Optimal design of a quadratic parameter varying vehicle suspension system using contrast-based Fruit Fly Optimisation

In the UK, in 2014 almost fifty thousand motorists made claims about vehicle damages caused by potholes. Pothole damage mitigation has become so important that a number of car manufacturers have officially designated it as one of their priorities. The objective is to improve suspension shock performance without degrading road holding and ride comfort. In this study, it is shown that significant improvement in performance is achieved if a clipped quadratic parameter varying suspension is employed. Optimal design of the proposed system is challenging because of the multiple local minima causing global optimisation algorithms to get trapped at local minima, located far from the optimum solution. To this end an enhanced Fruit Fly Optimisation Algorithm − based on a recent study on how well a fruit fly’s tiny brain finds food − was developed. The new algorithm is first evaluated using standard and nonstandard benchmark tests and then applied to the computationally expensive suspension design problem. The proposed algorithm is simple to use, robust and well suited for the solution of highly nonlinear problems. For the suspension design problem new insight is gained, leading to optimum damping profiles as a function of excitation level and rattle space velocity

CAP-A : a suite of tools for data privacy evaluation of mobile applications

The utilisation of personal data by mobile apps is often hidden behind vague Privacy Policy documents, which are typically lengthy, difficult to read (containing legal terms and definitions) and frequently changing. This paper discusses a suite of tools developed in the context of the CAP-A project, aiming to harness the collective power of users to improve their privacy awareness and to promote privacy-friendly behaviour by mobile apps. Through crowdsourcing techniques, users can evaluate the privacy friendliness of apps, annotate and understand Privacy Policy documents, and help other users become aware of privacy-related aspects of mobile apps and their implications, whereas developers and policy makers can identify trends and the general stance of the public in privacy-related matters. The tools are available for public use in: https://cap-a.eu/tools/

Evaluating the data privacy of mobile applications through crowdsourcing

Consumers are largely unaware regarding the use being made to the data that they generate through smart devices, or their GDPR-compliance, since such information is typically hidden behind vague privacy policy documents, which are often lengthy, difficult to read (containing legal terms and definitions) and frequently changing. This paper describes the activities of the CAP-A project, whose aim is to apply crowdsourcing techniques to evaluate the privacy friendliness of apps, and to allow users to better understand the content of Privacy Policy documents and, consequently, the privacy implications of using any given mobile app. To achieve this, we developed a set of tools that aim at assisting users to express their own privacy concerns and expectations and assess the mobile apps’ privacy properties through collective intelligence

A Rewarding Framework for Crowdsourcing to Increase Privacy Awareness

Part 5: Potpourri IInternational audienceDigital applications typically describe their privacy policy in lengthy and vague documents (called PrPs), but these are rarely read by users, who remain unaware of privacy risks associated with the use of these digital applications. Thus, users need to become more aware of digital applications’ policies and, thus, more confident about their choices. To raise privacy awareness, we implemented the CAP-A portal, a crowdsourcing platform which aggregates knowledge as extracted from PrP documents and motivates users in performing privacy-related tasks. The Rewarding Framework is one of the most critical components of the platform. It enhances user motivation and engagement by combining features from existing successful rewarding theories. In this work, we describe this Rewarding Framework, and show how it supports users to increase their privacy knowledge level by engaging them to perform privacy-related tasks, such as annotating PrP documents in a crowdsourcing environment. The proposed Rewarding Framework was validated by pilots ran in the frame of the European project CAP-A and by a user evaluation focused on its impact in terms of engagement and raising privacy awareness. The results show that the Rewarding Framework improves engagement and motivation, and increases users’ privacy awareness

The MiB system : an interactive storytelling experience in the wine industry

The wine industry has evolved over time to tackle the emerging needs of both wine professionals and consumers. Especially during the last decades, there is a growing need for transparency to ensure consumers buy safe, healthy, and environmentally-friendly food products. These details include for example information about the winemaking process, farm practices, or the prevailing weather conditions throughout the year. However, this kind of information does not exist in an integrated information system that could give additional value to both wine producers and consumers. In the frame of the MiB (Message-In-a-Bottle) project we developed an information system (called MiB) that exploits heterogeneous data (e.g., tracebility) from various sources (e.g., sensors, ERP systems) for creating a meaningful story for each wine label. The system is planned to go into the market through the Lyrarakis S.A. winery, one of the industry partners of the project. This paper describes the MiB system which offers a rich ecosystem of services and applications that provide: a) a storytelling-based presentation of wine labels (Main Application); b) wine suggestions based on a food selection, or vice-versa (Le Sommelier Application); c) an interactive authentication and counterfeit report mechanism for wine bottles (Authentication Application); d) an Augmented Reality experience (AR application); and e) a data entry tool (Admin UI Application). These functionalities constitute a robust and powerful tool for wine producers, professionals and consumers