Computer Science and Systems Engineering

This course will be organized as series of reading groups or specialized seminars by members or collaborators of the research unit on System Modelling and Analisys (SysMA).

The course is organized as a set of seminars and lectures delivered by IMT Professors and by invited recognized international experts. It covers advanced topics of computational mechanics.

In order to ensure their widest possible dissemination, research results need to be presented in academic publications and in talks. The first goal of this course is to introduce students to basic principles of academic writing and on basic techniques to plan and deliver good academic talks. In addition, the course discusses the key principles of peer review, which is what makes science reliable knowledge. In particular, the course focuses on how to write a professional referee report.

Further information is available at http://www.ru.is/kennarar/luca/IMTHOWTO/

We know a lot of things ? or, at least, we think we do. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge: its main features, the dynamics of its growth, as well as its claims for truth, validity, and progress. In this course ? which is designed as a series of seminars held by the students, preceded by a few introductory lectures ? we will consider some of the key contributions to the philosophical debate about the growth of scientific knowledge in the twentieth century, from Logical Positivism to Karl Popper, from Thomas Kuhn to Paul Feyerabend.

This course will discuss the state-of-the-art of knowledge into the neural bases of human brain function. Students will learn about the brain correlates of cognition, emotion and behavior in humans, including perception, conceptual representation and decision-making processes. Among the questions what will be examined, how do we perceive the external world? How do we acquire knowledge and form a conceptual representation? Do we really need vision to see? How do we make a decision? How do genetic and environmental factors affect our choices?

The first part of the course is also designed for the curriculum AMCH as ?Basics of Management? (20 hours).

Methods and approach to problem solving. Problem analysis; analysis of complex systems (related to cultural heritage, such as a city of art organization, promotion, etc.). The course will include practical simulations. The course will be linked to a seminar on specific Case studies.

The course will provide an introduction to the mathematical basis of Complex Networks and to their use to describe, analyze and model a variety of physical and economic situations.

LIST OF LECTURES

Lecture 1 Graph Theory Introduction:
Basic Definitions, Statistical Distributions, Universality, Fractals, Self-Organised Criticality

Lecture 2 Properties of Complex Networks:
Scale-Invariance of Degree Distribution, Small-World Effect, Clustering

Lecture 3 Applications:

The long seminar aims at providing an overview on the management of intellectual property rights (copyright transfer agreements, open access, patents, etc.). Funding opportunities for PhD students, post-docs, and researchers are also presented (scholarships by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; initiatives by the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst; scholarships offered by the Royal Society in UK; bilateral Italy-France exchange programmes; Fulbright scholarships; Marie Curie actions; grants for researchers provided by the European Research Council).

Software verification is the process by which a computer program is analysed in order to prove its correctness or to discover bugs. This course will introduce students to this topic with an overview of several techniques based on both testing and static verification, such as abstract interpretation, model checking, and satisfiability modulo theories. Students will be exposed to both theory and practice of software verification by means of practical sessions with state-of-the-art software tools.