Εξάμηνο: 8th semester

In the 8th semester, students beyond the final year project shall choose one compulsory courses of the secondary major (CSM) of the (main) Major that they have chosen and three optional courses (Opt) through the list of the available courses of all majors.

Privacy on the Internet

Learning Outcomes

The purpose of the course is to highlight the necessity of a high-level framework, for the protection of personally identifiable information (PII) within information and communication technology (ICT) systems, general in nature, placing organizational, technical, and procedural aspects in an overall privacy framework. The privacy framework, according to ISO/IEC 29100:2011 and ISO/IEC 29101:2018, is intended to support organizations define their privacy safeguarding requirements related to PII within an ICT environment by defining the actors and their roles in processing PII, describing privacy safeguarding requirements, and referencing known privacy principles. According to ISO/IEC 2913:2017, guidelines are providing for conducting a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) as an instrument for assessing the potential impacts on privacy of a process, information system, program, software module, device, which processes PII. Privacy-by-Design critical issues are introduced. Moreover, privacy protection issues in cloud environments are described in detail, according to ISO/IEC 27018:2014.

In this context, the learning outcomes of the course, after its successful completion, are that the students will be able:

  • to understand the basic concepts of privacy framework as well as how to recognize and analyze privacy requirements
  • to realize the Privacy-By-Design principle
  • to conduct a study for Privacy Impact Assessment
  • to understand and deal with privacy protection issues in cloud environments.

Course Contents

  • Privacy protection: Technical, legal, regulation, and ethical issues
  • Privacy framework according to ISO/IEC 29100:2011 and ISO/IEC 29101:2018
  • Privacy by Design critical issues
  • Privacy Impact Assessment according to ISO/IEC 29134:2017
  • Privacy protection countermeasures according to ISO/IEC 27701:2019
  • Cloud computing and related Privacy protection issues according to ISO 27018:2014
  • GDPR and ISO 27001 synergies of activities towards organization’s compliance
  • Case study: Privacy in social media

Recommended Readings

  • Lambrinoudakis, L. Mitrou, S. Gritzalis, S. Katsikas (2010), Privacy Protection and Information and Communication Technologies (Eds.), Papasotiriou Pubs. (in Greek)
  • Acquisti, S. Gritzalis, C. Lambrinoudakis, S. De Capitani di Vimercati (Eds) (2008) Digital Privacy, Theory, Technology and Practices, Auerbach Publications.
  • Tamo-Larrieux (2018), Designing for Privacy and its Legal Framework: Data Protection by Design and Default for the Internet of Things, Springer
  • van der Sloot, A. de Groot, (2018) The Handbook of Privacy Studies, Amsterdam University Press
  • ISO/IEC 29100:2011 Information Technology – Security Techniques – Privacy Framework
  • ISO/IEC 29134:2017 Information Technology — Security Techniques — Guidelines for Privacy Impact Assessment
  • ISO/IEC 27701:2019 Information Technology – Security Techniques – Extension to ISO 27002:2013 for Privacy Information Management – Requirements and Guidelines
  • ISO/IEC 27018:2014 Information technology — Security techniques — Code of practice for protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in public clouds acting as PII processors

Telemedicine

Learning Outcomes

The course is introducing students in telemedicine systems and applications that improve the quality of life and provide remote electronic health services. The curriculum includes background knowledge in the areas of coding and processing of biomedical data, analyzes the design and implementation issues of telemedicine systems and discusses the next generation telemedicine systems, which include context awareness and computational intelligence as additional features. During the course case studies will be presented and there will be project assigned to students.

Students, upon successful completion of the course, will be able to:

A) Understand basic methodologies of design and development of telemedicine systems

B) Be familiar with the main techniques for the coding and processing of biomedical signals and data

C) Know the coding standards for medical information

D) Design telemedicine systems according to special requirements and the type of medical information exchanged

E) Evaluate telemedicine systems

Course Contents

  • Introduction to Telemedicine
  • Biomedical Data Coding and Compression
  • Biomedical Data Processing for Telemedicine Applications
  • Video Communication for Telemedicine Applications
  • Telemedicine Networks
  • Home Care Systems
  • Context Aware Telemedicine Systems
  • Wireless Telemedicine and Ambient Assisted Living
  • Wearable Systems
  • Clinical Applications of Telemedicine
  • Security in Telemedicine systems
  • Case Studies – Project Assignments

Recommended Readings

  • Medical Informatics, e-Health: Fundamentals and Applications (Health Informatics) Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2014 Edition by Alain Venot (Editor), Anita Burgun (Editor), Catherine Quantin (Editor)
  • Telemedicine Handbook, Pompidou Alain, Apostolakis I, Α., Ferrer – Roca Olga, Sosa – Iudicissa Marcelo, Allaert Francois, Della Mea Vincenzo, Kastania Anastasia N.

Mobile Communication Systems

Learning Outcomes

The course provides the basic principles of cellular mobile communication systems. It also provides the methodologies of analysis and design of these systems. By concluding the course, students are able to

  • analyze and design basic mobile communication systems by emphasizing in physical layer techniques
  • recognize, describe and distinguish the characteristics of several type of cells, communication channels and multiple access techniques
  • analyze and design systems with different requirements of telecommunication traffic and quality links
  • compute the thresholds of link performance,
  • compare alternative implementation plans and evaluate the total performance of digital systems

The lab sessions aim to provide a deeper understanding of physical phenomena of propagation in the wireless channel and the simulation of cellular systems.

Course Contents

Initially, basic concepts of Mobile Communications Radiosystems are provided (cell types, communication channel types, basic cellular system operations). Basic Network Access Techniques (Multiple Access Techniques, Random Access Techniques) are discussed. Also, reference is made to the evolution of Wireless Communication Systems (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation cellular systems, Wireless Telephony Systems, Paging Systems, WLANs, WPANs, PMRs). Students are introduced to the concept of cells  and frequency reuse (elements from regular hexagon geometry, cellular systems design). Then the basic concepts of telecommunication traffic analysis and systems performance is provided (elements of Queuing Theory, Erlang B model, Erlang C model, spectral performance of cellular systems). In the following the main wireless propagation mechanisms are presented (multipath propagation, Doppler fading and shift, propagation loss, shadowing, coverage area definition, radio channel capacity limits). Interference types (co-channel interference and noise, neighboring channel interference) as well as handover and performance techniques (categorization of handover techniques, advantages and disadvantages of techniques, stable performance, dynamic performance, elastic performance) are discussed and compared. Techniques for improving spectral efficiency (sectoring, cell splitting) are then analyzed. Finally, elements and techniques of physical layer design (modulation and coding techniques, co-channel interference mitigation techniques) are presented and a presentation of standardized Mobile Communications Systems (GSM, GPRS, 3G and 4G) is presented.

In addition, extra content (in evdoxos.ds.unipi.gr) like articles, audiovisual lectures and Internet addresses, as well as exercises for student’s practice are posted electronically. Case studies, exemplary problems and methods for solving them are presented.

Recommended Readings

  • “Mobile Communications Systems”, Book code in www.eudoxus.gr: 33154041, Edition: 2nd edition/2013, Authors: Kanatas Athanasios, Pantos Georgios, Costantinou Filippos, ISBN: 978-960-491-086-1, Publisher: A.Papasotiriou & Sia (1st Book)
  • “Antennas and propagation for wireless communication systems”, Book code in www.eudoxus.gr: 59386401, Edition: 1st edition/2016, Authors: S. R. Saunders, A. Aragon-Zavala, Scient. Edit.: Dimosthenis Vougioukas, ISBN: 978-960-546-737-1, Publisher: Pedio S.A. (2nd Book)

Associated scientific Journals

  • ΙΕΕΕ Transactions on Vehicular Technology
  • ΙΕΕΕ Transactions on Wireless Communications
  • ΙΕΕΕ Transactions on Antennas & Propagation
  • ΙΕΕΕ Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
  • IEEE Communications Magazine

IT-Centric Professional Development

Learning Outcomes

This course introduces students in consulting procedures for the personal and professional development in an IT context. It addresses the needs of students as future workers on ‘how to be involved in a IT workforce community’ by enhancing them to provide emerging professional development opportunities and practices.

On completion of the course, the students will be able to:

    • understand the theoretical background of the consulting (in physical and IT context).
    • select and design the appropriate components for their academic and career path (KPIs).
    • critically evaluate a set of skills for professional development.
    • design and build products/services via appropriate components to an institutional IT context and demands (needs, motivations, attitudes, ethics).
    • compose a personal/professional career plan for further development in the society (KPIs).

Course Contents

  • Basic consulting theories and practices necessary for the development of effective performance on an academic and professional environment in IT business community (Kirkpatrick model, SRL, SDL).
  • Continuing Professional Development programs (CPD).
  • Skills and Competencies.
  • Communication and Collaboration (active listening, verbal, non-verbal, communication).
  • Μentoring and coaching.
  • Personal and affective factors in performing (needs, attitudes, motivation, self-esteem etc.
  • Organizational factors (ethics, leadership).
  • Problem solving, innovation, creativity.
  • Evaluation (KPIs).

Recommended Readings

  • Robinson D. & Robinson J. (2008): Performance Consulting: A practical Guide for HR and Learning Professionals, Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
  • Rosenberg M. (2001): E-Learning Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age, McGraw-Hill.

Final Year Project

The final year project is carried out under the supervision of one of the faculty members and involves – at a first stage – the identification of the subject/ technological problem to be addressed and  the associated data collection. The output of the project, namely the description of the problem formulation, the solution definition and implementation and the illustration of results and final conclusions, is presented in the final year project thesis.

The final year project aims to

  • Exercise and extend the student’s academic skills, by enabling in depth understanding of the context of (a part of) a discipline. This may be achieved by exploiting particular skills or knowledge acquired from taught courses.
  • Exercise and extend professional skills by testing the student’s ability to research, organise, report and present the results if his/her work and develop initiative and independent thinking.

Advanced Topics in Wireless Communications

Learning Outcomes

This course focuses on wide area wireless networks and addresses advanced topics in physical layer design, multi-carrier systems and wireless standards evolution.

At the end of this course, students will have acquired advanced/in depth knowledge in the field of Wireless Communications, with particular emphasis on wireless channel modelling, Multiple Input Multiple Output systems design, and performance evaluation in terms of capacity.

The students will be capable of performing numerical calculations of various wireless parameters, stochastic modelling of wireless transceivers and performance assessment by means of analytical evaluations and simulations, with main focus on baseband processing and radio resources management.

Course Contents

  • Advanced physical layer design topics: modulation and coding
  • Multiplexing in time, space, frequency, code
  • Multiple Input Multiple Output Systems
  • Multi-carrier systems: OFDM/OFDMA.
  • Radio resource allocation: multi-user communications and scheduling, cross-layer optimization.
  • Wireless standards: 3G evolution, IEEE 802.x, 4G and 5G

Recommended Readings

  • Behrouz A. Forouzan, “Data Communications and Networking”, Fourth edition, McGraw-Hill, 2007
  • W Stallings, Wireless Communciations and Networks, Pearson, 2004.
  • D. Tse, P. Viswanath, Fundamentals of Wireless Communciations, 2005.
  • T. S. Rappaport, Wireless communications – Principles and practices, Pearson, 2002.
  • Harri Holma, Antti Toskala, WCDMA for UMTS: HSPA Evolution and LTE, Wiley, 2010.
  • Andrea Goldsmith, Wireless Communications, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Student Placement

Students can choose it only once during undergraduate studies (either the 7th or the 8th semester).

Healthcare Information Systems

Learning Outcomes

The objective of this course is to present fundamentals concepts regarding Healthcare Information Systems (HIS). HIS are described at both conceptual and technical level and types of HIS are studied thoroughly. In addition, best practices regarding HIS architectural design, development methodologies and interoperability are analysed. Challenges and perspectives of HIS are presented with reference to modern digital technologies of data analytics and artificial intelligence. The course will incorporate a significant laboratory component with various digital tools (mainly open source) that allow student to implement HIS.

Upon successful completion of the course the students will be able to:

  • Understand the connection between healthcare systems and healthcare information systems
  • Define the users of information and decision support based on existing data
  • Describe the general functions, objectives and advantages of HIS
  • Describe contemporary architectural trends and HIS, in the form of services provided, for supporting important healthcare processes
  • Compare various HIS characteristics and choose the most appropriate systems for specific needs and operational frameworks
  • Develop HIS, by using open source tools, inventing innovative practices in the fields of medical data architecture and management for their multiple exploitation.

Course Content

  1. Healthcare Information Systems: General characteristics. HIS evolution.
  2. HIS analysis, design and implementation.
  3. Patient-oriented HIS development.
  4. Process-oriented healthcare organizations. Healthcare process and data management.
  5. Specialized HIS. Contribution to provided healthcare services.
  6. HIS architectures, integration and interoperability.
  7. HIS security. Standards and security policies.
  8. Presentation of well-known commercial HIS of the global market regarding electronic health records.
  9. HIS challenges and perspectives. HIS in Greece.
  10. HIS development (analysis, design, implementation, testing, operation, maintenance).

Suggested Bibliography

  • Karen A. Wager, Frances W. Lee and John P. Glaser (2009): Health Care Information Systems: A Practical Approach for Health Care Management, Jossey-Bass.
  • Joseph Tan (2010): Developments in Healthcare Information Systems and Healthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency and Productivity, IGI Global.
  • Charlotte A. Weaver, Marion J. Ball, George R. Kim, Joan M. Kiel, (2015): Healthcare Information Management Systems: Cases, Strategies, and Solutions, Springer.
  • Sean P. Murphy, (2015), Healthcare Information Security and Privacy, McGraw-Hill Education.
  • Pamela K Oachs, Amy Watters, (2016), Health Information Management: Concepts, Principles, and Practice, American Health Information Management Association.
  • International Journal of Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics (IJHISI), IGI Global
  • International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, Inderscience
  • International Journal of Medical Informatics, Elsevier.