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Publications

2025

Co-Creation Method for Fostering Cultural Tourism Impact

Authors
Pasandideh, S; Martins, J; Pereira, P; Gandini, A; De la Cal, MZ; Kalvet, T; Koor, T; Sopelana, A; de Aguileta, AL;

Publication
ADVANCES IN CULTURAL TOURISM RESEARCH, ICCT 2023

Abstract
This chapter describes the IMPACTOUR co-creation method, which is developed to enhance the impact of cultural tourism in various destinations. The method utilizes effective strategies and actions to monitor and increase the impact of cultural tourism. The primary objective of the IMPACTOUR technique is to support decision-makers in improving the sustainability and competitiveness of cultural tourists in their destinations. The method involves collecting and analyzing data from diverse sources, including tourism stakeholders and specifically local communities to create a comprehensive decision-making system. The resulting recommendations aim to promote the positive impacts of cultural tourism while minimizing negative effects and fostering long-term development. Ultimately, the IMPACTOUR method seeks to assist destinations and attractions in becoming more competitive and attractive to cultural visitors, while ensuring their long-term sustainability.

2025

Fine-Tuning Transformer-Based LLMs in Hierarchical Text Classification

Authors
Santos, J; Silva, N; Ferreira, C; Gama, J;

Publication
Discovery Science - 28th International Conference, DS 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 23-25, 2025, Proceedings

Abstract
Hierarchical document classification is essential for structuring large-scale textual corpora in domains such as digital libraries and academic repositories. While recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have opened new possibilities for text classification, their applicability to hierarchical settings under real-world constraints remains underexplored. This study investigates both generative and discriminative transformer-based models, evaluating their effectiveness across multiple inference strategies: zero-shot baseline, local fine-tuning, and a global approach using category-specific models. Experiments on two real-world hierarchical datasets provide a comprehensive comparison of classification accuracy, F1-macro scores, and inference times. The results highlight that, although generative LLMs can deliver competitive (yet variable) performance at higher levels of the hierarchy, their high inference costs hinder their use in time-sensitive applications. In contrast, fine-tuned discriminative models—particularly BERT-based architectures—consistently offer a more favorable trade-off between performance and efficiency. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

2025

Interventions Based on Biofeedback Systems to Improve Workers' Psychological Well-Being, Mental Health, and Safety: Systematic Literature Review

Authors
Ferreira, S; Rodrigues, MA; Mateus, C; Rodrigues, PP; Rocha, NB;

Publication
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH

Abstract
Background: In modern, high-speed work settings, the significance of mental health disorders is increasingly acknowledged as a pressing health issue, with potential adverse consequences for organizations, including reduced productivity and increased absenteeism. Over the past few years, various mental health management solutions, such as biofeedback applications, have surfaced as promising avenues to improve employees' mental well-being. However, most studies on these interventions have been conducted in controlled laboratory settings. Objective: This review aimedtosystematicallyidentify and analyzestudies that implementedbiofeedback-based interventions in real-world occupational settings, focusing on their effectiveness in improving psychological well-being and mental health. Methods: A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. We searched PubMed and EBSCO databases for studies published between 2012 and 2024. Inclusion criteria were original peer-reviewed studies that focused on employees and used biofeedback interventions to improve mental health or prevent mental illness. Exclusion criteria included nonemployee samples, lack of a description of the intervention, and low methodological quality (assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database [PEDro] checklist). Data were extracted on study characteristics, intervention type, physiological and self-reported outcomes, and follow-up measures. Risk of bias was assessed, and VOSviewer was used to visualize the distribution of research topics. Results: A total of 9 studies met the inclusion criteria. The interventions used a range of delivery methods, including traditional biofeedback, mobile apps, mindfulness techniques, virtual reality, and cerebral blood flow monitoring. Most studies focused on breathing techniques to regulate physiological responses (eg, heart rate variability and respiratory sinus arrhythmia) and showed reductions in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Mobile and app-directed interventions appeared particularly promising for improving resilience and facilitating recovery after stress. Of the 9 studies, 8 (89%) reported positive outcomes, with 1 (11%) study showing initial increases in stress due to logistical limitations in biofeedback access. Sample sizes were generally small, and long-term follow-up data were limited. Conclusions:Biofeedback interventions in workplace settings show promising short-term results in reducing stress and improving mental health, particularly when incorporating breathing techniques and user-friendly delivery methods such as mobile apps. However, the field remains underexplored in occupational contexts. Future research should address adherence challenges, scalability, cost-effectiveness, and long-term outcomesto support broader implementation of biofeedback as a sustainable workplace mental health strategy.

2025

PrivateCTGAN: Adapting GAN for Privacy-Aware Tabular Data Sharing

Authors
Lopes, F; Soares, C; Cortez, P;

Publication
MACHINE LEARNING AND PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY IN DATABASES, ECML PKDD 2023, PT II

Abstract
This research addresses the challenge of generating synthetic data that resembles real-world data while preserving privacy. With privacy laws protecting sensitive information such as healthcare data, accessing sufficient training data becomes difficult, resulting in an increased difficulty in training Machine Learning models and in overall worst models. Recently, there has been an increased interest in the usage of Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) to generate synthetic data since they enable researchers to generate more data to train their models. GANs, however, may not be suitable for privacy-sensitive data since they have no concern for the privacy of the generated data. We propose modifying the known Conditional Tabular GAN (CTGAN) model by incorporating a privacy-aware loss function, thus resulting in the Private CTGAN (PCTGAN) method. Several experiments were carried out using 10 public domain classification datasets and comparing PCTGAN with CTGAN and the state-of-the-art privacy-preserving model, the Differential Privacy CTGAN (DP-CTGAN). The results demonstrated that PCTGAN enables users to fine-tune the privacy fidelity trade-off by leveraging parameters, as well as that if desired, a higher level of privacy.

2025

tOLIet: Single-lead Thigh-based Electrocardiography Using Polimeric Dry Electrodes

Authors
Silva, Aline Santos; Plácido da Silva, Hugo; Correia, Miguel; Gonçalves da Costa, Andreia Cristina; Laranjo, Sérgio;

Publication

Abstract
Our team previously introduced an innovative concept for an "invisible" Electrocardiography (ECG) system, incorporating electrodes and sensors into a toilet seat design to enable signal acquisition from the thighs. Building upon that work, we now present a novel dataset featuring real-world, single-lead ECG signals captured at the thighs, offering a valuable resource for advancing research on thigh-based ECG for cardiovascular disease assessment. To our knowledge, this is the first dataset of its kind. The tOLIet dataset comprises 149 ECG recordings collected from 86 individuals (50 females, 36 males) with an average age of 31.73 ± 13.11 years, a mean weight of 66.89 ± 10.70 kg, and an average height of 166.82 ± 6.07 cm. Participants were recruited through direct contact with the Principal Investigator at Centro Hospitalar Universitario de Lisboa Central (CHULC) and via clinical consultations conducted at the same institution. Each recording includes four differential signals acquired from electrode pairs embedded in the toilet seat, with reference signals obtained from a standard 12-lead hospital ECG system.

2025

RMIDDM: an unsupervised and interpretable concept drift detection method for data streams

Authors
Neto, R; Alencar, B; Gomes, HM; Bifet, A; Gama, J; Cassales, G; Rios, R;

Publication
DATA MINING AND KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY

Abstract
Traditional machine learning techniques assume that data is drawn from a stationary source. This assumption is challenged in contexts with data streams for presenting constant and potentially infinite sequences whose distribution is prone to change over time. Based on these settings, detecting changes (a.k.a. concept drifts) is necessary to keep learning models up-to-date. Although state-of-the-art detection methods were designed to monitor the loss of predictive models, such monitoring falls short in many real-world scenarios where the true labels are not readily available. Therefore, there is increasing attention to unsupervised concept drift detection methods as approached in this paper. In this work, we present an unsupervised and interpretable method based on Radial Basis Function Networks (RBFN) and Markov Chains (MC), referred to as RMIDDM (Radial Markov Interpretable Drift Detection Method). In our method, RBF performs, in the intermediate layer, an activation process that implicitly produces groups of observations collected over time. Simultaneously, MC models the transitions between groups to support the detection of concept drifts, which happens when the active group changes and its probability exceeds a given threshold. A set of experiments with synthetic datasets and comparisons with state-of-the-art algorithms demonstrated that the proposed method can detect drifts at runtime in an efficient, interpretable, and independent way of labels, presenting competitive results and behavior. Additionally, to show its applicability in a real-world scenario, we analyzed new COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations to identify new waves as concept drifts and generate Markov models that allow understanding of their interaction.

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