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Publications

2024

Modelling and Control of a Trailer Sprayer for Precision Spraying

Authors
Baltazar, AR; dos Santos, FN; Moreira, AP; Soares, SP; Reis, MJCS; Cunha, JB;

Publication
IEEE International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions, ICARSC 2024, Paredes de Coura, Portugal, May 2-3, 2024

Abstract

2024

Condition Invariance for Autonomous Driving by Adversarial Learning

Authors
Silva, DTE; Cruz, RPM;

Publication
PROGRESS IN PATTERN RECOGNITION, IMAGE ANALYSIS, COMPUTER VISION, AND APPLICATIONS, CIARP 2023, PT I

Abstract
Object detection is a crucial task in autonomous driving, where domain shift between the training and the test set is one of the main reasons behind the poor performance of a detector when deployed. Some erroneous priors may be learned from the training set, therefore a model must be invariant to conditions that might promote such priors. To tackle this problem, we propose an adversarial learning framework consisting of an encoder, an object-detector, and a condition-classifier. The encoder is trained to deceive the condition-classifier and aid the object-detector as much as possible throughout the learning stage, in order to obtain highly discriminative features. Experiments showed that this framework is not very competitive regarding the trade-off between precision and recall, but it does improve the ability of the model to detect smaller objects and some object classes.

2024

Many-objective sectorization for last-mile delivery optimization: A decision support system

Authors
Torres, G; Fontes, T; Rodrigues, AM; Rocha, P; Ribeiro, J; Ferreira, JS;

Publication
Expert Systems with Applications

Abstract

2024

A cooperative coevolutionary hyper-heuristic approach to solve lot-sizing and job shop scheduling problems using genetic programming

Authors
Zeiträg, Y; Figueira, JR; Figueira, G;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRODUCTION RESEARCH

Abstract
Lot-sizing and scheduling in a job shop environment is a fundamental problem that appears in many industrial settings. The problem is very complex, and solutions are often needed fast. Although many solution methods have been proposed, with increasingly better results, their computational times are not suitable for decision-makers who want solutions instantly. Therefore, we propose a novel greedy heuristic to efficiently generate production plans and schedules of good quality. The main innovation of our approach represents the incorporation of a simulation-based technique, which directly generates schedules while simultaneously determining lot sizes. By utilising priority rules, this unique feature enables us to address the complexity of job shop scheduling environments and ensures the feasibility of the resulting schedules. Using a selection of well-known rules from the literature, experiments on a variety of shop configurations and complexities showed that the proposed heuristic is able to obtain solutions with an average gap to Cplex of 4.12%. To further improve the proposed heuristic, a cooperative coevolutionary genetic programming-based hyper-heuristic has been developed. The average gap to Cplex was reduced up to 1.92%. These solutions are generated in a small fraction of a second, regardless of the size of the instance.

2024

Optimizing wind farm cable layout considering ditch sharing

Authors
Cerveira, A; de Sousa, A; Pires, EJS; Baptista, J;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH

Abstract
Wind power is becoming an important source of electrical energy production. In an onshore wind farm (WF), the electrical energy is collected at a substation from different wind turbines through electrical cables deployed over ground ditches. This work considers the WF layout design assuming that the substation location and all wind turbine locations are given, and a set of electrical cable types is available. The WF layout problem, taking into account its lifetime and technical constraints, involves selecting the cables to interconnect all wind turbines to the substation and the supporting ditches to minimize the initial investment cost plus the cost of the electrical energy that is lost on the cables over the lifetime of the WF. It is assumed that each ditch can deploy multiple cables, turning this problem into a more complex variant of previously addressed WF layout problems. This variant turns the problem best fitting to the real case and leads to substantial gains in the total cost of the solutions. The problem is defined as an integer linear programming model, which is then strengthened with different sets of valid inequalities. The models are tested with four WFs with up to 115 wind turbines. The computational experiments show that the optimal solutions can be computed with the proposed models for almost all cases. The largest WF was not solved to optimality, but the final relative gaps are small.

2024

A randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of psychoeducation on the quality of life of parents with children with congenital heart defects-Quantitative component

Authors
Rodrigues, MG; Rodrigues, JD; Moreira, JA; Clemente, F; Dias, CC; Azevedo, LF; Rodrigues, PP; Areias, JC; Areias, ME;

Publication
CHILD CARE HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract
PurposeTo develop, implement and assess the results of psychoeducation to improve the QoL of parents with CHD newborns.MethodsParticipants were parents of inpatient newborns with the diagnosis of non-syndromic CHD. We conducted a parallel RCT with an allocation ratio of 1:1 (intervention vs. control), considering the newborns, using mixed methods research. The intervention group received psychoeducation (Parental Psychoeducation in CHD [PPeCHD]) and the usual routines, and the control group received just the regular practices. The allocation concealment was assured. PI was involved in enrolling participants, developing and implementing the intervention, data collection and data analysis. We followed the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines.ResultsParents of eight newborns were allocated to the intervention group (n = 15 parents) and eight to the control group (n = 13 parents). It was performed as an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. In M2 (4 weeks), the intervention group presented better QoL levels in the physical, psychological, and environmental domains of World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-Bref). In M3 (16 weeks), scores in physical and psychological domains maintained a statistically significant difference between the groups.ConclusionsThe PPeCHD, the psychoeducational intervention we developed, positively impacted parental QoL. These results support the initial hypothesis. This study is a fundamental milestone in this research field, adding new essential information to the literature.

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