ML-based Solutions Research Articles

Enhancing Large-Diameter Tunnel Construction Safety with Robust Optimization and Machine Learning Integrated into BIM

Aim This study aims to enhance safety in large diameter tunnel construction by integrating robust optimization and machine learning (ML) techniques with Building Information Modeling (BIM). By acquiring and preprocessing various datasets, implementing feature engineering, and using algorithms like SVM, decision trees, ANN, and random forests, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of ML models in risk prediction and mitigation, ultimately advancing safety performance in civil engineering projects. Background Large diameter tunnel construction presents significant safety challenges. Traditional methods often fall short of effectively predicting and mitigating risks. This study addresses these gaps by integrating robust optimization and machine learning (ML) approaches with Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. By acquiring and preprocessing diverse datasets, implementing feature engineering, and employing ML algorithms, the study aims to enhance risk prediction and safety measures in tunnel construction projects. Objective The objective of this study is to improve safety in large diameter tunnel construction by integrating robust optimization and machine learning (ML) techniques with Building Information Modeling (BIM). This involves acquiring and preprocessing diverse datasets, using feature engineering to extract key parameters, and applying ML algorithms like SVM, decision trees, ANN, and random forests to predict and mitigate risks, ultimately enhancing safety performance in civil engineering projects. Methods The study's methods include acquiring and preprocessing various datasets (geological, structural, environmental, operational, historical, and simulation). Feature engineering techniques are used to extract key safety parameters for tunnels. Machine learning algorithms, such as decision trees, support vector machines (SVM), artificial neural networks, and random forests, are employed to analyze the data and predict construction risks. The SVM algorithm, with a 98.76% accuracy, is the most reliable predictor. Results The study found that the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm was the most accurate predictor of risks in large diameter tunnel construction, achieving a 98.76% accuracy rate. Other models, such as decision trees, artificial neural networks, and random forests, also performed well, validating the effectiveness of ML-based solutions for risk assessment and mitigation. These predictive models enable stakeholders to monitor construction, allocate resources, and implement preventative measures effectively. Conclusion The study concludes that integrating machine learning (ML) approaches with Building Information Modeling (BIM) significantly improves safety in large diameter tunnel construction. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm, with 98.76% accuracy, is the most reliable predictor of risks. Other models, like decision trees, artificial neural networks, and random forests, also perform well, validating ML-based solutions for risk assessment. Adopting these ML approaches enhances safety performance and resource management in civil engineering projects.

An ML-Based Solution in the Transformation towards a Sustainable Smart City

The rapid development of modern information technology (IT), power supply, communication and traffic information systems and so on is resulting in progress in the area of distributed and energy-efficient (if possible, powered by renewable energy sources) smart grid components securely connected to entire smart city management systems. This enables a wide range of applications such as distributed energy management, system health forecasting and cybersecurity based on huge volumes of data that automate and improve the performance of the smart grid, but also require analysis, inference and prediction using artificial intelligence. Data management strategies, but also the sharing of data by consumers, institutions, organisations and industries, can be supported by edge clouds, thus protecting privacy and improving performance. This article presents and develops the authors’ own concept in this area, which is planned for research in the coming years. The paper aims to develop and initially test a conceptual framework that takes into account the aspects discussed above, emphasising the practical aspects and use cases of the Social Internet of Things (SIoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the everyday lives of smart sustainable city (SSC) residents. We present an approach consisting of seven algorithms for the integration of large data sets for machine learning processing to be applied in optimisation in the context of smart cities.

Enhancing trustworthiness in ML-based network intrusion detection with uncertainty quantification

A crucial role in the security of modern networks is played by Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs), security devices designed to identify and mitigate attacks to networks structure. Data-driven approaches based on Machine Learning (ML) have gained more and more popularity for executing the classification tasks required by signature-based IDSs. However, typical ML models adopted for this purpose do not properly take into account the uncertainty associated with their prediction. This poses significant challenges, as they tend to produce misleadingly high classification scores for both misclassified inputs and inputs belonging to unknown classes (e.g. novel attacks), limiting the trustworthiness of existing ML-based solutions. In this paper, we argue that ML-based IDSs should always provide accurate uncertainty quantification to avoid overconfident predictions. In fact, an uncertainty-aware classification would be beneficial to enhance closed-set classification performance, would make it possible to carry out Active Learning, and would help recognize inputs of unknown classes as truly unknowns, unlocking open-set classification capabilities and Out-of-Distribution (OoD) detection. To verify it, we compare various ML-based methods for uncertainty quantification and open-set classification, either specifically designed for or tailored to the domain of network intrusion detection. Moreover, we develop a custom model based on Bayesian Neural Networks that stands out for its OoD detection capabilities and robustness, with a lower variance in the results over different scenarios, compared to other baselines, thus showing how proper uncertainty quantification can be exploited to significantly enhance the trustworthiness of ML-based IDSs.

Deep dive into RNA: a systematic literature review on RNA structure prediction using machine learning methods

The discovery of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has expanded our comprehension of RNAs’ inherent nature and capabilities. The intricate three-dimensional structures assumed by RNAs dictate their specific functions and molecular interactions. However, the limited number of mapped structures, partly due to experimental constraints of methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), highlights the importance of in silico prediction solutions. This is particularly crucial in potential applications in therapeutic drug discovery. In this context, machine learning (ML) methods have emerged as prominent candidates, having previously demonstrated prowess in solving complex challenges across various domains. This review focuses on analyzing the development of ML-based solutions for RNA structure prediction, specifically oriented toward recent advancements in the deep learning (DL) domain. A systematic analysis of 33 works reveals insights into the representation of RNA structures, secondary structure motifs, and tertiary interactions. The review highlights current trends in ML methods used for RNA structure prediction, demonstrates the growing research involvement in this field, and summarizes the most valuable findings.

Machine Learning-Driven Detection of Cross-Site Scripting Attacks

The ever-growing web application landscape, fueled by technological advancements, introduces new vulnerabilities to cyberattacks. Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks pose a significant threat, exploiting the difficulty of distinguishing between benign and malicious scripts within web applications. Traditional detection methods struggle with high false-positive (FP) and false-negative (FN) rates. This research proposes a novel machine learning (ML)-based approach for robust XSS attack detection. We evaluate various models including Random Forest (RF), Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Decision Trees (DTs), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), and ensemble learning. The models are trained on a real-world dataset categorized into benign and malicious traffic, incorporating feature selection methods like Information Gain (IG) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for optimal performance. Our findings reveal exceptional accuracy, with the RF model achieving 99.78% and ensemble models exceeding 99.64%. These results surpass existing methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach in securing web applications while minimizing FPs and FNs. This research offers a significant contribution to the field of web application security by providing a highly accurate and robust ML-based solution for XSS attack detection.

A Comprehensive Survey of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Application in Healthcare

The ongoing technological transformation, driven by rapid advancements in machine learning (ML), holds the potential to profoundly impact our lives and redefine the essence of humanity. Recent years have witnessed significant progress in ML, fuelled by the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) due to machines' capacity for large-scale data processing and management. The intersection of ML and healthcare encompasses both computer science along with medical science. Within medical science, ML techniques have enabled the examination of complex medical data, marking a significant advancement. In the healthcare industry, ML functions as the cognitive and knowledge counterpart of healthcare professionals. This paper explores the benefits of ML-based solutions and their applications in healthcare, emphasizing their role in automating data analysis for patients' health records along with making predictions per the extracted insights. The integration of ML in healthcare promises transformative outcomes, shaping the future of medical diagnostics and decision-making.

A supervised, externally validated machine learning model for artifact and drainage detection in high-resolution intracranial pressure monitoring data.

In neurocritical care, data from multiple biosensors are continuously measured, but only sporadically acknowledged by the attending physicians. In contrast, machine learning (ML) tools can analyze large amounts of data continuously, taking advantage of underlying information. However, the performance of such ML-based solutions is limited by different factors, for example, by patient motion, manipulation, or, as in the case of external ventricular drains (EVDs), the drainage of CSF to control intracranial pressure (ICP). The authors aimed to develop an ML-based algorithm that automatically classifies normal signals, artifacts, and drainages in high-resolution ICP monitoring data from EVDs, making the data suitable for real-time artifact removal and for future ML applications. In their 2-center retrospective cohort study, the authors used labeled ICP data from 40 patients in the first neurocritical care unit (University Hospital Zurich) for model development. The authors created 94 descriptive features that were used to train the model. They compared histogram-based gradient boosting with extremely randomized trees after building pipelines with principal component analysis, hyperparameter optimization via grid search, and sequential feature selection. Performance was measured with nested 5-fold cross-validation and multiclass area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Data from 20 patients in a second, independent neurocritical care unit (Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) were used for external validation with bootstrapping technique and AUROC. In cross-validation, the best-performing model achieved a mean AUROC of 0.945 (95% CI 0.92-0.969) on the development dataset. On the external validation dataset, the model performed with a mean AUROC of 0.928 (95% CI 0.908-0.946) in 100 bootstrapping validation cycles to classify normal signals, artifacts, and drainages. Here, the authors developed a well-performing supervised model with external validation that can detect normal signals, artifacts, and drainages in ICP signals from patients in neurocritical care units. For future analyses, this is a powerful tool to discard artifacts or to detect drainage events in ICP monitoring signals.

FloodGNN-GRU: a spatio-temporal graph neural network for flood prediction

Abstract Classical approaches for flood prediction apply numerical methods for the solution of partial differential equations that capture the physics of inundation processes (e.g., the 2D Shallow Water equations). However, traditional inundation models are still unable to satisfy the requirements of many relevant applications, including early-warning systems, high-resolution (or large spatial domain) simulations, and robust inference over distributions of inputs (e.g., rainfall events). Machine learning (ML) approaches are a promising alternative to physics-based models due to their ability to efficiently capture correlations between relevant inputs and outputs in a data-driven fashion. In particular, once trained, ML models can be tested/deployed much more efficiently than classical approaches. Yet, few ML-based solutions for spatio-temporal flood prediction have been developed, and their reliability/accuracy is poorly understood. In this paper, we propose FloodGNN-GRU, a spatio-temporal flood prediction model that combines a graph neural network (GNN) and a gated recurrent unit (GRU) architecture. Compared to existing approaches, FloodGNN-GRU (i) employs a graph-based model (GNN); (ii) operates on both spatial and temporal dimensions; and (iii) processes the water flow velocities as vector features, instead of scalar features. We evaluate FloodGNN-GRU using a LISFLOOD-FP simulation of Hurricane Harvey (2017) in Houston, Texas. Our results, based on several metrics, show that FloodGNN-GRU outperforms several data-driven alternatives in terms of accuracy. Moreover, our approach can be trained 100x faster and tested 1000x faster than the time required to run a comparable simulation. These findings illustrate the potential of ML-based methods to efficiently emulate physics-based inundation models, especially for short-term predictions.

Machine-Learning-Based Solution Predicts Fluid Properties for Gas-Injection Data

_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 211080, “Machine-Learning-Based Prediction of Pressure/Volume/Temperature Fluid Properties for Gas-Injection Laboratory Data,” by Kassem Ghorayeb, SPE, American University of Beirut and Schlumberger; Kristian Mogensen, SPE, ADNOC; and Nour El Droubi, Schlumberger, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. _ While machine learning (ML) is used extensively to predict black-oil properties, it is used less often for compositional reservoir properties, including those related to gas injection. Can typically extensive conventional laboratory data be used to help predict the necessary gas-injection parameters? This question is addressed in the complete paper. The authors present an ML-based solution that predicts pertinent gas-injection studies from known fluid properties such as fluid composition and black-oil properties—that is, learning from samples with gas-injection laboratory studies and predicting gas-injection fluid parameters for the remaining, much larger data set. Methodology The objective of the ML component is to predict the results of the swelling test using compositional and black-oil properties. Fig. 1 illustrates the three main steps that make up the work flow. The swelling-test data is processed and analyzed for use in the ML training as the first phase in the data-preparation and -analysis process. The following step is ML training, where features are engineered to examine correlations in the data, followed by the training of ML models using selected features and evaluation of the results. The swelling-test data for each fluid sample will be predicted using the trained ML models in the last stage, which creates a digital-twin database for swelling-test results. The three steps are detailed in the complete paper. Results and Discussion Several approaches were taken while training the ML model. One approach was to either cluster before the ML training, with one ML model trained for each cluster, or train a single ML model using all the data. The other approach was to use the chain method for the prediction of the outputs. In the chain approach, the outputs are given a specific order and, whenever one output is predicted, it is added to the inputs of the following output. The chain approach is particularly useful when the outputs are correlated.

Exploring the Role of Machine Learning in Diagnosing and Treating Speech Disorders: A Systematic Literature Review.

Speech disorders profoundly impact the overall quality of life by impeding social operations and hindering effective communication. This study addresses the gap in systematic reviews concerning machine learning-based assistive technology for individuals with speech disorders. The overarching purpose is to offer a comprehensive overview of the field through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and provide valuable insights into the landscape of ML-based solutions and related studies. The research employs a systematic approach, utilizing a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology. The study extensively examines the existing literature on machine learning-based assistive technology for speech disorders. Specific attention is given to ML techniques, characteristics of exploited datasets in the training phase, speaker languages, feature extraction techniques, and the features employed by ML algorithms. This study contributes to the existing literature by systematically exploring the machine learning landscape in assistive technology for speech disorders. The originality lies in the focused investigation of ML-speech recognition for impaired speech disorder users over ten years (2014-2023). The emphasis on systematic research questions related to ML techniques, dataset characteristics, languages, feature extraction techniques, and feature sets adds a unique and comprehensive perspective to the current discourse. The systematic literature review identifies significant trends and critical studies published between 2014 and 2023. In the analysis of the 65 papers from prestigious journals, support vector machines and neural networks (CNN, DNN) were the most utilized ML technique (20%, 16.92%), with the most studied disease being Dysarthria (35/65, 54% studies). Furthermore, an upsurge in using neural network-based architectures, mainly CNN and DNN, was observed after 2018. Almost half of the included studies were published between 2021 and 2022).

Achieving Organizational Effectiveness through Machine Learning Based Approaches for Malware Analysis and Detection

Introduction: as technology usage grows at an exponential rate, cybersecurity has become a primary concern. Cyber threats have become increasingly advanced and specific, posing a severe risk to individuals, businesses, and even governments. The growing complexity and sophistication of cyber-attacks are posing serious challenges to traditional cybersecurity methods. As a result, machine learning (ML) techniques have emerged as a promising solution for detecting and preventing these attacks. Aim: this research paper offers an extensive examination of diverse machine learning algorithms that have the potential to enhance the intelligence and overall functionality of applications. Methods: the main focus of this study is to present the core principles of distinct machine learning methods and demonstrate their versatile applications in various practical fields such as cybersecurity systems, smart cities, healthcare, e-commerce, and agriculture. By exploring these applications, this paper contributes to the understanding of how machine learning techniques can be effectively employed across different domains. The article then explores the current and future prospects of ML in cybersecurity. Results: this paper highlights the growing importance of ML in cybersecurity and the increasing demand for skilled professionals who can develop and implement ML-based solutions. Conclusion: overall, the present article presents a thorough examination of the role of machine learning (ML) in cybersecurity, as well as its current and future prospects. It can be a valuable source of information for researchers, who seek to grasp the potential of ML in enhancing cybersecurity

A UAV-based coverage gap detection and resolution in cellular networks: A machine-learning approach

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to extend the coverage of terrestrial base stations (BSs) in cellular communication systems has been gaining increasing interest in recent years. This is due to the ease of deploying UAV-mounted BSs within relatively short times with low associated costs. In this work, we formulate the problem of deploying UAV-mounted BSs to mitigate the coverage gaps of the terrestrial BSs of cellular networks in some geographic regions. We then devise a technique that provides the optimal bound of the solution to the coverage gap detection and mitigation problem. We also propose a machine-learning (ML) based technique to provide a real-time solution for deploying UAVs to determine and mitigate the coverage gaps. In both solutions, namely, the optimal and ML-based solutions, the deployment of the UAVs is done in such a way that addresses the coverage gaps at the minimum possible cost. Simulation results show that our ML-based technique performs quite closely to the performance of the optimal solution, at a significantly lower complexity, and hence fulfills the real-time requirements of such deployments. It also provides significantly better performance results than a common benchmark solution from the literature.

Machine learning for enhancing transportation security: A comprehensive analysis of electric and flying vehicle systems

This paper delves into the transformative role of machine learning (ML) techniques in revolutionizing the security of electric and flying vehicles (EnFVs). By exploring key domains such as predictive maintenance, cyberattack detection, and intelligent decision-making, the study uncovers pivotal insights that will shape the future of this technology.From a theoretical perspective, ML emerges as a cornerstone for fortifying EnFV safety, offering real-time threat detection, predictive maintenance capabilities, and enhanced anomaly detection. In practical terms, ML-based solutions are envisioned as instrumental in preventing cyberattacks, reducing downtime, and improving overall safety.The research contributions of this study encompass a comprehensive overview of ML applications in EnFV security, identification of challenges, and paving the way for future research directions. While acknowledging research limitations, particularly the need for real-world implementation, the study emphasizes the crucial yet underexplored ethical considerations in ML for EnFV security. Future research suggestions focus on Explainable AI techniques, real-time ML algorithms for resource-constrained environments, and privacy-preserving ML techniques, aiming for a transparent, efficient, and privacy-aware integration of ML in EnFV security. By addressing key security challenges, ML can potentially revolutionize the EnFV domain, paving the way for a future of efficient, sustainable, and connected transportation systems.

Human-Machine Synergy in Real Estate Similarity Concept

Abstract The issue of similarity in the real estate market is a widely recognized aspect of analysis, yet it remains underexplored in scientific research. This study aims to address this gap by introducing the concept of a Property Cognitive Information System (PCIS), which offers an innovative approach to analyzing similarity in the real estate market. The PCIS introduces non-classical and alternative solutions, departing from the conventional data analysis practices commonly employed in the real estate market. Moreover, the study delves into the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the PCIS. The paper highlights the value added by the PCIS, specifically discussing the validity of using automatic ML-based solutions to objectify the results of synergistic data processing in the real estate market. Furthermore, the article establishes a set of essential assumptions and recommendations that contribute to a well-defined and interpretable notion of similarity in the context of human-machine analyses. By exploring the intricacies of similarity in the real estate market through the innovative PCIS and AI-based solutions, this research seeks to broaden the understanding and applicability of data analysis techniques in this domain.

Multiple passive-sensor distributed target tracking approach with Machine Learning Feedback

In this paper, a novel recursive state estimation approach in three-dimensional space for a non-maneuvering target is developed. The proposed technique employs angle and amplitude information in a distributed fusion setup, tackling the issue of target state estimation in cluttered environments, as well as target detection with a machine learning feedback mechanism with sequence measurements from multiple passive sensors. A new Integrated Probabilistic Data Association technique with Machine Learning Feedback (IPDA-MLF) is proposed. Most of the clutter measurements are eliminated by fusing angles and amplitude information in the Local Sensor tracker with an Integrated Probabilistic Data Association algorithm (LS-IPDA) framework. To deal with low observability issues, as well as to fuse information from multiple sensors, a Machine Learning (ML) algorithm is deployed, which utilizes a convolutional neural networks-based algorithm. The proposed IPDA-MLF algorithm resolves possible track-to-track associations and provides feedback to the local tracker for increased track retention. The refined information from local trackers is again converted to heat maps and the ML-based solution is used to fuse the local tracks at a central level. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is improved by the incorporation of the machine learning feedback, reducing false tracks, increasing true track retention, and eliminating mismatched fusion at the central tracker.

Measuring dairy cow welfare with real-time sensor-based data and farm records: a concept study

Welfare assessment of dairy cows by in-person farm visits provides only a snapshot of welfare and is time-consuming and costly. Possible solutions to reduce the need for in-person assessments would be to exploit sensor data and other routinely collected on-farm records. The aim of this study was to develop an algorithm to classify dairy cow welfare based on sensors (accelerometer and/or milk meter) and farm records (e.g. days in milk, lactation number). In total, 318 cows from six commercial farms located in Finland, Italy and Spain (two farms each) were enrolled for a pilot study lasting 135 days. During this time, cows were routinely scored using 14 animal-based measures of good feeding, health and housing based on the Welfare Quality® (WQ®) protocol. WQ® measures were evaluated daily or approximately every 45 days, using disease treatments from farm records and on-farm visits, respectively. WQ® measures were supplemented with daily temperature-humidity index to account for heat stress. The severity and duration of each welfare measure were evaluated, and the final welfare index was obtained by summing up the values for each cow on each pilot study day, and stratifying the result into three classes: good, moderate and poor welfare. For model building, a machine-learning (ML) algorithm based on gradient-boosted trees (XGBoost) was applied. Two model versions were tested: (1) a global model tested on unseen herd, and (2) a herd-specific model tested on unseen part of the data from the same herd. The version (1) served as an example on the model performance on a herd not previsited by the evaluator, while version (2) resembled a custom-made solution requiring in-person welfare evaluation for model training. Our results indicated that the global model had a low performance with average sensitivity and specificity of 0.44 and 0.68, respectively. For the herd-specific version, the model performance was higher reaching an average of 0.64 sensitivity and 0.80 specificity. The highest classification performance was obtained for cows in poor welfare, followed by cows in good and moderate welfare (balanced accuracy of 0.77, 0.71 and 0.68, respectively). Since the global model had low classification accuracy, the use of the developed model as a stand-alone system based solely on sensor data is infeasible, and a combination of in-person and sensor-based welfare evaluation would be preferable for a reliable welfare assessment. ML-based solutions, even with fair discriminative abilities, have the potential to enhance dairy welfare monitoring.

A federated and explainable approach for insider threat detection in IoT

An insider threat is a malicious action launched by authorized personnel inside the organization. Since insider actions may only leave a small digital footprint in the system, it is considered a major cybersecurity challenge in different applications. Along with the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the extensive attack surface in this technology, many concerns have been raised regarding the potential insider threats in IoT environments. Several studies have been conducted on Machine Learning (ML)-based insider threat detection solutions which are focused on the models’ performance while the trustability of these models is neglected. Trustworthy Learning refers to a new trend in ML that focuses on ways to ensure that the data collection and data analysis procedures in ML techniques follow ethical applications and are trustable to human users. This approach enforces the acceptance and successful adoption of ML-based solutions. This study aims to propose an improved trustworthy insider threat detection method that ensures two of the trustworthy learning requirements: Privacy and Explainability. The proposed solution protects the privacy of the utilized data and is capable of explaining why certain behaviors are detected as a threat. The proposed solution also leverages data collaboration between different data owners to increase the volume of data used in the training process and enhance the performance of the ML model. Experimental results show the proposed solution outperforms the learning models trained by individual data holders.

IBUST: An intelligent behavioural trust model for securing industrial cyber-physical systems

To meet the demand of the world’s largest population, smart manufacturing has accelerated the adoption of smart factories—where autonomous and cooperative instruments across all levels of production and logistics networks are integrated through a Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS). However, these networks are comprised of various heterogeneous devices with varying computational power and memory capabilities. As a result, many secure communication protocols – that demand considerably high computational power and memory – can not be verbatim employed on these networks, and thereby, leaving them more vulnerable to security threats and attacks over conventional networks. These threats can largely be tackled by employing a Trust Management Model (TMM) by exploiting the behavioural patterns of nodes to identify their trust class. In this context, ML-based models are best suited due to their ability to capture hidden patterns in data, learning and improving the pattern detection accuracy over time to counteract and tackle threats of a dynamic nature, which is absent in most of the conventional models. However, among the existing ML-based solutions in detecting attack patterns, many of them are computationally expensive, require a long training time, and a considerably large amount of training data—which are seldom available. An aid to this is the association rule learning (ARL) paradigm, whose models are computationally inexpensive and do not require a long training time. Therefore, this paper proposes an ARL-based intelligent Behavioural Trust Model (iBUST) for securing the CPPS. For this intelligent TMM, a variant of Frequency Pattern Growth (FP-Growth), called enhanced FP-Growth (EFP-Growth) algorithm is developed by altering the internal data structures for faster execution and by developing a modified exponential decay function (MEDF) to automatically calculate minimum supports for adapting trust evolution characteristics. In addition, a new optimisation model for finding optimum parameter values in the MEDF and an algorithm for transmuting a 1D quantitative feature into a respective categorical feature are developed to facilitate the model. Afterwards, the trust class of an object is identified employing the Naïve Bayes classifier. This proposed model is evaluated on a trust evolution-supported experimental environment along with other compared models taking a benchmark dataset into consideration, where it outperforms its counterparts.

Methodology for physics-informed generation of synthetic neutron time-of-flight measurement data

Accurate neutron cross section data are a vital input to the simulation of nuclear systems for a wide range of applications from energy production to national security. The evaluation of experimental data is a key step in producing accurate cross sections. There is a widely recognized lack of reproducibility in the evaluation process due to its artisanal nature and therefore there is a call for improvement within the nuclear data community. This can be realized by automating/standardizing viable parts of the process, namely, parameter estimation by fitting theoretical models to experimental data. There are numerous candidate methods to approach this type of problem, but many rely on large, labeled datasets that are not accessible to the nuclear data evaluator. For a reaction cross-section, there are usually just a handful of datasets, none of which can be considered labeled because evaluators never have access to the exact solution (cross section). This work leverages problem-specific physics, Monte Carlo sampling, and a general methodology for data synthesis to generate unlimited, labeled experimental cross-section data of high-utility. The synthesized data is said to be of high-utility because it is statistically similar to the observed data. Heuristic and, where applicable, rigorous statistical comparisons to observed data support this claim. The methodology is split into two generative models. The first generates a realization of an energy-differential cross section for a given isotope. The second takes the output from the first as a determined input and generates noisy experimental observables (radiation detector signals) from the determined cross section realization. The latter is the primary development of this article and is based/limited to transmission measurements at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The former leverages an existing method for model parameter sampling in the resolved resonance region (RRR), thus limiting the current demonstration to the RRR of incident neutron energies. An open-source software is published alongside this article that executes the complete methodology to produce high-utility synthetic datasets. The goal of this work is to provide an approach and corresponding tool that will allow the evaluation community to begin exploring more data-driven, ML-based solutions to long-standing challenges in the field.

Data Perspectives in AI-Assisted Fiber-Optic Communication Networks

Machine learning (ML) is widely being regarded as a powerful technology to solve various complex problems in fiberoptic communication networks. Recently, ML algorithms have been considered for a variety of use-cases in optical networks ranging from the design of network devices to the compensation of transmission impairments to predicting network-wide traffic flow patterns. As ML techniques are inherently data driven, the availability of relevant data sets largely dictates the performance of developed ML models. Presently, majority of ML-aided methods in the literature rely either on synthetic data from certain simulation tools or exploit data from some simple laboratory setups. However, developing robust ML-based solutions for real fiber-optic networks demands assembling big data from various parts as well as across different layers and domains of the network. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of understanding among the research community about various crucial data aspects in practical optical networks as well as key challenges faced. While there has been a plethora of works discussing numerous ML applications in fiber-optic communications and networking, to the best of our knowledge, there is presently no paper which particularly focuses on data perspectives. In this paper, we aim to shed light on various critical data factors by first describing the tools and technologies imperative for adequate network monitoring and data acquisition. We also elucidate different data types, their physical sources, and their applications. Several useful data handling and pre-processing techniques for efficient network data collection, storage, presentation, analysis, etc., are discussed. Major challenges in the generation, transmission, and sharing of the data are highlighted and some potential solutions to the outstanding problems are proposed, thus paving the way for seamless availability of pertinent data sets essential for realizing intelligent data-driven operations in future fiber-optic networks.