The final assignment should cover the assigned topic and present methods that are relevant for its study. Specifically, the final paper should contain:

a short introduction to the topical area;
a detailed introduction to the topic;
an overview of the problems and the related challenges;
different methods that have been used in the literature to characterize the topic;
a brief comparison between the chosen methods, highlighting their pros and cons with specific reference to the assigned topic;
concluding remarks including your own discussion related to open issues and possible solutions.

The final assignment is not just meant to be a composition of the individual diaries, even though it is based on them. Specifically, not all the methodologies presented in the course need to be considered in the final assignment. Nevertheless, the final assignment should address at least two methods, with three methods being recommended. The level of detail should be set accordingly in order to satisfy the requirement about the length discussed below.

Deadline and requirements

Final assignments should be uploaded to the Final Assignments folder in Optima no later than Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 23:59 EET. The PDF version of the final assignment is mandatory; it is recommended to submit also the LaTeX source as a zipped archive. The filename should be lastname_firstname.pdf (lastname_firstname.zip for the archive).

The papers should use the IEEE double column format (i.e., the same used for the diaries), should contain an abstract not exceeding 200 words, and should be of at least 6 pages excluding references. Figures and tables are allowed but should not constitute more than 25% of the paper. The outline of the paper should follow the structure of scientific papers available in the literature, and should explicitly contain one section about the introduction and one section about the conclusion. Additional information are provided in the slides introducing the course.

Presentation

The presentation should focus on the assigned topic and provide:

an introduction to the topical area;
an overview of the topic suitable to a general audience, pointing out the related issues and challenges;
a short discussion of one research method that is relevant to the topic.

For instance, if the assigned topic is cache coherence protocols in multi-processor systems the presentation should: briefly introduce hardware aspects related to multi-processor systems, with a clear definition of what cache is and how it works; define the problem of cache coherency in such systems along with the related issues and challenges in overcoming them; present a research method relevant to the cache coherence protocols (e.g., experimental research).

Please do not make assumptions on the background of the audience, but rather present the content so that even people that are not familiar with the topical area would be able to understand.

Different options are available in selecting the research method addressed in the presentation. A few possible choices are outlined below.

The method that received most attention in the literature; if so explain why this happened and how the method is suitable for studying the assigned topic.
The method that, according to your judgment, is the most appropriate to study the assigned topic; also in this case justify your choice and the rationale behind it.
The method that, according to your judgment, has the highest potential for future studies of the assigned topic; besides justifying your choice, clearly point out why such method has not been extensively used so far and what is the key aspect enabling its use in the future.

The presentation time is 10 minutes. As a consequence, it is not advisable to use more than 10 slides. Regardless of the actual number of slides used,it is recommended to practice the presentation in advance and make sure that it does not exceed the allowed time. It is also recommended to use more visual content rather than text.

Presentation days are scheduled according to the lectures timeline.

Deadline and requirements

Presentations should be uploaded to the Presentations folder in Optima no later than Friday, December 7, 2012 at 23:59 EET. Acceptable file formats for presentations are Powerpoint (i.e., PPT or PPTX) and PDF. The filename should be lastname_firstname with an appropriate extension (i.e., pdf, ppt or pptx). Presentations will be collected from Optima and will be made available to the presenter on a laptop or workstation in the lecture room.