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Details

  • Name

    Ana Pereira
  • Role

    External Research Collaborator
  • Since

    19th January 2022
Publications

2025

Enhancing Consumer Insights Through Multimodal Artificial Intelligence and Affective Computing

Authors
César, I; Pereira, I; Rodrigues, F; Miguéis, VL; Nicola, S; Madureira, A; Reis, JL; Dos Santos, JPM; Coelho, D; De Oliveira, DA;

Publication
IEEE ACCESS

Abstract
The growing interest in learning more about consumer behaviors through analytical techniques requires the integration of innovative approaches that relate their needs to strategic marketing procedures. Multimodality and Affective Computing combined a series of robust optimizations for this challenge, implying the complexity of each application. However, the entanglement of different modalities demands new and tailored refinements to enhance adaptability and accuracy in the field. This paper outlines the implementation of a Multimodal Artificial Intelligence methodology with Affective Computing to enhance consumer insights and marketing strategies. The application combines different data modalities, such as textual, visual, and audio inputs, to tackle complex issues in dealing with consumer sentiment. The proposed approach uses advanced preprocessing techniques, including word embeddings, neural networks, and recurrent models, to extract information from diverse modalities. Fusion strategies, such as attention-based and late fusion procedures, are utilized to combine knowledge, facilitating robust sentiment detection. The implementation includes the analysis of real-time customer feedback on social media and product assessments, demonstrating improvements in predicting engagement and shaping consumer behavior. The results underscore the practical viability of the suggested method, promoting progress in multimodal sentiment analysis to extract actionable consumer insights in marketing.

2025

Sonar-Based Deep Learning in Underwater Robotics: Overview, Robustness, and Challenges

Authors
Aubard, M; Madureira, A; Teixeira, L; Pinto, J;

Publication
IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING

Abstract
With the growing interest in underwater exploration and monitoring, autonomous underwater vehicles have become essential. The recent interest in onboard deep learning (DL) has advanced real-time environmental interaction capabilities relying on efficient and accurate vision-based DL models. However, the predominant use of sonar in underwater environments, characterized by limited training data and inherent noise, poses challenges to model robustness. This autonomy improvement raises safety concerns for deploying such models during underwater operations, potentially leading to hazardous situations. This article aims to provide the first comprehensive overview of sonar-based DL under the scope of robustness. It studies sonar-based DL perception task models, such as classification, object detection, segmentation, and simultaneous localization and mapping. Furthermore, this article systematizes sonar-based state-of-the-art data sets, simulators, and robustness methods, such as neural network verification, out-of-distribution, and adversarial attacks. This article highlights the lack of robustness in sonar-based DL research and suggests future research pathways, notably establishing a baseline sonar-based data set and bridging the simulation-to-reality gap.

2025

Leveraging Feature Extraction to Perform Time-Efficient Selection for Machine Learning Applications

Authors
Coelho, D; Madureira, A; Pereira, I; Gonçalves, R; Nicola, S; César, I; de Oliveira, DA;

Publication
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL

Abstract
In the age of rapidly advancing machine learning capabilities, the pursuit of maximum performance encounters the practical limitations imposed by limited resources in several fields. This work presents a cost-effective proposal for feature selection, which is a crucial part of machine learning processes, and intends to partly solve this problem through computational time reduction. The proposed methodology aims to strike a careful balance between feature exploration and strict computational time concerns, by enhancing the quality and relevance of data. This approach focuses on the use of interim representations of feature combinations to significantly speed up a potentially slow and computationally expensive process. This strategy is evaluated in several datasets against other feature selection methods, and the results indicate a significant reduction in the temporal costs associated with this process, achieving a mean percentage decrease of 85%. Furthermore, this reduction is achieved while maintaining competitive model performance, demonstrating that the selected features remain effective for the learning task. These results emphasize the method's feasibility, confirming its ability to transform machine learning applications in environments with limited resources.

2024

Knowledge Distillation in YOLOX-ViT for Side-Scan Sonar Object Detection

Authors
Aubard, M; Antal, L; Madureira, A; Ábrahám, E;

Publication
CoRR

Abstract

2024

Optimization strategies in SEI: An analysis of SARIMA and additive Holt-Winters models

Authors
Cristino, C; Nicola, S; Costa, J; Bettencourt, N; Madureira, A; Pereira, I; Costa, A;

Publication
2024 IEEE 22ND MEDITERRANEAN ELECTROTECHNICAL CONFERENCE, MELECON 2024

Abstract
This paper focuses on the importance of Business Intelligence (BI) tools in the business context and the urgent need for more effective implementation of time series forecasting models in these resources. It shows the utility and applicability of Sage Enterprise Intelligence (SEI), an integrated BI tool in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Sage, by illustrating how it enhances data analysis and decision-making processes. Additionally, a study will show the application of time series forecasting models: Seasonal AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) and additive Holt-Winters to the sales value of a fuel sector company. The research was conducted through a case study in which sales data were collected from 2016 to 2023. The results indicate that neither of the two models exceeded the sales figures reflecting the company's market position. In this case study, both models performed well, with the residuals verifying the assumptions. However, the additive Holt-Winters model had lower errors, which is why it was selected for the final step: forecasting 12 months.