2020-2021 / INFO9003-1

Advanced Topics in Digital Business

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

 Master in business engineering (120 ECTS)5 crédits  
 Extra courses intended for exchange students (Erasmus, ...)5 crédits  

Lecturer

Ashwin Ittoo

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Objectives
The aim of this course is to introduce advanced, novel technologies and the state of the art in related research to masters students. These technologies and research are poised to play an increasingly important role in the digital age.
The main themes will revolve around:

  • Blockchains & Smartcontracts
  • Distributed systems & NoSQL
  • Cryptography
  • Hardware-software interface
  • Ethics, Regulations and Legal Aspects 
The course will comprise a practical component to enable the participants develop, implement and experiment with these advanced technologies and algorithms from research.
The topics to be covered are listed below. Note that they will be addressed from a mathematical (e.g. number theory, formal logic) and technical perspective, with links to management.
Necessary support and guidance (incl. consultation will be provided).
 
Topics
Blockchains & SmartContracts 
  • Revision of blockchains & smartcontracts(based INFO0934)
  • Smartcontract technologies, including Ropsten, MetaMask
  • Smartcontract programming in Solidity and Javascript
  • Developing a smartcontract application in Ethereum
  • Deploying smartcontracts on Ethereum and issuing transactions based on gas and ether
 
Distributed Systems & NoSQL
  • Overview of distributed systems (master-slave architectures)
  • Introduction to NoSQL databases (column-family, XML-based, ...-
  • MongoDB (including practical)
Cryptography 
  • Relation to blockchains
  • Foundations of cryptopgraphy (number theory)
  • RSA algorithm
  • SHA algorithm
  • Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA)
 
Cybersecurity  
  • Guest speaker
 
 Hardware-software Interface
  • Arduino programming
Regulations, Ethics and Legal Aspects 
  • Given by guest speaker (to be confirmed)
  • Regulating blockchains
  • Bias in AI (machine learning)
  • AI and anti-trust (competition law), algorithmic collusion
  • Discussion of legal, judicial cases
 
Practicals Practicals will cover with Python/MongoDB and Arduino, corresponding to two course projects on the topics of NoSQL and Hardware-Software Interface. The first project involves developing a crawler to retrieve news articles or tweets and to manage them in a NoSQL database. The recommended tools are Python and MongoDB. The second project involves building a microcontroller architecture for controlling a small piece of hardware (e.g. rain sensor) via software. The recommended too is Arduino.
Participants will also be required to read, understand and present (discuss) recent scientific research articles. 
The project and presentation will count towards the final grades.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

  • Understand the underlying principles and algebraic formulations of advanced methods, algorithms and technologies in digital business.
  • Ability to apply these models in various managerial contexts.
  • Synthesize various principles and algorithms introduced in the course and to develop a full-fledge applications/solutions (as part of the course project)
  • Implement at least one of  the technology (smart contract project)
  • Formulate a strategy based on the  skills to optimize the value of an organization
  • Ability to perform research on and understand advanced topics in the field and to be informed on recent developments to adapt easily to changing requirements 
  • Communicate appropriately about text analytics projects/applications to various stakeholders

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

  • Reasonable skills (masters level) in mathematics & programming.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course carries 5 credits and therefore requires 150 hours of work (1 credit = 30 hours).
Theory lectures = 18-22 hours 

  • Self-study for exam = approx. 70 hours
  • Practical lectures = 9-12 hours
  • Working on practical exercises and projects = approx. 80 hours
  • Total = 150 hours (5 credits)

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

  • Lectures  (face-to-face)
  • Practical  (during lectures and as homework)

Organisational adjustments related to the current health context

Orange & Yellow Code: Exam will be an oral, virtually (online platform; URL will be communicated later).

Recommended or required readings

  • Scientific articles, to be communicated during the lectures.These will be provided on Lol@, the online learning platform.

Assessment methods and criteria

Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.

Continuous Evaluation with final exam: 

  • NoSQL project (25%)
  • Hardware-Software project (25%)
  • Final exam (50%)
Note that the weights given are tentative and may change during the course of the lectures.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Materials will be made available on Lol@, the online learning platform.
 

Contacts

Ashwin Ittoo, ashwin.ittoo@uliege.be