Abstract
In sectorization problems, a large district is split into small ones, usually meeting certain criteria. In this study, at first, two single-objective integer programming models for sectorization are presented. Models contain sector centers and customers, which are known beforehand. Sectors are established by assigning a subset of customers to each center, regarding objective functions like equilibrium and compactness. Pulp and Pyomo libraries available in Python are utilised to solve related benchmarks. The problems are then solved using a genetic algorithm available in Pymoo, which is a library in Python that contains evolutionary algorithms. Furthermore, the multi-objective versions of the models are solved with NSGA-II and RNSGA-II from Pymoo. A comparison is made among solution approaches. Between solvers, Gurobi performs better, while in the case of setting proper parameters and operators the evolutionary algorithm in Pymoo is better in terms of solution time, particularly for larger benchmarks. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Abstract
Narrative extraction, understanding, verification, and visualization are currently popular topics for users interested in achieving a deeper understanding of text, researchers who want to develop accurate methods for text mining, and commercial companies that strive to provide efficient tools for that. Information Retrieval (IR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML) and Computational Linguistics (CL) already offer many instruments that aid the exploration of narrative elements in text and within unstructured data. Despite evident advances in the last couple of years, the problem of automatically representing narratives in a structured form and interpreting them, beyond the conventional identification of common events, entities and their relationships, is yet to be solved. This workshop held virtually on April 10th, 2022 in conjunction with the 44th European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR '22) aims at presenting and discussing current and future directions for IR, NLP, ML and other computational linguistics-related fields capable of improving the automatic understanding of narratives. It includes sessions devoted to research, demo, position papers, work-in-progress, project description, nectar, and negative results papers, keynote talks and space for an informal discussion of the methods, of the challenges and of the future of this research area.

Abstract

Abstract
Long-term and reliable marine ecosystems monitoring is essential to address current environmental issues, including climate change and biodiversity threats. The existing oceans monitoring systems show clear data gaps, particularly when considering characteristics such as depth coverage or measured variables in deep and open seas. Over the last decades, the number of fixed and mobile platforms for in situ ocean data acquisition has increased significantly, covering all oceans' regions. However, these are largely dependent on satellite communications for data transmission, as well as on research cruises or opportunistic ship surveys, generally presenting a lag between data acquisition and availability. In this context, the creation of a widely distributed network of SMART cables (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications) - sensors attached to submarine telecommunication cables - appears as a promising solution to fill in the current ocean data gaps and ensure unprecedented oceans health continuous monitoring. The K2D (Knowledge and Data from the Deep to Space) project proposes the development of a persistent oceans monitoring network based on the use of telecommunications cables and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). The approach proposed includes several modules for navigation, communication and energy management, that enable the cost-effective gathering of extensive oceans data. These include physical, chemical, and biological variables, both registered with bottom fixed stations and AUVs operating in the water column. The data that can be gathered have multiple potential applications, including oceans health continuous monitoring and the enhancement of existing ocean models. The latter, in combination with geoinformatics and Artificial Intelligence, can create a continuum from the deep sea to near space, by integrating underwater remote sensing and satellite information to describe Earth systems in a holistic manner.

Abstract

Abstract
The growth of renewable energy sources usage at the local level contributes to decentralizing the power and energy systems. Nowadays, there is an increment of residential consumers becoming prosumers able to consume their generation or sell it to the public grid to reduce the electricity bill. This great penetration of electricity compromises the proper functioning of the system. Local electricity markets (LEM) are market platforms aimed at electricity end-users to be able to negotiate and transact it between them, thus becoming active players in the system, being a possible solution to balance local systems. Different approaches for LEM design and implementation are proposed in the literature, usually based on community markets and peer-to-peer. Despite their value, these solutions' scalability is compromised as these are centralized solutions, and processing can become very heavy. In this sense, this work proposes a blockchain-based distributed and decentralized optimal solution for implementing LEM. © 2022 IEEE.