{"title":"A dedicated fix-and-relax decomposition method for operating room scheduling problem","authors":"Grégoire Gielly , Yassine Ouazene , Nhan Quy Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.131","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.131","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a heuristic approach for the operating room (OR) scheduling problem, building upon existing mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulations. The proposed method employs a planning horizon decomposition strategy, in which the overall scheduling horizon is divided into smaller sub-horizons. Within each sub-horizon, a fix-and-relax strategy is applied: decisions in earlier periods are progressively fixed, while later periods remain flexible to accommodate future adjustments. This decomposition-based heuristic enables the use of mixed integer programming techniques to efficiently find feasible high-quality solutions. Enhancements such as pre-assignment preprocessing and dynamic weight adjustments based on scheduling urgency further improve performance. Computational experiments demonstrate that this approach provides near-optimal solutions with significantly reduced computation times, making it a practical and scalable tool for real-world healthcare scheduling applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"277 ","pages":"Pages 899-908"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147554854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vagan Terziyan , Ivo Bukovsky , Olena Kaikova , Florian Sobieczky , Timo Tiihonen
{"title":"DieHard: Human-Centric Responsible and Resilient Autonomy for Mission-Critical Smart Systems","authors":"Vagan Terziyan , Ivo Bukovsky , Olena Kaikova , Florian Sobieczky , Timo Tiihonen","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.138","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.138","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rise of Industry 4.0 and the transition toward Industry 5.0 have significantly increased the reliance on mission-critical smart systems, including smart manufacturing assets. However, this shift also introduces risks associated with adversarial manipulation and malicious exploitation of control channels, particularly in systems involving human, AI, and hybrid decision-making. As AI systems grow towards increasingly powerful ones, global concerns persist about the risks of their misuse or the dangers of granting them unrestrained autonomy. The DieHard framework offers a balanced solution by equipping mission-critical smart systems with limited, yet crucial, autonomy: the ability to detect misuse and ensure resilience against exploitation for malicious purposes. This approach enables AI systems to remain under human control while safeguarding their operations from manipulation or misuse, striking a vital balance between usability and security. This paper introduces a human-centric, responsible, and resilient autonomy framework that integrates anomaly detection, ethical constraints, and mission alignment. We propose a taxonomy of adversarial anomalies, outline the role of the Learning Entropy concept for anomaly detection across diverse environments, and provide simple proof-of-concept simulation. By maintaining the operator-in-the-loop and enforcing resilience under anomalous control, DieHard ensures robust, reliable, and secure operation of mission-critical smart systems, even in adversarial scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"277 ","pages":"Pages 977-988"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147554924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Metaverse governance: A literature review exploring ethical considerations","authors":"Phylicia Babb","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.447","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.447","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The metaverse is rapidly evolving, offering opportunities while also raising critical concerns regarding its governance. This study explores the ethical considerations for metaverse governance through a systematic literature review. The analysis revealed six key ethical desires expressed by stakeholders: freedom of choice and expression, privacy and security, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), fairness, trust, and transparency. Prior research on these ethical desires spans across identification, implementation, and evaluation. These three stages are used to structure the literature findings in a systematic and cohesive manner. The study highlights the need for governance frameworks that align with stakeholder expectations, ensuring ethical, user-centric, and sustainable development of the metaverse. It provides a foundation for future research and contributes to both research and practice by offering a structured approach to examining metaverse governance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"278 ","pages":"Pages 133-140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147555065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"GiftMatch: An AI-Powered Web Application for Personalized Gift Suggestions","authors":"Diana Manuela Costa , António Jorge Gouveia","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.433","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.433","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Selecting personalized gifts is a complex and emotionally significant task, often hindered by uncertainty about recipient preferences—especially in digital contexts lacking direct interaction. This paper introduces GiftMatch, a web-based application that leverages artificial intelligence (AI), user profiling, and conversational interfaces to suggest personalized gifts. Integrating a large language model (LLM)-based API, the system tailors recommendations using data such as interests, age, and personal traits. A systematic literature review explores the evolution of AI-driven recommender systems, with emphasis on generative and conversational methods. Applications like Amazon Gift Finder and Giftster serve as benchmarks. We detail the development of GiftMatch, built with ASP.NET, SQL Server, and the GROQ API. Results show that combining structured data with generative AI enhances user experience in gift selection. The study also discusses challenges in explainability, data privacy, and scalability, contributing insights into the integration of LLMs in emotionally aware, scalable recommendation systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"278 ","pages":"Pages 19-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147555145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engineering the Business Layer of the Decision Enterprise","authors":"Deepika Prakash , Naveen Prakash","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.03.038","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.03.038","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We introduce the notion of a decision problem, DP to engineer the decision enterprise at the business layer. A DP is the gap between the expected and the actual business situation requiring a decision. Whereas, in the narrow sense, a DP bridges the gap through the decision-making activity, we propose to place a DP in its larger decision context where pre-requisite decision problems of the given narrow problem are also considered. Thus, we capture the entire business decision process behind the narrow problem. A model for decision problems is presented in which a DP can be decomposed into a Cartesian hierarchy of sub-problems. Decision problems at a Cartesian level show dependencies among each other. This allows construction of the Decision Problem Dependency Diagram, DPDD, as a graph with DPs as nodes and dependencies as edges. Decision problems at leaves of the Cartesian Hierarchy require decision making in the narrow sense. We illustrate our proposals with an example.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"278 ","pages":"Pages 671-679"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147555258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Clodagh Maclean-Milner, Madhushi Bandara’s, Daniel Catchpoole
{"title":"Investigating the effect of bias mitigation in machine learning algorithms","authors":"Clodagh Maclean-Milner, Madhushi Bandara’s, Daniel Catchpoole","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.03.030","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.03.030","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Machine learning has been proven effective when applied to healthcare applications like patient diagnosis or hospital admission prediction. However, with these models comes the risk of algorithmic bias causing possible unfairness. This is associated with data distribution or lack of data accounting for a diverse population. The biggest differentiators identified in literature for algorithmic bias are race, gender and age. If not identified and mitigated properly, algorithmic bias in machine learning systems can drastically impact patient treatment outcomes for the worse. The effect of bias based on race and gender has been explored frequently in literature. While age bias has been examined in literature to some extent, to our knowledge, there is no study that investigates the utility of a fairness-based framework to detect and mitigate age bias. Hence, our paper examines the existence and mitigation of age bias in machine learning applications, using AI Fairness 360 framework within healthcare domain.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"278 ","pages":"Pages 606-611"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147555355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investigating Meeting Organisation as a Coordinative Work Process Using Narrative Networks","authors":"Jens Alberts, Susan P. Williams","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.03.017","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.03.017","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Meetings are a fundamental part of knowledge work and employees spend significant amounts of time organising meetings. While certain types of meetings, such as standing committees, are well organised, the processes for organising regular workgroup meetings are often poorly organised. Resulting in complaints about unnecessary and inefficient meetings and a lack of effective use of collaboration software to support the meeting organisation. In this paper, we aim to gain a richer understanding of how meetings that are supported by collaboration software are prepared, conducted, and post-processed. By using the Narrative Networks approach, we describe, visualise, and analyse the sequences of actions involved in organising regular meetings within a distributed workgroup. Although the meeting organisation process is not prescribed, formalised or instantiated and the collaboration software used is process non-aware, we nevertheless identified recurring patterns for organising regular workgroup meetings. Using (digital) trace data collected from collaboration tools and enriched with participant observations, 48 meeting performances were captured and analysed. Our analysis reveals that the process, while effective and efficient, is constantly changing and each performance is unique. The study contributes to the understanding of less well-structured digitally supported processes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"278 ","pages":"Pages 496-506"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147555434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David Acev, Timon T. Aldenhoff, Sankalp Biyani, Dennis M. Riehle, Maria A. Wimmer
{"title":"Data Trusts for Smart Cities: A Business Model","authors":"David Acev, Timon T. Aldenhoff, Sankalp Biyani, Dennis M. Riehle, Maria A. Wimmer","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.458","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.02.458","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores the integration of data trusts in smart cities and provides a framework for their implementation. Data trusts offer a secure and transparent mechanism for data sharing and address critical privacy concerns. By utilizing data trusts, cities can reduce the burden of managing complex data infrastructures, especially with the proliferation of IoT as a foundational element of smart cities. This is often seen as the low-hanging fruit for urban innovation. Our analysis highlights the potential of data trusts to foster trust and transparency in smart cities, give data owners control over their data, and enable collaborative innovation. In addition, we use a business model canvas to demonstrate the practical application of business models for data trusts and show the potential for sustainable value creation. This research contributes to the growing understanding of how data trusts can support the development of smart cities to enable data-driven city governance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"278 ","pages":"Pages 227-236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147555472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Application of Big Data-Driven Dialect Speech Feature Extraction and Intelligent Recognition Classification Algorithm","authors":"Yaohui Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.04.261","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.04.261","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The limitations in dialect speech recognition include, among others, the complicated distribution of speech features, limited and diverse corpora, which influences the recognition of intelligent speech systems. The influence of nonlinear variation of dialect speech characteristics and the problem of cross-regional speech transfer is considered in this paper, by developing an algorithm of dialect speech feature extraction and smart recognition classification based on big data. The initial approach is to build a speech feature library through a large-scale speech dataset and to obtain a multi-dimensional feature representation with the help of a joint feature fusion mechanism comprising of Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) and spectrogram. Second, a dual-channel Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network are proposed to perform dual roles of extracting speech features and modeling temporal features respectively. Third, a mechanism of attention is used to improve feature weight distribution, thus making the model more sensitive to the minute differences in dialect speech. Lastly, a multi-class Support Vector Machine (SVM) is integrated to have intelligent recognition and classification. A self-constructed test set of samples of dialect speech were used in experiments. Findings indicated that the designed model had a recognition rate of 97.3% and an average feature extraction rate of 21.56%, which means that it has excellent generalization and real-time utilization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"281 ","pages":"Pages 675-682"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148140859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Fully Automated Detection System for Surface Defects of Rail Transit Wheelsets Based on Multi-Sensor Fusion","authors":"Shengming Tang , Lijun Zhang , Yifan Xu , Jicheng Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.04.269","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.procs.2026.04.269","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Surface defects on rail transit wheelsets directly affect train operation safety and maintenance costs. To address the issues of insufficient sensitivity of single-sensor detection and difficulties in identification under complex operating conditions, a fully automated wheelset surface defect detection system based on Multi-Sensor Fusion (MSF) is constructed. The system integrates data from a laser profile sensor, a phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) system, and a high-definition industrial camera. A time synchronization module aligns the multi-source heterogeneous information, and a modified Kalman filter and a convolutional neural network (CNN) are used for feature-level fusion and defect prediction. In the detection process, the laser and vision modules first rapidly identify geometric anomalies in the wheel flange and tread, then the PAUT module performs depth imaging of internal cracks, and finally, the fusion decision network outputs the defect location and type results. The experiment was conducted on a CRH380A high-speed wheelset. Compared with manual inspection and a single sensor system, the fusion system achieved a surface crack recognition rate of up to 99.1% at a detection speed of 5 m/s, with a false alarm rate reduced to 1%, and maintained a stable recognition performance of 92.8% for a minimum crack depth of 0.3 mm.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20465,"journal":{"name":"Procedia Computer Science","volume":"281 ","pages":"Pages 745-752"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148140955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}