transformer upgrades will be investigated as well as the integration of power generation from photovoltaic systems, which offer a promising way to utilise Morocco's abundant solar resources. In addition, energy storage systems will be analysed as potential solutions to the challenges of grid stability and resilience. Using comprehensive data analysis, scenario planning and simulation methods with the open-source simulation software Panda Power, this study aims to assess the impact of different grid reinforcement measures, including conventional methods, photovoltaic integration, and the use of energy storage, on grid performance and sustainability. The results of this study provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a more resilient and sustainable energy future in Morocco.
Based on a rural medium-voltage grid in Souihla, Morocco, three scenarios were carried out to assess the impact of demand growth in 2030 and 2040. The first scenario focuses on conventional grid reinforcement measures, while the second scenario incorporates energy from residential photovoltaic systems. The third scenario analyses the integration of storage systems and their impact on grid reinforcement in 2030.
The simulations with energy from photovoltaic systems show a reduction in grid reinforcement measures compared to the scenario without solar energy. In addition, the introduction of a storage system in 2030 led to a significant reduction in the required installed transformer capacity and fewer congested lines. Furthermore, the results emphasized the role of storage in stabilizing grid voltage levels.
In summary, the results highlighted the potential benefits of integrating energy from photovoltaics and storage into the grid. This integration not only reduces the need for transformers and overall grid infrastructure but also promotes a more efficient and sustainable energy system.
With the expansion of IoT devices in many aspects of our life, the security of such systems has become an important challenge. Unlike conventional computer systems, any IoT security solution should consider the constraints of these systems such as computational capability, memory, connectivity, and power consumption limitations. Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) with their special characteristics were introduced to satisfy the security needs while respecting the mentioned constraints. They exploit the uncontrollable and reproducible variations of the underlying component for security applications such as identification, authentication, and communication security. Since IoT devices are typically low cost, it is important to reuse existing elements in their hardware (for instance sensors, ADCs, etc.) instead of adding extra costs for the PUF hardware. Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) devices are widely used in IoT systems as sensors and actuators. In this thesis, a comprehensive study of the potential application of MEMS devices as PUF primitives is provided. MEMS PUF leverages the uncontrollable variations in the parameters of MEMS elements to derive secure keys for cryptographic applications. Experimental and simulation results show that our proposed MEMS PUFs are capable of generating enough entropy for a complex key generation, while their responses show low fluctuations in different environmental conditions.
Keeping in mind that the PUF responses are prone to change in the presence of noise and environmental variations, it is critical to derive reliable keys from the PUF and to use the maximum entropy at the same time. In the second part of this thesis, we elaborate on different key generation schemes and their advantages and drawbacks. We propose the PUF output positioning (POP) and integer linear programming (ILP) methods, which are novel methods for grouping the PUF outputs in order to maximize the extracted entropy. To implement these methods, the key enrollment and key generation algorithms are presented. The proposed methods are then evaluated by applying on the responses of the MEMS PUF, where it can be practically shown that the proposed method outperforms other existing PUF key generation methods.
The final part of this thesis is dedicated to the application of the MEMS PUF as a security solution for IoT systems. We select the mutual authentication of IoT devices and their backend system, and propose two lightweight authentication protocols based on MEMS PUFs. The presented protocols undergo a comprehensive security analysis to show their eligibility to be used in IoT systems. As the result, the output of this thesis is a lightweight security solution based on MEMS PUFs, which introduces a very low overhead on the cost of the hardware.
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of approaches to the determination of isocontours and isosurfaces from given data sets. Different algorithms are reported in the literature for this purpose, which originate from various application areas, such as computer graphics or medical imaging procedures. In all these applications, the challenge is to extract surfaces with a specific isovalue from a given characteristic, so called isosurfaces. These different application areas have given rise to solution approaches that all solve the problem of isocontouring in their own way. Based on the literature, the following four dominant methods can be identified: the marching cubes algorithms, the tessellation-based algorithms, the surface nets algorithms and the ray tracing algorithms. With regard to their application, it can be seen that the methods are mainly used in the fields of medical imaging, computer graphics and the visualization of simulation results. In our work, we provide a broad and compact overview of the common methods that are currently used in terms of isocontouring with respect to certain criteria and their individual limitations. In this context, we discuss the individual methods and identify possible future research directions in the field of isocontouring.
Background: Assistive Robotic Arms are designed to assist physically disabled people with daily activities. Existing joysticks and head controls are not applicable for severely disabled people such as people with Locked-in Syndrome. Therefore, eye tracking control is part of ongoing research. The related literature spans many disciplines, creating a heterogeneous field that makes it difficult to gain an overview.
Objectives: This work focuses on ARAs that are controlled by gaze and eye movements. By answering the research questions, this paper provides details on the design of the systems, a comparison of input modalities, methods for measuring the performance of these controls, and an outlook on research areas that gained interest in recent years.
Methods: This review was conducted as outlined in the PRISMA 2020 Statement. After identifying a wide range of approaches in use the authors decided to use the PRISMA-ScR extension for a scoping review to present the results. The identification process was carried out by screening three databases. After the screening process, a snowball search was conducted.
Results: 39 articles and 6 reviews were included in this article. Characteristics related to the system and study design were extracted and presented divided into three groups based on the use of eye tracking.
Conclusion: This paper aims to provide an overview for researchers new to the field by offering insight into eye tracking based robot controllers. We have identified open questions that need to be answered in order to provide people with severe motor function loss with systems that are highly useable and accessible.
Socially assistive robots (SARs) are becoming more prevalent in everyday life, emphasizing the need to make them socially acceptable and aligned with users' expectations. Robots' appearance impacts users' behaviors and attitudes towards them. Therefore, product designers choose visual qualities to give the robot a character and to imply its functionality and personality. In this work, we sought to investigate the effect of cultural differences on Israeli and German designers' perceptions of SARs' roles and appearance in four different contexts: a service robot for an assisted living/retirement residence facility, a medical assistant robot for a hospital environment, a COVID-19 officer robot, and a personal assistant robot for domestic use. The key insight is that although Israeli and German designers share similar perceptions of visual qualities for most of the robotics roles, we found differences in the perception of the COVID-19 officer robot's role and, by that, its most suitable visual design. This work indicates that context and culture play a role in users' perceptions and expectations; therefore, they should be taken into account when designing new SARs for diverse contexts.
This report examines exporters’ challenges and possible solutions for public intervention to promote foreign trade. Based on fieldwork conducted in Georgia, we explore which policy approaches can help to stimulate Georgian exports further. Our outcomes show that exporters face substantial barriers such as navigating complex trade regulations, lack of knowledge about target markets, trade finance gaps, as well as new export promotion programs (EPPs) in competitor countries. Other upper-middle-income countries can learn from our results that exporters can significantly benefit from a comprehensive export promotion strategy combined with an ecosystem-based “team” approach. EPPs related to awareness and capacity building in Georgia should be part of this strategy, focusing on challenges such as a lack of knowledge about trade practices and international business skills. Other EPPs must help to mitigate related market failures, as information gathering is costly, and firms have no incentive to share this information with competitors. Furthermore, targeted marketing support and customer matchmaking can answer Georgian exporters’ challenges, such as lack of market access and low sector visibility. Our results also show that public intervention through financial support and risk mitigation is essential for firms with an international orientation. The high-quality, rich outcomes provide significant value for other upper-middle-income countries by exploring the example of Georgia’s contemporary circumstances in an in-depth manner based on extensive interviews and document analysis. Limitations include that our work primarily relies on qualitative data and further research could involve a quantitative study with a diverse range of sectors.
"Ad fontes!"
Francesco Petrarca (1301–1374)
In the beginning, there was an idea: the reconstruction of the first "Iron Hand" of the Franconian imperial knight Götz von Berlichingen (1480–1562). We found that with this historical prosthesis, simple actions for daily use, such as holding a wine glass, a mobile phone, a bicycle handlebar grip, a horse’s reins, or some grapes, are possible without effort. Controlling this passive artificial hand, however, is based on the help of a healthy second hand.
The growing threat posed by multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp), represents a significant challenge in modern medicine. Traditional antibiotic therapies are often ineffective against these pathogens, leading to high mortality rates. MDR Kp infections pose a novel challenge in military medical contexts, particularly in Medical Biodefense, as they can be deliberately spread, leading to resource-intensive care in military centres. Recognizing this issue, the European Defence Agency initiated a prioritised research project in 2023 (EDF Resilience PHAGE- SGA 2023). To address this challenge, the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology (IMB) leads BMBF- (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) and EU-funded projects on the use of bacteriophages as adjuvant therapy alongside antibiotics. Since 2017, the IMB has isolated and characterised Kp phages, collecting over 600 isolates and optimizing their production for therapy, in compliance with the EMA (European Medicine Agency) guidelines. This involves in vitro phage genome packaging to minimize endotoxin load, reduce manufacturing costs, and shorten production times. The goal of this work was to establish MinION sequencing (Oxford Nanopore Technology) as a quick and reliable way for initial identification and characterisation of phage genomes. Especially as a quick screening method for isolated on Kp, prior to more precise but also more expensive and time consuming sequencing methods like Illumina. This characterisation is crucial for developing a personalized pipeline aimed at producing magistral or Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) quality medicinal phage solutions tailored individually for each patient. DNA extraction methods were compared to identify suitable input DNA for sequencing purposes. Additionally, the quality of this DNA was as- sessed to determine its suitability for in vitro phage packaging, which was successfully done achieving a phage titer of 103, confirming that the DNA used for MinION sequencing could indeed be used for acellular packaging. The created genomes were annotated and compared with Illumina sequencing, revealing high similarity in all five individually tested cases. Between the generated sequences only a 4% maximal percentual difference in genome size was observed, while simultaneously showing high similarity in the actual sequence. Throughout the course of this study, a total of 645.15 GB of sequencing data were generated. In total, 38 phages were successfully characterised, with 21 phage genomes assembled and annotated, and saved in the IMB database.
In 2015, Google engineer Alexander Mordvintsev presented DeepDream as technique to visualise the feature analysis capabilities of deep neural networks that have been trained on image classification tasks. For a brief moment, this technique enjoyed some popularity among scientists, artists, and the general public because of its capability to create seemingly hallucinatory synthetic images. But soon after, research moved on to generative models capable of producing more diverse and more realistic synthetic images. At the same time, the means of interaction with these models have shifted away from a direct manipulation of algorithmic properties towards a predominance of high level controls that obscure the model's internal working. In this paper, we present research that returns to DeepDream to assess its suit-ability as method for sound synthesis. We consider this research to be necessary for two reasons: it tackles a perceived lack of research on musical applications of DeepDream, and it addresses DeepDream's potential to combine data driven and algorithmic approaches. Our research includes a study of how the model architecture, choice of audio data-sets, and method of audio processing influence the acoustic characteristics of the synthesised sounds. We also look into the potential application of DeepDream in a live-performance setting. For this reason, the study limits itself to models consisting of small neural networks that process time-domain representations of audio. These models are resource-friendly enough to operate in real time. We hope that the results obtained so far highlight the attractiveness of Deep-Dream for musical approaches that combine algorithmic investigation with curiosity driven and open ended exploration.
This paper describes the authors' first experiments in creating an artificial dancer whose movements are generated through a combination of algorithmic and interactive techniques with machine learning. This approach is inspired by the time honoured practice of puppeteering. In puppeteering, an articulated but inanimate object seemingly comes to live through the combined effects of a human controlling select limbs of a puppet while the rest of the puppet's body moves according to gravity and mechanics. In the approach described here, the puppet is a machine-learning-based artificial character that has been trained on motion capture recordings of a human dancer. A single limb of this character is controlled either manually or algorithmically while the machine-learning system takes over the role of physics in controlling the remainder of the character's body. But rather than imitating physics, the machine-learning system generates body movements that are reminiscent of the particular style and technique of the dancer who was originally recorded for acquiring training data. More specifically, the machine-learning system operates by searching for body movements that are not only similar to the training material but that it also considers compatible with the externally controlled limb. As a result, the character playing the role of a puppet is no longer passively responding to the puppeteer but makes movement decisions on its own. This form of puppeteering establishes a form of dialogue between puppeteer and puppet in which both improvise together, and in which the puppet exhibits some of the creative idiosyncrasies of the original human dancer.
Generative machine learning models for creative purposes play an increasingly prominent role in the field of dance and technology. A particularly popular approach is the use of such models for generating synthetic motions. Such motions can either serve as source of ideation for choreographers or control an artificial dancer that acts as improvisation partner for human dancers. Several examples employ autoencoder-based deep-learning architectures that have been trained on motion capture recordings of human dancers. Synthetic motions are then generated by navigating the autoencoder's latent space. This paper proposes an alternative approach of using an autoencoder for creating synthetic motions. This approach controls the generation of synthetic motions on the level of the motion itself rather than its encoding. Two different methods are presented that follow this principle. Both methods are based on the interactive control of a single joint of an artificial dancer while the other joints remain under the control of the autoencoder. The first method combines the control of the orientation of a joint with iterative autoencoding. The second method combines the control of the target position of a joint with forward kinematics and the application of latent difference vectors. As illustrative example of an artistic application, this latter method is used for an artificial dancer that plays a digital instrument. The paper presents the implementation of these two methods and provides some preliminary results.
Steroid hormones (SHs) are a rising concern due to their high bioactivity, ubiquitous nature, and prolonged existence as a micropollutants in water, they pose a potential risk to both human health and the environment, even at low concentrations. Estrogens, progesterone, and testosterone are the three important types of steroids essential for human development and maintaining multiorgan balance, are focus to this concern. These steroid hormones originate
from various sources, including human and livestock excretions, veterinary medications, agricultural runoff, and pharmaceuticals, contributing to their presence in the environment. According to the recommendation of WHO, the guidance value for estradiol (E2) is 1 ng/L. There are several methods been attempted to remove the SH micropollutant by conventional water and wastewater technologies which are still under research. Among the various methods, electrochemical membrane reactor (EMR) is one of the emerging technologies that can address the challenge of insufficient SHs removal from the aquatic environment by conventional treatment. The degradation of SHs can be significantly influenced by various factors when treated with EMR.
In this project, the removal of SH and the important mechanism for the removal using carbon nanotube CNT-EMR is studied and the efficiency of CNT-EMR in treating the SH micropollutant is identified. By varying different parameters this experiment is carried out with the (PES-CNTs) ultrafiltration membrane. The study is carried out depending upon the SH removal based on the limiting factor such as cell voltage, flux, temperature, concentration, and type of the SH.
Batteries typically consist of multiple individual cells connected in series. Here we demonstrate single-cell state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) diagnosis in a 24 V class lithium-ion battery. To this goal, we introduce and apply a novel, highly efficient algorithm based on a voltage-controlled model (VCM). The battery, consisting of eight single cells, is cycled over a duration of five months under a simple cycling protocol between 20 % and 100 % SOC. The cell-to-cell standard deviations obtained with the novel algorithm were 1.25 SOC-% and 1.07 SOH-% at beginning of cycling. A cell-averaged capacity loss of 9.9 % after five months cycling was observed. While the accuracy of single-cell SOC estimation was limited (probably owed to the flat voltage characteristics of the lithium iron phosphate, LFP, chemistry investigated here), single-cell SOH estimation showed a high accuracy (2.09 SOH-% mean absolute error compared to laboratory reference tests). Because the algorithm does not require observers, filters, or neural networks, it is computationally very efficient (three seconds analysis time for the complete data set consisting of eight cells with approx. 780.000 measurement points per cell).
This thesis focuses on the development and implementation of a Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) communication framework within the ns-3 network simulator, specifically targeting the LoRaWAN model network. The primary aim is to analyse the behaviour and performance of DTLS protocols across different network conditions within a LoRaWAN context. The key aspects of this work include the following.
Utilization of ns-3: This thesis leverages ns-3’s capabilities as a powerful discrete event network simulator. This platform enables the emulation of diverse network environments, characterized by varying levels of latency, packet loss, and bandwidth constraints.
Emulation of Network Challenges: The framework specifically addresses unique challenges posed by certain network configurations, such as duty cycle limitations. These constraints, which limit the time allocated for data transmission by each device, are crucial in understanding the real-world performance of DTLS protocols.
Testing in Multi-client-server Scenarios: A significant feature of this framework is its ability to test DTLS performance in complex scenarios involving multiple clients and servers. This is vital for assessing the behaviour of a protocol under realistic network conditions.
Realistic Environment Simulation: By simulating challenging network conditions, such as congestion, limited bandwidth, and resource constraints, the framework provides a realistic environment for thorough evaluation. This allows for a comprehensive analysis of DTLS in terms of security, performance, and scalability.
Overall, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of DTLS protocols by providing a robust tool for their evaluation under various and challenging network conditions.
Strings P
(2021)
Strings is an audiovisual performance for an acoustic violin and two generative instruments, one for creating synthetic sounds and one for creating synthetic imagery. The three instruments are related to each other conceptually , technically, and aesthetically by sharing the same physical principle, that of a vibrating string. This submission continues the work the authors have previously published at xCoAx 2020. The current submission briefly summarizes the previous publication and then describes the changes that have been made to Strings. The P in the title emphasizes, that most of these changes have been informed by experiences collected during rehearsals (in German Proben). These changes have helped Strings to progress from a predominantly technical framework to a work that is ready for performance.
In anisotropic media, the existence of leaky surface acoustic waves is a well-known phenomenon. Very recently, their analogs at the apex of an elastic silicon wedge have been found in experiments using laser-ultrasonics. In addition to a wedge-wave (WW) pulse with low speed, a pseudo-wedge wave (p-WW) pulse was found with a velocity higher than the velocity of shear bulk waves, propagating in the same direction. With a probe-beam-deflection technique, the propagation of the WW pulses was monitored on one of the faces of the wedge at variable distance from the apex. In this way, their depth structure and the leakage of the p-WW could be visualized directly. Calculations were carried out using a method based on a representation of the displacement field in Laguerre functions. This method has been validated by calculating the surface density of states in anisotropic media and comparing the results with those obtained from the surface Green's tensor. The approach has then been extended to the continuum of acoustic modes in infinite wedges with fixed wave-vector along the apex. These calculations confirmed the measured speeds of the WW and p-WW pulses.
Strings
(2020)
This article presents the currently ongoing development of an audiovisual performance work with the title Strings. This work provides an improvisation setting for a violinist, two laptop performers, and two generative systems. At the core of Strings lies an approach that establishes a strong correlation among all participants by means of a shared physical principle. The physical principle is that of a vibrating string. The article discusses how this principle is used in both natural and simulated forms as main interaction layer between all performers and as natural or generative principle for creating audio and video.
Implementation and Evaluation of an Assisting Fuzzer Harness Generation Tool for AUTOSAR Code
(2024)
The digitalization in vehicles tends to add more connectivity such as over-the-air (OTA) updates. To achieve this digitization, each ECU (Electronic Control Unit) becomes smarter and needs to support more and more different externally available protocols such as TLS, which increases the attack surface for attackers. To ensure the security of a vehicle, fuzzing has proven to be an effective method to discover memory-related security vulnerabilities. Fuzzing the software run- ning on a ECU is not an easy task and requires a harness written by a human. The author needs a deep understanding of the specific service and protocol, which is time consuming. To reduce the time needed by a harness author, this thesis aims to develop FuzzAUTO, the first assistant harness generation tool targeting the AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) BSW (Basic Software) to support manual harness generation.
Anisotropy has been found to play an important role for the existence of edge-localized acoustic modes as well as for nonlinear effects in rectangular edges. For a certain propagation geometry in silicon, the effective second-order nonlinearity for wedge waves was determined numerically from second-order and third-order elastic moduli and compared with the nonlinearity for Rayleigh waves propagating in the direction of the apex on one of the two surfaces forming the edge. In the presence of weak dispersion resulting from modifications of the wedge tip or coating of the adjacent surfaces, solitary pulses are predicted to exist and their shape was calculated.
The progress in machine learning has led to advanced deep neural networks. These networks are widely used in computer vision tasks and safety-critical applications. The automotive industry, in particular, has experienced a significant transformation with the integration of deep learning techniques and neural networks. This integration contributes to the realization of autonomous driving systems. Object detection is a crucial element in autonomous driving. It contributes to vehicular safety and operational efficiency. This technology allows vehicles to perceive and identify their surroundings. It detects objects like pedestrians, vehicles, road signs, and obstacles. Object detection has evolved from being a conceptual necessity to an integral part of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and the foundation of autonomous driving technologies. These advancements enable vehicles to make real-time decisions based on their understanding of the environment, improving safety and driving experiences. However, the increasing reliance on deep neural networks for object detection and autonomous driving has brought attention to potential vulnerabilities within these systems. Recent research has highlighted the susceptibility of these systems to adversarial attacks. Adversarial attacks are well-designed inputs that exploit weaknesses in the deep learning models underlying object detection. Successful attacks can cause misclassifications and critical errors, posing a significant threat to the functionality and safety of autonomous vehicles. With the rapid development of object detection systems, the vulnerability to adversarial attacks has become a major concern. These attacks manipulate inputs to deceive the target system, significantly compromising the reliability and safety of autonomous vehicles. In this study, we focus on analyzing adversarial attacks on state-of-the-art object detection models. We create adversarial examples to test the models’ robustness. We also check if the attacks work on a different object detection model meant for similar tasks. Additionally, we extensively evaluate recent defense mechanisms to see how effective they are in protecting deep neural networks (DNNs) from adversarial attacks and provide a comprehensive overview of the most commonly used defense strategies against adversarial attacks, highlighting how they can be implemented practically in real-world situations.
Ultra-low-power passive telemetry systems for industrial and biomedical applications have gained much popularity lately. The reduction of the power consumption and size of the circuits poses critical challenges in ultra-low-power circuit design. Biotelemetry applications like leakage detection in silicone breast implants require low-power-consuming small-size electronics. In this doctoral thesis, the design, simulation, and measurement of a programmable mixed-signal System-on-Chip (SoC) called General Application Passive Sensor Integrated Circuit (GAPSIC) is presented. Owing to the low power consumption, GAPSIC is capable of completely passive operation. Such a batteryless passive system has lower maintenance complexity and is also free from battery-related health hazards. With a die area of 4.92 mm² and a maximum analog power consumption of 592 µW, GAPSIC has one of the best figure-of-merits compared to similar state-of-the-art SoCs. Regarding possible applications, GAPSIC can read out and digitally transmit the signals of resistive sensors for pressure or temperature measurements. Additionally, GAPSIC can measure electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and conductivity.
The design of GAPSIC complies with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15693/NFC (near field communication) 5 standard for radio frequency identification (RFID), corresponding to the frequency range of 13.56 MHz. A passive transponder developed with GAPSIC comprises of an external memory storage and very few other external components, like an antenna and sensors. The passive tag antenna and reader antenna use inductive coupling for communication and energy transfer, which enables passive operation. A passive tag developed with GAPSIC can communicate with an NFC compatible smart device or an ISO 15693 RFID reader. An external memory storage contains the programmable application-specific firmware.
As a mixed-signal SoC, GAPSIC includes both analog and digital circuitries. The analog block of GAPSIC includes a power management unit, an RFID/NFC communication unit, and a sensor readout unit. The digital block includes an integrated 32-bit microcontroller, developed by the Hochschule Offenburg ASIC design center, and digital peripherals. A 16-kilobyte random-access memory and a read-only 16-kilobyte memory constitute the GAPSIC internal memory. For the fabrication of GAPSIC, one poly, six-metal 0.18 µm CMOS process is used.
The design of GAPSIC includes two stages. In the first stage, a standalone RFID/NFC frontend chip with a power management unit, an RFID/NFC communication unit, a clock regenerator unit, and a field detector unit was designed. In the second stage, the rest of the functional blocks were integrated with the blocks of the RFID/NFC frontend chip for the final integration of GAPSIC. To reduce the power consumption, conventional low-power design techniques were applied extensively like multiple power supplies, and the operation of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors in the sub-threshold region of operation, as well as further innovative circuit designs.
An overvoltage protection circuit, a power rectifier, a bandgap reference circuit, and two low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulators constitute the power management unit of GAPSIC. The overvoltage protection circuit uses a novel method where three stacked transistor pairs shunt the extra voltage. In the power rectifier, four rectifier units are arranged in parallel, which is a unique approach. The four parallel rectifier units provide the optimal choice in terms of voltage drop and the area required.
The communication unit is responsible for RFID/NFC communication and incorporates demodulation and load modulation circuitry. The demodulator circuit comprises of an envelope detector, a high-pass filter, and a comparator. Following a new approach, the bandgap reference circuit itself acts as the load for the envelope detector circuit, which minimizes the circuit complexity and area. For the communication between the reader and the RFID/NFC tag, amplitude-shift keying (ASK) is used to modulate signals, where the smallest modulation index can be as low as 10%. A novel technique involving a comparator with a preset offset voltage effectively demodulates the ASK signal. With an effective die area of 0.7 mm² and power consumption of 107 µW, the standalone RFID/NFC frontend chip has the best figure-of-merits compared to the state-of-the-art frontend chips reported in the relevant literature. A passive RFID/NFC tag developed with the standalone frontend chip, as well as temperature and pressure sensors demonstrate the full passive operational capability of the frontend chip. An NFC reader device using a custom-built Android-based application software reads out the sensor data from the passive tag.
The sensor readout circuit consists of a channel selector with two differential and four single-ended inputs with a programmable-gain instrumentation amplifier. The entire sensor readout part remains deactivated when not in use. The internal memory stores the measured offset voltage of the instrumentation amplifier, where a firmware code removes the offset voltage from the measured sensor signal. A 12-bit successive approximation register (SAR) type analog-to-digital-converter (ADC) based on a charge redistribution architecture converts the measured sensor data to a digital value. The digital peripherals include a serial peripheral interface, four timers, RFID/NFC interfaces, sensor readout unit interfaces, and 12-bit SAR logic.
Two sets of studies with custom-made NFC tag antennas for biomedical applications were conducted to ascertain their compatibility with GAPSIC. The first study involved the link efficiency measurements of NFC tag antennas and an NFC reader antenna with porcine tissue. In a separate experiment, the effect of a ferrite compared to air core on the antenna-coupling factor was investigated. With the ferrite core, the coupling factor increased by four times.
Among the state-of-the-art SoCs published in recent scientific articles, GAPSIC is the only passive programmable SoC with a power management unit, an RFID/NFC communication interface, a sensor readout circuit, a 12-bit SAR ADC, and an integrated 32-bit microcontroller. This doctoral research includes the preliminary study of three passive RFID tags designed with discrete components for biomedical and industrial applications like measurements of temperature, pH, conductivity, and oxygen concentration, along with leakage detection in silicone breast implants. Besides its small size and low power consumption, GAPSIC is suitable for each of the biomedical and industrial applications mentioned above due to the integrated high-performance microcontroller, the robust programmable instrumentation amplifier, and the 12-bit analog-to-digital converter. Furthermore, the simulation and measurement data show that GAPSIC is well suited for the design of a passive tag to monitor arterial blood pressure in patients experiencing Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), which is proposed in this doctoral thesis as an exemplary application of the developed system.
Privacy is the capacity to keep some things private despite their social repercussions. It relates to a person’s capacity to control the amount, time, and circumstances under which they disclose sensitive personal information, such as a person’s physiology, psychology, or intelligence. In the age of data exploitation, privacy has become even more crucial. Our privacy is now more threatened than it was 20 years ago, outside of science and technology, due to the way data and technology highly used. Both the kinds and amounts of information about us and the methods for tracking and identifying us have grown a lot in recent years. It is a known security concern that human and machine systems face privacy threats. There are various disagreements over privacy and security; every person and group has a unique perspective on how the two are related. Even though 79% of the study’s results showed that legal or compliance issues were more important, 53% of the survey team thought that privacy and security were two separate things. Data security and privacy are interconnected, despite their distinctions. Data security and data privacy are linked with each other; both are necessary for the other to exist. Data may be physically kept anywhere, on our computers or in the cloud, but only humans have authority over it. Machine learning has been used to solve the problem for our easy solution. We are linked to our data. Protect against attackers by protecting data, which also protects privacy. Attackers commonly utilize both mechanical systems and social engineering techniques to enter a target network. The vulnerability of this form of attack rests not only in the technology but also in the human users, making it extremely difficult to fight against. The best option to secure privacy is to combine humans and machines in the form of a Human Firewall and a Machine Firewall. A cryptographic route like Tor is a superior choice for discouraging attackers from trying to access our system and protecting the privacy of our data There is a case study of privacy and security issues in this thesis. The problems and different kinds of attacks on people and machines will then be briefly talked about. We will explain how Human Firewalls and machine learning on the Tor network protect our privacy from attacks such as social engineering and attacks on mechanical systems. As a real-world test, we will use genomic data to try out a privacy attack called the Membership Inference Attack (MIA). We’ll show Machine Firewall as a way to protect ourselves, and then we’ll use Differential Privacy (DP), which has already been done. We applied the method of Lasso and convolutional neural networks (CNN), which are both popular machine learning models, as the target models. Our findings demonstrate a logarithmic link between the desired model accuracy and the privacy budget.
This study investigates the impact of global payroll outsourcing on organizational efficiency and cost reduction based on the analysis of diverse implications stemming from thirty one (31) survey results. The findings reveal multifaceted challenges and benefitsassociated with outsourcing global payroll processing.
The research also unveils the most benefits of global payroll outsourcing. Notably, there's a consensus on the reduction in time-to-process payroll, cost per payroll processed, and improved payroll accuracy rate. Outsourcing streamlines processes, enhances operational efficiency, and contributes to faster, more accurate financial reporting.
Despite these benefits and challenges, statistical analysis reveals weak correlations between outsourcing global payroll and cost reduction or improved efficiency in various parameters, indicating a lack of a significant relationship. Consequently, the results, suggest no substantial correlation between global payroll outsourcing and enhanced efficiency or cost reduction based on this study's data.
Decarbonisation Strategies in Energy Systems Modelling: APV and e-tractors as Flexibility Assets
(2023)
This work presents an analysis of the impact of introducing Agrophotovoltaic technologies and electric tractors into Germany’s energy system. Agrophotovoltaics involves installing photovoltaic systems in agricultural areas, allowing for dual usage of the land for both energy generation and food production. Electric tractors, which are agricultural machinery powered by electric motors, can also function as energy storage units, providing flexibility to the grid. The analysis includes a sensitivity study to understand how the availability of agricultural land influences Agrophotovoltaic investments, followed by the examination of various scenarios that involve converting diesel tractors to electric tractors. These scenarios are based on the current CO2 emission reduction targets set by the German Government, aiming for a 65% reduction below 1990 levels by 2030 and achieving zero emissions by 2045. The results indicate that approximately 3% of available agricultural land is necessary to establish a viable energy mix in Germany. Furthermore, the expansion of electric tractors tends to reduce the overall system costs and enhances the energy-cost-efficiency of Agrophotovoltaic investments.
Previous studies of the hyphenation of gas chromatographic separation and spectrophotometric detection in the ultraviolet wavelength range between 168 and 330 nm showed a high potential for applications where the analysis of complex samples is required. Within this paper the development of a state-of-the-art detection system for compounds in the vapour phase is described, offering an improved behaviour compared to previous systems: Dependent on the requirements of established detection systems hyphenated with gas chromatography, the main components of the system have to be designed for optimum performance and reliability of the spectrophotometric detector: A deuterium lamp as a broadband light source has been selected for improved stability in the measurements. A new-type absorption cell based on fiber-optics has been developed considering the dynamic necessary to compete with existing techniques. In addition, the influence of the volume of the cell on the chromatogram needs to be analyzed. Tests for determining the performance of the absorption cell in terms of chemical and thermal influences have been carried out. A new spectrophotometer with adequate spectral resolution in the wavelength range, offering improved stability and dynamic for an efficient use in this application was developed. Furthermore, the influence of each component on the performance, reliability and stability of the sensor system will be discussed. An overview and outlook over the potential applications in the environmental, scientific and medical field will be given.
Bluetooth personal area networks (PANs) share the 2.4 GHz ISM spectrum with the IEEE 802.11b wireless local area networks (WLANs). With the popularity of wireless devices, this ISM spectrum is becoming more and more crowded. As a result of this interference between WLANs and PANs, the performance of each network is decreased. Current research has not significantly covered the degrading impact of an 802.11b interferer on Bluetooth voice transmission. Within this project, simulations were carried out to precisely study the impact of an 802.11b interferer on the performance of Bluetooth voice transmission at different ratio levels of Bluetooth power to WLAN power at the receiver side. Furthermore, the impact of SNR on the Bluetooth voice performance and the benefit of using the SCORT packet type was analysed as well. Based on the results presented, network performance can be evaluated at the desired activity level.
In thin-layer chromatography, fiber-bundle arrays have been introduced for spectral absorption measurements in the UV-region. Using all-silica fiber bundles, the exciting light will be detected after re-emission on the plate with a fiberoptic spectrometer. In addition, fluorescence light can be detected which will be masked by the re-emitted light. Therefore, it is helpful to separate the absorption and fluorescence on the TLC-plate. A modified three-array assembly has been developed: using one array for detection, the two others are used for excitation with broadband band deuterium-light and with UV-LEDs adjusted to the substances under test. As an example, the quantification of glucosamine in nutritional supplements or spinach leaf extract will be described. Using simply heating of the amino-plate for derivation, the reaction product of Glucosamine can be detected sensitively either by light absorption or by fluorescence, using the new fiber-optic assembly. In addition, the properties of the new 3-row fiber-optic array and the commercially available UV-LEDs will be shown, in the interesting wavelength region for excitation of fluorescence, from 260 nm to 360 nm. The squint angle having an influence on coupling efficiency and spatial resolution will be measured with the inverse farfield method. Some properties of UV-LEDs for analytical applications will be described and discussed, too.
Most E-Learning projects tend to separate learning activities from everyday work. This paper presents an approach where closer integration between learning and work is achieved by integrating multimedia services into manufacturing processes. The goal of E-Learning services integration in manufacturing is, through the development of new multimedia solutions, to accelerate and enhance the ability of manufacturing industry to capitalise on the emergence of a powerful global information infrastructure. In this paper we suggest to combine the areas of media streaming services and manufacturing processes, by providing electronic learning offerings as collections of media streaming services. The key components of our approach are 1) an xml based streaming service specification language, 2) automated configuration of distributed E-Learning streaming applications, 3) web services for searching, registration, and creation of E-Learning streaming services.
Integrating voice / video communication into business processes can accelerate resolution time, reduce mistakes, and establish a full audit-trail of the interactions. Some VoIP service providers offer website based or plugin based solutions, which are, however, difficult to integrate with other applications. A promising approach to overcome these disadvantages is the development of appropriate Web Services to allow applications interacting with a VoIP system. We propose a generic framework for VoIP applications consisting of an XML-based service specification language and a set of reusable Web Service components. Service providers using the proposed service-oriented architecture can offer to their customers a protocol-neutral Web Service interface, thus enabling the deployment of a general and integrated VoIP solution.
This paper presents a streaming-based E-Learning environment where closer integration between learning and work is achieved by integrating multimedia services into manufacturing processes. It contains a comprehensive and detailed explanation of the proposed E-Learning streaming framework, especially the adaption of streaming services to mobile environments. We first analyze several scenarios where E-Learning streaming services can be integrated into manufacturing processes. To allow systematic and tailor-made integration, we develop a model and a specification language for E-Learning streaming services and apply the model using practical scenarios from real manufacturing processes. Adaption of multimedia streaming services to mobile devices is discussed based on Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL). Last, we comment on the benefits of using E-Learning streaming services as part of manufacturing processes and analyze the acceptance of the developed system. The key components of our E-Learning environment are 1) an xml based streaming service specification language, 2) adaption of multimedia E-Learning services to mobile environments, and 3) Web Services for searching, registration, and creation of E-Learning streaming services.
In this paper we suggest to combine the areas of media streaming services, mobile devices, and manufacturing processes to support monitoring, controlling and supervising production processes in order to achieve high levels of efficiency and environmentally friendly production. It contains a comprehensive and detailed explanation of the proposed E-Learning streaming framework, especially the adaption of streaming services to mobile environments. The key components of our approach are 1) an XML-based streaming service specification language, 2) adaption of multimedia E-Learning services to mobile environments, and 3) a media delivery platform for searching, registration, and creation of streaming services for mobile devices.
The need of suitable system of records in gaining ground as companies seek to maximize performance by harnessing the knowledge of their businesses, is discussed. Focused systems of record deliver a clear and consistent view even as they address a range of functions. Enterprise resource planning (ERP), as the financial system of record, embodies that view of manufacturing, inventory management, accounting and order processing. Customer relationship management (CRM), as a system of record, taps not only into the marketing and sales and service, but also into product development.
The central purpose of this paper is to present a novel framework supporting the specification and the implementation of media streaming services using XML and Java Media Framework (JMF). It provides an integrated service development environment comprising of a streaming service model, a service specification language and several implementation and retrieval tools. Our approach is based on a clear separation of a streaming service specification, and its implementation by a distributed JMF application and can be used for different streaming paradigms, e.g. push and pull services.
This paper presents an approach where closer integration between learning and work is achieved by integrating multimedia services into manufacturing processes. The goal of E-Learning services integration in manufacturing processes is, through the development of new multimedia services, to accelerate and enhance the ability of manufacturing industry to capitalise on the emergence of a powerful global information infrastructure. In this paper we suggest to combine the areas of media streaming services and manufacturing processes, by providing electronic learning offerings as collections of media streaming services. The key components of our approach are 1) an xml based streaming service specification language, 2) automated configuration of distributed E-Learning streaming applications, 3) Web Services for searching, registration, and creation of E-Learning streaming services.
We propose a new streaming media service development environment comprising of a streaming media service model, a XML based service specification language and several implementation and configuration management tools. In our project, the described approach is used for integration of streaming based eLearning services in manufacturing processes of a subcontractor to the automotive industry. The key components of our approach are 1) an xml based streaming service specification language, 2) a set of web services for searching, registration, and creation of streaming services, 3) caching and replication policies based on timing information derived from the service specifications.
The goal of eLearning services integration in manufacturing is, through the development of new multimedia solutions, to accelerate and enhance the ability of the manufacturing industry to capitalise on the emergence of a powerful global information infrastructure. The key components of our approach are: (1) an XML based streaming service specification language; (2) automatic configuration of distributed eLearning streaming service implementations; (3) a set of Web services for searching, registration, and creation of streaming services; (4) caching and replication policies based on timing information derived from the service specifications. We also introduce a new concept for cache management during runtime, e.g., content is distributed to cache servers located at the edge of a network close to the client.
The central purpose of this paper is to present a novel framework supporting the specification, the implementation and retrieval of media streaming services. It provides an integrated service development environment comprising of a streaming service model, a service specification language and several implementation and retrieval tools. Our approach is based on a clear separation of a streaming service specification, and its implementation by a distributed application and can be used for different streaming paradigms, e.g. push and pull services.
This paper treats the Brillouin backscattering in a single mode optical fiber and its implications on the Brillouin Ring Laser Gyroscope (BRLG). The BRLG consists of a fiber ring cavity in which stimulated Brillouin scattering is induced and provides two resonant counterpropagating backscattered waves. If this cavity is rotating around its axis, the backscattered waves get different resonant frequencies because of the Sagnac effect. The frequency difference is proportional to the rotation rate (Omega) by inducing a frequency offset between the counterpropagating waves. Some reported Brillouin spectra exhibit several peaks, which means that one pump wave provides at least two backscattered waves with distinguishable frequencies. In order to understand this multi-backscattering and to take advantage of it for the BRLG, we present results of a simulation of the Brillouin backscattering in a single mode optical fiber.
We aim to debate and eventually be able to carefully judge how realistic the following statement of a young computer scientist is: “I would like to become an ethical correctly acting offensive cybersecurity expert”. The objective of this article is not to judge what is good and what is wrong behavior nor to present an overall solution to ethical dilemmas. Instead, the goal is to become aware of the various personal moral dilemmas a security expert may face during his work life. For this, a total of 14 cybersecurity students from HS Offenburg were asked to evaluate several case studies according to different ethical frameworks. The results and particularities are discussed, considering different ethical frameworks. We emphasize, that different ethical frameworks can lead to different preferred actions and that the moral understanding of the frameworks may differ even from student to student.
The prototype of an optical gyro encoder (OGE) has been successfully tested on the NTT telescope in September '93. The OGE consists of a ring laser gyro and a fiber optic gyro with their input axis parallel. The gyro outptu signals are compensated for earth rotation and misalignment and are subsequently integrated to get the angles. An adaptive digital control loop locks the fiber optic gyro to the laser gyro data. Thus the combined output has the precision of the laser gyro and the low noise of the fiber optic gyro. Specifically, the bias stability is better than 2 X 10-3 deg/h, the scale factor accuracy better than 1 ppm, the random walk coefficient better than 5 X 10-4 deg/(root)h and the resolution better than 3 X 10-4 arcsec. The OGE has been mounted in the altitude and in the azimuthy axis of the telescope. The data were compared with the telescope disk encoder data. The test data show that the pointing accuracy is about 1 arcsec and the tracking accuracy 0.1 arcsec over a time of 30 seconds. This accuracy is sufficient for the very large telescope, for instance.
An investigation is underway regarding the usefulness of altazimuth-mounting telescopes' incorporation of laser gyros for pointing and fiber gyros with extremely small random-walk coefficient for telescope inertial stabilization during tracking. A star tracker is expected to help stabilize long-term gyro bias. Gyro and telescope specifications have been derived by means of computer simulations and systems analyses.
Artificial intelligence (AI), and in particular machine learning algorithms, are of increasing importance in many application areas but interpretability and understandability as well as responsibility, accountability, and fairness of the algorithms' results, all crucial for increasing the humans' trust into the systems, are still largely missing. Big industrial players, including Google, Microsoft, and Apple, have become aware of this gap and recently published their own guidelines for the use of AI in order to promote fairness, trust, interpretability, and other goals. Interactive visualization is one of the technologies that may help to increase trust in AI systems. During the seminar, we discussed the requirements for trustworthy AI systems as well as the technological possibilities provided by interactive visualizations to increase human trust in AI.
The invention concerns a method for spectrum monitoring a given frequency band, in which the spectral power density (S(f)) within the given frequency band is determined for all noise and signal components in the frequency band and, in order to detect the presence of one or more signals within the given frequency band, it is evaluated whether the spectral power density (S(f)) exceeds a threshold value (&lgr;). According to the invention, the threshold value (&lgr;) is calculated in accordance with an estimation of a distribution density (hR(S)) for the noise component of the spectral power density (S(f)) within the given frequency band and in accordance with a predefined value for the false-alarm probability (Pfa).
The invention relates to a container (1) for a liquid medium (3), in particular a blood bag, comprising a flexible outer wall (5) and a device (13) connected to the container (1) for acquiring and/or storing data. According to the invention, the device (13) for acquiring and/or storing data is arranged within the flexible outer wall (5), wherein positioning means (15) are provided which hold the device (13) for acquiring and/or storing data in a floating manner in the liquid medium when the container (1) is filled with said liquid medium (3), and wherein the device (13) or the device (13) and the positioning means (15) are designed such that the mass of liquid medium (3) which is displaced in each case is essentially equal to the mass of the device (13) or to the mass of the device (13) and the positioning means (15).
A wet-chemical treatment system for electrochemically coating flat substrates with coating material, has having a basin for receiving an electrolyte, a transporting means, by means of which the flat substrates can be transported through the electrolyte horizontally, and at least one contact element which comprises a shaft having an axis of rotation and a cylindrical circumferential surface suitable for rolling on the substrate, wherein the circumferential surface comprises at least one electrically insulated segment and at least one electrically conductive segment which can be connected to a current source in such a way that the polarity can be reversed, wherein the axis of rotation of the contact element is positioned above the surface of the electrolyte, and wherein the contact element is designed as a consumable electrode.
The invention relates to a device for metalising substrates. In particular, the invention relates to the field of contact elements used to electroplate solar cells within the context of a wet-chemical continuous treatment system. A wet-chemical treatment system according to the invention, for electrochemically coating flat substrates (1) with coating material, has a tank for accommodating an electrolyte, transporting means, by means of which the flat substrates (1) can be transported through the electrolyte horizontally, and at least one contact element (2), which comprises a shaft (4) having an axis of rotation (5) and a cylindrical circumferential surface suitable for rolling on the substrate (1), wherein the circumferential surface comprises at least one electrically insulating segment (3B) and at least one electrically conductive segment (3A), which can be connected to a current source (6) in such a way that the polarity can be reversed, wherein the axis of rotation (5) of the contact element (2) is positioned above the surface of the electrolyte, and wherein the contact element (2) is designed as a consumable electrode.
The invention relates to a method for determining properties of a pipeline, more particularly the position of a branch in a waste water pipeline, in which: a sound wave transmission signal (S, S') is fed into the pipeline (1) at a predetermined infeed point and propagates in the axial direction of the pipeline (1), wherein the frequency spectrum of the sound wave transmission signal (S, S') has a frequency component or a spectral range, the maximum frequency of which is lower than the lower limit frequency (fc) for the first upper mode; in which method components (Sr1, Sr2, Sr3, S'r1, S'r2, S'r3) of the sound wave transmission signal (S, S') reflected inside the pipeline (1) are detected as a sound wave reception signal (E, E'); and in which method, by evaluating the sound wave reception signal (E, E') in relation to the sound wave transmission signal (S, S'), the pipeline (1) is examined for the presence of reflection sites along the pipeline (1) that cause sound wave reflections (Sr1, Sr2, Sr3, S'r1, S'r2, S'r3), wherein at least the distance (I) of a reflection site from the infeed point is determined by evaluating the respective sound wave reception signal (E, E'). The invention further relates to a device for implementing said method.
The application relates to an electronic pill for dispensing a substance, in particular a drug, in a human or animal body in a controllable manner, said electronic pill having a housing (3) in which the substance (17) to be dispensed is accommodated and in which a dispensing opening (47) for dispensing the substance (17) is provided, wherein the substance (17) can be subjected to a predetermined pressure in order to be dispensed from the housing (3), having an electronic control unit (53, 59, 61, 63), and having a valve unit (33) which is arranged in the course of a dispensing path and can be moved from an open position to a closed position by the control unit (53, 59, 61, 63). In the housing (3), a throttle section (45) is provided in the course of the dispensing path for the substance (17) to be dispensed.
The invention relates to a multi railed track vehicle, designed with a conducting connection of pairs of rails with a connection resistance reducing agent for reducing the connection resistance to the rail. According to the invention, the connection resistance reducing agent is designed to generate arcs between at least one rail and the track vehicle.
Introduction: Subjects with mild to moderate hearing loss today often receive hearing aids (HA) with open-fitting (OF). In OF, direct sound reaches the eardrums with minimal damping. Due to the required processing delay in digital HA, the amplified HA sound follows some milliseconds later. This process occurs in both ears symmetrically in bilateral HA provision and is likely to have no or minor detrimental effect on binaural hearing. However, the delayed and amplified sound are only present in one ear in cases of unilateral hearing loss provided with one HA. This processing alters interaural timing differences in the resulting ear signals.
Methods: In the present study, an experiment with normal-hearing subjects to investigate speech intelligibility in noise with direct and delayed sound was performed to mimic unilateral and bilateral HA provision with OF.
Results: The outcomes reveal that these delays affect speech reception thresholds (SRT) in the unilateral OF simulation when presenting speech and noise from different spatial directions. A significant decrease in the median SRT from –18.1 to –14.7 dB SNR is observed when typical HA processing delays are applied. On the other hand, SRT was independent of the delay between direct and delayed sound in the bilateral OF simulation.
Discussion: The significant effect emphasizes the development of rapid processing algorithms for unilateral HA provision.
CNN-based deep learning models for disease detection have become popular recently. We compared the binary classification performance of eight prominent deep learning models: DenseNet 121, DenseNet 169, DenseNet 201, EffecientNet b0, EffecientNet lite4, GoogleNet, MobileNet, and ResNet18 for their binary classification performance on combined Pulmonary Chest Xrays dataset. Despite the widespread application in different fields in medical images, there remains a knowledge gap in determining their relative performance when applied to the same dataset, a gap this study aimed to address. The dataset combined Shenzhen, China (CH) and Montgomery, USA (MC) data. We trained our model for binary classification, calculated different parameters of the mentioned models, and compared them. The models were trained to keep in mind all following the same training parameters to maintain a controlled comparison environment. End of the study, we found a distinct difference in performance among the other models when applied to the pulmonary chest Xray image dataset, where DenseNet169 performed with 89.38 percent and MobileNet with 92.2 percent precision.
The COVID19 pandemic, a unique and devastating respiratory disease outbreak, has affected global populations as the disease spreads rapidly. Recent Deep Learning breakthroughs may improve COVID19 prediction and forecasting as a tool of precise and fast detection, however, current methods are still being examined to achieve higher accuracy and precision. This study analyzed the collection contained 8055 CT image samples, 5427 of which were COVID cases and 2628 non COVID. The 9544 Xray samples included 4044 COVID patients and 5500 non COVID cases. The most accurate models are MobileNet V3 (97.872 percent), DenseNet201 (97.567 percent), and GoogleNet Inception V1 (97.643 percent). High accuracy indicates that these models can make many accurate predictions, as well as others, are also high for MobileNetV3 and DenseNet201. An extensive evaluation using accuracy, precision, and recall allows a comprehensive comparison to improve predictive models by combining loss optimization with scalable batch normalization in this study. Our analysis shows that these tactics improve model performance and resilience for advancing COVID19 prediction and detection and shows how Deep Learning can improve disease handling. The methods we suggest would strengthen healthcare systems, policymakers, and researchers to make educated decisions to reduce COVID19 and other contagious diseases.
This paper presents the new Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) library RL-X and its application to the RoboCup Soccer Simulation 3D League and classic DRL benchmarks. RL-X provides a flexible and easy-to-extend codebase with self-contained single directory algorithms. Through the fast JAX-based implementations, RL-X can reach up to 4.5x speedups compared to well-known frameworks like Stable-Baselines3.
The use of artificial intelligence continues to impact a broad variety of domains, application areas, and people. However, interpretability, understandability, responsibility, accountability, and fairness of the algorithms' results - all crucial for increasing humans' trust into the systems - are still largely missing. The purpose of this seminar is to understand how these components factor into the holistic view of trust. Further, this seminar seeks to identify design guidelines and best practices for how to build interactive visualization systems to calibrate trust.
With the rising necessity of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), we see an increase in task-dependent XAI methods on varying abstraction levels. XAI techniques on a global level explain model behavior and on a local level explain sample predictions. We propose a visual analytics workflow to support seamless transitions between global and local explanations, focusing on attributions and counterfactuals on time series classification. In particular, we adapt local XAI techniques (attributions) that are developed for traditional datasets (images, text) to analyze time series classification, a data type that is typically less intelligible to humans. To generate a global overview, we apply local attribution methods to the data, creating explanations for the whole dataset. These explanations are projected onto two dimensions, depicting model behavior trends, strategies, and decision boundaries. To further inspect the model decision-making as well as potential data errors, a what-if analysis facilitates hypothesis generation and verification on both the global and local levels. We constantly collected and incorporated expert user feedback, as well as insights based on their domain knowledge, resulting in a tailored analysis workflow and system that tightly integrates time series transformations into explanations. Lastly, we present three use cases, verifying that our technique enables users to (1)~explore data transformations and feature relevance, (2)~identify model behavior and decision boundaries, as well as, (3)~the reason for misclassifications.
There is an ongoing debate about the use and scope of Clayton M. Christensen´s idea of disruptive innovation, including the question of whether it is a management buzz phrase or a valuable theory. This discussion considers the general question of how innovation in the field of management theories and concepts finds its way to the different target groups. This conceptual paper combines the different concepts of the creation and dissemination of management trends in a basic framework based on a short review of models for the dissemination of management ideas. This framework allows an analysis of the character of new management ideas like disruptive innovation. By measuring the impact of the theory on the academic sphere using a bibliometric statistic of the number of academic publications on Google scholar and Scopus and a meta-analysis of research papers, we show the significant influence of disruptive innovation beyond pure management fads.
Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) and variable air volume (VAV) systems are considered among the best heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC) thanks to their ability to provide cooling and heating in different thermal zones of the same building. As well as their ability to recover the heat rejected from spaces requiring cooling and reuse it to heat another space. Nevertheless, at the same time, these systems are considered one of the most energy-consuming systems in the building. So, it is crucial to well size the system according to the building’s cooling and heating needs and the indoor temperature fluctuations. This study aims to compare these two energy systems by conducting an energy model simulation of a real building under a semi-arid climate for cooling and heating periods. The developed building energy model (BEM) was validated and calibrated using measured and simulated indoor air temperature and energy consumption data. The study aims to evaluate the effect of these HVAC systems on energy consumption and the indoor thermal comfort of the building. The numerical model was based on the Energy Plus simulation engine. The approach used in this paper has allowed us to reach significant quantitative energy saving along with a high level of indoor thermal comfort by using the VRF system compared to the VAV system. The findings prove that the VRF system provides 46.18% of the annual total heating energy savings and 6.14% of the annual cooling and ventilation energy savings compared to the VAV system.
Modern CNNs are learning the weights of vast numbers of convolutional operators. In this paper, we raise the fundamental question if this is actually necessary. We show that even in the extreme case of only randomly initializing and never updating spatial filters, certain CNN architectures can be trained to surpass the accuracy of standard training. By reinterpreting the notion of pointwise ($1\times 1$) convolutions as an operator to learn linear combinations (LC) of frozen (random) spatial filters, we are able to analyze these effects and propose a generic LC convolution block that allows tuning of the linear combination rate. Empirically, we show that this approach not only allows us to reach high test accuracies on CIFAR and ImageNet but also has favorable properties regarding model robustness, generalization, sparsity, and the total number of necessary weights. Additionally, we propose a novel weight sharing mechanism, which allows sharing of a single weight tensor between all spatial convolution layers to massively reduce the number of weights.
Learning programming fundamentals is considered as one of the most challenging and complex learning activities. Some authors have proposed visual programming language (VPL) approaches to address part of the inherent complexity [1]. A visual programming language lets users develop programs by combining program elements, like loops graphically rather than by specifying them textually. Visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols are used either as syntax elements or secondary notation. VPLs are normally used for educational multimedia, video games, system development, and data warehousing/business analytics purposes. For example, Scratch, a platform of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is designed for kids and after school programs.
Design of mobile software applications is considered as one of the most challenging application domains due to the build in sensors as part of a mobile device, like GPS, camera or Near Field Communication (NFC). Sensors enable creation of context-aware mobile applications in which applications can discover and take advantage of contextual information, such as user location, nearby people and objects, and the current user activity. As a consequence, context-aware mobile applications can sense clues about the situational environment making mobile devices more intelligent, adaptive, and personalized. Such context aware mobile applications seem to be motivating and attractive case studies, especially for programming beginners (“my own first app”).
In this work, we introduce a use-case centered approach as well as clear separation of user interface design and sensor-based program development. We provide an in-depth discussion of a new VPL based teaching method, a step by step development process to enable programming beginners the creation of context aware mobile applications. Finally, we argue that addressing challenges for programming beginners by our teaching approach could make programming teaching more motivating, with an additional impact on the final software quality and scalability.
The key contributions of our study are the following:
- An overview of existing attempts to use VPL approaches for mobile applications
- A use case centered teaching approach based on a clear separation of user interface design and sensor-based program development
- A teaching case study enabling beginners a step by step creation of context-aware mobile applications based on the MIT App Inventor (a platform of Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
- Open research challenges and perspectives for further development of our teaching approach
References:
[1] Idrees, M., Aslam, F. (2022). A Comprehensive Survey and Analysis of Diverse Visual Programming Languages, VFAST Transactions on Software Engineering, 2022, Volume 10, Number 2, pp 47-60.
During pyrolysis, biomass is carbonised in the absence of oxygen to produce biochar with heat and/or electricity as co-products making pyrolysis one of the promising negative emission technologies to reach climate goals worldwide. This paper presents a simplified representation of pyrolysis and analyses the impact of this technology on the energy system. Results show that the use of pyrolysis can allow getting zero emissions with lower costs by making changes in the unit commitment of the power plants, e.g. conventional power plants are used differently, as the emissions will be compensated by biochar. Additionally, the process of pyrolysis can enhance the flexibility of energy systems, as it shows a correlation between the electricity generated by pyrolysis and the hydrogen installation capacity, being hydrogen used less when pyrolysis appears. The results indicate that pyrolysis, which is available on the market, integrates well into the energy system with a promising potential to sequester carbon.
3D Bin Picking with an innovative powder filled gripper and a torque controlled collaborative robot
(2023)
A new and innovative powder filled gripper concept will be introduced to a process to pick parts out of a box without the use of a camera system which guides the robot to the part. The gripper is a combination of an inflatable skin, and a powder inside. In the unjammed condition, the powder is soft and can adjust to the geometry of the part which will be handled. By applying a vacuum to the inflatable skin, the powder gets jammed and transforms to a solid shaped form in which the gripper was brought before applying the vacuum. This physical principle is used to pick parts. The flexible skin of the gripper adjusts to all kinds of shapes, and therefore, can be used to realize 3D bin picking. With the help of a force controlled robot, the gripper can be pushed with a consistent force on flexible positions depending of the filling level of the box. A Kuka LBR iiwa with joint torque sensors in all of its seven axis’ was used to achieve a constant contact pressure. This is the basic criteria to achieve a robust picking process.
Socially assistive robots (SARs) are becoming more prevalent in everyday life, emphasizing the need to make them socially acceptable and aligned with users' expectations. Robots' appearance impacts users' behaviors and attitudes towards them. Therefore, product designers choose visual qualities to give the robot a character and to imply its functionality and personality. In this work, we sought to investigate the effect of cultural differences on Israeli and German designers' perceptions and preferences regarding the suitable visual qualities of SARs in four different contexts: a service robot for an assisted living/retirement residence facility, a medical assistant robot for a hospital environment, a COVID-19 officer robot, and a personal assistant robot for domestic use. Our results indicate that Israeli and German designers share similar perceptions of visual qualities and most of the robotics roles. However, we found differences in the perception of the COVID-19 officer robot's role and, by that, its most suitable visual design. This work indicates that context and culture play a role in users' perceptions and expectations; therefore, they should be taken into account when designing new SARs for diverse contexts.
Recent advances in spiked shoe design, characterized by increased longitudinal stiffness, thicker midsole foams, and reconfigured geometry are considered to improve sprint performance. However, so far there is no empirical data on the effects of advanced spikes technology on maximal sprinting speed (MSS) published yet. Consequently, we assessed MSS via ‘flying 30m’ sprints of 44 trained male (PR: 10.32 s - 12.08 s) and female (PR: 11.56 s - 14.18 s) athletes, wearing both traditional and advanced spikes in a randomized, repeated measures design. The results revealed a statistically significant increase in MSS by 1.21% on average when using advanced spikes technology. Notably, 87% of participants showed improved MSS with the use of advanced spikes. A cluster analysis unveiled that athletes with higher MSS may benefit to a greater extent. However, individual responses varied widely, suggesting the influence of multiple factors that need detailed exploration. Therefore, coaches and athletes are advised to interpret the promising performance enhancements cautiously and evaluate the appropriateness of the advanced spike technology for their athletes critically.
High-tech running shoes and spikes ("super-footwear") are currently being debated in sports. There is direct evidence that distance running super shoes improve running economy; however, it is not well established to which extent world-class performances are affected over the range of track and road running events.
This study examined publicly available performance datasets of annual best track and road performances for evidence of potential systematic performance effects following the introduction of super footwear. The analysis was based on the 100 best performances per year for men and women in outdoor events from 2010 to 2022, provided by the world governing body of athletics (World Athletics).
We found evidence of progressing improvements in track and road running performances after the introduction of super distance running shoes in 2016 and super spike technology in 2019. This evidence is more pronounced for distances longer than 1500 m in women and longer than 5000 m in men. Women seem to benefit more from super footwear in distance running events than men.
While the observational study design limits causal inference, this study provides a database on potential systematic performance effects following the introduction of super shoes/spikes in track and road running events in world-class athletes. Further research is needed to examine the underlying mechanisms and, in particular, potential sex differences in the performance effects of super footwear.
We revisit the quantitative analysis of the ultrafast magnetoacoustic experiment in a freestanding nickel thin film by Kim and Bigot [J.-W. Kim and J.-Y. Bigot, Phys. Rev. B 95, 144422 (2017)] by applying our recently proposed approach of magnetic and acoustic eigenmode decomposition. We show that the application of our modeling to the analysis of time-resolved reflectivity measurements allows for the determination of amplitudes and lifetimes of standing perpendicular acoustic phonon resonances with unprecedented accuracy. The acoustic damping is found to scale as ∝ω2 for frequencies up to 80 GHz, and the peak amplitudes reach 10−3. The experimentally measured magnetization dynamics for different orientations of an external magnetic field agrees well with numerical solutions of magnetoelastically driven magnon harmonic oscillators. Symmetry-based selection rules for magnon-phonon interactions predicted by our modeling approach allow for the unambiguous discrimination between spatially uniform and nonuniform modes, as confirmed by comparing the resonantly enhanced magnetoelastic dynamics simultaneously measured on opposite sides of the film. Moreover, the separation of timescales for (early) rising and (late) decreasing precession amplitudes provide access to magnetic (Gilbert) and acoustic damping parameters in a single measurement.
While most ultrafast time-resolved optical pump-probe experiments in magnetic materials reveal the spatially homogeneous magnetization dynamics of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), here we explore the magneto-elastic generation of GHz-to-THz frequency spin waves (exchange magnons). Using analytical magnon oscillator equations, we apply time-domain and frequency-domain approaches to quantify the results of ultrafast time-resolved optical pump-probe experiments in free-standing ferromagnetic thin films. Simulations show excellent agreement with the experiment, provide acoustic and magnetic (Gilbert) damping constants and highlight the role of symmetry-based selection rules in phonon-magnon interactions. The analysis is extended to hybrid multilayer structures to explore the limits of resonant phonon-magnon interactions up to THz frequencies.
The technique of laser ultrasonics perfectly meets the need for noncontact, noninvasive, nondestructive mechanical probing of nanometer- to millimeter-size samples. However, this technique is limited to the excitation of low-amplitude strains, below the threshold for optical damage of the sample. In the context of strain engineering of materials, alternative optical techniques enabling the excitation of high-amplitude strains in a nondestructive optical regime are needed. We introduce here a nondestructive method for laser-shock wave generation based on additive superposition of multiple laser-excited strain waves. This technique enables strain generation up to mechanical failure of a sample at pump laser fluences below optical ablation or melting thresholds. We demonstrate the ability to generate nonlinear surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in Nb-SrTiO3 substrates, with associated strains in the percent range and pressures up to 3 GPa at 1 kHz repetition rate and close to 10 GPa for several hundred shocks. This study paves the way for the investigation of a host of high-strain SAW-induced phenomena, including phase transitions in conventional and quantum materials, plasticity and a myriad of material failure modes, chemistry and other effects in bulk samples, thin layers, and two-dimensional materials.
The utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) is progressively emerging as a significant mechanism for innovation in human resource management (HRM). The capacity to facilitate the transformation of employee performance across numerous responsibilities. AI development, there remains a dearth of comprehensive exploration into the potential opportunities it presents for enhancing workplace performance among employees. To bridge this gap in knowledge, the present work carried out a survey with 300 participants, utilises a fuzzy set-theoretic method that is grounded on the conceptualisation of AI, KS, and HRM. The findings of our study indicate that the exclusive adoption of AI technologies does not adequately enhance HRM engagements. In contrast, the integration of AI and KS offers a more viable HRM approach for achieving optimal performance in a dynamic digital society. This approach has the potential to enhance employees’ proficiency in executing their responsibilities and cultivate a culture of creativity inside the firm.
Purpose
Although start-ups have gained increasing scholarly attention, we lack sufficient understanding of their entrepreneurial strategic posture (ESP) in emerging economies. The purpose of this study is to examine the processes of ESP of new technology venture start-ups (NTVs) in an emerging market context.
Design/methodology/approach
In line with grounded theory guidelines and the inductive research traditions, the authors adopted a qualitative approach involving 42 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Ghanaian NTV entrepreneurs to gain a comprehensive analysis at the micro-level on the entrepreneurs' strategic posturing. A systematic procedure for data analysis was adopted.
Findings
From the authors' analysis of Ghanaian NTVs, the authors derived a three-stage model to elucidate the nature and process of ESP Phase 1 spotting and exploiting market opportunities, Phase II identifying initial advantages and Phase III ascertaining and responding to change.
Originality/value
The study contributes to advancing research on ESP by explicating the process through which informal ties and networks are utilised by NTVs and NTVs' founders to overcome extreme resource constraints and information vacuums in contexts of institutional voids. The authors depart from past studies in demonstrating how such ties can be harnessed in spotting and exploiting market opportunities by NTVs. On this basis, the paper makes original contributions to ESP theory and practice.
Purpose
Although recent literature has examined diverse measures adopted by SMEs to navigate the COVID-19 turbulence, there is a shortage of evidence on how crisis-time strategy creation behaviour and digitalization activities increase (1) sales and (2) cash flow. Thus, predicated on a novel strategy creation perspective, this inquiry aims to investigate the crisis behaviour, sales and cash flow performance of 528 SMEs in Morocco.
Design/methodology/approach
Novel links between (1) aggregate wage cuts, (2) variable operating hours, (3) deferred payment to suppliers, (4) deferred payment to tax authorities and (5) sales performance are developed and tested. A further link between sales performance and cash flow is also examined and the analysis is conducted using a non-linear structural equation modelling technique.
Findings
While there is a significant association between strategy creation behaviours and sales performance, only variable operating hours have a positive effect. Also, sales performance increases cash flow and this relationship is substantially strengthened by e-commerce digitalization and innovation.
Originality/value
Theoretically, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first inquiries to espouse the strategy creation view to explain SMEs' crisis-time behaviour and digitalization. For practical purposes, to supplement Moroccan SMEs' propensity to seek tax deferrals, it is argued that debt and equity support measures are also needed to boost sales performance and cash flow.
In the past ten years, applications of artificial neural networks have changed dramatically. outperforming earlier predictions in domains like robotics, computer vision, natural language processing, healthcare, and finance. Future research and advancements in CNN architectures, Algorithms and applications are expected to revolutionize various industries and daily life further. Our task is to find current products that resemble the given product image and description. Deep learning-based automatic product identification is a multi-step process that starts with data collection and continues with model training, deployment, and continuous improvement. The caliber and variety of the dataset, the design selected, and ongoing testing and improvement all affect the model's effectiveness. We achieved 81.47% training accuracy and 72.43% validation accuracy for our combined text and image classification model. Additionally, we have discussed the outcomes from the other dataset and numerous methods for creating an appropriate model.
As the population grows, so does the amount of biowaste. As demand for energy grows, biogas is a promising solution to the problem. Lignocellulosic materials are challenged of slow degradability due to the presence of polymers such as cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose. There are several pretreatment methods available to enhance the degradability of such materials, including enzymatic pretreatment. In this pretreatment, there are few parameters that can influence the results, the most important being the enzyme to solid ratio and the solid to liquid ratio. During this project, experiments were conducted to determine the optimal conditions for those two factors. It was discovered that a solid to liquid ratio of 31 g of buffer per 1 gram of organic dry matter produced the highest reducing sugar release in flasks when combined with 34 mg of protein per 1 gram of organic dry mass. Additionally, another experiment was carried out to investigate the impact of enzymatic pretreatment on biogas production using artificial biowaste as a substrate. Artificial biowaste produced 577,9 NL/kg oDM, while enzymatically pretreated biowaste produced 639,3 NL/kg oDM. This resulted in a 10,6% rise in cumulative biogas production compared to its use without enzymatic pretreatment. By the conclusion of the investigation, specific cumulative dry methane yields of 364,7 NL/kg oDM and 426,3 NL/kg oDM were obtained from artificial biowaste without and with enzymatic pretreatment, respectively. This resulted in a methane production boost of 16,9%. Additionally in case of the reactors with enzymatically pretreated substrate kinetic constant was lower more than double, where maximum volume of biogas increased, comparing to the reactors without enzymatic pretreatment.
Polyarticulated active prostheses constitute a promising solution for upper limb amputees. The bottleneck for their adoption though, is the lack of intuitive control. In this context, machine learning algorithms based on pattern recognition from electromyographic (EMG) signals represent a great opportunity for naturally operating prosthetic devices, but their performance is strongly affected by the selection of input features. In this study, we investigated different combinations of 13 EMG-derived features obtained from EMG signals of healthy individuals performing upper limb movements and tested their performance for movement classification using an Artificial Neural Network. We found that input data (i.e., the set of input features) can be reduced by more than 50% without any loss in accuracy, while diminishing the computing time required to train the classifier. Our results indicate that input features must be properly selected in order to optimize prosthetic control.
The main focus of this chapter is the theoretical and instrumental processes that underpin densitometric methods widely used in thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Densitometric methods include UV–vis, luminescence and fluorescence optical measurements as well as infrared and Raman spectroscopic measurements. The chapter is divided in two general parts: a theoretical part and a practical part. The systems for direct radioactivity measurements and the combination of TLC with mass spectrometry are also discussed. All these systems allow measuring an intensity distribution directly on a TLC plate. We call this “in situ detection” because no analyte is removed from the plate.
The main focus of this chapter is the theoretical and instrumental processes that underpin densitometric methods widely used in thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Densitometric methods include UV–vis, luminescence, and fluorescence optical measurements as well as infrared and Raman spectroscopic measurements. The chapter is divided in two general parts: a theoretical part and a practical part. The systems for direct radioactivity measurements and the combination of TLC with mass spectrometry are also discussed. All these systems allow measuring an intensity distribution directly on a TLC plate. We call this “in situ detection” because no analyte is removed from the plate.
Recently, photovoltaic (PV) with energy storage systems (ESS) have been widely adopted in buildings to overcome growing power demands and earn financial benefits. The overall energy cost can be optimized by combining a well-sized hybrid PV/ESS system with an efficient energy management system (EMS). Generally, EMS is implemented within the overall functions of the Building Automation System (BAS). However, due to its limited computing resources, BAS cannot handle complex algorithms that aim to optimize energy use in real-time under different operating conditions. Furthermore, islanding the building's local network to maximize the PV energy share represents a challenging task due to the potential technical risks. In this context, this article addresses an improved approach based on upgrading the BAS data analytics capability by means of an edge computing technology. The edge communicates with the BAS low-level controller using a serial communication protocol. Taking advantage of the high computing ability of the edge device, an optimization-based EMS of the PV/ESS hybrid system is implemented. Different testing scenarios have been carried out on a real prototype with different weather conditions, and the results show the implementation feasibility and technical performance of such advanced EMS for the management of building energy resources. It has also been proven to be feasible and advantageous to operate the local energy network in island mode while ensuring system safety. Additionally, an estimated energy saving improvement of 6.23 % has been achieved using optimization-based EMS compared to the classical rule-based EMS, with better ESS constraints fulfillment.
Analysing and predicting the advance rate of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) in hard rock is integral to tunnelling project planning and execution. It has been applied in the industry for several decades with varying success. Most prediction models are based on or designed for large-diameter TBMs, and much research has been conducted on related tunnelling projects. However, only a few models incorporate information from projects with an outer diameter smaller than 5 m and no penetration prediction model for pipe jacking machines exists to date. In contrast to large TBMs, small-diameter TBMs and their projects have been considered little in research. In general, they are characterised by distinctive features, including insufficient geotechnical information, sometimes rather short drive lengths, special machine designs and partially concurring lining methods like pipe jacking and segment lining. A database which covers most of the parameters mentioned above has been compiled to investigate the performance of small-diameter TBMs in hard rock. In order to provide sufficient geological and technical variance, this database contains 37 projects with 70 geotechnically homogeneous areas. Besides the technical parameters, important geotechnical data like lithological information, unconfined compressive strength, tensile strength and point load index is included and evaluated. The analysis shows that segment lining TBMs have considerably higher penetration rates in similar geological and technical settings mostly due to their design parameters. Different methodologies for predicting TBM penetration, including state-of-the-art models from the literature as well as newly derived regression and machine learning models, are discussed and deployed for backward modelling of the projects contained in the database. New ranges of application for small-diameter tunnelling in several industry-standard penetration models are presented, and new approaches for the penetration prediction of pipe jacking machines in hard rock are proposed.
Following the traditional paradigm of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), modern CNNs manage to keep pace with more recent, for example transformer-based, models by not only increasing model depth and width but also the kernel size. This results in large amounts of learnable model parameters that need to be handled during training. While following the convolutional paradigm with the according spatial inductive bias, we question the significance of \emph{learned} convolution filters. In fact, our findings demonstrate that many contemporary CNN architectures can achieve high test accuracies without ever updating randomly initialized (spatial) convolution filters. Instead, simple linear combinations (implemented through efficient 1×1 convolutions) suffice to effectively recombine even random filters into expressive network operators. Furthermore, these combinations of random filters can implicitly regularize the resulting operations, mitigating overfitting and enhancing overall performance and robustness. Conversely, retaining the ability to learn filter updates can impair network performance. Lastly, although we only observe relatively small gains from learning 3×3 convolutions, the learning gains increase proportionally with kernel size, owing to the non-idealities of the independent and identically distributed (\textit{i.i.d.}) nature of default initialization techniques.
We have developed a methodology for the systematic generation of a large image dataset of macerated wood references, which we used to generate image data for nine hardwood genera. This is the basis for a substantial approach to automate, for the first time, the identification of hardwood species in microscopic images of fibrous materials by deep learning. Our methodology includes a flexible pipeline for easy annotation of vessel elements. We compare the performance of different neural network architectures and hyperparameters. Our proposed method performs similarly well to human experts. In the future, this will improve controls on global wood fiber product flows to protect forests.
State-of-the-art models for pixel-wise prediction tasks such as image restoration, image segmentation, or disparity estimation, involve several stages of data resampling, in which the resolution of feature maps is first reduced to aggregate information and then sequentially increased to generate a high-resolution output. Several previous works have investigated the effect of artifacts that are invoked during downsampling and diverse cures have been proposed that facilitate to improve prediction stability and even robustness for image classification. However, equally relevant, artifacts that arise during upsampling have been less discussed. This is significantly relevant as upsampling and downsampling approaches face fundamentally different challenges. While during downsampling, aliases and artifacts can be reduced by blurring feature maps, the emergence of fine details is crucial during upsampling. Blurring is therefore not an option and dedicated operations need to be considered. In this work, we are the first to explore the relevance of context during upsampling by employing convolutional upsampling operations with increasing kernel size while keeping the encoder unchanged. We find that increased kernel sizes can in general improve the prediction stability in tasks such as image restoration or image segmentation, while a block that allows for a combination of small-size kernels for fine details and large-size kernels for artifact removal and increased context yields the best results.
Fix your downsampling ASAP! Be natively more robust via Aliasing and Spectral Artifact free Pooling
(2023)
Convolutional neural networks encode images through a sequence of convolutions, normalizations and non-linearities as well as downsampling operations into potentially strong semantic embeddings. Yet, previous work showed that even slight mistakes during sampling, leading to aliasing, can be directly attributed to the networks' lack in robustness. To address such issues and facilitate simpler and faster adversarial training, [12] recently proposed FLC pooling, a method for provably alias-free downsampling - in theory. In this work, we conduct a further analysis through the lens of signal processing and find that such current pooling methods, which address aliasing in the frequency domain, are still prone to spectral leakage artifacts. Hence, we propose aliasing and spectral artifact-free pooling, short ASAP. While only introducing a few modifications to FLC pooling, networks using ASAP as downsampling method exhibit higher native robustness against common corruptions, a property that FLC pooling was missing. ASAP also increases native robustness against adversarial attacks on high and low resolution data while maintaining similar clean accuracy or even outperforming the baseline.
Motivated by the recent trend towards the usage of larger receptive fields for more context-aware neural networks in vision applications, we aim to investigate how large these receptive fields really need to be. To facilitate such study, several challenges need to be addressed, most importantly: (i) We need to provide an effective way for models to learn large filters (potentially as large as the input data) without increasing their memory consumption during training or inference, (ii) the study of filter sizes has to be decoupled from other effects such as the network width or number of learnable parameters, and (iii) the employed convolution operation should be a plug-and-play module that can replace any conventional convolution in a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and allow for an efficient implementation in current frameworks. To facilitate such models, we propose to learn not spatial but frequency representations of filter weights as neural implicit functions, such that even infinitely large filters can be parameterized by only a few learnable weights. The resulting neural implicit frequency CNNs are the first models to achieve results on par with the state-of-the-art on large image classification benchmarks while executing convolutions solely in the frequency domain and can be employed within any CNN architecture. They allow us to provide an extensive analysis of the learned receptive fields. Interestingly, our analysis shows that, although the proposed networks could learn very large convolution kernels, the learned filters practically translate into well-localized and relatively small convolution kernels in the spatial domain.
Assessing the robustness of deep neural networks against out-of-distribution inputs is crucial, especially in safety-critical domains like autonomous driving, but also in safety systems where malicious actors can digitally alter inputs to circumvent safety guards. However, designing effective out-of-distribution tests that encompass all possible scenarios while preserving accurate label information is a challenging task. Existing methodologies often entail a compromise between variety and constraint levels for attacks and sometimes even both. In a first step towards a more holistic robustness evaluation of image classification models, we introduce an attack method based on image solarization that is conceptually straightforward yet avoids jeopardizing the global structure of natural images independent of the intensity. Through comprehensive evaluations of multiple ImageNet models, we demonstrate the attack's capacity to degrade accuracy significantly, provided it is not integrated into the training augmentations. Interestingly, even then, no full immunity to accuracy deterioration is achieved. In other settings, the attack can often be simplified into a black-box attack with model-independent parameters. Defenses against other corruptions do not consistently extend to be effective against our specific attack.
Project website: https://github.com/paulgavrikov/adversarial_solarization
Entity Matching (EM) defines the task of learning to group objects by transferring semantic concepts from example groups (=entities) to unseen data. Despite the general availability of image data in the context of many EM-problems, most currently available EM-algorithms solely rely on (textual) meta data. In this paper, we introduce the first publicly available large-scale dataset for "visual entity matching", based on a production level use case in the retail domain. Using scanned advertisement leaflets, collected over several years from different European retailers, we provide a total of ~786k manually annotated, high resolution product images containing ~18k different individual retail products which are grouped into ~3k entities. The annotation of these product entities is based on a price comparison task, where each entity forms an equivalence class of comparable products. Following on a first baseline evaluation, we show that the proposed "visual entity matching" constitutes a novel learning problem which can not sufficiently be solved using standard image based classification and retrieval algorithms. Instead, novel approaches which allow to transfer example based visual equivalent classes to new data are needed to address the proposed problem. The aim of this paper is to provide a benchmark for such algorithms.
Information about the dataset, evaluation code and download instructions are provided under https://www.retail-786k.org/.
For the treatment of bone defects, biodegradable, compressive biomaterials are needed as replacements that degrade as the bone regenerates. The problem with existing materials has either been their insufficient mechanical strength or the excessive differences in their elastic modulus, leading to stress shielding and eventual failure. In this study, the compressive strength of CPC ceramics (with a layer thickness of more than 12 layers) was compared with sintered β-TCP ceramics. It was assumed that as the number of layers increased, the mechanical strength of 3D-printed scaffolds would increase toward the value of sintered ceramics. In addition, the influence of the needle inner diameter on the mechanical strength was investigated. Circular scaffolds with 20, 25, 30, and 45 layers were 3D printed using a 3D bioplotter, solidified in a water-saturated atmosphere for 3 days, and then tested for compressive strength together with a β-TCP sintered ceramic using a Zwick universal testing machine. The 3D-printed scaffolds had a compressive strength of 41.56 ± 7.12 MPa, which was significantly higher than that of the sintered ceramic (24.16 ± 4.44 MPa). The 3D-printed scaffolds with round geometry reached or exceeded the upper limit of the compressive strength of cancellous bone toward substantia compacta. In addition, CPC scaffolds exhibited more bone-like compressibility than the comparable β-TCP sintered ceramic, demonstrating that the mechanical properties of CPC scaffolds are more similar to bone than sintered β-TCP ceramics.