MLKD

New dissertations (open for applications)

Accurate prediction of stroke outcome from computed tomography scansSupervised by Arlindo L. OliveiraAccurately predicting the functional outcome of stroke patients remains a problem with medical relevance that cannot yet be adequately solved by automated means. Although it is known that brain computed tomography (CT) scans contain relevant information, their practical usefulness in predicting this variable remains an open question. The objective of this thesis is to develop algorithms to determine whether brain CT scans (with and without contrast) could be automatically analysed using deep learning models, to improve the prediction of the three months post stroke functional outcome, as measured by the modified ranking score. The selected student will study the application of deep learning architectures, including convolutional neural networks and vision transformers, to the this problem. One intermediate variable that will be studied as a possible predictor for the functional outcome is occlusion, the existence of blocked arteries that lead to the death of brain regions. Requisites: The student should have significant programming experience, and practical knowledge of machine learning languages and environments, such as PyTorch or TensorFlow. The student should have an interest in becoming familiar with the biological and medical phenomena involved in stroke. Notes: This work will be developed in close cooperation with the neurology department of the Santa Maria Hospital. The selected student will have access to the facilities of INESC-ID and the MLKD group (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/), including computing facilities that include four DELL PowerEdge C41402 servers, eight NVIDIA 32GB Tesla V100S and eight NVIDIA 64GB Tesla A100, among other computing servers.
Artificial Intelligence driven Document Workflow Systems: A Framework for Automation and EfficiencySupervised by Arlindo L. Oliveira, Filipe Correia and Miguel FreireIn today's fast-paced business environment, document-based workflows play a crucial role in various organizational processes. However, the manual processing of documents can be time-consuming, error-prone, and resource-intensive. This thesis proposes a framework for intelligent processing based on document information and metadata in workflow solutions, aiming to automate document processing and enhance efficiency. The thesis will develop deep learning techniques to perform natural language processing (NLP) and automated document classification, routing, task assignment, and decision support within the workflow. The workflow should be adaptable for multiple domains without extensive training. The expected result of this thesis is a deep learning framework to automate and streamline business processes reducing manual tasks, human errors, and delays caused by paper-based and non-automated document processing. Notes: This work will be developed in cooperation with Link Consulting and NeuralShift. The selected student will have access to the facilities of INESC-ID and the MLKD group (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/), including computing facilities that include four DELL PowerEdge C41402 servers, eight NVIDIA 32GB Tesla V100S and eight NVIDIA 64GB Tesla A100, among other computing servers (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/cluster)
Using large language models to interact with personal information systemsSupervised by Arlindo L. OliveiraLarge language models, such as ChatGPT and GPT-4 have shown remarkable abilities to interact in natural language. However, they cannot be used to access and learn from personal data, stored in email records, note taking systems or photos and videos. The objective of this dissertation is to design a system that uses large language model as the interface for personal data, using APIs and enabling the user to query, relate and retrieve information stored in different sub-systems, such as mailboxes, Google records and note taking platforms such as Obsidian. The resulting system should be able to emulate the behavior of an intelligent assistant that has access to all stored personal data and, ultimately, to answer questions about that data in a way similar to the user that owns the data. Requisites: The student should have significant programming experience, and practical knowledge of machine learning languages and environments, such as PyTorch or TensorFlow. He/she should also have interest in developing the understanding of large language models and LLM APIs. Notes: The selected student will have access to the facilities of INESC-ID and the MLKD group (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/), including computing facilities that include four DELL PowerEdge C41402 servers, eight NVIDIA 32GB Tesla V100S and eight NVIDIA 64GB Tesla A100, among other computing servers (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/cluster)
Modelos de causalidade para determinação do impacto de acções comerciaisSupervised by Arlindo L. Oliveira and Filipa MarquesNesta tese, irão ser desenvolvidos modelos de causalidade para quantificar o impacto comercial das diferentes acções que resultam do processo de geração de leads pelos modelos analíticos. O objectivo é quantificar o impacto dos modelos de análise de dados no negócio, determinando quais acções específicas tiveram impacto no resultado final, usando para tal modelos de causalidade. Serão usados dados reais de cliente e de histórico de vendas da Fidelidade e analisadas as consequências da diferentes acções de geração de leads a partir da analítica. Serão também desenvolvidas métricas para avaliar o impacto dos modelos de scores no resultado final do negócio. Requisitos: o candidato deverá ter conhecimentos e interesse em análise de dados, aprendizagem automática e mecanismos de causalidade. A frequência de disciplinas destas áreas é recomendada. Notas: Esta tese será desenvolvida em parceria com a Fidelidade e co-orientada pela Dra. Filipa Marques.
Characterization of the internal representations of Large Language ModelsSupervised by Arlindo L. Oliveira and Bruno MartinsLarge language models, mainly based on the transformer architecture, trained in extensive amounts of data, have shown a surprising ability to perform many different tasks with little specific training. In particular, some of these models exhibited an ability to perform few shot learning and even zero shot learning. Reports on the emerging abilities of large language models have also presented evidence that these models are able to significantly extrapolate from the training data used and solve problems in which they were not supposed to be proficient. This dissertation will explore the internal representations or large language models, in order to characterize the nature of these representations and shed light on the mechanisms used to represent knowledge. The work to be developed will use publicly available models, such as LLaMA and signal processing techniques inspired in the ones used to process biological signals in the cortex of mammals to explore and characterize the internal representations of large language models, with the objective of shedding light on the way these models work and, possibly, on how they are able to generalize from training data to new domains. Requisites: The student should have significant programming experience, and practical knowledge of machine learning languages and environments, such as PyTorch or TensorFlow. He/she should also have interest in developing the understanding of large language models and LLM APIs. Notes: The selected student will have access to the facilities of INESC-ID and the MLKD group (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/), including computing facilities that include four DELL PowerEdge C41402 servers, eight NVIDIA 32GB Tesla V100S and eight NVIDIA 64GB Tesla A100, among other computing servers (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/cluster)
Using biological features to improve deep neural network models for visionSupervised by Arlindo L. Oliveira and Tiago MarquesConvolutional neural networks and vision transformers represent the state of the art in artificial neural network (ANN) models for vision problems, such as classification, segmentation, and object detection. However, the performance of these models still falls behind human performance in many problems and is highly susceptible to image variation, lighting conditions, and deliberate attacks. Recent results have shown that it is possible to draw inspiration from the architecture and function of the visual cortex to improve the performance of ANNs and to make these systems more robust to a wide range of image perturbations. The objective of this dissertation is to study how structural and functional characteristics of the primate visual pathways can be used to derive new layers and optimization goals in deep neural networks that contribute to improving their robustness and performance in image classification tasks. Efficient coding algorithms, used in the retina and the primary visual cortex, and different connection patterns between layers are some of the approaches that will be tested. The novel models will be assessed both in terms of their performance in existing computer vision benchmarks and on how well their internal components and behavioral output match those of real primate brains using the Brain-Score platform. The work will be co-supervised by Tiago Marques, currently at the Champalimaud Foundation. The selected student will have access to the facilities of INESC-ID and the MLKD group (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/), including computing facilities that include four DELL PowerEdge C41402 servers, eight NVIDIA 32GB Tesla V100S and eight NVIDIA 64GB Tesla A100, among other computing servers (https://mlkd.idss.inesc-id.pt/cluster)
Representation learning of animal behaviorSupervised by Arlindo L. Oliveira and Adrien JouaryOver the past decade, several methods have been developed that allow high-throughput automated quantification of animal behavior. Advances in computer vision make it possible to automatically track multiple body points. And continuous movements can be decomposed into a sequence of meaningful elementary units. In this project, we aim to build a latent variable model of a large dataset of zebrafish larva behavior. The behavior of each larva consists of a sequence of stereotypical tail movements. The model will be trained to perform prediction of future action. Once the model is trained we will explore transfer learning by using the representation from the model to detect the effect of drug treatment. For this, we will use a dataset of the larva behavior in response to 10 pharmacological compounds at different concentrations. Our goal is to learn the internal state of the animal using this approach, which could be useful for studying the brain and improving the detection of drug-induced behavioral changes. Our approach holds promise for neuroscience and preclinical research, as careful measurements of animal behavior have proven to be an important complement to modern techniques for recording and manipulating neural circuits. Marques, J.C., Lackner, S., Félix, R. and Orger, M.B., 2018. Structure of the zebrafish locomotor repertoire revealed with unsupervised behavioral clustering. Current Biology, 28(2), pp.181-195. // Wiltschko, A.B., Tsukahara, T., Zeine, A., Anyoha, R., Gillis, W.F., Markowitz, J.E., Peterson, R.E., Katon, J., Johnson, M.J. and Datta, S.R., 2020. Revealing the structure of pharmacobehavioral space through motion sequencing. Nature neuroscience, 23(11), pp.1433-1443. // Oord, A.V.D., Li, Y. and Vinyals, O., 2018. Representation learning with contrastive predictive coding. arXiv preprint arXiv:1807.03748.
Currently, there are no dissertations open for application.
Analysis of sensor data for monitoring of open spacesSupervised by Arlindo L. Oliveira and authored by André Duarte