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Publications

2025

Navigating online order fulfillment failures: Impacts on future customer behavior and the role of retailer mitigation

Authors
Amorim, P; Eng-Larsson, F; Rooderkerk, RP;

Publication
JOURNAL OF RETAILING

Abstract
In online grocery retail, out-of-stocks can cause order fulfillment failures. Store-based fulfillment models have heightened this challenge. Here, online customers often receive orders not fulfilled as expected, with products being substituted, partially fulfilled, or reimbursed. When order fulfillment fails, the customer may change future ordering behavior by delaying the next order or by spending less in the online channel. Using data from the online operation of a leading omnichannel grocery retailer, we evaluate the magnitude of impact on the next order when the prior one is not fulfilled as expected. We also explore the role of retailer efforts in mitigating this impact. We find that failures significantly delay the time to the next order by 7.22% on average, with delays becoming more pronounced for non-perishable products. Spending reductions are especially evident when promoted items fail to ship. Mitigation efforts, substitutions in particular, often exacerbate delays and compound the dissatisfaction. Although substitutions help recover lost sales, they negatively impact future customer behavior. This suggests that selective stockout prevention, coupled with improved substitution practices, should be prioritized to optimize economic and customer outcomes.

2025

FX-MAD: Frequency-domain Explainability and Explainability-driven Unsupervised Detection of Face Morphing Attacks

Authors
Huber, M; Neto, PC; Sequeira, AF; Damer, N;

Publication
2025 IEEE/CVF WINTER CONFERENCE ON APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER VISION WORKSHOPS, WACVW

Abstract
Face recognition (FR) systems are vulnerable to morphing attacks, which refer to face images created by morphing the facial features of two different identities into one face image to create an image that can match both identities, allowing serious security breaches. In this work, we apply a frequency-based explanation method from the area of explainable face recognition to shine a light on how FR models behave when processing a bona fide or attack pair from a frequency perspective. In extensive experiments, we used two different state-of-the-art FR models and six different morphing attacks to investigate possible differences in behavior. Our results show that FR models rely differently on different frequency bands when making decisions for bona fide pairs and morphing attacks. In the following step, we show that this behavioral difference can be used to detect morphing attacks in an unsupervised setup solely based on the observed frequency-importance differences in a generalizable manner.

2025

An Approach to Business Continuity Self-Assessment

Authors
Russo, N; Mamede, HS; Reis, L;

Publication
TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract
Business Continuity Management (BCM) is critical for organizations to mitigate disruptions and maintain operations, yet many struggle with fragmented and non-standardized self-assessment tools. Existing frameworks often lack holistic integration, focusing narrowly on isolated components like cyber resilience or risk management, which limits their ability to evaluate BCM maturity comprehensively. This research addresses this gap by proposing a structured Self-Assessment System designed to unify BCM components into an adaptable, standards-aligned methodology. Grounded in Design Science Research, the system integrates a BCM Model comprising eight components and 118 activities, each evaluated through weighted questions to quantify organizational preparedness. The methodology enables organizations to conduct rapid as-is assessments using a 0-100 scoring mechanism with visual indicators (red/yellow/green), benchmark progress over time and against peers, and align with international standards (e.g., ISO 22301, ITIL) while accommodating unique organizational constraints. Demonstrated via focus groups and semi-structured interviews with 10 organizations, the system proved effective in enhancing top management commitment, prioritizing resource allocation, and streamlining BCM implementation-particularly for SMEs with limited resources. Key contributions include a reusable self-assessment tool adaptable to any BCM framework, empirical validation of its utility in identifying weaknesses and guiding continuous improvement, and a pathway from initial assessment to advanced measurement via the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. By bridging the gap between theoretical standards and practical application, this research offers a scalable solution for organizations to systematically evaluate and improve BCM resilience.

2025

Characterising Class Imbalance in Transportation Mode Detection: An Experimental Study

Authors
Muhammad, AR; Aguiar, A; Mendes Moreira, J;

Publication
INTELLIGENT DATA ENGINEERING AND AUTOMATED LEARNING - IDEAL 2024, PT II

Abstract
This study investigates the impact of class imbalance and its potential interplay with other factors on machine learning models for transportation mode classification, utilising two real-world GPS trajectory datasets. A Random Forest model serves as the baseline, demonstrating strong performance on the relatively balanced dataset but experiencing significant degradation on the imbalanced one. To mitigate this effect, we explore various state-of-the-art class imbalance learning techniques, finding only marginal improvements. Resampling the fairly balanced dataset to replicate the imbalanced distribution suggests that factors beyond class imbalance are at play. We hypothesise and provide preliminary evidence for class overlap as a potential contributing factor, underscoring the need for further investigation into the broader range of classification difficulty factors. Our findings highlight the importance of balanced class distributions and a deeper understanding of factors such as class overlap in developing robust and generalisable models for transportation mode detection.

2025

Towards Generalizable Machine Learning Pipelines in Complex Industrial Scenarios

Authors
Peixoto, E; Carneiro, D; Torres, D; Silva, B; Marques, R;

Publication
ISCC

Abstract
The increasing prevalence of ML in industrial environments is driven by the growing availability of userfriendly frameworks and industrial data. Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) enabled easy data collection and utilization for decision support, namely for anomaly detection, quality control, or object detection/classification. However, models for new ML problems are often trained without regard for previous models or data, potentially wasting resources and hindering knowledge transfer. This is due to a lack of systematic methods for identifying and leveraging relevant prior knowledge. In this paper, we propose an approach designed to address this inefficiency by reusing previously trained models in new ML tasks. We reuse models based on data similarity metrics to create ensembles on-the-fly. This allows for accurate predictions on new data while minimizing the need for training from scratch. This approach has the potential to significantly reduce resource expenditure on data labeling and model training within industrial organizations.

2025

Exploring the presence of a fifth force at the Galactic Center

Authors
Abd El Dayem, K; Abuter, R; Aimar, N; Seoane, PA; Amorim, A; Berger, JP; Bonnet, H; Bourdarot, G; Brandner, W; Cardoso, V; Clénet, Y; Davies, R; de Zeeuw, PT; Drescher, A; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Feuchtgruber, H; Finger, G; Schreiber, NMF; Foschi, A; Garcia, P; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Hartl, M; Haubois, X; Haussmann, F; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Jochum, L; Jocou, L; Kaufer, A; Kervella, P; Lacour, S; Lapeyrère, V; Le Bouquin, JB; Léna, P; Lutz, D; Mang, F; More, N; Osorno, J; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Rabien, S; Ribeiro, DC; Bordoni, MS; Scheithauer, S; Shangguan, J; Shimizu, T; Stadler, J; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; Urso, I; Vincent, F; von Fellenberg, SD; Wieprecht, E; Woillez, J;

Publication
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Abstract
Aims. We investigate the presence of a Yukawa-like correction to Newtonian gravity at the Galactic Center, leading to a new upper limit on the intensity of such a correction. Methods. We performed a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis using the astrometric and spectroscopic data of star S2 collected at the Very Large Telescope by GRAVITY, NACO, and SINFONI instruments, covering the period from 1992 to 2022. Results. The precision of the GRAVITY instrument allows us to derive the most stringent upper limit at the Galactic Center for the intensity of the Yukawa contribution (proportional to alpha e(-lambda r)) of |alpha|< 0.003 for a scale length of lambda = 3 & sdot; 10(13) m (similar to 200 AU). This is an improvement on all estimates obtained in previous works by roughly one order of magnitude.

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