Title: Advances in Preference Modelling with Improvement of Multicriteria Decision Support Systems Using Behavioural and Neuroscience Studies
Abstract
This talk discusses the use of partial information for preference modelling in Multi-Criteria Decision Making/Aiding (MCDM/A), based on additive model. The two basic paradigms for preference modelling are combined: holistic evaluation and decomposition elicitation. The decision process is conducted by using a DSS (Decision Support System) with the FITradeoff method. For choice problematic, seeking for the best alternative, the FITradeoff explores potential optimal alternatives. For ranking problematic, the method searches for dominance relations between all pair of alternatives in the set of alternatives. Different sets of linear programming models are applied in both problematics in order to obtain the results. The preference modelling process has been improved by using graphical visualization. It has been possible to improve the design of the DSS and to produce insights for the analyst when interacting with decision makers (DMs) by using Behavioural and Decision Neuroscience experiments. A DSS, freely available at www.fitradeoff.org, has been applied in many decision problems, so that its applicability can be shortly illustrated with some of those problems.
Biography
Adiel Teixeira de Almeida is Full Professor of management engineering at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and founding of the CDSID (Center for Decision Systems and Information Development), recognized by the Brazilian NRC (CNPq) as National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT) and coordinator of the collaborative network INCT-INSID (www.insid.org.br). He holds a PhD in management engineering from The University of Birmingham, UK. He has a research fellowship Grant for Productivity in Research from the Brazilian NRC (CNPq), since 1996. His main interests are in decision-making related to multiple objectives and group decision problems, which includes methodological issues and applications. He authored or co-author over 155 scientific papers in reviewed journals. He has received in 2017 the INFORMS GDN Section Award and in 2022 the Georg Cantor Award from the International Society on MCDM. He serves on the editorial board of scholarly journals, such as: Group Decision and Negotiation (Management Science Departmental co-editor), Information Sciences, IMA Journal of Management Mathematics. Also, he has been an active member of the main societies related to Operational Research, Group Decision, MCDM/A, Risk, Reliability and Maintenance topics. He is an Associate Research Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (FIMA). Currently, he serves the Council of the Group Decision and Negotiation Section of INFORMS (as President, 2021-2022). He serves the Council of the MCDM Section of INFORMS (as Vice-President, 2022-2023; and is elected President for 2024-2025). He has also served in the Executive Committee of the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision Making (2015-2019) and in the council of the MCDM Section of INFORMS (2017-2019). Lucia Reis Peixoto Roselli is a permanent assistant professor in the Management Engineering Department at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) since 2020, acting also in the Graduate Program in Production Engineering. She is a management engineer and received her MSc (2018) and PhD (2020) degrees in Management Engineering from UFPE, Brazil. She is affiliated to CDSID (Center for Decision Systems and Information Development) and NSID (Laboratory for Neuroscience and Behavioural and Studies in Decision). Her main interests and areas of research are related to the themes of Multicriteria Decision-making, Decision Support Systems and Decision Neuroscience. She received the 2021 award for best PhD thesis in Brazil for Engineering III area (which includes: Management Engineering, Mechanical Eng., Naval Eng., Aero and Space Eng.) from CAPES (Sponsor and accreditation provider of Postgraduate Program in Brazil) and also received the GDN Springer Young Researcher Award, by INFORMS GDN Section, 2018. She has an insertion in international scientific societies, with emphasis on the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision Making and GDN Section and MCDM Section of INFORMS.
Title: Explainability and Fairness in Machine Learning and Data Mining
Abstract
Explainability and Fairness are the two emerging areas of research in artificial intelligence. When talking of explainability, the main emphasis remains on explaining the prediction itself, for example, how each feature contributes towards the overall predicted value. Whilst explaining the prediction is important, a little has been done on explaining the robustness of these models, that is, how each feature contributes towards achieving the model’s robustness. I will discuss how we can use Shapley values to decompose Receiver-operating Characteristics (ROC) curve and the Area under the ROC curve (AUC). With the help of an illustrative example, I will demonstrate the proposed idea and visualising the uncertainties in these curves. For imbalanced datasets, the use of Precision-Recall Curve (PRC) is considered more appropriate, therefore I will also demonstrate how to explain the PRCs with the help of Shapley values. The explanation of robustness can help analysts in a number of ways, for example, it can help in feature selection by identifying the irrelevant features that can be removed to reduce the computational complexity. It can also help in identifying the features having critical contributions or negative contributions towards robustness. I will conclude the talk by discussing the issue of fairness in these algorithms, and will mention some open areas to investigate in this domain.
Biography
Dr Siraj has research interests in decision support systems, data mining, and multi-criteria decision analysis. He has practised his skills in machine learning, decision analysis, simulation, and software development in several practical applications, for example, in seismic data processing, telecommunication records profiling, call queues management, and strategic decision making. Some of his recent projects involved the use of text analytics, dominance-based rough sets analysis, imbalanced classification, and visual aids. He is also interested in the theory and applications of multi-criteria decision analysis wherein decision makers often struggle to optimize or satisfice multiple objectives where some of these objectives are often in conflict with each other. Dr Siraj is a member of The UK OR Society, IEEE, International Society on MCDM, Pakistan Engineering Council, and INFORMS.
Managerial Information Processing in the Era of Big Data and AI - An Evolutionary Review
Abstract
Information processing forms an essential part of managerial behavior in the decision-making process. With big data and intelligent technologies available, business environment becomes ever dynamic and challenging, e.g. the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of misinformation and disinformation, etc. This talk examines the emerging patterns of managerial information processing from both individual and organizational perspectives. This research identifies three driving forces based on an evolutionary review of studies and theories related to information processing behaviour, develops and tests a theoretical framework based on the key findings from two European studies with senior managers. The framework provides insightful implications for information processing related information system design and implementation. It shapes managerial information processing and organizational responses and calls for reduction of information needs on routine tasks, a shift of managers’ information attention towards uncertainties, and increased capabilities in analytics and AI, together with collective human cognition within an effective data governance framework.
Biography
Mark Xu is a professor in Information Management and Ex-Head of Operations & Systems management at University of Portsmouth Business School. His specialism is in strategic information management, sustainable capability development; Supply chain and Food traceability systems, Electronic (and Mobile) Commerce. Mark led several research and knowledge transfer projects totalling over GBP800K, which are largely funded by Innovate UK and companies in several industries – Marine, Telecom, Healthcare, Global Supply Chain, and Additive Manufacturing. Mark is an internationally recognised active researcher with impactful journal publications, serving as the associate editor of International Journal of eBusiness Research, panel member and reviewer of UK Research Council (BBSRC & ESRC), and international advisory board member in e-Business/digital marketing research.
