Advancing Artificial Intelligence in Sensors, Signals, and Imaging Informatics.

ObjectiveTo identify research works that exemplify recent developments in the field of sensors, signals, and imaging informatics.MethodA broad literature search was conducted using PubMed and Web of Science, supplemented with individual papers that were nominated by section editors. A predefined query made from a combination of Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms and keywords were used to search both sources. Section editors then filtered the entire set of retrieved papers with each paper having been reviewed by two section editors. Papers were assessed on a three-point Likert scale by two section editors, rated from 0 (do not include) to 2 (should be included). Only papers with a combined score of 2 or above were considered.ResultsA search for papers was executed at the start of January 2019, resulting in a combined set of 1,459 records published in 2018 in 119 unique journals. Section editors jointly filtered the list of candidates down to 14 nominations. The 14 candidate best papers were then ranked by a group of eight external reviewers. Four papers, representing different international groups and journals, were selected as the best papers by consensus of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Yearbook editorial board.ConclusionsThe fields of sensors, signals, and imaging informatics have rapidly evolved with the application of novel artificial intelligence/machine learning techniques. Studies have been able to discover hidden patterns and integrate different types of data towards improving diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes. However, the quality of papers varied widely without clear reporting standards for these types of models. Nevertheless, a number of papers have demonstrated useful techniques to improve the generalizability, interpretability, and reproducibility of increasingly sophisticated models

Performance of enhanced error concealment techniques in multi-view video coding systems

This research work is partially funded by the Strategic Educational Pathways Scholarship Scheme (STEPS-Malta). This scholarship is partly financed by the European Union - European Social Fund (ESF 1.25).Transmission of multi-view video encoded bit-streams over error-prone channels demands robust error concealment techniques. This paper studies the performance of solutions that exploit the neighbourhood spatial, temporal and inter-view information for this scope. Furthermore, different boundary distortion measurements, motion compensation refinement and temporal error concealment of Anchor frames were exploited to improve the results obtained by the basic error concealment techniques. Results show that a gain in performance is obtained with the implementation of each independent concealment technique. Furthermore, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) gains of about 4dB relative to the standard were achieved when adopting a hybrid error concealment approach.peer-reviewe

Improving the eco-efficiency of an agricultural water use system

During the last two decades, the concept of eco-efficiency has been recognized as a suitable measure of progress towards a greener and more sustainable economy. The prefix “eco-” refers to both economic and ecological (environmental) performance. The need for improving eco-efficiency leads to the challenge of identifying the most promising alternative solutions which improve both the economic and the environmental performance of a given system (“eco-innovations”). Therefore, it becomes critical to develop eco-efficiency metrics for measuring environmental and economic performance of a system. The current paper presents a methodological framework that attempts to explore the use of eco-efficiency indicators in meso-level water use systems and through them to assess the impact of innovative technologies in such systems. The assessment of the environmental performance follows a life-cycle oriented approach using the midpoint impact categories while the economic performance is measured using the Total Value Added to the product due to water use. The eco-efficiency is expressed as the ratio of the economic performance indicator to the environmental performance indicator. The proposed approach is applied to a water use system of the agricultural sector, and more specifically to the fresh form tomato crop production in Phthiotida. The analysis reveals that the most important environmental impacts of the system are (i) greenhouse gas emissions due to energy consumption, (ii) release of toxic substances, due to the use of fertilizers and pesticides and (iii) depletion of freshwater resources. Three alternative interventions are examined for upgrading the value chain: (i) installation of sub-surface drip irrigation system, (ii) replacement of diesel pumps with solar pumps and (iii) use of organic fertilizers. Based on the findings, all of the proposed interventions have a positive impact on the overall eco-efficiency of the system. Sub-surface drip irrigation is the least favorable mainly due to its high investment cost. The use of solar pumps strongly influences climate change and photochemical ozone formation while the use of organic fertilizers has a more balanced impact on all indicators, with an emphasis on eutrophication. Thus, for a more holistic approach, regarding the eco-efficiency performance, a combined application of these three scenarios may be proposed

Acknowledgment to Reviewers of Signals in 2020

Peer review is the driving force of journal development, and reviewers are gatekeepers who ensure that Signals maintains its standards for the high quality of its published papers [...

Acknowledgment to Reviewers of Signals in 2021

Rigorous peer-reviews are the basis of high-quality academic publishing [...