Journal Articles
- DetailsDi Giovanni, M., Verde, L., Campanile, L., Romoli, M., Sabbarese, C., & Marrone, S. (2025). Assessing Safety and Sustainability of a Monitoring System for Nuclear Waste Management [Article]. IEEE Access, 13, 120486–120505. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3586735
Abstract
Nowadays, nuclear technologies are increasingly being integrated into industry, healthcare and manufacturing. As a side effect, waste materials are produced according to standard processes which are subject to international regulations. One of the most critical phases is the pre-disposal, due to the uncertainty related to the evolution of the materials and their potential impact on environmental protection. This paper introduces the architecture of a monitoring system able to accomplish safety goals and to guarantee energetic sustainability. The possibility of defining different system configurations (e. g., sensor scheduling policies, geometry of the sites, trustworthiness of the sensors) fosters a high adaptability to several monitoring scenarios, being characterised by different safety and sustainability levels. A methodology, integrating a model-based approach with data collection and processing, is proposed to quantitatively evaluate system configurations. This methodology is based on the definition of two metrics — one for safety and one for sustainability — and an assessment model. The model computes the metrics considering geometry of the place, scheduling and trustworthiness of monitoring sensors. This is a first step in the construction of a Decision Support System able to aid human operators in assessing system configurations and finding possible safety/sustainability trade-offs. A case study is used to show the feasibility of the approach: some configurations are evaluated on the real plant, placed at Řež in the Czech Republic, assessing them on the base of the defined metrics. © 2025 The Authors. - DetailsDi Bonito, L. P., Campanile, L., Iacono, M., & Di Natale, F. (2025). An eXplainable Artificial Intelligence framework to predict marine scrubbers performances [Article]. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2025.111860
Abstract
This study presents an eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) framework to predict the performance of marine scrubbers used for sulfur dioxide (SO2) removal from marine diesel engine flue gases. Using an aggregated dataset from a roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) cargo ship equipped with an open-loop scrubber, combined with satellite data, the study constructs and evaluates multiple artificial intelligence models, including ensemble models, which were benchmarked against each other using standard regression metrics such as the coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean squared error (MSE). Results achieve high accuracy R2>0.92 and offer insights for optimizing scrubber operations. Nevertheless, artificial intelligence models lack transparency. To overcome this problem, this research integrates post-hoc explainability techniques to elucidate the contributions of various features to model predictions, thereby enhancing interpretability and reliability. The integration of SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and Explain Like I’m 5 (ELI5) not only confirmed the consistency of feature importance rankings (e.g. seawater acidity level, SO2 inlet concentration, outlet temperature) but also aligned with the physical-chemical principles of SO2 absorption. Quantitative comparisons with theoretical expectations demonstrated the reliability of the XAI insights, enhancing both model transparency and interpretability. This can improve the current capability of designing scrubber units by defining more efficient and less expensive options for environmental regulation compliance. © 2025 The Authors - DetailsVerde, L., Marulli, F., De Fazio, R., Campanile, L., & Marrone, S. (2024). HEAR set: A ligHtwEight acoustic paRameters set to assess mental health from voice analysis [Article]. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.109021
Abstract
Background: Voice analysis has significant potential in aiding healthcare professionals with detecting, diagnosing, and personalising treatment. It represents an objective and non-intrusive tool for supporting the detection and monitoring of specific pathologies. By calculating various acoustic features, voice analysis extracts valuable information to assess voice quality. The choice of these parameters is crucial for an accurate assessment. Method: In this paper, we propose a lightweight acoustic parameter set, named HEAR, able to evaluate voice quality to assess mental health. In detail, this consists of jitter, spectral centroid, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, and their derivates. The choice of parameters for the proposed set was influenced by the explainable significance of each acoustic parameter in the voice production process. Results: The reliability of the proposed acoustic set to detect the early symptoms of mental disorders was evaluated in an experimental phase. Voices of subjects suffering from different mental pathologies, selected from available databases, were analysed. The performance obtained from the HEAR features was compared with that obtained by analysing features selected from toolkits widely used in the literature, as with those obtained using learned procedures. The best performance in terms of MAE and RMSE was achieved for the detection of depression (5.32 and 6.24 respectively). For the detection of psychogenic dysphonia and anxiety, the highest accuracy rates were about 75 % and 97 %, respectively. Conclusions: The comparative evaluation was carried out to assess the performance of the proposed approach, demonstrating a reliable capability to highlight affective physiological alterations of voice quality due to the considered mental disorders. © 2024 The Author(s) - DetailsMarrone, S., Campanile, L., De Fazio, R., Di Giovanni, M., Gentile, U., Marulli, F., & Verde, L. (2023). A Petri net oriented approach for advanced building energy management systems [Article]. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments, 15(3), 211–233. https://doi.org/10.3233/AIS-230065
Abstract
Sustainability is one of the main goals to pursue in several aspects of everyday life; the recent energy shortage and the price raise worsen this problem, especially in the management of energy in buildings. As the Internet of Things (IoT) is an assessed computing paradigm able to capture meaningful data from the field and send them to cloud infrastructures, other approaches are also enabled, namely model-based approaches. These methods can be used to predict functional and non-functional properties of Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) before setting up them. This paper aims at bridging the gap between model-based approaches and physical realizations of sensing and small computing devices. Through an integrated approach, able to exploit the power of different dialects of Petri Nets, this paper proposes a methodology for the early evaluation of BEMS properties as well as the automatic generation of IoT controllers. © 2023 - IOS Press. All rights reserved. - DetailsBobbio, A., Campanile, L., Gribaudo, M., Iacono, M., Marulli, F., & Mastroianni, M. (2023). A cyber warfare perspective on risks related to health IoT devices and contact tracing [Article]. Neural Computing and Applications, 35(19), 13823–13837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-021-06720-1
Abstract
The wide use of IT resources to assess and manage the recent COVID-19 pandemic allows to increase the effectiveness of the countermeasures and the pervasiveness of monitoring and prevention. Unfortunately, the literature reports that IoT devices, a widely adopted technology for these applications, are characterized by security vulnerabilities that are difficult to manage at the state level. Comparable problems exist for related technologies that leverage smartphones, such as contact tracing applications, and non-medical health monitoring devices. In analogous situations, these vulnerabilities may be exploited in the cyber domain to overload the crisis management systems with false alarms and to interfere with the interests of target countries, with consequences on their economy and their political equilibria. In this paper we analyze the potential threat to an example subsystem to show how these influences may impact it and evaluate a possible consequence. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature. - DetailsDi Bonito, L. P., Campanile, L., Napolitano, E., Iacono, M., Portolano, A., & Di Natale, F. (2023). Analysis of a marine scrubber operation with a combined analytical/AI-based method [Article]. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 195, 613–623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2023.06.006
Abstract
This paper describes the performances of a marine SO2 absorption scrubber installed onboard a large Ro-Ro cargo ship. The study is based on the reconstruction of an extensive dataset from one-year continuous monitoring of the scrubber’s performances and operating conditions. The dataset has been interpreted with a conventional analytical, physical-mathematical, model for absorbers’ rating and its combination with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) one. First, the analytical model has been used to provide a deterministic mathematical framework for the interpretation and the prediction of the scrubber’s performances in terms of absorbed SO2 molar flow and SO2 concentration at the scrubber exit. Then, data mining and AI techniques have been applied to develop an Artificial Neural Network able to predict the error between the actual SO2 concentration at the scrubber exit and the corresponding analytical model predictions. The final result is a combined model providing superior robustness and accuracy in the prediction of the scrubber performance while preserving a rationale for process design and operation. This interesting outcome suggests that the development of combined, or hybrid, Analytical/AI models can be a reliable and cost-effective way to improve chemical engineers’ ability to design and control marine scrubbers, as well as other chemical equipment. © 2023 Institution of Chemical Engineers - DetailsBarbierato, E., Campanile, L., Gribaudo, M., Iacono, M., Mastroianni, M., & Nacchia, S. (2021). Performance evaluation for the design of a hybrid cloud based distance synchronous and asynchronous learning architecture [Article]. Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simpat.2021.102303
Abstract
The COVID-19 emergency suddenly obliged schools and universities around the world to deliver on-line lectures and services. While the urgency of response resulted in a fast and massive adoption of standard, public on-line platforms, generally owned by big players in the digital services market, this does not sufficiently take into account privacy-related and security-related issues and potential legal problems about the legitimate exploitation of the intellectual rights about contents. However, the experience brought to attention a vast set of issues, which have been addressed by implementing these services by means of private platforms. This work presents a modeling and evaluation framework, defined on a set of high-level, management-oriented parameters and based on a Vectorial Auto Regressive Fractional (Integrated) Moving Average based approach, to support the design of distance learning architectures. The purpose of this framework is to help decision makers to evaluate the requirements and the costs of hybrid cloud technology solutions. Furthermore, it aims at providing a coarse grain reference organization integrating low-cost, long-term storage management services to implement a viable and accessible history feature for all materials. The proposed solution has been designed bearing in mind the ecosystem of Italian universities. A realistic case study has been shaped on the needs of an important, generalist, polycentric Italian university, where some of the authors of this paper work. © 2021 Elsevier B.V. - DetailsCampanile, L., Iacono, M., Marulli, F., & Mastroianni, M. (2021). Designing a GDPR compliant blockchain-based IoV distributed information tracking system [Article]. Information Processing and Management, 58(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2021.102511
Abstract
Blockchain technologies and distributed ledgers enable the design and implementation of trustable data logging systems that can be used by multiple parties to produce a non-repudiable database. The case of Internet of Vehicles may greatly benefit of such a possibility to track the chain of responsibility in case of accidents or damages due to bad or omitted maintenance, improving the safety of circulation and helping granting a correct handling of related legal issues. However, there are privacy issues that have to be considered, as tracked information potentially include data about private persons (position, personal habits), commercially relevant information (state of the fleet of a company, freight movement and related planning, logistic strategies), or even more critical knowledge (e.g., considering vehicles belonging to police, public authorities, governments or officers in sensible positions). In the European Union, all this information is covered by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this paper we propose a reference model for a system that manages relevant information to show how blockchain can support GDPR compliant solutions for Internet of Vehicles, taking as a reference an integrated scenario based on Italy, and analyze a subset of its use cases to show its viability with reference to privacy issues. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd - DetailsJournal Privacy regulations, smart roads, blockchain, and liability insurance: Putting technologies to workCampanile, L., Iacono, M., Levis, A. H., Marulli, F., & Mastroianni, M. (2021). Privacy regulations, smart roads, blockchain, and liability insurance: Putting technologies to work [Article]. IEEE Security and Privacy, 19(1), 34–43. https://doi.org/10.1109/MSEC.2020.3012059
Abstract
Smart streets promise widely available traffic information to help improve people’s safety. Unfortunately, gathering that data may threaten privacy. We describe an architecture that exploits a blockchain and the Internet of Vehicles and show its compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation. © 2003-2012 IEEE. - DetailsCampanile, L., Iacono, M., Marrone, S., & Mastroianni, M. (2020). On Performance Evaluation of Security Monitoring in Multitenant Cloud Applications [Article]. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 353, 107–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcs.2020.09.020
Abstract
In this paper we present a modeling approach suitable for practical evaluation of the delays that may affect security monitoring systems in (multitenant) cloud based architecture, and in general to support professionals in planning and evaluating relevant parameters in dealing with new designs or migration projects. The approach is based on modularity and multiformalism techniques to manage complexity and guide designers in an incremental process, to help transferring technical knowledge into modeling practice and to help easing the use of simulation. We present a case study based on a real experience, triggered by a new legal requirement that Italian Public Administration should comply about their datacenters. © 2020 The Author(s) - DetailsCampanile, L., Iacono, M., Marulli, F., Mastroianni, M., & Mazzocca, N. (2020). Toward a fuzzy-based approach for computational load offloading of IoT devices [Article]. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 26(11), 1455–1474. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85100774625&partnerID=40&md5=1d88148124172a6b7ac374387f21199a
Abstract
Technological development and market expansion offer an increased availability of resources and computing power on IoT nodes at affordable cost. The edge computing paradigm allows keeping locally on the edge of the network a part of computing, while keeping all advantages of the cloud and adding support for privacy, real-time and network resilience. This can be further improved in IoT applications by flexibly harvesting resources on IoT nodes, by moving part of the computing tasks related to data from the edge server to the nodes, raising the abstraction level of the data aspects of the architecture and potentially enabling larger IoT networks to be efficiently deployed and managed, in a stand-alone logic or as a component of edge architecture. Anyway, an efficient energy management mechanism is needed for battery powered IoT networks, the most flexible implementations, that dynamically balances task allocation and execution in order to In this paper we present a fuzzy logic based power management strategy for IoT subsystem that aims at maximizing the duration of the network by locally migrating part of the computing tasks between nodes. As our goal is to enable the deployment of semi-autonomic large IoT networks, our proposal does not rely on external resources for migration control and operates on a local basis to ensure scalability: at the best of our knowledge, this diferentiates our proposal with respect to similar solutions available in literature. © 2020, IICM. All rights reserved. - DetailsCampanile, L., Gribaudo, M., Iacono, M., & Mastroianni, M. (2020). Performance evaluation of a fog WSN infrastructure for emergency management [Article]. Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simpat.2020.102120
Abstract
Advances in technology and the rise of new computing paradigms, such as Fog computing, may boost the definition of a new generation of advanced support services in critical applications. In this paper we explore the possibilities of a Wireless Sensor Network support (WSN) for a Fog computing system in an emergency management architecture that has been previously presented. Disposable intelligent wireless sensors, capable of processing tasks locally, are deployed and used to support and protect the intervention of a squad of firemen equipped with augmented reality and life monitoring devices to provide an environmental monitoring system and communication infrastructure,in the framework of a next-generation, cloud-supported emergency management system. Simulation is used to explore the design parameter space and dimension the workloads and the extension of the WSN, according to an adaptive behavior of the resulting Fog computing system that varies workloads to save the integrity of the WSN. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. - DetailsCampanile, L., Gribaudo, M., Iacono, M., Marulli, F., & Mastroianni, M. (2020). Computer network simulation with ns-3: A systematic literature review [Article]. Electronics (Switzerland), 9(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020272
Abstract
Complexity of current computer networks, including e.g., local networks, large structured networks, wireless sensor networks, datacenter backbones, requires a thorough study to perform analysis and support design. Simulation is a tool of paramount importance to encompass all the different aspects that contribute to design quality and network performance (including as well energy issues, security management overheads, dependability), due to the fact that such complexity produces several interactions at all network layers that is not easily modellable with analytic approaches. In this systematic literature review we aim to analyze, basing our investigation on available literature, the adoption of a popular network simulator, namely ns-3, and its use in the scientific community. More in detail, we are interested in understanding what are the impacted application domains in which authors prefer ns-3 to other similar tools and how extensible it is in practice according to the experience of authors. The results of our analysis, which has been conducted by especially focusing on 128 papers published between 2009 to 2019, reveals that 10% of the evaluated papers were discarded because they represented informal literature; most of the studies presented comparisons among different network simulators, beyond ns-3 and conceptual studies related to performance assessment and validation and routing protocols. Only about 30% of considered studies present extensions of ns-3 in terms of new modules and only about 10% present effective case studies demonstrating the effectiveness of employing network simulator in real application, except conceptual and modeling studies. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.