Map management for robust long-term visual localization of an autonomous shuttle in changing conditions

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Changes in appearance present a tremendous problem for the visual localization of an autonomous vehicle in outdoor environments. Data association between the...     

Robust Encryption

We provide a provable-security treatment of “robust” encryption. Robustness means it is hard to produce a ciphertext that is valid for two different users. Robustness makes explicit a property that has been implicitly assumed in the past. We argue that it is an essential conjunct of anonymous encryption. We show that natural anonymity-preserving ways to achieve it, such as adding recipient identification information before encrypting, fail. We provide transforms that do achieve it, efficiently and provably. We assess the robustness of specific encryption schemes in the literature, providing simple patches for some that lack the property. We explain that robustness of the underlying anonymous IBE scheme is essential for public-key encryption with keyword search (PEKS) to be consistent (meaning, not have false positives), and our work provides the first generic conversions of anonymous IBE schemes to consistent (and secure) PEKS schemes. Overall, our work enables safer and simpler use of encryption.     

Crowdwork platform governance toward organizational value creation

Crowdwork, a new form of digitally mediated employment and part of the so-called gig economy, has the capacity to change the nature of work organization and to provide strategic value to workers, job providers, and intermediary platform owners. However, because crowdwork is temporary, large-scale, distributed, and mediated, its governance remains a challenge that often casts a shadow over its strategic value. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the making of value-adding crowdwork arrangements. Specifically, the paper explores crowdwork platform governance mechanisms and the relationships between these mechanisms and organizational value creation. Building on a comprehensive review of the extant literature on governance and crowdwork, we construct an overarching conceptual model that integrates control system and coordination system as two complementary mechanisms that drive crowdwork platform governance effectiveness and the consequent job provider benefits. Furthermore, the model accentuates the role of the degree of centralization and the degree of routinization as critical moderators in crowdwork platform governance. Overall, the paper highlights the potential of crowdwork to contribute not only to inclusion, fair wages and flexible work arrangements for workers but also to organizations’ value and competitive edge.     

Self‐similarity analysis of vehicle driver's electrodermal activity

This paper characterizes stress levels via a self‐similarity analysis of the electrodermal activity (EDA) collected in a real‐world driving context. To characterize the EDA richness over scales, the fractional Brownian motion (FBM) process and its corresponding exponent H, estimated via a wavelet‐based approach, are used. Specifically, an automatic scale range selection is proposed in order to detect the linearity in a log scale diagram. The procedure is applied to the EDA signals, from the open database drivedb, originally captured on the foot and the hand of the drivers during a real‐world driving experiment, designed to evoke different levels of arousal and stress. The estimated Hurst exponent H offers a distinction in stress levels when driving in highway versus city, with a reference to restful state of minimal stress level. Specifically, the estimated H values tend to decrease when the driving environmental complexity increases. In addition, the estimated H values on the foot EDA signals allow a better characterization of the driving task than that of hand EDA. The self‐similarity analysis was applied to various physiological signals in literature but not to the EDA so far, a signal which was found to correlate most with human affect. The proposed analysis could be useful in real‐time monitoring of stress levels in urban driving spaces, among other applications.     

Thermal stability of the nanolayered Fe2AlB2 in nitrogen and argon atmospheres

The thermal stability and decomposition mechanisms of Fe₂AlB₂ powders, synthesized by reactive powder metallurgy, were studied under nitrogen (N₂) or argon (Ar) atmospheres. The effects of using different FeB precursors to synthesize the Fe₂AlB₂ and hydrochloric acid (HCl) purification treatments on the thermal stability were also investigated. When as-synthesized Fe₂AlB₂ powders are treated in dilute HCl to dissolve impurity phases, decomposition in N₂ atmospheres occurs readily above 1200 K. The decomposition reaction involves β-FeB precipitation and the liberated Al atoms reacting with the ambient N₂ to form AlN. Under Ar environments, HCl-treated Fe₂AlB₂ powders decompose and precipitate β-FeB, by the out-diffusion of Al from the nanolaminated structure. Interestingly, isothermal annealing under N₂ atmospheres revealed that Fe₂AlB₂ was more thermally stable when synthesized from lab-synthesized, instead of commercially available, FeB precursors and when the HCl treatment was avoided. The effects of the various factors on the decomposition temperature and decomposition mechanisms are discussed herein.     

Simplified Monopalmitoyl Toll-like Receptor 2 Ligand Mini-UPam for Self-Adjuvanting Neoantigen-Based Synthetic Cancer Vaccines

Synthetic vaccines, based on antigenic peptides that comprise MHC−I and MHC-II T-cell epitopes expressed by tumors, show great promise for the immunotherapy of cancer. For optimal immunogenicity, the synthetic peptides (SPs) should be adjuvanted with suitable immunostimulatory additives. Previously, we have shown that improved immunogenicity in vivo is obtained with vaccine modalities in which an SP is covalently connected to an adjuvanting moiety, typically a ligand to Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). SPs were covalently attached to UPam, which is a derivative of the classic TLR2 ligand Pam₃CysSK₄. A disadvantage of the triply palmitoylated UPam is its high lipophilicity, which precludes universal adoption of this adjuvant for covalent modification of various antigenic peptides as it renders the synthetic vaccine insoluble in several cases. Here, we report a novel conjugatable TLR2 ligand, mini-UPam, which contains only one palmitoyl chain, rather than three, and therefore has less impact on the solubility and other physicochemical properties of a synthetic peptide. In this study, we used SPs that contain the clinically relevant neoepitopes identified in a melanoma patient who completely recovered after T-cell therapy. Homogeneous mini-UPam-SP conjugates have been prepared in good yields by stepwise solid-phase synthesis that employed a mini-UPam building block pre-prepared in solution and the standard set of Fmoc-amino acids. The immunogenicity of the novel mini-UPam-SP conjugates was demonstrated by using the cancer patient's T-cells.     

Multicarrier energy systems: Optimization model based on real data and application to a case study

Multicarrier energy systems are increasingly used for a number of applications, among which the supply of electricity, heating, and cooling in buildings. The possibility of switching between different energy sources is a crucial advantage for the optimal fulfillment of the energy demand. The flexibility of these systems can benefit from the integration with smart grids, which have strong variations in time during their operation. The energy price is the parameter that is usually considered, but also the primary energy factor and the greenhouse gases emissions need to be accounted. This paper presents an application of an operational optimization method for a multicarrier energy system, based on real data–driven model and applied to different countries. The generation plant of a hospital is considered as case study, coping with multiple energy needs by relying on different conversion technologies. The optimal operation of the system shows a wide range of variability, depending on the chosen objective function, the hour of the day, the season, and the country. The results are affected mostly by the energy mix of the electricity supplied from the power grid, which has a direct influence on the primary energy consumption and the greenhouse gases emissions and an indirect influence on the electricity prices.