Category Archives: Events

DEI Talks |”From building installations, through archaeology to precision agriculture” – Projects of the Jaén Graphics and Geomatics Group (GGGJ)

Posted on

“From building installations, through archaeology to precision agriculture ” will be presented July the 13th, room B019 , at 15:00.

Abstract:

 The GGGJ research group celebrates its 25th anniversary working in two areas, Computer Graphics and Geomatics. The projects that have been awarded lately are also in these lines of research.

The so-called project: “Computer Graphics tool for 3D and 4D data management. Applying VR & AR techniques to Urban Infrastructures and Archaeology” (2018-2021) completed in December 2021, is oriented to 4D models hidden or disappeared for the view.

New projects now active are focused on Precision Agriculture, mostly oriented to the olive grove. The last one granted by the Spanish Ministry (180,000 euros) is entitled:” 3D/4D tools for the generation of digital twins of rural environments. Applications” starts in September and has a duration of 3 years.

Bios:

Francisco Feito, graduated in Mathematics (specializing in Pure Mathematics) in 1977, at the Complutense University of Madrid. After 12 years in pre-university teaching, he joined the University of Granada (Jaen Campus). In 1993 (already constituted the University of Jaen) he was elected Director of the Department of Computer Science (which included, and still includes, the areas of Computer Languages and Systems, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and Computer Architecture and Technology). In 1997 he was appointed General Director of Curriculum and Quality of the University of Jaén and in 1999 Vice-Rector of Research and International Relations (until 2002). Subsequently he was again Director of the department from 2004 to 2008. He has been a member of the faculty and of several University committees.

Areas of interest: Geometric Modeling; Solid Modeling; Algorithms in Computer Graphics; Geomatics; Computational Geometry; Spatial Information Systems; Geographic Information Systems; Precision Agriculture in the Olive Grove; Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality; Simulation; Smart City; Digital Twin- Digital Twin.

Lidia. M. Ortega received the BSc degree in Computer Science from the University of Granada (Spain), and the PhD degree from the University of Seville. She has been an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science at University of Jaén teaching at the High Polytechnics Institute since the 90s. Her research work focuses on computational Geometry applied to Computer Graphic, 3D-GIS, Spatial databases, Geomatics and Agriculture precision.

2022 MDSE – Sunset Session: Ethics and Responsability in AI

Posted on

With the preparation of the 3rd edition of the M.Sc. on Data Science and Engineering (https://dei.fe.up.pt/mdse/) well under way, it is time to look back at what was accomplished so far and also to project the future. This will be done as part of the 2022 MDSE Sunset Session, on the 2nd July (Saturday), in room B032, in a relaxed environment but focused on a very important topic: Ethics and Responsability in AI.

The program will feature two keynote talks, by Ana Costa e Silva (Mercer) and Pedro Saleiro (Feedzai), as well as a panel discussion including Inês de Matos Pinto (S&D Group @ European Parliament), Inês Sousa (Fraunhofer Portugal) and Peter van der Putten (Pegasystems & U. Leiden), moderated by Eugénio Oliveira (FEUP). During the event MDSE students will also present some of their projects.

The event is targeted both to companies, looking for talent in Data Science, as well as prospect students, looking for an advanced education on Data Science.

Participation is free but requires registration here.

 Program

14:30 – Opening – João Mendes Moreira – Director of the M.Sc. on Data Science and Engineering (MDSE)

14:40 – Ana Costa e Silva – Global Chief of Data Science @ Mercer, TBA – introduced by António Pedro Aguiar

15:10 – Pedro Saleiro – Director of AI Research @ Feedzai, challenges in the development of responsible AI research/solutions in Industry – introduced by José Luís Borges

15:40 – MDSE Student Showcase – introduced by Ana Aguiar

  • Cláudia Pinheiro: AI-based cancer characterization using semi-supervised learning algorithms
  • Diogo Queirós: Reconciling prediction in the regression setting: an application to Portuguese breweries’ market share prediction
  • Nuno Gaspar: Prediction of Shell Finite-Element Stresses using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN)
  • Rafael Guedes: Data, machine vision and reinforcement learning for explainable and safe autonomous driving of platooning vehicles
  • Wagner Ceulin: Predicting customer purchasing behavior of a self-care online store
  • João Pedro Pêgo: Predicting candidate engagement in a job matchmaking site

16:30 – Coffee Break

17:10 – Panel discussion – moderated by Eugénio de Oliveira – Emeritus Professor @ FEUP

18:20 – Closing João Mendes Moreira – Director of the MDSE

18.30 – Sunset Drinks & Networking

19.30 – End of the event

We are very grateful to our partner for their support

DEI Talks | ”Mergeable Nervous System for Robot Swarms” by Marco Dorigo

Posted on

Marco Dorigo is the proponent of the well-known “Ant Colony Optimization” meta-heuristic optimization algorithm and a leading researcher in the field of swarm robotics, which allows groups of individually very simple agents/robots to obtain group intelligence that allows coordinating large groups of autonomous agents/robots without relying on any external infrastructure or any form of centralized control. This approach is very promising for performing tasks that are too difficult or dangerous for humans using very simple and inexpensive sets of agents/robots.

 ”Mergeable Nervous System for Robot Swarms” will be presented June 29, at 16:00, in room I-105.

 Abstract:

Typically, robot swarms coordinate through self-organization. With the proposal of the mergeable nervous system concept, we study how self-organization can be made more powerful as a tool to coordinate the activities of a robot swarm by injecting some components of hierarchical control. In the presentation, I will give a brief overview of the mergeable nervous systems concept and then illustrate the first steps we have made in implementing it in a heterogeneous swarm composed of drones and ground robots.

Bio:

Marco Dorigo received the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering in 1992 from Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy. From 1992 to 1993, he was a Research Fellow at the International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, CA. In 1993, he was a NATO-CNR Fellow, and from 1994 to 1996, a Marie Curie Fellow. Since 1996, he has been a tenured Researcher of the FNRS, the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research, and co-director of IRIDIA, the artificial intelligence laboratory of the ULB. His current research interests include swarm intelligence, swarm robotics, and metaheuristics for discrete optimization. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Swarm Intelligence, and an Associate Editor or member of the Editorial Boards of many journals on computational intelligence and adaptive systems. Dr. Dorigo is a Fellow of the AAAI, EurAI, and IEEE. He was awarded numerous international prizes among which the Marie Curie Excellence Award in 2003, the IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award in 2015, and the IEEE Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award, awarded in 2016.

DEI Talks | “A Geographies of born-digital translation: TRANS.MISSION[A.DIALOGUE] as a case study” by Anne Karhio

Posted on

Dr Anne Karhio’s work addresses topics related to contemporary poetry and technology, Irish literature and culture, and literary landscapes in various media environments. After her appointment as Associate Professor in English at the Norway Inland University of Applied Sciences, she is currently based in the National University of Ireland, Galway, as Lecturer in Contemporary English Literature in the School of English and Creative Arts. She is also Associate Professor II in Digital Culture at the University of Bergen, Norway, and has published widely on contemporary Irish poetry, digital literature, and the aesthetics of space and landscape.

“A Geographies of born-digital translation: TRANS.MISSION[A.DIALOGUE] as a case study” will be presented June 27, at I-105, 15:00.

Abstract:

 This presentation addresses the challenges of linguistic, geographical, and cultural translation through the specific case of J.R. Carpenter’s born-digital work TRANS.MISSION[A.DIALOGUE] and its translation from English into Finnish. I will consider how the challenges of linguistic translation from a European to a non-European language are further complicated by the requirements of code, as well as the translation of sociocultural context. Through its focus on technology, mobility, and migration, I suggest, Carpenter’s work invites us to consider the entangled connections between infrastructural geographies and the language of communications technology.

LGP is back on June 15 for “The Unboxing Edition”

Posted on

Lionesa Business Hub hosts on June 15 the event Linking Great Partners, which takes place throughout the day with a fair space (for demonstration of the products developed), several lectures and networking space. This year’s edition of the event was named “The Unboxing Edition“, as it is the first time that it takes place outside the walls of the University, in order to reinforce the importance of the connection with companies.

There are 24 proto-startups created by about 250 students enrolled in the curricular unit of Project Management Laboratory (LGP), from several courses of the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) and also involving 5 students from the Faculty of Fine Arts (FBAUP) of the U.Porto, to respond to real problems identified by the 16 partner organizations and to problems identified in the market.

As stated by the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel at the launch of the European initiative “Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education”, universities play a critical role in the development and growth of local and regional innovation ecosystems. By promoting experimentation and the connection between science, technology, culture and art, this educational project at the U.Porto, this year supported by the INVENTHEI project – Innovation and Entrepreneurship in HEIs (http://www.inventhei.eu), fits into the foundations of the European initiative, developing in students the skills that allow them to create innovative solutions that result from a creative and interdisciplinary mentality.

By applying agile software development methods and lean experimentation, student teams have developed several innovative technological solutions, such as AutoRocket+, a rocket navigation simulator, designed for all levels of primary and secondary education, in which students can design and program a rocket with autonomous decision-making capacity, at the request of Visionarium. In this 2022 edition, a solution for the interactive identification of defects in the automobile industry was also designed for the Stellantis Production Centre in Mangualde, and also the app CheapShop, an entrepreneurial project that aims to help choose the best place to do the weekly shopping. There is also an installation that merges art with technology and that has the war in Ukraine as its theme. These are just some examples of the projects that will be demonstrated during the event.

Gil Gonçalves, coordinator of the curricular unit and Professor of the Department of Informatics Engineering of FEUP, highlights that this initiative is essential for “students to understand that the collaborative, entrepreneurial and creative spirit are fundamental ingredients in the innovation and success of any project” and adds that “LGP”, through its teaching-learning model and the links it promotes and enhances between education, research and society, aims to have a systemic impact on the university, contributing to increase the innovation and entrepreneurship capacity of its students, as well as enhancing the contribution of students and the university in the regional innovation ecosystem. ”

For Raul Vidal, Emeritus Professor of the Faculty of Engineering, “by involving students from various curricular spheres and distinct profiles in a collaborative work that instigates critical and creative thinking, the LGP assumes itself as a unique opportunity to develop skills in the areas of project management, teamwork, interaction with clients, marketing, communication, and so many other valences that make our students future professionals with a truly differentiated profile and prepare them to be future leaders.”

The Linking Great Partners event can be followed on the event’s social networks and Youtube channel:

Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube

XIX Conference on Information Science – 27th June 2022

Posted on

“JCI – Jornadas de Ciência da Informação” are an annual event promoted and organized by the students of the Bachelor and Master Degrees in Information Science (LCI and MCI), taught in partnership by the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FLUP and FEUP). Being a reference in the scientific community and among professionals in the area, this event has been an opportunity for guests and participants from the industry, public institutions and academia to interact and debate current issues in the field of Information and its management.

In its 19th edition, the JCI will take place at the FLUP’s Amphitheatre, on June 27th, between 9am and 6pm. Under debate will be “THE ROLE OF INFORMATION SCIENCE FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION”.

Registration is free but compulsory (given the limited number of places available).

Follow the event on its social networks, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin.

DEI Talks | “Digital Culture and Cultural User experience” by Markos Konstantakis

Posted on

Markos Konstantakis is a PhD candidate in the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication at Aegean University, in the field of Augmented Reality, entitled: «Augmented Cultural User Experience – ACUX». He receives a Master’s Degree in “Specialization in Information Systems, Networks and Telecommunications”, from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the Hellenic Open University ( HOU ). Markos completed a Degree and a Master’s Degree in Marine Mechanical Engineer NTUA (National Technical University of Athens). Since November 2013 he is a Research Fellow – Lecturer for the implementation of the Act «Supplementary Program Distance Learning e-learning», University of Athens, teaching and writing program notes: «Network Engineer», «Matlab» and «Digital Culture». Since September 2016 is working as a Research Assistant for the implementation of projects regarding cultural tourism, conservation of arts and digital culture. His research includes the technologies of Virtual and Augmented Reality, Ubiquitous Computing, Digital Culture, User Experience, Cultural Heritage, Prototyping, Human-Computer Interaction, the Internet of Things and Serious Games.

 Join us on the 6th of June, at 14:00, in room I-105 of FEUP, for the presentation of “Digital Culture and Cultural User experience”.

 Abstract:

The immense interest in academia and the cultural industry has been to augment users’ participation during their interaction with cultural artefacts by making them an actor in their own cultural experience. Cultural User eXperience (CUX) has gained momentum in recent years, and a factor that affects CUX is the cultural background and profile of the individual user. Users have their own cultural characteristics and preferences, they learn and interact differently with a particular artefact, and finally, they obtain a unique cultural experience.

CUX is an essential consideration that should be acknowledged and implemented when initiating the Cultural Heritage (CH) domain. It is beyond the usability of a cultural product or system. It includes both pragmatic and hedonic user factors that could influence a user’s positive experience when interacting with the system or product, leading to the effectiveness of CH activities. The diversity of visitors to cultural spaces is one of their unique attributes and is becoming a significant challenge for these venues to meet their visitors’ needs. How can they address the variety of interests and needs of all their visitors? Therefore, it is necessary to know visitors’ expectations when visiting cultural spaces.

The cultural tourists of today (at least in developed countries) travel more than the tourists of the past, and it is possible that the tourists of tomorrow will travel even more often, increasing the level of cultural user experience. Therefore, travelling, which was considered a ”luxury good” in the past, is an integral part of people’s lives nowadays. Also, tourists do not leave their previous experiences, motivations, preconceptions, and attitudes behind when they travel, the same way they leave their coats in the cloakroom upon entering a museum. Furthermore, the effects of a journey are not limited to the time spent at the destination. Tourists connect information and construct meaning before travelling to a place and continue to do so months or even years after their journey.

It is indisputable that cultural tourism destinations require detailed categorization of their visitors and their underlying motivations since not every person is motivated by the exact reasons for learning, experimenting, or self-exploring. Because of this assumption that cultural tourists are not alike, most of the literature in cultural tourism follows a clustering approach, emphasizing determining the typology of the cultural tourists.

Amongst the abundance of tools available for interaction design, user typologies have been claimed to be “the most effective and fundamental”. By creating a concrete image of the user, designers gain insight into the elements a User Interface (UI) should have and how the user is likely to respond to those elements.

Furthermore, during the past years, cultural interactive experiences are produced in an increased pace to bring back the lost fiction, as well as the functional and ritual nature of the cultural objects. To date, there are various technologies available in cultural environments to support cultural exhibitions directly or indirectly (augmented reality, digital storytelling, serious games, linked open data, context awareness), and every technology used makes an impact on the exhibition or the visitors.

FEUP welcomes “LITHME – Language In The Human Machine Era” 1-2 June

Posted on

The announced LITHME Roadshow arrives this week at FEUP, 1 – 2 of June, and the program is already online.

This roadshow will focus on language technologies and Human-Machine interaction, which allow us to speak with and through technology, the software that powers the Human-Machine era, and the embedded human devices. It includes, but is not limited to: innovative Human-Machine interfaces; machine translation and interpretation; automatic sign language interpretation; text-to-speech, speech-to-text and speech-to-speech technologies; and virtual reality and augmented reality, among others.

The stands of Altice Labs, Alana AI, Cortical.io, BCN – Sistemas de Escritório e Imagem, SA/Class VR, Flowchase, Naturalvox, S.A.U., Pangeanic Language Technologies and Translation Services and ReadSpeaker can be visited. In addition to the showcases, it will be possible to attend lectures promoted by these companies, with free access.

On the afternoon of day 1, in room B015, will take place the lectures of Alana Ai (14:00), the project Augmented Video 360 (15:30) and Cortical.io (17:00).

On the afternoon of day 2, in room B026, it will be time for Altice Labs (14:00), Flowchase (15:30) and Natural Vox (17:00) present their latest products and services.

Simultaneously, the Faculty of Arts will host the LITHME Training School (30 May – 3 June), which aims to broaden the knowledge of LITHME activities, bring together trainees from across the field of linguistics, language research and language technology, provide intensive training on new and emerging interdisciplinary challenges and familiarize them with unique technologies developed by the event sponsors.

Henrique Lopes Cardoso (DEI/FEUP) and Rui Sousa-Silva (FLUP), responsible for the Working Group on ‘Computational Linguistics’ of this Cost Action, believe it is an opportunity not to be missed by enthusiasts and those curious about new language technologies and their themes.

DEI Tutorials | “An Overview of OpenMP, MPI and CUDA” by Prof. Fahed Jubair

Posted on

“An Overview of OpenMP, MPI and CUDA” will be conducted by Prof. Fahed Jubair, on the 12th of May, between 14:00 and 17:00, in room B006.

 The tutorial will describe an overview of three popular programming models: OpenMP, MPI and CUDA. The tutorial will first describe and compare the current types of parallel processors. Then, it will describe how OpenMP is used for programming shared-memory architectures. Next, the tutorial will describe how MPI is used for programming distributed-memory architectures. Finally, the tutorial will describe how CUDA is used for programming Nvidia GPUs. The tutorial will include practical examples of all programming models.

 Short-Bio:

Fahed Jubair graduated from Purdue University in 2014 with a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He received his B.Sc. degree from the University of Jordan in 2007. Dr. Jubair is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Jordan. His main research interests include optimizing compilers, parallel computing, heuristic algorithms, and machine learning.

CreativityTalks | Prof. Damián Keller will present us “Creativity in post-2020 music practices”

Posted on

Given the current concentration of technological resources by a few financial conglomerates and the ongoing attempts to eliminate free-sharing from the internet, music once again provides a stage for social experiments that may have long-lasting effects. Damián Keller expands on the idea that we should apply different strategies to post-2020 music-making from the ones we adopted during the twentieth century. He focus on four emerging and complementary trends in an attempt to identify their creative specificities: telematic art, networked music performance, technologies for music notation and representation, and ubiquitous music. He acknowledges the transitory character of some of these labels and stress the difficulties of defining practices that are strongly tied to technological innovations. Rather than claiming the precedence, the intellectual ownership or the territorial hegemony of any of these terms, he proposes a conceptual map that highlights their applicability to various creative targets.

“Creativity in post-2020 music practices” will be presented by Prof. Damián Keller, on the 19th of May, at 18:00, online on: https://youtu.be/1mfRD8JncvY

The session will be moderated by Prof. Gilberto Bernardes, DEI’s Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Interactive Music and Sound Design area of the Master in Multimedia.

Short-Bio:

Damián Keller is an Associate Professor of Music Technology at the Federal University of Acre and the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil. He is a cofounder of the international research network Ubiquitous Music Group and a founding member of the Amazon Center for Music Research (NAP). He has published over two hundred articles on ubiquitous music and ecologically grounded creative practice in journals on information technology, design, education, philosophy and the arts. His latest coedited book is Ubiquitous Music Ecologies (Routledge). http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~dkeller