Gestion conseillée et information des investisseurs, quelles obligations pour les SGP ?

in Bulletin Joly Bourse (2022)

Designing a framework for digital KYC processes built on blockchain-based self-sovereign identity

in Information and Management (2022), 59(7),

Know your customer (KYC) processes place a great burden on banks, because they are costly, inefficient, and inconvenient for customers. While blockchain technology is often mentioned as a potential ... [more ▼]

Know your customer (KYC) processes place a great burden on banks, because they are costly, inefficient, and inconvenient for customers. While blockchain technology is often mentioned as a potential solution, it is not clear how to use the technology’s advantages without violating data protection regulations and customer privacy. We demonstrate how blockchain-based self-sovereign identity (SSI) can solve the challenges of KYC. We follow a rigorous design science research approach to create a framework that utilizes SSI in the KYC process, deriving nascent design principles that theorize on blockchain’s role for SSI. [less ▲]

A model-based framework for inter-app Vulnerability analysis of Android applications

in Software: Practice and Experience (2022)

The role of the bilateral subcutaneous plate in the minimal invasive stabilization of fragility fractures of the pelvis

in Trauma Case Reports (2022), 42

Introduction: Anterior pelvic ring fractures are common in geriatric patients. Current treatment algorithms recommend osteosynthesis if no pain free mobilisation is possible. For this a multitude of ... [more ▼]

Introduction: Anterior pelvic ring fractures are common in geriatric patients. Current treatment algorithms recommend osteosynthesis if no pain free mobilisation is possible. For this a multitude of surgical techniques have been described. Among these the Supraacetabular External Fixator (SEF) is regarded a simple and effective surgical procedure. However, this technique is associated with significant drawbacks. Alternatively, there is the option of an internal fixator or a formal plate osteosynthesis. It is the objective of this case report to present the Subcutaneous Iliopubic Plate (SIP) in a fragility fracture of the anterior and posterior pelvic ring. Case report: An 83-year-old female patient sustained a fracture of the anterior pelvic ring, the lateral sacrum and the medial femoral neck. After initially refusing any surgery, the patient agreed to have the endoprosthesis implanted first, and then secondarily to dorsoventral osteosynthesis of the pelvis. Dorsally a transiliosacral screw osteosynthesis was performed. Anteriorly a bilateral subcutaneous iliopubic plate-osteosynthesis was chosen, a plate position that is anterior to the aponeurosis. Conclusions: The subcutaneous plate has proven to be a quick and uncomplicated surgical procedure that is significantly better tolerated by patients than external stabilization. [less ▲]

Ambient backcom in beyond 5G NOMA networks: A multi-cell resource allocation framework

in Digital Communications and Networks (2022)

The research of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is extensively used to improve the capacity of networks beyond the fifth-generation. The recent merger of NOMA with ambient Backscatter Communication ... [more ▼]

The research of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is extensively used to improve the capacity of networks beyond the fifth-generation. The recent merger of NOMA with ambient Backscatter Communication (BackCom), though opening new possibilities for massive connectivity, poses several challenges in dense wireless networks. One of such challenges is the performance degradation of ambient BackCom in multi-cell NOMA networks under the effect of inter-cell interference. Driven by providing an efficient solution to the issue, this article proposes a new resource allocation framework that uses a duality theory approach. Specifically, the sum rate of the multi-cell network with backscatter tags and NOMA user equipments is maximized by formulating a joint optimization problem. To find the efficient base station transmit power and backscatter reflection coefficient in each cell, the original problem is first divided into two subproblems, and then the closed form solution is derived. A comparison with the Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA) ambient BackCom and pure NOMA transmission has been provided. Simulation results of the proposed NOMA ambient BackCom indicate a significant improvement over the OMA ambient BackCom and pure NOMA in terms of sum-rate gains. [less ▲]

Spectral Efficiency Analysis of Hybrid Relay-Reflecting Intelligent Surface-Assisted Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems

in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (2022)

A cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input-multiple-output (mMIMO) system can provide uniform spectral efficiency (SE) with simple signal processing. On the other hand, a recently introduced technology ... [more ▼]

A cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input-multiple-output (mMIMO) system can provide uniform spectral efficiency (SE) with simple signal processing. On the other hand, a recently introduced technology called hybrid relay-reflecting intelligent surface (HR-RIS) can customize the physical propagation environment by simultaneously reflecting and amplifying radio waves in preferred directions. Thus, it is natural that incorporating HR-RIS into CF mMIMO can be a symbiotic convergence of these two technologies for future wireless communications. This motivates us to consider an HR-RIS-aided CF mMIMO system to utilize their combined benefits. We first model the uplink/downlink channels and derive the minimum-mean-square-error estimate of the effective channels. We then present a comprehensive analysis of SE performance of the considered system. Specifically, we derive closed-form expressions for the uplink and downlink SE. The results reveal important observations on the performance gains achieved by HR-RISs compared to conventional systems. The presented analytical results are also valid for conventional CF mMIMO systems and those aided by passive reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. Such results play an important role in designing new transmission strategies and optimizing HR-RIS-aided CF mMIMO systems. Finally, we provide extensive numerical results to verify the analytical derivations and the effectiveness of the proposed system design under various settings. [less ▲]

Wavelet methods to study the pointwise regularity of the generalized Rosenblatt process

in Electronic Journal of Probability (2022), 27

We identify three types of pointwise behaviour in the regularity of the (generalized) Rosenblatt process. This extends to a non Gaussian setting previous results known for the (fractional) Brownian motion ... [more ▼]

We identify three types of pointwise behaviour in the regularity of the (generalized) Rosenblatt process. This extends to a non Gaussian setting previous results known for the (fractional) Brownian motion. On this purpose, fine bounds on the increments of the Rosenblatt process are needed. Our analysis is essentially based on various wavelet methods. [less ▲]

Cooperative backscatter NOMA with imperfect SIC: Towards energy efficient sum rate maximization in sustainable 6G networks

in Journal of King Saud University - Computer and Information Sciences (2022), 34(10), 7940-7947

The combination of backscatter communication with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has the potential to support low-powered massive connections in upcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks ... [more ▼]

The combination of backscatter communication with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has the potential to support low-powered massive connections in upcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks. More specifically, backscatter communication can harvest and use the existing RF signals in the atmosphere for communication, while NOMA provides communication to multiple wireless devices over the same frequency and time resources. This paper has proposed a new resource management framework for backscatter-aided cooperative NOMA communication in upcoming 6G networks. In particular, the proposed work has simultaneously optimized the base station’s transmit power, relaying node, the reflection coefficient of the backscatter tag, and time allocation under imperfect successive interference cancellation to maximize the sum rate of the system. To obtain an efficient solution for the resource management framework, we have proposed a combination of the bisection method and dual theory, where the sub-gradient method is adopted to optimize the Lagrangian multipliers. Numerical results have shown that the proposed solution provides excellent performance. When the performance of the proposed technique is compared to a brute-forcing search technique that guarantees optimal solution however, is very time-consuming, it was seen that the gap in performance is actually 0%. Hence, the proposed framework has provided performance equal to a cumbersome brute-force search technique while offering much less complexity. The works in the literature on cooperative NOMA considered equal time distribution for cooperation and direct communication. Our results showed that optimizing the time-division can increase the performance by more than 110% for high transmission powers. [less ▲]

Perceptual Content, Phenomenal Contrasts, and Externalism

in Journal of Philosophy (2022), 119(11), 602-627

According to Sparse views of perceptual content, the phenomenal character of perceptual experience is exhausted by the experiential presentation of ‘low-level’ properties such as (in the case of vision ... [more ▼]

According to Sparse views of perceptual content, the phenomenal character of perceptual experience is exhausted by the experiential presentation of ‘low-level’ properties such as (in the case of vision) shapes, colors, and textures Whereas, according to Rich views of perceptual content, the phenomenal character of perceptual experience can also sometimes involve experiencing ‘high-level’ properties such as natural kinds, artefactual kinds, causal relations, linguistic meanings, and moral properties. An important dialectical tool in the debate between Rich and Sparse theorists is the so-called ‘method of phenomenal contrast’. I explore how this method of phenomenal contrast interacts with the sort of content-externalism made familiar by Putnam. I show that the possibility of Twin Earth style cases places important restrictions on the range of properties that the method of phenomenal contrast could plausibly apply to. Moreover, these restrictions would apply to some paradigmatically low-level properties as well as to some of the frequently advanced high-level properties. I also draw some general lessons about the different ways one might conceive of the relation between phenomenal character and representational content. [less ▲]

La CJUE précise la notion d’« éléments essentiels » du prospectus d’un OPCVM, obs. sous JCUE, 20 oct. 2022,

in Banque et Droit (2022)

A Survey on Semantic Communications for Intelligent Wireless Networks

in Wireless Personal Communications (2022)

Research on intelligent wireless network aims at the development of a human society which is ubiquitous and mobile, simultaneously providing solutions to the coverage, capacity, and computing issues ... [more ▼]

Research on intelligent wireless network aims at the development of a human society which is ubiquitous and mobile, simultaneously providing solutions to the coverage, capacity, and computing issues. These networks will focus on provisioning intelligent use-cases through higher data-rates over the millimeter waves and the Tera-Hertz frequency. However, at such high frequencies, multiple non-desired phenomena such as, atmospheric absorption and blocking occur which create a bottleneck owing to resource scarcity. Hence, existing trend of exactly reproducing transmitted data at the receiver will result in a constant need for higher bandwidth. A possible solution to such a challenge lies in semantic communications which focuses on meaning (relevance or context) of the received data. This article presents a detailed survey on the recent technological trends in regard to semantic communications for intelligent wireless networks. Initially, the article focuses on the semantic communications architecture including the model, and source and channel coding. Next, cross-layer interaction, and various goal-oriented communication applications are detailed. Further, overall semantic communications trends are presented following which, the key challenges and issues are detailed. Lastly, this survey article is an attempt to significantly contribute towards initiating future research in the area of semantic communications for the intelligent wireless networks. [less ▲]

Pour un système en matière de rapport et réduction relatifs à des opérations ante-mortem en droit des successions

in Revue Lamy Droit Civil (2022)

Adapting to Dynamic LEO-B5G Systems: Meta-Critic Learning Based Efficient Resource Scheduling

in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (2022), 21(11), 9582-9595

Low earth orbit (LEO) satellite-assisted communications have been considered as one of the key elements in beyond 5G systems to provide wide coverage and cost-efficient data services. Such dynamic space ... [more ▼]

Low earth orbit (LEO) satellite-assisted communications have been considered as one of the key elements in beyond 5G systems to provide wide coverage and cost-efficient data services. Such dynamic space-terrestrial topologies impose an exponential increase in the degrees of freedom in network management. In this paper, we address two practical issues for an over-loaded LEO-terrestrial system. The first challenge is how to efficiently schedule resources to serve a massive number of connected users, such that more data and users can be delivered/served. The second challenge is how to make the algorithmic solution more resilient in adapting to dynamic wireless environments. We first propose an iterative suboptimal algorithm to provide an offline benchmark. To adapt to unforeseen variations, we propose an enhanced meta-critic learning algorithm (EMCL), where a hybrid neural network for parameterization and the Wolpertinger policy for action mapping are designed in EMCL. The results demonstrate EMCL’s effectiveness and fast-response capabilities in over-loaded systems and in adapting to dynamic environments compare to previous actor-critic and meta-learning methods. [less ▲]

L’investissement et l’arbitrage au sens du Traité sur la Charte de l’énergie vu par la Cour de justice : la dimension stratégique de l’arrêt Komstroy à l’aune de l’Avis 1/20

in Revue trimestrielle de droit européen (2022), 2022(4), 693-704

The article comments on the ECJ's Komstroy judgment from the EU and international law perspectives.

Thickness and relative hyperbolicity for graphs of multicurves

in Journal of Topology (2022), 15(4), 2317-2351

We prove that any graph of multicurves satisfying certain natural properties is either hyperbolic, relatively hyperbolic, or thick. Further, this geometric characterization is determined by the set of ... [more ▼]

We prove that any graph of multicurves satisfying certain natural properties is either hyperbolic, relatively hyperbolic, or thick. Further, this geometric characterization is determined by the set of subsurfaces that intersect every vertex of the graph. This extends previously established results for the pants graph and the separating curve graph to a broad family of graphs associated to surfaces. [less ▲]

Unclonable human-invisible machine vision markers leveraging the omnidirectional chiral Bragg diffraction of cholesteric spherical reflectors

in Light: Science and Applications (2022), 11(309), 10103841377-022-01002-4

The seemingly simple step of molding a cholesteric liquid crystal into spherical shape, yielding a Cholesteric Spherical Reflector (CSR), has profound optical consequences that open a range of ... [more ▼]

The seemingly simple step of molding a cholesteric liquid crystal into spherical shape, yielding a Cholesteric Spherical Reflector (CSR), has profound optical consequences that open a range of opportunities for potentially transformative technologies. The chiral Bragg diffraction resulting from the helical self-assembly of cholesterics becomes omnidirectional in CSRs. This turns them into selective retroreflectors that are exceptionally easy to distinguish— regardless of background—by simple and low-cost machine vision, while at the same time they can be made largely imperceptible to human vision. This allows them to be distributed in human-populated environments, laid out in the form of QR-code-like markers that help robots and Augmented Reality (AR) devices to operate reliably, and to identify items in their surroundings. At the scale of individual CSRs, unpredictable features within each marker turn them into Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs), of great value for secure authentication. Via the machines reading them, CSR markers can thus act as trustworthy yet unobtrusive links between the physical world (buildings, vehicles, packaging,...) and its digital twin computer representation. This opens opportunities to address pressing challenges in logistics and supply chain management, recycling and the circular economy, sustainable construction of the built environment, and many other fields of individual, societal and commercial importance. [less ▲]

CalcGraph: taming the high costs of deep learning using models

in Software and Systems Modeling (2022)

Models based on differential programming, like deep neural networks, are well established in research and able to outperform manually coded counterparts in many applications. Today, there is a rising ... [more ▼]

Models based on differential programming, like deep neural networks, are well established in research and able to outperform manually coded counterparts in many applications. Today, there is a rising interest to introduce this flexible modeling to solve real-world problems. A major challenge when moving from research to application is the strict constraints on computational resources (memory and time). It is difficult to determine and contain the resource requirements of differential models, especially during the early training and hyperparameter exploration stages. In this article, we address this challenge by introducing CalcGraph, a model abstraction of differentiable programming layers. CalcGraph allows to model the computational resources that should be used and then CalcGraph’s model interpreter can automatically schedule the execution respecting the specifications made. We propose a novel way to efficiently switch models from storage to preallocated memory zones and vice versa to maximize the number of model executions given the available resources. We demonstrate the efficiency of our approach by showing that it consumes less resources than state-of-the-art frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch for single-model and multi-model execution. [less ▲]

Energy-Efficient Backscatter-Assisted Coded Cooperative-NOMA for B5G Wireless Communications

in IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking (2022)

In this manuscript, we propose an alternating optimization framework to maximize the energy efficiency of a backscatter-enabled cooperative Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system by optimizing the ... [more ▼]

In this manuscript, we propose an alternating optimization framework to maximize the energy efficiency of a backscatter-enabled cooperative Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system by optimizing the transmit power of the source, power allocation coefficients (PAC), and power of the relay node under imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding. A three-stage low-complexity energy-efficient alternating optimization algorithm is introduced which optimizes the transmit power, PAC, and relay power by considering the quality of service (QoS), power budget, and cooperation constraints. Subsequently, a joint channel coding framework is introduced to enhance the performance of far user which has no direct communication link with the base station (BS) and has bad channel conditions. In the destination node, the far user data is jointly decoded using a Sum-product algorithm (SPA) based joint iterative decoder realized by jointly-designed Quasi-cyclic Low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) codes. Simulation results evince that the proposed backscatter-enabled cooperative NOMA system outperforms its counterpart by providing an efficient performance in terms of energy efficiency. Also, proposed jointly-designed QC-LDPC codes provide an excellent bit-error-rate (BER) performance by jointly decoding the far user data for considered BSC cooperative NOMA system with only a few decoding iterations. [less ▲]

Embedding intelligence in materials for responsive built environment: A topical review on Liquid Crystal Elastomer actuators and sensors

in Building and Environment (2022), 226

Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) are an exciting category of material that has tremendous application potential across a variety of fields, owing to their unique properties that enable both sensing and ... [more ▼]

Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) are an exciting category of material that has tremendous application potential across a variety of fields, owing to their unique properties that enable both sensing and actuation. To some, LCEs are simply another type of Shape Memory Polymer, while to others they are an interesting on-going scientific experiment. In this visionary article, we bring an interdisciplinary discussion around creative and impactful ways that LCEs can be applied in the Built Environment to support kinematic and kinetic buildings and situational awareness. We focus particularly on the autonomy made possible by using LCEs, potentially removing needs for motors, wiring and tubing, and even enabling fully independent operation in response to natural environment variations, requiring no power sources. To illustrate the potential, we propose a number of concrete application scenarios where LCEs could offer innovative solutions to problems of great societal importance, such as autonomous active ventilation, heliotropic solar panel systems which can also remove snow or sand autonomously, and invisible coatings with strain mapping functionality, alerting residents in case of dangerous (static or dynamic) loads on roofs or windows, as well as assisting building safety inspection teams after earthquakes. [less ▲]

Non-stationary 3-D GBSM channel model for V2Vcommunications

in IET Communications (2022)

The spatial characteristics of the propagation channel have a considerable impact onthe applicability of multi-antenna systems. In this paper, a non-stationary 3-D GBSMvehicle-to-vehicle channel model is ... [more ▼]

The spatial characteristics of the propagation channel have a considerable impact onthe applicability of multi-antenna systems. In this paper, a non-stationary 3-D GBSMvehicle-to-vehicle channel model is proposed in the tunnel environment based on massivemultiple-input multiple-output antenna arrays. Instead of the plane wavefront assumptionsutilized in traditional multiple-input multiple-output systems, the proposed channel modelfor vehicle-to-vehicle communications uses spherical wavefront assumptions. Initially, thechannel impulse response and closed-form expression for the probability density func-tion of angle-of-departure and angle-of-arrival are derived in the elevation and azimuthplanes. Following that, due to the mobility of transmitting and receiving antenna arrays,expressions for the delay spread (DS), Doppler power spectrum density, temporal cross-correlation function, and channel capacity are extracted by examining line of sight andthe non line of sight propagation paths. The influence of numerous model parameterson the temporal cross-correlation function is also investigated, including antenna arrayspacing,K-factor, movement velocity, and time separation. The proposed 3-D model’s sta-tistical characteristics are verified through measurements, simulations, and analytical results,revealing its adaptability and effectiveness in the high-speed-train environment. [less ▲]

DBSegment: Fast and robust segmentation of deep brain structures considering domain generalisation

in Human Brain Mapping (2022)

Segmenting deep brain structures from magnetic resonance images is important for patient diagnosis, surgical planning, and research. Most current state-of-the-art solutions follow a segmentation-by ... [more ▼]

Segmenting deep brain structures from magnetic resonance images is important for patient diagnosis, surgical planning, and research. Most current state-of-the-art solutions follow a segmentation-by-registration approach, where subject magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) are mapped to a template with well-defined segmentations. However, registration-based pipelines are time-consuming, thus, limiting their clinical use. This paper uses deep learning to provide a one-step, robust, and efficient deep brain segmentation solution directly in the native space. The method consists of a preprocessing step to conform all MRI images to the same orientation, followed by a convolutional neural network using the nnU-Net framework. We use a total of 14 datasets from both research and clinical collections. Of these, seven were used for training and validation and seven were retained for testing. We trained the network to segment 30 deep brain structures, as well as a brain mask, using labels generated from a registration-based approach. We evaluated the generalizability of the network by performing a leave-one-dataset-out cross-validation, and independent testing on unseen datasets. Furthermore, we assessed cross-domain transportability by evaluating the results separately on different domains. We achieved an average dice score similarity of 0.89 ± 0.04 on the test datasets when compared to the registration-based gold standard. On our test system, the computation time decreased from 43 min for a reference registration-based pipeline to 1.3 min. Our proposed method is fast, robust, and generalizes with high reliability. It can be extended to the segmentation of other brain structures. It is publicly available on GitHub, and as a pip package for convenient usage. [less ▲]

The association of adolescents' mental health with oral health behavior: The Luxembourg Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study

in Frontiers in Dental Medicine (2022)

Locality of spontaneous symmetry breaking and universal spacing distribution of topological defects formed across a phase transition

in Physical Review. B (2022)

The crossing of a continuous phase transition results in the formation of topological defects with a density predicted by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). We characterize the spatial distribution of ... [more ▼]

The crossing of a continuous phase transition results in the formation of topological defects with a density predicted by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). We characterize the spatial distribution of pointlike topological defects in the resulting nonequilibrium state and model it using a Poisson point process in arbitrary spatial dimensions with KZM density. Numerical simulations in a one-dimensional φ4 theory unveil short-distance defect-defect corrections stemming from the kink excluded volume, while in two spatial dimensions, our model accurately describes the vortex spacing distribution in a strongly coupled superconductor indicating the suppression of defect-defect spatial correlations. [less ▲]

An Evolutionary Algorithm to Optimise a Distributed UAV Swarm Formation System

in Applied Sciences (2022), 12(20),

In this article, we present a distributed robot 3D formation system optimally parameterised by a hybrid evolutionary algorithm (EA) in order to improve its efficiency and robustness. To achieve that, we ... [more ▼]

In this article, we present a distributed robot 3D formation system optimally parameterised by a hybrid evolutionary algorithm (EA) in order to improve its efficiency and robustness. To achieve that, we first describe the novel distributed formation algorithm3 (DFA3), the proposed EA, and the two crossover operators to be tested. The EA hyperparameterisation is performed by using the irace package and the evaluation of the three case studies featuring three, five, and ten unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is performed through realistic simulations by using ARGoS and ten scenarios evaluated in parallel to improve the robustness of the configurations calculated. The optimisation results, reported with statistical significance, and the validation performed on 270 unseen scenarios show that the use of a metaheuristic is imperative for such a complex problem despite some overfitting observed under certain circumstances. All in all, the UAV swarm self-organised itself to achieve stable formations in 95% of the scenarios studied with a plus/minus ten percent tolerance. [less ▲]

On the Performance of Cache-Free/Cache-Aided STBC-NOMA in Cognitive Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Networks

in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters (2022), 11(12), 2655-2659

Future wireless networks pose several challenges such as high spectral efficiency, wide coverage massive connectivity, low receiver complexity, etc. To this end, this letter investigates an overlay based ... [more ▼]

Future wireless networks pose several challenges such as high spectral efficiency, wide coverage massive connectivity, low receiver complexity, etc. To this end, this letter investigates an overlay based cognitive hybrid satellite-terrestrial network (CHSTN) combining non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and conventional Alamouti space-time block coding (STBC) techniques. Herein, a decode-and-forward based secondary terrestrial network cooperates with a primary satellite network for dynamic spectrum access. Further, for reliable content delivery and low latency requirements, wireless caching is employed, whereby the secondary network can store the most popular contents of the primary network. Considering the relevant heterogeneous fading channel models and the NOMA-based imperfect successive interference cancellation, we examine the performance of CHSTN for the cache-free (CF) STBC-NOMA and the cache-aided (CA) STBC-NOMA schemes. We assess the outage probability expressions for primary and secondary networks and further, highlight the corresponding achievable diversity orders. Indicatively, the proposed CF/CA STBC-NOMA schemes for CHSTN perform significantly better than the benchmark standalone NOMA and OMA schemes. [less ▲]

„Ich will mein altes Leben zurück“ – Einblicke in die veränderten Beziehungen, Aktivitäten und das Wohlbefinden luxemburgischer Kinder in der Pandemie

in Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung (2022)

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed children's lives. This paper presents the changes during the pandemic of children’s well-being, relationships and everyday activities from the perspective of six to ... [more ▼]

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed children's lives. This paper presents the changes during the pandemic of children’s well-being, relationships and everyday activities from the perspective of six to twelve-year-olds in Luxembourg. The data draw on interviews carried out in 2020 and standardised surveys in 2020 and 2021. The results show that all children were affected by the pandemic but experienced it differently. Many children expressed fears and worries right at the beginning of the pandemic and these emotions intensified over time. Their leisure time activities shifted from more outside to more domestic activities during the pandemic which in our view corresponds to an intermediate “domestication of childhood”. The survey in the summer of 2021 confirms that many of these changes remained or intensified. [less ▲]

Task-Oriented Data Compression for Multi-Agent Communications Over Bit-Budgeted Channels

in IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society (2022)

Various applications for inter-machine communications are on the rise. Whether it is for autonomous driving vehicles or the internet of everything, machines are more connected than ever to improve their ... [more ▼]

Various applications for inter-machine communications are on the rise. Whether it is for autonomous driving vehicles or the internet of everything, machines are more connected than ever to improve their performance in fulfilling a given task. While in traditional communications the goal has often been to reconstruct the underlying message, under the emerging task-oriented paradigm, the goal of communication is to enable the receiving end to make more informed decisions or more precise estimates/computations. Motivated by these recent developments, in this paper, we perform an indirect design of the communications in a multi-agent system (MAS) in which agents cooperate to maximize the averaged sum of discounted one-stage rewards of a collaborative task. Due to the bit-budgeted communications between the agents, each agent should efficiently represent its local observation and communicate an abstracted version of the observations to improve the collaborative task performance. We first show that this problem can be approximated as a form of data-quantization problem which we call task-oriented data compression (TODC). We then introduce the state-aggregation for information compression algorithm (SAIC) to solve the formulated TODC problem. It is shown that SAIC is able to achieve near-optimal performance in terms of the achieved sum of discounted rewards. The proposed algorithm is applied to a geometric consensus problem and its performance is compared with several benchmarks. Numerical experiments confirm the promise of this indirect design approach for task-oriented multi-agent communications. [less ▲]

Recent Developments and Overview of the Country and Practitioners Reports

in European Data Protection Law Review (2022), 8(3), 386-390

Cambridge hybrid closed-loop system in very young children with type 1 diabetes reduces caregivers’ fear of hypoglycemia and improves their well-being

in Diabetes Care (2022), 45

Objective To evaluate the impact of CamAPS FX hybrid closed-loop automated insulin delivery (HCL) in very young children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) on caregivers’ well-being, fear of hypoglycemia and ... [more ▼]

Objective To evaluate the impact of CamAPS FX hybrid closed-loop automated insulin delivery (HCL) in very young children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) on caregivers’ well-being, fear of hypoglycemia and sleepiness. Research Design Multinational, open label, randomized crossover study. Children (1-7years) with T1D received treatment for two 4-month periods in random order, comparing HCL with sensor augmented pump (SAP) (control). At baseline and after each treatment period, caregivers were invited to complete WHO-5, Hypoglycemia Fear Survey (HFS) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Results Caregivers of 74 children (mean±SD: age 5±2 years; 42% female, baseline HbA1c 7.3±0.7%) participated. Results revealed significantly lower scores for hypoglycemia fear (p<.001) and higher for well-being (p<.001) after HCL treatment. A trend towards a reduction in sleepiness score was observed (p=0.09). Conclusion Our results suggest a better well-being and less hypoglycemia fear in caregivers of very young children with T1D on CamAPS FX HCL. [less ▲]

Opportunities for Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces in 6G-Empowered V2X Communications

in Bulletin. Cornell University Libraries (2022)

The applications of upcoming sixth generation (6G)-empowered vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications depend heavily on large-scale data exchange with high throughput and ultra-low latency to ensure ... [more ▼]

The applications of upcoming sixth generation (6G)-empowered vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications depend heavily on large-scale data exchange with high throughput and ultra-low latency to ensure system reliability and passenger safety. However, in urban and suburban areas, signals can be easily blocked by various objects. Moreover, the propagation of signals with ultra-high frequencies such as millimeter waves and terahertz communication is severely affected by obstacles. To address these issues, the Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS), which consists of nearly passive elements, has gained popularity because of its ability to intelligently reconfigure signal propagation in an energy-efficient manner. Due to the promise of ease of deployment and low cost, IRS has been widely acknowledged as a key technology for both terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks to improve signal strength, physical layer security, positioning accuracy, and reduce latency. This paper first describes the introduction of 6G-empowered V2X communications and IRS technology. Then it discusses different use case scenarios of IRS enabled V2X communications and reports recent advances in the existing literature. Next, we focus our attention on the scenario of vehicular edge computing involving IRS enabled drone communications in order to reduce vehicle computational time via optimal computational and communication resource allocation. At the end, this paper highlights current challenges and discusses future perspectives of IRS enabled V2X communications in order to improve current work and spark new ideas. [less ▲]

What Comes to Matter as Border: On Parisian Borderness Dynamics

in Journal of Borderlands Studies (2022)

Even though it is now established within the field of border studies that bordering experiences vary depending on who you are, a less investigated problem has to do with how differentially border-ed/ing ... [more ▼]

Even though it is now established within the field of border studies that bordering experiences vary depending on who you are, a less investigated problem has to do with how differentially border-ed/ing realities and knowledges relate, emerge, and matter. Therefore, this paper unpacks, in dialog with feminist sciences studies, what Sarah Green calls “borderness dynamics” as a cosmos-politics, a complicating ecology of situated knowledges on and of border(ing)s. The argument builds on an ethnographic investigation of the processes through which initially "borderless"” White European volunteers from pro-refugee initiatives in Paris come to sense and know borders in the city as they encounter other border-ed/ing versions of Paris through their practices. The paper demonstrates how these shifts in volunteers’ border sensibilities and knowledges matter ethically and ontologically. The shifts in their (not)knowing/sensing, animated by processes of complication, multiplication, and texturization, contribute to re-shaping what comes to matter as border, as well as to de-re-territorializing the city and its inhabitants as a borderland and as borderlanders. Attending to borderness dynamics enables one to map encounter-induced positionality changes that contribute to “rescaping” at once borders, borderlands, and borderlanders. [less ▲]

Application dans le temps du règlement 2015/848

in Revue des Procédures Collectives Civiles et Commerciales (2022)

Mutation Analysis for Cyber-Physical Systems: Scalable Solutions and Results in the Space Domain

in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (2022), 48(10), 39133939

On-board embedded software developed for spaceflight systems (space software) must adhere to stringent software quality assurance procedures. For example, verification and validation activities are ... [more ▼]

On-board embedded software developed for spaceflight systems (space software) must adhere to stringent software quality assurance procedures. For example, verification and validation activities are typically performed and assessed by third party organizations. To further minimize the risk of human mistakes, space agencies, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), are looking for automated solutions for the assessment of software testing activities, which play a crucial role in this context. Though space software is our focus here, it should be noted that such software shares the above considerations, to a large extent, with embedded software in many other types of cyber-physical systems. Over the years, mutation analysis has shown to be a promising solution for the automated assessment of test suites; it consists of measuring the quality of a test suite in terms of the percentage of injected faults leading to a test failure. A number of optimization techniques, addressing scalability and accuracy problems, have been proposed to facilitate the industrial adoption of mutation analysis. However, to date, two major problems prevent space agencies from enforcing mutation analysis in space software development. First, there is uncertainty regarding the feasibility of applying mutation analysis optimization techniques in their context. Second, most of the existing techniques either can break the real-time requirements common in embedded software or cannot be applied when the software is tested in Software Validation Facilities, including CPU emulators and sensor simulators. In this paper, we enhance mutation analysis optimization techniques to enable their applicability to embedded software and propose a pipeline that successfully integrates them to address scalability and accuracy issues in this context, as described above. Further, we report on the largest study involving embedded software systems in the mutation analysis literature. Our research is part of a research project funded by ESA ESTEC involving private companies (GomSpace Luxembourg and LuxSpace) in the space sector. These industry partners provided the case studies reported in this paper; they include an on-board software system managing a microsatellite currently on-orbit, a set of libraries used in deployed cubesats, and a mathematical library certified by ESA. [less ▲]

Enhancing Rover Teleoperation on the Moon With Proprioceptive Sensors and Machine Learning Techniques

in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (2022)

Geological formations, environmental conditions, and soil mechanics frequently generate undesired effects on rovers’ mobility, such as slippage or sinkage. Underestimating these undesired effects may ... [more ▼]

Geological formations, environmental conditions, and soil mechanics frequently generate undesired effects on rovers’ mobility, such as slippage or sinkage. Underestimating these undesired effects may compromise the rovers’ operation and lead to a premature end of the mission. Minimizing mobility risks becomes a priority for colonising the Moon and Mars. However, addressing this challenge cannot be treated equally for every celestial body since the control strategies may differ; e.g. the low latency EarthMoon communication allows constant monitoring and controls, something not feasible on Mars. This letter proposes a Hazard Information System (HIS) that estimates the rover’s mobility risks (e.g. slippage) using proprioceptive sensors and Machine Learning (supervised and unsupervised). A Graphical User Interface was created to assist human-teleoperation tasks by presenting mobility risk indicators. The system has been developed and evaluated in the lunar analogue facility (LunaLab) at the University of Luxembourg. A real rover and eight participants were part of the experiments. Results demonstrate the benefits of the HIS in the decision-making processes of the operator’s response to overcome hazardous situations. [less ▲]

A multilingual dataset of COVID-19 vaccination attitudes on Twitter

in Data in Brief (2022), 44

Chronique de droit européen de la consommation 2021 – 2022

in Journal de Droit Européen (2022)

Overview and critical analysis of relevant political decisions, newly passed legislation and all jugements rendered by the CJEU in the field of European consumer law.

Validation and verification in domain-specific modeling method engineering: an integrated life-cycle view

in Software and Systems Modeling (2022)

One Step Closer to Space Security: The Role of Multilateral Discussions

in Global Policy - Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Series (2022)

Learning-Based Resource Allocation for Backscatter-Aided Vehicular Networks

in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (2022)

Heterogeneous backscatter networks are emerging as a promising solution to address the proliferating coverage and capacity demands of next-generation vehicular networks. However, despite its rapid ... [more ▼]

Heterogeneous backscatter networks are emerging as a promising solution to address the proliferating coverage and capacity demands of next-generation vehicular networks. However, despite its rapid evolution and significance, the optimization aspect of such networks has been overlooked due to their complexity and scale. Motivated by this discrepancy in the literature, this work sheds light on a novel learning-based optimization framework for heterogeneous backscatter vehicular networks. More specifically, the article presents a resource allocation and user association scheme for large-scale heterogeneous backscatter vehicular networks by considering a collaboration centric spectrum sharing mechanism. In the considered network setup, multiple network service providers (NSPs) own the resources to serve several legacy and backscatter vehicular users in the network. For each NSP, the legacy vehicle user operates under the macro cell, whereas, the backscatter vehicle user operates under small private cells using leased spectrum resources. A joint power allocation, user association, and spectrum sharing problem has been formulated with an objective to maximize the utility of NSPs. In order to overcome challenges of high dimensionality and non-convexity, the problem is divided into two subproblems. Subsequently, a reinforcement learning and a supervised deep learning approach have been used to solve both subproblems in an efficient and effective manner. To evaluate the benefits of the proposed scheme, extensive simulation studies are conducted and a comparison is provided with benchmark techniques. The performance evaluation demonstrates the utility of the presented system architecture and learning-based optimization framework. [less ▲]

Les projets de normes de durabilité de l’EFRAG et leur conception de la gouvernance d’entreprise

in Revue des Sociétés (2022), (10), 576

La production de créances du syndic de la procédure principale au sein d'une procédure secondaire est soumise à la loi applicable à cette dernière procédure

in Revue des Procédures Collectives Civiles et Commerciales (2022)

Exequatur en France de la décision du juge monégasque condamnant un dirigeant à combler le passif

in Revue des Procédures Collectives Civiles et Commerciales (2022)

„Denken-wie-üblich“: Eine Herausforderung für die kulturelle Vielfalt

in JOURNAL geroRESEARCH (2022), 7

Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert zunächst das Verhältnis zwischen dem „Denken-wie-üblich“ und dem klassischen Kulturbegriff mit Blick auf Repräsentations- und Identitätspolitik. Dann geht die Analyse ... [more ▼]

Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert zunächst das Verhältnis zwischen dem „Denken-wie-üblich“ und dem klassischen Kulturbegriff mit Blick auf Repräsentations- und Identitätspolitik. Dann geht die Analyse auf die Herausforderungen des „Denkens-wie-üblich“ in der kulturellen Vielfalt ein. Schlie.lich wird herausgearbeitet, wie dies inDiskursen, Sprechakten und Narrativen zum Ausdruck kommt. [less ▲]

Automated, Cost-effective, and Update-driven App Testing

in ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (2022), 31(4), 61

Apps’ pervasive role in our society led to the definition of test automation approaches to ensure their dependability. However, state-of-the-art approaches tend to generate large numbers of test inputs ... [more ▼]

Apps’ pervasive role in our society led to the definition of test automation approaches to ensure their dependability. However, state-of-the-art approaches tend to generate large numbers of test inputs and are unlikely to achieve more than 50% method coverage. In this paper, we propose a strategy to achieve significantly higher coverage of the code affected by updates with a much smaller number of test inputs, thus alleviating the test oracle problem. More specifically, we present ATUA, a model-based approach that synthesizes App models with static analysis, integrates a dynamically-refined state abstraction function, and combines complementary testing strategies, including (1) coverage of the model structure, (2) coverage of the App code, (3) random exploration, and (4) coverage of dependencies identified through information retrieval. Its model-based strategy enables ATUA to generate a small set of inputs that exercise only the code affected by the updates. In turn, this makes common test oracle solutions more cost-effective as they tend to involve human effort. A large empirical evaluation, conducted with 72 App versions belonging to nine popular Android Apps, has shown that ATUA is more effective and less effort-intensive than state-of-the-art approaches when testingApp updates. [less ▲]

Creating active urban environments: insights from expert interviews

in Cities & Health (2022)

Urban planning and design offer opportunities to nudge people towards more active behavior. This is a popular topic among urbanists and health professionals, with several guidelines and best practices ... [more ▼]

Urban planning and design offer opportunities to nudge people towards more active behavior. This is a popular topic among urbanists and health professionals, with several guidelines and best practices already developed. However, a gap exists between theory and practice and the complex realization process of such active environments is rarely documented. In this study, we investigated the process of designing, implementing, and evaluating active urban environments through semi-structured interviews with 11 European practitioner experts in the field of active environment design and development. We additionally analyzed 51 examples of active environments they provided. We discuss definitions of active environments and their added value to encourage active behavior and provide an overview of the spectrum of design strategies, elements and boundaries used to create them. We also describe typical steps in the design and realization process, including types of stakeholders, main gaps, and points of friction in this practice [less ▲]

Between universalism and cultural relativism The dilemma of consent to female genital mutilation in the Tatu Kamau case

in Kabarak Journal of Law and Ethics (2022), 6(1), 67-98

To date, almost 74 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the UDHR), the tensions between universalism and cultur-al relativism in the field of human rights, whose ... [more ▼]

To date, almost 74 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the UDHR), the tensions between universalism and cultur-al relativism in the field of human rights, whose provenance can be traced back to the debates surrounding the drafting and adoption of the UDHR, still linger on, playing out on the national stage in countries such as Kenya. At its core, universalism argues that all human rights inhere in all individ-uals without distinction, and that they must stand even when in when in opposition to established cultural practices. In contrast, cultural relativism holds that no particular culture is superior to another, and centers on the need for forbearance and respect towards each culture to avoid imperialist tendencies of imposing beliefs. This paper argues that these binary ideolog-ical viewpoints are magnified in the context of female genital mutilation. Through an analysis of the case of Tatu Kamau v Attorney General & 2 others; Equality Now & 9 others (Interested Parties);Katiba Institute & another (amicus curiae) [2021] eKLR, it is proposed that a cultural ap-proach is needed in addition to legal measures in place to combat the practice. [less ▲]

Item response theory and differential test functioning analysis of the HBSC-Symptom-Checklist across 46 countries

in BMC Medical Research Methodology (2022), 22(253),

Background The Symptom Checklist (SCL) developed by the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study is a non-clinical measure of psychosomatic complaints (e.g., headache and feeling low) that ... [more ▼]

Background The Symptom Checklist (SCL) developed by the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study is a non-clinical measure of psychosomatic complaints (e.g., headache and feeling low) that has been used in numerous studies. Several studies have investigated the psychometric characteristics of this scale; however, some psychometric properties remain unclear, among them especially a) dimensionality, b) adequacy of the Graded Response Model (GRM), and c) measurement invariance across countries. Methods Data from 229,906 adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 from 46 countries that participated in the 2018 HBSC survey were analyzed. Adolescents were selected using representative sampling and surveyed by questionnaire in the classroom. Dimensionality was investigated using exploratory graph analysis. In addition, we investigated whether the GRM provided an adequate description of the data. Reliability over the latent variable continuum and differential test functioning across countries were also examined. Results Exploratory graph analyses showed that SCL can be considered as one-dimensional in 16 countries. However, a comparison of the unidimensional with a post-hoc bifactor GRM showed that deviation from a hypothesized one-dimensional structure was negligible in most countries. Multigroup invariance analyses supported configural and metric invariance, but not scalar invariance across 32 countries. Alignment analysis showed non-invariance especially for the items irritability, feeling nervous/bad temper and feeling low. Conclusion HBSC-SCL appears to represent a consistent and reliable unidimensional instrument across most countries. This bodes well for population health analyses that rely on this scale as an early indicator of mental health status. [less ▲]

Human Rights Experimentalism in Action: The Potential of National Human Rights Institutions in Enhancing the Implementation and Monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

in Journal of Human Rights Practice (2022), 14(1), 108-127

Article 33(2) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides for the establishment and designation of independent monitor- ing mechanisms charged with the promotion ... [more ▼]

Article 33(2) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides for the establishment and designation of independent monitor- ing mechanisms charged with the promotion, protection and monitoring of its im- plementation. In numerous States parties, National Human Rights Institutions have been designated as Article 33(2) institutions, either individually or in co-ordination with other bodies, and have consequently made effective contributions to the reporting and inquiry procedures of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Drawing from experimentalist governance theory, this contribution interrogates whether, and to what extent, this dialogue between locally placed actors and institutions (such as National Human Rights Institutions) on the one hand, and internationally situated actors and institutions (such as the Committee) on the other, has the potential to bolster the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At its core, experimentalism proffers a nor- matively attractive vision of how broadly agreed upon goals can be brought to life in a multi-level setting, such as the monitoring mechanism contemplated by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with its unique role and defini- tion for both international and national actors. By analysing Article 33 through an experimentalist governance lens, the contribution thus hopes to highlight a rou- tinely neglected or underestimated aspect of the human rights treaty system, that is, the iterative and dynamic interaction between locally situated actors and institutions and internationally situated actors and institutions, and bring to light what this por- tends for the Convention’s implementation in reality. [less ▲]

Birefringence induced by antiferroelectric switching in transparent polycrystalline PbZr0.95Ti0.05O3 film

in Physical Review Materials (2022), 6(9), 091403

The most characteristic functional property of antiferroelectric materials is the possibility to induce a phase transition from a nonpolar to a polar phase by an electric field. Here, we investigate the ... [more ▼]

The most characteristic functional property of antiferroelectric materials is the possibility to induce a phase transition from a nonpolar to a polar phase by an electric field. Here, we investigate the effect of this field-induced phase transition on the birefringence change of PbZr0.95Ti0.05O3. We use a transparent polycrystalline PbZr0.95Ti0.05O3 film grown on PbTiO3/HfO2/SiO2 with interdigitated electrodes to directly investigate changes in birefringence in a simple transmission geometry. In spite of the polycrystalline nature of the film and its moderate thickness, the field-induced transition produces a sizable effect observable under a polarized microscope. The film in its polar phase is found to behave like a homogeneous birefringent medium. The time evolution of this field-induced birefringence provides information about irreversibilities in the antiferroelectric switching process and its slow dynamics. The change in birefringence has two main contributions: One that responds briskly and a slower one that rises and saturates over a period of as long as 30 min. Possible origins for this long saturation and relaxation times are discussed. [less ▲]

Mobilome-driven segregation of the resistome in biological wastewater treatment

in eLife (2022), 11

Biological wastewater treatment plants (BWWTP) are considered to be hotspots of evolution and subsequent spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) promote the mobilization ... [more ▼]

Biological wastewater treatment plants (BWWTP) are considered to be hotspots of evolution and subsequent spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) promote the mobilization and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and are thereby critical mediators of AMR within the BWWTP microbial community. At present, it is unclear whether specific AMR categories are differentially disseminated via bacteriophages (phages) or plasmids. To understand the segregation of AMR in relation to MGEs, we analyzed meta-omic (metagenomic, metatranscriptomic and metaproteomic) data systematically collected over 1.5 years from a BWWTP. Our results showed a core group of fifteen AMR categories which were found across all timepoints. Some of these AMR categories were disseminated exclusively (bacitracin) or primarily (aminoglycoside, MLS and sulfonamide) via plasmids or phages (fosfomycin and peptide), whereas others were disseminated equally by both MGEs. Combined and timepoint-specific analyses of gene, transcript and protein abundances further demonstrated that aminoglycoside, bacitracin and sulfonamide resistance genes were expressed more by plasmids, in contrast to fosfomycin and peptide AMR expression by phages, thereby validating our genomic findings. In the analyzed communities, the dominant taxon Candidatus Microthrix parvicella was a major contributor to several AMR categories whereby its plasmids primarily mediated aminoglycoside resistance. Importantly, we also found AMR associated with ESKAPEE pathogens within the BWWTP, for which MGEs also contributed differentially to the dissemination of ARGs. Collectively our findings pave the way towards understanding the segmentation of AMR within MGEs, thereby shedding new light on resistome populations and their mediators, essential elements that are of immediate relevance to human health. [less ▲]