“The acquisition of features for patient diagnostics, treatment planing and monitoring purposes is costly. Moreover, when patients with chronic diseases are called to used mobile health apps, they are also called to interact with the app in a regular way; the willingness to do so may wane with time. In this talk, we see forms of missingness in data collected in a clinic for treatment planning and in data collected with an app for monitoring. Then, we discuss methods that iteratively build up a minimal feature subspace for treatment outcome prediction, and neighbourhood-based methods that build up a minimal data space for patient condition monitoring. The methods have been applied on clinical data of tinnitus patients and on mhealth data of patients with tinnitus or diabetes. The results demonstrate that small subsets of features are often adequate for prediction.”

“Temporal mining on systematically sparse medical data” será apresentada dia 22 de julho, às 15:30, na sala B012. A sessão será moderada pelo docente João Moreira (DEI).

Myra Spiliopoulou is Professor of Business Information Systems at the Faculty of Computer Science, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany. Her main research is on mining temporal complex data and extracting predictive patterns from evolving objects. One of the core application areas for her research, and a constant source of inspiration is health: her work encompasses methods and findings from observational medical data, from clinical studies, from digital health solutions, and from experiments on understanding the process of human and animal learning. She is involved as (senior) reviewer in major conferences on data mining and knowledge discovery, as Action Editor in the Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Journal of Springer Nature, as Special Editor for survey papers in the International Journal of Data Science and Analytics (JDSA) and as Editorial Board Member for the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Journal. In 2016, 2019 and 2023, she served as a PC Chair of the IEEE Int. Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS). In 2024, she serves as senior reviewer for KDD 2024. She also serves as one of the Journal Track Chairs for ECML PKDD 2024, responsible for the submissions to the Machine Learning Journal. In May 2023, she received the Distinguished Service Contributions Award for the Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD).

“The talk will discuss Concept Relevance Propagation (CRP) and Prototypical Concept Explanation (PCX), two next-generation Explainable AI (XAI) methods, which explain individual predictions of an AI model in terms of human understandable concepts and allow to systematically investigate global model behaviors. Furthermore, the talk will present the potential of these novel methods to provide deep insights into the representation and reasoning processes of LLMs.”

 “Towards Next-Generation Explainable AI” será apresentada dia 16 de julho, às 15:50, na sala B032, com a moderação do Prof. Henrique Lopes Cardoso (DEI).

“Wojciech Samek is a professor in the EECS Department at the Technical University of Berlin and is jointly heading the Department of Artificial Intelligence at Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), Berlin, Germany. He is Fellow at the BIFOLD – Berlin Institute for the Foundation of Learning and Data as well as the ELLIS Unit Berlin. He has co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, and has received multiple best paper awards for his work in the field of XAI.”

Qual é o sentido de jogar e dos jogos quando a catástrofe climática se aproxima? Nesta palestra o orador explorará as interligações entre a cultura que nos conduziu à catástrofe climática e refletirá sobre o futuro destes após o fim de um mundo.

“Games and Play and the End of a World” será apresentada dia 20 de junho, às 10:30, na sala B011, com a moderação do Prof. António Coelho (DEI).

“Miguel Sicart is a Professor at the Center for Digital Play (digitalplay.itu.dk), IT University of Copenhagen. He has been researching games and play since the early 2000s, focusing on the intersection of games, ethics, and play. He is the author of, among others, Play Matters and Playing Software (The MIT Press, 2014, 2023). He is currently working on ridiculous software and the poetics of roguelikes.”

“Natural language inference (recognizing textual entailment task in the past) belongs to the most prominent tasks in current NLP, it is a keystone of natural language understanding. NLI can be stated as a classification task whether a given hypothesis can be inferred from a  given premise. In this talk, we are going introduce a large variety of tasks accompanied by illustrative examples and review corresponding state-of-the-art results. This talk may serve as starting point for anyone who want to apply new approaches and models to investigate these not so much known tasks (as well as apply them in downstream applications).”

“A Survey of Tasks Derived from or Related to Natural Language Inference” será apresentada dia 23 de fevereiro, às 17:00, na sala I 025, com a moderação do Prof. Carlos Soares (DEI).

“Martin Víta graduated at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague in the field of discrete models and algorithms. Later, he obtained PhD degree at the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University in Brno in natural language processing. Currently, he serves as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Informatics and Statistics, Prague University of Economics and Business where he teaches mathematics and text analytics. He is also a researcher at Czech Academy of Sciences where he focuses in ML and text mining topics.”

Quando se constroem sistemas complexos, poderá ser demasiado fácil focarmo-nos principalmente nas funcionalidades em detrimento das qualidades do software, especificamente as relacionadas com a arquitetura. A pressão para se adaptar e moldar o mercado exige que as organizações adicionem novas funcionalidades, acomodem novas interações e tenham novas equipas a trabalhar na adaptação do software. Alguns acreditam que, simplesmente seguindo as práticas Agile – começando o mais rápido possível, mantendo o código limpo e fazendo muitos testes – uma boa arquitetura surgirá por magia. Embora surja uma arquitetura, se não for prestada atenção suficiente à arquitetura e ao código, a dívida técnica e os problemas de design irão surgir até se tornarem confusos, dificultando a entrega de novas funcionalidades de forma rápida e fiável. Por vezes, uma arquitetura de software simples, que começa por ser pequena quando a comunicação é fácil, pode suportar alterações arquitetónicas guiadas e incrementais e pode evoluir gradualmente com o seu ambiente, mantendo-se adequada aos seus objetivos. Outras vezes não é assim tão simples: a arquitetura de software inicial pode ser pouco adequada para suportar as alterações necessárias ou a acumulação de decisões arquitetónicas não otimizadas (também conhecidas como dívida técnica arquitetónica) pode ser demasiado grave. É essencial ter uma arquitetura sustentável que possa evoluir ao longo do ciclo de vida do projeto. A arquitetura sustentável exige uma atenção permanente, especialmente quando há prioridades em evolução, muitos riscos técnicos e muitas dependências.

Esta será uma mesa redonda em que os participantes e os membros do painel convidados discutirão considerações arquitetónicas para a conceção de sistemas, especificamente sobre arquiteturas para a criação de software de excelência.

 “Architectures for building Extraordinary Software” será apresentada dia 7 de fevereiro, das 15:00 às 16:15, na sala B033 e será moderada por Carlos Duarte (DEI).

Short Bios:

 “Joseph (Joe) Yoder is a research collaborator at IME/USP, president and a fellow of the Hillside Group (www.hillside.net), a group dedicated to improving the quality of software development, and is a founder and principal of the Refactory (www.refactory.com), a company focused on software architecture, design, implementation, consulting, and mentoring on all facets of software development. He is best known as an author of the “Big Ball of Mud” pattern, illuminating fallacies in software architecture. Joe is also a co-author of “A Scrum Book: The Spirit of the Game”; which includes 94 patterns and 2 pattern languages about getting the most out of Scrum. Joe teaches and mentors developers on agile and lean practices, architecture, flexible systems, clean design, patterns, refactoring, and testing. Joe has presented many tutorials and talks, arranged workshops, given keynotes, and helped organize leading international agile and technical conferences. Joe believes software is still too hard to change and wants to do something about this. Recently, the ACM recognized Joe as a Distinguished Member in the category of “Outstanding Engineering Contributions to Computing” and the Hillside Group awarded Joe as a Hillside Fellow.”

“Graziela Simone Tonin has worked in the technology market for over 19 years in Brazil and abroad. Ph.D. in Computer Science. She received the US IBM World Award and the Women of Value Award. Graziela mentors and worked in several national entrepreneurship and innovation programs, such as Innovativa Brasil. Ambassador of Clube Bora Fazer, an entrepreneurship community. She works as a professor at Insper Institution, a Teacher of Executive Education and customized programs for C-Levels, and also is a professor in the Computer Science and Engineering program. She led the Women In Tech Project and co-leader in the Gender Front of the Diversity Committee at Insper. Graziela leads volunteer projects throughout Brazil through the Grupo Mulheres do Brasil. In addition, she is part of a worldwide research project that analyzes initiatives aimed at women in software engineering.”

“Neil Harrison is a professor and former head of the Department of Computer Science at Utah Valley University, USA. He led the department for seven years, in which he directed the creation of three new baccalaureate programs and two new emphases within the BS in Computer Science program. He oversaw the rollout of a graduate program. He led the accreditation of the software engineering program, and the re-accreditation of the computer science program.
Dr. Harrison is the author of over twenty-five widely cited articles in the areas of software patterns, software architecture, and software engineering and organizations. He is the co-author of the book, “Organizational Patterns of Agile Software Development.” He has been a leader in the software patterns movement and is the namesake of the “Neil Harrison Shepherding Award”, which is awarded annually at patterns conferences. He has been an invited speaker and keynote speaker at conferences, including Agile Portugal. Dr. Harrison holds a PhD from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), an MS from Purdue University and a BS from Brigham Young University, all in computer science.”

“Filipe Correia is a professor of Software Engineering at the University of Porto / FEUP and a researcher at INESC TEC. In the past, he played other roles, from software architect to coach, to developer. His research interests tend to revolve around software design, architecture, agility, and DevOps. In the last few years, his work has been focusing on microservice-based architectures and the highly maintainable and flexible systems they allow to create, and on strategies to improve the Developer Experience across the software development lifecycle. You can find more information on Filipe’s website.”

“Carlos Duarte (Moderador) is a software engineer and researcher at INESC TEC. He is also a PhD student at FEUP’s ProDEI, and an invited assistant lecturer at FEUP (software engineering course). He previously worked at DevScope. His research interests revolve around software architecture, more specifically architectural erosion and evolution. Currently, he is researching the relationship between architectural erosion and technical debt, and how software visualization techniques can help identify and prevent erosion from affecting software systems. His Master thesis focused on improving the refactoring experience in IDEs, allowing the creation of custom refactoring tools by describing detection and transformation patterns using a DSL. The thesis won the 2022 Vestas award for best Master thesis in informatics engineering at FEUP.”

“This talk proposes to have a conversation about the trends in conceptual modelling languages used for the design and analysis of real-time and embedded systems in the context of the ever changing industrial environments but never changing business demands”.

“Let’s discuss about Models and Languages for embedded systems in Industry 4.0” será apresentada dia 01 de fevereiro, às 11:00, na sala I-105, com a moderação do Prof. Gil Gonçalves (DEI).

Short Bio:
“Julio Medina is Associate Professor at Universidad de Cantabria, Spain. His main research areas include the modeling of real-time distributed systems for schedulability analysis and dependability, standards and languages for the representation of such models, and their usage for modular and component-based development software engineering strategies. He contributes to the OMG in the standardization of languages like SysML, MARTE, UCM, UTP, among others.”

“Os sistemas de informação são cada vez mais inteligentes e estão presentes no quotidiano das pessoas e das empresas, facilitando e modificando a realização de diversas atividades. Para além do tratamento dos dados intrínsecos de cada sistema, os dados provenientes das interações dos seus utilizadores podem contribuir para identificar, modelar e analisar os padrões de comportamento das pessoas. A análise de dados provenientes da utilização de sistemas web e aplicações móveis e, em particular, de redes sociais online como o Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram e TikTok (respeitando obviamente a privacidade dos utilizadores), pode contribuir para a compreensão de algumas dinâmicas e comportamentos específicos dos seres humanos.

Nesta palestra irei apresentar como o nosso grupo de investigação tem feito a caracterização, análise e modelagem do comportamento de utilizadores de sistemas de informação inteligentes, mais especificamente, utilizadores de redes sociais online e de sistemas de informação que disponibilizam informações em portais de dados abertos, para induzir o desenvolvimento de novos softwares que utilizam algoritmos de machine learning e inteligência artificial. O comportamento dos utilizadores de sistemas de informação, juntamente com os padrões de interação social e de mobilidade humana nos centros urbanos, além de subsidiar decisões e políticas de órgãos e instituições governamentais responsáveis pelo planeamento urbano, podem alcançar e incentivar programadores interessados em criar softwares inovadores com potencial para melhorar a vida das pessoas numa sociedade digital e conectada.”

“Analyzing and Modeling Intelligent Systems Users’ Behavior in Digital Society” será apresentada dia 25 de janeiro, às 14:00, na sala B006, com a moderação do Prof. Gil Gonçalves (DEI).

Short Bio:
“Prof. Humberto T. Marques-Neto is a researcher and a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC Minas) in Belo Horizonte – Brazil. He holds a degree in Computer Science from the PUC Minas, a Master’s in Information Science, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science, both from the Federal University of Minas Gerais – UFMG. In the last few years, he has published some papers on the characterization and modeling of large-scale distributed system user behavior, online social network analysis and modeling, computing systems for mobile devices, and software engineering. He also coordinates (at PUC Minas) the Center of Technological Innovation and PUCTec, a Hub for Innovation and Business with about 30 startups. Since last August, he has been spending a one-year sabbatical as a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Computer Science of the University of Pisa.”

“Toda a tarefa que não pode ser realizada por um único agente precisa da interação de múltiplos agentes alinhados à solução do problema. Normalmente, o trabalho em equipe demanda uma coordenação entre os membros, para que não haja conflitos e o resultado seja mais eficiente. No campo do aprendizado artificial, quando um elemento não consegue aprender completamente a solução de um problema, é necessária a participação de outros elementos “inteligentes” para aprender por completo essa solução. Desta forma, apresenta-se um sistema de aprendizado colaborativo, no qual os agentes inteligentes aprendem a colaborar entre si para obter um aprendizado completo de forma autocoordenada (sem um coordenador) e sem a ocorrência de conflitos entre os elementos inteligentes. Especificamente, trata-se da inserção de outras redes neuronais ou de outras camadas intermediárias em uma RNA de modo a colaborar com o aprendizado já adquirido e desta maneira adicionar novos conhecimentos ao sistema.”

O Prof. Areolino de Almeida Neto descreve-nos assim o que será a sua apresentação, intitulada “Aprendizado colaborativo em redes neuronais artificiais”, a ter lugar dia 15 de novembro, às 14:30, na sala B033.

A palestra terá a moderação do Prof. Carlos Soares (DEI).

Short Bio

Areolino de Almeida Neto, Bacharel em Engenharia Elétrica pela Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA) em 1990, Mestre em Engenharia Aeronáutica e Mecânica pelo Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) em 1998 e Doutor em Engenharia Aeronáutica e Mecânica pelo ITA / Universität Hannover (2004). Tem experiência na área de Engenharia Elétrica, Mecatrónica e Ciência da Computação, com enfase em Sistemas Mecatrónicos e Inteligência Artificial, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: redes neuronais, aprendizagem por reforço, robótica móvel e robótica de manipuladores. Desde 2015, trabalha como Coordenador do GT-Eng. Aeroespacial da Secretaria de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (SECTI) do Maranhão, Brasil. É membro permanente do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação da UFMA desde 2010, que permitiu publicar diversos artigos científicos sobre redes neuronais e aprendizagem por reforço, e um livro sobre múltiplas redes neuronais autocoordenadas.

Pelo Autor:

“To support both Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing workloads, new processors have introduced hardware acceleration for matrix multiplication. Examples include the Matrix Multiply Assist (MMA) in the IBM POWER10 and the Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) in the Intel Sapphire Rapids microarchitecture for Xeon servers. This talk describes how, in a collaboration between the University of Alberta, the University of Campinas, and IBM, we developed compiler technology to support such accelerators. An initial solution delivered a robust pattern matcher for General Matrix Multiplication (GEMM) computation operating at the LLVM intermediate representation that allows the replacement of the computation with an invocation of a high-performance library. A later solution delivered a compiler-only path for code generation by adapting the layered approach used in numerical libraries to the compiler code-generation process. Finally, a modular and automated general strategy for data packing, which can be applied to multiple algorithms, was developed for the Multi-Level Intermediate Representation (MLRI).”

“From Numerical Libraries, To Efficient Matrix Multiplication Compiler-Only Code Generation, To a Modular Automated General Packing Data Transformation” será apresentada dia 17 de julho, às 11:30, na sala B006, com a moderação do Prof. Pedro Diniz (DEI) e a coorganização DEI Talks e Núcleo Estudantil ACM FEUP.

“J. Nelson Amaral, a Computing Science professor at the University of Alberta with a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, has published in optimizing compilers and high-performance computing. Scientific community service includes general chair for the 23rd International Conference on Parallel Architectures and Compilation Techniques in 2014, for the International Conference on Performance Engineering in 2020, and for the International Conference on Parallel Processing in 2020. Accolades include ACM Distinguished Engineer, IBM Faculty Fellow, IBM Faculty Awards, IBM CAS “Team of the Year”, awards for excellence in teaching, the University of Alberta Graduate-Student Association Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision, an University of Alberta Award for Outstanding Mentorship in Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities, and a recent University of Alberta 2020 COVID-19 Remote Teaching Award.”

https://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~amaral/