Abstract
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research has illuminated how technology can influence users’ awareness of their environmental impact and the potential for mitigating these impacts. From hot water saving to food waste reduction, researchers have systematically and widely tried to find pathways to speed up achieving sustainable development goals through persuasive technology interventions. However, motivating users to adopt sustainable behaviors through interactive technologies presents significant psychological, cultural, and technical challenges in creating engaging and long-lasting experiences. Aligned with this perspective, there is a dearth of research and design solutions addressing the use of persuasive technology to promote sustainable recycling behavior. Guided by a participatory design approach, this investigation focuses on the design opportunities for leveraging persuasive and human-centered Internet of Things (IoT) applications to enhance user engagement in recycling activities. The assumption is that one pathway to achieve this goal is to adopt persuasive strategies that may be incorporated into the design of sustainable applications. The insights gained from this process can then be applied to various sustainable HCI scenarios and therefore contribute to HCI’s limited understanding in this area by providing a series of design-oriented research recommendations for informing the development of persuasive and socially engaged recycling platforms. In particular, we advocate for the inclusion of educational content, real-time interactive feedback, and intuitive interfaces to actively engage users in recycling activities. Moreover, recognizing the cultural context in which the technology is socially situated becomes imperative for the effective implementation of smart devices to foster sustainable recycling practices. To this end, we present a case study that seeks to involve children and adolescents in pro-recycling activities within the school environment.

Abstract
With the global population on the rise and a declining agricultural labor force, the realm of robotics research in agriculture, such as robotic manipulators, has assumed heightened significance. This article undertakes a comprehensive exploration of the latest advancements in controllers tailored for robotic manipulators. The investigation encompasses an examination of six distinct controller paradigms, complemented by the presentation of three exemplars for each category. These paradigms encompass: (i) adaptive control, (ii) sliding mode control, (iii) model predictive control, (iv) robust control, (v) fuzzy logic control and (vi) neural network control. The article further introduces and presents comparative tables for each controller category. These controllers excel in tracking trajectories and efficiently reaching reference points with rapid convergence. The key point of divergence among these controllers resides in their inherent complexity.

Abstract
Accurate demand forecasting is essential for retail operations as it directly impacts supply chain efficiency, inventory management, and financial performance. However, forecasting retail time series presents significant challenges due to their irregular patterns, hierarchical structures, and strong dependence on external factors such as promotions, pricing strategies, and socio-economic conditions. This study evaluates the effectiveness of Transformer-based architectures, specifically Vanilla Transformer, Informer, Autoformer, ETSformer, NSTransformer, and Reformer, for probabilistic time series forecasting in retail. A key focus is the integration of explanatory variables, such as calendar-related indicators, selling prices, and socio-economic factors, which play a crucial role in capturing demand fluctuations. This study assesses how incorporating these variables enhances forecast accuracy, addressing a research gap in the comprehensive evaluation of explanatory variables within multiple Transformer-based models. Empirical results, based on the M5 dataset, show that incorporating explanatory variables generally improves forecasting performance. Models leveraging these variables achieve up to 12.4% reduction in Normalized Root Mean Squared Error (NRMSE) and 2.9% improvement in Mean Absolute Scaled Error (MASE) compared to models that rely solely on past sales. Furthermore, probabilistic forecasting enhances decision making by quantifying uncertainty, providing more reliable demand predictions for risk management. These findings underscore the effectiveness of Transformer-based models in retail forecasting and emphasize the importance of integrating domain-specific explanatory variables to achieve more accurate, context-aware predictions in dynamic retail environments.

Abstract
This study investigates the integration of deep learning for single-modality and multimodal data within materials science. Traditional methods for materials discovery are often resource-intensive and slow, prompting the exploration of machine learning to streamline the prediction of material properties. While single-modality models have been effective, they often miss the complexities inherent in material data. The paper explores multimodal data integration—combining text, images, and tabular data—and demonstrates its potential to improve predictive accuracy. Utilizing the Alexandria dataset, the research introduces a custom methodology involving multimodal data creation, model tuning with AutoGluon framework, and evaluation through targeted fusion techniques. Results reveal that multimodal approaches enhance predictive accuracy and efficiency, particularly when text and image data are integrated. However, challenges remain in predicting complex features like band gaps. Future directions include incorporating new data types and refining specialized models to improve materials discovery and innovation.

Abstract

Abstract
Cities worldwide have agreed on ambitious goals regarding carbon neutrality. To do so, policymakers seek ways to foster smarter and cleaner transportation solutions. However, citizens lack awareness of their carbon footprint and of greener mobility alternatives such as public transports. With this, three main challenges emerge: (i) increase users’ awareness regarding their carbon footprint, (ii) provide personalized recommendations and incentives for using sustainable transportation alternatives and, (iii) guarantee that any personal data collected from the user is kept private. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing a new methodology. Created under the FranchetAI project, the methodology combines federated Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) estimation models to calculate the carbon footprint of users when choosing different transportation modes (e.g., foot, car, bus). Through a mobile application that keeps the privacy of users’ personal information, the project aims at providing detailed reports to inform citizens about their impact on the environment, and an incentive program to promote the usage of more sustainable mobility alternatives.