TEWI Colloquium

Prof. Tamer Khatib

University of Klagenfurt | An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine,

Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 09:00 a.m. @ B02.2.05, Lakeside Park | University of Klagenfurt

Abstract: The Palestinian electricity grid faces significant challenges concerning ampacity limitations within its electrical network due to the current political situation. These limitations are particularly problematic during peak demand periods when the current demand exceeds the network’s capacity. Furthermore, shortages in electrical supply, exacerbated by regional and geopolitical factors, often strain the network, leading to inconsistent power availability in certain areas. In addition to ampacity limitations and supply shortages, the Palestinian electricity grid also grapples with the challenges associated with integrating new PV system installations into the grid. The current electrical infrastructure often lacks the capacity and flexibility to efficiently incorporate these new energy resources. This integration requires significant upgrades to the existing topology of the grid to be capable of handling bidirectional energy flows, especially as IEC does not accept reverse power flow at the injection points. Moreover, the intermittent nature of solar power necessitates the development of robust energy storage solutions to ensure stability and reliability. Thus, integrating renewable energy resources into electrical distribution networks necessitates using battery energy storage systems to manage intermittent energy generation, enhance grid reliability, and prevent reverse power flow.  However, the intermittent energy generation from RE sources makes it necessary to have a battery energy storage system to control the supply, prevent reverse power flow, and enhance the grid’s voltage. Moreover, in some situations, BESS can support loads in the case that the main power supply cannot fulfill these loads. This lecture shows a real case of integrating battery energy storage systems into an electrical power distribution network with a capacity of 25 MVA/33 kV capacity with 7 MWp photovoltaic plants.

Bio: Tamer is a photovoltaic power systems professional. He holds a B.Sc. degree in electrical power systems from An-Najah National University, Palestine as well as a M.Sc. degree and a Ph.D degree in photovoltaic power systems from National University of Malaysia, Malaysia. In addition he holds Habilitation (the highest academic degree in German speaking countries) in Renewable and sustainable energy from Alpen Adria Universitat, Klagenfurt, Austria. Currently he is a Full Professor of renewable energy at An-Najah National University. He is also the director of An-Najah Company for Consultancy and Technical Studies. So far, he has 2 patents, 4 books and 140 research articles, while his current h-index is 42. He has supervised 5 Ph.D researches, 19 master researches and 65 bachelor researches. He is a senior member of IEEE, IEEE Power and Energy Society, The International Solar Energy society, Jordanian Engineers Association, and International Association of Engineers. His research interests mainly fall in the scope of photovoltaic systems and solar energy fundamentals. These interests include PV systems design and optimization, modeling and control of PV systems, hybrid PV/Wind systems, hybrid PV/diesel systems, Grid connected PV systems, sun trackers, MPPT technology, inverters in PV system, solar chargers, batteries and charge controllers, solar energy fundamentals, solar energy prediction, AI applications for solar energy and PV systems, wind power systems, wind chargers, wind energy modeling and prediction.

TEWI Colloquium

 Dr. Sandi Gec | Laboratory for Data Technologies | University of Ljubljana  | Guest Researcher @ ITEC

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 09:00 a.m. @ S.2.42 | University of Klagenfurt

Abstract: Public Smart Contracts enabling ledgers such as Ethereum may be used to automate the operation of Cloud computing applications in various contexts. This may contribute to fine-grained Cloud and Fog computing operations addressing important high-level functional requirements. However, integrating blockchain and Smart Contracts with Cloud and Fog computing architectures is still manual and often challenging. Software engineers must manually map their use cases‘ requirements with or without using available Smart Contract templates. This presentation comprehensively introduces a new Blockchain recommender system that helps facilitate the integration of Ethereum Virtual Machine-based Smart Contracts in Cloud and Fog computing architectures where the data flow includes off-chain mechanisms such as Smart Oracles that can further contribute to the seamless integration of applications and their deployment in Cloud and Fog computing architectures. The presentation first focuses on the primary motivation and the selected domains. Further, the recommender system main building blocks are presented. Finally, the evaluation of the system is not limited to experimental studies but also outlines further possibilities for tailoring the recommender system to specific target groups (e.g. students, DeFi developers, Cloud and Fog system developers, and others).

Bio: Dr Sandi Gec is a teaching assistant and senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana, where his main research domains are Cloud-to-Edge computing and software engineering focused on blockchain-related technologies. Between the bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he gained experience in the industry. He was one of the developers involved in the production phase of introducing the new „paperless“ Information System in 2011 for the biggest Slovenian Pediatric Clinic. Because of the industrial aspect, his research is often tailored with novel software engineering approaches focused on smart contracts and other related technologies. During his work in academia, he had the opportunity to work on many international research projects, primarily European, such as SWITCH, ENTICE, OntoChain, TrustChain, BuildChain (ongoing) and intercontinental, such as DECENTER which included European and Asian (e.g. South Korea) project partners.

TEWI Colloquium

Ph.D. Attila Kertesz | University of Klagenfurt | University of Szeged

Monday, June 23, 2025 at 08:30 a.m. @ S.2.69, University of Klagenfurt

Abstract: The latest evolution in Information Technology has led to the appearance of the Cloud-to-Thing Continuum, which combine the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing and Fog Computing. IoT systems are composed of possibly up to billions of smart devices, sensors and actuators connected through the Internet, and these components continuously generate large amounts of data. Cloud and fog services assist the data processing and storage needs of IoT applications, while Blockchain services can support accountability and verification of certain actions. The location and behaviour of IoT devices can change dynamically, which calls for multicriteria optimization methods to be applied during the execution of these applications. The investigation and detailed analysis of such application and their underlying complex systems can be fostered by simulation solutions.
The DISSECT-CF-Fog simulator can be used to model a complex IoT-Fog-Cloud infrastructure, and a generic IoT application on top of it. It also supports the analysis of arbitrary actuator events and mobility capabilities of IoT devices in IoT-Fog-Cloud systems. The main metrics it considers for system analysis: execution time, resource/network usage, energy usage, and service pricing.
This talk presents a general overview of the simulation capabilities of the DISSECT-CF-Fog simulator, and discusses them through various application scenarios. It recent development directions will also be presented, which are triggered by the issues raised by the Swarmchestrate EU-funded research project. It aims to combine emerging technologies to create a completely decentralised autonomous and self-organised application management system suitable to manage hyperdistributed applications that span across different layers of the dynamic compute continuum.

Bio: Attila Kertesz is an associate professor leading the IoT Cloud research group at the Department of Software Engineering, University of Szeged, Hungary. He is also the Vice Dean of Public Relations of the Faculty of Science and Informatics of the University of Szeged. He graduated as a program-designer mathematician in 2005, received his Ph.D. degree at the SZTE Doctoral School of Computer Science in 2011, habilitated at the University of Szeged in 2017, and received the Doctor of the Academy (DSc) degree of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2024. His research interests include the federative management of Blockchain, IoT, Fog and Cloud systems, and interoperability issues of distributed systems in general. He is the European PI of the SO-SMART EIG-CONCERT EU-Japan project, and a group leader at the Swarmchestrate EU HORIZON project. He has coordinated the FogBlock4Trust sub-grant project of the TruBlo EU H2020 project, and participated in several successful national and European projects, including NKFIH-FK 131793, GINOP Internet of Living Things, COST Actions CA19135, CA17136 and IC1304, ENTICE EU H2020, COST IC0805, SHIWA, S-Cube EU FP7 NoE and the CoreGRID EU FP6 NoE. He has more than 150 publications with more than 2500 citations.

Thursday, June 05, 2025 at 10.00 a.m. – @ B01.0.203, Lakeside Park Klagenfurt

Mag.Dr. Stefan Pasterk | Department of Informatics Didactics | University of Klagenfurt

Abstract: Competencies and competency models are key aspects of modern education and play a decisive role in the design of lessons. They provide teachers with a framework to define the skills and knowledge that students should acquire. Competency-based education is particularly relevant in a subject like computer science, which is rapidly evolving and where practical skills are often just as important as theoretical understanding. It is therefore not surprising that in various educational systems, competency orientation plays a role in educational standards or curricula for computer science. When looking at international models, the different forms and structures used to represent them are striking. For example, a three-dimensional competency model is defined in the educational standards for computer science teaching of the German Informatics Society. Switzerland’s Curriculum 21 describes a progressive development of competencies that together lead to an overarching competency. Austria’s curricula also rely on competency orientation, whereby lists are used for enumeration. A structured and standardized form of presentation is required to be able to carry out analyses or comparisons. A graph-based approach, in which competences are represented as nodes and their interdependencies as edges, helps to avoid the differences. This allows new metrics to be measured and compared, and practical information such as learning paths with start and end points can also be read out.

In this presentation, some competency models of computer science and of digital education will be compared, advantages and disadvantages will be discussed, and the graph-based approach will be presented, with the help of which differently structured models can be compared and analyzed.

Bio: Mag.Dr. Stefan Pasterk is assistant professor at the University of Klagenfurt, where he is conducting research on informatics didactics and in particular on competency models and their quality. He is involved in various projects such as the DigiFit4All project, which he is currently managing. In addition to the project, he is involved in the conception and implementation of the ‘Informatics Lab’, a laboratory for all people to get in touch with informatics topics. For the recent years, Mr. Pasterk has been actively involved in the training of future informatics teachers. Besides competency models, his research interests focus on technology enhanced and individual learning and computational thinking.

https://www.aau.at/en/informatics-didactics/team/pasterk-stefan/

https://www.aau.at/en/informatics-didactics/