[SEMINAR] Classic security notions in modern public-key settings

Speaker: Roberto Civino, PhD (DISIM Dept. UnivAQ)
Location: Seminar Room of Alan Turing building (Coppito 0)
Date: Wednesday, November 22, 11:30-12:30 AM

Abstract: This introductory talk marks the beginning of the seminar series on cybersecurity organized by ExEmerge, focusing on cybersecurity and more specifically on cryptography and post-quantum cryptographic systems in its initial part.
The first session delves into classical security notions that form the foundation of contemporary public-key cryptosystems. Various paradigms, attacker capabilities, and the relationships between them will be explored. The discussion will center around two key attack scenarios: CPA (Chosen-Plaintext Attack) and CCA (Chosen-Ciphertext Attack). An exploration of these scenarios will provide insights into the vulnerabilities that cryptosystems aim to mitigate. Additionally, the presentation will draw a comparison between the traditional public-key hybrid construction and the more contemporary Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) paradigm. Furthermore, the talk will show how to achieve CCA security in a KEM by initially establishing CPA security.

[SEMINAR] Requirements Engineering for ML-based Systems: What differencedoes it make?

Abstract: ML-based systems are different to traditional software systems in many respects. These differences have triggered the need for customized solutions in various disciplines, such as software architecture and testing. This keynote explores to what extent requirements engineering is also affected when the system under specification is an ML-based system. Special attention will be given to the scope of requirements, the types of non-functional requirements that emerge, and the roles involved in this context. The keynote will revise the current state of the art and provide future directions for the discipline. 


Speaker: Xavier Franch
Xavier Franch is full professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain, where he leads the GESSI research group. He works on different topics related to software engineering, mainly in the requirements engineering area. He is member of the Academia Europaea, Steering Committee chair of the CAiSE conference, vice-chair of the IREB Council, and member of the ISERN network. He is editorial board member of IST, JSS, REJ, and Computing.

When: Wednesday, November 29th, 3:00 pm
Where: room A1.6, Edificio Alan Turing

 

[SEMINAR] Integrating environmental impact of AI in a data center

Abstract: This seminar will describe the Coca4ai project which plans to build multi-scale models to measure the environmental impact of different scales of a data center: algorithm iteration, user, node, and entire infrastructure. Energy consumption measurements will come from precise external energy meters, integrated computer sensors as well as data from installations such as the cooling system. The application context will be centered on the LabIA cluster which contains 12 stations dedicated to AI and is used by 5 other laboratories. The data collected will help identify new opportunities applicable to other large data centers. Finally, an important objective will be to impact the behavior of data scientists through awareness of the energy they use and the impact they have on the environment.

Speaker: Paul Gay.
Currently a researcher at the LISN on AI carbon footprint, Paul Gay obtained his PhD from “Université du Maine” and worked on various topics around Multimedia Indexing such as audio-visual person identification, visual scene graph construction, and social network analysis on environmental topics

When: Monday, November 27th, 3:00 pm
Where: room C1.16, Coppito 2

LOOKING FOR A PHD POSITION ? — Ph.D. student in Computer Engineering, Deterministic Wireless Networks

Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering

At the department, education is conducted in the subjects of computer engineering, electronics, electrical engineering and sound production. The research at the department takes place at the research center Sensible Things that Communicate (www.miun.se/stc) and deals with sensor-based systems and services for use within the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.

 

We are pleased to offer an international PhD position at the Research Center STC (Sensible Things that Communicate, www.miun.se/stc), Mid Sweden University, in collaboration with the University of ’’Aquila, Italy (http://phdict.disim.univaq.it/) and industry partner LumenRadio, Sweden (https://lumenradio.com/). This position focuses on developing innovative design and analysis of medium access and scheduling schemes to make the performance of wireless networks reliable and predictable. In the end, the candidate is expected to apply theoretical knowledge of statistical learning, machine learning, and reliability theory for capturing radio network dynamics. This research is part of ongoing research and development projects to ensure deterministic performance of wireless IoT standards, it can either be low-power IoT, wireless mesh networks, or cellular IoT, for vertical industries. 

This program offers the opportunity to receive a double degree from both Mid Sweden University and the University of L’Aquila, thus broadening your international research network and future career prospects. Further, you will collaborate with leading experts in the field, and engage in impactful industry projects with LumenRadio, Sweden. This unique combination of academic and industrial exposure will equip you with the skills and expertise sought by academia and industry.

The successful candidate will spend the first year of studies at the University of L’Aquila followed by three years at Mid Sweden University while taking research visits to Univaq. The partners feature a dynamic and international atmosphere, and the candidate will actively collaborate with other researchers within the respective research groups as well as other external partners in academia and industry.

 

Job description

As a Ph.D. candidate, your main task is to pursue research and graduate studies. You will collaborate closely with researchers at Mid Sweden University, University of L’Aquila, and LumenRadio. The position includes 100% research. The candidate is expected to pursue theoretical and experimental research.


Requirements and assessment

To be considered for a PhD position, the applicant must meet the entry requirements for admission to Mid Sweden University´s third-cycle programme. To meet the entry requirements, the applicant must have a second-cycle degree or have completed at least 240 ETCS credits of which at least 60 credits should be second-cycle courses. An additional requirement is that 90 credits of the 240 total must consist of courses in Computer Engineering or Computer and Information Engineering. The applicant is also eligible for consideration if s/he has acquired the corresponding knowledge in some other way. A Master of Science degree in wireless communication, electrical engineering, signal processing, computer engineering, or engineering physics is an appropriate background for employment.

In addition to the formal qualifications, selection is also based on other works (e.g., thesis), advanced-level courses, and interviews of applicants. A strong background in wireless communication, mathematics, optimization, signal processing, and programming is preferable. Previous experience in communication systems, machine learning (ML), real-time embedded systems and programming in C/C++, or Python is meritorious. Fluent written and oral communication in English is mandatory. Personal qualities such as the ability to collaborate, take initiatives, and suitability for doctoral studies will be weighed together with the formal subject knowledge. A brief description of the applicant’s visions and goals must be included in the application.

 

Personal characteristics

Personal qualities such as cooperativeness, initiative and suitability for postgraduate training will be considered together with the formal knowledge of the subject.

Employment process

Processing of the appointment will comply with the provisions in Chapter 5 of the Higher Education Ordinance, and will be carried out in accordance with Mid Sweden University’s Employment Procedures.

 

Terms of employment

The PhD position refers to employment corresponding to four years of full-time studies, which are estimated to lead up to a doctoral degree.

A new position as a doctoral student is initially valid for a maximum of one year, and the position may then be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time. Provisions concerning employment as a doctoral student are contained in the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100), Chapter 5, Sections 1-7.

Place of employment: First year in L’Aquila, Italy and years 2-4 in Sundsvall with research visits to L’Aquila. During your initial year in Italy, you will work under conditions given at the University of L’Aquila and thus be on leave from Mid-Sweden University.

Entry: According to agreement.

For further information, please contact Prof. Mikael Gidlund (Head of Research, Mid Sweden University, mikael.gidlund@miun.se), Prof. Fortunato Santucci (Head of Research, University of L’Aquila, fortunato.santucci@univaq.it), Prof. Guido Proietti (Head of Department, University of L’Aquila, guido.proietti@univaq.it), or Dr. Patrik Österberg (Head of Department, Mid Sweden University, patrik.osterberg@miun.se, phone +46 60 148614.)

Salary: According to the Mid Sweden University salary scale for PhD students.

 

Application

Application documents must be submitted in Swedish or English.

The application should include a verified CV, copies of official transcripts and degree certificates, description of objectives according to the above as well as other documents the applicant would like to refer to. Please welcome to apply through our recruitment tool no later than November 7st, 2023.

Mid Sweden University works actively for equal opportunities and strives to embrace the qualities that diversity and equality bring to the organization.

 

Mid Sweden University has two campuses; in Sundsvall and in Östersund, both located close to students, colleagues and the surrounding society. At the same time, it is located conveniently close to the sea, forests and mountains, which provides a great quality of life. Here, new knowledge is created by means of internationally successful research and education that contribute to the development of our society. This way, we actively contribute to a sustainable future and a better world. Welcome to a university where people meet, get inspired and think in new ways.  Mid Sweden University works actively for equal opportunities and strives to embrace the qualities that diversity and equality bring to the organization. Prior to any recruitment work, Mid Sweden University has taken a position on consulting support, recruitment channels and marketing. We therefore kindly ask media vendors, recruitment sites and the like not to contact us.

  • Contract type

    Full time

  • First day of employment

    According to agreement

  • Salary

    According to Mid Sweden University’s salary scale for doctoral students

  • Number of positions

    1

  • Working hours

    100%

  • City

    Sundsvall

  • County

    Västernorrlands län

  • Country

    Sweden

  • Reference number

    MIUN 2023/2397

  • Union representative
    1. Ummis Jonsson, SACO, 010-1428809
    2. Per Bergman, Fackförbundet ST, 010-1428371
  • Published

    2023-10-17

  • Last application date

    2023-11-07

[SEMINAR] Increasing Development Velocity by Fixing Design Debt

When: 18 Oct 2023 at 15:00

Where: Blocco 0, Aula A1.6

Abstract: In this talk I will discuss a common and pernicious form of technical debt–called design debt, or architecture debt. I will briefly present the theoretical foundation behind this form of debt and present a broad set of evidence demonstrating its dramatic effects on project outcomes. That is the bad news. The good news is that we can automatically pinpoint the causes and scope of such debt. I will describe how we can automatically locate it, measure it, and create the business case for removing it. Finally, I will explain how we can remove–pay down–this debt via refactoring. I will also sketch some of my experiences doing all of this in real-world projects, along with the outcomes.
 
Bio: Rick Kazman is the Danny and Elsa Lui Distinguished Professor of Information Technology Management at the University of Hawaii and a Visiting Researcher at the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University.  His primary research interests are software architecture, design and analysis tools, software visualization, and technical debt. Kazman has been involved in the creation of several highly influential methods and tools for architecture analysis, including the ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) and the Titan and DV8 tools.  He is the author of over 250 publications, co-author of three patents and eight books, including Software Architecture in Practice, Technical Debt: How to Find It and Fix It, Designing Software Architectures: A Practical Approach, Evaluating Software Architectures: Methods and Case Studies, and Ultra-Large-Scale Systems: The Software Challenge of the Future.  His research methods and tools have been adopted by many Fortune 1000 companies and has been cited over 28,000 times, according to Google Scholar. He is currently a member of the IEEE Computer Society’s Board of Governors, an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, and a member of the ICSE Steering Committee.

 

[SEMINAR] Holistic Technical Debt Management: In Search of Best Practices

WHEN: 18 Oct 2023 at 15:00 

WHERE:  Blocco 0, Aula A1.6

Abstract: Technical debt, the metaphor likening the creation and evolution of software to a process of going into debt, was coined in 1992 by Ward Cunningham in his attempt to communicate to his boss the consequences of software development decisions or inaction (intentional or inadvertent).  Researchers have asserted that technical debt occurs in every software development project and should be managed.   Over the past 30 years, research in this area has progressed in terms of tooling and expanded understanding of various types of debt, including recently, social debt.    However, the extent literature offers little help in terms of empirical case studies to help companies who are searching for ways to manage technical debt holistically.  By “holistically,” we mean the aspects of technical debt are intimately interconnected and must be managed as a whole.  The recent melt-down of Southwest Airlines in December 2022 is an example of a “heart-attack” caused by technical debt that cost them billions of dollars.  This is what “holistic” health management of technical debt would hopefully prevent.    

In this talk, the analysis of eight case studies of technical debt management in industry will be presented.   Note that both existing technology adoption theories and discoveries using grounded theory research methods were combined to interpret the data collected.  Critical success factors will be detailed, and the talk will conclude with a holistic technical debt management (HoTDM) model synthesized from the best practices found.

Bio: Hong-Mei Chen is a Professor of Information Technology Management at the Shidler College of Business of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  She formerly served as Associate Dean for the College and was the Founder and Director of the Advanced Information Management Solutions (AIMS) Lab.  She has won prestigious teaching excellence awards at the college, community, and university levels.  She conducts cross-disciplinary empirical research on information systems design and development including technology adoption, frequently working with many executives of Fortune 100 companies.  She has obtained multi-million-dollar grants and directed several large-scale, multi-institution research projects.  She directed and implemented the image database system for the DARPA MISSION project utilizing NASA experimental satellites. She was the director for the National Data Center for the $34 million Electrical Vehicle development program. She serves on US NSF (National Science Foundation) review panels and a NSF large grant (>$25 million) management team.  She has widely published in prestigious MIS and Software Engineering journals in areas such as social debt, big data engineering and management, software architecture, innovation-driven system design methods, green information systems, cybersecurity, crowd-sourced systems, social CRM (customer relationship management), business-IT alignment, service engineering, distributed database, and AI.

[SEMINAR] Advanced Data-Driven Modeling Techniques for Complex Electrical Systems

On 9 October 2023, Prof. Francesco Ferranti of the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels will offer a seminar entitled “Advanced Data-Driven Modeling Techniques for Complex Electrical Systems”. The seminar will be held in room B0.2 in Roio, from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm

Abstract: Physical phenomena all around us can be described by models, clearly with a different level of complexity depending on the specific application and objectives. The behavior of real-life systems is influenced by several parameters: e.g., layout, environmental, material, mechanical parameters, etc. The underlying dynamical nature of a real-life system
can be linear time-invariant, non-linear, time-varying, etc. and this nature is influenced by these parameters. Think about electronic circuits, body area networks, wireless communication networks, smart grids, patient-specific medicine, and robotics (just to give a few examples). Multiple engineering tasks such as design, control, and characterization need to have modeling techniques able to construct models that can provide an accurate and
efficient representation of such parameter-varying dynamical behaviors. In addition, the preservation of physical properties, such as causality, stability, and passivity, is of paramount importance. It must be highlighted that the nature of the parameters can be deterministic and/or stochastic, which leads to different modeling challenges. Keep in mind: modeling is the key enabler for researchers, engineers, and practitioners over all applications you can think of.

This lecture will provide a global view of advanced data-driven modeling techniques that can efficiently and accurately represent the behavior of electrical systems as a function of multiple system parameters. Different examples based on simulated and measured data will be shown to illustrate real-life applications of these modeling techniques, for example in optimization and variability analysis design tasks. The importance of data collection will be highlighted since it is a very important aspect related to the model accuracy and computational cost of the model training and validation.

Short bio: Francesco Ferranti received a B.S. degree in electronic engineering from the Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy, in 2005, the M.S. degree in electronic engineering from the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy, in 2007, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, in 2011. He is currently a Professor at the Dept. of Applied Physics and Photonics of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. Francesco is also an Adjunct Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India, and an Adjunct Professor at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

The seminar can also be followed on the Microsoft Teams platform at the link:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MjIyMzhlN2YtOGQ0NS00Y2FhLWI5ZWMtZTIwMzFjZTQ2ZTE3%
40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229df08a7c-31d7-4024-9ba6-
5ed5efac1a01%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2285c0ae81-b7e0-45b3-a738-
51186c9a409e%22%7d

[SEMINAR] Wireless Communications for Computations

Abstract: As data generation increasingly takes place on devices without a wired connection, the data traffic generated by intelligent services (IS), such as Machine Learning ML or Artificial Intelligence, will be ubiquitous in wireless networks. Many studies have shown that traditional wireless protocols are highly inefficient or unsustainable to support IS in terms of reliability, energy, bandwidth, delay, privacy and security. These challenges create the need for fundamentally new wireless communication methods specifically intended for IS. In this talk, first we review the state-of-the-art, namely analog over-the-air wireless protocols. Then we show that retransmission protocols for analog over-the-air may have an essential role to increase reliability. However, the widespread use of digital modulations may hinder such computation protocols. Thus, we will introduce the fundamentally new method of digital over-the-air computation, which uses any digital modulations as opposed to amplitude analog modulations of the traditional over-the-air computation protocols. This talk gives an introduction to these methods, reviews the most important works, highlights open problems, and discusses application scenarios.

Bio: Dr. Carlo Fischione is full Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Division of Network and Systems Engineering, Stockholm, Sweden. He is Director of the KTH-Ericsson Data Science Micro Degree Program directed to Ericsson globally, and Chair of the IEEE Machine Learning for Communications Emerging Technologies Initiative. He is distinguished lecturer of the IEEE Communication Society, and the funding Chair of the first IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning for Communication and Networking (IEEE ICMLCN 2024).  He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Information Engineering (3/3 years) in May 2005 and the Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering (Laurea, Summa cum Laude, 5/5 years) in April 2001, both from University of L’Aquila, Italy, He has held research positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (2015, Visiting Professor); Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2015, Associate); and University of California at Berkeley, CA (2004-2005, Visiting Scholar, and 2007-2008, Research Associate). He is Honorary Professor at University of L’Aquila, Italy, Department of Mathematics, Information Engineering, and Computer Science. 
His research interests include applied optimization, wireless, sensor networks, Internet of things, and machine learning. He has co-authored over 200 publications, including a book, book chapters, international journals and conferences, and international patents. He received a number of awards, such as the “IEEE Communication Society S. O. Rice” award for the best IEEE Transactions on Communications paper of 2018, the best paper award of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (2007). He is Editor of IEEE Transactions on Communications (Machine Learning for Communications area) and IEEE Journal on Selected Areas on Communications (Series on Machine Learning for Communication and Networking), and has been serving as Associated Editor of IFAC Automatica (2014-2019). He is co-founder and scientific advisor of ELK.Audio. He is Member of IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), and Ordinary Member of DASP (the Italian academy of history Deputazione Abruzzese di Storia Patria).

When: Thurdsay, July 13, at 10:30 – 11:15 AM

Where: Seminar room of Alan Turing building (Coppito 0)

[SEMINAR] From Theory toward Practice: Research Portfolio and Selected Results on Enhancing Wireless Networks at Mid Sweden University

Abstract: Dr. Aamir Mahmood will present the research and project activities aimed at enhancing the performance of low-power as well as 5G-and-beyond wireless networks. The presentation will cover diverse topics, such as interference management, medium access in LoRa networks, RAN slicing, 5G for teleportation, and a study into whether NOMA or puncturing is a more suitable access choice for coexisting eMBB and URLLC traffic from an age-of-information perspective. He will also discuss future directions along the way for possible research topics for collaboration.

Bio: Dr. Aamir Mahmood is an assistant professor of wireless communication for industrial application at the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering at Mid Sweden University, Sweden. He received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan, in 2002, and the M.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees in communications engineering from the School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland, in 2008 and 2014, respectively. He is also an Adjunct Professor at NUST, Pakistan, since 2022. His research interests include RF interference/coexistence, LPWANs, time synchronization, wireless positioning, and intelligent radio resource and network management for dependable IoT networks.

When: Thurdsay, July 13, 9:30 – 10:15 AM

Where:  Seminar room of Alan Turing building (Coppito 0).

PhD Summer School of Information Engineering – SSIE 2023

PhD Summer School of Information Engineering – SSIE 2023<https://ssie.dei.unipd.it/>, co-organized by the Department of Information Engineering (DEI) at the University of Padova (Italy), and the IEEE Italy section. SSIE will take place exclusively in presence in Brixen, Italy, on July 10th-14th, continuing on a decades-long tradition.

As always, the school program has been carefully shaped, securing talks from leading experts in the ICT field. This year, the school theme will be on upcoming 6G systems and networks, with talks on:

1. Machine learning and mathematical optimization: Latest developments on the following topics: i) neural network architecture search, ii) adversarial machine learning, iii) designing efficient and modular neural networks, iv) meta-heuristic optimisation techniques.
2. Programmable networks / SDN: i) Programmable networks for distributed deep learning, ii) FPGA-based software-defined  programming for 6G wireless network systems.
3. Key technologies for 6G mobile networks: i) Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) for 6G mobile networks, ii) intelligent and reconfigurable surfaces (IRS) for next generation mobile networks, iii) advances on multimedia signal processing: heading towards the metaverse.
4. Cybersecurity: New threats and solutions for the digital era.

PROGRAM & REGISTRATION
The school program is available at: https://ssie.dei.unipd.it/technical-program-ssie-2023/

Registration is now open, with June 30th, 2023 as a deadline for enrolling. Registration link:
https://italy.ieeer8.org/ssie-2023-ieee-italy-section-summer-school-on-information-engineering-registration/

For logistics, see here<https://ssie.dei.unipd.it/logistics-registration/>.

STUDENT WORKSHOP
SSIE will feature a half-day student workshop, where students will present their research activity. The best presentation will receive an award, jointly presented by the IEEE Italy Section and theDepartment of Information Engineering (DEI) at the University of Padova.

5 CREDITS
Moreover, PhD Students participating in the School will be awarded 5 credits from their doctoral school (further instructions will be given during the School).