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Publications

2024

Application of Benford's law to detect signs of under-invoicing in companies in the restaurant sector during the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors
Martins, A; Alves, J; Vaz, C;

Publication
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TOURISM HOSPITALITY AND RECREATION

Abstract
The main objective of this study is to detect signs of under-invoicing by applying Benford's law to the Portuguese restaurant sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the context of government support policies. Between 2020 and 2021, the State adopted several measures to provide additional support to companies that have seen a significant decrease in their activity, namely, a reduction of at least 25% in turnover. A literature review was carried out focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the companies under analysis, the support measures adopted by the State and, finally, a survey of the theoretical component relating to the application of Benford's law in accounting. The data were collected from the Iberian Balance Sheet Analysis System database for 2019, 2020, and 2021. After analysing the data, significant deviations are observed in several digits, practically for all the compliance tests, both in the analysis of the first digit test and in the analysis of the first two digits test. The results therefore show signs of under-invoicing in 2020 by the analysed companies, which suffered, on average, a 79% reduction in turnover.

2024

An Adaptive Virtual Piano for Music-Based Therapy: A Preliminary Assessment with Heuristic Evaluation

Authors
Netto, AT; Paulino, D; Qbilat, M; de Raposo, JF; Rocha, T; Paredes, H;

Publication
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion, DSAI 2024, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, November 13-15, 2024

Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects individuals in diverse ways, making personalized therapeutic approaches crucial. In this context, we propose a personalized mobile application designed for music-based therapy tailored to people with ASD. This adaptive piano app can be customized to suit the individual abilities of each user. The paper is structured as follows: The introduction provides context on autism and the importance of personalized therapy. The background section reviews related studies on music-based therapy. The methodology section introduces "Professor Piano,"our adaptive and adaptable music therapy application. The results and discussion section explores the challenges encountered during development and presents the findings from a heuristic evaluation conducted by experts. Finally, the conclusion summarizes the main insights and implications of the study. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

2024

Automated Detection of Refilling Stations in Industry Using Unsupervised Learning

Authors
Ribeiro, J; Pinheiro, R; Soares, S; Valente, A; Amorim, V; Filipe, V;

Publication
FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION AND INTELLIGENT MANUFACTURING: ESTABLISHING BRIDGES FOR MORE SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS, FAIM 2023, VOL 2

Abstract
The manual monitoring of refilling stations in industrial environments can lead to inefficiencies and errors, which can impact the overall performance of the production line. In this paper, we present an unsupervised detection pipeline for identifying refilling stations in industrial environments. The proposed pipeline uses a combination of image processing, pattern recognition, and deep learning techniques to detect refilling stations in visual data. We evaluate our method on a set of industrial images, and the findings demonstrate that the pipeline is reliable at detecting refilling stations. Furthermore, the proposed pipeline can automate the monitoring of refilling stations, eliminating the need for manual monitoring and thus improving industrial operations' efficiency and responsiveness. This method is a versatile solution that can be applied to different industrial contexts without the need for labeled data or prior knowledge about the location of refilling stations.

2024

Alloy Goes Fuzzy

Authors
Silva, P; Cunha, A; Macedo, N; Oliveira, JN;

Publication
RIGOROUS STATE-BASED METHODS, ABZ 2024

Abstract
Humans are good at understanding subjective or vague statements which, however, are hard to express in classical logic. Fuzzy logic is an evolution of classical logic that can cope with vague terms by handling degrees of truth and not just the crisp values true and false. Logic is the formal basis of computing, enabling the formal design of systems supported by tools such as model checkers and theorem provers.This paper shows how a model checker such as Alloy can evolve to handle both classical and fuzzy logic, enabling the specification of high-level quantitative relational models in the fuzzy domain. In particular, the paper showcases how QAlloy-F (a conservative, general-purpose quantitative extension to standard Alloy) can be used to tackle fuzzy problems, namely in the context of validating the design of fuzzy controllers. The evaluation of QAlloy-F against examples taken from various classes of fuzzy case studies shows the approach to be feasible.

2024

Multibeam Multi-Frequency Characterization of Water Column Litter

Authors
Guedes, PA; Silva, H; Wang, S; Martins, A; Almeida, JM; Silva, E;

Publication
OCEANS 2024 - SINGAPORE

Abstract
This paper explores the potential use of acoustic imaging and the use of a multi-frequency multibeam-echosounder (MBES) for monitoring marine litter in the water column. The main goal is to perform a test and validation setup using a simulation and actual experimental setup to determine if the MBES data can detect marine litter in a water column image (WCI) and if using multi-frequency MBES data will allow to better distinguish and characterize marine litter debris in detection applications. Results using simulated HoloOcean Environment and actual marine litter data revealed the successful detection of objects commonly found in ocean litter hotspots at various ranges and frequencies, enablingthe pursue of novel means of automatic detection and classification in MBES WCI data while using multi-frequency capabilities.

2024

Team Automata: Overview and Roadmap

Authors
ter Beek, MH; Hennicker, R; Proença, J;

Publication
COORDINATION MODELS AND LANGUAGES, COORDINATION 2024

Abstract
Team Automata is a formalism for interacting component-based systems proposed in 1997, whereby multiple sending and receiving actions from concurrent automata can synchronise. During the past 25+ years, team automata have been studied and applied in many different contexts, involving 25+ researchers and resulting in 25+ publications. In this paper, we first revisit the specific notion of synchronisation and composition of team automata, relating it to other relevant coordination models, such as Reo, BIP, Contract Automata, Choreography Automata, and Multi-Party Session Types. We then identify several aspects that have recently been investigated for team automata and related models. These include communication properties (which are the properties of interest?), realisability (how to decompose a global model into local components?) and tool support (what has been automatised or implemented?). Our presentation of these aspects provides a snapshot of the most recent trends in research on team automata, and delineates a roadmap for future research, both for team automata and for related formalisms.

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