Self-adaptive multi-agent systems for aided decision-making : an application to maritime surveillance

L'activité maritime s'est fortement développée ces dernières années et sert de support à de nombreuses activités illicites. Il est devenu nécessaire que les organismes impliqués dans la surveillance maritime disposent de systèmes efficaces pour les aider à identifier ces activités illicites. Les Systèmes de Surveillance Maritime doivent observer de manière efficace un espace maritime large, à identifier des anomalies de comportement des navires évoluant dans l'espace en question, et à déclencher des alertes documentées si ces anomalies amènent à penser que les navires ont un comportement suspect. Nous proposons un modèle générique de système multi-agents, que nous appelons MAS4AT, capable de remplir deux des différents rôles d'un système de surveillance : la représentation numérique des comportements des entités surveillées et des mécanismes d'apprentissage pour une meilleure efficacité. MAS4AT est intégré au système I2C.The maritime activity has widely grow in the last few years and is the witness of several illegal activities. It has become necessary that the organizations involved in the maritime surveillance possess efficient systems to help them in their identification. The maritime surveillance systems must observe a wide maritime area, identify the anomalies in the behaviours of the monitored ships et trigger alerts when these anomalies leads to a suspicious behavior. We propose a generic agent model, called MAS4AT, able to fulfil two main roles of a surveillance system: the numerical representation of the behaviours of the monitored entities and learning mechanisms for a better efficiency. MAS4AT is integrated in the system I2C

A Guide to Additive Manufacturing

This open access book gives both a theoretical and practical overview of several important aspects of additive manufacturing (AM). It is written in an educative style to enable the reader to understand and apply the material. It begins with an introduction to AM technologies and the general workflow, as well as an overview of the current standards within AM. In the following chapter, a more in-depth description is given of design optimization and simulation for AM in polymers and metals, including practical guidelines for topology optimization and the use of lattice structures. Special attention is also given to the economics of AM and when the technology offers a benefit compared to conventional manufacturing processes. This is followed by a chapter with practical insights into how AM materials and processing parameters are developed for both material extrusion and powder bed fusion. The final chapter describes functionally graded AM in various materials and technologies. Throughout the book, a large number of industrial applications are described to exemplify the benefits of AM

A Guide to Additive Manufacturing

This open access book gives both a theoretical and practical overview of several important aspects of additive manufacturing (AM). It is written in an educative style to enable the reader to understand and apply the material. It begins with an introduction to AM technologies and the general workflow, as well as an overview of the current standards within AM. In the following chapter, a more in-depth description is given of design optimization and simulation for AM in polymers and metals, including practical guidelines for topology optimization and the use of lattice structures. Special attention is also given to the economics of AM and when the technology offers a benefit compared to conventional manufacturing processes. This is followed by a chapter with practical insights into how AM materials and processing parameters are developed for both material extrusion and powder bed fusion. The final chapter describes functionally graded AM in various materials and technologies. Throughout the book, a large number of industrial applications are described to exemplify the benefits of AM

Affective virtual environments: a psychophysiological HCI system concept

The recent “resurrection” of interest in Virtual Reality has stimulated interest in the quest for true “immersion” in computer-generated worlds. True immersion may only ever be achieved through advanced BCI systems, but, until that day arrives, it is important to understand how it may be possible to measure human engagement and emotions within virtual worlds using psychophysiological techniques. This study aims to design an affective computing system, capable of responding to human emotions, within virtual environments. Based on the development of a Valence/Arousal model, a controllable affective VR, capable of evoking multiple emotions, has been constructed. Multiple variations of the VR have been evaluated subjectively using over 68 participants. More objective, physiologically-based experiments have been executed, in which the EEG, GSR and heart rates of 45 participants have been recorded during exposure to the most powerful affective environments, identified in the earlier study. Multiple affective recognition systems have been trained and crossvalidated against 30 participants and evaluated using the other 15 individuals. The results suggested that the trained classifiers perform highly accurately in the training database, but achieve random classification accuracies in the new dataset. It was highlighted that the extreme performance attenuation is due to the high individual differences in participants’ physiological responses, in emotional experiences

Civil aviation safety in Indonesia

The aim of the research described in this thesis is to identify factors that contribute to incidents/accident in the Indonesian civil aviation industry. Three studies were undertaken. The first study comprised of an analysis of 97 official accident investigation reports, and was aimed at capturing the nature of the incidents/accidents. The key results are that Indonesia suffers a relatively high accident rate, with the most prevalent accident types being non-fatal Runways Excursions of jet aircraft at main airports, and Controlled Flight Into Terrain accidents in the highlands, these often being fatal. The second study implemented and analysed the results of a survey of 205 professional pilots currently flying in Indonesia, who have four different flight training backgrounds, being expatriate pilots flying for the Indonesian industry, Indonesian commercial pilots, Indonesian ex-military pilots and Australian pilots. The three pilot survey constructs (cockpit management attitude questionnaire/CMAQ, power distance index/PDI and approach and landing attitudes/ALA) are analysed to compare the four groups of pilots, and it is found that Indonesian national pilots from commercial and military backgrounds have a more cavalier and less consistent approach to safety than expatriate and Australian pilots. The last study comprised an analysis of interviews with 27 senior managers of the Indonesian aviation industry, including managers from regulatory bodies, air operators, training schools, the national transportation safety committee/NTSC and the national aviation weather agency. The manager surveys confirm that a substandard safety culture is believed to exist at all levels of management and agency, as well as in airline operations and training. The three following methods: descriptive, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and thematic analysis are applied for each of the study. To triangulate and discuss the core results of the studies, the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) conceptual model is applied, and the Indonesian system is found to have safety deficiencies at all levels including Organisational Influences, Unsafe Supervision, Preconditions of Unsafe Acts and Unsafe Acts. The combination of bad weather and relatively poor pilot training and operation appears to be prevalent

DRONE DELIVERY OF CBNRECy – DEW WEAPONS Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD)

Drone Delivery of CBNRECy – DEW Weapons: Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD) is our sixth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs and UUVs. Our textbook takes on a whole new purview for UAS / CUAS/ UUV (drones) – how they can be used to deploy Weapons of Mass Destruction and Deception against CBRNE and civilian targets of opportunity. We are concerned with the future use of these inexpensive devices and their availability to maleficent actors. Our work suggests that UASs in air and underwater UUVs will be the future of military and civilian terrorist operations. UAS / UUVs can deliver a huge punch for a low investment and minimize human casualties.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1046/thumbnail.jp

Formation of media competence as means of influence on emotional, cognitive, and volitional development of personality

The article analyzes the state of modern education, actualizes the need for its qualitative changes and priorities, new requirements for the organization of innovative educational activities of schoolchildren. Theoretical research of scientists on media competence and media socialization of students is analyzed. The essence of concepts «media competence of the student» and «media socialization» is deepened based on the reviewed literature. The article dwells on contradictions as factors of socio-psychological and educational problems, which indicate the understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the usage of media in the learning process. It also researches the dependence of the world perception of high school students on their presentation of information. The authors highlight the advantages and disadvantages of using media in the learning process, the dependence of students’ perception of the world on its representation by television, cinema, magazines, newspapers, radio and the Internet. Pedagogical approaches and conditions of successful formation of media competence of students, and which make it possible to create a favorable learning environment for emotional, cognitive, volitional development of young people are proposed. The essence and structure of media competence is characterized. The methodical system of high school students’ media competence formation for acquiring moral orientations is researched. The stages of the organization of the formation of media competence of students are defined. It is stated that during the formation of students` media competence a significant role is played by the consideration of methodological and technological factors. To prepare modern students for life in society, we also need to consider his individual qualities, abilities, willingness to use media technologies, solve practice-oriented, research and creative tasks, take into account the peculiarities of perception of media texts by teenagers. The formation of students’ key competencies requires certain innovations in the educational process. It should be organizational content and technological innovations. Therefore, it is necessary not to abandon the media, but to teach the child to consume media products consciously, distinguishing real values from fake ones. Thus, there is an urgent need for further development of media education. Modern media open wide opportunities in the field of education, changing the quality of education and upbringing, the quality of daily life of the child. We conclude that the creation of an integrated system of media education, the formation of the young generation’s media literacy and media competence contributes not only to their comprehensive development, but also allow to use variety of motives, knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes to information. It also promotes the usage of media competence, methods of collection and processing of information, the use of creative abilities in creation of media texts and their evaluation, the manifestation of citizenship and critical thinking. The components, criteria, indicators and levels of formation of media competence, which allow to influence the comprehensive development of students, to avoid negative influence due to purposeful manipulation of media and distortion of messages by them, are established. The use of innovative types of work for the acquisition of media competence by students is suggested