The increased volume of initiatives and investments in the framework of smart cities, as well as strong investments in AI/ML technology together with the IoT industry, undoubtedly represent the future of practical activities and the implementation of new generation technological solutions in cities. By analyzing the previous literature and related works, in the field of smart waste management solutions, the focus of research was placed on isolated problems at lower levels of technology implementation on individual subsystems with individual environments. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the need for a systematic integrated approach in the process of designing a model of practical application of technology to solve the problem of waste management in cities with a special aspect on business processes and the end user. The paper presents an analysis of related works and commercial solutions implemented so far and proposes a practical implementation model that, among other things, includes a component of a higher level of abstraction that should perform an additional iteration of the AI/ML process and make a final decision in the prediction process and controls in smart waste management solutions.

This paper presents unified force and position control based on sliding mode control (SMC) for a series elastic actuator (SEA). Compliant motion of robotic systems is crucial when dealing with unstructured environments as in the case of physical human-robot interaction. Therefore, not only traditional mechanical systems with stiff joints but also mechanically compliant systems such as SEAs have been actively studied. In order to accomplish versatile tasks, the strategy enabling both position control and force control is favorable. In this paper, the controller synthesizing position and force controllers on the basis of SMC for the control problem of SEAs is proposed by extending our previous work. Simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Web developers utilize responsive web design principles and frameworks to develop websites that are accessible on various platforms. As consumers often access websites through laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and desktop computers, it is necessary for the website to adjust its appearance according to the device's display frame width. However, the quality assurance process for responsive web pages is typically manual, time-consuming, and error prone. This study introduces ReDeCheck, an open-source automated website layout checking tool developed by Thomas A. Walsh, Gregory M. Kapfhammer, and Phil McMinn. The tool identifies the most common types of responsive design failures by utilizing a set of display frame widths based on the presentation of the website's dynamic layout, also known as the Responsive Layout Graph. This paper verifies the tool's functionality and its underlying concepts.

Mycotoxins have become a serious issue in the animal feed industry and have also affected the aquaculture industry. Mycotoxins can create serious health problems in aquatic and terrestrial animals, and their presence in agricultural products may result in significant economic losses. To reduce the impact of mycotoxins on Nile tilapia fry, two commercially available products—Organically Modified Clinoptilolite (OMC) and multi-component mycotoxin detoxifying agent (MMDA)—were used in this study. Six diets as treatments (T1 = Control (C); T2 = Control + OMC 2 g/kg (OMC); T3 = Control + MMDA 2 g/kg (MMDA); T4 = AFB1 0.5 mg/kg (AF); T5 = AFB1 0.5 mg/kg + 2 g/kg OMC (AFOMC); T6 = AFB1 0.5 mg/kg + MMDA 2 g/kg (AFMMDA)) with similar crude protein levels (35.75 ± 0.35%) were formulated and fed to Nile tilapia fry (1.97 ± 0.1 g) for a period of 84 days. These fish were housed in 18 aquaria (100 L) at a density of 50 fish/aquarium. The results from this study showed that MMDA significantly (p < 0.05) improved the survival of fish by 16% as compared to the control group. Nevertheless, growth parameters were not affected among the treatments. These results also indicated that protein intake was significantly higher in the control and OMC diet (T2) compared to aflatoxin B1-fed tilapia. The protein efficiency ratio (PER) was significantly higher in the AFMMDA as compared to the control and MMDA. A 14-day bacterial challenge test with Aeromonas hydrophila demonstrated that diets containing MMDA or OMC improved survival when AFB1 was present in the diet. Therefore, the supplementation of feed with MMDA or OMC is recommended to ameliorate the negative effects of AFB1 in Nile Tilapia feeds.

The protection and preservation of the privacy of personal data are one of the main requirements when it comes to an application dealing with the processing of such data. It is no different when it comes to information systems that store and process data about students in higher education systems. The public presentation of such data represents a serious threat to the safety of students as well as their status within the higher education system. For this reason, it is necessary to use the possibility of advanced technologies in order to raise data security to the highest level. One such technology that is able to provide transparency, security and data protection at a high level is blockchain technology. In this work, the Hyperledger Fabric distributed ledger private blockchain network was analyzed and its usability in terms of user rights management in higher education system was evaluated. Experimental analysis showed that such a platform has the ability to take advantage of private blockchain technologies in terms of user rights management and to provide security, flexibility and scalability of the system.

Maintaining and establishing transparency, security and privacy, when the data that should be included as part of documents that should serve as public educational documents in the labor market, are a challenging task, especially nowadays when we have more frequent cyber-attacks on public institutions. Setting up the security mechanisms of information systems that should store, process and show this type of data can be a very demanding job. For this reason, the introduction of new technologies in this area, such as blockchain technology, leads to considerable system and implementation relief. In this paper, private blockchain platforms are analyzed from the point of view of processing digital certificates or diplomas in the higher education system. An overview of the most popular platforms of this type is given. The most appropriate solution for these needs are discussed and proposed.

In this article, an upgraded version of CUDA-Quicksort - an iterative implementation of the quicksort algorithm suitable for highly parallel multicore graphics processors, is described and evaluated. Three key changes which lead to improved performance are proposed. The main goal was to provide an implementation with increased scalability with the size of data sets and number of cores with modern GPU architectures, which was successfully achieved. The proposed changes also lead to significant reduction in execution time. The execution times were measured on an NVIDIA graphics card, taking into account the possible distributions of the input data.

Air pollution represents one of the most complex problems of humanity. Traffic contributes significantly to this by emitting large amounts of harmful gases. This problem is particularly pronounced at urban intersections due to frequent changes in vehicle movement dynamics. This paper primarily presents the influence of intersection geometry on pollutant emissions levels. In addition, the influence of various traffic policies promoting greater use of public transport and zero-emission vehicles is also examined. The research combines the field part of recording existing intersections in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina with traffic microsimulation. Detailed data on vehicles’ movements were obtained by advanced video processing using the DataFromSky tool, while the PTV Vissim 2022 and Bosch ESTM (2022) software were used to simulate traffic and estimate emissions at geometrically different intersections. The results showed that, in saturated traffic conditions, signalized intersections cause up to 50% lower emissions compared with two-lane and turbo roundabouts and that the impact of the geometric change is more significant than the impact of zero-emission vehicles. In unsaturated conditions, the differences in emissions at different intersections are negligible, with the highest reductions in pollution achieved by using zero-emission vehicles.

With the progress of technology and mankind, demand for different job positions has emerged. Reports indicating various new job types in the last decade are continuously published, giving us perspective on where we were a decade ago and where we are now. Most of the jobs are created around new technologies, yet not exclusively as jobs within technology production or usage (e.g., machine learning engineers, data scientists, app developers, etc.), but also as a type of jobs built atop of new technologies (e.g., social media manager, podcast producer, content moderator, etc.). With new job types, there is a gap between qualified employees and employers demands created. Taking into consideration trends that we have seen in the last years, more and more new job types will be created, and we can predict that this gap will become larger as time passes.

Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) is an important component of an organization's overall security strategy. VAPT helps identify security vulnerabilities in a computer system, network, or web application, allowing organizations to take corrective measures to address these vulnerabilities and prevent potential security breaches. By conducting regular VAPT, organizations can improve their security posture and reduce the likelihood of successful attacks. In this paper Metasploit was used to show importance of regular vulnerability assessment of critical systems in order to discover vulnerabilities before attacker do it and exploit them. The authors showed Metasploit beside its usage to conduct a vulnerability assessment, it can be utilized by attackers to harm systems. VAPT is not a one-time event, but rather a ongoing process. As new vulnerabilities are discovered and new threats emerge, organizations need to regularly assess their systems to ensure they are protected.

Since depletion of natural resources and the amount of construction and demolition waste have overcome the socially and environmentally acceptable level, the construction industry must address this issue and reduce its impact on the environment. A step towards sustainability in the construction industry is the application of recycled aggregates and supplementary cementitious materials as integral components of concretes, which provides conserving natural aggregates and waste reduction. This study adopts a holistic approach to producing green self-compacting concrete with the highest portion of recycled aggregate as a replacement for natural aggregate and fly ash as filler. Based on the particle packing density method, four series of self-compacting concrete were prepared: the first series was made with natural fine and coarse aggregate, the second series was made with fine natural aggregate and recycled coarse aggregate, the third with 50 % (by mass) of fine natural aggregate replaced by recycled fine aggregate and recycled coarse aggregate, and the fourth series completely with recycled fine and coarse aggregate. The content of fly ash remained constant. Regardless of the expected decrease of workability in a fresh state with the increase of the recycled aggregate content, all series exceeded the requirements set for the hardened structural concrete.

As the demand for sustainable and renewable energy sources grows, the use photovoltaic (PV) systems have seen rise in popularity and recognition. The performance of PV systems is influenced by numerous factors such as solar irradiance, temperature, and the tilt angle of the PV modules. Among these factors, the tilt angle of the PV modules plays a crucial role in determining the amount of energy that can be generated by a PV system. This paper explores the impact of tilt angle on the output and performance of grid-connected PV systems by using the software PVsyst. The study will examine how different tilt angles affect the energy yield, electrical characteristics, and performance ratio of PV system. A study was conducted to compare the performance of a PV system with fixed tilt angle versus seasonal tilt arrangement. The results showed that a seasonal tilt arrangement led to improved performance and increased electricity generation.

Objectives The addition of CT-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR-CT) increases the diagnostic accuracy of coronary CT angiography (CCTA). We assessed the impact of FFR-CT in routine clinical practice on clinical decision-making and patient prognosis in patients suspected of stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods This retrospective, single-center study compared a cohort that received CCTA with FFR-CT to a historical cohort that received CCTA before FFR-CT was available. We assessed the clinical management decisions after FFR-CT and CCTA and the rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) during the 1-year follow-up using chi-square tests for independence. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to visualize the occurrence of safety outcomes over time. Results A total of 360 patients at low to intermediate risk of CAD were included, 224 in the CCTA only group, and 136 in the FFR-CT group. During follow-up, 13 MACE occurred in 12 patients, 9 (4.0%) in the CCTA group, and three (2.2%) in the FFR-CT group. Clinical management decisions differed significantly between both groups. After CCTA, 60 patients (26.5%) received optimal medical therapy (OMT) only, 115 (51.3%) invasive coronary angiography (ICA), and 49 (21.9%) single positron emission CT (SPECT). After FFR-CT, 106 patients (77.9%) received OMT only, 27 (19.9%) ICA, and three (2.2%) SPECT ( p  < 0.001 for all three options). The revascularization rate after ICA was similar between groups ( p  = 0.15). However, patients in the CCTA group more often underwent revascularization ( p  = 0.007). Conclusion Addition of FFR-CT to CCTA led to a reduction in (invasive) diagnostic testing and less revascularizations without observed difference in outcomes after 1 year. Key Points • Previous studies have shown that computed tomography–derived fractional flow reserve improves the accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography without changes in acquisition protocols. • This study shows that use of computed tomography-derived fractional flow reserve as gatekeeper to invasive coronary angiography in patients suspected of stable coronary artery disease leads to less invasive testing and revascularization without observed difference in outcomes after 1 year. • This could lead to a significant reduction in costs, complications and (retrospectively unnecessary) usage of diagnostic testing capacity, and a significant increase in patient satisfaction.

Paper covers image classification using the Keras API in TensorFlow. The dataset used is a set of labelled images consisting of characters from the Pokémon media franchise. In order to artificially generate additional data, the process of data augmentation has been applied on the initial dataset to reduce overfitting. A comparison between DenseNet-121, DenseNet-169 and DenseNet-201 has been made to observe which of the models scores a greater accuracy. A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has been set up to work with TensorFlow in order to efficiently train the model.