2026
Authors
Dintén, R; Zorrilla, M; Veloso, B; Gama, J;
Publication
INFORMATION FUSION
Abstract
One of the key aspects of Industry 4.0 is using intelligent systems to optimize manufacturing processes by improving productivity and reducing costs. These systems have greatly impacted in different areas, such as demand prediction and quality assessment. However, the prognostics and health management of industrial equipment is one of the areas with greater potential. This paper presents a comparative analysis of deep learning architectures applied to the prediction of the remaining useful life (RUL) on public real industrial datasets. The analysis includes some of the most commonly employed recurrent neural network variations and a novel approach based on a hybrid architecture using transformers. Moreover, we apply explainability techniques to provide comprehensive insights into the model's decision-making process. The contributions of the work are: (1) a novel transformer-based architecture for RUL prediction that outperforms traditional recurrent neural networks; (2) a detailed description of the design strategies used to construct the models on two under-explored datasets; (3) the use of explainability techniques to understand the feature importance and to explain the model's prediction and (4) making models built for reproducibility available to other researchers.
2026
Authors
A Fares, A; Mendes Moreira, JC;
Publication
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Abstract
Counterfactual explanations (CFs) help users understand and act on black-box machine learning decisions by suggesting minimal changes to achieve a desired outcome. However, existing methods often ignore individual feasibility, leading to unrealistic or unactionable recommendations. We propose a personalized CF generation method based on cluster-specific fine-tuning of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). By grouping users with similar behavior and constraints, we adapt immutable features and cost weights per cluster, allowing GANs to generate more actionable and user-aligned counterfactuals. Experiments on the German Credit dataset show that our approach achieves a 6× improvement in prediction gain and a 30% reduction in sparsity compared to a baseline CounterGAN, while maintaining plausibility and acceptable latency for online use. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
2026
Authors
Mendes Neves, T; Meireles, L; Mendes Moreira, JC;
Publication
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Abstract
Large Events Models (LEMs) are a class of models designed to predict and analyze the sequence of events in soccer matches, capturing the complex dynamics of the game. The original LEM framework, based on a chain of classifiers, faced challenges such as synchronization, scalability issues, and limited context utilization. This paper proposes a unified and scalable approach to model soccer events using a tabular autoregressive model. Our models demonstrate significant improvements over the original LEM, achieving higher accuracy in event prediction and better simulation quality, while also offering greater flexibility and scalability. The unified LEM framework enables a wide range of applications in soccer analytics that we display in this paper, including real-time match outcome prediction, player performance analysis, and game simulation, serving as a general solution for many problems in the field. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
2026
Authors
Ermakova, L; Campos, R; Bosser, AG; Miller, T;
Publication
EXPERIMENTAL IR MEETS MULTILINGUALITY, MULTIMODALITY, AND INTERACTION, CLEF 2025
Abstract
Humour poses a unique challenge for artificial intelligence, as it often relies on non-literal language, cultural references, and linguistic creativity. The JOKER Lab, now in its fourth year, aims to advance computational humour research through shared tasks on curated, multilingual datasets, with applications in education, computer-mediated communication and translation, and conversational AI. This paper provides an overview of the JOKER Lab held at CLEF 2025, detailing the setup and results of its three main tasks: (1) humour-aware information retrieval, which involves searching a document collection for humorous texts relevant to user queries in either English or Portuguese; (2) pun translation, focussed on humour-preserving translation of paronomastic jokes from English into French; and (3) onomastic wordplay translation, a task addressing the translation of name-based wordplay from English into French. The 2025 edition builds upon previous iterations by expanding datasets and emphasising nuanced, manual evaluation methods. The Task 1 results show a marked improvement this year, apparently due to participants' judicious combination of retrieval and filtering techniques. Tasks 2 and 3 remain challenging, not only in terms of system performance but also in terms of defining meaningful and reliable evaluation metrics.
2026
Authors
Pinheiro, M; Azevedo, GMDC; Torres, AI;
Publication
Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
Abstract
This study examines the scientific contributions of the Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration at the University of Aveiro (ISCA-UA) from 2019 to 2022, focusing on how these align with Education 5.0 and Society 5.0 goals. Using a case study approach, data were collected from institutional records, analyzing publications by type and thematic focus, emphasizing areas that promote societal well-being, multiliteracy, and educational innovation. The methodology involves a mixed-methods approach: quantitative analysis assesses publication trends, distribution by faculty rank, and output frequency, while qualitative analysis identifies themes relevant to societal and educational advancements. This approach provides insights into how ISCA-UA’s research aligns with Education 5.0 objectives, fostering both technical and socio-emotional skills needed for a “super-smart” society. Findings highlight an increase in publications addressing digital transformation, sustainability, and governance, reflecting the institution’s adaptability and responsiveness to societal shifts, particularly noticeable during the COVID-19 pandemic. This emphasis supports Education 5.0s aims of preparing students with versatile skills for modern challenges. The study contributes to the academic literature by showing how higher education institutions can align research outputs with global educational frameworks, promoting interdisciplinary skills and social responsibility. Future research could explore the impact of these themes on curriculum design and student development, further supporting the evolution toward Education 5.0. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
2025
Authors
Mazarei, A; Sousa, R; Mendes Moreira, J; Molchanov, S; Ferreira, HM;
Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DATA SCIENCE AND ANALYTICS
Abstract
Outlier detection is a widely used technique for identifying anomalous or exceptional events across various contexts. It has proven to be valuable in applications like fault detection, fraud detection, and real-time monitoring systems. Detecting outliers in real time is crucial in several industries, such as financial fraud detection and quality control in manufacturing processes. In the context of big data, the amount of data generated is enormous, and traditional batch mode methods are not practical since the entire dataset is not available. The limited computational resources further compound this issue. Boxplot is a widely used batch mode algorithm for outlier detection that involves several derivations. However, the lack of an incremental closed form for statistical calculations during boxplot construction poses considerable challenges for its application within the realm of big data. We propose an incremental/online version of the boxplot algorithm to address these challenges. Our proposed algorithm is based on an approximation approach that involves numerical integration of the histogram and calculation of the cumulative distribution function. This approach is independent of the dataset's distribution, making it effective for all types of distributions, whether skewed or not. To assess the efficacy of the proposed algorithm, we conducted tests using simulated datasets featuring varying degrees of skewness. Additionally, we applied the algorithm to a real-world dataset concerning software fault detection, which posed a considerable challenge. The experimental results underscored the robust performance of our proposed algorithm, highlighting its efficacy comparable to batch mode methods that access the entire dataset. Our online boxplot method, leveraging dataset distribution to define whiskers, consistently achieved exceptional outlier detection results. Notably, our algorithm demonstrated computational efficiency, maintaining constant memory usage with minimal hyperparameter tuning.
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