School of Computing Science

LOCOS seminar: State of the LOCOS

Group: Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing
Speaker: Wim Vanderbauwhede and other LOCOS member, School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow
Date: 28 September, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/82338240985?pwd=NFBKblMycGpxNmt3em1YVFA2ZGhtdz09

In this  first seminar of the Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing Theme for the academic year 2023-24, I'd like to give an overview of how the LOCOS theme has grown over the past year and what the possible plans and directions are for the coming year.

Anticipating Accidents through Reasoned Simulation

Group: Understandable Autonomous Systems
Speaker: Prof. Andrew Ireland, Heriot-Watt University
Date: 29 September, 2023
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: SAWB 423, Sir Alwyn Williams Building

A key goal of the System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) hazard analysis technique is the identification of loss scenarios – causal factors that could potentially lead to an accident. We propose an approach that aims to assist engineers in identifying potential loss scenarios that are associated with flawed assumptions about a system’s intended operational environment. Our approach combines aspects of STPA with formal modelling and simulation. Currently we are at a proof-of-concept stage and illustrate the approach using a case study based upon a simple car door locking system. In terms of the formal modelling, we use Extended Logic Programming (ELP) and on the simulation side, we use the CARLA simulator for autonomous driving. We make use of the problem frames approach to requirements engineering to bridge between the informal aspects of STPA and our formal modelling.  

LOCOS seminar: State of the LOCOS

Group: Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing
Speaker: Wim Vanderbauwhede and other LOCOS member, School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow
Date: 28 September, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/82338240985?pwd=NFBKblMycGpxNmt3em1YVFA2ZGhtdz09

In this  first seminar of the Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing Theme for the academic year 2023-24, I'd like to give an overview of how the LOCOS theme has grown over the past year and what the possible plans and directions are for the coming year.

Anticipating Accidents through Reasoned Simulation

Group: Understandable Autonomous Systems
Speaker: Prof. Andrew Ireland, Heriot-Watt University
Date: 29 September, 2023
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: SAWB 423, Sir Alwyn Williams Building

A key goal of the System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) hazard analysis technique is the identification of loss scenarios – causal factors that could potentially lead to an accident. We propose an approach that aims to assist engineers in identifying potential loss scenarios that are associated with flawed assumptions about a system’s intended operational environment. Our approach combines aspects of STPA with formal modelling and simulation. Currently we are at a proof-of-concept stage and illustrate the approach using a case study based upon a simple car door locking system. In terms of the formal modelling, we use Extended Logic Programming (ELP) and on the simulation side, we use the CARLA simulator for autonomous driving. We make use of the problem frames approach to requirements engineering to bridge between the informal aspects of STPA and our formal modelling.  

Search, Recommendation, and Sea Monsters

Group: Information Retrieval (IR)
Speaker: Michael D. Ekstrand, Drexel University
Date: 02 October, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

Title: 

Search, Recommendation, and Sea Monsters

Abstract:

Ensuring that information access systems are “fair”, or that their benefits are

equitably experienced by everyone they affect, is a complex, multi-faceted

problem. Significant progress has been made in recent years on identifying and

measuring important forms of unfair recommendation and retrieval, but there are

still many ways that information systems can replicate, exacerbate, or mitigate

potentially discriminatory harms that need careful study.  These harms can

affect different stakeholders — such as the producers and consumers of

information, among others — in many different ways, including denying them

access to the system's benefits, misrepresenting them, or reinforcing unhelpful

stereotypes.

In this talk, I will provide an overview of the landscape of fairness and

anti-discrimination in information access systems and their underlying theories,

discussing both the state of the art in measuring relatively well-understood

harms and new directions and open problems in defining and measuring fairness

problems.

Bio:

Michael Ekstrand is an assistant professor of information science at Drexel

University. His research blends information retrieval, human-computer

interaction, machine learning, and algorithmic fairness to try to make

information access systems, such as recommender systems and search engines, good

for everyone they affect. In 2018, he received the NSF CAREER award to study how

recommender systems respond to biases in input data and experimental protocols

and predict their future response under various technical and sociological

conditions.

Previously he was faculty at Boise State University, where he co-led the People

and Information Research Team, and earned his Ph.D in 2014 from the University of

Minnesota. He leads the LensKit open-source software project for enabling

high-velocity reproducible research in recommender systems and co-created the

Recommender Systems specialization on Coursera with Joseph A. Konstan from the

University of Minnesota. He is currently working to develop and support

communities studying fairness and accountability, both within information access

through the FATREC and FACTS-IR workshops and the Fair Ranking track at TREC,

and more broadly through the ACM FAccT community in various roles.

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Nancy Clarke, Acadia University
Date: 03 October, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

Title and abstract TBC

The seminar will also be available to join remotely via Zoom:

https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/82566936420

What's my next investment? Automated recommendations for investors

Group: Information Retrieval (IR)
Speaker: Richard McCreadie & Javier Sanz-Cruzado Puig
Date: 05 October, 2023
Time: 09:30 - 12:30
Location: Room 237C ARC

As the amount of financial assets and information about them in the market increases, it becomes more challenging for investors and financial advisors to select relevant assets to add to financial portfolios. Financial asset recommendations alleviate this information overload by leveraging AI methods to identify a reduced set of assets of interest to the investor. In this event, researchers from the University of Glasgow will discuss how these technologies work, their current challenges and display and demonstrate recent advances in financial technologies.

This event is part of the Scottish Fintech Festival. 

An approach to computing and sustainability inspired from permaculture

Group: Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing
Speaker: Devine Lu Linvega, Hundred Rabbits
Date: 05 October, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/86739497384?pwd=SmRoVzZyYmlGZjVSdmtIUWt0cUVaQT09

This talk will explore some playful low-power, sometimes analog, computation systems and esoteric programming languages, designed to work offline, on salvaged devices, advised from spending the past 7 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean.

No seafaring experience required.

Devine Lu Linvega is a designer and musician living aboard a sailboat somewhere on the foggy shores of the Pacific ocean. Devine has been developing and teaching livecoding environments all the while fending off the rising tide of noxious modern software and operating systems.

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Radu Mardare, University of Strathclyde
Date: 10 October, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

Title and abstract TBC.

Zoom link:

https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/82566936420

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 17 October, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 24 October, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

FATA Seminar: Couples can be tractable: New algorithms and hardness results for the Hospitals / Residents problem with Couples

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: David Manlove, University of Glasgow
Date: 31 October, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

We describe a novel polynomial-time algorithm for the Hospitals / Residents problem with Couples (HRC) that can find a near-feasible stable matching (adjusting the hospitals' capacities by at most 1) when couples' preferences are responsive (i.e., if one member switches to a better hospital, than the couple also improves) and subcomplete (i.e., each pair of hospitals that are individually acceptable to both members are jointly acceptable for the couple) by reducing to an instance of the Stable Fixtures problem.  We also present a new polynomial-time algorithm for HRC in a responsive, subcomplete instance that is a Dual Market, or where all couples are one of several possible types.

We also describe several hardness results.  We show that HRC with responsive and subcomplete couples is NP-hard, even with other strong restrictions.  We also show that HRC with a Dual Market is NP-hard under several simultaneous restrictions.  Finally, we show that the problem of finding a matching with the minimum number of blocking pairs in HRC is very hard to approximate, even if each couple applies to only one pair of hospitals.

Our polynomial-time solvability results greatly expand the class of known tractable instances of HRC and provide strong evidence as to why long-standing entry-level labour markets that allow couples such as the National Resident Matching Program remain successful to this day.

This is joint work with Gergely Csáji, Iain McBride and James Trimble.

Zoom link:

https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/82566936420

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 07 November, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 14 November, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 21 November, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

SICSA Sponsored Conference: Information+ Conference 2023

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 22 November, 2023
Time: 00:00 - 00:00
Location: The University of Edinburgh, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

We are pleased to be supporting the Information+ Conference 2023 taking place in November at the University of Edinburgh Information+ is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together researchers, educators, and practitioners in information design and data visualization to discuss common questions and challenges in these rapidly changing fields. Information+ seeks to foster productive exchanges amongst the variety of people involved in the theories, practices and pedagogies of analyzing and communicating information. Information+ will be held in-person between November 22nd – 24th, 2023 at the University of Edinburgh, at minimal cost to attendees. Building on the experiences from the previous installments of Information+ 2016 at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, Information+ 2018 at University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, and a virtual Information+ 2021, we seek to significantly broaden the base of our interdisciplinary community. Again an in-person event, we want to emphasize exchange and community building. The conference invites three types of contributions: Presentations, Workshops & Activities, and Exhibition Pieces. We invite proposals from all relevant fields and areas of professional practice, research, and pedagogy. We seek submissions of critical thoughts, theories, practices, and experiences around information design and data visualization and relevant application areas from both academic and non-academic perspectives including the humanities and science, art and design, and all related (interdisciplinary) fields. For more information on this event please visit the Information+ Conference web-site

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 28 November, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 05 December, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

tbd

Group: Understandable Autonomous Systems
Speaker: Dr. Muhammad Najib, Heriot-Watt University
Date: 06 December, 2023
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

tbd

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 12 December, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 19 December, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 26 December, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB