Abstract
This paper presents an approach for a multi-agent-based cyber-physical system dedicated to operating the warehouse plant with a distributed approach. The recent technological evolution has improved the quality and robustness of the services for current warehouses. However, systems that operate warehouses do not follow this evolution, presenting predominantly central monolithic or hierarchical approaches, resulting in fragility related to flexibility, scalability, and robustness in the face of disturbances. In the proposed approach, each warehouse physical component has a computational unit associated, i.e. a cyber agent, with communication, negotiation, and data analysis capabilities. Agents contain all the information, algorithms, and functions necessary to operate the physical component, and instead of receiving orders from higher-layer agents, they negotiate and collaborate to perform the tasks. The proposed system was tested in a laboratory testbed, composed of six racks and up to eight robots for transporting products. Extensive experiments show the feasibility of the approach. Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors.

Abstract
The transition from the current energy architecture to a new model is evident and inevitable. The coming future promises innovative and increasingly rigorous projects and challenges for everyone involved in this value chain. Technological developments have allowed the emergence of new concepts, such as renewable energy communities, decentralized renewable energy production, and even energy storage. These factors have incited consumers to play a more active role in the electricity sector and contribute considerably to the achievement of environmental objectives. With the introduction of renewable energy communities, the need to develop new management and optimization tools, mainly in generation and load management, arises. Thus, this paper proposes a platform capable of clustering consumers and prosumers according to their energy and geographical characteristics to create renewable energy communities. Thus, this paper proposes a platform capable of clustering consumers and prosumers according to their energy and geographical characteristics to create renewable energy communities. Moreover, through this platform, the identification (homogeneous energy communities, mixed energy communities, and self-sufficient energy communities) and the size of each community are also obtained. Three algorithms are considered to achieve this purpose: K-means, density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise, and linkage algorithms (single-link, complete-link, average-link, and Wards' method). With this work, it is possible to verify each algorithm's behavior and effectiveness in clustering the players into communities. A total of 233 members from 9 cities in the northern region of Portugal (Porto District) were considered to demonstrate the application of the proposed platform. The results demonstrate that the linkage algorithms presented the best classification performance, achieving 0.631 by complete-ink in the Silhouette score, 2124.174 by Ward's method in the Calinski-Harabasz index, and 0.329 by single-link on the Davies-Bouldin index. Additionally, the developed platform demonstrated adequacy, versatility, and robustness concerning the classification and sizing of renewable energy communities.

Abstract

Abstract
Promoting active modes of transport, such as walking and cycling, has a positive impact on environmental sustainability and the health and well-being of citizens. This study explores the elderly population’s perception of comfort, safety and security when using active modes of transport. It begins with a systematic review of the literature considering research works that relate to active travel, the elderly population, and random forest. Then a questionnaire was applied to 653 participants and the results were analyzed. This analysis consisted of using statistics to evaluate the socio-demographic profile, the preferences regarding the use of active modes of this population, and the importance given to each dimension: comfort, safety, distance, and time, comparing these indicators through the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test and the Random Forest algorithm. The results showed that people over 56 years old walk as much as younger people. Furthermore, the importance given by this group of people to indicators referring to active modes is related to safety and security, distance, time, and comfort. The statistical results of the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test indicate the most important indicators: Adequate Travel Distance & Time and Existence of Commercial Areas by age group [0–55], and Absence of Allergenics and Existence of Green Areas by age group [56+]. Finally, the Random Forest algorithm provides the relative importance for both age groups, [0–55] and [56+], where the indicators that stand out in the [56+] age group, which is the focus of our study, are air quality, adequate travel distance & time, adequate crowd density, adequate thermal sensation, absence of allergenic, good street illumination level, adequate traffic volume, and adequate noise level. © 2023, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Abstract

Abstract
This paper evidences the ability of a VSM-based grid-forming to mitigate stability problems of different classes, raising a special concern towards the importance of its location in systems with large converter-interfaced renewable energy systems. Within this context, a multi-class stability assessment, that pillars on the simulation of different nature disturbances and in the subsequent evaluation of a 4 index set, was performed. Such analysis was carried out on a modified version of the IEEE39 Test System, using DigSILENT Power Factory as the simulation engine.