Episodes

  • EP10 - Quantum Computing and Memory. With Dr. Alessandro Berti
    May 25 2026

    Talking about Quantum Computing always makes me feel like I am wearing a pair of glasses that let me see straight into the future. Join me in this episode of targz with Alessandro Berti, Postdoc at University of Pisa, where we talk about Quantum Algorithms and specifically the importance of (quantum) memory!

    If you want to dig further in the topic, you can read more in the paper "Efficient Quantum State Preparation with Bucket Brigade QRAM".

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    24 mins
  • EP09 - The Thinking Process of LLMs. With Sara Marjanovic
    May 11 2026

    Have you ever thought about the thinking process of LLMs? Well, Sara Marjanovic, PhD student at University of Copenhagen, did it and she shares her research with us in this episode of targz!

    If you want to dig further in the topic, you can read more in the paper "DeepSeek-R1 Thoughtology: Let’s think about LLM reasoning".

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    15 mins
  • EP08 - Fairness and Relevance in Recommender Systems. With Dr. Theresia Veronika Rampisela
    Apr 27 2026

    Fairness and relevance may be diverging goals in recommender systems. Can we find a way to achieve both? We talk about it with Dr. Theresia Veronika Rampisela in this episode of targz!

    Do you want to dig more? Checkout the paper: "Joint Evaluation of Fairness and Relevance in Recommender Systems with Pareto Frontier"

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    14 mins
  • EP07 - Efficient Neural Search: Rethinking Inverted Indexes for Learned Sparse Representations. With Dr. Franco Maria Nardini
    Apr 13 2026

    In this episode of targz, Franco Maria Nardini, Research Director at ISTI-CNR, explains Seismic, a two-level inverted index for fast retrieval over learned sparse representations. It beats graph-based state-of-the-art methods by up to 3.5x in speed with comparable memory, and opens new directions in inference-free and edge retrieval.

    Want to know more? checkout the paper: Efficient Inverted Indexes for Approximate Retrieval over Learned Sparse Representations

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    28 mins
  • EP06 - Does Fair Ranking Lead to Fair Recruitment? With Dr. Carlos Castillo
    Mar 23 2026

    Everyone would like a fair recruitment process, but unfortunately the reality is way more complex than just fixing some sorting algorithm. In this episode of targz Dr. Carlos Castillo, aka ChaTo, from ICREA describes the research conducted by his group to address the issue.

    Want to know more? checkout the paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306457325004479
    Here you can also find more information about the project: http://findhr.eu/

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    19 mins
  • EP05 - Exposing Cross-Platform Coordinated Inauthentic Activity in theRun-Up to the 2024 U.S. Election. With Dr. Marco Minici
    Mar 9 2026

    In this episode of targz Marco Minici, Researcher at ICAR-CNR, describes how to identify group of users coordinating on different social platform that try to influence other people opinions.

    Link to the paper (Exposing Cross-Platform Coordinated Inauthentic Activity in the Run-Up to the 2024 U.S. Election): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2410.22716v3

    If you want to keep up with every new episode of targz, follow me on:

    • LikedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elleflorio/
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/florio.dev
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    17 mins
  • EP04 - Post-Training Denoising of User Profiles withLLMs in Collaborative Filtering Recommendation. With Ervin Dervishaj
    Feb 23 2026

    When it comes to recommendation, indirect feedback by user is a powerful tool, but it can be problematic to deal with noise. In this episode of targz Ervin Dervishaj from University of Copenhagen presents a method to leverage LLMs for post-training denoising. How does it work? What are the benefits? Let's find out together!


    Link to the paper (Post-Training Denoising of User Profiles withLLMs in Collaborative Filtering Recommendation): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.18009


    If you want to keep up with every new episode of targz, follow me on:

    - LikedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elleflorio/

    - Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/florio.dev

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    14 mins
  • EP03 - The Urban Impact of AI: Modeling Feedback Loops in Location-Based Recommender Systems
    Feb 9 2026

    With Giovanni Mauro from Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto di scienza e tecnologie dell'informazione "A. Faedo" (Cnr-Isti) we discuss how AI influences users and how users influence AI back and the urba`n impact of this feedback loop. Don't miss this third episode of targz!


    Link to the paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10994-025-06904-z


    If you want to keep up with every new episode of targz, follow me on:

    - LikedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elleflorio/

    - Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/florio.dev

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    18 mins