Search Results (205)

The modern power grid is considered a Smart Grid (SG) when it relies extensively on technologies that integrate traditional power infrastructure with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The dependence on Internet of Things (IoT)-based communication systems to operate physical power devices transforms the grid into a complex system of systems (SoS), introducing cybersecurity vulnerabilities across various SG layers. Several surveys have addressed SG cybersecurity, but none have correlated recent developments with the NIST seven-domain framework, a comprehensive model covering all major SG domains and crucial for domain-level trend analysis. To bridge this gap, we systematically review and classify studies by impacted NIST domain, threat type, and methodology (including tools/platforms used). We note that the scope of applicability of this study is 60 studies (2011–2024) selected exclusively from IEEE Xplore. Unlike prior reviews, this work maps contributions to the NIST domain architecture, examines temporal trends in research, and synthesizes cybersecurity defenses and their limitations. The analysis reveals that research is unevenly distributed: the Operations domain accounts for ~35% of all studies, followed by Generation ~25% and Distribution ~14%, while domains like Transmission (~9%) and Service Provider (5%) are comparatively under-studied. We find a heavy reliance on simulation-based tools (~46% of studies) such as MATLAB/Simulink, and False Data Injection (FDI) attacks are predominantly studied, comprising approximately 36% of analyzed attacks. The broader objective of this work is to guide researchers and SG stakeholders (e.g., utilities, policy-makers) toward understanding and coordinating strategies for improving system-level cyber-resilience, which is crucial for future SGs, while avoiding any overstatement of findings beyond the reviewed evidence. Full article

Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is a critical component for social inclusion and population development. This study aimed to analyze ICT access in Argentine households, considering its distribution according to deprivation conditions and area of residence (urban–rural) at the regional level, and incorporating a spatial association perspective at the departmental level. The percentage of households with Internet access, computers (or tablets), and cell phones with connectivity was examined at the regional level, according to household deprivation type and area of residence. At the departmental level, the analysis was conducted through thematic maps and the estimation of spatial autocorrelation patterns (global and local Moran’s Index). Indicators were constructed using data from the 2022 Population, Household, and Housing Census. Results revealed significant disparities in ICT access, attributable to deprivation conditions and the geographic distribution of households. Spatial autocorrelation patterns with low ICT access were mainly identified in the Northwest (NOA) and Northeast (NEA) regions, while the highest coverage levels were concentrated in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), the Pampeana, and Patagonia regions. The evidence highlights the need to design public policies aimed at reducing digital divides. Full article

Background: Teledentistry constitutes a key component of digital health, enabling remote oral healthcare delivery through information and communication technologies (ICT). The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated its global adoption; however, data regarding its implementation within Romanian dental practice remain limited. Understanding usage patterns, perceived benefits, and implementation barriers is essential for effective integration. Objectives: This study examined the adoption of teledentistry among dental practitioners in Sibiu County, Romania, identified its main applications, assessed professional perceptions, and explored barriers and their interrelations using association rule mining (ARM). Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was distributed in 2025 to all 630 registered dentists in Sibiu County. The questionnaire collected demographic data, usage patterns, perceived benefits, and barriers. A total of 197 valid responses were obtained (response rate: 31.2%). Descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, and ARM were used to identify associations between usage contexts and recorded obstacles. Results: Overall, 44.6% of respondents reported using teledentistry tools, primarily for interdisciplinary consultations (29.4%), postoperative counseling (26.4%), and treatment monitoring (25.3%). The most frequently cited barriers were the inability to perform direct clinical examinations (71.5%), practitioner reluctance (37.1%), insufficient infrastructure (29.9%), and the lack of a clear legislative framework (27.4%). ARM revealed frequent co-occurrence patterns among these barriers. Practitioners with prior experience in teledentistry reported significantly higher perceived utility (58% vs. 22.1%) and greater interest in training (58% vs. 38.5%, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Teledentistry shows moderate but increasing adoption among Romanian dentists. Addressing current barriers, through legislative clarification, infrastructure development, targeted professional training, and public education, is essential for achieving sustainable integration into modern dental practice. Full article

The creative economy includes the processes involved in producing, sharing, and using goods and services that depend on creativity, cultural understanding, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property as essential factors for economic value. This study examines the impact of digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), and innovation capabilities on the performance of South Africa’s creative economy from 1999 to 2023. It uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and incorporates patent activity, ICT-related trade, and creative sector variables to analyse the short-term and long-term relationships. The findings suggest that digital trade and sector maturity significantly increase intellectual property revenues, while patent activities show minimal effect, and funding factors face measurement challenges. Persistent digital divides, reflected in uneven ICT adoption, limit equitable participation and business prospects. These results highlight the challenges and systemic obstacles faced by creative entrepreneurs. Policy suggestions emphasise targeted support for commercialising intellectual property, wider access to affordable digital infrastructure, and creating AI-focused creative hubs to strengthen South Africa’s role in the global creative economy. Full article

This study addresses a significant gap in the existing literature by introducing novel perspectives. First, it provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of ESG sustainability and information and communication technology (ICT) on energy transition using updated quarterly data from 2002 Q3 to 2024 Q4. Second, it uniquely integrates climate policy uncertainty (CPU) and financial development (FD) as core explanatory variables, which have been largely neglected in prior research. Third, this study applies advanced quantile-based methodologies, including the Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag (QARDL) model and Quantile Cointegration (QC) techniques, to enhance empirical rigor and ensure policy relevance across the entire conditional distribution. The results showed that at lower quantiles (τ = 0.05–0.30), FD positively influences ET, supporting early-stage clean energy adoption. ICT shows a short-term negative effect (τ = 0.05–0.40). Based on these findings, policymakers should strengthen financial development to accelerate clean energy adoption at early stages, while addressing the short-term negative impacts of ICT by promoting supportive digital and energy policies that align technology use with sustainability goals. Full article

By unraveling the electrifying nexus between ESG sustainability uncertainty, financial development, information technology, trade policy uncertainty, and economic growth, this study sheds light on how these forces collectively shape the trajectory of the United States’ energy transition. Utilizing quarterly data from 2002 Q1 to 2024 Q4, we employ the novel Quantile-on-Quantile ARDL (QQARDL) framework to capture the heterogeneous and distribution-dependent dynamics of these relationships. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to apply QQARDL in assessing the simultaneous effects of institutional uncertainty, financial and technological drivers, and macroeconomic growth on energy transition outcomes in the U.S. The QQARDL results confirm that ET is cointegrated with ESG uncertainty, ICT, FD, TPU, and economic growth, though the strength and direction of these relationships vary across quantiles. ICT and EG consistently promote ET, ESG, and TPU exert mixed effects, FD is generally constraining, and the negative, significant ECT confirms stable long-run convergence with faster adjustment at higher ET quantiles. Based on these findings, policies were formulated to reduce ESG uncertainty, align financial development with green priorities, expand ICT adoption, stabilize trade frameworks, and harness economic growth to accelerate the U.S. energy transition. Full article

The global movement towards a cashless society has prompted the payment of tax obligations through digital platforms and sources. In this international race to ensure that transaction payments are not hindered by the lack of physical cash, Nigeria is also making progress. Therefore, the focus of this study is to assess the implications of digital payment systems in enhancing the effectiveness of tax revenue collection in Nigeria. The analysis spans from the first quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2023, utilizing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag and Error Correction Model. The research uses the most active digital payment systems that have been in operation during the study period. These electronic payment types include digital cheques (CHQs), Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point-of-Sales (POSs), Mobile payment (MPY), and Web-based payment (WPY). These are the predictor variables, while the tax revenue collection (TXC) during this period is the dependent variable. The control variables include information and telecommunication technology penetration rate (ICTPR), inflation, and gross domestic product. The outcomes of this study reveal that, over the long term, a percentage change in CHQs, ATMs, MPY, and ICTPR is linked to a decline of 8.1%, 12.5%, 6.7%, and 22.4% in TXC, respectively. In contrast, WPY indicates a 7.2% positive increase in TXC while inflation exerts a positive increase of 46.7%. The Error Correction Model (ECM) suggests that the deviations from the long-term equilibrium in earlier years are being corrected at a rate of 3.9% in the current year. In the short term, it is noted that digital payment systems do not influence TXC. On the other hand, GDP maintains a significant negative influence on TXC, in both the long- and short-term. Given these results, the study recommends the establishment of a robust information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to enhance effective tax collection, even from rural areas and the informal sector. It is also important for the government to develop strategies that will bring the informal sector into the tax net. Full article

This paper explores the concept of evolutionary urban resilience by framing cities as complex, open, and adaptive Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS), shaped by multi-scalar dynamics, systemic uncertainty, and interdependent crises. It challenges the reductionist view of resilience as a fixed capacity or linear sequence of risk management phases, and instead proposes a process-based paradigm rooted in learning, creativity, and the ability to navigate disequilibrium. The framework defines urban resilience as a continuous and iterative transformation process, supported by: (i) a combination of tangible and intangible qualities activated according to problem typology; (ii) cross-domain processes involving infrastructures, flows, governance, networks, and community dynamics; and (iii) the engagement of diverse agents in shared decision-making and coordinated action. These dimensions unfold across three incremental and interdependent scenarios—baseline, critical, and chronic crisis—forming a ladder of resilience that guides communities through escalating challenges. Special emphasis is placed on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as relational and adaptive tools enabling distributed intelligence and inclusive governance. The framework also outlines concrete operational and policy implications for cities aiming to build anticipatory and transformative resilience capacities. Applied to the case of Taranto, the approach offers insights into how structurally fragile communities facing conflicting adaptive trajectories can unlock transformative potential. Ultimately, the paper calls for a shift from government to governance, from control to co-creation, and from reactive adaptation to chaos generativity, recasting urban resilience as an evolving project of collective agency, systemic reconfiguration, and co-production of emergent urban futures. Full article

In today’s world, power distribution systems and information and communication technology (ICT) systems are increasingly interconnected, forming cyber–physical power systems (CPPSs) at the core of smart grids. Ensuring the resilience of these systems is essential for maintaining reliable performance under disasters, failures, or cyber-attacks. Identifying critical nodes within these interdependent networks is key to preserving system robustness. This paper applies complex network (CN) theory—specifically degree centrality (DC), closeness centrality (CC), and betweenness centrality (BC)—to a real-world distribution grid integrated with an ICT layer in northeastern Italy. Simulations are conducted across three scenarios: a directed power network, an undirected power network, and an undirected ICT network. Each centrality metric generates a ranking of nodes which is validated using node removal performance (NRP) analysis. In the directed power network, in-closeness centrality and out-degree centrality are the most effective in identifying critical nodes, with correlations of 84% and 74% with NRP, respectively. DC and BC perform best in the undirected power network, with correlation values of 67% and 53%, respectively. In the ICT network, BC achieves the highest correlation (64%), followed by CC at 55%. These findings demonstrate the potential of centrality-based methods for identifying critical nodes and support strategies for enhancing CPPS resilience and fault recovery by distribution system operators. Full article

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive technique—used for the local eradication of neoplastic cells—that exploits the interaction of light, oxygen, and a photo-responsive drug called photosensitizer (PS) for the local generation of lethal ROS. Push-pull chromophores, that bear electron donor (D) and acceptor (A) groups linked through a π-electron bridge, are characterized by a non-homogeneous charge distribution in their excited state, with charge transfer from one extremity of the chain to the other one (Internal Charge Transfer—ICT). This phenomenon has a direct impact on the photophysical features of the push-pull compounds, as the bathochromic shift of the emission maxima and intersystem crossing (ISC) of the excited state are directly connected with the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In continuing our research regarding the synthesis and use of oligophenylene ethynylenes (OPEs) in PDT, two new push-pull glycosyl OPE-NOF and OPE-ONF—featuring electron-donor N,N-dimethylamino (N) and dimetoxyaryl (O) and acceptor tetrafluoroaryl (F) moieties on the OPE chain—have been efficiently prepared. The interchanged position of the D groups onto the conjugated skeleton was aimed to tune and optimize the push-pull effect, while the introduction of glucoside terminations was directed to give biocompatibility and bioaffinity to the chromophores. OPE-NOF, OPE-ONF, and the synthetic intermediates were fully characterized, and their photophysical properties were investigated by using UV-Vis absorption and emission spectroscopy. OPE-NOF showed a strong charge-transfer character and high PDT effect on HeLa cancer cells when irradiated with non-harmful blue light, causing massive cancer cell death. Full article

With the depletion of high-grade iron ore resources, the efficient utilization of low-grade iron ore has become a critical demand in the steel industry. Due to its uniform particle size and chemical composition, pelletized iron ore significantly enhances both the utilization rate of iron ore and the efficiency of metallurgical processes. This paper presents a deep learning model based on ResUNet, which integrates three-dimensional CT images obtained through industrial computed tomography (ICT) to precisely segment hematite, liquid phase, and porosity. By incorporating residual connections and batch normalization, the model enhances both robustness and segmentation accuracy, achieving F1 scores of 98.37%, 95.10%, and 83.87% for the hematite, pores, and liquid phase, respectively, on the test set. Through 3D reconstruction and quantitative analysis, the volume fractions and fractal dimensions of each component were computed, revealing the impact of the spatial distribution of different components on the physical properties of the pellets. Systematic evaluation of model robustness demonstrated varying sensitivity to different CT artifacts, with the strongest resistance to beam hardening and highest sensitivity to Gaussian noise. Multi-scale resolution analysis revealed that segmentation quality and fractal dimension estimates exhibit phase-dependent responses to resolution changes, with the liquid phase being the most sensitive. Despite these dependencies, the relative complexity relationships among phases remained consistent across resolutions, supporting the reliability of our qualitative conclusions. The study demonstrates that the deep learning-based image segmentation method effectively captures microstructural details, reduces human error, and enhances automation, providing a scientific foundation for optimizing pellet quality and improving metallurgical performance. It holds considerable potential for industrial applications. Full article

The rise of information and communication technologies (ICT) has facilitated flexible working arrangements, giving rise to new workspaces like co-working spaces (CWSs). While existing research has focused on the distribution of CWSs within city, this study explores their location patterns and relationships with regional policies in China. Using data from 2015 to 2022, it employs a quasi-natural experiment at the prefecture level, primarily examining the impact of the National Innovation Demonstration Zone (NIDZ) policy. This pilot policy primarily aims to reform the science and technology innovation mechanism in the pilot cities. Notably, the research innovatively applies the multiple Difference-in-Differences (DID) model to compare CWS distribution pre- and post-policy implementation across diverse cities. The findings include the general promotion of CWS growth in NIDZs, yet with a policy focus leading to regional imbalances. Moreover, the positive effect of establishing demonstration zones on CWS growth is relatively smaller in economically developed cities. These insights shed light on the evolving dynamics and patterns of innovative activities, emphasizing the influence of regional policies on the spatial distribution of CWSs. Full article

β-galactosidase (β-Gal) has emerged as a pivotal biomarker for the comprehensive investigation of diseases associated with cellular senescence. The development of a fluorescent sensor is of considerable importance for precisely detecting the activity and spatial distribution of β-Gal. In this study, we developed two excited-state-altering responsive fluorescent sensors (TF1 and TF2) for ratiometric detection of β-Gal. Two TCF dyes, composed of tricyanofuran (TCF) and naphthol units, feature electron “pull–push” systems and are quenched fluorescence by β-Gal. Upon β-Gal hydrolysis, a significant ratiometric shift in absorption from ca. 475 nm to 630 nm is observed, accompanied by the emergence of a fluorescence signal at ca. 660 nm. The enzyme-responsive optical red-shifts are attributed to the excited-state transition from intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state to local excited (LE) state, which was confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Both fluorescent sensors display exceptional sensitivity and selectivity for the response of β-Gal in PBS solution and are capable of tracking β-Gal within senescent A549 cells. This study introduces a framework for developing multimodal optical probes by systematically modulating excited-state properties, demonstrating their utility in senescence studies, diagnostic assay design, and therapeutic assessment. Full article

Job satisfaction is a critical determinant in talent acquisition and corporate value enhancement. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a significant increase in online-based non-face-to-face services and consumption, leading to sustained growth in ICT industry job demand. Given the ICT sector’s heavy reliance on human capital and its growing workforce demands, understanding the evolving factors of job satisfaction in this sector has become increasingly crucial. This study analyzed job satisfaction factors derived from employee reviews on an online job review platform using the Dirichlet Multinomial Regression (DMR) topic model, examining temporal changes in these factors before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, 25 distinct job satisfaction-related topics were identified, and their temporal distribution patterns were categorized into three trajectories: ascending, descending, and stable. Topics exhibiting ascending patterns included work–life balance, organizational systems, corporate culture, employee benefits, work environment, and software development practices. Conversely, factors demonstrating descending patterns encompassed annual compensation, task characteristics, supervisory relationships, employee treatment, commuting conditions, work-related stress, and welfare programs. The remaining topics maintained relatively stable patterns throughout the observation period. These findings contribute to both academic literature and industry practice by elucidating the evolutionary trends in job satisfaction determinants during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby facilitating more informed strategic human resource management decisions in the ICT sector. Full article

With the advent of Industry 5.0, the electrical sector has been endowed with intelligent devices that are propelling high penetration of distributed energy microgeneration, VPP, smart buildings, and smart plants and imposing new challenges on the sector. This new environment requires a smarter network, including transforming the simple electricity customer into a “smart customer” who values the quality of energy and its rational use. The SPG (smart power grid) is the perfect solution for meeting these needs. It is crucial to understand energy use to guarantee quality of service and meet data security requirements. The use of simulations to map the behavior of complex infrastructures is the best strategy because it overcomes the limitations of traditional analytical solutions. This article presents the ICT laboratory structure developed within the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Polytechnic School of the Universidade de São Paulo (USP). It is based on an architecture that utilizes LTE/EPC wireless technology (4G, 5G, and B5G) to enable machine-to-machine communication (mMTC) between SPG elements using edge computing (MEC) resources and those of smart city platforms. We evaluate this proposal through simulations using data from real and emulated equipment and co-simulations shared by SPG laboratories at POLI-USP. Finally, we present the preliminary results of integration of the power laboratory, network simulation (ns-3), and a smart city platform (InterSCity) for validation and testing of the architecture. Full article