Virtual Validation of an Automated Lane-Keeping System with an Extended Operational Design Domain

Virtual testing using simulation will play a significant role in future safety validation procedures for automated driving systems, as it provides the needed scalability for executing a scenario-based assessment approach. This article combines multiple essential aspects that are necessary for the virtual validation of such systems. First, a general framework that contains the vital subsystems needed for virtual validation is introduced. Secondly, the interfaces between the subsystems are explored. Additionally, the concept of model fidelities is presented and extended towards all relevant subsystems. For an automated lane-keeping system with two different definitions of an operational design domain, all relevant subsystems are defined and integrated into an overall simulation framework. The resulting difference between both operational design domains is the occurrence of lateral manoeuvres, leading to greater demands of the fidelity of the vehicle dynamics model. The simulation results support the initial assumption that by extending the operation domain, the requirements for all subsystems are subject to adaption. As an essential aspect of harmonising virtual validation frameworks, the article identifies four separate layers and their corresponding parameters. In particular, the tool-specific co-simulation capability layer is critical, as it enables model exchange through consistently defined interfaces and reduces the integration effort. The introduction of this layered architecture for virtual validation frameworks enables further cross-domain collaboration.

Exploring models for the management of indigenous knowledge in academic libraries of Ghana

The need to manage indigenous knowledge (IK) as a key knowledge base of society has become vital in the era of information society. The lack of representation of IK is partly blamed on its exclusion from academia because IK is not primarily the core focus of academic library's collection. The study sought to explore existing models and develop a framework for the management of indigenous knowledge in academic libraries in Ghana. The qualitative methodology using content analysis was adopted for the purpose of the study. Data was analysed using themes developed from the documents and literature. It was evident that the library services and programmes did not reflect on the African content of knowledge management. For an integrated indigenous knowledge management system, stakeholder's partnership, policy guidelines and integration of IK into library's collection is instrumental. Transformation of knowledge systems was identified as the starting point of integration. Social inclusion of marginalised knowledge, equality, sustainable development was identified and recommended in the effort to integrate indigenous knowledge management systems into the library's collection. A proposed framework has been developed for the management of indigenous knowledge in academic libraries as a blueprint for any integration effort.

LifeLine for FPGA Protection: Obfuscated Cryptography for Real-World Security

Over the last decade attacks have repetitively demonstrated that bitstream protection for SRAM-based FPGAs is a persistent problem without a satisfying solution in practice. Hence, real-world hardware designs are prone to intellectual property infringement and malicious manipulation as they are not adequately protected against reverse-engineering.In this work, we first review state-of-the-art solutions from industry and academia and demonstrate their ineffectiveness with respect to reverse-engineering and design manipulation. We then describe the design and implementation of novel hardware obfuscation primitives based on the intrinsic structure of FPGAs. Based on our primitives, we design and implement LifeLine, a hardware design protection mechanism for FPGAs using hardware/software co-obfuscated cryptography. We show that LifeLine offers effective protection for a real-world adversary model, requires minimal integration effort for hardware designers, and retrofits to already deployed (and so far vulnerable) systems.

Cyber offense in NATO: challenges and opportunities

As a response to the Russian invasion of Crimea, NATO returned to the core military concepts of deterrence and collective defence. This NATO adaption has recently come to include attempts to integrate offensive cyber effects into NATO force structure and response doctrine. The article argues—counter to what is publicly declared—that such an integration does little to strengthen NATO's deterrence posture and is unlikely to deter non-military, hybrid cyber activity below the threshold of collective defence. The article identifies several practical challenges to the current integration effort, which include the temporal dimension of developing exploits, battle damage assessment and deconfliction. With these challenges in mind, the article suggests that deploying minor and less resourceful cyber effects that cause persistent ‘cyber annoyances’ holds an unappreciated potential as they can drain opponent resources, disturb vital IT-systems and complicate decision-making. The article ends by arguing that NATO should not adapt its collective defence clause to cyberspace. A more active NATO in cyberspace risks undermining the cyber-intelligence norm that so far has prevented escalation and thereby increasing the likelihood that Russia misinterprets intelligence and active cyber defence activities as military preparation, armament or an attack in the making.

Intelligently managing mixed traffic flows at intersections Proposal of a platoon-based round-robin algorithm with priorities

<p>The importance of addressing the complexities of mixed traffic conditions by providing innovative approaches, models, and algorithms for traffic control has been well highlighted in the state-of-the-art literature. Accordingly, the first aim of this study has been to enhance the traditional intersection control methods for the incorporation of autonomous vehicles and wireless communications. For this purpose, we have introduced a novel framework labeled by “PRRP-framework”. The PRRP-framework also enables flexible preferential treatments for some special vehicles within an implementable range of complexity while it addresses the stochastic nature of traffic flow. Moreover, the PRRP-framework has been coupled with a speed advisory system that brings complementary strengths leading to even better performance. Further simulations reported in this manuscript, confirmed that such an integration effort is a prerequisite to move towards sustainable results.<br></p> <p> </p>

Intelligently managing mixed traffic flows at intersections Proposal of a platoon-based round-robin algorithm with priorities

<p>The importance of addressing the complexities of mixed traffic conditions by providing innovative approaches, models, and algorithms for traffic control has been well highlighted in the state-of-the-art literature. Accordingly, the first aim of this study has been to enhance the traditional intersection control methods for the incorporation of autonomous vehicles and wireless communications. For this purpose, we have introduced a novel framework labeled by “PRRP-framework”. The PRRP-framework also enables flexible preferential treatments for some special vehicles within an implementable range of complexity while it addresses the stochastic nature of traffic flow. Moreover, the PRRP-framework has been coupled with a speed advisory system that brings complementary strengths leading to even better performance. Further simulations reported in this manuscript, confirmed that such an integration effort is a prerequisite to move towards sustainable results.<br></p> <p> </p>

‘COLUMBANUS WORE A SINGLE COWL, NOT A DOUBLE ONE’: THE VITA DEICOLI AND THE LEGACY OF COLUMBANIAN MONASTICISM AT THE TURN OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM

This article analyses the Life of St. Deicolus of Lure, a monastery in the Alsace region of east France, written by the cleric Theodoric in the 970s or 980s. It argues that the text contains a notable amount of information on the existence, methodology, and limitations of an ill-understood aspect of monastic integration around the year 1000. Relying on an analysis of the narrative's second prologue as well as scattered comments elsewhere in the text, it reconstructs three phenomena. The first is attempts to (re-)establish a Luxeuil-centered imagined community of institutions with a shared Columbanian legacy through the creation and circulation of hagiographic narratives. A second is the co-creation across institutional boundaries of texts and manuscripts that were designed to facilitate these integration attempts. And the third phenomenon is the limits of this integration effort, which did not tempt those involved to propose the establishment of a distinct ‘neo-Columbanian’ observance. As such, the Life represents an attempt to reconcile the legacy of Columbanus and his real or alleged followers as celebrated at late tenth-century Luxeuil and Lure with a contemporary understanding of reformed Benedictine identity.

Automatic Information Extraction from Text-Based Requirements

Requirements form the legal basis for many development pro-jects. They are usually exchanged between customer and supplier in the form of product and requirements specifications and re-quire a subsequent integration effort into the corresponding requirements management solutions. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), which mainly use office solutions for the management of requirements, this involves a very high integration effort, which is why this is usually only partially managed or not managed at all. Software solutions available on the market already offer support, but they are too expensive or complex, especially for small companies. The project DAM4KMU, funded by German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), addresses this challenge and by enabling SMEs from Germany to integrate requirement documents automatically into existing requirement structures with the help of NLP-based techniques. For this purpose, the documents to be processed are divided into semantic roles, which can then be transferred into a semantic data structure. This in turn enables an automatic linking of the requirements and system components, which reduces the manual effort and avoids possible errors.

SCIENTIFIC WORKFLOWS FOR MCNP6 AND PROTEUS WITHIN THE NEAMS WORKBENCH

In this work we integrate MCNP and PROTEUS, two high-fidelity reactor physics codes, into the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS)Workbench. Specifically, we enhance the user interface of each code by developing full-featured editor services. Next, we re-define MCNP textual outputs in HDF5 formats, at great convenience to the user. Further, these HDF5 outputs are (optionally) coerced to the OpenMC format, enabling powerful and common post-processing workflows. For compatible use of MCNP and PROTEUS, we develop a model unification workflow, converting PROTEUS to MCNP-compatible meshes and generating a corresponding template MCNP deck. Finally, we investigate cooperative use of MCNP and PROTEUS for hybrid Monte Carlo and deterministic variance reduction through Consistent Adjoint-Driven Importance Sampling (CADIS), demonstrated with a fixed-source shielding problem. Ultimately, we find our integration effort dramatically streamlines pre- and post-processing with MCNP and PROTEUS and enables transformative hybrid Monte Carlo and deterministic workflows.