Evaluation of Network Resilience and Survivability: Analysis, Simulation, Tools, and Experimentation by James P. G. Sterbenz, ITTC, University of Kansas

As the Internet becomes increasingly important to all aspects of society, the consequences of disruption are increasingly severe. Thus it is critical to increase the resilience and survivability of the future networks in general, and the Internet in particular. We define resilience as the ability of the network to provide desired service even when the network is challenged by attacks, large-scale disasters, and other failures. Resilience subsumes the disciplines of survivability, fault-tolerance, disruption-tolerance, traffic-tolerance, dependability, performability, and security. After an introduction to the disciplines and challenges to network resilience, this presentation will discuss analytical, simulation, and experimental emulation techniques for understanding, evaluating, and improving the resilience of the Future Internet. This includes a multilevel state-space based approach that plots network service delivery against operational state that is the basis for both mathematical- and simulation-based analysis, and graph-theoretic complex-system approaches that embed fundamental properties such as redundancy and diversity into all aspects of network structure, mechanism, and protocols. A set of tools to help in this analysis has been developed: KU-LoCGen (Location and Cost-Constrained Topology Generation), KU-TopView (Topology Viewer), and KU-CSM (Challenge Simulation Module). Plans to experimentally evaluate resilience include using the international programmable testbed GpENI: Great Plains Environment for Network Innovation. A new composable, cross-layered resilient transport protocol (ResTP) and geodiverse multipath routing protocol (GeoDivRP) are being developed.

Event details

  • When: 28th January 2014 14:00 - 15:00
  • Where: Maths Theatre B
  • Series: School Seminar Series
  • Format: Seminar

Techniques for Scalable Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage

Three-Hour Research Tutorial by Peter Christen, Australian National University

Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage (PPRL) is an increasingly important topic in data management, data engineering, and data mining, as organizations in both the private and public sectors are under pressure to share, integrate, and link their data in order to allow analysis that is not possible on individual databases. At the same time, sensitive information such as personal identifying details or confidential business data need to be protected. PPRL can for example be applied to match health databases without revealing any sensitive personal details of patients, or to detect individuals that have been involved in fraudulent activities across organizations without the need to share the full, potentially confidential, databases. Research in PPRL over the past decade has developed a variety of algorithms, however the challenge of linking very large databases in privacy-preserving, scalable, accurate, and automatic ways is still an open problem. In this half-day tutorial I will illustrate the significance of PPRL through several real-world scenarios, and introduce the concepts, techniques, algorithms, and research directions of PPRL.

This tutorial was previously held at CIKM 2013. Further details at: http://cs.anu.edu.au/people/Peter.Christen/cikm2013pprl-tutorial/.

There will be a limit on numbers due to the size of the venue. Attendance is free but prior registration is required. Please contact Graham Kirby <graham.kirby@st-andrews.ac.uk> if you wish to attend.

Event details

  • When: 11th February 2014 14:00 - 17:00
  • Where: Cole 1.33a
  • Format: Seminar

Funded PhD Research Studentships

The School of Computer Science  has funding for students to undertake PhD research in any of the general research areas in the school:

http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/research

We are looking for highly motivated research students with an interest in these exciting research areas Our only requirements are that the proposed research would be good, we have staff to supervise it, and that you would be good at doing it. 

We have up to 8 funded studentships, including industrial sponsored studentships, available for students interested in working towards a PhD. The studentships offers costs of fees and an annual tax-free maintenance stipend of about £13,726 per year for 3.5 years. Exceptionally well qualified and able students may be awarded an enhanced stipend of an additional £2,000 per year. Students should normally have or expect at least an upper-2nd class Honours degree or Masters degree in Computer Science or a related discipline.

For further information on how to apply, see our postgraduate web pages (http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/prospective-pg). The closing date for applications is March 31st 2014 and we will make decisions on studentship allocation by May 31st 2014. (Applications after March 31st may be considered, at our discretion.) Informal enquiries can be directed to pg-admin-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk or to potential supervisors.

An Experience of Peer Instruction

Talk by Quintin Cutts, University of Glasgow

Fed up with talking at students in one-hour chunks? Fed up with them not turning up, or falling asleep, or not remembering anything you said? Alternatively, are you fed up going to seminars where you get talked at for 55 minutes with only 5 minutes to ask questions?

Come along on Tuesday for a taste of something different. Peer Instruction (PI) is a pedagogy from the “flipped classroom” stable, where students do preparatory work before coming to lecture, and the lecture itself is more of a tutorial with lots of small-group and class-wide discussion. PI has been documented to give “times two” learning gains on standardised tests over traditional methods. Students work hard in these lectures, making your and their time worthwhile – one student said this term “I felt mentally tired after these lectures, which felt really good actually!”

I’ll run the first part of the session (at least) as if we were in a PI classroom. This will only really work if you have already at least skim-read the short three page article linked below which introduces some of the aspects of PI – saving me having to go over it again in the seminar, and allowing you to process it and be ready to grill me in the session itself!

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2076450.2076459

Event details

  • When: 17th December 2013 14:00 - 15:00
  • Where: Cole 1.33a
  • Format: Talk

2013 in Computer Science: A Year in Pictures

A Christmas Hog Roast in Computer Science

A Christmas Hog Roast in Computer Science



School merchandise increases in popularity

School merchandise increases in popularity



Good summer weather pays dividends in the School Garden

Good summer weather pays dividends in the School Garden



A round up of research activities, including some of the the SATCHI team testing out visibility, affordance and feedback for steering mechanisms in Dundee :)

A round up of research activities, including some of the SACHI group testing out visibility, affordance and feedback for steering mechanisms in Dundee 🙂



An opportunity to celebrate with our students at Graduation

An opportunity to celebrate with our students at Graduation



Posters, prizes and competitions through out the year

Posters, prizes and competitions throughout the year



Catching up with recent graduates, established alumni and great ambassadors for the School

Catching up with recent graduates, established alumni and great ambassadors for the School

Dr Per Ola Kristensson: A visionary that will shape the future

Congratulations to our very own Per Ola Kristensson. Earlier this year he was named as one of the people most likely to change the world by the prestigious MIT Technology Review’s list of Innovators under 35.

Described as visionary he appears, today at number 11 in IMPACT 100, he is a lecturer in Human Computer Interaction here in the School of Computer Science, where he leads the Intelligent Interactive Systems Group.

IMPACT 100 PANEL VIEW:

People like Per Ola Kristensson are the shapers of the future where social interaction and new technology are concerned. Recognition at this level from an organisation like MIT is hugely impressive.